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_After learning the awe power from Aphrodite, Arcadia prepares for the school dance while not aware that Hades seeks to confront her there to personally provide forth an ominous warning. And when Hades unleashes his Balrogs to make things difficult for the Richfield students, the powers that be convene and catastrophes are prevented.

Coming up next on the third episode of Arcadia Zoe!_

**Arcadia Zoe: Episode Three

AZ-03 The School Dance By Darrel James Vanwinkle 01/25/2006**

During lunch period, Roger sat with his friend Jason Lee, a boy with short black hair, Asian tan skin, and steel grey eyes. Jason's apparent power was to become a huge bronze dragon. The strange part was that neither of his parents had any powers at all.

Roger said, "Learning these sorcery spells is tougher than the school's homework."

Jason grinned as he ate a sushi sandwich. "Maybe you want to learn how to use Western Dragon powers instead. I'd much rather learn a spell or do a math test than sit there and try to control my dragon's breath weapon."

Roger said, "How's your love life, by the way?"

Jason chuckled. "I'm dating Linda McVann. Nuff said."

Irene walked up at that point and exclaimed, "I feel sorry for you, Jason. If you need a reprieve, let me know."

Jason laughed. "She's not that bad! She's about the only one I can accidentally breathe on and she won't turn into a crispy critter!"

Roger then said, "Word of information, Irene... Kevin is trying to be nice to Arcadia."

Irene rolled her eyes. "If he screws up, I'll accidentally breathe on him and it won't be fire."

Jason grinned. "Poisonous chlorine gas, isn't it?"

Irene grinned back. "Yes and I can do it without beans."

About that moment, Karen walked through the cafeteria saying, "Warning, my sister is coming. You've been warned."

And Michelle walked into the cafeteria. "Very funny, Karen. I'm actually in a good mood today. Who wants to ruin that?"

Naturally, no one volunteered to ruin Michelle's good mood. Which was always a good thing. In fact, Michelle was being extra good so nothing would ruin her chances of going along with the others on the weekend island getaway trip.

Just then, Kevin and Arcadia walked into the cafeteria. Kevin was carrying Arcadia's books and trying hard to be extra good, himself. He didn't want to go to the Thursday night dance by himself, and Arcadia was really the only girl he knew that wasn't dating anyone.

Arcadia said, "You don't have to carry my books, Kevin."

Kevin replied, "Please go to the dance with me on Thursday night, Arcadia. Please?"

Michelle asked, "Is he giving you a hard time, Arcadia?"

Arcadia replied, "Not yet but if he does he'll likely get something he doesn't want or need up his butt. And I am not talking about a foot."

Roger grinned. "A hoof, per chance?"

Arcadia grinned back and winked.

And the humor was cut short when a woman wearing the garb of an ancient Greek goddess suddenly appeared in the cafeteria with a heralded thunderous boom!

Arcadia placed her hands on her hips and said toward Michelle, "...but this one might be here to give me a hard time." She then turned to the woman and said, "And who are you supposed to be?"

The Greek goddess replied, "Gavin was supposed to be teaching you some manners. I am your grand-aunt Aphrodite." She was now looking around her. "Where are we anyway?"

Arcadia sighed. "Richfield High School. It's the middle of the day. Lunch hour. But I guess being from Greece, you forgot about the time zones."

Aphrodite said, "Gavin contacted me a few hours ago and told me that you needed the basics on the Awe power. And because only a female can teach it to you, I came right over."

Irene said, "Arcadia with an Awe power? Why does this make me think that trouble is about to follow this little lesson?"

Jason grinned. "Because as with gods, dragons have a similar power called the Aura of Fear and we know what such a power can do to the wrong people at the wrong time."

Arcadia then said, "You do know that someone is out to kill me, don't you? And if you happen to know who, I'd really appreciate being told who it was so my friends and I can be a little more ready against the person."

Aphrodite replied, "Athena and I have a suspicion on who is behind this, and luckily, this time, it isn't Ares. He's actually helping a group in Missouri. No, we suspect that it is Hades. But we don't have any proof of this, yet. Now, when would be a good time for me to teach you the Awe power? Something tells me that now isn't a good time..."

Arcadia hummed. "After school. Gavin has prearranged a chat session between me and a common squirrel so I can learn the Aninet language. That is also the same time that Gavin and Roger will be doing the teacher/student thing."

Aphrodite smiled. "Yes, the Aninet language. Very well, I'll catch up with you when you return to talk to Gavin. I'll look forward toward our little educational lesson."

Fortunately, there were no more divine interruptions that day in school.

Unfortunately, Kevin insisted on carrying Arcadia's books home for her after school. That probably wouldn't have been so bad, had the rest of the gang not been walking with them.

Gavin glanced over at the large group of teenagers that were entering the backyard where he and Remus had been preparing for Arcadia's and Roger's lessons. "At least they didn't bring the whole school with them..."

Roger smiled, coming over and giving Gavin a firm hug. "Hello Gavin. While you're setting Arcadia up, I'll use the time to read over some of these spells you'll be testing me on."

Gavin smiled back. "Thank you, Roger. Your patience is greatly appreciated at this time."

Remus walked over to Arcadia and the others. "Attention. Attention please. As much as I appreciate your enthusiasm in lending Arcadia support, many of you need to return to your families before something very bad happens to you that we may not be able to prevent." He took Arcadia by the arm. "You come with me. Gavin has been awaiting you all afternoon."

Kevin lowered his head and sighed. "I'll never get a date for the dance."

Michelle glanced over at Kevin and did something that no one would ever expect her to do... she patted Kevin's shoulder and said, "Maybe Arcadia will go with you, but you know... if you didn't act like such a big snob most of the time, I'd bet a lot of girls would love to go with you."

Kevin flinched when Michelle touched him. "You're just looking for a reason to beat the Hell out of me, aren't you?"

Michelle grinned. "I could have done that in school, but Irene had first dibs."

Irene chuckled, "You're jealous because I spoke up first."

Gavin cleared his throat loudly.

The teenagers shut up immediately.

Gavin started to shake his head, but he simply dismissed that the others were even there, as he turned his attention to Arcadia and introduced her to the designated squirrel. "Mrs. Squirrel? This is Arcadia. Arcadia? This is Mrs. Squirrel. The two of you will chat for the next hour... well actually, Mrs. Squirrel will be doing most of the chatting, so you can learn the language."

With Arcadia out of the way, Gavin turned his attention over to Roger, who did not look bored for a change. Apparently, to Roger, just getting to spend time with Gavin was the most exciting thing in the world. Gavin approached Roger and said, "Now that I have Arcadia and Mrs. Squirrel in chat, the two of us can go around to your backyard and commence our lessons."

That night, Roger and Gavin were sitting together on a grassy hilltop just outside of town watching the stars in the sky. The afternoon had been one of the longest ever. The student/teacher thing went beautifully. Though when Aphrodite showed up to teach Arcadia the awe power, the boys' eyes about popped out of their heads... because Aphrodite had shown up naked.

Now, the two sat under the stars enjoying what the night had brought them.

Gavin smiled as he patted Roger's shoulders. "You did really good on your lessons this afternoon, Roger. I'm very proud of you. But on the other side of the coin, I am worried about Arcadia. She seems so distracted."

Roger replied, "Kevin McVann has been trying to get Arcadia to agree to go to the school dance with him. He's normally pretty snobby, but lately... he's literally bent over backwards to help Arcadia in any way possible just so she'll say yes to his offer. He's really in a bad way. None of the local girls want to be his date for the dance."

Gavin hummed, mulling this over. "I see. That would account for her distraction. She was just barely able to learn the Aninet language of the animal kingdom. But she learned it, fortunately."

Roger nodded his head. "I can understand the difficulties of learning something new if you're not used to it. You surprised me with that question about droplets. If I hadn't been casually reading ahead in the spell book, you would have stumped me for sure."

Gavin chuckled a little, then hummed again. "When is this high school dance thing?"

Roger replied, "It's tomorrow night at 6 P.M. sharp."

Gavin smiled. "Thursday night. Very well, we'll give Arcadia all of tomorrow off from her special studies so she can dance with Kevin. But on Friday, it's business as usual. Hermes wants to teach Arcadia a simple transportation power. And she'll need to be a little relaxed for that."

Roger hummed himself a little. "Um, Gavin... do you... like me? Am I, er, was I... a pest?"

Gavin smiled, as he pulled Roger close to his side and petted him gently. "I tried to make you go away, at first, if you'll recall, with the moon letters book. But as I got to know you, and after speaking with Lord Skerrit, I have grown to like you very much, Roger. Please don't think that you're a pest anymore. If anything, you're my pest. And you're doing very well in your lessons, too. You improve yourself day after day and your patience grows as time goes by as well."

Roger smiled, rubbing on Gavin's horse body slowly. "I'm actually afraid of meeting your parents this weekend. What if your mom doesn't like me? What if she changes me into a pig?"

Gavin laughed. "What is with humans these days? Why does everyone think that my mom changes men into pigs? I've seen her do donkeys and foxes, but the pig thing was before the time of Christ. I wasn't even born yet when she stopped doing pigs."

Thursday in school, Arcadia was glad that she was getting a day off from the divine lessons. But now that she had the Aninet language and the ability to Awe boys, she felt rather nice in being able to have a quiet dinner all to herself.

"May I sit at your table, Arcadia?" It was Kevin, obviously. He still didn't have a dance partner for the school dance.

Arcadia sighed. "Sit down, Kevin. We need to talk."

Kevin slowly sat down with his lunch tray. He was actually afraid because he knew Michelle was watching from afar.

Arcadia patted Kevin on shoulder and said, "I have permission to dance with you tonight, Kevin. But I was told to tell you that if you messed up my one night off from my divine lessons, Uncle Remus would see to it that you joined Loki in his imprisonment. And I don't think he was joking around. He wasn't smiling when he said that. So do you think you can leave me alone for the rest of the school day and be a gentleman tonight at the school dance?"

Kevin managed a small smile. "I'll try, Arcadia. What time should I pick you up at your home?"

Arcadia hummed. "Six thirty P.M. And I think you should know... Hades is trying to get me killed. I actually figured that it would have been Hera. Go figure."

Kevin smiled. "If he tries it tonight, he'll find out just why this area is called Richfield. Thank you for saying yes, Arcadia."

At another table, Michelle turned to look at Karen. "Imagine that... I won't have to kill him. I guess he actually listened to my advice yesterday."

Karen grinned. "Too bad you can't follow your own advice, right?"

There came a few snickers and chuckles from the nearest tables.

Jason whispered to Roger, "Um, do you think you can cast a spell for me, Roger?"

Roger quietly replied, "What do you need done?"

Jason asked, "I need a Freshen spell cast on my backpack. I spilled some chemicals in there and now it reeks."

Roger giggled. "Magic is no substitute for the commercial disinfectant that would do the same job and maybe better. Besides, my Freshen spell would wear off in an hour and then there you'd be. Do you still want it cast?"

Jason nodded his head sheepishly. "Please. It's rather foul and I don't have the money for the disinfectant."

At Irene's table, she was reading a book quietly when Linda McVann sat at her table and said, "I know you don't like me much, Irene, but I have something to bring to your attention, in a reporter to editor sort of way."

Irene glanced aside at Linda. "What?"

Linda then pulled out some papers and photos and showed them to Irene. "I took these last night outside of Richfield. I thought it would be important if you saw them as soon as possible."

Irene looked at the pictures, then whispered to Linda, "This time you did the right thing. That's Hades all right. He's been trying to kill Arcadia."

Linda looked rather pale. It was obvious that she didn't know that.

Irene glanced at Linda. "Kevin hasn't told you, has he? I was sure he would have mentioned it by now."

Linda said, "I try not to dwell in Kevin's business, Irene. I really had no idea that anyone was trying to kill Arcadia."

Irene said, "Now you know. Hades is trying to kill her because she is Artemis' granddaughter, which literally makes Arcadia a potential Greek goddess. And Roger has been learning to be a sorcerer, too."

Linda hummed. "What can I do to help, Irene?"

Irene thought about it for a bit. "Well, you already helped a lot by showing me these pictures. Hades being this close must mean that his losing an assassin did not rest well with him. Roger is the one who saved Arcadia's life the last time. Before him, Michelle saved her life by shooting the poisoned arrow. I will have to tell Gavin and Remus about this as soon as possible."

Linda sighed. "Unlike Kevin, I don't wish to be a nuisance to Arcadia. If there is anything I can do to help you guys out with this problem, please let me know immediately."

The rest of the school day went by without incident. The calm before the storm, you might say.

Roger, Irene, and Linda met up with Gavin after school, while Remus made sure Arcadia had the time to clean up and make herself look pretty for the school dance that was to occur later that night.

Gavin looked over the pictures that Linda had taken and nodded his head. "Oh yes, that is Hades. No doubt about it."

Irene said, "What should we do, Gavin? Arcadia is to be with Kevin tonight at the school dance. And Michelle is going along as a distant chaperon to make sure Arcadia will be okay and to make damned sure that Kevin doesn't mess up."

Roger grinned. "Could we have Jason accidentally breathe on him, maybe?"

Everyone laughed a little. Then Gavin got serious. "I seriously don't think that would work. To fight a god, you need a god, unfortunately."

Roger hummed. "Didn't you tell me that Ares was with Anhur in Missouri? Why don't we contact Anubis and Hel to come confront Hades and make him go away if he knows what's good for him?"

Linda giggled. "Hel is sexy, but I've heard that Anubis is no slacker below the belt."

Irene rolled her eyes. "As distasteful as this topic is getting, Roger has a good idea, Gavin."

Gavin nodded his head. "I agree. We'll try to contact both Anubis and Hel."

Kevin arrived on time, surprisingly, with Michelle playing chaperon, as she promised, and the three headed off for the school where the dance awaited them. Kevin was being almost a different person after they arrived at the dance. Michelle was actually surprised that Kevin could act so nice.

"There is no way that is Kevin," muttered Michelle, as she watched Kevin dance with Arcadia.

Karen smiled and whispered to her sister, "Will wonders never cease... I think you're jealous that someone is dancing with your boyfriend." Then she moved away quickly and just in time, as Michelle nearly hit her with a fist.

Inside, however, Michelle was upset with herself. No boy in Richfield wanted to be her boyfriend. She didn't want to die an old maid, as the saying went. But there were no new boys in Richfield, at all.

Karen and Roger made a pretty couple on the dance floor. The calm before the storm and the sorcerer in training.

Jason was with Linda. Not the most perfect match, but as Jason often said... Linda was about the only one he could accidentally breathe on and it wouldn't kill her.

No one dared to ask Irene for a dance. Every time a boy even looked her way, they got a very scary feeling.

Probably the scariest part of the dance was the fact that Mr. Richards was manning the punch bowl. It was almost as if he suspected that Hades would try something that night. Normally on a Thursday night, Mr. Richards would have been at home.

Just as the fifth dance was ending, the school auditorium doors suddenly burst open with a thunderous boom, as two balrogs with black bow ties around their necks stepped into the area and stepped off to each side. And that is when Hades himself walked into the auditorium wearing a black tuxedo with a top hat, a cane, and black gloves.

Everyone stared in shock at the arrivals.

Then 'Arcadia' stepped out to the center of the dance floor looking directly at Hades. "Dance number six, is it? I thought you might arrive when the fifth dance ended. I've been expecting you, actually. You don't look like you're here to fight, so perhaps you might fancy a dance with me... perhaps at the same time you are discussing a deal with me. Am I wrong?"

Hades did not smile as he slowly stepped out to the center of the dance floor to face 'Arcadia'. "You are not Artemis' granddaughter. Where is the real Arcadia... Diana?"

The real Arcadia then stepped out from behind Mr. Richards. "I'm over here, Hades. I was cleaning up a drink I spilled just before you entered. And just who is Diana and where did she come from?"

Hades grinned. "Diana is your real mother. She was married to King Actaeon on the hidden Island of Zoe."

Diana growled, "You will NOT have my daughter, Hades! Begone to the underworld with you!"

Hades and Diana were beginning their face off... well, they started to, until Mr. Richards, Remus, and Mr. Dragon all approached the two of them. Mr. Richards firmly exclaimed, "If you two want to fight, take it out to the football field. But I will NOT allow you ignorant gods to destroy this high school building."

Hades nodded his head. "I came to talk to Arcadia. Not to kill her." (This time.) "However, if Diana wants to battle, we can do that." He glanced over his shoulder at the two balrogs. "I did promise them both a tussle. We can do this however you people like. Either I get to speak with Arcadia tonight or come the morrow, this town will see a full scale attack from the underworld. I am a Greater God, unless most of you have forgotten. I can back up my threats."

Diana then slapped Hades' face, HARD! "I'll fight your brutes, gladly!"

Kevin whispered to Arcadia, "This is what you're having to deal with daily?"

Arcadia whispered back, "Yes. And you wanted in on this mess for one night. Are you sorry?"

Kevin smiled a little. "Not in the slightest. You're my date for the night. Hades just has to get his own date."

Arcadia chuckled. "Hades is married, if I remember my Mythology correctly. I wonder what his wife would say if she found out that her husband was trying to dance with a young flit of a teen aged girl?"

Hades growled, "That is NOT funny, Arcadia! She can be worse than Hera on P.M.S.!"

And that was when Gavin and his visitor arrived on the scene with a heralded explosion of dark smoke. "As I told you, Amon Anubis! Lord Hades walks the Earth, exactly as I said!"

The Egyptian guardian god of the dead, Amon Anubis, slowly walked across the dance floor and stood in front of Hades. "You have overstepped your bounds, Hades. You are the god of the underworld and where we are does NOT appear to be underground."

Hades then turned on Anubis, clearly NOT afraid of him. "This is a special occasion, Anubis. Besides... you are the guardian of the dead and I clearly cannot see anyone here who is dead." He smirked sarcastically.

Anubis remarked, "I know your wife's telephone number. Go home and be with her or I will call her myself. You are making me miss a good pot of Anhur's coffee."

Arcadia then said, "Hades, just speak your message to me and then you can go home. This is my one night off from having to learn all of this stupid and insane god stuff and you are interrupting that."

Michelle then butted in, saying, "Otherwise, he can stay and be MY dance date. No other boy wants to dance with me. Irene, get the camera ready!" She winked with a grin.

Hades made a horrible face at Michelle. "Tarterus No! I know ALL about YOU!" He then looked to Arcadia. "This will be your only warning, Arcadia. Stay out of the Mediterranean if you value your life. If you go there this weekend, I will redouble my attacks on you. And not even that old cow, Circe, can stop me from doing that. It is your choice." He then turned and walked back past the power houses, as he nodded to his balrog friends, whispering, "Destroy this place and kill Arcadia." Then he departed out the door into the night, vanishing very quickly.

Jason exclaimed, "Gotta love dragon hearing! Hades commanded those two to destroy this place and kill Arcadia!"

And the two balrogs then tore off their bow ties and grew a good two feet in size larger as they began their approach.

Arcadia and her friends were assisting the teenagers in their escape from the school, while Mr. Richards, Remus, Mr. Dragon, Anubis, Diana, and Gavin all prepared to do battle with the balrogs.

Outside, Arcadia, Irene, and Jason gathered all of the normal non-powered students together who had previously not known what was going down in Richfield and through the use of the Awe Power and the Aura of Fear combined, the norms were made to forget what had taken place after the fifth dance.

Then a signal was sent to Remus, mentally, that the deed was done and with that, all of those who were to be in the fight were transported elsewhere, balrogs and all.

The students then re-entered the school and resumed their dance. The norms were simply told that everyone had come outside to get some fresh air. The rest of the night passed without incident. It had been a very close call.

The next morning was Friday and things for Arcadia were about back to normal. Her studies as a Greek goddess had resumed and Kevin was no longer bothering her, fortunately. Instead, he seemed to be fawning all over Michelle. That was fine by Arcadia. She knew Michelle could control Kevin and that was that.

Roger met with Arcadia out front of Remus' estate and the two set off for school on foot. While it was true that they could have rode in Uncle Remus' car, the old wolf had actually slept in. So the two were having a quiet little jaunt to school.

"Did you sleep well, Arcadia?" asked Roger as they walked.

Arcadia smiled. "Yes. Better than I have in a long time, in fact. I am actually looking forward toward seeing Hermes today. His transportation lesson should be a lot of fun. What about yourself, Roger? How are you holding up with Gavin?"

Roger sighed. "I think I have a problem, Arcadia. You know me, right? I'm a... straight and simple guy, right?"

Arcadia had no clue as to what Roger was actually hinting about. "Of course you are, Roger. I mean, you're nothing like the McVanns, thankfully. If you were, Michelle would likely have beat the Hell out of you. Besides, you and Karen make a cute couple. What's on your mind, anyway?"

Roger looked at Arcadia in a funny way, then glanced back ahead of himself. (She totally missed the point. I knew I couldn't talk to a girl about this. Who can I turn to without embarrassing myself to death?)

Arcadia sensed something was really wrong because she could see Roger's aura flickering and changing colors. So she stopped walking and caught Roger's arm. "Roger... in case you forgot, I can see auras now. You're really nervous and scared about something. Come on... you can tell me. We're friends. Just lay it on me. I can handle it."

Roger was in a near panic. A panic. A pan-... Now he knew who he could talk to. "Arcadia? I somehow need to go find Pan and talk to him without Gavin knowing about it. Do you think you can somehow help me with your upcoming transportation power? I haven't learned teleport yet. Gavin keeps saying that I am not skilled enough to learn it yet."

Arcadia hummed. "I'll see what I can do, Roger. But whatever it is that you feel you can't talk to me about must be bad."

Roger sighed again. "It is. If you can distract Gavin this afternoon long enough for me to talk to Hermes, that will help."

That afternoon was like most afternoons. Arcadia and Roger were walking along towards Roger's house and the whole gang were walking along behind them. Irene, Jason, Michelle, Karen, Linda, and Kevin. The only thing that was different this time was that each of the teenagers were carrying a single suitcase, except for Irene and Jason who didn't need suitcases being dragons with special hiding places.

Remus, Hermes, Anubis, and Gavin were awaiting them in Roger's backyard. Arcadia did as Roger asked and walked directly over to Gavin to play the distraction, while Roger approached Hermes, pulling him gently to one side for a private request not meant for every ear.

Roger whispered to Hermes, "Could you arrange it so I can meet with Pan this weekend while we are all visiting Circe's Island and so I don't cause Gavin to lose his powers if I am not back in time for my daily lesson? And please... don't tell Gavin I am requesting this. I need to talk to Pan in private and its urgent."

Hermes petted Roger on the head, whispering in return, "In addition to the god of speed and thieves, many believe me to also be the god of secrets. As you might not know, Pan is my son through my drunken union with a nanny goat. Therefore, I will get word to my son and you can rest assured, Gavin will not learn of this. And I can arrange it so you don't cause Gavin to lose his powers. You show great foresight for preparing to deal with my son. You would likely miss a session with Gavin during your meeting with that lusty satyr."

Roger smiled. "Thank you, Hermes. I'll repay you for this some day."

Hermes hummed. "You should be careful who you pledge debts to, Roger. I will not abuse what you are offering, but there are those who gladly would. So do be careful."

Roger irked and nodded his head. He felt that he had learned a super valuable lesson just then.

At that point, Roger and Arcadia switched places and Hermes began to educate her on the simple transportation power. A power that would grow in strength and in range as Arcadia developed herself.

Gavin took Roger around the building and just out of sight of the others. "Your lesson today, Roger, is and isn't about magic. My mother wants you on the island right now rather than our waiting for Arcadia to finish her lesson with Hermes. Therefore, I am going to send you there right now. I will personally be along later on this evening. Anyway, your lesson for today is this... when you get to the island, find and talk to an otter, a rat, and a donkey, in that order. You will not have to use magic to speak to them because they are transformed victims. Find them and talk to them. That is your assignment for today, Roger. I will see you later."

And with that, Gavin cast his spell on Roger and sent him from Richfield, Virginia, to the Aegean Sea's mythical hidden islands where Circe the Sorceress dwelt with Ren of the Northern Herd, and an assortment of other beings, which included former human victims and a door marked: To Circe's Carnival.

It had been 4 P.M. back in Richfield, but there on Circe's island in the Mediterranean, it was a seven hour difference. It was clearly night on the island, roughly 11 P.M. Roger looked around for a moment, then said, "Great... Gavin's arrival location seems to be in the middle of nowhere on this island. Well, I better get busy if I am to find the otter, rat, and donkey victims to talk to. But I keep wondering what kind of lesson this is?" And Roger then set off to try and find the three victims turned animals.

In Roger's backyard, however, Arcadia was apparently rested more than enough, for she aced Hermes' simple transportation power and then some. She teleported off somewhere and when she returned, she had real Italian pizza for everyone. It was only at that time did she notice that Roger was no longer present. "Um, Gavin? Where did you send Roger off to?"

Gavin swished his centaur tail with a smile. "My mom wanted to see him early, so I sent him to mom's island. He'll be fine. Remember, everyone... there is a seven hour difference between here and there."

Karen cleared her throat. "Gavin. It's almost 7 P.M. right now in Richfield. That would make it 2 A.M. on your mom's island. Are you sure it's O.K. for Roger to be there unsupervised?"

Gavin nodded his head at Karen. "He'll be fine. He's been excelling in all of his lessons and is actually a chapter ahead in my classes with him. I am quite pleased with his progress. I trust him to behave on my mom's island. And because I trust him, and because my mom and dad are not likely to be awake until 6-7 A.M., we will time our departure here for arriving there just after they might be awake. Waking them up right now would not be wise for non-Sorcerers."

Michelle said, "So you're planning on our leaving at 11 P.M. to Midnight, Richfield time?"

Irene added, "Michelle has a point, Gavin. We thought your mom wanted to meet with us immediately, what with the way you spoke about the situation. What do you suggest we do for the next four hours?"

Gavin grinned. "Head over to Remus' estate and take a short nap, of course. I know a lot of you are anxious to make the trip, but as you know from the last time I transported a large group, it takes a lot of energy and a well rested centaur to be able to cast the spell properly. And you, Irene, should fully well know what I am talking about. Arvandor, remember?"

Irene nodded her head. "He's right. We need to rest before making that kind of jump to the Mediterranean. So we'll move our little party over to Remus' estate for now. Anyone not coming with us to Circe's Island should simply go home now. With Hades mad at us, you can be sure he is watching for Arcadia's arrival there."

Jason said, "I think we sort of humiliated him at the school dance. But why aren't you worried about Hades noticing whether Roger arrives over there or not?"

Gavin replied, "He's not a girl."

Everyone laughed out loud.

Soon the group was over at Uncle Remus' estate having a dinner with the Elden host. Remus said, "While it pleases me to have dining company in my home, just remember that I am an ancient Norse wolf. My sole concern is Arcadia."

Arcadia blushed. "Do you have to continue saying that, Remus? A potential Greek goddess isn't a potential Norse goddess, you know... I am just Arcadia Zoe. No big deal." She smiled.

Kevin then said, "I am sort of worried about Roger being off all by himself tonight. I know I don't get along with most of you in school. But Roger is a nice person and I personally would hate it if he got hurt by something Gavin thinks is safe."

Remus said, "I am sure Gavin knows what he is doing." He glanced at the centaur. "And it looks like he is asleep."

Irene giggled. "I had forgotten that horses sleep standing up."

Michelle shushed at Irene. "Horses and centaurs are completely different, Irene." She grinned. "Horses are cleaner."

Irene grinned back at Michelle. "It is not my place to say. But I have heard that centaurs are light sleepers... when they aren't simply playing possum, that is." She winked.

At that moment, Gavin spoke without opening his eyes. "Meditation is not sleeping, my friends. I would suggest you try to get in some rest. I promise not to leave any of you behind when we go to head to my mom's island. As for the cleanliness of centaurs... unless you have lived with a centaur, then don't be making statements you cannot support."

Michelle gulped, blushing.

Kevin was, for a change, expertly preventing himself from smirking at Michelle.

Karen snickered, mainly because she was used to her sister sticking her foot into her own mouth. "Anyway, Gavin is right. We need what little rest we can get. We are going to lose sleep when we travel over to Circe's Island later."

Back on Circe's Island...

Roger was making his way through a forested part of the island, when all of a sudden, there came a sudden clap of thunder just ahead of him, followed by an explosion, and a strong gust of air from an arrival. But the part that came next was not what he was expecting to hear on an island in the Mediterranean...

"Way to go, Xanel..." said an annoyed female voice. "You dropped us in the middle of a forest."

The one called Xanel replied, "I'm sorry, Vicky. You know I haven't been the same with my teleporting since we returned from my home world." Then there was a pause. "Are you two OK?"

"I have been through better teleport landings, you know," said a second male voice. "What about you, Trina?"

The one called Trina said, "If I hadn't instinctively shifted into my jaguar form, that landing might have hurt me a lot, Mark. Just where are we, anyway? This doesn't look like Nicodemus' Tavern."

The one known as Mark said, "Xanel got us lost. That's a first."

Xanel replied, "I said I was sorry, guys." He sighed. "My dad is not too thrilled about my being stuck 95% of the time in my Unikron body. And he is especially not pleased that I have two bodyguards living in the mansion with me. Cryston Warhorn and Aurora Firebane. I still can't believe that they agreed to come back to Earth with us."

Roger chose that moment to make his presence known as he stepped forward out of the forest. And when he did, he instantly recognized the people for who they were. It was four of the primary members of Hazardous Materials. "Hey! What are you guys doing in the Mediterranean? I thought Hazardous Materials prowled California!"

Mark smiled when he heard and saw the newcomer. "Roger Rogers! You're supposed to be in Richfield, Virginia!"

...To Be Continued...

**End of Episode Three: The School Dance

Stay Tuned for Episode Four: Hazardous Panic**