AN: Hey guys! Hope everyone is doing well! As I always say, I want to thank everyone for any and all support you've shown the story so far. I really means a lot to me.

Alright, time for the chapter! I hope you enjoy it. DFTBA!

Chapter 11: I Redirect a River

An hour later we were driving down the road in our brand new car. Gus had charmspoken the car salesman. It had taken a little more effort from him than usual, but in the end we'd gotten away in the new car.

Jake kept drumming the fingers of his good arm on the steering wheel. Gus finally snapped, "Dude, no one's after us yet. Chill out. We didn't steal the car."

"We pretty much did," Jake said nervously. "And you said it yourself, the dealership guys would probably come to his senses after half an hour and call the police."

"And you said we should be able to get across the border by then," Gus countered. "Once we're in Canada, there's not much they can do."

Jake opened his mouth to respond, but I cut him off. "Will you two stop arguing? Look, Gus, I know you're still upset at Jake, but it's over. We have a quest to finish, and we can't succeed if you two are at each other's throats. And Jake, you need to calm down. The police aren't after us yet, so just chill." The boys shut up. "Now, let's focus on more important matters. How are we going to get into Canada? And why would Marina set up there?"

Jake and Gus remained silent, clearly lacking an answer. That or both of them were mad at me now. I decided to be optimistic and believe it was the first one. But why Canada, though? It really didn't make any sense. It seemed unnecessarily out of the way. Maybe she wanted us to have trouble crossing the border, but it just couldn't be that simple. Surely there was another reason for it? If Marina just wanted her place to be difficult to get to, there were plenty of places in the United States that would've worked just as well.

And what was going to happen when we got there? Jake and Gus were both pissed at each other. They needed to get their act together. I didn't particularly feel like fighting monsters while my teammates were fighting each other. I missed Theo and Jocelyn. Speaking of which, the silence was broken by the ringtone I'd set for Jocelyn.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and managed to read the words on the display: Video call from Jocelyn Clement. I tapped the answer button and Jocelyn's face filled up the cracked screen. "What's up Jacks – oh shit. You look terrible."

"Gee, thanks, Joce," I replied sarcastically. "Really what I like to hear from my best friend."

"I just tell it like it is," she replied. "Anyway, what happened to you?"

"Well we almost got blown up," I said. "We're all okay, but you know. I've got a concussion. Jake broke an arm. Normal stuff."

Theo elbowed himself into the frame. "Did you just say you got a concussion? Are you icing it?"

I rolled my eyes, but suppressed a smile. It was good to see both of them again. "Hello, yourself, Theo. And no, I don't exactly have any ice to put on it."

Theo frowned. "Well take it easy, will you? Don't hurt your head any worse than it already is."

"Yes, sir, Dr. Solaris," I said snarkily.

Theo was undeterred. "What about Jake and Augustus? Are they doing okay?"

I pressed the button to switch cameras so I could show him Gus and Jake, who were both sitting up front. "Broken arm, I see," Theo muttered in reference to Jake. "Leave it in that sling and get it in a cast as soon as possible. Gus, how are you? Anything hurt?"

"You've got your friends calling me Gus now, too?" Augustus complained.

"Alright, Theo, that's enough," Jocelyn said, taking her phone back from him. I flipped the camera back so it was facing me again. "Other than almost dying, how's the quest going? What are you doing?"

"Driving to Canada in a stolen car," I explained.

Jocelyn grinned. "Stolen, eh? I'm proud!"

"It's not stolen," Augustus complained from the front. "I charmspoke the guy to get him to give us the car. It's not stealing."

"It counts as stealing," Jocelyn said. "Also, did you say Canada? What the hell, Elizabeth? You wouldn't let us go to Canada on our quest." I remembered going to Niagara Falls with my friends on my quest last year. Jocelyn had really wanted to go to the Canadian side, but I'd told her we had to stay on the American side.

"Our quest didn't require us to go to Canada," I countered. "This one does. Marina is apparently way up along the North Atlantic coast. You don't have any idea why she decided to set up way up there, do you?"

Jocelyn didn't miss a beat in answering. "Well the gods don't operate very well in the north, do they?"

"They don't?"

"No, they don't," Jocelyn confirmed. "I feel like that's something you should've known, Wise Girl."

My eye twitched. "Don't call me that," I said, exasperated. "That's Dad's nickname for my mom."

"But it annoys you," Jocelyn said slowly, like she was explaining something to a child. "Why wouldn't I call you that?"

"Can we get back to the Canada thing?" I interrupted.

Jocelyn laughed. "I really ruffled your feathers, didn't I? Alright, well here's the deal. The gods can't really operate in the north. Even Boreas – he's the god of the north wind –"

"I know who Boreas is," I scoffed.

"Hey, Joce," Theo said from off camera, "I know you miss her and all, but that doesn't mean you should be a bitch." Jocelyn reached a hand off-screen, I heard a smacking sound, and Theo said, "Ow."

When she turned back to the camera, she was smirking. "Anyway, yeah. Gods don't do very well in the north. Even Boreas doesn't operate much farther north than Quebec City. So depending on where exactly in Canada Marina is, that might be the explanation. She doesn't want divine intervention."

I nodded. That made sense. After all, Gaius had done something similar when he'd hidden Persephone in that old Aztec temple. "That's probably it, then. Smart of her."

"Agreed," Jocelyn said. "Your enemy knows what she's doing."

"How are things at camp?" I asked.

"Well Vanessa is still freaking out, as expected," Jocelyn said. "Some of the other campers are getting riled up, too. Mike has really been important in keeping everyone calm. But I don't know, Elizabeth. If Marina calls us again, I don't know that order can be maintained."

"So we'll make sure to stop her before then," I said.

"You be careful," Theo said, appearing on screen again. "I know you're on a quest and don't have much of a choice, but take it as easy as possible, alright? That goes for all three of you."

"What he said," Jocelyn said. "You guys can do it. I know you can."

"Hey, Elizabeth," Jake said from up front. "Sorry to interrupt, but we're getting close to the border."

"And that's our cue," Jocelyn said. "Bye, Elizabeth."

"Bye Joce, bye Theo," I said. My friends waved, and the line went.

"We're only a couple minutes from the border crossing," Jake said. "Any ideas?"

I leaned back in my seat, putting my phone away, thinking. "Pull over," I said.

We pulled off to the side of the road. We were still about a mile from the official border crossing. Across the road were some low trees and bushes. Past that was a river. The sky was turning really dark with foreboding rain clouds. The wind whipped around us. Gus glanced around nervously. "I really don't like this storm," he said quietly.

"Not a storm yet," I said lightly. I turned to Jake. "Canada is across that river?"

He nodded. "Yeah. St. John's River. There's a bridge up ahead that's the border crossing, but obviously we can't just drive across it. We'll have to find another way across."

I stared across the road into the trees and bushes. The branches were shaking violently in the wind, the wood creaking ominously. "Well, let's get down to the river and scope it out. Maybe we can swim across or something?"

Augustus nodded. "Sounds good. But keep your guard up, guys. I've got a bad feeling about this storm that's coming."

"What about the car?" Jake asked. "Just leave it here?"

"Well we can't very well take it across the river with us," I said. "We'll have to find a new one on the other side. Besides, if we leave it behind it'll be harder for the police to follow us."

Gus nodded. "Good thinking, but why don't we put it in neutral and push into the tree-line?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Nice one, Gus. Let's do it."

Augustus blushed slightly. "Thanks. Jake, since you've got a messed up arm, you can steer. Elizabeth and I will push."

It didn't take very long to push the car off the road. After making sure it was safely hidden from the road, we crossed to the other side and began making our way through the foliage to the river. The entire way down, the hairs on the back of my neck continued to stand on end. I kept my hand grasped firmly on the hilt of my sword. The wind seemed to pick up even more. I kept thinking that someone – or something – was following us, but whenever I glanced around there was no one.

After a couple of tense minutes, we made it down to the river. It sped past us in white rapids. The wind whipped my hair around so much I was having trouble seeing. I wished my hair ties had survived the radio tower explosion. "Well this is pleasant," I remarked dryly.

"Do you still think we could swim across?" Gus asked.

I frowned slightly and knelt at the riverbank. One of the tricks Katherine had taught me towards the end of last summer was a technique she called "reading the water." If done right, you could get a measure of how deep the water was, how fast it was moving, and sometimes even whether the river's nymph was friendly. I could only do it successfully sometimes, but I figured it was worth a shot.

I placed my palm on the surface of the water and concentrated. To my pleasant surprise, it worked. Unfortunately, I didn't think swimming across would be an option. "The river is deceptively deep," I said, standing back up. "And as fast as the water on the surface is moving, the riptide is killer. I could make it across, but there's no way you guys could. Especially not with your bad arm, Jake. What about flying us across, Gus?"

Augustus frowned. "I wouldn't trust myself to do it. This wind is really tricky. I'd have a hard time controlling it, especially with three of us."

"Maybe we could follow the river for a bit," Jake said. "See if there's a better place to stop?"

"Who knows how long that will take," Augustus said. "I'd like to get to Canada sometime before nightfall."

I sighed and pulled out Marianas. "There is another option," I said hesitantly. I had an idea to get us across the river, but I was worried. There was a pretty good chance that what I was about to suggest could kill me. "I could lift the water out of its banks and we could walk under it."

Augustus and Jake frowned. "You think you can do it?"

I pressed the trident button. I got the familiar buzz of energy I was used to whenever Marianas went into trident mode. "I think so. We'll have to be fast, and I warn you, I'll probably be out of commission for a while after." If I survive, I thought.

Jake looked at Augustus, who seemed to be considering it. Finally, after a couple minutes of deliberation, he nodded. "Let's give it a shot."

I turned back towards the river, lifted Marianas high over my head, and yelled. There was an extremely painful tug in my gut, then the river surged out of its banks, forming an arch as it flowed up and then back down again. Instantly my vision started to swim. I began to heat up uncomfortably.

"Go, quickly," I grunted.

Gus and Jake clambered down into the riverbed. I staggered as I followed them down, but Gus caught me and helped me regain my balance. I managed to keep the river up. Already my peripheral vision was failing. The wind was worse than ever down here; the river's arch was a perfect wind tunnel. I just focused on moving forward, but keeping my balance got harder with each step.

And then, halfway across, shit hit the fan. The wind was practically hurricane force, carrying cackling voices with it. Augustus drew his sword, Jake hefted his hammer. I just stood still, focusing on keeping up the river. My clothes were drenched with sweat. The pain in my gut was almost unbearable. I had never had a worse headache in my life. I wanted to die just so the pain would stop.

The cackling got progressively louder, and then suddenly we were surrounded by human figures made of wind. Augustus swore. "Venti."

I coughed, splattering the ground with blood. That couldn't be good.

One of the venti stepped – or floated, rather – forward. His smile was like lightning. "Well I'll be," he said. "Marcus was right in thinking there would be survivors."

An alarm bell went off in my head. I recognized that name. "Marcus? Who's that?" Gus asked.

One of the other venti laughed. "He works for Gaius, just like the woman you three are undoubtedly trying to reach."

"Gaius?" Augustus asked.

A third venti laughed. "Ask your girlfriend. She knows who we're talking about."

Jake and Gus looked at me, confused. Normally I would have felt uneasy about all this. These venti had come here on Marcus's orders? Because I remembered the name. I'd met him last summer. And more than that, they recognized me. They knew who I was, they knew that I'd met Gaius. Which meant they knew I was important to Gaius. But I couldn't focus on any of that because I was in too much pain. Still, I managed to say, "Tell… later. Need… get… across." I coughed again, sending blood flying.

The venti laughed again. "Poor granddaughter of Poseidon. Gaius wants you left alive, but these two are of no consequence to him. All we need to do is get you to drop the river. It will kill your friends, and you'll live. Won't be long now."

Gus had apparently heard enough. He yelled and swiped his sword through one of the venti. It burst apart. The venti swarmed us. Jake swung his hammer around, but it kept passing through them harmlessly. The venti jostled me. They swirled around me, knocking me back and forth. I was dangerously close to losing my balance.

And then suddenly they backed off and Augustus had his left arm wrapped around my shoulders. In his right, he swung his sword in a deadly arc, vaporizing the venti. Gus put a little bit of pressure on my back and began walking forward, pulling me with him. He yelled something to Jake, but I couldn't understand what he'd said. I'd lost all sense of the English language. My peripheral vision was completely gone now. I locked my eyes on the opposite riverbank and just focused on each step. Only ten more yards and we'd be there…

Something slammed into my side. I lost my balance and fell to the ground. The river dropped. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. The river was breaking apart above us, crashing down in separate streams and droplets. I found my friends. Jake was a few feet away staring up in horror. Augustus was right next to me on the ground, his arm still around my shoulders, looking grim. I wasn't about to let them die. With the last vestiges of strength I had, I thrust my trident back into the air.

Time returned to normal. The river exploded back upwards. Augustus pulled me to my feet and practically carried me out of the riverbed. Jake followed right on our heels. As soon as we made it to the shore, Gus thrust out his hands and sent a huge blast of wind under the arch, trapping the venti underneath. I dropped the river.

With an almighty crash, it fell, soaking everything within a hundred foot radius and destroying the venti. I fell to the ground. Marianas left my hand and changed back to sword form. It was absolutely silent, though I didn't know whether that was because it was actually silent, or because my sense of sound had failed completely.

Augustus let his sword drop to his side and smiled down at me. Then the look on his face changed to dismay. I guess I looked pretty bad. He knelt down next to me and tried to say something, but I couldn't hear him.

Then, out of the tree behind him, two giant scorpions emerged from the woods. I tried to say something, but my voice was gone. Gus whirled around, but he didn't get his sword up in time. Jake jumped in front of the scorpion's stinger, taking the blow for Gus.

I couldn't hold on to consciousness any longer. The last thing I saw before blacking out entirely was a streak of silver striking one of the scorpions right between its beady eyes…

AN: Alright guys, see you this weekend! (Mwahahaha, I just love cliffhangers)