Let It Burn

Chapter Nine: Slow Ride

Author's note: thank you all for reading my story and for all the follows, favorites and reviews. I truly appreciate it and they help me keep on writing if I ever hit a wall.

Tucker and Atalanta were outside the Lotus casino in the middle of the night. Atalanta was sitting on the curb while Tucker was standing with his hands in his pockets. Over the course of several minutes, Atalanta's expression became gradually more annoyed. Finally, she stood up and turned to her twin.

"When is it gonna be here?" Atalanta demanded. Tucker sighed and narrowed his eyes.

"It's not like I can control that deathtrap of a cab. And for the record it was your idea to summon that thing in the first place. I'd rather walk to Phoenix barefoot through the entire Mojave Desert than ride in that thing." He stated calmly. Atalanta sat back down and grimaced like the little kid she so resembled.

"Whatever; it's just that all this waiting is killing me." She complained. Tucker then sat down beside her and looked at her.

"Anyway you still owe me for that Drachma we used." He said. After several more minutes of silence, Tucker spotted a car plowing down the Strip at breakneck speed, blowing stoplights and weaving recklessly though traffic. "Great, it's here." Tucker stated. Atalanta gulped hard.

The car screeched to a stopped not three inches away from the twins, and Tucker recognized the cloud-woven taxi cab in front of him. It was the cab of the Gray Sisters. The back door swung open at a speed that would have taken a man's head off. Tucker and Atalanta cautiously climbed in. They sat down and buckled their seatbelts as tight as humanly possible. Tucker took out a handful of Drachmas and tossed them up to the front seat. A single gray, shriveled hand reached up and grabbed them in mid air. Then three old, gray-skinned ladies peered into the backseat. Two of them had no eyes. The one in the driver's seat only had one in her left socket.

"Oh, it's this kid again." The driver said. Tucker and Atalanta looked at each other and turned back to the driver.

The lady next to the driver said "He didn't tip us last time."

The last lady said "I don't want to get into trouble because we ferried a wanted fugitive."

The driver said "I don't want our eye getting taken away, considering it's the only thing we have to lose if this we get caught doing this."

"I'll tip fifty percent." Tucker flatly said.

"Deal" all the sisters shouted in unison. Tucker then reached into his pocket again and took out some more Drachmas to tip the Gray Sisters. He tossed them up to the front of the cab and the driver snatched them out of the air.

The driver asked "Where you two headed?" with a raised eyebrow. It looked strange considering that the eyebrow she lifted was the one without an eye underneath it.

Tucker said "Phoenix, Arizona, if you would." And just like that, the cab took off like a bullet. It was dodging cars, running red lights, and swerving in and out of traffic (occasionally through traffic coming towards them). Meanwhile, Tucker and Atalanta were pressed back into their seats like astronauts at takeoff when they weren't being flattened against the doors by each other whenever the vehicle turned. They were trying their best not to throw up on themselves, though Tucker seemed to be doing a much better job of holding his lunch down. Atalanta was covering her mouth and her face was turning a rather sickly shade. "Oh, yeah; that reminds me." Tucker said. He then opened the palm of his hand in front of himself and the Bow of Orion materialized in his grasp. "Here, take this." He said to Atalanta, handing it over to her. Somehow, that caused all of her nausea and carsickness to disappear. She hesitantly held it as Tucker gave it to her.

Atalanta looked up at Tucker, confused. "Are you serious?" He nodded. "But why would you give such a powerful weapon to me?"

Tucker scoffed and grinned. "Aphrodite gave me that. Do you actually think I'm gonna trust anything an Olympian gives me?"

Atalanta raised an eyebrow. What a paranoid boy. She thought.

"I'm not paranoid, if that's what you're thinking." Tucker stated as if reading his sister's mind. "I just don't trust anybody."

"That's what paranoia is. And about that…" Atalanta said; but Tucker sighed and cut her off.

"Whatever; believe whatever you want." With that, Tucker stared blankly out the side window of the cab, as if trying to avoid a conversation.

"Hold on a second" Atalanta said. Tucker looked back at her. "Why did you just give up on your side of the argument?" Tucker sighed.

"I'm not much good with words. And furthermore I knew where you were going with that discussion. I'm not going to waste my time with an argument that I'm going to lose." Atalanta seemed to understand Tucker's point of view. He did seem to be the kind to speak with actions rather than words; especially in arguments. The twins were silent after that; more so than one would think in this deathtrap cab. One of the ladies looked back at them.

"You two should talk more" She said in a voice that would make even the most tolerant man's life really, really long. "I've heard that siblings, especially twins, should support each other rather than push each other away like this. Especially you two, I mean, you don't have anything to lose but each other."

Tucker would have looked at this hag right in her eyes, provided she had any. "Personally I'd prefer to not have anything to lose at all. Come to think of it, I don't. This shrimp here is just keeping up with me."

"Don't call me a shrimp!" Atalanta yelled. But then she fell silent and reflected on what the two of them had just said. They should stick together, but not like this. They needed to cherish what they still had. They needed trust. I'd prefer to have nothing to lose at all. Tucker's words buzzed around in his sister's mind like a swarm of bee. Was she really expendable to him? Or maybe she was even less; a burden? Atalanta pushed that thought away; she reasoned that if Tucker thought that she would be a hindrance; he would not have let her follow him in the first place. But still, did he not trust her in the slightest degree? It's not like I've given him any reason to trust me, though. She thought. Then again, Tucker didn't trust anyone not matter what. For Tucker, trust is something his is not willing to give. Being on your own for so long, you tend to learn that the one person you can truly trust is yourself. Atalanta thought that was what he would say about that.

The woman driving chimed in. "Well, I don't think those two have anything to worry about, I mean, Artemis won't take them seriously unless they find that really powerful thing she's hidden." Before the woman had even finished screeching that statement, Tucker had already flicked his lighter open and pressed the edge of his blade against the woman's throat. He reached around the headrest and held the driver's head back against it.

"Now, what's this about a really powerful thing?" He asked calmly. The driver started to freak out and with Tucker holding her back, she could hardly control the cab. On the other hand, she drove so terribly without a silver-eyed teenager trapping her in a headlock that one would hardly notice either way.

"Are you out of your damn mind?!" Atalanta exclaimed. Tucker was not listening. The lady driving was shrieking and flailing her arms and legs around.

"Tell me, you old bat!" Tucker yelled. Atalanta was shocked. She noticed how determined Tucker was to make a stand against Artemis. It seemed make sense that if Artemis had hidden something that she didn't want him to find; he'd go looking for it.

Since the cab was still moving, Tucker was holding onto the headrest for dear life; he lost his grip and hit his head hard on the roof of the cab. He fell on the back seat next to Atalanta, losing his opportunity to learn of the 'thing' that the driver was talking about. The cab stopped suddenly; in a fraction of a second. The twins were almost thrown out of their seat onto the windshield. The back door swung open and the twins were shoved out of the cab onto the ground next to a desolate, run-down back road in the middle of the desert with telephone lines going off into the distance. The two of them sat there as the driver leaned back and yelled at them.

"Don't expect to get another ride without at least a sixty percent tip next time after a stunt like that!" She screeched.

Tucker stood up and pointed his sword towards the cab. "Wait! What is the thing my mother hid?!" He demanded.

"When the might of the sun shines upon the fox, the light shall guide your blade!" the driver yelled.

"What the hell does that mean?!" Tucker yelled; but the cab was already speeding down the road and out of site. And just like that, Tucker and Atalanta were stuck in the middle of the Mojave Desert, with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

"You idiot!" Atalanta screamed. She charged at her brother, but he simply held out a hand against her head. Like that, she couldn't get close to him. "You just had to tick those people off, didn't you?"

"Whatever, it could be worse" Tucker said.

"I don't care! It could also be better!"

"You consider being in that deathtrap to be better than being on motionless land?"

"Whatever! We're wasting time anyway!" And with that, Atalanta stormed off down the road, as if Tucker was the one holding them up. Tucker just smiled and followed his sister.

What a brat. He thought.

LE and Aphrodite were stepping off of a half-rusted bus in front of an old fashioned diner. The restaurant's neon was flickering in the night and oldies could be heard playing from the jukebox inside.

"Really?" Aphrodite complained. "This is the place?" She pointed towards the burger joint and made a disappointed face.

LE brushed some dust off of his suit. "I'm telling you, it'll work. I like this setting. And plus, it's not like I'm not trying to impress you or anything. Writing is my hobby and passion. It's not something to do to get recognition, especially from you. I do it for fun."

"I'm still not convinced about this." Aphrodite stated.

"Well, it's not like I'm trying to convince you of anything either. Aphrodite groaned. LE patted her on the shoulder. "Hey, the burgers here rock, so you can't really complain all too much."