JACK
Well, who would say that the day would come when I would be telling the events that happened to me! It reminds me once that I was chatting with Legbite. Such an egocentric sword! He thought he was quite amazing just because he was wielded by the King of Norway, which happens to have the same name as my current master. Yes, King Magnus. The Third. But anyway, I reminded myself of Legbite because he loved to tell all the adventures he had with King Magnus III in his conquests for the English Isles. But excuse me, okay? I have many adventures with Frey as well and I was doing my adventures with Mangus. Let's not compare adventures with a "king" with adventures with a god. And, let's face it, even with those of a demi-god, right?
Anyway…. to narrate something I really have to narrate, right? Well, let's go. The situation was as follows ... From Brooklyn to the water, we stopped by a store to buy Peter's hot chocolate and a bag of assorted Swiss chocolates to bribe Hunding. After that, the ride on the Big Banana was pretty quiet, you know? We left New York behind to leave part of the group halfway.
"You know, I think I'm tired of looking at the sea by now," said a blond girl who, from what I'd picked up until now, was Calypso.
"There's not much else to see in Ogygia, eh?" asked the dragon boy, Leo.
"I only remember getting tired of the sea when we got lost ..." said Halfborn, looking at the horizon and letting out a sigh that seemed undoubtedly longing. "Good times."
I don't understand what it is so good in being lost in the sea. Especially considering I've been lost at the bottom of the sea too! Bad time ! I already was getting scared of being recovered by someone not very dignified, as a collector or something, and end up inside a museum window! Surely I would die of boredom! But ... I tried to rewind my memory a bit ... if the girl's name was Calypso and she apparently came from Ogygia ...
"Wait! You are the Calypso of Ogygia!" I exclaimed.
Of course she, Leo and the other two newcomers, Grover and Peter, were surprised when they found out that I could talk. It isn't every day that you met a sword as phenomenal as me, though speaking is one of my simplest skills. There are not many swords that get have the title of the sharpest sword of the Nine Worlds.
"Where's that voice coming from?" asked the boy named Grover, noting that Magnus's mouth wasn't moving.
"Ahm ... I present you, Jack, my talking sword." Magnus said, showing me. Or rather, exhibiting me as a pendant.
"That's a pendant." Peter said.
"It could be a sword in disguise." said Grover. "More discreet shapes like that are normal. My friend, Percy, hides his sword as a pen."
"Oh ... yes ... I remember ..." I said with a sigh. "It isn't every day that one finds a sword like her. Certainly beautiful! I hope I can find her again soon …"
"Explanation, please?" said Hazel.
"Why do I think you were hitting on Riptide?" asked Reyna.
"Because I was!" I exclaimed.
"I have several questions too!" said Leo getting closer all curious "Where does the sound comes from? How can you talk? Is there Tinder for spades?"
"Talking!" I said "And not that I know of. But it would be very useful."
"Wait ... Is it really not my impression that he just sigh a visibly passionate sigh for Percy's sword?" Grover asked.
"I'm not surprised ..." Mallory sighed.
"Love really does not choose shape." Frank said.
"What would a fanfic of both of them look like?" Alex asked, putting a hand on her chin and pausing for a moment to imagine the scene.
"Can you switch to sword shape?" Leo asked, looking at Magnus.
Mangus did not take long to get me out of my pendant shape and then display me in all my glory. Maybe I beamed a faint glimmer of pride with Leo's curious eyes examining me. But ... argh! ... it reminded me that all this little chaos made me forget the question I had in mind.
"Wait! Calypso! You! You meet Odysseus, right?" I asked.
"Yes…. Why?" she asked, folding her arms.
"I wanted to know ... what his sword was like. If it was a sword at all."I said "In these tales the heroes are always the ones that become famous but rarely the weapons also become famous. Of course ... I, Excalibur, Mjölnir, Sharur ... some weapons have their fame."
"What was Odysseus's sword like?" she asked, wanting to confirm the question.
Alex was already a little bored with the conversation, as was Halfborn, but I could see a small laugh rising in Mallory's face even though she had it hidden with her hand. However, I didn't know why. I would have nodded at Calypso, but that wasn't possible. Fortunately, she seemed to start thinking about the answer while probably trying to pull some memory from Odysseus.
"Oh ... I didn't know if my description would be to your liking. I never paid attention, you know? I remember a sword and a dagger. I think the sword wasn't that different from Riptide."
"Nothing special and great then? He's one of the greatest heroes in Greek mythology! He should have a phenomenal sword!"
"I'm sorry, I'm not a weapon specialist."
I sighed visibly disappointed and then returned to Magnus' neck. I can not say that any other conversation that has happened has attracted my attention. I heard Alex briefly mentioning to Magnus that they had to ask Sam to send the photos taken in Turkey from the Obelisk, but she did not answer.
"Probably without the internet or something like that." Magnus suggested.
"She must be on the plane or in Frankfurt," Alex said.
At some point, Grover asked us to stop at a place that looked nothing special on Long Island. The place they asked to stop wasn't that far from New York, so it didn't give much time to talk much. Grover, Peter, Calypso, and Leo were getting ready to get off the ship when Leo approached to talk to Magnus, but then I noticed it was to me.
"Any chance you might let me analyze you or something, so that we, in Hephaestus's cabin, could try to make a talking sword or something cool like that?" Leo asked. "We always have to make ever-more incredible weapons because we always get into bigger and bigger problems.
"No way! That sounds very embarrassing to me. Not to mention that I can't and shouldn't be imitated like this! There can only be one Jack!"
"You're right." Leo said laughing "sorry for asking. See you!"
I didn't know what the hell a mechanical dragon, a satyr, two half-gods and a former titan were going to do in the middle of Long Island. But, patience, right? We left them where they wanted and headed to our destination, Boston. Everyone's fear, including myself, was how we would make three Roman demi-gods enter Valhalla and pass through this passage that goes to the west coast of America with no one to complain or kill them in the process.
"We have to get out those badges they gave to Amir." said Magnus. "Mortal! Do not kill!"
"But Amir is Sam's fiancé. Do you think they're going to complain if we come in with five Roman demi-gods that are totally new to everyone?" Alex asked.
"I've heard a story that somebody on the floor can't remember which brought a normal mortal in the night." Mallory said wryly.
"Is this serious?" I asked.
"I don't know." But that's what I heard "Mallory said with a shrug.
"Ah! I remember that story too!" said Halfborn "I think it had a very romantic motive behind it right?"
"Anyway..." Reyna said. "We have to make it work. It would be very helpful to have an easy way to go from one side to another."
"If it works, it would be a good idea not to try to get across entire armies from one place to another or something." I said.
"No one would like it." Magnus said.
"Quite the opposite. I think they would love this chance of buying a fight with different people. "said Halfborn.
"Quite a party" I finished.
"We'll make sensible use." Frank said.
Some more time passed until we arrived in Boston. We went straight to the entrance of the Valhalla Hotel, and as we entered the lobby, I could feel that a vein was probably bursting in Hunding's forehead. He snorted and rubbed his temples. Maybe we should put on the shopping list a painkiller. Sneakily, Magnus approached and displayed the bag of assorted chocolates with a half-false smile.
"You put me in every complicated situation." Hunding complained.
"Sorry about that." Magnus said.
"But extreme situations call for extreme measures," Alex said.
Is there anything softer than a couple that ends the eachother's phrases? I hope to be some day like this ... it would be a good chance with the Riptide, but she barely talks to me about anything! It's really frustrating ... but.. no. I don't want to talk about this. Let's change the subject, please!
"I have condition.." said Hunding.
"Just say it!" said Halfborn.
"You will have to fill out a great form and write a huge report explaining everything that is happening! I want to have something to prove that all this was really necessary so that I don't have consequences after letting them pass! " said Hunding.
"Leave it to me." Magnus said with a sigh as everyone else imagined all the work that this would require.
"I'm sorry for putting you in this situation." Reyna said
With hurried steps for fear of something happening on the way, we went as fast as possible to the 82nd floor. I could not see the look of probable admiration that the Roman demigods had with visiting Valhala for the first time, but when I heard Hazel speaking that she would love to have time to get to know the hotel better, I imagined they were quite amazed and curious. Which is understandable.
Avoiding the various Vikings along the way, including a clearly drunk one who was singing Let It Go, we reached the 82nd floor and started to look for any soda machine. Tucked away at the bottom of an almost imperceptible dark corridor, we found one. Its lights were failing, and, as the hallway was a dead end with nothing but that machine, the atmosphere was looking like it was built for a horror movie.
"What was the same number he told you to push?" Alex asked.
"Seven," said Mallory.
"Seven, for the look of it, seven is that soda can of pomegranate and cherry," Hazel said.
"Uhh ... Canada Dry!" Frank said "They have some very good soft drinks. But I've never tried this, it seems kind of sickening."
"Bet a denarii that this passage will take us to the west coast of Canada." Hazel said.
"I will not disagree with the theory." Mallory said shortly, making the process of buying the soda.
The soda popped out and then the glass of the machine opened like a door. Do I have to mention that, for some reason that defied the laws of physics, even though the door was no more than four fingers thick, all the dozens of soft drinks and the bottom of the machine seemed to be at the door as well. Of course, I think by now this was already within the expected level of oddities.
"Cool ..." Magnus glanced at the door as Frank did not lose a second before picking up the soda can and opening it.
"Want some?" he offered to Hazel as he took a sip.
"Um ..Yeah." she said, nodding.
But back to the door ... on the other side of it we saw what seemed to be clearly a shop. It was as if we were leaving its depot or something. The walls were adorned with T-shirts with very random prints such as Buddha, a bust of a pharaoh, a dragon, a fairy and so on. It also had plastic guns to sell. Dolls, mugs ... anyway ... it was a strange store that, despite everything, still had a medieval look. Probably because of the stickers glued to the large showcase that resembled the arches and pilasters of a castle and because of the floor that looked like blocks of stone.
The store wasn't full, to tell the truth, it was empty. And the Chinese girl with pink hair scraped on the side who worked at the cashier and chewed on a chewing gum in a very annoyingly noisy way did not seem to care about having a lot of people sprout from her depot. When we left, Alex turned to look at the name of the store.
"Vikings Dragons and Fairies," Alex said. I felt the irony.
"Not that there's too much Viking inside the store," Hazel said.
"And ... it looks like we're in a mall;" Reyna said, looking down the corridors full of people boosting capitalism.
"Guys ... I think I know where we are." Frank said. "I think I've come to this mall.
"Really?" asked Hazel.
"Yes. I remember coming here once! Welcome to Vancouver!" Frank sighed with a smile on his face. "More specifically, Welcome to Vancouver's Chinatown."
"Great! We have the right person to guide us to the water so we can follow the journey!" I said.
I will not tell you the details of how Frank got lost in memories, or how we crossed the small space between Vancouver's Chinatown and a bay. I'm not paying attention to every single thing that happens as Magnus walks with me around his neck.
Canada seemed to be a cool place. It certainly deserved a longer ride later. Who knows? We could come back later and eat pancake with maple syrup.
Having access to the water, it was easy to get into the Big Banana again and follow the path. Fortunately, Vancouver was close to the border with the United States. The first major American city to the south would be Seattle, but our destination was another, it was San Francisco.
If you want someone to tell you the details of what happened during the journey to San Francisco, ask for another storyteller. Because I'm looking very forward to tell you what happened when we arrived in San Francisco! Yes! Because, while I was waiting to see the famous red bridge on the horizon, the vision we received was another. Huge, unnatural waves, monsters, a battle. My heart pounded when I saw her. There, in the middle of the battle, was her. Beautiful and elegant as ever, the Ridtipe.