Chapter 14: Shadow Travel 101
We were both mentally and physically exhausted. I could barely stand and neither could Max. I was also extremely confused. What was Phobos on about? What was Maximus on about? Why were we there in the first place? Max had given me the short explanation, that was obvious about now. I wanted to know what was really going on. What Phobos had meant and what Max had been looking for. I was done being in the dark about these sort of things. If I got pulled into stuff like this at least I wanted to know why. I didn't mind putting my life on the line for a friend but I wanted to know why we were fighting. Why fight when there's nothing worth fighting for?
"What is going on Max? What was that all about?" I asked through the panting. We were both tired and weakened by all what had happened. But unlike Max I was also pissed. I wanted him to tell me what was going on.
"Please just give me a minute." Max said trying to catch his breath. I didn't want to wait a single second though. I didn't go through all that to wait for an answer. He was going to tell me what him and Phobos had been talking about right now!
"Fuck that. What happened over there? What were you and Phobos on about!" I was getting angrier by the minute. I didn't know why this was pissing me off so much. I could have just calmly asked what I had missed or what he didn't tell me but instead this was my reaction. Something about being kept in the dark made me angry. Maybe it was because they had all been doing it. Luke didn't tell me about camp being under attack, Max didn't tell me why we went to the farm of doom and Sophie knew about Jake's plans for me but didn't tell me thing. How could I trust them if they didn't want to tell me anything?
"You want to know what happened? I just had my identity ripped from me Angel. Not just that I also found out who my dad is. Sorry that I want to take a quick minute to think about all this!" Only now I realized that I was out of line. I seemed to be really good at pissing off my friends lately. "A while ago I started to dream things. Things about my past, or so I believed." Max started to explain. "Phthonos has erased so much of it that all my memories are just a blur, a string of events that I can't put together. I don't even remember my real name. Maximus Meridius, I thought it was just another alias but it was the one I chose as my real name until I would forget that one too. When I started to look things up from my past I found records of a child named Maximus Matthew Meridius. Memories started to pop into my head of a farm and an uncle. A family. So I continued searching and searching until I found that farm. I really thought that I belonged there. That even though it was an empty building that it was the place of my origin. But it's just another slave of Phthonos'. A unlucky demigod twisted his will."
"There were more?" I asked. It was a stupid question. Phthonos wouldn't put his faith in three subjects. Max, Dean and I were just the ones that made the cut. How many demigods did he test out before using his own son?
"Many more. Remember when we went to my room a year ago?" I nodded. Luke and I saw the room Max was raised in. The little Spartan place that he called home. Being raised in the same conditions I knew what it was like but I didn't have Phthonos as the person raising me. "Well there were many more rooms like that. A lot of children were taken from their homes like me. I can't remember any of them. They're all just a blur like all my memories. Whoever this kid Maximus was I'm not him. I still don't know who I really am." Max said. I understood it now. It was still weird but it started to make some sense at least.
"At least you know who your dad is." Maximus, son of Phobos. Maximus might not be his real name but I would never know him differently. Maybe if one day he did find his real name but memories lost were hard to recover. I knew that for a fact. Of course I had gotten my memories back but it had caused much more trouble than it did me good. There were still days when I wished that I never made Evie give me back my memories.
"I guess so." Maximus said. He didn't seem too bothered. He never really seemed to care about who his father was. Maybe that was because of what happened to him under Phthonos' rule. His father had never helped him so he stopped caring about who he was. "Look Angel, I'm tired, I'm sure you are too. I say we call it a day." Max said, I agreed. It had been a long day and Phobos' tests had tired me out a lot. So we went our separate ways without a word. Maximus went to the Hermes cabin for the last time. He probably didn't want to move into a new cabin while being this tired, I could understand that. I went back to the Erebus cabin hoping for some peace and quiet. I was happy enough when I found the cabin was empty. I dropped myself on my bed and closed my eyes. Usually it took a minute before I got to sleep but now I seemed to be gone within seconds. Now that was a great feeling.
I saw a man sitting at a bar. He was alone and looked horrible. He hadn't slept in a while and didn't eat much. It was Ethan Raine, Grace's killer, the assassin of demigods. I wondered how many he had killed. Whether or not he enjoyed it. Many questions popped into my head when I thought of Ethan. His wounds had healed but he didn't look healthy. I wondered what his sick mind was planning. He probably wanted to kill us all, I wouldn't let that happen though. He was just a mortal and I had beaten him in a fight before so I didn't think he'd be much of a challenge. Especially given how much alcohol he seemed to have consumed. Something had been bothering him lately, I figured it was his defeat at my hand. Last time I saw him cut up his dummy that seemed to be the thing on his mind anyway. Ethan ordered another drink when a woman joined him at his table. She was about his age, had flame red hair reaching lower than her chest and ruby red eyes. They talked for a while, I didn't get what they were saying. All I could hear was the vague sound of their voices but I couldn't make out words. There was something seductive about this woman, but there was something else. A kind of aggression that I couldn't place very well. He fell for it like most men would. Together they left the bar not to return until it opened again the next day.
I didn't wake from my dreams. I just strayed away from the subject of Ethan Raine, something I didn't mind. I wouldn't want to follow him to the penthouse where he was with the woman. I wondered if that was happening right now or if that had already happened. Now I was no where, I could only describe it like that anyway. A white nothingness. There was only one thing there other than myself. A girl, one that I though I would never see again. With a jaw dropped and a sadness in my eyes I looked at the girl that Ethan had murdered.
"Grace." I knew it was a dream, that it wasn't real and that she was dead but she stood right in front of me. I didn't know what to do or say. All I could think of were apologies. I blamed myself for her death even though I didn't know if I could have prevented it if I had been at camp. "I'm so sorry Grace. I should have protected you, if I had been at camp I could have...I could have done something." Grace shook her head in reply. With the warm and kind smile she always head she looked me in the eyes. If this was just my imagination it was very realistic.
"You don't have to apologize, there is nothing you could have done to save me. But if you're here, something is bothering you. So what is it?" I had no idea what to think. She was so real but she was dead. This couldn't be real, it was just a dream, nothing more. "Don't start to deny it like you would have if I was still alive. We don't have that much time." Grace said. I doubted for a second. What was I supposed to tell her? That Colt was back because I tried to kill her killer? Or that I kept dreaming about Ethan for some reason. That I was turning all my friends against me? Something was bothering me, I knew that but I had no idea what. There was so much going on that I couldn't say what was the source of it all.
"Everything seems to be falling apart. Colt is back. We got mortals trying to kill us and the Dracanae constantly attacking isn't very good for us." I said. I wondered what Grace had to say about all that. It wasn't helping a lot. It were just things that were bothering me and that was what she asked for. She just chuckled.
"It's funny how you talk about the things that don't seem to bother you at all. You know the Dracanae and any other enemies can be beaten. You have faith in Luke, Max and all the others to do that without a sweat. You know how strong they all are. And if they were to fail, there's still you." Grace always had such faith in me. I didn't understand where that came from. She just always knew I would do the right thing and be strong enough. Maybe that faith wasn't just in me, she seemed to simply have faith in the good in people and that good always defeated evil. "But the thing that is truly bothering you, you don't talk about."
"So what do you want to hear? That I feel like I'm being deceived by my friends? They know things I don't and when I try to find out what it is they turn it around on me!" I must have sounded like such a brat. I was whining that the world didn't like me and that my friends hated me. If I had longer hair and a few piercings I would have been 'the emo' kid. How did I stoop so low?
"You haven't been deceived. They are all trying to protect you Angel. From whatever it is they protect you as you would protect them. Isn't that part of being friends?" Grace was right. But that didn't change my mind. I was being stubborn for no reason.
"Isn't telling your friends what you know also part of being friends? They are all keeping things from me and I don't like it." Again I sounded like a brat. I wondered when I became so distrustful of my friends. I guess looking at the history I had and the history with these people it shouldn't be too surprising whether I forgave them or not. Max had betrayed me once before and Luke had walked away when I needed him most.
"They make mistakes Angel. Luke, Max, Sophie. They're not perfect. You made mistakes in your life something you constantly punish yourself for. But you're friends are all you have Angel. They're the ones that keep you going aren't they?" Grace knew me well, very well. I wonder if that was because this was a dream, because she was dead or if she always knew what was going on in my head. Neither of the above would surprise me. In reply to what she said I just nodded, she had me dead on. "Then you need to trust their judgement. They try to do what's best for everyone but that is a hard thing to do." Grace said. I think that came from personal experience. Grace was the girl that did everything for everyone. If there was a problem she was right there to help you out. It must have been hard on her but it was why everyone cared about her.
"I know it is. But it's hard to trust them when they don't seem to trust me. How can I help if they don't tell me what's wrong?" I asked her. She was always someone to ask advice of but now she seemed ten times the wiser. Again both of the previous options could be the cause.
"Trust is a thing that goes both ways Angel. You know why they can't trust you with some things so you'll have to prove to them that you can be trusted with these things." I knew why. For all of them I knew why. Sophie didn't want to tell me anything because knowing your own future could be the death of you. She knew my future or at least part of it. If she told me that it might kill me in the end. Knowing his future was the thing that killed Jake, maybe she thought the same thing would happen to me. Luke didn't tell me anything any more because he resented me for leaving camp behind. I understood him, I didn't like it, but I understood. Max...well he generally didn't tell anything to any one. That's why he was known as the secretive one.
"So what am I supposed to do?" I asked her. She seemed to be here to give me advice so I figured I could ask her that question. If I wanted anyone to answer it she was the one to ask anyway.
"What ever seems right to you. But whatever you do, don't lose faith in your friends because in the end that will be all you're left with." I wondered what that was supposed to mean. She seemed to speak in more riddles than she used to. She was wise and always knew what to say but she spoke straight forward English. "The time is over Angel. One last piece of advice, you're looking for enemies in the wrong place. Don't shut your eyes Angel." I had no idea what that was supposed to mean? Where was I looking for enemies?
"What does that mean? Can't you speak plain English any more?" I asked her. She started to fade without answering. She started to fade while around me things started to appear. Pure black walls, beds, a sing near a doorway leading to a dark nothingness. It was the Erebus cabin. "Grace wait!" I screamed as she fully disappeared. I woke up screaming her name. Trying to figure out whether it was really her or if it was just a dream.
I couldn't sleep after that, of course I couldn't. It was still dark outside and I just talked to a dead friend of mine in my sleep. For me the combination of those two things made it impossible to get to sleep. With the knowledge that I wouldn't sleep for the rest of the night I decided not to lay around and try. I got up, got dressed and walked out of the cabin. I had Shadow-edge in my pockets. I went nowhere without it. Walking through the dead silent camp I made my way to the woods. I hadn't gone there in ages, not by myself anyway. I used to do it pretty much every night now I hadn't been here since the night before I left. I figured it would be good for me to do this. To try and get some things together. I could use some solace for that. So I walked passed the trees and over the cracking twigs. The moonlight shone brightly, it was a full moon. There were stars in the air which others might recognize but I didn't care for constellations simply because I didn't believe in them. They were stars in which humans decided to see something, it wasn't a science or anything to be proven. Just imagination like that of a writer.
I couldn't have a nice walk through the woods for long before I noticed there was someone else. I heard twigs breaking and leaves rustling. I didn't think I would encounter anyone so was this a thing? Who else would come here at four in the morning? I couldn't think of a single soul. So I had to draw my weapon. I took the black Zippo lighter out of my pocket and turned the flint. Within the same second the lighter had become a deadly celestial bronze sword. I held it with two hands and was ready for anything. The weird thing was that I heard the noises from a different side each time. One time I heard a twig break north of me and then leaves rustling in the south. This thing was either very fast or had an ability that resembled my shadow travelling. I doubted there was more than one being here, else I would have heard noises simultaneously. If that thing could move around that way I would have to do the same thing. I left my position through the darkness and appeared in a tree to get a good vantage point. I couldn't see this thing, where did it disappear off to? Suddenly I felt a push in my back. Was it behind me? How could that possibly be? Was it really shadow travel? I fell down from the tree but before landing on the ground I disappeared into the darkness. Putting myself back on my feet I reappeared not far from where I stood before hoping to catch a glimpse of my fellow shadow traveller. What on earth could this be? I had never heard of a monster that had mastered shadow travel like this. I heard noises from all directions like before. I figured the only way to catch this being was to catch it in the darkness so I followed it through there. I tried to get behind it or near it but every time I travelled through the shadows so did my opponent and it seemed to be ahead of me every single time. I don't know how many times I entered the shadows but it was lot trying to catch whatever I was chasing. I travelled down to the ground leaning against a thick tree. I needed a rest. I was pretty good at shadow travelling but not this many times after each other. It exhausted me. Trying to catch my breath I stood there hoping that the other wouldn't find me.
That's when I felt cold hands wrap around my neck pulling me back into the shadows. Whatever this thing was it had me now. I dropped Shadow-edge in the shock and tried to get the hands off me but its grip was tight. With how tired I was I couldn't get this thing off me even though I was in the darkness where I was at my strongest. The repetitive shadow travel had weakened me too much. I felt myself getting unconscious when the grip began to loosen. We left the darkness and appeared in a small meadow in the woods. My sight was blurry and the moon light hurt my eyes. I had no idea what had just happened, not until my sight sharpened. The person that had tried to kill me (and damn near succeeded) was a girl of about 14 years old. She couldn't have been much older by my guess. She had long black hair and dark eyes. I had no idea who she was, I had never seen her before that was certain. But she could shadow travel, that was what I knew for a fact. So who was she?
"I'm so sorry for that. I really thought you were a monster. It's not very often I find someone else stalking the woods at night." The girl said. She sounded honestly worried. Obviously she didn't want to hurt anyone who didn't want to hurt her. Or it was an act but that wasn't a thing that I could consider. Being paranoia wouldn't help me one bit. I was still alive so why should I distrust her? "You're Angel right? The son of Erebus?" I replied by a nod. I was still trying to catch my breath. She had a tight grip for a fourteen year old girl. "I'm Misty Blue, daughter of Nyx. I guess that makes you my step brother." She said with a smile. It was true. Nyx was Erebus' wife (and sister which was obviously the nasty part of it all) so that would make her my step sister. Family (even if it wasn't by blood) seemed to be popping up everywhere lately.
"I guess it does." I said still trying to breathe properly. I got back to my feet while regaining control over my lungs. I couldn't believe I had nearly gotten killed by another demigod who thought I was some kind of monster. Now that would have been a story to tell in the underworld. 'I defeated a god who tried to rule over the world but I got killed by my step sister who thought I was a hell hound.' Now that's tragic.
"I'm sorry!" She yelled out again. She could probably see how close she had gotten to killing me. She probably didn't realize that I was human until I was that far gone. Of course I couldn't handle as much choking as most demigods could. I had been off for a week or two now but I was still a smoker. My lungs were absolute shit.
"Don't worry I've had worse." I said. She still seemed worried but didn't have to be. As I could prove to anyone I wasn't lying about having been through worse. There were few things that he hadn't had before, strangulation wasn't a first. "You're pretty good at shadow travelling. I thought I was the only one able to do it." I said. There weren't any children of Hades around as far as I knew and if they were around somewhere he hadn't heard about them. The last one had died last year because of Phthonos.
"I've been doing it none stop for about a year now. It's exhausting at first but very rewarding." She could say that again. I didn't even think shadow travelling at that speed was impossible. She hadn't broken a sweat while I was exhausted even before Misty started to choke me to death.
"How on earth did you get so fast? I you were in and out of the shadows before I chose a place to reappear." I didn't think I would ever need advice on shadow travelling but if she could teach me how to be so quick I'd take it.
"You just skip the shadows." I had no idea what that was supposed to mean. Skip the shadows? Did she mean not go into the darkness at all? Was that even possible? "You haven't figured out how to do that yet?" She asked with a tone of surprise in her voice. Obviously she thought I would have figured that out by now but I had no idea what she was talking about. "Well it's pretty much shadow travelling without the interval in the darkness. It takes a bit more energy at first but in the end it makes you a lot faster. Although it can only be done on small distances."
"How is it done?" I asked. It sounded quite useful and if she could do it I figured I would be able to too. I just needed to know how to. I figured that being better at shadow travelling would make it way easier to fight against Ethan in case that was needed. He probably wasn't prepared for the kind of speed Misty had.
"Well mostly you need to know where you're going before you even start to connect with the shadows. Secondly set a sort of path. If you set three points you want to go it will be easy to go there in rapid speed." It seemed to make sense. "And other then that it's just a lot of practice. I mean don't go to the fridge without using shadow travel." Misty said. It sounded incredibly lazy but that was the way to get better I thought. So I chose three spots to shadow travel to. One was up in one of the tree's, another was right in the middle of the meadow and the third was on the edge near a thinner tree which appeared to be dead. So I started by moving into the darkness. The first time I failed. I was in the darkness for two seconds tops but I was there. Up in the branch I focused and travelled to the middle of the meadow. No darkness. I did it. Was it really this easy? I shadow travelled again to the spot near the dead tree. Again I didn't enter the darkness physically. I had become faster but I wasn't even near the dead tree I had been aiming for, that and I was exhausted. I fell to my knees while breathing heavily.
"That took it out of me." I said. I didn't want to seem weaker then her but I had to admit that she was a better shadow traveller then I was. I got back to my feet and leaned against the nearest tree. I was about 7 feet away from the dead tree I should have been next to.
"It will, at first. Like the first step of shadow travelling it's easy to learn but difficult to master. Just take your time and practise whenever you have the time." She was right about learning how to shadow travel. It was easy to do the first time. It didn't take weeks of practise to enter the shadows and get out somewhere else. The first time I did it was purely on instinct, I had no idea what I was doing. But mastering it. Getting from one place to the next without having to grab a full day of shut eye or appear perfectly where you want to. That took time to master.
"So you ready to get back? The sun will be coming up in an hour or so and I really want to catch some sleep." She said. I kind of agreed with her although I doubted I would be getting to sleep any time soon. Even though I was exhausted I wouldn't be getting much sleep any more. I knew myself well enough to know that. Still though going back wasn't such a bad idea. Together with Misty I walked back to camp. It was an awkward walk as we didn't say a single word. Until we were coming down the hill. I figured we had to keep some kind of conversation going.
"So how long have been at camp?" I wondered if she came here long before I left or if she had been here quite a while. I was sure I hadn't seen her before so if she had been here for a while I should be slightly ashamed for never noticing her.
"I've been at camp for two years. I only got claimed last September though." She said. So I could have seen her before but hadn't. Of course I could have made some excuses for that. After all how much time had I really spent at cabin 11? It wasn't long before I was in a cage and after that it all went so fast to me leaving for Los Angeles with Luke and Max. Of course I could have seen her after I returned but then I was already staying at the Erebus cabin. The conversation died out again. I couldn't make out whether we were just being silent or if she was the silent type. My eyes went over camp until I saw a glimpse of the forge. The fires were still burning, someone was there. I knew it had to be Luke, who else would be working the forge now?
"I have to go see someone, I'll see you later yeah?" I said. She smiled and nodded as I ran off to the forge. I had to talk to Luke the sooner the better.
The forge was hot as it always was. Even after the flames had died the small building would stay warm until the next morning when the flames were reignited. Children of Hephaestus had absolutely no problem with the heat but it bothered me. I saw Luke just sitting near the lit forge. He wasn't working on anything. I knew why he was here. He went here a lot when he was stressed or when there was something going on. It was where he went to think or to get some peace. I just wondered for what exact reason he was here. He probably wasn't going to tell me.
"What are you doing here?" Luke asked. "I thought you hated the forge." He said. I wasn't a big fan that was true. I liked the cold. A bit of a chill keeping me focused. Extreme heat annoyed me so the forge wasn't really my spot.
"I saw the lights were on, I thought I'd check who was in here." I said while moving around the workbenches trying to stay away from the burning forges. The further from the source of the heat the better. Of course it didn't help much but it helped mentally.
"I couldn't sleep." He said simply. He wasn't in the mood to talk I noticed that quick enough. But I had to say what I had to say. Luke was the guy I always relied on. Having a fight with him just seemed pointless. So it was time to put my own pride away and apologize. "So why are you here Angel? I don't check up on you when you're acting like an insomniac." Luke said. I thought it was a bit harsh but truth was we could be real cunts when we were pissed.
"Yeah well...Iam an insomniac." I said trying to lighten the mood. I wasn't good at cracking jokes when the mood was tensed. It makes it hard to be funny. "And...you have nothing to apologize for." Luke seemed surprised that I said that. Given we both thought we were right neither of us was going to apologize. That was law pretty much, but because of Grace I realized how pointless this was and how stupid I had been acting.
"No, I think I do." Luke said. So wait...if one starts the other joins in? I never figured that out. "I know why you left and why you felt like you had to leave. It was just that I figured that you'd be here at camp you know. And when you were gone for almost a year and shit started spinning out of control with the Dracanae everyone wanted to ask you for help. I just thought maybe it was better to let you be and fix it ourselves. As it got worse I just wanted to prove that we could do it without you." Luke said.
"Why would you need to prove that?" I asked. "I know I've been saying how it wasn't just luck that beat Phthonos last year but it wasn't just strength either. I'm not the toughest demigod around. Hell not even close. But I could have helped. At least tried to." I said. I knew I had been acting like an arrogant bastard lately. But this was how I saw it from the start, it just wasn't how I said it.
"I know, and I should have let you help." Luke said. "It's good that you're here now. Maybe we can start figuring out why this is happening anyway." Luke said to me. I didn't think I was the right person for that. He was the smart one not me. "You want a drink?" He asked me. Feeling the sweat run down from my forehead I wasn't going to say no to that. Luke walked to a mini fridge that stood in the corner, which I figured had to be the best fridge ever if it could keep things cold in this temperature. He threw me a cold can of energy drink.
"How the hell is that thing keeping this stuff cold?" I asked in amazement. I opened the can and let the cool liquid run down my throat.
"It's a spell actually. It's keeping the fridge at pretty much Antarctic temperature. It balances out the heat of the sun we have her." Luke said. I was listening but I was enjoying the cool drink too much to comment on what he said. Luke started to mess around with some seemingly random things on the workbench. He was assembling something from tiny parts but I had no idea what those parts were or what he was making. I wasn't the technical fellow. "So what's the deal between you and Sophie anyway?"
"What do you mean?" I asked as I took another sip from the cool drink. I knew exactly what he meant but I kept denying things like this till the very end.
"Oh come on. I'm engaged to a daughter of Aphrodite, if anyone knows how this goes it's me." Luke said. I shrugged and finished the can of drink hoping Luke would let this go but he was obviously enjoying this. "Seriously if you've been living with her for a year and aren't thinking about her at least every ten seconds I think you have something to tell us mate." Luke was a joker when he wasn't in a bad mood. Sometimes I couldn't appreciate it all too much.
"Yeah well I'm attracted to her but I don't really have feelings for her. And if I did it wouldn't make a difference. Can you seriously imagine Sophie and I being like you and Maria?" I asked him. Sophie and I had way too much conflict to be a couple. We just loved to challenge each other and that wasn't something that built a good relationship. That and now that Colt was back being with someone was a risk I couldn't take.
"Of course you can't be like Maria and me. We're the best demigod couple in history." Luke said. I raised an eyebrow and had a questioning look.
"And you thought I was an arrogant cunt?" Luke just shrugged as he threw his little creation in the flames of the forge. Obviously he had been doing that out of sheer boredom. He extinguished the flames of the forge which immediately made a difference in the temperature, one I didn't really mind.
"Anyway a piece of advice. If you have feelings for her go for it. We're not built to last Angel. A demigod life is short. If you ever want to be with someone and the person you want to be with is Sophie. Don't hesitate for a single second." He said. I figured he was a believer in love as he had found true love. If anyone would ever ask me what a great relationship was I probably would have looked at them for an example. Of course they had their problems but that was natural. It wouldn't be if they didn't.
"Thanks for the advice cupid." I said as we both left the forge. I figured that he was going back to his cabin to go to sleep. I would probably go back to the Erebus cabin and stay there till the sun was fully up and I could get some breakfast. Something told me that Luke wouldn't be seen outside of his cabin till lunch. He could deal with little sleep but when he got the chance he stayed in bed till noon. Lazy bastard.