12. I Become A Punching Bag

As if on cue, lightning struck and thunder rumbled when we came to the realization that Finn may very well be Lexie's cousin, not only by godly lineage, but by blood as well. We stood motionless in a kind of state of shock as Finn and Mason got into a car and began driving away. I was about to turn to Lexie and ask her if it could be possible that Finn was Jason's son, but she took off running before I got the chance.

I don't know what was going through her head as she chased the swerving car down the street. I can only guess she truly believed Finn was her cousin, and with her mom teetering on the edge of death, I'm sure she felt like she couldn't risk losing anymore family.

Russ and I took off running after her, calling her name, and begging her to stop. As much as I sympathized with what all she was going through, I knew Finn didn't feel any kind of connection toward Lexie. He made it very clear that he would kill her given the chance.

I saw Mason stick her head and arm out of the passenger-side window of the car as it sped away, and gunshots rang out. She was firing at Lexie, which put an extra spring in mine and Russ' steps. I was sprinting at full speed, but Russ took off past me like a jet. Damn demigods and their super-human abilities.

I heard the bullets from Mason's gun whizzing past me; her aim was off. The car rounded a curve and disappeared from sight, but Lexie kept on running. When Russ caught up with her, he grabbed her by the collar of her jacket, spun her around, and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She was kicking and screaming and cussing Russ, but he ignored her.

"Jackson!" Russ yelled at me as I was running toward him. "We've got to find shelter!"

I looked around and saw an abandoned furniture store with its windows boarded up just down the street. "There!" I yelled, pointing toward the building. "Let's take cover in there!"

Russ ran toward the store with Lexie still draped over his shoulder and her pounding his back with her fists, and I followed. We dodged flying debris as we rushed toward the door of the building that would hopefully provide shelter from the raging hurricane.

When we reached the door, Russ bumped it hard with his hip and shoulder, and it came right open. We ran inside, I closed the door behind us, and pushed an old desk against the door to keep it shut.

Russ dropped Lexie on her ass on the hardwood floor. "Stay down," he ordered her.

Russ quickly found a chair, which he collapsed into, and he began carefully removing his raincoat and wincing as he did. It was then I noticed blood beginning to pool on the floor by the chair.

"Gods, Russ, what happened?" Lexie asked when she noticed he was injured.

"I took a hit," he winced.

Lexie began to get up off the floor, but Russ glared at her, "I said stay down."

"I'm a healer, Russ. Let me help you," she reasoned.

He chuckled, which only made him wince more. "You can barely heal a sprained ankle. What makes you think you can heal a bullet wound?"

Lexie's father was the god of healing, but she wasn't the greatest healer at camp. Sure she knew a few incantations, and she could work wonders with nectar, like she did on the Fourth of July when a giant crab put two gashes in her leg, but she had her limits. I wasn't sure if a bullet wound was beyond her abilities or not. When Russ finally got his raincoat off, and I saw the severity of the wound, I knew Lexie couldn't fix it, and so did she.

Russ' bicep had a chunk missing out of it, and blood was pouring from the wound. I'll say this about the guy: he was tough. I couldn't see how he was still conscious; he was losing so much blood, and it must've been excruciatingly painful.

Russ examined the wound. "Must've been celestial bronze to do this much damage," he said. Russ grabbed some bandages from his pack and wrapped his arm to slow the bleeding, then he turned to me, "Hey, Jackson, how about you bring me that jacket you've got there."

I looked down at my hand that was still clutching the Golden Fleece in jacket-form. At this point, it was probably the only thing that could save Russ' life. I took it over to him and gently draped it over the shoulder of his wounded arm.

He looked up at me and said, "It should heal my arm, but I'm probably about to pass out from blood loss, so keep an eye on Lexie. Don't let her take off. She'll only get herself killed."

I looked over at Lexie who was sitting cross-legged on the floor with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face. "Got it," I said, but when I turned back to him, he was slumped over in his chair with his eyes closed. I checked his pulse. It was weak, but it was there. We just had to give the Fleece time to work its magic. Hopefully, he would be completely healed by morning.

I took off my raincoat, and began looking around the furniture store, which was fairly dark since the windows were boarded up. It was basically empty other than a few pieces of dusty furniture that had been left behind. I found an old sofa and loveseat covered in a plastic sheet near the back of the store. I pushed the sofa across the empty hardwood floor and parked it near Russ.

"Lexie," I said. "Help me get Russ onto the sofa."

She got to her feet, and we carefully lifted Russ out of his wooden chair and situated him onto the sofa where he could rest comfortably.

When we got him settled and made sure the Fleece was wrapped snugly around his arm that had stopped bleeding and was already beginning to heal, I pushed the loveseat up beside it so Lexie and I could have a place to sit other than the hard and dusty floor.

Lexie was staring down at Russ, and I couldn't tell if her expression was sorrow or anger.

"He probably saved your life, you know?" I said.

She didn't say a word, but she took off her raincoat and sat down beside me on the smaller sofa. It was silent between us for a moment. The only sound was that of storm outside.

She finally broke the silence, "He makes me so angry sometimes." I knew the feeling. Russ made me angry a lot; it was that Ares vibe he had. "He treats me like a child," she continued.

"I think he just wants to protect you," I said, and why was I defending him?

"I don't need protecting," she insisted. "I can take care of myself."

Normally, I wouldn't argue with her. Lexie was very self-reliant, but she did have a tendency to do some pretty rash things…like chasing after someone who was shooting at her.

"He doesn't trust me," she went on. "He questions my judgment too often."

"Well," I said. "Your judgment earlier was kind of questionable."

"I was in shock, CJ. Give me a break."

I nodded, "I know you were. I think I was, too."

"Speaking of shock, how'd your friend handle everything? What was her name?" she asked.

"Nicole," I said. "And I think she handled it alright, considering, though I doubt she'll ever speak to me again. But who can blame her?"

Lexie shrugged, "Maybe she'll come around."

"After that explosion in the bank, she probably doesn't want to be within a hundred miles of me. And how did you and Russ blow the vault door, anyway?"

"With a homemade bomb or improvised explosive device, as Russ likes to call it," she said. "He's good with stuff like that." Son of the war god, I guess he would be good with bombs.

"Well, it's a good thing," I nodded.

"Is the Rebellion still trying to get you to join them?"

"Yeah," I sighed. "But I won't."

"I know you won't."

It was silent between us as I thought about Nic and the Rebellion. I also thought about Finn and his possible relation to Lexie, and I got the feeling she was thinking about the same thing.

Finally, I asked, "Do you…do you think it's possible?"

"That Finn is Uncle Jason's son?" She shrugged, "It's possible, I guess. I mean, he never mentioned he had a son, but that doesn't mean he doesn't."

"I don't see any other explanation," I said. "He looks so much like Jason and his power over wind…"

She nodded, "Finn always looked so familiar to me, and now I can finally place it. I actually had a dream while we were on the boat that kind of hinted that Finn might be related to me."

I nodded, "I had a dream like that, too."

"I just don't know why Uncle Jason didn't tell me about him. We don't keep secrets from each other."

Lexie and Jason were so close that an outsider might think he was her father, so it was odd that Jason would've kept that from her, unless… "What if he doesn't know?" I asked.

Lexie took a deep breath, "If Finn turns out to be the son he never knew existed, it'll break his heart."

I could see how Jason would be devastated to learn he had a teenage son who he doesn't know and who is a member of a group setting out to wipe the planet of demigods.

"What if he's not Jason's son? What if we're wrong?" I asked.

She shook her head, "I don't think we are. To have that kind of power, he's got to be second generation, and the only children of Zeus or Jupiter out there who are the right age to have kids is my mom and Uncle Jason."

She looked toward Russ and quietly stared at the Fleece for a moment. She must've been thinking of her mom and how sick she was.

"We've got the Fleece now, just like I promised we would. Your mom's going to be okay," I assured her.

"Only if we get it back in time," she said.

"We will."

She turned to me, fighting back tears. "I can't lose her, CJ."

I wrapped my arm around her, and she rested her head on my shoulder. I didn't say anything; I didn't know what to say, so I just held her. She looked so tired, and I knew she was. She'd probably only gotten a couple hours of sleep since she found out her mother was sick, and now she had this whole cousin thing to deal with. I was surprised she was able to keep herself together as well as she had.

"CJ," she said. "Do you remember the time when I lived in Manhattan, and Mom had to go out of town for a week?"

I smiled, "I remember. You stayed with us. You were so upset and scared that first day."

"I feel like that now," she admitted.

I was surprised to hear her say that. She rarely gets scared, and when she does, she fights like hell to hide it. "Do you remember what I told you then?" I asked.

"You told me as long as you were around, there was nothing to be scared of, that you'd always protect me."

"And that made you feel better, didn't it?"

"Actually," she said. "I think it was your mom's chicken soup that made me feel better."

I laughed, "She makes really good chicken soup, doesn't she?"

I felt Lexie laugh against my shoulder, "Yeah, I miss her soup."

I wanted to talk to Lexie a little more about Finn and how we should handle the situation, but she dozed off right there on my shoulder, so I let her sleep. With the hurricane hindering our getting out of the Keys tonight, I decided I should probably get some sleep, too, while I had the chance.

I don't know how long I'd been asleep, but I got a wake-up call in the form of Russ' fist slamming into my face.

"Russ!" I heard Lexie scream.

Before I was even fully awake, he had me pinned to the floor and was pounding on me with his fists. I guess his arm healed up just fine, but what I couldn't understand was why he was attempting to beat me up. It's not like he was hurting me or doing any damage. The shots he was taking to my face and my ribs were pointless.

"What's your problem?" I yelled between the strikes to my face.

"You're my problem!" he yelled as he continued to pound on me. "I was just starting to think you weren't so bad, then you pull a stunt like this!"

What on Earth was he talking about? What stunt? Was he delirious from his injury? "I don't know what you're talking about!" I yelled.

"Stop it, Russ!" Lexie yelled. "Get off him!"

"Keep your damn hands off my girlfriend!" he yelled as he slammed the back of my head onto the floor.

Uh-oh... He must've seen Lexie and me curled up and sleeping on the small sofa. I'm not going to say it wasn't nice to have Lexie sleeping on my shoulder, but that's all it was. I wasn't trying to steal Russ' girlfriend or anything like that, but it probably looked a lot different from his perspective.

I tried to fight back, but it wasn't much use. Russ had me pinned, and he was so big that I couldn't get him off me. Lexie was continuing to yell at him, but he wasn't listening. He had tunnel vision; his only focus was on the threat, which he perceived to be me.

"What in Hades is this?" I heard a man's voice from behind me say. "Stop fighting, you two!"

Russ didn't listen.

"Don't make me shadow travel down there!" the voice warned; it was Uncle Nico's voice. He must've been in an Iris message somewhere behind me.

Russ didn't stop hitting me, though.

"This. This is why I don't have kids," I heard Nico mutter while Russ drove his fist into my ribs.

Finally, Lexie'd had enough. She stomped up behind Russ and reached down to stop his swings at me, but before she could grab his arm, his elbow came back and popped her in the eye. She went flying backward and landed hard on the floor. Russ immediately stopped swinging.

"Lex!" he gasped when he realized he'd hit her. He didn't mean to hit her; it was an accident, but he hit her, nonetheless.

He ran over to her and tried to help her up, but she swatted him away. "Don't touch me!" she spat as she cradled her face with her palm.

"Lex, I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

"Stow it!" she snapped again. "Get away from me."

Russ backed off, and Lexie got to her feet using a chair to steady herself. I'm not surprised she felt a little off balance. She took quite a hit. I scraped myself off the floor and walked over to her. I offered her my hand. "Here let me help you."

She swatted me away, too. "I'm fine," she insisted.

"Hellooo…" I heard Nico's voice, and turned to the IM. "I'm running out of drachmas over here, guys."

"Sorry, Uncle Nico," I said.

When Lexie noticed him, her expression changed from anger to panic. "What is it Nico?" she asked. "Is it Mom? What's happened? Is she-"

"Slow down, sweetie. Your mom's still alive," he said, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. "But I do have some bad news," he continued. "Lexie, your mother's condition is worsening."

Lexie took a deep breath, "How much time does she have?"

"Maybe twenty-four hours…maybe," Nico sighed.

"We have the Fleece," I said. "We can make it back before then."

Lexie shook her head, "Not with this storm."

"Don't worry about the storm," Nico said. "The worst of it will blow over in about an hour."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"I have connections in places other than the Underworld, you know," he said. "Just get moving as soon as possible, and watch your backs coming home."

I nodded, "Thanks for the update, Uncle Nico."

"No problem, kid," he said then waved his hand through the message, and his image disappeared.

Lexie sat down in the chair she was leaning against and buried her face in her hands. I knelt down beside her. "We'll make it," I said. "We will."

She lifted her head up and put on her strong-face, which had a swollen eye that would be black tomorrow. She nodded, "Damn right, we will."

I smiled. It was good to see the fearless and commanding Lexie return. She was able to set her emotions aside and strengthen her resolve. Sleep helped her focus, and the short timeframe cranked up her determination. She wasn't going to let her mother die, no matter what.

"Get your packs, guys," she said as she walked over to the sofa and put on the Fleece in jacket-form. "We're heading out."