I'm not dead! Hi~

Aaaaanyways. Here is teh next chappie. :3 Shout out to Metal Flowers for being... Uh... Random. XD and awesome.

readingisdabest: Hehe, yeah. I love evil~ Also, I tend to use my iPad, so it doesn't seem as short to me...
Fang Ride 323: She's awesome. And evil-ish. :D Not really, she just hates the flock.
percybeth96: As you wish... XD
ChopSuzi: Yes. Griffins of DEATH. O_o
SpiritWolf14: Yeah, sorry, but I'm evil like that with cliffhangers. c: Glad you likey, and I am also a daughter of Poseidon so YOUR ARGUMENT IS VOID. ;P
Courtney DiLaurentis: Hehe... ^.^; Sorry. I don't often find time for writing longer chapters, the only fic I seem to make an exception for is the Slumber of Ghosts. /: I'll try and update more often, but the chaptersstill probably stay short.
Metal Flowers: You got a shout-out! *dances* Thank you for an awesome review. You receive a thousand brownie points for that.
PandaBearSoul: Oh, shut up. You didn't even review chapter 9.
Witchgirl: That... is an epic idea. O_o Sorry though, maybe another time~ T^T

Ooookay~, time for some griffins of DEATH! *cackles*


Wings of a Goddess


"Shit," I cursed, ducking as a griffin claw soared right over my head. "Damn creatures. Shouldn't I be able to command them to-" My sentence was cut off as I twirled nimbly away from an attempt to slice my wings off. "Okay. Scratch that. Time to be eliminated, baby!" Cackling in a slightly-insane way, I withdrew a chunk of Celestial Bronze from my pack. I think Hermes had charmed it so it could hold an infinite number of things. Huh. Anyways, I basically pulled out a big honking footlong piece of dully gleaming metal.

"What the hell are you gonna do with that?" Fang yelled, dodging a lash from a griffin. "Club 'em to death?"

I rolled my eyes. "You'll see!" I shouted back, doing a neat backflip in midair to avoid being cut into ribbons. There were, all in all, four griffins, which I could easily handle. I knew, however, that the flock had to do this on their own. I may be able to accompany them, but I was not allowed to help. (Unless they were dying. And even then... well, there was my promise to Zeus. Crap.)

Concentrating, I narrowed my eyes at the hunk of metal, letting part of my consciousness go on autopilot so I wouldn't have to tumble out of the sky and heal in the middle of the desert. I imagined the Celestial Bronze melting, reforming into weapons that could be handled.

A slim Japanese katana, blade shining bronze, the hilt plain with a ribbon literally made out of metal wrapped just under the guard.

A pair of small knives, easy to handle with smaller hands, the blades also bronze.

A bow, capped with sharp Celestial Bronze spikes, complete with a quiver of bronze-tipped arrows.

A two-foot-long silver pole, with curved bronze blades jutting out near the head like a two-sided scythe, but smaller.

A pair of curved, crescent-shaped bronze blades, looking like the letter D with the straight line being silver handles.

Smirking in satisfaction at my work, I carefully created sheaths for the sword, knives, pole, and blades, and stuck the bow in its quiver. Apparently I could summon raw materials from a certain place on Olympus that was created for just this very reason. That's where the silver of the handles and sheaths, metal for some parts, wood for the bow and quiver, and the other materials for the weapons had come from. Although we couldn't, apparently, summon Celestial Bronze, hence why I had to carry it around.

My work done (this had passed in about fifteen seconds), I tossed the katana to Fang*1*, the knives to Angel, the bow to Nudge, the pole to Gazzy, and the crescent blades to Iggy. Well, I warned Iggy. The others I figured could handle it.

"Woah," Gazzy breathed, twirling his pole around and whacking a griffin in the chest. It yelped and soared away, a gash in its feathers dripping strange monster blood. "This is so cool!"

Fang just set his jaw stubbornly and drew the sword, hacking at the wing of Gazzy's griffin effortlessly. Nudge gaped at the quiver in her hands for a second, then slung it over her back and after a moment figured out how to mount the arrow. Shooting a little nervously, she managed to actually lodge it in the wing of the now-limping-through-the-air griffin that both Gazzy and Fang had attacked, knocking it out of the sky. About a hundred feet down it exploded in a puff of sand and was distributed through the air, scattered on the winds.

Angel smiled and whipped out her knives after strapping the sheaths to her forearms, flying in towards another griffin and sticking one of the blades in its scruff. Iggy joined in, guided by her calls, and slashed a few wounds in its legs and one wing. It fell out of the sky like its companion, disintegrating into dust when Nudge shot it, now more sure of her abilities, square in the chest.

I had drifted above the fighting, smiling in satisfaction that my weapons worked. Okay, maybe I was a little proud of them. But that did not mean I forgave them. Not at all.

After roughly seven minutes of fighting, all the griffins were just piles of sand borne on the desert wind, and all the weapons were sheathed. "Well, you didn't die!" I informed them cheerfully. "And you hacked a bunch of griffins to pieces in your first fight! Fun times."

"First fight? We've fought plenty before," Fang scoffed.

"I know, I was there," I shot back. "But I meant with Celestial Bronze weapons. You'll want to keep those close. Only Celestial Bronze works against monsters. Oh, and Stygian-whatever, but that's for Hades and his kids to use. You guys stick to these."

"So... um, where are we exactly?" Angel questioned, looking around. "I lost track after the griffins attacked."

I hummed and closed my eyes, searching my inner map/compass/thing. Gods have cool stuff like that. "I think we're... somewhere over Utah. We've been flying a while. Damn, I guess we overshot it." Putting a hand over my eyes to shield them, I glanced down at the desert then west. "I guess we're heading west instead. Might take another day of flying, then we'll rest somewhere around Las Vegas and make it to Hollywood tomorrow afternoon."

"We get to stay in Las Vegas?" Gazzy cheered. "YES! Angel, I bet you could win us a boatload of money!"

I rolled my eyes, but I was snorting in amusement. "We don't need money. I can conjure up anything we'd need in terms of mortal cash. Drachmas are a little trickier, but I bet if I asked Zeus for the trick I could do it."

"But the satisfaction..." the blonde whined. I sighed.

So much for trying to be nicer. If they stay this annoying constantly, I'm afraid I might be a little tempted to attack them myself...

"That reminds me," I thought aloud. "I wanted to ask Zeus why I couldn't control those griffins. They're mutants - half lion, half eagle. I should be able to... Hmm. I'll try and contact him when we get to 'Vegas."

Several long hours of flying later, we were soaring over the still-dusty landscape of Nevada. In the distance I spotted the huge sprawling map of lights - Las Vegas. Hell yeah.

We flapped hard another fifteen minutes, then landed on top of a large casino building that was at least ten stories high*2*. I whistled. "Should be called the City of Lights. I feel like I'm being blinded."

"Is it that bad?" Iggy asked.

Gazzy laughed. "Woot! Yeah, it's bright, but it's awesome! Can we go gambling? Please please please?"

"Hell no," I snorted. "They'd never let you past the front doors."

"Hmph," he pouted.

"Let's get food though," I commented, looking around for a slightly more kid-friendly restaurant. "I brought nectar and ambrosia for me, but you guys need to eat to be able to fly all the way to California tomorrow. Whaddaya feel like eating?"

"Chinese!" Gazzy yelled.

At the same time, Nudge started blabbering about Indian cuisine, Angel suggested Mexican, and Iggy mused over the fact that he'd never had Pad Thai before. I rubbed my head in annoyance. "Come to a decision, for Zeus' sake. Chinese, Indian, or Mexican?"

Eventually they settled for Chinese, albeit with some heated complaints and whining from Nudge. (It stopped when I changed my face briefly into that of a dragonfly. Trust me, bug eyes in human size are not pretty. I might have overdid it a tiny bit... nah, throwing up is good for 'ya. Gives you room for the next meal.) I located a Panda Express that took up half a block - nobody in Vegas did things by halves, let me tell you - and we settled down at a table. Sure enough, with barely any concentration, I was able to reach into my backpack and conjure up a wad of hundred-dollar bills. Deciding it looked a little suspicious, I elected to narrow it down when we payed.

At first the flock was worried that their abnormal order size was going to surprise the waitress, but I just scoffed and said; "This is Vegas, guys. A, they'll probably think you're ordering for a party. B, I can just confuse her with the Mist if I have to."

So they ate in silence. I manipulated the Mist into making my plate of ambrosia squares and large glass of nectar was a orange chicken and rice combo meal, and the others scarfed down on their assorted huge piles of rice, chicken, noodles, and soba (in Fang's case*3*).

"Thanks, bye!" I called to the lady at the front door as we exited and quickly found an empty alley to spread our wings and take off. We ended up settling on top of the same casino building, and I created a barrier of Mist to both hide us and keep the mortals away. "Promise I won't kill you in your sleep," I vowed amusedly to the flock, sitting on the edge of the building and smirking out at the night sky.

They exchanged wary glances, but fell asleep almost immediately. I cursed myself and punched the side of my head. Damn, I had to stop thinking of them protectively. They were not my children and never would be. Opening a link to Zeus, I closed my eyes and let my awareness drift.

"Lord Zeus," I greeted respectfully, standing off to the side of the U of thrones, up on Olympus.

He waved a hand at me, paying attention but still focused on doing... something to his master lightning bolt. "Go ahead, Ride."

Sighing, I sat on the edge of a step (we were both human size), much like I was in Vegas in my other form. "We were attacked by griffins earlier. I'm sure you noticed, we were pretty high up. The thing was... they were mutants, right? Lion and eagle. But I couldn't control them. I've actually tried it before, on my second day here Poseidon was showing me around some beach and I saw a hippocampi - those half fish, half horse, I think, creatures, and it obeyed my will almost as well as his. Yet these griffins were shrouded from me somehow. It was like I was blocked off from them."

"This is distressing indeed," he mused gravely, pausing in his work to scratch his beard. "I'll look into it, Ride. In the meantime - I hope to see you hold up your end of the bargain."

"Yes, sir," I nodded, then severed our connection.

Shaking my head as I surfaced again. Well, damn. No info that was useful to me. Sighing, I gazed up at the moon, and pondered what could have cut me off from the griffins. Gods don't need to sleep, but for the sake of appearances, I let myself doze off. In reality I was soaring through the clouds in a different form. I suppose this could be interpreted as a dream, except for the fact that I was technically split in two and my other half was somewhere over Portland Oregon. It was an unusually clear night there.

So I 'slept,' and allowed myself to relax for a precious few hours.

Gods know I certainly needed it.


Guess what? I didn't leave a cliffhanger~! O_O Shocking, I know.

Nudge: *wail* You made me throw up?

Ride: Quit your whining. You deserved it.

*ominous thunder*

Ride: *grumbling* Sorry, Your Lordship.

Me: Fun times.

Ride: Shut up.

*1* Kanda~
*2* Never been to Las Vegas, so I don't know what the buildings are like -.-'
*3* Kanda again~

Anyways, see ya~! :D

-Kat-