Chapter 6: Safe haven

Antonio:

We had landed down in San Francisco with a little over eighteen hours to spare, and I was glad for the break. I preferred flying to walking, but I wasn't exactly fond of sitting on the back of the dragon for hours on end. When we finally did land, Eli and Raven grabbed a tourist map and located a nearby car wash from which we could send an Iris Message, whatever that was.

"Should be right around the corner," Raven said, turning the corner and digging through his pockets "Eli, you got any drachmas?"

"Might have a few," Eli answered, digging through his backpack and coming out with a gold coin "Yep, last one."

He tossed it to Raven and we slipped inside one of the empty lots, with Eli and I standing guard while Raven used the pump to make a rainbow. I wasn't exactly sure how it worked, and I found myself doing less looking out and more watching Raven.

"What exactly are we sending an Iris Message to camp for?" Eli asked

"Annabeth told me once that her dad lived in San Francisco," Raven told us "So I figure maybe he can give us a place to sleep for a few hours before we get this show on the road."

He turned back to the spring and slid a quarter into it, holding it just right so the sun would hit the spray as a small rainbow began to form. He tossed the golden coin into the stream and it dissolved on contact, disappearing into thin air.

"Oh, Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering," He spoke into the spring "Show me Annabeth Chase, at Camp Half-Blood."

Suddenly, before my eyes, inside the spring, an image began to form. Inside was a girl and boy, sitting on the dock in front of a lake, holding hands. For a moment, they didn't seem to notice us until Raven cleared his throat, making them both jump about six feet in the air.

"Gods, Raven," The guy snapped "Sometimes I really hate these things."

"Same here," Raven laughed "Listen guys, this is Antonio, son of Hestia, new Demigod."

"Hestia?" He said in disbelief

"Listen, we're in a hurry, I'll explain better when I get back," He promised "This is Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase."

"Sup?" I said, nodding to him

"Nothing much," Percy sighed "Slowly watching everything I know or thought I knew fall apart around me, you?"

"Surprisingly similar." I laughed

"Listen, Annabeth," Raven said "You told me your father lived in San Francisco, we were wondering if maybe he could help us out."

"Give you a place to sleep for a few hours?" Annabeth asked "I'll give him a call, I'm sure he won't mind. He's a mile or so from Mount Othrys, thirty fifth street, number four four seven."

"Thanks," Raven said "I really appreciate this, give me a call back if he says he can't do it."

"He'll be fine with," She assured us before turning to me "So, son of Hestia, huh?"

"That's what they say." I shrugged

"Honestly really wish I could tell you that blew my mind as much as it should," She sighed, shaking her head "But you kinda followed up the sons of Artemis and Diana."

"We are a hell of a show." Raven laughed

"Look, you gotta give us something," Percy told us "What's going on?"

Eli gave them a very quick run down of what had transpired over the last few days, and both of them seemed worried when Eli mentioned that Reyna was MIA. Percy was a bit upset that Eli was only going in with a small team, and didn't seem to mind telling him so.

"What are you guys thinking?" He demanded "Eli, this is serious, Kronos isn't anything to fool around with. You can't just walk in with the three of you, stay put, I'll gather everyone I can and we'll-"

"No," Eli told him "This is my business, Percy. I'm well aware of what Kronos is capable of, and we're more than up to the challenge."

"No you aren't," Percy told him desperately "Guys, I've faced Kronos, it's unlike anything you've ever seen before."

"So was Tartarus," Raven countered "I put that asshole down, and I'll put this one down too. Annabeth, give your dad a call for me, thanks again, really."

Before Percy could retort, Raven swiped his hand through the rainbow and it vanished, leaving only the image of Percy with an angry look before that too went away. I wondered, for a moment, if this Percy guy had been right, if we weren't ready, I sure as hell wasn't.

"I had to cut him off before he got out of hand," Raven said, shaking his head "I can't let the rest of them come and put themselves in danger."

"I don't get it," I asked as we left "Why is he so worried about this Kronos guy?"

"Kronos tried to rise again a few years ago, Percy was the one who stopped him, he knows, firsthand, all about the kind of power that he holds," Eli explained as we got back onto the street and started walking "It's just the way Percy is, he wants to protect everyone."

"Doesn't seem like a bad trait." I noted

"It's not," Raven said "But, in his need to protect everyone else, he tends to forget that others are also capable of protecting themselves. I understand his worry about Kronos, I really do, but we can't go marching in there with an army and get thousands killed for one person, even she is the Praetor."

"How powerful is Kronos?" I asked them

"Don't know," Raven shrugged, waving down a cab "But I took down Tartarus, and Kronos can't be that much worse."

Raven:

We sat in the back of the cab in silence. I knew we were getting closer and closer to Mount Othrys, but I still felt as though it was a long ways off. I was exhausted since I hadn't slept since we left the Hunters, none of us had. Eli and Antonio has bags under their eyes and I imagined I didn't look much better.

"So we get to this guy's house," Antonio said "Then what?"

"Annabeth said he could give us food and a place to sleep," Eli said "So we roll up, eat, pass out, wake up, head to Mount Othrys and break shit."

"Hey, donde los ninos tiene que ir?" The cabbie asked us

"Aqui abajo se ve bien," I said back "Cuanto le debemos ese?"

"Quince dolares." The cabbie said back

I handed the cabbie his money and we got out of the taxi. He sped off with his money and left us standing on the street. I glanced around and saw that we were on the right block. Eli was looking around trying to find the building Annabeth had told him about.

"Four four four, four four five," Eli counted "Four four six, four four seven, that's the one."

"Sweet, I hope Annabeth already got to them." Antonio said

"Where did you learn to speak spanish?" Eli asked me as we walked up the steps

"Used to have a dude who ran a chop shop," I explained, knocking on the door "Used to start speaking spanish when he got mad. Picked up on it."

The door opened and a young boy stood in the doorway. He looked about eleven or twelve years old. He raised his eyebrows at us like he couldn't figure out why three teenagers had just knocked on their door.

"Can I help you?" He asked me

"Is your Dad here?" Eli asked him

"Yeah, but he's asleep." The kid said

"Your Mom?" I asked

"In the kitchen," He said "Come on in."

We entered the house and glanced around. I felt a small pang as I looked around at the house. There was legos, video games, and other sorts of toys strewn all over the floor. It was a reminder of what life I could've lived, and what it never was. I had grown up with nothing but kids who gangbanged and hustled because they had nothing else, and it was weird for me to see that there was something else in this life.

"Mom," The kid said as we entered the kitchen "Some people are here to see you."

"Oh Bobby," A woman said, exasperated "I told you not to let strangers in the-"

She stopped dead when she saw us, and for a moment I worried that Annabeth hadn't called them yet. But then her face softened and she gave us a motherly smile.

"Oh, you must be Annabeth's friends," She said "Bobby, go wake your father and tell him to come down here."

The boy ran through the living room and up the stairs. We stood in silence and the woman smiled at us again, motioning for us to sit down. I pulled out a chair and fell into it, Eli and Antonio did the same. She smiled and hurried into the kitchen. She came back out a moment later with three plates. All of them had eggs, bacon, and toast on them.

"Here," She said, putting the plates in front of us "Annabeth told us everything, I figured you guys would be hungry, and probably exhausted."

"Yeah," Eli answered "That about sums it up."

"I figured that much," She said "Frederick should be down in a moment."

We took that as an invitation to dig in and the three of us killed the plates in about a minute flat. She brought us each a glass of orange juice and we killed that in about thirty seconds. She grinned at us, amused. She probably wasn't used to having kids in the house that ate like we did.

"Thanks," I told her "It was good."

"Yeah," Antonio said with a small grin "And now it's dead."

"That poor poor pig." Eli said with mock sadness

"Ahhhh, you must be Annabeth's friends," Said a voice from behind "Antonio, Eli, and Robert is it?"

"Raven," I said, turning to see a man coming into the dining room "Son of Artemis."

"Nice to meet you." He said, extending his hand, which I took

"Annabeth said you guys could give us a place to sleep for the next uhhhhh.-" I stopped to think about how long we had

"We'll say fourteen hours." Eli said

"Ohh, of course," Dr. Chase said "Annabeth talked to us earlier, I'm afraid I fell back asleep."

"Frederick," Mrs. Chase scolded "I told you not to go back to bed."

"Hey," Antonio said "I hate to interrupt, but does this seem like something we should be concerned about?"

He was standing at the window with the curtain slightly pulled back. We all approached where he was standing and looked over his shoulder. In the alley below us, six hellhounds were feeding on something. I couldn't tell what it was, but they were ripping it to pieces. It could've been anything from a cat to a chunk of old meat, it was too shredded up to tell.

"Those dogs?" Mrs. Chase asked

"Those aren't dogs." Dr. Chase whispered

"Hellhounds," Eli said "That ain't our problem."

"Yeah, I ain't getting involved in whatever the hell they're into." I agreed

Antonio didn't protest and simply let the curtain fall back into place. We sat back down in our chair and sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few moments before Dr. Chase cleared his throat.

"Well if you'll come this way," He said "I'll show you to where you'll be sleeping."

We all rose from our chairs and followed him back into another room. It was a circular room, with two couches and a recliner in the corner. I realized it was an office, with a desk, a computer, and several bookshelves. Eli turned on the light and we were able to get a better look around. There were already blankets and pillows on the couches and the chairs.

"Thanks for the place to sleep," Eli said "Think you could wake us up before nightfall?"

"Absolutely," Dr. Chase said "We'll have you awake before the sun goes down."

"Thanks." Eli said

Dr. Chase closed the door and Eli immediately fell into the recliner while Antonio and I took the couches. I looked over at Eli to see that he was already asleep and slowly became aware of how exhausted I was. I pulled the blanket over me and laid my head on the pillow, and then sleep hit me like a ton of bricks.

Eli:

That night I had a dream. I was standing on Mount Othrys, inside a room. I glanced around for a moment before I realized it was a torture room. The crack of a whip and a scream made me suddenly jump. I glanced over to where the sound had came from, and almost threw up in a dream. Reyna was hanging, suspended by her wrists, dressed in bloody rags, and two Telkhines stood beside her, one with a whip, the other watching hungrily. Reyna's back looked like it had been clawed by a pissed off Hellhound, but she made no sounds.

"So, one more time demigod," The one with the whip hissed "Where is the potion? We know the Romans had it, we know the Romans hid it, and we know you know where it is."

"I won't talk!" Reyna yelled through gritted teeth

The telkhine raised the whip and brought it down on her back, then again, then again, then again, then again, and then one final time before letting it drop to his side. Reyna screamed louder and louder with each strike but she didn't shed a single tear. The other telkhine licked his lips hungrily and then leaned in next to her.

"We will ask you one, final time," He warned her "And if you still refuse to cooperate, we will have no choice but to use...other means."

I had no idea what other means meant, but Reyna shuddered. The telkhines waited for a moment, and when Reyna said nothing, one telkhine walked away. The other struck Reyna again, and she screamed. He dropped the whip and cut Reyna's bonds, letting her fall to the floor.

"Since you won't tell us what we want to know," He said, dragging her to her feet "We'll have to keep going. You'll talk, one way or the other."

Reyna reared her head back and slammed it into his face, causing golden ichor to leak from his nose. He stumbled backwards but before Reyna could try anything else, the other telkhine clubbed her in the back of the head, and she fell forward, unconscious.

"Stupid demigod." He said, dragging her to her feet and throwing her onto the table behind them

I was suddenly ripped from the dream when somebody started shaking me. I shot up, startled, and saw Mrs. Chase withdraw from me fast, holding her nose.

"Ah shit, my bad." I told her

"It's fine," She said, taking her hand away "I've been told before to be careful waking a sleeping demigod."

"Must not've listened." Antonio remarked, pushing himself up

"Dude, you look like you've barely slept." Raven said, standing

"We've got to move fast," I said "Reyna is in serious trouble."

And we say goodbye to chapter six. Okay guys so I'm not gonna waste nobody's time, read, and review PLEASE! Later guys, God bless ya.