Chapter 3: Polar Opposites

Sorry everyone for taking a long time writing this. Thanks to Okmin for reading over this, and finding some of my mistakes.

The temperature around the forest was rising, getting hotter and hotter. Sweat was rolling down Erida's pale face and my own.

"That's odd…" I muttered, "The weather was fine just a moment ago… It can't have changed this quickly… Unless…" trailing off, I suddenly realized what was happening it was another demigod! He must have some sort of heating power!

"Show yourself, knave, or feel the icy chill of Alkandros, son of Boreas, god of the northern winds and winter!" I roared, raising my arms, trying to blast a wind of cold air around me. The temperature was slowly dropping, but not by a lot. A warmer wind blowing most of it away was the first sign of demigod troubles.

The second was when the demigod stood up from his hiding spot, wearing light clothing, laughing crazily. That usually isn't a good sign.

"Feel the burning wrath of Dralkan, son of Notus!" He smirked, creating a large summer breeze that not only rose the temperature back up drastically, but had also blown me aside. Where was Erida when we're under attack? Can't she get close enough to knock him out? I quickly glanced around; she was on the verge of flying backwards, gripping the grass with her fingers. That solved that mystery…

"Damn…" I muttered, remembering that Notus is the god of summer and the southern wind. Right now, there was no way for me to overpower him… He was too strong right for me now… And I couldn't escape.

Sweat rolled down my face, I glanced around. A large, blunt rock was rolling backwards. Grabbing it, I tried to get closer to him. If my winds won't do much, maybe this rock will. Clawing the grass, pulling myself forward, as he kept on laughing, and most probably thinking that whatever I do will be useless. Well, technically he was right, but I wasn't going to let him know that. Although, he did seem familiar, had I met him before?

Slowly I felt the winds getting weaker and weaker, he must be getting pretty cocky right now. I slowly struggled to stand up, and he started laughing at my attempt, probably laughing it off as a foolish attempt at resistance. Chiron must've been half-asleep when he chose this guy to get us.

"So much for your burning wrath, it's nothing compared to my icy chill," I said, just as arrogant as him, startling him. A puzzled and slightly worried look encroached on his face, letting the wind die out almost instantaneously, maybe in fear, or maybe to see what I was made of. It didn't matter. At the first chance I got, I flung the rock straight at him. It sailed through the sky and hit him square on his head, bouncing off and falling backwards.

"Damn you… All-candles…" he muttered. As he fell, his light brown hair lay in a scattered mess and the rock lay right next to him. All-candles? I told him my name was Alkandros!

"And as I said before, so much for your burning wrath," I snickered, leaving him there to suffer. He deserved it.

Erida stood up, walked up to him, and placed her hand over his sweating forehead, most probably sucking his energy. That should keep him there for a while.

"Well that annoying problem is solved right?" I asked, she looked at me as if I was kidding. Okay, so maybe she didn't think he was a small problem also…

By then, Nikki had reappeared with a pack of supplies, scanning the area, before asking a question that I should've asked myself before.

"Where are we going?"

I should've been better prepared, but hey, it was a last moment thing.

"How about Texas?" I blurted out to give an answer, not really thinking on it. I hadn't thought this far into our plan.

The two of them were staring at me dumbfounded. Erida pulled out a map from her pocket and pointed at the country above us, Canada.

"Seriously? Texas?" Nikki asked, before looking at where Erida was pointing, "I guess that'll work."

Erida wrote on the map, "Anywhere better?"

"Are you mute?" She then asked.

Erida merely nodded in response.

"Yeah… Canada, sure that's a great idea," I said, agreeing with the plan, better than Texas I bet. Although that Dalk… I think that's his name, would be able to catch up to us easy by riding the southern winds… Ah well, I don't think Chiron would send someone that far from camp.

Erida started walking off in one direction, before I stopped them, "It's that way," pointing to my right.

"Yea, as if I didn't know that," Nikki muttered.

I picked up Erida's and my supplies, which were in a single bag, and started heading off, Nikki trailing behind me muttering something I couldn't hear.

Smiling, she said, "My name's Victoria, after my mom's Roman name, and my middle name is Nicole, after her Greek name. Nobody ever calls me Victoria and I guess my mom just started calling me Nikki 'cause it sounds like Nike, get it? Now I have a question for you. Why don't you ever talk?"

Looking back, I saw that she had a piece of paper in her hand, must've been Erida, who just then wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it, before handing over another piece of paper.

"There has to be a reason," she prompted. "I mean, come on, talking is better than writing stuff down all the time. The satyrs must hate you for wasting so much paper."

So she can talk, I'll be sure to get her to talk before we settle that battle. Grinning, she then handed another piece of paper. A bush to the right rustled a bit.

"Enough hiding already! Show yourself demigod!" I yelled, "Don't hide!" That Notus kid most probably came with reinforcements, and whoever was in the bush was with him.

It wasn't a demigod. It pounced towards me, before I could blow it back, pinning me to the ground, its black muzzle in my face, teeth bared, paws crushing my limbs. It was another hellhound.

"This is not my day," I muttered, struggling to get off from under the massive furry dog, my limbs being crushed by its weight.

Its maw opened up, its breath reeked of death and rotten corpses, and it wasn't a pleasant smell, its sharp teeth about to crunch my head. Well, it looks like this is it.

Its limbs started to tremble, as if it was struggling to keep me pinned. Did it eat something bad before finding me and now it's having problems? Falling forward, it was just about to crush me with its weight, but simply disintegrated.

"Huh?"

Erida stumbled backwards a bit, before falling unconscious; she must've sucked all of its energy… Nectar should wake her up… I thought, pulling out a small canister of Nectar and pouring only a bit down her throat. I don't want her dying on me now. Only I can kill her, no one – or nothing - else, I won't allow it. She coughed a bit, stirring awake.

"There we go," I muttered, putting it back, standing up, before some more rustling was heard behind me. Another hellhound, I guessed. I was wrong.

Before I could make another move, there was a sword blade to my throat, its celestial bronze blade dangerously close to my flesh.

"Damn," I muttered.

I didn't dare look who it was, but judging from the heat radiating from him, I knew who he was. He awoke sooner than expected.

But this time, I was unprepared. He's got me this time.

"Now, who are you?" The oh-so familiar, voice asked. This time, I knew who it was.

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