Grumpy Old Harpies Juneta Key Storytime Blog Hop

Grumpy Old Harpies
by Juneta Key
2019 July Storytime Blog Hop

Sydni arrived in Central Dispatch at 0600 ready to go to work.  Things get mishandled, mismanaged or ignored until someone makes it an issue with the Alpha and Omega.  

No one on the Supernatural Council could agree on how to manage a paranormal police force, and no one wanted the responsibility, so it fell to The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Purgatory. 

  Sydni just finished 18 weeks of training in 9 1 1 Emergency Telecommunications, Stress Management, How to Prepare Healthy Box Lunches, Ethics & Protocol, Critical & Lateral Thinking, Mythological Creatures & Lore 101 Handbook, and a religion reference book for beliefs and rituals.  

For added torture, she had to memorize every map to all known universes, realms and sectors, plus all the computer codes for call classification.   The job required test scores 85 or higher. 

Sydni had scored a 100.  She did a little two-step on the way to her cubicle.  Red-haired freckle-faced trolls were not as dumb as everyone thought. 

Purgatory: Supernatural 9 1 1 Dispatch Center

“This is 9 1 1, Offices of Mortality, Chaos, & Conflict, what is the location of your emergency?” 

Sydni typed into the CRT dispatch screen the location indicated on her secondary screen from the nether beacon.  The Underworld.   Immediately her tracking board lit up as the Nephilim Supernatural Hippogriff Patrol checked enroute.     

 “The Elysian Fields,” the caller answered.

“Who am I speaking with?”

“My name is Chiron.  Please hurry.  Hades Harpies are out of control.  They are attacking everyone and stealing food.”

“Is anyone hurt?” Sydni typed as she talked, relaying information straight to her patrol units via the CRT screen.

“Some people are missing some body parts, but still moving.”

“Does anyone require a Necromancer?”

“No, but that is not the real problem.  The Harpies have discovered the Elysian Fields have a daily reset after chaos ensues.  They keep returning.”

“Why aren’t you affected by the reset?”

“I am.  I was…  I could not shake the deep sense of déjà vu that plagued me, so I recorded how often I felt it and what happened before and after.”

“So how many times have you recorded it?”

“Seven thousand and seventy-seven times.”

“And you are just now calling?”

“Yes. I called when I realized the Harpies were returning for an easy food supply at the expense of the people who belong here.  These fields are meant as a place of peace and comfort for the dead, not torment.”

 “Where is Hades? 

“The email notice he sent said On Vacation.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier just to call Hades anyway?”

“I tried.  His emergency nether-number is disconnected.  The Fates are having no luck.  He is hiding in their blind spot, and none of the other gods are answering.”    

The screams and screeching in the background grew louder.    

“That left 9 1 1 Supernatural,” Chiron continued.  “If the Harpies are here, the passages to Hades lair and treasure room are unguarded.  That only invites trouble with the potential to overflow or merge with the human realm, if left unchecked.”

“Where are the Harpies’ now?”

“Terrorizing Hercules kids for their baklava treat.”

“Where is Hercules?   Why can’t he handle the Harpies?” Sydni chomped on peanuts listening.

  “Hercules left to find Hades.  He has not returned.”

 “Stay on the line.  Let me know if anything changes.  The patrol units are just a few minutes out.”

“I will.  But… I only have until the reset.  I might not remember.”

“Understood.  Let me verify your nether-number, 666-777-1010?”

“That’s correct.”

“I will call you back if we get disconnected.”

The Nephilim Hippogriff Patrol: Elysian Fields.

  Patrol Lieutenant-Commander Zephyr tethered his Hippogriff.  It shivered with excitement at the sight of the Harpies ready for the hunt.  Its natural prey.  The huge gold and brown tri-colored hybrid stomped its horse hoofs and tossed its elongated head flapping its wings. 

Zephyr stroked its bird-breast, speaking softly.  The last thing they needed was another incident causing friction between the Underworld and Purgatory because the Hippogriff ate the Harpies.  

“Stay here girl.  The Harpies are not your prey this time.”  The Hippogriff bobbed her head in understanding.   

The crystal power enhancer, a standard equipment issue for patrol, shimmered.   In the Underworld, even telepathic communication could be spotty, so energy boosters never hurt when setting up telepathic links. 

“Commander, I am at Hade’s door.  The place is tight as a drum.  He’s not here just like they said.”

Zephyr paused before answering Arethl, eyeing the flock of Harpies grappling over food, who were, for now, ignoring everything else.  “Can you tell how the Harpies made it through the portal into this sector?” 

“Guessing, the wards failed or were taken down.”

Zephyr doubted his 2^nd missed the mental sigh.  “Join me.  Let’s get this done”.

“Understood”. 

The Harpies did not cooperate.    Zephyr called for Chimera back up.  The Chimera was a Harpies worst nightmare with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and a serpent’s tail breathing fire.  Dispatch only had one available.

The Chimera reacted like a cat on catnip trapping a Harpy against the nearest rockface.  The Harpy started chittering and chattering and bobbing.  To Zephyr’s surprise, instead of attacking or herding it, the Chimera appeared riveted by the Harpy mimicking its sound and movements in sync with the Harpy’s beak, very similar to the way human’s cats behaved around chattering birds.     

The whole fiasco was a bad comedy show of wings, fallen angels, and terrified dead people.  The Harpies attacked everyone, especially the children.  All of them, it seemed, carried sweet treats in the Elysian Fields.  It could have been bad, but the kids were smart, tossing their baklava in the air. 

The Harpies’ swarmed fighting each other to grab the most treats.

The Nephilim use that advantage to herd the Harpies through the portal back to Hades lair, except two, that managed to elude them. 

Zephyr gave chase trapping them under a cliff ledge.  One flew at Zephyr knocking him off his hippogriff with a vicious attack going for his eyes.

The hippogriff screeched and ripped out the Harpy’s throat before its deadly talons could rake him.  The second Harpy wisely ducked back under the cliff ledge. 

Zephyr checked the fallen Harpy.  Too late.  “Arethl, tell dispatch we need a Necromancer, STAT!”

***

Returning to Purgatory Arthel asked, “In the land of the dead, do you think Hades will even notice that one of his Harpies is a Zombie?

Grumpy Old Harpies Juneta Key 2019 July Storytime Blog Hop