Chapter 4

The Mortal Riptide?

Flashback

"Sweet mother of Gods." I whispered.

Flashback ends

There it was, in the middle of the cabin... A. Floating. Sword. "Holy freakin' crap." I mumbled as I circled the sword, examined every excruciating detail engraved, tatooed or carved into the sword. Then, I thought back about the fight earlier Eugenio and I had with the Templar knights. The sword was comfortable, fitting, light. It felt so... right. When I was fighting, it felt like the sword was attracted to my hand through a magnetic force.

I snapped back into reality after my eyes were drawn towards the sword for a while. It seemed like I just broke outof a trance. When I was still staring at the sword in awe (from a safe distance. I mean come on. Why the hell would I stand next to something that can kill?), an disturbing image caught my eye. I was face to face with myself in the mirror. My eyes were glowing blue. "What the hell?" I mumbled as my heart beat faster. I immediately looked back at my sword and reached out to grab it.

I felt a small repulsion when I was a few centimetres away from it, but when I thrust my hand towards the sword, there was a strong force that pulled ME towards it. I finally grabbed the sword in midair while falling sideways to the ground with a huge 'THUD'. I clutched my shoulder and groaned in pain. I stood up a stared at the magnificent sword, that now as a weird, light blue-green aura circling it. Then, the aura slowly creeped up my arm like a snake, surrounding my entire arm. Hand to shoulder.

I looked back at the mirror and saw the blue glow in my eyes slowly fade out. I looked down at the guard of the blade and saw something written in Ancient Greek. "Po... Sei...Don..." I mumbled out as the letters rearranged themselves (thanks to my dyslexia). "Poseidon... Poseidon..." I mumbled once again, trying to figure out what this meant.

"EUGENIO!" I screamed, officially freaked out. After a few seconds, I heard a soft slam and Eugenio stumbled into my room, dressed in a hoodie and a pair of pants. "Woah," was the first word that escaped his mouth. I spread out my arms and gave him a sarcastic smile.

"Eugenio... You said earlier about the sword being specially made in the Forges for me? Where is the forge from? Because I absolutely have NO idea that a human-killing sword has 'Poseidon' engraved on it." I said, annoyed. He shrugged as he walked towards me, examining me as if I was some sort of monster. He tugged at the sword's grip as I let go, but it didn't budge.

"It seems that the blade is attached to your hand... By some kind of force..." He said, still tugging it. He then used two hands to PULL on it. "OWWW!" I screamed. It felt like it was glued to my hand. He used his leg and planted it on my chest, still pulling it. I tried to push his leg of my body, but damn, he was strong. In the end, we were a tangled mess. He finally gave up while I gripped the sword again, still trying to figure out how to detach the blade. Then, LIGHTBULB.

I closed my eyes and just commanded the sword to fall. And... it did. The aura still remained, but I FINALLY got it off my hand. I let out a small sigh of relief. I thought I had to start sleeping with that. But again... It will come in pretty handy. "How did you...?" Eugenio said suspiciously while raising an eyebrow.

"I... I just... Commanded it to drop. And, well..." I said, pointing to the shining sword on the floor. He scratched his chin and said, "We'll find out from the Forges when we get to the bureau. Well, after the new Assassin. Apparently, some monsters ambushed him after a field trip in school. We have to be the bigger men and help him. Then it's smooth sailing to the Assassin's Bureau." He said contently. I nodded and took a shaky breath before crashing into bed. He exited while turning off the lights and closing the door.


"Argghhh..." I groaned as the sunlight shined onto my face. I turned away from the window and used the covers to cover my body. I was about to fall back asleep when Eugenio barged in with a... a... Conch horn?

"BBBUUUUUUUUUUU!" It sounded as Eugenio blew it, turning his face red. "WHAA-" My eyes flew open and I fell off from the edge of the bed. I rubbed my shoulder while Eugenio chuckled, "Morning, dude. There's breakfast. We're 30 minutes away from our destination." I used the bed as support and stood up while nodding. Eugenio exited while I yawned.

I was walking to the bathroom when I noticed something about the sword. It wasn't on the floor like last night... It was, on the table... Next to my bed. Okay. Officially creeped the fucked out. How did it get there? I don't sleep walk. What if... I subconsciously moved the sword from the floor to the table? It's possible. I shuddered and continued to the bathroom.

I stepped out, half naked with a towel wrapped around my waist. I opened the drawer and and put on a black cotton t-shirt with an eagle on it and chose a white hoodie with another eagle on the back. I put on some jeans and sneakers, grabbed my sword, then left my room. I walked towards the dining hall when I caught the scent of... PANCAKES! My stomach grumbled as I ran to the dining room. I could have swore drool dripped out of my mouth when I saw the marvelous buffet style breakfast. Soft, fluffy pancakes placed on silver trays, crispy waffles filled the table and a side of cereal with a huge milk dispenser.

"Doesn't Camp Half-Blood have food? You're like a puppy who just smelled bacon. Which is over there, to the left." He smiled while pointing towards a plate of bacon and scrambled eggs. I grabbed a HUGE plate and filled it with 3 pancakes, 2 waffles and a bowl of cereal. Then, I sat down and gobbled my food up. "Hey wolf boy, how was last night? Any visions? Dreams? I heard demigods get a lot of those." He said, slightly disgusted at the food smeared on my face. "No... In fact, that was the best night's sleep I've had for years." I said after swallowing my food and wiping the maple syrup on my mouth away. I finished the rest of my food and drank a cup of orange juice.

"Packed up with energy? Good. Because we have to get training. You don't have much time." He said while his smile faded. Uh oh... Serious Eugenio. I nodded obediently, remembering the time he held what I learnt was a 'hidden blade' to my neck. Actually, in my opinion, the hidden blade is pretty cool. I can use my sword to cut monsters and then use the hidden blade to quickly kill them before they can recover. The blade is lighter and smaller. We exited the dining hall and walked down a huge hallway when we finally arrived at a stairway. Eugenio walked down while I followed.

He looked around and pulled a candle from the table opposite a bookshelf. He held it up for a few seconds before letting it go. Then, the bookshelf started to creak and move to the side. What a cliche. He took out a lighter from his pocket and lit it up, revealing a long stairway down. I walked down carefully, trying not to step on any spiderwebs. We finally reached a huge room and Eugenio lit a candle right beside the stairway, causing other candles to light up one by one, in sequence, lighting up the room completely.

"Woah..." I mumbled under my breath. The room was huge, around half a theatre. There were straw dummies, metal dummies, amour, robes and several weapons. "We still have some time to train before we reach Brooklyn as the currents are getting stronger, so we have to slow down. There'll be a delay." Eugenio said as he took out a chest. He blew off the dust and opened the chest. Inside laid two hidden blades, a sling belt (it straps onto you like a sling bag, but instead of a bag, the sling is attached to a huge belt), throwing knives, a pistol and a dagger.

"Nice!" I said as I walked towards it with my hands sticking out, ready to collect my new weapons. Before I could even go near the chest, Eugenio closed the dusty chest and smacked my hand. "Oww..." I complained, rubbing my hand. "Do you think I'm just going to give you free weapons and amour? You have to earn this stuff!" He said strictly. I shot him an annoyed look. He simply tossed me a belt with a sheath attached to it. It was made of leather, nothing special. I strapped it on my jeans and inserted my sword. At first, it didn't fit, but then, the sword molded into another shape and fit in perfectly into the sheath. "Wow," Eugenio and I said in sync. Then, I unsheathed my sword again and it molded back into it's original form. "Nice." I said, smiling. I sheathed it again and waited for Eugenio to train me. He was going to give some huge speech about combat and such when the yacht stopped.

"We're here. I'll be waiting at this dock." Some guy spoke through the speaker. He turned to me, "Come on. It's time you met Neil." He put on a heavily armed robe with a sword and a dagger. He strapped on two hidden blades and slot on a grey gauntlet on each hidden blade, making it... well... hidden. I took a closer look at the gauntlets. It was grey and had a weird logo on it. It seemed like it was a curved triangle. I looked back at the training room and saw the same exact logo carved in detail into the wall. It must be the Assassin's logo of some sort. I sheathed my dagger and followed Eugenio.

We stepped out the yacht and walked over a creaky bridge. "Welcome to Rodrigrez da Encrotvitz's castle. Where all the shit happens." Eugenio said smugly, "Let me introduce you to the other side of the family."

A.N. Hey guys! Exams are finally over and I can update 1 or 2 chapters per day. Yes, I do have a life. And I need to jam with my bros, but it is fun writing this story. It is nice to share my ideas to *echo* the INTERWEBS. Shout out to my bro Phantom Alpha for supporting me throughout my entire writing process. Hope you have enjoyed this story! Please review, it's means a lot to me.