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Sky-dwellers and Land-dwellers

A dozen bats were slowly spiraling down from the top of the arena, ranging in color from light yellow to black. Hick stared up at the flying creatures. Their terribly massive size unsettled her. The crowd must have been watching them when they stumbled in, because the rest of the field area was empty. Maybe it's like Rome, and they feed people to the bats. Maybe that's why the roaches brought us here, she thought, shuddering at the gruesome idea of it.

Something fell from one of the bats, and it was hurtling towards her.

In the blink of an eye, Nico had yanked Hick off her roach and the object hit the roach's back, bouncing off fifty feet into the air. It was a ball.

"Most graceful, the young prince," hissed a roach dreamily.
"Stop calling me that!" Nico growled.
"Guys… where are we?" asked Hazel, reaching her hand out to help Hick back up on her feet.

Just then, one brown bat abandoned the ring of flying creatures, heading straight for them.

"Take cover!" Hick heard Jason yell, but for some reason, her body couldn't seem to react to his command. Her eyes met the bat's, and its eyes seem to widen in fear as soon as they locked gaze. She must have been radiating death again. Of course she is, it happens whenever she's nervous.

And the creature swooped over Hick, lightly brushing the back of her head with its belly fur, and then soared back into the air in a loop. At the top of the arc, while the bat was flat on its back, Hick noticed for the first time that someone was sitting on it. The rider had its legs wrapped around the bat's neck. It was a boy, probably a year or two younger than Hick - in other words, of high school age. A teenager, Hick realized.

The upside-down rider released his legs and dropped off the bat's back. He executed a perfect double back-flip and landed on the ground as lightly as a cat in front of Hick. Hick caught Nico's gaze and they could tell the other weren't impressed. What a show-off.

Hands down, the tall nimble rider was the strangest-looking person Hick had ever seen. His skin was so pale, she could see every vein in his body. She thought of the section on the human anatomy in her science book. Flip one page, see the bones. Next, the digestive system. This dude was a walking circulatory system.

At first she thought his hair was the same gray as the old folks' from the neighborhood's elderly home who rode the same bus as Hick and Ryan. But that wasn't right. It was really more of a silver color, like blond hair with a metallic tint. And it was neatly combed to the right, without a single strand of hair out of place. She could tell by the upright way he held himself, by the slight smile at the left corner of his mouth, by the way he looked down at her that he was a total snob. And she felt pretty sure he'd done that fancy trick off the bat to completely for the arrivers' benefit. One flip would have been plenty. It was his way of intimidating them, but Hick wouldn't be intimidated. She glanced over at her other comrades and they seemed equally annoyed by this guy.

"You're not from here," spoke the rider as he approached them, his smirk vanishing. He drew a sword and pointed it at Hick, who was at that point standing closest to him. "Name yourselves."

Percy immediately got off his roach and strode over to Hick's side. He slapped away the boy's blade.

"Watch where you point that," he hissed.
The tall boy narrowed his amber eyes at Percy. "Clearly, you are unwise. Or you would not say such things to a king."
"No, if we'd known, we would've said something cooler," shrugged Hick.

The young king frowned at her. "Cooler?"
"Better," said Hick, for lack of a cooler word. "Now, your… uh… majesty. Highness. Lordship. We're – "
"I am King Dane," the young king interrupted.

"King Dane. We're not here to fight," Hick continued, placing a hand on Percy's shoulder in case he plans on attacking the king, because he definitely looked the part with his clenched fists and flexed arm muscles. The surrounding spectators were starting to get riled up, and that was not a good sign. "We're just passing by and clearly, we're unwelcomed here. So we'll be on our way."

"On your way? To where?" asked Dane in surprise.
"Anywhere away from here," Hazel retorted as she walked over to Hick's side. "It's not like you'd want us to stay."

"Smelling like you do?" said Dane. "You will be thrice dead before you reach the Waterway, even if you knew the path to take." He could see neither of the demi-gods understood what he was saying. "You smell of Sky-dweller, of scent from the realm Phoebe forewarned us. That is not safe for you here. Or for us."

"Oh," said Hazel, feeling a little foolish. "I guess we should rinse off before we go then."
"Wait! Phoebe? As in the titan, Phoebe?" said Jason. He met Hick's gaze and saw that she was just as shocked.
"I will let Viktus explain," said Dane. "You have had rare luck today, being found so quickly."
"How do you know we were found quickly?" asked Hick.
"Our lookouts noted you shortly after you landed. As you were the crawlers' find, we let them present you," Dane said.

Percy scoffed. "We were practically being watched the moment we set foot on that coast," he said, turning to glare at Hick, to which she simply rolled her eyes to. He was obviously not going to let go of the portal incident.

"These were headed here, in any case," Dane said, gesturing to the roaches. "See, they carry torches. They would not bother if they were not visiting us."

"Why's that?" said Nico, trying hard to ignore the roaches that followed him in his trail in slavish devotion.

"Crawlers do not need light. But they show themselves to us to let us know they come peacefully. Did you not wonder at how easily you arrived here?" he asked. Without waiting for an answer from the demi-gods, he turned to the group of cockroaches who had been standing patiently off to the side. "Crawlers, what take you for the Sky-dwellers?"

The head roach scurried forward. "Give you five baskets, give you?" he hissed.

"We will give three grain baskets," said Dane.
"Rats give many fish," said the roach, cleaning its antennas casually.
"Take them to the rats, then. It will give you no time," said Dane.

Hick didn't know exactly what they were talking about, but she had the uneasy sense that she, Nico, Hazel, Percy and Jason were for sale. The insect considered Dane's last offer. "Give you four baskets, give you?" it said.

"We will give four baskets, and one for thanks," said a voice behind Hick. All five demi-gods turned and saw a pale, bearded man approaching them on foot. His close-cropped hair really was silver, not just the silvery blond.

Dane glared at the old man but didn't contradict him.

The cockroach painstakingly added up four and one on its legs. "Give you five baskets, give you?" it asked, as if the whole idea was a new one.

"As Viktus said, we will give five baskets," said Dane less than graciously, giving the roach a terse bow. The roach leader bowed back and scampered off with the other roaches out of the stadium.

"What makes you think we should trust you," said Hick.

Dane turned to meet her violet eyes. She could tell by the way he looked at her that he didn't like the fact that she questioned him.

"You don't have a choice. I've bought you from the Crawlers, which means you're my property now. You're staying here forever."
"Forever?" Percy repeated, his hand instinctively on the hilt of his sword as he got Hick behind his back.
"Uh, no! No thank you!" said Hick, poking her head over Percy's shoulder. "I mean, you're all great, but we're not here on vacation!"
But all Dane did was shrug. "There's no escaping."

This was bad. Before she knew it, Percy had turned and grabbed her hand.

"Run!" he yelled, pulling Hick along with him as he sprinted toward the arched opening the roaches had left by. Jason, Nico and Hazel immediately followed suit, staying close behind Percy. Out of the corner of her eye Hick saw Dane raise his hand. For a moment she thought he was waving good-bye, but that couldn't be right. Dane wasn't friendly enough to wave. And then it dawned on her. He wasn't waving. He was signaling. All the bats in the arena started to swoop down towards them.

"No! Nico, Hazel! Behind you! Get down! Jason!" Hick yelled.

Too late.

A couple of bats picked Nico off the ground, then Hazel and Jason. With her hand still locked in a tight grip with Percy's, Hick jerked Percy towards her, saving him from the clutches of one golden bat that tried to take a snag at him. Ten yards from the exit another bat swept in front of them, knocking Percy flat on his back. His body cushioned Hick's fall and she immediately rolled off him, staring wearily up at the bats that surrounded them. They flew in a tight circle around Hick and Percy, locking them in a prison of wings and fur. Each one had a rider as pale and silver-haired as Dane. Despite the close proximity and speed of the bats, none of the people had any trouble staying mounted. In fact, only a few bothered to hold on at all. One cocky-looking guy on a glossy black bat actually lay in a reclining position, propping up his head with one hand.

The riders couldn't take their eyes off the captives. As they flashed by, Hick could see their expressions ranged from amusement to outright hostility. As soon as she got to her feet and helped Percy up, the circle of bats shrunk even close.

"What? Like I'm going somewhere?" Hick heard Percy commented sarcastically. A couple of the riders laughed at his retort and that really annoyed Percy. Hick could tell by the way he clenched his fists and the exasperated expression he wore.

Dane must have given another signal, because the bats peeled off one at a time and began wheeling around the arena in complicated patterns. Hick saw that neither Dane nor Viktus had bothered to move from where she had left them, and there was Jason, Nico and Hazel, imprisoned within the clutches of the bats that caught them. She looked at the doorway and she knew it was pointless. Still... these people were a little too smug for their own good.

Hick sprinted three steps for the exit before she whipped around and headed right back towards Dane, catching Percy's hand on the way. Taken by surprise, the bats broke out of their formation and zoomed down, only to find themselves with no one to capture. They pulled up in an awkward clump, and while they didn't actually collide, Hick felt gratified to see several riders struggling to stay on their bats.

The crowd broke out in appreciative laughter. Now Hick felt a little more confident. "Faked them out," she grinned at Percy, momentarily forgetting that they were still feuding.

Dane's gaze was icy, but Hick saw Viktus trying to suppress a smile as he walked up. "So, you said something about a bath?" she said to Dane.

"You should be grateful. Water is scarce here. You will follow Viktus to the palace now," said Dane crossly, marching off to where his bat waited. The stands were beginning to empty. High in the air, the people filed out through exits between their bleachers. Hick watched as several bats with riders as pale and as blonde as Dane still wove around the stadium doing aerodynamic maneuvers. Whatever game had been in progress had ended when they arrived. The remaining bats and riders were hanging around to keep an eye on them.

"Will you follow to the palace, Sky-dwellers?" asked Viktus politely.
"As what, your prisoner?" said Percy bluntly, much to Hick's chagrin.
"As our guest, I hope," replied Viktus. "Although King Dane has no doubt ordered the dungeon readied for you." His amber eyes literally twinkled, and Hick found herself liking the man in spite of herself. She resisted the temptation to smile.

"Lead the way," said Percy indifferently.

Viktus nodded and waved him toward the far side of the arena. Hick followed a few steps behind him, along with her comrades. As they neared the main entrance of the stadium, Viktor dropped back and fell in step with Hick and Hazel, while the three guys kept close from behind. "You must feel as if you are trapped in a dream."

"Uh… yeah, I guess," said Hazel uncertainly.

Viktus chuckled. "Our bats and crawlers - no, what is it you call them? Cockhorses?"
"Cockroaches," Nico piped in.

"Ah, yes, cockroaches," agreed Viktus. "In your world, they are but handfuls while here they grow largely."
"How do you know that? Have you been to our world?" said Hick.

"Oh, no, such visits are as rare as trees. But the Stingers, or what you call mosquitoes, are able to get up there and survive the deep waters of your world. It is in fact your kind who came at times to us, falling from the sky. I have seen many, their remains strewn across the coast. Six or seven survived have survived before you came. One called Fred Clark, another called Mickey, and most recently a woman known as Coco. What are you called, Sky-dweller?" Viktus turned to Hick.

"Hick. This here is my younger sister, Hazel, and my younger brother, Nico. Jason and Percy here are my comrades. Anyway, are they still here? The other… uh… Sky-dweller humans… are they still here?" asked Hick, brightening a little at the thought. She missed the human world so badly. She missed her mom, Ryan and José the most.

"Sadly, no. This is not a gentle place for Sky-dwellers," said Viktus, his face darkening.
Hick stopped, and Percy tried hard not to bump into, resulting in an awkward dance. "You mean you killed them?" said Hick.

Now she'd insulted the guy.

"We? We Land-dwellers kill the Sky-dwellers? I know of your world, of the evils that transpire there. But we do not kill for sport!" said Viktus severely. "Today we have taken you in among us. Had we denied you, count on it, you would not be breathing now!"

"Way to go to piss him off, Hick," whispered Nico, earning a jab in the ribs from Jason.
"Well, I… I… My mistake, I didn't know how it worked here," stammered Hick. Although she should have guessed that it wasn't very diplomatic to suggest Viktus was a murderer. "So, the roaches would have killed us?"
"The crawlers kill you?" said Viktus. "No, it would give them no time."

Hick met Hazel's equally puzzled gaze. What did it mean to give the roaches time?

"But no one else even knows we're here," Percy commented, finally speaking up to Viktus.

Viktus looked at him gravely. Concern had replaced his anger. "Believe me, boy, by this time, every creature in our world knows you are here."

Hick resisted an impulse to look over her shoulder. "And that's not a good thing, is it?"

Viktus shook his head. "No. That is not in any manner a good thing. But your visit wasn't unexpected at all. "

The old man turned to the exit of the stadium. Half a dozen pale, amber-eyed guards flanked two gigantic stone doors. It took their combined efforts to push the doors open a few feet and to allow them to pass. Percy was the last to pass through, and the massive doors closed immediately behind him.

They continued to follow Viktus down a tunnel lined with stone torches to a small arch filled with something dark and fluttery. Hick thought it might be more bats, but on closer inspection she saw it was a cloud of tiny black moths. Was this what she had passed through when she stumbled into the stadium?

Viktus gently slid his hand into the insects. "These moths are a warning system peculiar to our world, I believe. The moment their pattern of flight is disturbed by an intruder, every bat in the area discerns it. I find it so perfect in its simplicity," he said. Then he vanished into the moths. Behind the curtain of wings, Hick could hear Viktus voice beckoning. "Come on, Sky-dwellers. Welcome to the city of Terra!"

Terra as in the Roman counterpart of Gaea? Hick gulped. This world was giving her a really bad feeling.

The velvety wings brushed past Hick's cheek, and she caught his first sight of Regalia. "Wow!" she said, stopping in her tracks.

Hick didn't know what she'd expected. Maybe stone houses, maybe caves - something primitive. But there was nothing primitive about the magnificent city that spread before her.

They stood on the edge of a valley filled with the most beautiful buildings he'd ever seen. The buildings here were all a lovely misty gray, which gave them a dreamlike quality. They seemed to rise directly out of the rock as if they had been grown, not made by human hands. Maybe they weren't as tall as the skyscrapers Hick had seen in cities back on Earth, but they towered high above her head, some at least thirty stories and finished in artful peaks and turrets. Thousands of torches were placed strategically so that a soft, dusky light illuminated the entire city.

And the carvings ... Hick had seen cherubs and gargoyles on buildings before, but the walls of Terra crawled with life. People and cockroaches and fish and creatures Terra had no name for fought and feasted and danced on every conceivable inch of space.

"Do just people live here, or roaches and bats, too?" Hick heard Hazel whispered. She was just as in awe as Hick of the view.

"This is a city of humans. The others have their own cities, or perhaps 'lands' might be a more accurate word," replied Viktus. "The majority of our people live here, although some dwell in the suburbs, if their work so dictates. There stands our palace," said Viktus, directing Hazel's eye to a huge, circular fortress at the far edge of the valley. "There we are headed."

The lights shining from the city's many windows gave it a festive look, and Hick felt her heart lightening a little. She remembered how New York City glittered like that all night long too, when she and her mom would accompany Ryan and his family on a trip to the concrete jungle. Maybe this place wasn't so foreign after all.

People stared openly at them from the windows as they passed, much to Percy's discomfort. Viktus acknowledged a few, nodding or calling out a name, and they'd raise their hands in greeting back.

"You hold great fascination for them," said Viktus, indicating the people in the windows. "We do not get many visits from the realm of the Sky."

"Um… about our baths… what did Dane mean when he say we're scarce on water?" asked Hick.

"The Clawers, or as you call rats, had restricted the water source that reaches the land of us land-dwelling humans, and thus the Stingers and Flyers as well," said Vikus.

"Flyers? Stingers?" Nico repeated after the old man.

"For Flyers I mean bats," Viktor replied. "And the Stingers… they appear to be called bees from where you come from because they sting, but also possibly mosquitos as they are able to live on land and in water. You must know of their presence. They visited your world not too recently."

"So why did they wage a war against us?" said Percy. He immediately regrettied the words he blurted out for Viktus looked sombre. But the old man continued.

"There are seven main, evolved creatures: rats known as Clawers, mice as Pawers, bats as Flyers, roaches as Crawlers, bees as Stingers, spiders as Spinners and… well, we humans. The spinners, pawers and crawlers take neither our side, nor the rats'. We sent the Stingers, who side with us Land-dwelling humans, to your world to gather water for our land. They sought a compromise with the ruler of the waters, but met with war almost immediately instead. Some fled to prevent bloodshed, but those who were angered stubbornly stayed to fight on and make the ocean their own by building their own city. As you should know, the Stingers lost and have all returned now. So let me correct you, Percy the Sky-dweller, the Stingers did not initiate the war. Your kind did."

To be continued...

Hi guys! My apologies for the late update! I've been so tied up with school lately :( So now, how about a review? PLEASE REVIEW~~ Let me know what you'd like to see play out for future chapters, because I would love to hear from you what awesome ideas you have!

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