Viola continued to type away into the night.

The next morning, Trinia looked over her shoulder and scowled. "We're not supposed to have 10 year old apparitions running around."

Viola

Viola turned around, and glared. "She's no ghost, Trinia."

Then, Barry Sonnenfeld walked into the room, cheerfully. "I'm the King of the summer medium...the movie will be big, platinum maybe."

"That's for records, Barry," reiterated Viola.

Barry shrugged, and dumped his bag on a chair. "Any news from the network."

Trinia sighed, annoyed. Barry always wanted to know what was going on at the 'network'. "They canceled 'Cupid'." She tossed a notebook down in disgust. "Viola's got a 10 year old apparition running around the island, with a toy."

Barry looked at Viola, confused. "What's she talking about?"

The sprite turned the screen around, and Barry nodded absently. "Interesting: I had no idea that Halli was still around."

"She wanders around everywhere, with that silver ball that she got from Gaia," commented Viola. "Maybe it's time to put her on the island, permanently. Of course, that would mean going up against the Kronos Curse," she added, hoping to get his authorization.

He seemed unconcerned, as usual. "Anyone that we should be worried about?"

"Most of the Olympians: after all we are about to undo the worst curse in millions of years," answered Trinia. "We'll have the Olympians vs. Titans again."

Barry rolled his eyes, annoyed at the idea, and walked down the hall. "I leave it to your discretion."

Roarke pushed Ariel's hair over her ear, and watched her as she slept. He remembered to count his blessings for the chance to look into her eyes.

As if she could hear his thoughts, Ariel woke up and smiled. "Hi."

"Hi," he said back.

She frowned. "Troubles?"

As if she could hear his thoughts, Ariel woke up and smiled. "Hi."

"Hi," he said back.

She frowned. "Troubles?"

Roarke smiled, unwilling to let her know. "Nothing that can't be fixed." He ran his finger down her face, tracing the outline of her mouth, watching the frown become a smile.

Ariel stretched sensuously. "Hope you're planning to do more than just watch me all night," she purred.

Their eyes meeting a locked gaze that seemed to join them and set the world apart from everything else, and they kissed, passionately.

Skye walked along the shore, admiring the full moon and spying on the tourists. A loud explosion drew Skye's attention, and she noticed that the TITANIC fantasy was starting again. F-37: 3 hours of clinging to a frozen Leonardo DiCaprio. Skye frowned. 'What's the appeal?' she thought to herself.

"Death...being close to the Gods," spoke Sebastian. He had taken Skye by surprise.

She went back a few steps. "I always thought that it was the true love aspect that caught everyone's attention."

"True Love!" he made a face, disgusted. "True love is for wimps and people who watch Saturday morning cartoons."

Skye smiled coyly. "I liked Saturday morning cartoons."

He frowned...really wanting to change the subject. "How are you liking this...resort?" he asked, looking out over the ocean.

She frowned, knowing that he was trying to distract her. "Why are you trying to kill Iris?"

Sebastian turned around and smiled. "Direct and to the point...I like that. I can assure you that it's not personal."

She smiled at him, not believing him for a minute. "I'm sorry. I don't believe you. Then again, I take it personally when anyone tries to kill a child."

"Especially a child who's a favorite of yours."

Skye smiled. "She's growing on me. I like her innocence. It's something I haven't seen in a long time."

Sebastian warmed to her. "I can imagine that. Yes, Iris's innocence is something rare to see. Yet, it can be both endearing and annoying."

She smirked. "She's only 6 months old...she doesn't know when to be annoying."

"Yet she has no idea that," he picked up a flower. "at anytime, someone can end her life or take away anything that's important to her." He snapped his fingers and the flower withered.

Skye inwardly groaned. "Oh, give me a break. People live...things happen. Such is the balance of law and order."

"Still it's time for this child to start swimming the backstroke in the river Styx," commented Sebastian.

Skye grew suddenly uneasy, and tried to read his thoughts. "You're doing this for revenge. You resent her, but it isn't about her. As a sister of the Fates and Hours, I know this."

Sebastian smiled. "You have discovered the truth then. Looks like Mnemosyne didn't completely wipe your memory of such matters."

Skye smiled. "It gets easier as time passes."

"Then you know why Iris must die."

Skye walked up to him, so as that their faces were inches apart. "No. You seek revenge. How petty." She smiled, "I know that you can't kill her while she's under my protection. I do know that I'm a Goddess...and you're not, brother."

She turned around, and started to walk away. Suddenly a dagger popped out of his hand, as he lunged for her. She turned around and focused her energy to him...sending him into a tree.

Skye turned and looked at him. "You will not cause the death of this child."

Sebastian rose to his feet, and grabbed her by the arms. "Dearest one, before this time is out...you will know that this child's fate will be decided by me, and only me. Then when she's gone, next will be Hades. He stated this when he took Roarke's first and second born." He paused, looking thoughtful, "I wonder...maybe Hecate is in the market to get her old job back."

Skye looked at him, confused. "What? How many other kids does this guy have?"

At that moment, there was another flash of light and Roarke walked out from it. "Sebastian, stop this," he demanded.

Sebastian laughed, sinisterly "Why not admit it, Prospero? You gave them up because it was easy for you to. You left us with nothing, because you wanted to save those brats." He frowned at Skye. "And her."

Roarke grew angry, and threw a fireball at him.

Skye sent it flying off with only a thought. "No...let him be." She turned to Sebastian. "What does Hades have to do with this? Why did Roarke have to save us?"

Sebastian smirked, then disappeared. Skye kept her eye on the spot where Sebastian had been. She turned her anger to Roarke. "What did you do to loose those kids?"

Roarke looked angry for being put on the spot by her. "This is not the time...."

"This is as good a time as any," stated Skye. "You did something, and now Iris is involved because you pissed off your brother. Sebastian said that you gave up your first and second born because it was easy for you to...and that it had nothing to do with saving us. Then you left quote 'us with nothing' to save them and me? I can't see what he meant. All I can do is help but you have to let me."

Roarke looked at her anxiously, wanting to trust her, but remembering her reaction on finding herself here...dead.

Skye calmed down. "How did you loose those kids? Because I know that you fought for...Halli, before....Kore was even aware that she existed."

Roarke looked at his sister shocked.

Skye looked at him, sympathetically. "That's why Hades wanted Kore from Demeter. If he married Kore, he wouldn't even have to look for your first born. He'd already have her."

Roarke looked at her. "Halli is not my firstborn, but you're right on that account. Kore was an innocent when Hades brought her here, and you can say that he left her soul in Halli."

"But the baby was in more ways revenge, because he wanted something more. There was a deal...two deals."

Roarke nodded again, realizing that he could not talk his way out of this mistake.

Skye looked at Roarke, angrier now. She didn't know whether to scream or spit fire. "The first deal was to save us, you gave up your first born to save Sebastian and then your second born to save me. I don't understand: you still weren't there for us."

She touched the side of her head, memories were coming like electric shocks. Skye started to cry. "You left when I was 5...I never saw you or Sebastian again. What was that about?"

Skye looked at Roarke, angrier now. She didn't know whether to scream or spit fire. "The first deal was to save us, you gave up your first born to save Sebastian and then your second born to save me. I don't understand: you still weren't there for us."

She touched the side of her head, memories were coming like electric shocks. Skye started to cry. "You left when I was 5...I never saw you or Sebastian again. What was that about?"

Roarke looked at his younger sister, growing emotional himself. He held his arms out for her. She went to him and hugged him tightly, crying. "I never realized that they existed," he explained. "When I found out - it was too late. Hades was going to take you and Sebastian. I couldn't let that happen. Mother would have been devastated, and your mother would have killed herself trying to get you back. He told me that I would have to give up something return. I had to do it."

Down the beach, the girl had stood watching the actions between Skye and Roarke. She frowned; not quite understanding what she was frowning about. The man with the white hair was sad. Why was he sad?

Suddenly a gray cloud of smoke appeared around her as a cold hand lay on her shoulder. A man appeared, wearing a dark suit. He pulled a cigar from a holder, and tapped it, before returning it to his breast pocket "Now this is not something you should be seeing."

The girl turned around, and faces Hades. "Shouldn't I be the judge of that?" She turned back to the pair on the beach. "It's interesting."

Hades rolled his eyes. "It's a soap opera. It's annoying. Listen, Sweets. I can tell you for a fact that if I hadn't put that sprite council upstairs...this place would have been canceled after...13 episodes."

She giggled. "Your lucky number." She turned and looked at Roarke. "Why is that man crying?"

Hades looked at the pair. "Roarke? Well, there are a number of things...uh; the curse of his existence is about to catch up with him. He's gotta a kid with a woman whose three times his age, but looks young enough to be his daughter. Number of things, Sweets."

She looked at Roarke again, and shook her head. "That's not it. I sense something deeper."

Hades looked at Roarke, then at the girl, exasperated. "Can we get this extension done already? I swear every time I have to add onto this island...it's a traumatic event."

"But-"

"Now...or your mother's gonna have a conniption fit."

"She's not my mother, Hades!" she yelled. "You made sure of that when you married her."

He rolled his eyes, annoyed. "Whatever?"

She waded a little into the water, and set her ball down in the watery sand. The girl ran her small hand over it, and backed away. Suddenly, the water bubbled and churned. The land raised from the sea, and instantly started to grow green and fertile. Palm trees sprang out of the ground, and a water fall appeared near a mountain cliff. The girl clapped her hands, happily, retrieved her ball, and ran down the beach.

Hades watched the girl go. "GOD, that kid's gonna be the death of me."

Ariel awoke still wrapped in Roarke's arms. She looked up at him, and wondered what she had done to deserve this much happiness. Why had it taken them so long to find each other? How long would it take before it would end?

She had been 150, young in terms of the Gods, but still a teenager when compared to everyone else who had seen her, when her mother begrudgingly introduced her to a tall man in a white suit. Aphrodite looked down on this man for having been banished to Fantasy Island for poor judgment. "Bad Judgment, mother?" she asked. "What do you mean?"

Roarke stood next to her mother, and smiled devilishly at Ariel. She felt her cheeks go red, and she smiled back.

Aphrodite seemed to be searching for a good answer to give her impressionable daughter. Anything would do...except the truth. "Certain decisions in his life have lead him to this spot..."

Ariel stopped listening to her mother, and started to concentrate on him. He snapped his fingers, and her mother was frozen in mid-sentence. Ariel smiled. "You slept with her, didn't you?"

"Are you going to hold it against me?"

She smiled, coyly. "No...not yet, anyway." She snapped her fingers, and walked away. Aphrodite became unfrozen, turned around and slugged Roarke.

The chimes of the clock brought her back to reality. Realizing the time, she threw on a dress and headed for the nursery.

Trinia glared at Viola. "Do you have any idea what you're doing?"

Viola smiled, as she typed away. "Yup."

"You seem to have an answer for everything."

Viola lowered her eyebrows and cocked a smile. "Does that bother you?"

Skye looked on as Cal tried to feed Iris her breakfast. Harry stood at the counter, reading the paper. "OH, look...Microsoft went up another hundred points," he announced.

Cal stuck his tongue out a Harry, childishly.

"What did you say, Cal?" started Harry, gloating. "OH, yes. Microsoft will go nowhere you said. Apple will always be the main computer company into the next century, and never trust a nerd whose fantasy was to have it all, and work to get it. Steve Jobs is the man to back up. Buying 100 shares at $10 a share was wasting your money, you said. Who's laughing now?"

Cal gave Iris another spoonful of cereal. "Big deal: you can't spend it."

Harry looked at Cal and frowned. "Look who's Mr. Negativity all of a sudden. Well, for your information, I was thinking of having the South end of the island developed into a waterfall...an extension possible into the gardens of Verseille."

At that moment, Ariel walked in, cheerful. "Harry, wonderful job on the south end. An extension into the Verseille gardens was absolutely brilliant." she patted Harry on the back, and went straight for Iris.

Harry glared, smacked the paper down with a crash. "Well, that's just peachy," he announced, sarcastically. He looked over at Skye, who seemed to be lost in her own train of thought. "Mrs. Sterling, you seem rather quiet this morning?"

Skye continued to stare at the far wall. Harry repeated himself, until she looked up. "Oh, sorry, Harry. I wasn't really listening."

"Don't worry. He seems to have that affect of people," commented Cal.

Ariel picked Iris up out of her high chair, and sat down with her. She turned to Skye and smiled. "You seemed to be troubled this morning. What could be so mind numbing?"

For a moment, Skye considered telling Ariel about her encounter with Sebastian, and Roarke's revelation. It would only upset her. "A little tired that's all."

By then Roarke had descended the stairs, and was already on the agenda of the day. "We've got guests in 5 minutes."

Skye watched him command the forces, and smiled. No one needed her around. She rose from her seat, wished everyone a good day, and left. Skye walked out into the sunshine, and looked towards the south end of the island. The area was indeed growing on it's own, and seemed wonderful.

She hadn't noticed that Harry was standing beside her. "That girl can do more before you think about something then Roarke," he announced.

Skye turned to him, puzzled. "What do you mean 'that girl'?"

"Halli: she's a small child who comes around here...about every six months."

Skye nodded. "She wouldn't happen to be about 10, brown hair, yellowed dress, carries a silver ball?"

Harry nodded. "That's her. Some say that she's in line with Hades. The God of the Underworld happens to own this island."

Skye looked at Harry, mortified. "Hades...God of the Underworld, OH shit, I knew I had heard that name before."

Harry frowned, confused. "I doubt that there is another."

Skye frowned. "Harry, do you know how Roarke came to be on this island?"

"Of course. For everything that Roarke has ever done to Cal and myself. I think back on the sacrifice that he made for his brother and sister, and that makes me believe that he does have a heart." Harry smiled, sarcastically. "Somewhere," he added.

Skye turned to him. "I don't understand why anyone would do that. You do know that I know that I'm Roarke's sister?"

Harry smiled, acknowledging this. "It's all very simple. You see Zeus and your father Kronos have been at each other for years. For some reason, Zeus believes that all the Titans are bad, and has imprisoned them beneath the earth, except for three, which he left to fend for themselves. After all, they were only children."

Skye glared, annoyed. "Zeus is my half brother?"

Harry waved it off. "Don't think of him that way...it'll only confuse you. Anyway, Zeus became head God, and spelled out titles to all the other Gods, and gave the last one to his baby brother, who had broken up with Hecate," he paused, and continued confidentially, "It had actually been her Underworld, but when that relationship ended, he got the Underworld and she got the dog."

Skye nodded taking this in. "Hades decides to grab Roarke, so he could run the island, but just asking someone to give up their life is a little tricky. So he decides to take me and Sebastian or threatens to."

"Actually Hades could have care less about Sebastian. You on the other hand, were what he wanted," continued Harry. "Your mother helped Roarke and Sebastian, as well as you. She felt that Zeus's curse was unjust, and Hades was no substitute for a parent"

"My mother?" asked Skye.

Harry nodded his head. "Your mother is Themis, Goddess of Eternal Law and Order. Your sisters are the Fates and the Hours. You're not exactly a Titian, and you're not exactly an Olympian."

Again Skye nodded. "How did Roarke make the second deal with Hades, involving the kids?"

Harry nodded. "Roarke gave up his soul, so that Hades wouldn't damn his kids, and make you his bride. He's bound to this island for all eternity because he..." He grew silent. "Could be why he was not so entirely happy when Ariel was pregnant before?"

"Sacrificed his kids for Sebastian and me, and them himself for the kids and me," she finished, looking out on the water. She could see the plane land. "Sebastian's pissed, because Roarke left us, and he's mad at Hades for some reason that still doesn't make sense. What did Sebastian do now?" She said to herself

Skye frowned, and faced Harry. "I owe Roarke, Harry. I gotta get those kids back." She winced. "and then I have to save Hades."

Skye frowned. "I owe him, Harry. I gotta get those kids back." She winced. "and then I have to save Hades."

Harry looked at her confused. "Why?"

Skye groaned. "Because...I don't know. Because it's the right thing to do..."

Harry looked at her as though she were nuts. "Have you completely lost your grip with reality? 'Because it's the right thing to do'? He's practically stolen Roarke's kids!"

Skye thought for a moment knowing that he was right. The kids needed to be rescued first, then they could save Hades. "The Fates work with Hades still, don't they?"

Harry rolled his eyes, annoyed. It was common knowledge. "Not to mention Demeter and Athena, but I think Hades has them under contract."

Skye pondered this for a moment. "I've gotta start looking at this from a lawyer's point of view."

"What about Sebastian?" insisted Harry.

She smiled. "Hey, Harry. What do you call a million lawyers in Hell?"

Harry frowned. "What?"

"A good start," she answered and disappeared.

Go On To Chapter:

Don't get chocolate fingerprints on the forms...