Chapter 8 – Traveling in Apollo's Chariot
When Charlotte woke up the next day, she immediately turned to her left side and saw Hermes wasn't there anymore. She felt warm and realized that a blanket was draped around her body. She yawned and had a really great sleep last night. She really had a wonderful time when she and Hermes were talking… wait a minute. Did she just talk to Hermes last night? WHAT?!
She immediately sat up. What the heck?! All of the events that night went in her mind. She felt her whole face turn red. She buried her face in her pillow in embarrassment. Did she honestly show that guy how weak she was? Oh good Lord! Kill her now please!
A knock was suddenly heard, interrupting her thoughts of thinking possibilities to hide herself from the world. "Char?" It was Sabina.
She stood up and opened the door. The daughter of Zeus was wearing an electric blue t-shirt and pants. "Breakfast is ready-" Sabina started saying when she suddenly stared at Charlotte's face and put her hands on both of her cheeks. "Are you alright? Why is your face red? Do you have a fever?" she asked worriedly.
"I'm fine," the girl said and put down her best friend's hands from her face.
They ate breakfast happily on the dining room and minutes later went to their own rooms to prepare. Charlotte took a quick bath and changed her clothes. She was now wearing a light purple t-shirt that said "I Love Philippines!" and dark blue jeans and her usual light purple rubber shoes. She went looking for her mini Jansport backpack and saw it above her table with a note.
I hope you don't mind that I added an enchantment in your backpack. You can now put a lot of things inside. Enjoy your gift. –Hermes
She looked at her backpack and saw that it still looked the same. She then tried to see if what Hermes's letter had said was true and put two fresh set of clothes and socks in it, ten pieces of handkerchief, wads of cash Chiron gave her for the quest and finally a book she found in her things.
Wait a minute… She didn't bring any book before! Where did this come from? She got the quite heavy book with three hundred pages or so and looked at it. Somehow, probably her instincts, she knew it was from Hermes. Oh well. She just put it in her mini backpack and was surprised it fit since it was bigger. She tried it on and it was like she wasn't bringing anything at all. Cool.
Thank you Hermes, she said in her mind and stopped shortly. Since when did she call the god on a first name basis? She just shrugged at the thought and went downstairs to meet up with the others.
When she reached the living room, her friends were already waiting for her. The weather was good after all so they'll be resuming their quest.
She saw Will, Percy, Annabeth, Caoimhe and Will Solace joining their group on the living room. She, with Sabina, approached them and they then said goodbye to Charlotte's mom and left on their way. They rode the public jeepney, then on a bus. While the bus they were riding to Pangasinan was on a stopover, she got the book Hermes gave her and read it.
The book was a travel guide in the Philippines and she got confused. Why would Hermes give her a travel guide in her own country? She already knew the place! Was it because he was the god of travels? She took a deep breath and started reading on page one.
When the bus lurched back to life, she brought back her book in her bag since reading while the vehicle is moving is bad for the eyes. She was already very near-sighted and was in a grave condition and she didn't want it to worsen.
They arrived at Pangasinan and stayed on a three star hotel before they continue their quest in finding the cave. So far so good. They still haven't encountered some monsters and it made her sigh in relief. She still felt unconfident in her skills in Kali no matter what Will told her. She was afraid that she wouldn't be able to defend herself properly from monsters since her weapons were sticks - not bladed weapons.
She took a deep breath. No Charlotte. She told herself. You chose this weapon. Have some confidence in it! She guessed she needed to see it herself to really believe Will that what he said about her skills was true and was enough to defend herself.
Charlotte, Caoimhe, Annabeth and Sabina will be in one room with four beds complete with a bathroom, air conditioner and TV. While the guys - Percy, Will Hanson, Will Solace and Grover were in a room beside them.
She sat down on her bed and continued reading. Three hours already passed by and she was nearing the end of the book and that was when she saw it. On page one hundred and twenty eight, it was about the different caves in the country. She was right; there were a lot of caves. It started in Batanes, then in Pangasinan, Bataan, Aklan and also some parts of Mindanao. It was so many it felt hopeless. She started scanning the contents and the pictures, determined to find it.
Thirty minutes later, she was nearing the end of the selection and there were three more caves she hadn't read and the last one that was featured made her breathless. The picture was really beautiful and it looked so dreamy. It was too gorgeous to be true. But it was real. She proceeded to read it and saw a faint circular pencil mark on the name.
"The Cave of Dreams," she murmured and stood up, bringing the book with her, excitement building up in her body.
"Sa, Caoimhe and Annabeth," she called her fellow girls. "I know where to find the cave we're looking for."
The girls she called nodded and they went to the guy's room so that Charlotte would be able to tell them what she discovered.
When everyone settled down, she opened the book on the exact page and showed them the cave. Everyone gasped because of its beauty.
"Guys," she started. "Meet The Cave of Dreams, the place we've been looking for."
"It's in Puerto Prinsesa, Palawan," Caoimhe said. "It's like many days away from Pangasinan. We don't have much time left. I can't believe we wasted time getting here."
Charlotte stayed silent, thinking. There must be a way for them to reach Palawan in at least a day. They don't have enough time.
"Maybe we can call on Blackjack," Grover suggested.
Percy shook his head.
"He's kind of busy right now."
"Can we call for some hippocampus?" Charlotte suggested.
"Too far away and Dad's still weak without his trident," Percy explained.
They all fell silent.
Will Solace spoke, "Maybe I can call Dad for a ride, if he's not currently busy."
"That would be awesome!" Caoimhe exclaimed happily. Charlotte knew why the girl was in glee; she'll see Apollo once again. She sighed at her best friend.
Will Solace nodded. "I'll be back in a minute." He stood up and left to contact his father.
He came back a minute later with a big smile on his face. "Dad agreed. He'll be here in a second so we need to pack up and leave this hotel."
All of them nodded and everyone went to their own rooms to pack up. Charlotte didn't need to fix her things since she'll simply put them in her bag and she was done. So she was the first one to go the entrance of the hotel and waited patiently for her friends.
She sat on the lobby and let her thoughts wander around. She couldn't forget about what happened that night in her room. It was really sweet of him to comfort her though very annoying especially when he laughed at her when he successfully surprised her. And what he did to her hands was very relaxing. She loved it, as much as she didn't want to be.
Suddenly, she felt someone was watching her and she looked around wildly. There wasn't anyone in the room other than the receptionist who was busy using the computer in front of her.
She immediately stood up and went outside of the hotel to fight whoever was following her without mortals seeing it, which was a big mistake.
Her heart was beating fast. Where were the others? What took them so long in packing up their things? She tried to calm herself. There was definitely someone trailing her and it wasn't good. She was alone. She shouldn't have left the hotel room or at least went with someone.
She reached the nearest beach, thanking God that Pangasinan have a lot of beaches. Around here, she felt safer since this was her territory as a daughter of Poseidon. She hadn't mastered her skills on water yet, but she knew enough to protect herself.
Adrenaline pumped in her veins as she waited for the one who was trailing her on the beach. The waves were crushing on her ankles and it made her stronger, ready to fight.
"Who's there? Show yourself!" she shouted bravely.
She could hear a sound rustled on the far left and she immediately shoot water daggers on it and the figure was moving. She heard a man cursed as he ran fast but not fast enough to escape the girl. She used the moisture of the soil the man was running into to tie him on the ground. Another curse reached her ears. She smiled; she was seriously getting more and more efficient in using the moisture of living things to tie people down.
Feeling the power of the sea, she commanded the waters to get the man and bring him to her and in an instant; a teenage guy was in front of her, struggling to get out of the waters, cursing at her.
Charlotte hated cursing. She felt like they were poisons in people's mouth. She waited patiently for the man to stop cursing at her and kept saying, "Beep" every time he swore and it made her laugh mentally since that was what Ryan Higa did on his video, The iNavigator when someone cursed.
Finally, the man stopped but he still glared at her. "Let. Me. Go." He spat the words.
The daughter of Poseidon sat on the sand while the guy was still hanging in the air with waters gripping him.
"Who are you?" Charlotte asked.
Instead of replying, the man spit at her direction but since it was water, with just a wave of hand, it came back to the man and exploded in front of his face.
"Why you-" he growled at her.
"Again," the girl said threateningly. "Who are you?"
"I'm Edgar Mayn," the guy started and the half-Filipina noted how messy his blonde hair was and how his green eyes were full of anger. "Son of Nemesis." Made sense why he was so vengeful. He inherited it from his mother.
"Why are you following me?" she asked.
"I'm not going to tell you," he spat out at her.
Charlotte hated it when she had to do some 'measures' just to get answers. She tightened the grip of the waters on his body and the man gasped in agony. She could tell he was having hard time breathing.
"I-I'll tell you!" he immediately said and the girl loosened it a little. The guy took a breath and said, "I've got an order to kidnap you."
So, he was working for the bad guys. "Who ordered you to kidnap me?" she asked.
"I don't know," the guy admitted.
Charlotte tightened the grip once again.
"I-I swear on the River Styx I don't know!" he shouted as thunder boomed. Nothing happened so the girl figured out he was saying the truth. She loosened it a little and the guy continued talking, "I just saw a letter on my things telling me my first mission to prove my loyalty is to kidnap you."
She waited for awhile and realized the guy was telling the truth. It was no use torturing him any further. At least she got some information.
"I'll let you go for now," she warned him. "But if I see your face again, I'll not show mercy. Now go and don't ever cross my path again."
With a wave of hand the waters dropped the man to the sea and the man hurriedly scrambled to his feet and ran.
Charlotte sighed. That was hard. She wasn't that harsh but if she wanted to get information, she had to.
She thought that was her only problem but she was wrong. As she was walking back to the hotel, not very far from the beach, she felt the hairs on her neck and arms stood up. Not again.
She whirled around and came face to face with a hellhound. She immediately jumped back out of instincts and got the miniature sticks and felt them turn to batons. She twirled them, pressed the invisible button and felt glad when she heard the sound of sharp blades tearing out of the wooden sticks. She then went into her fighting position. Her legs were bent and were few meters apart from each other making a diagonal line - her left foot not too far behind the right one. The stick on her right hand was in a counter-diagonal position while the left one was near her hip, ready to strike in defense.
She waited for this opportunity to fight a monster and see if Will was being honest when he told her she was gifted in the art of Filipino Martial Arts.
Well, Will, I hope you're right. She mentally said. I need that talent right now.
Seven more hellhounds came behind it and if they could do expressions, they were probably smirking right now with the leader saying, "You're outnumbered. Prepare to die!" A feeling of déjà-vu went into her like this had happened to her before. A vision went into her mind.
Fear resonated in her while she was running away from eight hellhounds who were after her. She heard herself muttering how she should've brought her staff and how she was powerless right now.
One of them tackled her into the ground and it took her a lot of strength to get it out of her and continued running.
Charlotte was quite startled with what she had seen. She was running away from these hellhounds? That was ridiculous! She was strong enough to defeat them all. With a newfound determination to change what was on her vision, she patiently waited who'll first attack.
A hellhound came into her way and her mind was blank. All that was inside it was that she needed to kill them all to survive. She strike it with her sticks and she could hear the sounds of air as her batons rip through them to attack the hellhound. With a simple spank on the head, the monster fell on the ground and turned to dust.
She looked at the other seven, daring them to attack and they did. Two started attacking her on both sides but it was still too easy for her. Her body was dancing as she dodged their attacks and as she strike them with her sticks, she felt so alive.
In a matter of seconds, the two hellhounds were gone and then the remaining five all attacked her at once. She used her two sticks to stab the two hellhounds on her sides and jumped to avoid the other attacks, summoning water daggers out of nowhere and another one died.
The remaining two stopped and Charlotte knew she should go easy on them. She twirled her sticks, loving the sounds of blasts of air and charged. She ran through them with one of her sticks pointing on the right while the other on the left and heard a sickening sound as the blades tore the bodies of the hellhounds and when she stopped, inches behind them, they already turned to dust.
A triumphant smile formed on her face. Now she already believed Will when he told her she was excellent in Kali. She was a natural, even just a day of training she already became excellent. That was something!
She then heard someone clap and she turned her back to find a teenage guy with sandy hair, a bright cocky smile and outdoorsy looks. He had fair skin and looked around seventeen or eighteen. He was wearing a white, sleeveless T-shirt, blue jeans and loafers. He was seriously fit and she must admit he looked hot but still wasn't her type. She also knew who it was.
She kneeled on the ground as she put the end of the sticks on the soil; and stood up, feeling the light weight of the silver necklace on her neck as it dangled slightly.
"Apollo," she gave him a nod. "To whose pleasure do I owe your favorable presence?"
The sun god laughed. "No need to be formal, Charlotte."
"If you say so," the girl said and wondered what the god was doing in front of her.
"That was a really great show. I had a great time watching it and I feel inspired to write a haiku," Apollo said before Charlotte could stop him, he spoke,
"There were eight hellhounds
And Charlotte fought them bravely
But I'm still cooler."
Charlotte tried her best to stop herself from rolling her eyes. He was such a narcissistic god she couldn't believe her best friend fell for him!
"Now I see what my best friend saw in you," Apollo quipped with his eyes on hers. "At first I was surprised. You're not as attractive as his previous girls." He was checking her out.
The daughter of Poseidon took deep breaths; she wanted to hit the god in front of her with her sticks repeatedly. No one, as in no one could do that to her. For her it was a sign of disrespect. But the guy in front of her was a god, an Olympian to be exact and she didn't want to be in his bad side. Patience Charlotte, she told herself.
"And now," Apollo said. "I understand. You're very talented, smart and powerful. I can sense a bright future ahead of you. You'll do."
Silence engulfed them and Charlotte was taking deep breaths to calm herself. What was she, a toy to play with? And what did he mean by 'you'll do'? Sorry if I didn't pass your standards. Jeez. She thought angrily. She hated this guy more and more with that attitude of his. What good of his looks if what was inside was the exact opposite?
She said a few seconds later, "Um, Sir-"
"Just Apollo," the god interrupted with a blinding smile that innocent was the wrong word to describe it.
"-Apollo," she continued. "Can I ask what are you doing here?"
"I can't leave a damsel in distress to fight eight hellhounds, can I?" he winked at her when he said that and it made her mentally scowl. She was a damsel in distress? Puh-lease. And he basically didn't fight at all! He had no right to say that. And that wink was just so flirty it made her mentally puke in disgust.
She stayed silent and Apollo took this as an opportunity to continue, "Everyone's been waiting for you. Let's go." He said cheerily as he snap and they reappeared on the beach where she met Edgar Mayn. There were the others waiting patiently for her.
Caoimhe and Sabina immediately rushed to her with a hug and both of them spoke at once. "Where were you?" - Sabina
"Where have you been?" - Caoimhe
"Are you alright?" - Sabina
"Are you hurt?" - Caoimhe
She just kept on nodding and said, "I'm fine."
After a few minutes of mini reunion, they all boarded up Apollo's chariot, which was currently a very luxurious cream white van. She sat beside the window on the first row and Will sat beside her, followed by Sabina. And on the second row were Grover, Annabeth and Percy. She was pretty sure you already know where Caoimhe sat at, of course the shotgun, right beside the driver who was Apollo. While looking at them, she wanted to puke. Goodness, she could literally see pink and red hearts floating around those two.
Charlotte didn't understand why her best friend, Caoimhe was in love with such a guy like Apollo.
Her best friend was a decent girl. She was beautiful with that Korean cut black hair, light brown skin (lighter than hers), brown eyes and that petite and 5'4 feet tall built of hers. She also knew how to cook, loves taking care of children, can do a lot of household chores- in short, a perfect housewife that most of the guys dream of.
They understood each other so much just one look they could determine what the other was thinking. Except for one thing. Charlotte couldn't find a really logical reason for Caoimhe's fascination (ok, she under exaggerated it) to that god was one of the mysteries in this world.
Yes, she understood that the god was really hot, the second most handsome guy in the whole wide world (don't even try asking her who was the first one unless you want to die) with a blinding white smile and those killer blue eyes - but that was all. Looks wasn't supposed to be the only reason for her best friend's addiction (that's the correct term to describe Caoimhe's love for Apollo)! There must be something more. Whatever that was, she knew it was none of her business and hoped that she'll quench her curiosity in the near future when her best friend was ready to tell her.
Why was she even thinking about these things anyway? Oh yeah, right. It was because of the view in front of her. She mentally sighed and just focused on the window beside her, but not concentrated enough to not notice the guy beside her.
Will was slightly fidgeting on his seat, she knew what was happening. Will was like that when he wanted to do something but couldn't, either he was too shy or he didn't want to pry on that person's privacy. She knew he wanted to ask her about what happened earlier, where she went and how she met Apollo. To avoid questions, she fiddled on the mini screen in front of her- shuffling through dozens of movies and music and finally settled on just listening to the songs "A Thousand Years, Part 2", "Marry Your Daughter", "Little Things" and "Havana". She just repeatedly listened to those four songs.
When "Little Things" by One Direction blasted in her earphones for the fifth time, she couldn't help but softly hum with it. This was one of her most favorite love songs of all time. She loved how the guy still sees his girlfriend like she's perfect despite of her imperfections and is wishing to make her love herself just like how he loves her. She sighed dreamily. It was amazing. She wanted to have a guy like that, who'll accept her whoever she was, who could put up with her irritable and hot tempered attitude, who wouldn't care that much about her physical appearance and most of all, love her for who she was.
Cause I won't let these little things slip out of my mouth
Cause it's you, oh it's you, it's you they add up to
I'm in love with you and all your little things
"A Thousand Years, Part Two" played next and she could hear the voice of Christina Perri singing.
This was her most favorite love song of all time. If ever she'll love a guy, she wanted to be with him forever and it was her deepest will in love that whoever she'll end up with, he'll tell her "I love you for a thousand years and I'll love you for a thousand more". She'll literally die of sweetness when that special someone told her that.
Before she knew it, the song was done and "Marry Your Daughter" by Brian McKnight came in next.
I'm gonna marry your princess
Make her my queen
She'll be the most beautiful bride that I'll ever seen
Can't wait to smile as she walks down the aisle
On the arm of her father
From the day that I marry your daughter
Just like the two other previous love songs, this was one of her favorites. She loved the tune, the voice of Brian McKnight and most of all, the lyrics. She could see how much the guy loves the girl unconditionally. It was beautiful.
After playing the four songs for the tenth time, she went to movies next. She looked at the list and was finding a good movie to watch. She was in the mood to watch romantic comedy and drama films so she searched for something in that genre. And that was when she found it.
"Pygmalion," she murmured to herself. She had heard of this film before. It was a movie based on George Bernard Shaw's play of the same name and was a modern version of the Pygmalion and Galatea tale. Pygmalion was a sculptor who sculpted nothing but women but hated them in real life. One time, he made a statue of a very beautiful woman and he fell in love with it. He asked for Aphrodite's help and the goddess of love breathed life into the statue and it became a real life woman and they lived happily ever after. The tale was one of the stories that caught Charisse's attention when she was still studying Ancient Greek. It was like true love.
Anyway, Pygmalion was a 1938 film (meaning it was black and white) but she was fortunate enough to find out it got English subtitles. Oh well, she'll love to watch this.
For the next two hours, she was watching intently and laughing in a few scenes. It was just hilarious. And she really liked the idea of Eliza ending up with Professor Higgins!
And then, there came the ending. It was such a cliffhanger she wanted to bang her head and it was kind of disappointing. But it was better than the conclusion in the original play by George Bernard Shaw.
By the time she was done, there were still a lot of hours left before they would reach Palawan. The others were busy in the mini screens in front of them. Charisse sighed. Well, she just finished watching a movie so she better just go to sleep.
She closed her eyes and fell asleep, which was a big mistake.
She was back there again - the cave that gave her the creeps with torch lining up the walls. She knew that if she continued walking, she'll find a large clearing, thirty feet below with hordes of monsters, the Esiw Eno and the pale tall man with huge muscles that scared her.
She was right.
Looking below, she saw a clearing of monsters. The man she was afraid of sat on the throne and Esiw Eno was on his right side.
"TIAN!" the man on the throne shouted and immediately one of the cloaked beings dashed in front of him and knelt down.
"I heard from Esiw Eno that you found something… interesting," he said, looking at his servant.
"Y-Yes Master," the cloaked being said. "I haven't found the missing weapon but I found something much more significant."
"And what is that?"
"A sacrifice, Master," the cloaked being said. "The power of the weapons of the Twelve Olympians was enough, yes, but the real Master will become more powerful when this sacrifice will be offered to him."
The man scratched his chin, thinking and finally he said, "Tell me what the sacrifice is."
"It'll be very hard-" the cloaked being started but the man cut him off. "TELL ME!"
"Y-Yes Master, the sacrifice needs to be a very powerful demigod."
The man sneered. "That's all? I can find any very powerful demigod around!"
"That's the problem, Master," the cloaked being started. "The sacrifice isn't like any other very powerful demigod. It points to a specific person, or girl to be exact."
"Hmm… You got me interested," the man said creepily with his deep voice. "Continue."
"The sacrifice should be someone who is unique and isn't like any other. She was once an Egyptian magician, got a powerful destiny to fulfil, one of the future heroes of Olympus and most of all, very determined. With her background and these qualities , the real Master will adapt them and he'll be the greatest of the greats and will surely avenge us from those gods!"
Cheers erupted around them.
"Who is she?" The pale bald man asked.
Charlotte didn't know why but she suddenly felt really scared and nervous like her instinct was telling her to get out of this place immediately before she'll hear the cloaked being's answer. But before she could, she heard him speak.
"Charlotte Wilson."
And that forced her to wake up.
She was breathing heavily as she sat up straight from the comfortable seat. She then remembered she was in Apollo's luxurious van, on the way to Puerto Princesa, Palawan. And everyone was sleeping except for the driver.
"Nightmare?" she heard Apollo's voice and she looked at the back of his head, wondering how he knew and then she remembered he was the god of prophecies, of course he knew!
She nodded and said, "Yeah" before leaning on the seat and shifted her position.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.
Since when did Apollo become concerned about her? It was really weird.
"Nah," she just said. "I prefer to keep it to myself."
"Ok then," he just said and continued. "Just a little piece of advice, don't ignore your nightmares. Sometimes, they tell us something."
That got her more confused. "What?"
She saw Apollo smile and heard him spoke, "By the way, we'll land in fifteen minutes. Wake the others up."
She just nodded and woke everyone up hearing groans but ignored them. She repeated the same message to them, they'll be landing in fifteen minutes and they should prepare.
After fifteen minutes, they landed on a forest and Charlotte was glad to be able to stretch her whole body. Even with the stopovers, it was still a very numbing travel.
She already left with the others while Caoimhe stayed, saying farewells to Apollo. They all waited for her and Charlotte swore she saw her best friend giving the god a kiss on the cheek before running towards their direction. She tried her best not to be disgusted by her best friend's 'taste'. She meant, seriously, Apollo? Of all people? No Charlotte, she reminded herself. You're not going to complain again. Caoimhe is your best friend. You trust her. I trust her enough to believe that she knows what she's doing.
"Done with your little goodbye?" Will teased her.
Caoimhe just blushed and walked ahead to avoid any more questions. They just followed her into the woods, not really knowing where they were going to reach that particular cave and wondering how the other teams were doing and most especially not expecting where they were heading to.
