Our first layover was in Philadelphia. Nikki gave me the stink eye throughout most of the trip. Michelle didn't exactly provide me with much support. She was too busy tinkering with something from her bag. I couldn't get off that train fast enough. Unfortunately, the next train wasn't for an hour. So that meant more of Nikki's lovely brand of bile. Finally, I'd had my fill of it and stepped out for some air.
I wasn't outside more than thirty seconds when I heard somebody say "What is that?". I looked over, and some woman was staring, fascinated, up at the sky. I followed her gaze. Swooping down toward the station were five gigantic eagles. As they got closer, I saw that wasn't completely accurate. From the front they looked like eagles. But they had the hindquarters of lions. Griffins! I couldn't believe it. I was seeing real live griffins. That's Awesome! However, it wasn't so awesome when I realized they were aiming for me. I reached for my saber, but the lead griffin had me pinned before I could draw it. The lady I saw before ran inside. She was batting at her head like she thought the griffins might get in her hair. It took every once of strength I had to keep the thing from ripping me to pieces. All of the sudden, I heard a whooshing noise., followed by a dull thump. The griffin turned to gold dust, and a small knife clattered to the ground. I looked up to see Nikki, already unsheathing another knife.
"Um thanks" I said, feeling conflicted about being saved by my rival. "Talk later!" Michelle yelled, dragging me to my feet. "We have four more to deal with!" She twisted a ring on her right hand, and a spear seemed to materialize out of it. The spear's head looked strangely familiar.
"I see you got the bugs worked out" I commented, recognizing the head as the piece of shrapnel that led to our first meeting. Michelle just smiled, looking proud of herself. Then a pained shriek got our minds back into the fight. Nikki had nailed one griffin in the wing with another throwing knife. It went into a tailspin until hitting the ground in a mushroom cloud of gold dust. And then there were three. Unfortunately they seemed to be learning from their friends mistakes. They stayed high above the reach of my sword and Michelle's spear. They also seemed to be flying in a zigzag pattern so Nikki couldn't get a good shot. Then, all three dived at us. We had to scatter. One knocked Nikki aside, tossing her knives all over. She quickly recovered and drew her sword. Another miscalculated, and wound up skewering itself on Michelle's spear. Lucky me, the largest one decided I looked tastiest. I slashed with my sword. But the griffin pulled up, dodging it. I could see Nikki was struggling with hers as well. Then Michelle hurled her spear at it, catching the beast in the eye. Her spear then seemed to fly back to her hand. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to have a thin tether connected to her ring. She was about to throw it again when suddenly, my griffin was filled with arrows. It's ashes blew away in the wind. "What the?" Two silver chariots, being pulled by reindeer, came out of the sky and landed in front of us. A girl, no older than twelve, stepped of the first.
"Thank you for the assistance half-bloods" she said "We'd been hunting this flock for some time." I was about to ask who she was, when I noticed Nikki and Michelle were kneeling. Then it hit me. Silver chariot, deer, arrows, hunting…
"Err. Um. No thanks is necessary Lady Artemis" I stammered, bowing. "Certainly we would have fallen if not for your excellent timing."
"My, so respectful, for a boy." Artemis smiled. Somehow I had an idea what my mom must have said about her at the roast.
"No offense Lady, but your gender's conscience isn't exactly clear. I mean there's Elizabeth Bathory, Eva Braun, my sadistic third grade teacher."
"How dare you speak to Artemis that way!" A girl shouted, stepping forth from her chariot.
"Peace, Zoe" Artemis said "I had that coming, I should know better than try to insult a child of Thalia." "How'd you know I was hers?"
"You have her smile" Artemis said, matter-of-factly. "Now I wonder if you might be able to help us with another problem."
"Okay" I said.
"No" Nikki said at the same time.
"Oh right," I'd actually almost forgotten our quest in all the excitement. "Well maybe we can help after our current objective." I looked at Nikki for permission. She nodded.
"We are looking for my hound, Laelaps" Artemis explained. "He is destined to always catch his prey. Unfortunately, he has not returned for nearly two weeks. If you should see him, please contact me." "As you wish, Lady Artemis." I said, giving her a salute. Artemis gave me a nod and then returned to her chariot.
"Good luck on your journey" she said, and then left with her hunters.
"Great, another quest." Michelle muttered.
"Don't worry" I said. "We don't have to go searching for her dog. We'll just let her know if it happens by." "Right," Nikki said, retrieving her knives. "Because our top priority is finding Sarah."
"Who? Oh your sister." I think Nikki was starting to regret saving me.
All that excitement almost made us miss our train. We got on just in time. "Man, you'd think cops or reporters, or somebody would have bugged us about what just happened." I commented as I sat down.
"They wouldn't have seen anything" Nikki said, looking at me like I was an idiot. "normal mortals can't see through the mist."
"Well that one woman saw something" I shot back. I was a little more hostile than I should have been. I kept thinking about what Nikki had said about being the fool. She was right, I didn't do anything but get saved. It was really aggravating.
"Yes, but she obviously didn't see five griffins fighting three heavily armed teenagers." Michelle clarified. "If I had to guess, she probably saw an angry flock of geese being swatted away by a few kids with sticks." She twisted her ring again, and held the spearhead in front of me. "Celestial bronze gives off mist too. That's one reason why we make our weapons from it. They're easier to carry around that way. The mist keeps mortals in the dark about gods and monsters. We can even influence it to some degree." Man! Is there an instruction manual for this life?
"That thing sure came in handy." I said, admiring Michelle's spear.
"Yeah, for once one of my inventions wasn't a complete failure." Michelle sighed, retracting it back into the ring.
"Why are you so hard on yourself?" Michelle was quiet for a moment.
"I left home about a year ago. Hephaestus had claimed me the year before. Although I had always shown signs I was his kid anyway. I was always tinkering with appliances and electronics around the house. I just kept getting the urge to build and create. The thing is, everything I built caused all sorts of problems. First I moved a few wires around and we lost power for a month. Then I built a rapid firing crossbow and put a bunch of holes in our walls. The last straw was when I set the house on fire. My step dad was furious. So rather than risk my family's safety again I went to camp. I thought being around other Hephaestus kids might help me improve. Instead, I think I've actually gotten worse."
"From what I saw of your cabin mates. I'd say they aren't exactly keen on helping you." I suggested. "And it sounds like you're stressing over past mistakes and letting them define you. Maybe all you need is to stop worrying about what might go wrong. Just focus on what you want your gadgets to do and make it happen."
"Easier said than done"
"Actually it is easy." I said. "It's not much different from when I come up with new jokes. I don't worry about bombing onstage. I just imagine a success."
"That's all there is to it?" Michelle asked.
"Well, I also imagine the audience in their underwear. But I don't think that would you very much." This cheered her up.
