A/N: I'm back :D, and thank the gods it's summer vacation. Now, I'm not going to give you guys any long winded speech about how I'm a terrible person because I know I am D: I just want to say that I know this chapter is definitely not worth the wait in my own opinion, but it was necessary, and I promise that the next few chapters will be up soon and will be filled with action and lemons ;), so please bare with me while you wait, because it gets better.
The pods shot out of the ocean and landed on the beach of camp. I tore the leafs open, running over the another pod and ripping it apart. Landon was laying on the bottom of the bulb, eyes closed.
"Oh gods." I collapsed to the ground, gently resting my hand on his cool cheek. "No, no, he can't be dead. Not after everything we went through to save him.
Percy left his bud, coming over to me and resting his hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry Ryan. I thought we made it in time."
I turned around and hugged him, sobbing into his shoulder. How could we not have made it in time? This was all my fault.
Suddenly, I felt another hand rest on my leg. I turned to see Landon's eyes were opening slowly, a wide smile dawning on his face. "Why are you crying? Were you worried about me?"
My arms flung around him. "You're alive!" I was still crying, but they were tears of joy. "I thought I lost you." I then saw the smile on his face, and I slapped his arm. "Don't you dare do that to me again you ass!"
He weakly embraced me, "You cant kill me that easily, and I won't, promise."
I let him go and watched as he winced. He was obviously still in a lot of pain, but he was ignoring it for some reason as he limply got up. "Are you sure you're ok?" He nodded, that darling smile of his as convincing as ever.
"Guys, we might want to get moving." Percy help lift Landon up slowly so not to cause him any more pain. "I'm glad you're ok though."
We hobbled up the beach to camp, holding Landon up most of the way until he convinced us that he was feeling strong enough to walk. "I'm fine to walk on my own guys." We let him go, but as soon as he took a step, he collapsed to the ground. "Ok, maybe I'm not so fine." He laughed weakly, leaning against me mostly as we guided him to Jen and Annabeth.
"What happened to him?" Jen came running over, picking up his legs so we could set him into the awaiting camp van.
"It was nothing. I'll explain it on the way." Percy looked at me, "Get in next to him. I'm sure you're worried about him more than any of us. We can finish up the remaining pre-quest tasks. Just stay with him for now."
"Thank you." I hugged Percy, then got in the van and sat next to Landon. "How're you doing?" I asked, placing my hand on his forehead to see if he had a fever. He did, but it was slight.
He turned his head so that he was facing me. "I'm doing better. At least I can feel the air touching my skin. That's a plus." He laughed faintly, but soon cringed.
I could tell that he was in a lot of pain, but I knew he'd never admit it. That damn pride of his. "That's a plus. Why don't you rest a bit. I'm right here if you need me."
He rested his head on my shoulder, taking a few long, deep breaths. "I love you Ryan. More than you'll ever know."
I kept stroking my fingers across his cheeks, trying to ease him into slumber, not realizing that I too was falling asleep. Last thing I remembered was the sound of doors opening and closing, then, nothing.
…...
I opened my eyes to see I was laying on a bed in the middle of a department store. I stretched, getting out of the bed and fixing the sheets so they looked nice. I looked around the store. It didn't seem familiar at all, but at the same time, I knew exactly where I was. It was a JC Penny's, but it wasn't a normal one. There was absolutely nobody in the store except for the cashiers and one lady. She was beautiful, even to me. From far away, she looked to be a blonde, like almost yellow blonde. She looked over at me and smiled, walking over gracefully. As she got closer, he hair color started to shift, which seemed to fit her more.
She stood in front of me with a smile on her face. "Hello Ryan Pavid."
She knew my name? "Hello Ms." I was polite, not wanting to offend her since she knew me from somewhere.
She laughed, which too sounded melodic. "I take it you don't recognize me. That is ok. I was not sure if you would. I am Aphrodite, goddess of beauty and love."
My eyes widened and I dropped to one knee. "My apologies for not recognizing you ma'am."
She set her petite hand on my shoulder. "Rise son of Poseidon. There is no need to bow to me." She took a shirt from a rack, holding it up in front of her. "How does this look on me."
I looked up at her, staring at her in wonder. "That looks amazing on you." I blushed. Why I blushed was beyond me.
She placed her hand on my cheek. "You're just as sweet as the other two were, but your fashion sense is lacking." She went over to another rack. She found a turquoise shirt and a pair of plaid-looking shorts. She snapped her fingers and soon I was wearing the outfit that she had in her hands, with my old clothes hanging on the rack next to her. "There. You look much more handsome now."
I looked at myself in the mirror and had to admit, I did look good. "Thank you, but I have a feeling that updating my fashion sense wasn't the only reason you summoned me here." I started thinking about what she said. "Wait, as sweet as the other two? What does that mean?"
She chuckled, continuing to look through the clothing wracks. "What I meant by the other two was that you remind me of the other two gay Poseidon children I helped back in the day. Abraham and Chase. Those were the boys' names."
I froze. There were those two names again. I couldn't help but feel somehow connected to them, maybe because we were all gay children of Poseidon, I wasn't too sure. "Did you say Chase and Abraham? Like the Chase and Abraham from the Enosis and Gamos stories?"
Aphrodite looked at me with loving eyes. "I see you know the stories behind my special jewelry. Yes, I am talking about the same two from the legends." She looked at me curiously, but jokingly. "I am curious as to how you know about those stories, since they are kept very secret even among the gods."
"Why are they kept secret?" I was curious. It didn't seem like a story that would normally be kept secret.
Aphrodite looked around, making sure nobody would be able to eavesdrop on their conversation. "The true reason to these stories being kept secret involves talking to both Hera and Amphitrite. They are the only ones who know the true reasons."
I shuttered when she said Amphitrite's name. Why of all people did she have to mention her? "Look, thanks for the news, but Amphitrite won't be helping us any time soon, and Hera will probably be the same. She hates all of Zeus' kids."
Aphrodite laughed, resting her hand on my shoulder. "You obviously haven't noticed yet. The reason why we can't talk about the stories is because of something that happened over 150 years ago. When you notice something specific, I'll tell you more." She smiled and waved, and my dream seemed to fade away.
I tried to run after her while the dream was blurring away. "Wait, what do I have to notice? Tell me more. Give me some hint." But it was too late. She was already gone and so was the dream.
I woke up to Percy swerving in and out of traffic, with Annabeth looking out the back windshield for something. I lifted my head off Landon's, who was waking up same as I was, and turned to Percy. "What's going on? Why are you driving like a maniac?"
Percy cut the wheel, turning down a side street and turning the car off, hushing me. "Stay quiet." he whispered. "We're being followed my something we can't fight." He climbed into the back seat with Annabeth and Jen, looking out the back window with them.
Landon turned around to look outside with them. "What is it?" He took hold of my hand, squeezing it tightly. He seemed to have gotten all his usual energy and vitality back.
Annabeth looked at Landon with a glimmer of hope. "You can fight it." She pulled out her laptop, looking up some information I assumed. "Yes, you're the only one here who can fight that thing."
"Fight what?" I asked, scared about letting Landon fight anything, especially alone. I didn't know if he was one hundred percent back to normal, even though he acted it.
There was a horrid shriek that seemed to come from all around. I covered my ears, shaking lightly. "What the hell was that?" I asked, tweeking out slightly. It sounded like a bird call, only much more terrifying.
Percy cringed during the cry, relaxing once it was over. "It's the original Teratornithidae, a gigantic bird monster thought to have evolved away form it's original giant from. It seems Kronus has found a way to devolve one of them back to it's huge form."
I curled up tighter into a ball. Of all things, it had to be a giant ass bird of prey. I thought about Landon fighting one of those things alone. "No, absolutely not. He is not going to fight that bird all by himself." I latched onto his arm securely, not wanting to let him go.
Landon took my face in his hands, kissing my forehead lightly. "Don't worry so much. I can do this."
I shook my head, not letting him go. "I'm not going to let you go off alone to fight this giant bird. I can't lose you again." I had flashbacks to when I was holding Jacob's dying body back in 1942. I couldn't handle holding someone I loved dying again. I had told Jacob not to bother with those stupid Ares campers, but he told me not to worry and that he would be fine.
Landon looked me right in the eyes, pecking my nose. "I love that you worry so much about me, but you don't need to worry this time. I can handle myself against this bird." He pulled out his mace can, smiling at me before opening the door. "I'll make it back, promise." He darted outside the car and flew up into the sky.
I peeked my head out the window, a few tears running down my face. "You better make it back. You owe me big time for doing this to me!" and with that, he was gone into the sky, off to fight my biggest fear of all time, birds.
