Venus Cursed! - Chapter 10

---

Sean spent over an hour searching through the book for a safe place to open the portal. Soon after he began a portal opened onto the Labyrinth. He managed to close that one only to have one open up near the medusa. He hastily closed that one with his eyes closed. He had several more encounters like that before he managed to find something promising. Afterwards he took his own book out to read for an experiment. To his relief he managed to read without opening any portals. Maybe Jill had it right, after all. Maybe I really can get a handle on this. he thought hopefully.

By then he was exhausted, so he climbed into bed. He fell asleep with a smile, knowing he wouldn't be having any more of those 'dreams'.

Sean awoke groggily the next morning, having stayed up later than usual with his reading and portal experimentation. He was so slow he ended up skipping breakfast just to get to work on time. At work the harassment from his coworkers continued to escalate. He was tempted to open a portal and shove them through. I wonder how Kyle would handle Jurassic Park? he wondered with a smile. That thought buoyed his spirits and helped him to shrug off the taunts of his coworkers. They seemed put off by his attitude and they lost some of their enthusiasm.

After work he returned to his apartment to pick up the mythology book and Jurassic Park, which he stashed in his car, just in case. Never know when a thirty foot T-Rex might come in handy. he chuckled to himself as he walked over to Jill and Mike's.

"Hello Mike!" he said cheerfully as he walked in. Mike was playing tennis again. "I found a promising spot in the book last night."

Mike paused his game and looked over at Sean. "You look cheerful, have a good sleep?" he asked.

"Actually, I stayed up a little late reading, but I think I've gotten a little better control of this thing. I was able to read my book for a while without opening any portals!" he said happily.

"Good! That would really suck if you could never read again without opening one of those portals. Show me what you found." Mike replied. Sean showed him the place he'd marked in the book. "That looks promising." He agreed.

"So where's Jill?" Sean asked. "Still painting?"

"No, believe it or not, she finished the portrait she's been working on and locked up the studio so I couldn't see it. She seemed exhausted afterwards, so she took a nap. She woke up about an hour ago and started putting dinner together." Mike replied.

"Doesn't Jill usually let you see her paintings once she's done with them?" Sean asked.

Mike nodded. "Yeah, she does. She's acting weird about this portrait." Mike said.

"Huh. Well, I guess we'll find out what it's about soon enough." Sean said thoughtfully.

"So how was your day?" Mike asked.

"It started out as bad as yesterday, but it got better after a while." Sean replied with an enigmatic smile.

"What's that grin for?" Mike asked curiously.

"Well, when they were bugging me I was thinking about opening a portal to Jurassic Park and pushing them through. I guess I wasn't reacting the way they expected me to after that." Sean replied.

Mike laughed. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea! You'll have to be careful, though, or you might open a portal in public without meaning to." Mike warned.

Sean shrugged. "Like I said, I seem to have better control over that now. But you're right, I don't want anyone besides you and Jill knowing about this. There's no telling what would happen if anyone else found out." Sean agreed.

"Is that Sean I hear out there?" Jill called out from the kitchen.

"Yeah, I'm here Jill." Sean replied.

"Well get in here, you two, dinner is ready!" she called back. Sean and Mike went into the kitchen and they ate their dinner.

"Sean found a good spot to use for our trip today." Mike said while he was cleaning up the dishes. It was the only thing he was allowed to do in the kitchen after his last cooking disaster the previous year.

"Let me see?" Jill asked, holding her hand out for the book. Sean handed it over and she looked it over. "Yeah, that looks promising." She agreed.

After Mike cleaned up they went to the living room. "Do you think we should go armed again?" Mike asked as Jill handed the book back to Sean.

Jill pondered that a moment before shaking her head and replying, "No, I don't think that's a good idea. Sean can get us out in a hurry if he has to, and I don't think it would impress Venus or Aphrodite or whichever other god or goddess we encounter if we go to their home armed."

Sean nodded reluctantly. "You're probably right. I don't suppose a sword or arrow would do much damage to a god anyway."

"True." Mike agreed ruefully. "There aren't any other dangers we might encounter, though, are there?" he asked worriedly.

Sean shook his head. "No, we'll be arriving on Mt. Olympus itself. There shouldn't be anything there but the gods and goddesses. We should be ready for a quick retreat though, they're known for being unpredictable." Sean replied.

"Are we sure we're ready for this?" Mike asked, looking at Sean and Jill in turn. Sean shrugged, he'd already expressed his concern.

"I don't think the goddess of love and beauty is going to harm us, and the place Sean marked should take us right to her. We should be safe enough, especially with Sean ready to portal us out on a moment's notice." Jill replied, trying to project confidence and being fairly successful.

Sean took a deep breath and said, "Okay, let's get this over with then." He opened the book to the marked section and began reading. Mike and Jill moved closer to him so they could go through the portal quicker. The portal formed quickly and expanded to door size. With an audible gulp Sean stepped through, followed closely by his friends.

Once through the portal Sean closed it so he could open another wherever they might need it. "Stay close, just in case." He cautioned. The others nodded.

They found themselves in a clearing surrounded by trees. There was a natural spring near the center and a beautiful woman with her back to them was just finishing redressing from a dip in the spring when they arrived. Her wet hair dried as she turned to look at them. "Mortals, here?" she murmured dulcetly.

"Um, excuse me, but we were wondering if you could help us…" Jill began, only to be cut off by a screech from the woman.

"Do not speak, mortal!" she screeched. "This is Mt. Olympus, home of the gods! You do not belong here! I am Venus, and I command you to leave at once!" she demanded.

Sean backed away fearfully, which put some distance between himself and his friends. "Please, our friend needs your help…" Jill tried again.

"If you will not leave you will taste my curse!" Venus screamed. Her hands began to glow a blood red color and she began to raise them towards Jill.

"Run!" Sean screamed, opening a portal right behind his friends. Mike shoved Jill through while Sean ran to join them.

Venus pointed her glowing hands at Mike and a blast of energy shot out from them. "NO!!" Sean screamed, and jumped in front of Mike. The blast hit him full in the chest and drove him back into Mike. He felt every nerve in his body burning, and then nothing.

---

 To Be Continued…