So far away,
I wish you were here,
Before it's too late, this could all disappear.
Before the doors close,
And it comes to an end,
With you by my side I will fight and defend.
Keep Holding On, Avril Lavigne
If you've read chapter 1, my apologies. I screwed up the timeline. So please read it again just for the correct chronology!
September 9, 2006, The Barracks
I'm leaving to go on a quest today. With Reyna. This should be an interesting experience.
I leant against the side of the doorframe of her barrack. She hadn't noticed me, too busy stuffing things into her backpack.
"What do you think you're doing?"
She jumped and turned around, and when she saw me, she gave me what I was beginning to consider her death stare. "Jesus! You scared the living daylights out of me."
"You know this is a camp full of kids whose parents are Roman gods. Jesus and paganism don't go so well together."
"Yea yea. My grandmother was a staunch Catholic." She turned back to her packing.
"Oh." That made me pause. How did one reconcile being Catholic with pagan gods. I finally stepped into the barracks.
"Careful," she sang, "you're not allowed in here. There might be some traps in here for trespassers."
I rolled my eyes (which she didn't notice) and stepped next to her. "You didn't answer my question. Why are you going on this quest with me?"
She sighed. "I already told you. I'm taking the chance to prove my…"
"Your loyalty to this camp. Yea yea I heard your little speech. But you know what I think? I think it's complete bullshit. So why are you going?"
She pushed past me, pulled open a drawer and pulled out the only t-shirt and only pair of jeans in it. "Call it an act of goodwill," she said.
I narrowed my eyes at her. She sighed again and said, "Ok Ok I confess. I'm actually a spy for the Titans and I've come to take out one of their most formidable foes. I'll be alone with you on this quest so I'll have ample opportunities to take you out."
"You're impossible," I said, shaking my head at her. "We're leaving in an hour. Don't be late!" Then I turned around and marched out of the barracks.
An hour later, I climbed to the entrance of the tunnel to find Reyna sitting on the grass waiting for me, her backpack lying next to her. "Finally," she said, "I thought you were getting cold feet."
I opened my mouth to reply, but Philip came up just then. "Enough you two. You've done enough fighting since Reyna's arrived. Now listen, it's important you bring this slab back. It's not just for the protection of the camp. Virgin blood holds an immense amount of power. If the Titans were to get their hands on it, it would give them the power to break through the defenses around Olympus and burn it to the ground. We have to keep it out of their hands. So be careful and watch each other's backs. Once the Titans know you're after the slab, they'll send their best pets after you to slow you down, or worse, to stop you. So put your differences aside and work together. You're both strong and powerful. Don't fail us."
"Yea no pressure," I grumbled. Philip smiled at me. "You'll do great," he said, putting his hand on my shoulder.
"Let's get going," Reyna grumbled. He smiled at her too. "Be safe Reyna." She rolled her eyes at him.
"Let's go already," she said again, this time louder. Then she picked up her backpack, strapped it on, and headed into the tunnel. I gave Philip one last smile and followed her.
And that was how I began a quest with the most annoying person I had ever known.
The journey started out well enough. Reyna and I had decided that the first thing we needed to do was find out where the slab was. To find this information, Reyna suggested we head into Berkeley to find a history professor at the University there.
Now she was sitting next to me, staring out the window, drumming her fingers on her knee.
"You're nervous," I said.
"You aren't?" she asked without turning to me. I looked into the window and realized she was talking to my reflection. "The minute we stepped out of that tunnel we sent up a beacon. We said, here we are, come get us!"
"We'll be fine," I mumbled, but now I was nervous. She turned towards me and gave me a small smile.
"We will be." I guess I continued to frown, because then she said, "Let's play a game."
"Why?"
"To distract us."
I shrugged. "Okay, what do you want to play?"
She pointed to a lady sitting across from us. "What do you think her story is?"
I snorted. "Seriously?"
She raised her eyebrows and nodded at me. "I'm waiting."
"Big hat – she's not used to the sun. Maybe from somewhere up north. Hawaiian print shirt? Probably a tourist. More on the heavy side? Probably sits most of the time for her job."
"Good. But that's not her story. That's a description."
"How am I supposed to know her story?"
"You're not. You're supposed to make it up."
"Why would I want to do that?"
She sighed. "To live a little. Get outside of your own head," she said tapping my forehead. The she turned to the window. "To get away from your own life," I barely heard her mutter. She turned back to me. "Forget it, this was stupid."
I frowned at her. I had a feeling that I was beginning to see a little bit of her. She was trying to prove something, but not about who she was, who she could be. She was trying to get out of her own head.
I tapped her forehead. "What's going on in there?" I whispered.
She pulled away from me. "None of your business." Then she turned back to the window and didn't speak to me until we reached Berkeley.
When we finally stepped off the bus, she paused to look around. She looked even more nervous now. "What?" I asked.
"Too easy," she muttered. "Don't you think so?"
Now that she did mention it, it did seem too easy. If the Titans wanted this slab wouldn't they have already been hunting us? But I shrugged and said, "Maybe we're just having a bout of good luck. Don't jinx it." Then I started off down the street towards the university. She kept pace beside, constantly looking around. "Stop doing that. We look too conspicuous. Someone might stop us thinking we're on the run or something."
She nodded, but she was gripping the straps of her backpack too tightly. She was nervous.
We finally made it to the university and stepped into the atrium. It was crowded but just ahead there was a table covered with pamphlets and around it sat a group of kids wearing "Welcome to University of California, Berkeley" t-shirts. So we headed over.
As we drew closer, a bright cheery girl chirped, "Welcome! Are you a freshman?"
Reyna looked at me, and grinned. "I am, but he's not," she said.
The girl laughed. "Silly of me to ask. But how can I help you today?"
"My friend and I are doing research for a class project. Usually, our classmates like to settle for internet sources, but I confess, I'm a bit of an over-achiever. Do you think there's a professor who might be interested in talking to us about ancient Roman artefacts?"
"I'm a history major," one of her other friends said, stepping up. "You could probably talk to Professor Sipher. He's probably the best person to ask about Ancient Rome. But be warned: he's always busy and hates interruptions." She gave us the directions to his office and we set off. When we finally got there, the place look like it'd already been blown up. We rushed into the office to find an old chubby man, flinging papers and books everywhere.
"Not what I was looking for, not it, not it NOT IT! Abby! WHERE IS MY DAMN DISSERTATION?" He turned around and glared at us. "You there have you taken it?"
"What?" I said.
He came over and shook me by my shoulders. "HAVE YOU TAKEN IT BOY! You infernal students! So interruptive, disruptive, and uncreative!"
Reyna did something completely unexpected. She slapped him. The man stopped shaking me and stared at her in wonder. "You're a grown man. If you can't look after your stuff yourself, why should anyone else do it? Get it together man!"
The man continued to stare at her in wonder. Then he rubbed his cheek as if he couldn't believe what had just happened. Then he threw his head back and laughed. "Come in, come in," he finally said, wiping tears from his eyes. "Don't mind the papers. Make yourselves comfortable."
"What just happened?" I whispered to Reyna.
"Someone needed to knock some sense into that man. I believe he's about to thank us."
"You're so weird," I whispered back.
She smirked at me. Then she turned to the man, who looked like a walrus in person form."Mr. Sipher, we were told that you would be the best person to talk to about Roman artefacts!"
"Yes, yes," he said shuffling through some papers on his desk. "What did you want to know?"
"Well I'm sure someone with your interest might try to keep up with news of any new artefacts."
"Yes," he said, sinking into his chair. "Are you interested in something my dear?"
She pulled a piece of paper out of her backpack. "We've heard that a distance slab of Hadrian's Wall was recently uncovered. We'd like to know where it is." She placed the paper in front of him.
Sipher picked up his glasses, glanced at her, and then looked at the picture. "Ah, a distance slab made by the Sixth Legion. There's an artefact worth a pretty penny."
I frowned. "Do you know where we could find it?"
"You young people, always in a hurry." He shook his head. "I may be able to tell you. But first answer me this, what is your interest in the slab."
"Merely academic, professor," Reyna said quickly shooting me a look. Be quiet! Right, like I was going to tell this man all about magic and monsters. Who did she think I was? "We'd like to look at it, examine it, hold it. My friend and I have a deep love for history and we want to understand the story. I've heard that one of the best ways to do that is to examine sources from that time. What better way to learn about Hadrian's Wall than to look at the slab that was part of its creation?" She gave him a sweet, passionate smile.
To my surprise, the professor smiled back at her. "What a lovely, intelligent girl you are. Yes, yes you're right dear. Hang on. Let me call one of my colleagues." Whilst he put through the call, I wandered over to the window. I'd expected to see a bunch of students just hanging out. What I hadn't expected was the giant automaton, marching up to the building. "Reyna, they're here," I yelled. She nodded, jumped over the desk, and said, "Professor, how much longer?"
"Just a second dear," he replied. "Yes, yes George. The slab. What? It's been stolen? WHEN?" Reyna gave me a look.
"Where are they?" she asked. I heard a door smash down the hallway.
"Close." I pulled out my gladius and stood in front of the door.
"Don't be stupid Jason, we can't fight that thing in here. There are too many people around." Her voice was frantic.
The professor was still yelling into the phone. "Those pilfering, no-good, desecrators!"
Reyna rolled her eyes. "Time to go professor! NOW!" She grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards the window.
"You're crazy!" I shouted.
"Do you have a better plan?"
I glared at the door, but I knew she was right. We couldn't fight that thing in here. "Fine! But I still think you're crazy. She smashed a vase through the window and jumped. At the last minute, I realised that I could use the air currents to smooth her landing. I looked out the window and she was safely on her feet. "Come on!" she shouted up to us. I could hear the automaton punching down doors, drawing closer to us.
The professor was hesitating. "Sorry professor," I said, then pushed him out the window. The automaton burst through the door, its golden body gleaming in the light filtering through the hole in the wall. "Adios mi amigo!" Then I stepped out of the window. As soon as I landed, we started running, Reyna pulling the professor along behind her, the automaton's roars bellowing out behind us, the building smoking.
We didn't stop running until the professor begged us to stop. "Stop, stop, please. I can't run anymore!" Reyna glanced nervously behind her. "We shouldn't stop."
"Who blew up my office? What did that man with all the armor want?" the professor demanded.
"Don't worry about it," I said. "What did your friend say?"
"The slab's been stolen! It was up for display at the Smithsonian, and then it was to be moved to the American Museum for Natural History. But it was stolen two nights ago. My best guess is whoever's stolen it will probably try to sell it on the black market. That kind of artefact will fetch a heavy price. Especially with the kind of legend that goes with it." Reyna and I exchanged looks.
She patted him on the back. "We're sorry to have bothered you professor. Thank you for all your help. Whoever attacked the school should be gone by the time you get back." She walked over to the edge of the sidewalk and flagged a taxi. She opened the door for him. "Take care of yourself professor."
He smiled at her. "Take care of yourself dear. You may have a bright future in history."
She snorted. "History is my life."
I smiled. History was indeed our lives.
She turned back to me.
"Well what now?" I asked. "How are we supposed to track something that went onto the black market?"
For some reason, it seemed like her eyes looked darker. "I know someone. How much money do we have?"
I pulled out the cash from my backpack. "A few hundred dollars. Why?"
"We have to go to Seattle."
"You know someone in Seattle who can help us?"
"I don't know for sure that we'll find help there. But right now it's the best lead we've got." There was something off about her. Her voice was stiff and tense.
"You don't want to go to Seattle, do you?" I guessed.
"Look, it doesn't matter what I want. We don't know where else to look and there might be something in Seattle. If you don't want to go, you can go back to Camp Jupiter and tell them you've failed. But you'll go alone!" There was that anger again. She hid it well, but it was always just below the surface.
I put my hands up. "Okay, okay! To Seattle we go!" I hailed a taxi and asked the driver to take us to the nearest bus station. We bought our tickets and decided to go get lunch in the meantime. She ate quietly, distracted and tense.
"We should be fine. By the time that automaton catches up to us we'll be long gone on our way to Seattle," I said, trying to sound positive.
"Yea," she murmured. "We'll be fine. Everything will be fine." Her eyes seemed to be looking at something far, far away. Something I couldn't see.
"Is there anything I need to know about what we're going into in Seattle?"
She shook her head. "Everything will be fine." Her positivity sounded way more forced.
"Yea, we'll be fine," I repeated. When has that ever been true for a demigod?
We left the diner early, so we decided to roam around town for a little while to pass the time. We were just passing a shop full of creepy dolls when something glinted in the window. "Get down," I shouted, crouching over Reyna. The axe barely missed us, crashing into the display and chopping the heads off of the higher mounted dolls. I stood up and raised my gladius. Reyna pulled out a pair of wicked, gleamingly sharp hunting knives.
"Try to break its stance!" she yelled. I frowned at her.
"It's a giant automaton. I think breaking its stance is going to be a lot harder than you toppling a lanky 19-year old."
She rolled her eyes at me. "Just do it!" Then she took off at a run. The automaton tried to smash her, but she dodged. It was like a game of whack-a-mole. I shook my head and ran after her.
"Hey Big-Foot! Over here!" The automaton roared and tried to land a punch, but I ducked and rolled out of the way. It growled in frustration, then it opened its mouth and said in voice that sounded more like the whirring of machine parts, "Where is it? Where is the slab?"
"Seriously dude? You honestly think we'd tell you even if we knew? You think it'd be that easy?"
It raised its foot and tried to squash me. But I raised my gladius, and instead, the automaton stepped onto a really sharp toothpick! It's not a toothpick, she'd said. Ha who's laughing now Reyna? The giant howled and flailed backwards.
"That's it Jason! Break its stance!" Reyna yelled from somewhere above me. Before it could bring its foot down, I darted forward and slashed at its left calf. Black oil leaked out of the wound. The gash infuriated it, but I knew it wouldn't hold it back forever. "Reyna we need a better plan," I yelled.
"I'm working on it!" I looked up to see her scaling the automaton's leg like she was a mountain goat. "Just distract it!"
"For how long?" I shouted in exasperation.
"Long enough!"
I kept slicing at his legs, jabbing at his toes, and poking his heel. He was getting angrier and we were running out of time. "Reyna!"
"Jason!" she screamed. I had been so focused on his legs that I'd completely missed his swinging arm. It smacked right into me sending me flying into a nearby shop window. I groaned and struggled to push myself straight. My vision was blurry, but I could see Reyna scaling its face. Finally she reached his eyes and she jabbed her sword into it, plucked out the eyeball, and left a gaping hole. She looked at me.
"You get it?" she shouted.
I nodded and struggled to my feet. "One, two…" I counted.
"Three," she yelled and jumped. I raised my gladius, thunder roared around me, and a flash of lightning streaked down from the sky straight into the hole where the giant's eye had been. It began to shake and then his body parts were exploding everywhere, metal raining down from the sky.
"AHHHHHHH!" I heard her yell. She was falling too. My body must have been in so much pain, but at the time, the pain didn't even register. I had to get to her. "REY! Hold on!"
I finally spotted her, careening so fast to the ground. I crouched, pushed off the ground, used the air currents to propel me, caught her in mid-air, and bounced off the air currents for a rough landing. But at least she was alive.
She groaned and rolled away from me. "We're going to have to work on your landing."
"You're welcome," I grumbled.
She grinned at me. And after a moment I smiled back. Then we both stood up. "Are you okay?" I asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Never felt better. You?"
"I'm a little bruised, but I'll live."
She finally grinned at me. "We just took out a giant automaton!"
I looked around at the wreckage around me. "Yea I guess we did." I smiled at her. "That was a pretty good plan."
She shrugged.
"But think about this: how about next time you fill me in in advance, ok?"
She laughed. "WE TOOK OUT AN AUTOMATON!" she yelled.
I laughed. Her jubilance was contagious. "Shhhhhh!" I turned around to head back to the bus station, but stumbled. "Ow! Okay I may be a little bit more than bruised."
She caught me, and pulled my right arm around her shoulder. "Sit," she said, propping me up against a wall. She lifted my t-shirt. "You're all purple. Probably broke some ribs."
"Add that to my growing list of battle-scars."
She trailed her fingers over the bruise and I squirmed. "Sorry," she murmured.
"It's okay." It wasn't just the pain.
"I could probably bandage this up. Then some ambrosia and nectar and you'll be good as new." She took the first aid kit out from her backpack, pulled out some bandages, and began to wrap them around me. I leaned my head down on her shoulder so I wouldn't have to move back and forth. It hurt too much. As she wrapped, I said, "You're pretty good at this demigod thing you know."
"Thanks."
"Like you've already got the fighting skills, you're strategic, a natural born leader, and you know first aid."
"What can I say, I was born ready."
"I think there's a lot more to your story."
She pulled back from me, and pulled down my t-shirt. Then she dug the flask out of her backpack. "Here, drink." I took a sip and the familiar taste of brownies made me feel so much better. I sighed as it went down.
"There, you're as good as new," she said. Then she helped me to my feet. It was still uncomfortable but at least I could walk. As we set off back to the bus station, I asked her, "Are you ever going to tell me your story."
"We may be living a history class Jason, but I honestly like keeping the past in the past," she said, and her voice sounded so sad. I suddenly remembered how she'd looked at the picnic. "How do you that? How do you go from jubilant to distant in like minutes?"
"Reality sets in," she replied. "Let's just get back to the station and hope we haven't missed our bus."
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think :)
