Athens and the Nemean Lion

The next morning, I woke up to Maliah looking out of the small window in my room. She was resting her head on the wall, a steaming mug in her hand, and a smile on her face. Her hair looked redder as the sun reflected on it, and her eyes were almost translucent from this angle.

I was starting to believe that there wasn't any lighting out there that didn't favor my friend.

She turned to me and stifled a giggle.

"What's so funny," I ask smiling at her.

"Your hair," she responds, the smile still playing on her lips. I reach up instinctively to fix it, but she grabs my hand. "Leave it, I like it."

Something about her comment gets to me and I feel a little embarrassed. I turn away, looking out of the window. I see a few sea spirits, no doubt helping us with safe passage.

"Why are you awake so early?" I ask her, "It's like six in the morning."

"Athens," she says happily, "we're here and for once I feel like we're right where we need to be."

I felt something, off. Maybe it was just my nerves, or maybe it was just the way she was talking to me today.

"I'm glad," I tell her.

"Me, too." she says, "Kate stopped by. She wanted to see how we were doing. She casually let it slip that she's ready to see Tony again."

"Yeah, I can imagine it's all she's been thinking about."

"She wants to thank him," she says, facing me.

"She told you that?" I asked her.

"No. I can just tell. Unlike most daughters of Aphrodite, Katelynn has a guilty conscious. She's never going to let this rest until she's made her peace with him."

She was looking out of the window again.

"Well," I say, "we're going to find him and she'll have her chance."

"I know," she says, turning back to me again.

I stare at her and it all seems so real now. We could die on this quest and that would be the end. I reach out and grab her, pulling her into an embrace.

"Do you remember the promise we made to each other?" I ask her and I feel her nod, "I'm going to hold up to that. You're one of the few people I care about, Maliah, and I promise I won't let anything happen to you. I just needed you to know that, just in case."

"Before you guys came along, I had no one. I thought I was going to be alone in this forever, but all of you changed that. I have so many amazing friends who are there to help me and I can't help but feel so grateful for it. I care about you, too, Tyler."

I hugged her tightly and something washed over me. I cared about her so much. I couldn't let anything happen to her. These feelings that I had, I didn't know what they were but I knew they were there and they weren't going away any time soon.

I, reluctantly, pulled away from the hug and looked at her.

"We should go." I tell her.

She nods and we share one last look before we walk out of the room. We make our way to the deck and everyone is there waiting for us. No one really says anything, I think they're all scared that it'll make it real. We walk off of the boat in silence, touching down in Athens.

The shore line was beautiful, even if the skies were grey and there was an eerie cast out. The waves were crashing against the shore and the trees in the distance were dancing in the wind. There was no one around, only us.

Katelynn and Maliah were walking together, talking in hushed whispers as they both shared glances at the sea.

"It's about time you showed your face," Jase laughs, walking up to me.

I felt like such a jerk abandoning them.

"I'm the worst, I know," I joke, "I'm sorry."

"Nah, it's cool. Spend time with your girlfriend, we'll get you back." Jake grins.

I roll my eyes, "It's not like that."

"Sure."

"Oh, guess what we can do," Jake says, grinning.

"What's that?" I ask.

"Watch," Jake says.

They both get in a running stance and in a matter of seconds, they're twenty feet ahead of us and then back. I stop in my tracks.

"Holy Hades, how'd you do that?" I ask.

"A blessing from our dad," Jake grins.

"That's so cool!"

"Thanks, it's crazy because we found out we could do it on the-"

A loud roar cuts him off. The air around us tensed and everyone drew their weapons. Something was coming. First I looked at the boys, then the rest of our group. Maliah and I shared a look. There was a loud growl and out from the trees came a gigantic lion, it's mouth set in a snarl.

"What's the plan?" I shout.

"Flank him and fire, someone's bound to get lucky." Maliah says.

"Agreed."

Everyone charged the lion from all directions, but nothing was working. Every attack we made just bounced right off of him. He pawed at the twins and swatted Perry into a tree.

"Perry!" Katelynn screamed, rushing over to him.

"We can't keep going like this," Brandon yelled, "nothing's working!"

I looked over to Maliah who was sweaty and tired. Even her sword, that should kill anything, wasn't working. Prometheus had stayed on the ship, as were his instructions from the gods. He would know what to do right now, but he couldn't tell us.

"Tyler watch out!" Maliah screamed. I ducked just in time to avoid being sliced in half by the lion's claws.

I sighed, "We need a new plan!"

"Working on it!" she called.

Suddenly, she put her finger through the gold ring of her choker and snatched the necklace off of her. The broken chain took a crescent form and materialized into a silver bow with a golden ring around where her hand went. The string was also gold.

"Where are the arrows?" Brandon yelled.

"I don't think I need any," she called back, drawing the string.

As she pulled the string back, a golden arrow shimmered into the light. The way it was formed now, it was just small gold particles in the shape of an arrow. As she released it, the arrow flew and materialized into the air, becoming solid and bouncing off of the lion.

I got an idea.

"Maliah, aim for it's mouth!" I screamed.

"Huh?" she asked.

"It's mouth! Aim for the mouth!"

She nodded her head and drew the string back once again, another golden arrow shape forming. She waited for an opportunity and when the lion snarled, she let the arrow go. It hit the lion's mouth and soon, he disintegrated.

"That was amazing!" Brandon screamed.

"Is Perry okay?" Harvey asked.

"Yeah, he just got knocked out." Kate said, a look of concern still on her face.

"I think that's enough excitement for today." Jake said.

"Yeah, I agree. We should set up camp." Brandon suggested.

The twins went and gathered fire wood, the Hecate brothers dug a pit in the sand, Brandon and I pitched tents and Ellie set up the tiki torches she'd apparently stashed on the boat. When the twins returned, they put the wood in the wood in the pit.

"I'll light the torches if you get the fire, Maliah." Ellie offered, shooting small fireballs out of her fingers until all of the torches were lit.

"Oh, sure. I'd stand back, though." Maliah suggested.

We all stepped back and she looked up to the sky, then the pit. A strike of lightning hit the wood, setting it ablaze and sending all of us flying back. After our harsh landing, we all started laughing. My eyes found Maliah's and after a minute we all recomposed ourselves. When we sat up, though, we all erupted in laughter again. It felt good feeling like we were kids without a care in the world. For just one night I allowed myself to think we were just normal kids on a normal camping trip.

Katelynn handed us dismantled metal clothes hangers and passed around a bag of marshmallows. We also had graham crackers and chocolate for those of us who wanted the whole shebang. We roasted the marshmallows over the fire while the twins told us ghost stories.

"So," Jase began, "the girl walked all around the home but it was quiet. She was starting to wonder why she even bothered coming, her friends said the house was haunted but it wasn't even scary. But as she walked into the room, she got chills down her spine. There was no one to turn to, though, because she was all alone."

"She looked all around the room," Jake continued, "and inspected the white sheet covered furniture until her eyes landed on a dark red substance sliding down the walls. With an ounce of confidence, she walked up to the wall to inspect it. Only she fell through a trapdoor. And then-"

He paused and he and Jake shared a look before jumping out at the girls, "A clown killed her!"

They let out weak screams and we all laughed, Kate pushing Jake over.

"I thought it was a ghost story!" she laughed.

"Oh," Jake said, propping himself on his elbows, "the clown was a ghost."

The girls laughed and Katelynn knocked him over again before we all fell back on the sand.

"Lamest story ever." Maliah laughed.

"Agreed." Ellie chimed in.

"You suck!" we chorused together.

"Then you guys tell the story next time!" Jase laughed.

My eyes caught Maliah's and I saw the flames dancing in them. She let out a small laugh and looked back up at the sky, the smile still on her face. I had to get these feelings under control. I couldn't do this to myself, to her, knowing what would happen when this quest ended. Maybe next summer, sure, but right now it wasn't fair.

Okay so this is where the chapters are going to stick to the main plot of the original version, but still have a lot of changes. I hope you enjoyed it and it's so close to being complete!

XoXo

Gabby