Sorry about the late update
Malcolm's life was hard to categorize, to say the least. at age ten he found out he was the son of a Greek goddess and comparing his life to other demigods was like comparing pomegranates and olives. Malcolm had a relatively stable background being raised by a well off single father Malcolm never had to worry about finances or the constant challenge of finding new schools to attend after being kicked out of the previous one. Malcolm also didn't have ADHD, unlike the rest of the campers, he had been originally been diagnosed with it but later learned the symptoms were caused by OCD Before high school, his biggest worry, besides what the cafeteria at his public school was serving, and making sure he had a perfect plan in case people around him wanted to attack him, was a recurring dream focusing on his mother, of course, Malcolm had categorized those dreams as normal occurrences for children growing up without one of their parents.
Malcolm shook his head, what confused him now was how he wound up on a quest with two other campers who should really be at school, but the ways prophecies work don't take into count how easily it would be for them to get an extended weekend.
Chiron had told Malcolm upfront that one of the people joining in would have to be Drew Tanaka, Malcolm was wondering if this was a form of punishment on either of their parts, before having Rachel tell Malcolm the prophecy she had received.
The oldest and youngest are no more,
but the middle yet remains
For he fled to lands, not his
South-west of his homeland he did travel
where the daughters of the swine and the dove and the son of the owl and vengeance shall follow
the third shall return with no real knowledge of what transpired
Of the three the first shall return with no real knowledge of what transpired
the second will lose themselves in the search
and the third shall not return
Anyway, that's what led Drew and Katie Gardener and Malcolm to Paris Texas. The three of them stopped at a small barbecue joint just nearby the replica of the Eiffel tower. to collect their bearings and to plan their next move.
Of the three of them it seemed as if only Malcolm was hungry, Drew was using utensils to pick at the pulled pork sandwich, "So my first view of the Eiffel Tower isn't in France lounging in some cafe, but instead in some barbecue joint in the middle of nowhere and the tower itself has a red cowboy hat on top."
"It could be worse," Malcolm said wiping the tomato-based barbecue sauce from his mouth, "the one in Tennessee doesn't have the cowboy hat," he said in jest, about to add that the hat was only added to make it taller than the said one in Tennessee but stopped himself, that was Annabeth's thing.
"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" Drew asked turning her head towards Malcolm.
Malcolm shrugged and turned to Katie, who so far had remained silent in the exchange and instead was waiting for her chicken sandwich.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention, you guys are kind of weirding me out eating my mother's sacred animal."
Malcolm shrugged "in all honesty, it's probably better than being in France then we would be eating Drew's mother's sacred animal." Malcolm said partially to state a fact partially to see Drew's reaction.
"they eat doves in France?" Drew expressed a horrified look.
Malcolm shrugged"well people usually don't eat doves unless they hunt them themselves, however, pigeons are in the same family and are frequently consumed."
"How's that chicken sandwich coming along?" Drew asked the empty counter over her shoulder.
Malcolm stood up from his seat and threw away his waste, "we should probably get going soon if you all want to get back soon I'd advise we leave before rush hour hits."
Drew nodded turning in the booth to face Katie, "You're from around here, after you get your sandwich you can drive the rest of the way."
Katie sighed looking out of one of the restaurant's windows, "Sure that's the way it goes I guess, the popular girl has had her license suspended and the brainy kid hasn't gotten his yet."
Malcolm just shrugged while Drew's face reddened, "it was once, I was late to a job interview, and no one else was even around." she fired off rapidly.
"If it was just once then you would have had to have been going forty miles per hour over the speed limit."
Malcolm smiled a bit before he made his way ta the counter where the server had just placed Katie's order picked it up and motioned for the other two to follow him.
"hey," Katie said, "why don't I get to have my food," she asked as she hurried up beside Malcolm and grasped her sandwich from Malcolm as Drew followed unenthusiastically as the three made their way out of the restaurant.
"Come on, let's see if we can confuse Annabeth," Malcolm said as he led the three of them towards the replica of the Eiffel tower with Katie still hurriedly eating her sandwich.
"um, why," Katie asked in between bites of her lunch. "Weren't you the one insisting we leave soon?"
"Come on, it will only take a couple of minutes, it will also leave you with enough time to finish your lunch before you continue driving us to Dallas," Malcolm said practically dragging the others with him.
Drew shrugged, "All right I'm in, but how are we going to make her think that you're in France, the real Eiffel tower twice the size of this one, not to mention the one in Paris doesn't have a giant red cowboy hat on top of it."
"Well, the first part is easy enough to fix with the right camera angle, the red hat I must admit poses much more of a problem." Malcolm aid as he unslung his backpack from his shoulders and dug through his backpack attaching different camera pieces to a relatively small base.
"Ok look, I know all of your siblings are nerds, but that has to be the nerdiest thing I've ever seen," Drew responded viewing the finished product.
"It's easier than buying and cycling through multiple burner phones," Malcolm answered maintaining his focus on the camera.
"Yeah, but with the phones, I can make calls. Besides how does any of this," Drew said gesturing towards the camera, "help you with the problems you were having."
"Um, guys I hate to derail this fascinating conversation but we should probably get going now," Katie interjected.
"Hold on," Malcolm said aiming his finalizing the settings on his camera."
Drew, having seen what made Katie so nervous grabbed Malcolm by the collar on his shirt and started to drag him along just as the camera went off.
"Hey, what was that for?" Malcolm asked turning around before he noticed what the other two were concerned about.
Between them and the rental car, Chiron had persuaded the company to lend them were two of the largest humans any of them had ever seen, most of there musculature was obscured by the chain mail but even with the armor it was clear that they would have no problem in a fight carrying the large oval shield and long double-edged sword. The hair of the warriors was mostly hidden from view by the pointed helmets that each of them wore.
Malcolm quickly scanned the people over trying to determine the best course of action. A direct assault would probably be the worst option, three poorly equipped demigods wouldn't last a second in the type of close quarter combat their assailants looked adept in. And the sole weapon Malcolm had, a hastily designed bolas wouldn't do much to restrain one, let alone two of them.
"let's try to see what they want."
Drew rolled her eyes but eventually let go of Malcolm. "oh sure because that course of action always seems to work for other demigods in this situation."
Katie shrugged, "well that does sound more apeling than trying to run from them only to be killed out of breath."
Malcolm shrugged "running was my backup plan." Malcolm led the other two towards the group approaching them as nonchalantly as the situation allowed.
"hello good sirs, would you mind if we ask you two for directions?" Malcolm asked with the most charismatic smile he could muster.
The two soldiers looked at each other, most likely pondering this strange change of fortune before one of them answered in a thick french accent. "Of course we would be heureux, ah, that is happy, yes happy, to help."
Malcolm shot the other two a knowing grin, honestly, he wasn't that confident that his plan would have worked this easily.
"great, you see we accidentally lost our road map to the wind a while back and were traveling towards Dallas, luckily however we were just outside this charming town when it happened."
"Yes quite charming." Katie quickly supplied.
"Do you think you guys could be any less convincing? Drew muttered under her breath.
Luckily the newcomers weren't paying attention to her, "yes quite charming," one sneered, "that's what one would say about a Parisian cafe, and yet it seems as if the architects who built the copies failed to make this copy even a shadow of the greatest city in the world."
"Virlus," the one who had remained silent so far shot the other one a warning glare, "what my poor bubbling colleague meant to say was that we would be happy to guide you to Dallas, that is, after all, were we were headed in the first place, and I'm pretty sure our leader will want a word with you three," he said as an icy glare spread across his face.
As he said this he drew his sword out from its scabbard and nodded into the distance and where there was seemingly a barren plain one minute the next a group of men and women armed with bows and spears materialized into existence.
The one who had done most of the talking beforehand, Virlus, as he was called, nodded "of course Divicatus." and quickly grabbed Malcolm and motioned for two of lesser armed people forward to guide Katie and Drew with them.
Malcolm heard a few of them mutter some not too complimentary things about outsiders before one of the more imposing newcomers ordered them to move forward.
"Well, Muireal and the Druids oughta be happy to see them." one of the guides said to one of his companions.
Muireal, Malcolm thought why did that name sound familiar?
"Eye, killing the old chieftain and banishing his daughter was the start of something new for us, those two shared too much sympathy with the imperials."
The rest of the time the three of them were escorted to however they would be taken to Dallas past in silence beside the occasional chit chat coming from the guards, as Malcolm spent most of the time trying to figure what in Hades was going on.
The group made its way through the park and towards a parking lot that seemed to be overflowing with bicycles motorcycles and hybrid cars. Malcolm Katie and Drew all had their hands bound before being shoved into one of the hybrid's backseats.
the only one of the three who struggled was Drew who constantly verbally berated anyone she deemed responsible any chance she got. Malcolm noticed quite a few of the highlights were directed at him.
"Seriously, that plan came from a child of Athena, no wonder Annabeth is in charge of the Cabin even if she is younger."
"Katie don't just sit there silently, help us, or me," she shot Malcolm a scolding look, "figure a way out of this mess."
"How I miss chariots," Divicatus said as he climbed into the driver's seat, "then the noise from the back ould bee drowned out by the noise of battle but now..." he said turning on the radio.
Virlus climbed into the passenger seat "do you think the scouts are right about the, ah, druids?" he asked casting a worried glance back at the back seat at the last word.
"Virlus, surely you know its the King of a Hundred Battleswho calls the shots not that group of senile old coots," Divicatus said pulling out of the parking lot motioning for the rest of his group to follow.
"Sir, do you think it wise to discuss this in front of..."
Divicatus dismissively waved his hand, "what they hear is of no importance, they are hostages for now and will remain that until he decides if they are worth anything."
Malcolm decided now was as good a time to engage in this conversation as any without any of the scouts present he thought he could play off the sides against each other.
"So, why exactly are you guys headed towards Dallas in the first place?" Malcolm asked as natural as the situation allowed.
Divicatus sighed, "I see no harm in telling them Virlus, it's not like he'll believe them or the scouts over us." Virlus stayed silent as Divicatus continued.
"The tribes have been separated for far too long, our leader has started the process of uniting them, sadly not all of the tribesmen agree with him, some support the druid circles and tribal independence. Hopefully," he said stealing a glance towards the back of the car, "You guys will be able to tip the balance of power in his favor."
"Ok first of all," Malcolm started, "who is this leader of yours?"
"if you really are a son of..." Virlus seemed to hesitate a moment before he continued, "Athena you would already know."
Malcolm racked his brain for answers, the way they spoke about druids and chieftains, not to mention their armor, finally, in a moment Malcolm remembered where he recognized them from.
"Your Celts?"
Divicatus nodded, "What gave that away?" he asked dryly.
"I'm sorry have we met before?" Malcolm asked having this one answer seemed only to raise thousands more.
"What?" Katie asked, "what in the realm of Hades is going on here?"
Malcolm cursed, this was getting out of hand fast, having brought up, that incident was probably the worst thing he could have done, both Chiron and Artemis herself had sworn him to secrecy now he had two newcomers who would be in on it.
As Malcolm looked around the car he noticed only Katie looked freaked out, or he supposed to say more so now than before he had spoken. Drew seemed content to ignore everything that was going on around her.
Virlus turned to his companion, "They seem to be confused, what if we have the wrong people?"
Divicatus cut him off "don't worry, any foreign blood will satisfy Toutatis."
"do you think..." Malcolm started before he was cut off by Divicatus.
"Good lord," he said turning the sound on full and the car was full of the sound of a mariachi band.
Half an hour and five mariachi songs later the car pulled up to a lone ranch house nestled amid rolling hills as far as the eye could see, the only thing breaking the continuous view were a couple of trees and a barn. The car passed over what Malcolm assumed was a cattle guard and came to rest in the center of the guards except, instead of motorbikes they hopped off of horses. As the three of them were herded outside of the car, they were led towards the ranch passing in front of multiple sets of guards and a small gathering of elderly who were seated on a porch swing all of them wearing some sort of early color, one was wearing a hunting suite minus the bright orange pants, another was wearing a plaid shirt and jeans and the third was wearing wading gear.
"Storms a coming," The one in the flannel said without so much as looking at the group passing them by.
"Great, old man chatter about the weather, my day is complete," Drew said mumbling under her breath earning her a glare from Virlus.
Divicatus turned around abruptly as he reached the door of the ranch house, "Youll be meeting with the King of a Hundred Battles, he will decide to do with you so if you want to keep your heads you'll show him proper respect."
And with that, the five of them entered the ranch house.