Right, so, this chapter.
Not only was the scene horrible, but the screams chilled Glory to the bone. Back to concentrating.
The jagged rocky wall of the cave served many sharp handholds and footholds. Carefully, Glory grabbed handholds next to her and twisted herself out of Deathbringer's grip.
"Careful." Deathbringer cautioned.
"Don't think I know that?" Glory replied.
Climbing down the side of the cave wall was like climbing up the lava climbing wall at camp. The stone was hot and covered with a very thin layer of slime. As they climbed down, a sickly scent washed over Glory and the screams grew ever louder.
When they were halfway down, Glory's arms and legs were shaking from exhaustion.
"Of course the vent had to be high up from the ground." Glory cursed.
"Maybe it was to make it hard to escape and so that they didn't notify the whole Underworld that we are here." Tsunami said.
"So we have the advantage." Deathbringer stated.
"Not if we get spotted like this. Let's continue." Glory said bossily.
"Hey, that's my job." Tsunami muttered.
"Well, too bad." Once again, they were climbing down the cave wall.
~~~~Fancy Time skip~~~~
Glory lay panting on the ground. She didn't care anymore of making an impression that she was tough. After all, her friends were in the exact same state (although, Deathbringer seemed to be healing faster than her and Tsunami). Nobody could do that and still stand or walk around. We need to be able to fight, so we need to heal fast. What can heal us? That ambrosia stuff? Well, worth a shot, Glory thought.
She unclipped her bag and searched through it. Drachmas, mortal money, extra clothes, dagger, her throwing knives, water bottle... Where was the stupid ambrosia? Glory checked in the front pocket. There was a canister of nectar, some bandages, and a dogey bag of ambrosia. Breaking off one of the squares, she popped it into her mouth.
The taste surprised so much, she almost spat it out. It tasted of guavas and hamburgers. A strange combination, but it somehow tasted pretty good.
Glory handed one to Tsunami and Deathbringer, who gratefully accepted them.
"Let's go, let's go! We have a heaven for the dead to break into." Tsunami rose up.
"Shouldn't I go first, seeing as it's my domain?" Deathbringer questioned.
"Wow, so brave. Well, if we get in trouble, you'll be the first to know." Glory said sarcastically.
"Thanks, that makes me feel so much safer."
The walk around the fields of Punishment was much longer than she expected. Why were there so many evil people? She hadn't meant to say it aloud, but Deathbringer had heard.
"Because doing evil is easier than doing good. The desire for money and power can easily corrupt people, making them do whatever to get it. For most people, it's really hard to do something good." He reasoned. He had a good point, but she didn't let that show.
"How do you know so much about dead people and the underworld?"
"Well... My dad is Hades. It'd be kind of weird not to know anything about this place."
"Well, just because I'm a child of Aphrodite, doesn't mean that I do manicures and gossip and do things like that. I don't even get in relation ships. So... Not much of a child of Aphrodite. Just like how I'm the different Rainwing. Even Piper is much more of an Aphrodite child then me."
"Well, doesn't make you any less beautiful or sarcastic. So, at least Aphrodite is not making you change." Glory was stunned. Beautiful? Sarcastic, well, everyone knew that she was sarcastic some of the time (understatement of the year). But beautiful? Maybe as a dragon—she'd been the "pretty one" out of her friends—but humans had more details.
"I think all this Aphrodite talk is getting to his head." Glory whispered to Tsunami, who grinned.
"What are you guys whispering about?"
"Well, unless you want to feel insulted, I suggest you probably shouldn't ask."
"Alright then, I'm ready to feel insulted."
"As usual. Anyways, I was saying that all this talk of Aphrodite was getting to your big head." Deathbringer smiled for some reason.
"Maybe it is." He shrugged, a huge smile still visible.
"Sometimes it's hard to understand you and your big head."
"It's even harder to understand you. I bet that even Athena couldn't understand the sense in your mind."
"I bet even the god/goddess of assassinations would be ashamed of you."
"Then where would you be if I hadn't restrained?"
"I would be gloating over your dead body."
"What's the fun in that?"
"Saying that your assassin skills suck, because they do."
"I'm so flattered."
"Your welcome." With that, they continued on in silence, but not before she caught Tsunami rolling her eyes.
~Clay's pov~
He felt like he was being torn in two. Glory and Tsunami was like family to him, and in extension so was Deathbringer.
Clay couldn't tell if they were in danger or not, but that afternoon he had felt an itch all over him and a pain in his side. It made him wish that he could be there, protecting them.
He looked up from the green valley he was in. The breeze carried the smell of sweet strawberries. It was hot, much hotter than yesterday. He saw someone running over to him from the cabins.
As she came close, Clay saw that it was Sunny.
"Hey." He greeted her.
"Hi! Ohmygosh, you won't believe what just happened!"
"What? What happened?" Clay asked as Sunny dissolved into giggles.
"Well. Starflight was lecturing a Hecate kid, and the kid was getting annoyed, so—" She laughed again, gasping for breath. "—so the kid threw this sphere like thing— it was bright pink— and when the pink cloud dissapeared, Starflight was replaced with a girl! Then we figured out that the girl was Starflight. He—or should I say she?—has a really high voice." Clay smiled.
Can I see him? Ha, now it will be even harder for everyone to take him seriously when he lectures us." Clay grinned again.
They found Starflight in her bunk, sulking. Her hair was glossy black and really long. She wore makeup, and even her clothes had changed into a silver dress. Her feet were bare. It took awhile for him to figure out it was Starflight.
When he did, started laughing. He couldn't stop, even if he wanted to. He had never laughed so hard in his life. That was, until Sunny screamed. Almost immediately after, he noticed a tingling sensation in his hair. Looking up, he saw his hair was on fire.
"Holy Hephaestus! My hair's on fire!" Clay panicked, and the flames got bigger. Strangely, it wasn't hurting him. Starflight perked up.
"Wait! Clay, stop moving!" Starflight ordered iner high voice. Clay obeyed, hoping he would do the sensible thing and take a bucket of water to douse it. Instead, he studied the flames.
Then, a strange red light emoted from on top of his head, and it definitely wasn't the fire.
"Clay! You've been claimed!" Sunny hopped up and down, her face showed pure excitement.
Clay looked up—the flames were now just tiny flickers— to see the glow of a hammer on fire floating over his head. It was the symbol of Hephaestus, which puzzled him. He wasn't a builder, he always felt clumsy. But, he was immune to fire, which most likely categorized him as a son of Hephaestus. Plus they were pretty strong. But he knew he wouldn't fit in there.
So, I'd like to thank AutumnLeaves03 cause that was really nice and made me happy (along with Rhodi). And I will continue! So yeah, I had promised to do both views so yeah, and Clay was the only one who hadn't been claimed. Turning Starflight into a girl was kinda on the spot, but it worked. ;) bye!
-FlopsMcGee
