Katrina
Why You Should Never Trust Trains
March 16th
2:30pm
I hate pie, so, so much. You'd understand me if you've lived through the horrors of you know, a twin who can shoot fire, play with fire, just produce fire from wherever, the works. I was eating pie, from a local diner, just one slice along with some hot chocolate. I mean, I don't even like pie that much, but if I'm offered, I will indulge. Of course, it was filled with liquid Greek fire. It scorched my throat, and it literally melted my insides. I was burning up outside and in, and my clothes burst into flames. Luckily, we were in our cabin, so it was a great place for me to die. The end. Just joking, but like really, I should've died though. Being a gifted 2nd gen demigod, I could easily survive it. I was born fireproof, and I probably should've expected it. It was okay though, even though I had stomach issues later because our cabin is fireproof.
I should really slow down. I'm second-generation half-blood. My family is all of Greek God descent. My family meaning Francisco (my twin brother), Mom (Calypso), Dad (Leo Valdez), and me (Katrina). We've been on the road ever since I and Cisco were born. Since Calypso is technically a titan, the monsters track her a little too well. Then when we were born, it was too much. We were going to live in Texas, right by Mexico. Dad was going to teach us Spanish and Mom would sell hand-woven clothes. We were going to live in a valley, where lots of wind nymphs lived. But, it turned out, me and Cisco had fire powers, and then Dad got in a fight with the others on the Gaea team. Skeletons were attacking us daily. From Hazel or Nico, I'm assuming. So, we moved. Or no, we are moving. Dad is taking us to his "place". We are moving around aimlessly, going from Seattle to Orange County, Orange County to Chicago, Chicago to... I- I don't know. I think we are going east. Towards New York maybe.
Every day we hop on whatever train or bus that is going east. Some days we travel across a state. Some days we make a few miles at best. We settled down at a cabin in the middle of nowhere. It was obviously abandoned, so Mom magicked it so it was semi monster proof and fireproof. Me and Cisco just turned 12, so our fire-ness is a little more… frequent. And this is when the Gods swoop in for their 2nd blessing.
The way second-generation half-blood work is kinda confusing. No one really has the science down to a T, but we figured out till this point. Even though there is a misconception that we're ¼ bloods, but we actually end up having more holy blood then our parents. According to ancient law, the Gods who aren't our grandparents can bless us, but that is rare. They only do it for half-blood parents who have done a great service. We still don't really know much about them, cause none of the half-bloods have ever lived to have children, or their children don't survive very long. The gods have two chances to bless. When we are born, and whenever after we turn 12. But not 13. After we get gifted we usually gain a power or two. I got gifted by Aphrodite and Athena when I was little, and my parents are hoping I'll get gifted by Poseidon next. Aphrodite mostly just altered my appearance a bit and gave me some mad French skills, but Athena gave me the entirety of my math understanding. Francisco got gifted by Athena and Apollo. He's basically just good at Trig and doesn't ever get sick. Not as cool as me. He wants Zeus, but our parents don't think that's super realistic, seeing as he doesn't gift children that aren't his or of his decent.
I stood up and flushed the toilet, hoping I wouldn't bust the train's toilet system with my greek fire infused excrement. "
"Rina, think fast!" As I turned around, a fireball hit my back. I could tell by the little tickle and the sweet smell of smoke that Francisco had been preparing the ball for a while.
"Katrina and Francisco Valdez! We are on a train full of mortals. You know better. I know I cast a really strong Mist spell, but that is no excuse to use your powers in public. You both know your father is ready to take away your tools right now." Mom glared at us from a window seat on the train. I stared daggers at Francisco as I walked towards my seat on the train. Francisco turned his head towards the ground as he walked towards mom. I watched the trees and rocks fly by in the window, leaning my head on my hand. I turned around to see my dad watching football on his phone. While monsters could track demigods via phone when my dad was a kid, nowadays the phones are fancy enough that they are harder to track, so my dad uses his phone all the time, usually for YouTube tutorials.
The smell of food wafted into the room. No one was in the same car as us, so I moved my way to the front of the car to have a look at what the mid-ride meal was.
"Rina, the car looks blocked off to mortals, she's not gonna come in here. We're in the caboose anyways." My mom barely looked up from her book. I rolled my eyes and sighed.
"Is there anything to eat here? We've been moving for almost a day now, and stopping for a soda once a day isn't gonna cut it anymore." I heard the train car door slide open. A young woman pushed a cart through.
"A meal for y'all today? Y'all look real tired, hmm? Got some slim pickins 'ere but I'll sell em for half the normal price. Only $3, y'all." I turned to look at mom. She frowned.
"Sorry, ma'am, I don't think you're in the right place. We're just doing some maintenance on the car today." Mom waved her hands around each other and flicked a few fingers, just like she did when weaving.
"Well hon, I don't think you're in the right place either, hmmm? Last time I checked you were on an island. And you, Leo Valdez. You were supposed to die 15 years ago. And these Lil' chicklings 'ere you got. They're gonna die right now.