Liza looked around her inside the small dark, dreary train. Lexa was sitting across from her, Victor in front. Lexa had her arms crossed, staring ahead like she was about to challenge someone to a duel. Victor, on the other hand, was leaning on his elbow, staring peacefully and silently out of the window, watching the raindrops splash one by one on the thick glass. Liza wondered what he could possibly be thinking. Their quest? His unpopularity at camp? Or something else? Liza sighed. They were headed to Texas, and they still had three out of five hours left to go. It was incredibly boring. The few mortals on the train were either reading, surfing the internet, or sleeping. Liza checked to see if anyone was watching, then opened her palm, watching blue flames flicker faintly. Not flames, exactly, like the orange fire you see at campsites. Blue flames, as in magnetic pulses that look similar to fire. She had only recently discovered she could do this, and she had assumed it was because her Dad was Lord of the Underworld, death, skulls, deep earth metals, whatever. She was trying to grow this power, and make it stronger. No one was watching, which was good. At least, no mortals were watching her.
"Put that – that thing away, now! Before the mortals see it!" Lexa hissed, standing over. The pulses died instantly.
"No one was watching, it was completely safe." Liza retorted, looking around nervously, in case anyone was staring. Thankfully, they weren't. "What in Hades were you even doing!?" Lexa asked furiously. "Two things: One, none of your business. Two, please don't use my Dad's name in a bad way." Liza responded, still looking around. This train made her both claustrophobic and nervous. Lexa looked down at her defiantly. "Yes, I do have a right to know, because in case you forgot, last time we went on a quest, Spencer went missing!" She was pushing it too far now. It wasn't Liza's fault Spencer couldn't save himself from the cave collapse, and even if it was Lexa's fault, which it most likely wasn't, demigods do die most of the time, which Lexa obviously couldn't see or get over. Maybe it was because she had lived at Camp Half-Blood for so long, having never seen the real world until their last quest.
"Look Lexa," Liza tried to speak calmly, "It wasn't our faults at all that Spencer couldn't save himself. Plus, he didn't die in vain. He sacrificed himself to save Tessa, remember? There was nothing we could do!" Lexa clapped both her hands over her ears.
"Don't say that! He's not, I just know it! He's only missing in action!" Liza sighed, and reached out a hand to pat her back, then thought better of it. "Hey, hate to break it to you, but my Dad is Hades, for the love of Zeus! If he were alive, I could probably tell!" Just then, Victor whipped around in his seat, multi colored eyes glaring.
"Just be a bit louder, won't you? Then I think China will hear what you have to say! Sit down, and stop making such a fuss!" Lexa opened her mouth to shout angrily at him, then apparently thought it wouldn't be best to. She whirled around, and stomped back to her seat, which was about two footsteps away. She sat down, and glared out the window, thin-lipped and stiff shouldered. Liza sat down quietly, and stared into space for what seemed like the next couple of hours. She then checked her watch, and it had only been twenty minutes. Suddenly, she tensed up. "Guys," She began urgently, "There's something funny about this–" The train jerked to a sudden stop, hurling passengers and baggage. When everyone could stand again, The train conductor came in.
"All passengers, please exit immediately, and–" At that second, a giant ripping noise occurred, and the roof was torn right off by massive, unseen claws. In the next second, a giant mouth surged down, and gulp, the conductor no more to be seen. Actually, they could all hear him screaming in agony and pure horror, as the Nemean Lion chewed him to bits, swallowing a stray limb occasionally. It all happened too fast, but the moment drew out into what seemed like minutes. It was all horribly disgusting. Liza realized she, Lexa, and Victor had frozen with shock. Lexa shook her head, and charged at the beast, drawing Silver Mist as she ran. Liza drew Letum and Mors, and Victor brought out his weapon too. They also charged at the twelve foot tall monster, only faltering when they were about to run into mortals screaming in terror and running in random directions for their lives. Liza was almost there, when she sensed young mortal life behind Lexa. "Lexa! Behind you! Quick!" Liza screamed, hoping Lexa would hear. Lexa jerked backwards, and turned, just as the lion on steroids was about to swallow another person, a little girl of about four, crying for her parents. Quick as lightning, Lexa streaked towards her, turning into an owl halfway and lifted the girl out of the way, just as the monster snapped up thin air. Liza ordered Letum to turn into a wolf. He streaked off, distracting the lion, running in random directions so fast, he looked like a blur of jet-black night. Liza began to fight the lion alongside Victor and Lexa with Mors. This was how it usually was. Letum turns into a wolf, and Liza fights with Mors in knife form. Letum was running in random directions around the monster, while it growled and snapped angrily, shaking its head trying to follow his movements. Letum was running so fast, he looked like a blur of jet-black night.
"Liza," Mors hummed softly, his voice sounding metallic and tinny. He spoke in the language of the wolves, but Liza could understand just fine. Mors had always been the quieter of the two. "Don't you remember? The story of the Nemean Lion..." Mors fell silent, as if deep in thought.
"Mors! What story? Tell me–" Liza realized two things: she probably looked really stupid yelling at her knife, which to everyone else looked like they couldn't talk back. She also realized what Mors had been trying to tell her. She glanced over her shoulder to tell Victor and Lexa what to do, but Lexa had already realized long before she did. Lexa was bravely getting as close as she could to the Lion's mouth or eyes without being eaten, and swooping away again when she couldn't reach. Victor was still trying to break through the skin, his sword clanging off it on impact.
"Victor! It's skin is invulnerable! Unpierceable! Aim for the mouth or eyes!" Liza shouted, running back towards the battle. Victor turned, eyes wide, and at that moment, the lion sprang on him, crushing him under two-hundred tons of fat kitty. "No! Victor!" Liza and Lexa cried at the same time. The lion roared triumphantly at their grief and shock, which was a stupid mistake for 's sword had flown from his hand as he was crushed and it hit lion in the eye. It didn't even have a chance to roar again, before it exploded into monster dust. Lexa turned into a human again, running to the spot where Victor disappeared. Liza was already there, she ordered Letum to sniff for tracks, and Mors hummed sympathetically. Liza realized this time, it probably was her fault Victor was missing. When Lexa came, they both searched frantically, but to no avail. Victor had simply disappeared, but to where, Liza was not sure. Lexa turned furiously, and slapped Liza across the face. It stung badly, so she was a good slapper. Liza didn't care, she knew she probably deserved it. Lexa's eyes watered, and she screamed, "Vlacas!" at Liza. Liza simply stared in shock and growing anger at herself, as Lexa sat down and began to sob. Liza felt tears pricking at her own eyes, and she allowed them to fall for the second time in her life, dripping down her cheeks, staining her black hoodie with grief and anger. They fell to the ground, staining the ground like droplets of blood after a murder scene, and she hated herself for distracting Victor. And then, not five feet from them, out of the ground popped Victor.
"Victor! You're alive!" They both yelled at him at the same time, throwing themselves at him with hugs. Liza was so happy he was alive, she cried harder. The rain continued to pour, washing away that blood Liza had cried, washing away her despair. The rain cooled her burning cheek, and the rain soaked her to the bone, and yet she was the happiest girl in the world. Victor was grinning hard, and Lexa was crying with happiness too.
"How did you live?" was the first thing Liza managed to choke out. Victor looked at her a bit strangely, and said, "It's a Demeter thing. Ground escape. I let my essence dissolve, turn into soil, and and came back when I felt it was safe." Lexa wiped away her tears, and said, "Well, I think we should continue. Let's find somewhere to stay for the night." She sounded drained. On that night, Liza sensed a growing friendship between them, as they left the burning train wreck and rolling hills behind, heading arm in arm towards the forest nearby.
REVIEW!