Hey guys, so school is starting up here soon… have no fear though. I am fully committed to making sure both this story and WATS get done without having a sizable delay or hiatus. This only means that my updates may be a little less frequent or possibly late in some cases. I hope you forgive me. I will do my best to continue updating on schedule.

I do not own PJO/HOO.

….

Saudade ~ a nostalgic longing to be near again to something or someone that is distant, or that has been loved and then lost.

…..

The bus ride was probably the most normal thing I had experienced since learning I was a demigod (or legacy, whatever.)

Neither Carolyn nor I knew what Alek and Erica had talked about, or what had been said; we were just thankful they were back to some semblance of acting normal around each other. I could still feel a bit of unresolved tension in the air, but we all managed to ignore it for the most part. The four of us were even sitting together on the bus at that point.

The girls sat in the row in front of Alek and I, and were turned around to face us, as we conversed and discussed random things… like seemingly normal teenagers did. It felt nice… odd, but nice. We played a small game of twenty questions to pass the time. Meanwhile, the ragged North Dakota landscape flew by, vying for our attention to its wondrous majesty, but unsuccessfully.

Once the game was over, we began looking for ways to entertain ourselves individually. For me, that meant reverting to a seemingly dull, but comforting pastime.

"What are you reading there?"

Carolyn's question grabbed my attention from my book. I looked up at her over the tops of the pages.

"Frank Ching's A Global History of Architecture."

For some reason, I suddenly felt two other pairs of eyes lock on me, and I turned to see Erica and Alek both starting as well. Their interest was piqued, and yet, they appeared hesitant.

"You like architecture?" Carolyn asked, probing further out of pure curiosity, "Do you want to be an architect?"

Erica and Alek both seemed more invested in my answer than the girl who actually asked the question. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Eh, I like it a lot, but I wouldn't say I'm passionate about it."

Carolyn nodded her head understandingly. "So you're just reading for fun?"

"Yeah," I replied, closing the book, and staring at the cover, "I found it in Chiron's office, and… I don't know why, but I was just drawn to it."

A brief silence filled the air, broken abruptly by Erica's voice.

"It belonged to your mother," She said matter-of-factly.

I turned and raised an eyebrow at her, as she leaned over the back of her seat, and stared down at the floor of the bus.

"How do you know that?" I asked questioningly.

"She was extremely passionate about Architecture," The daughter of Hermes said. "She filled up half of the Big House library with books on Architecture. It was her dream to become a- well, you know… an architect. To build some permanent, as she would say."

I could feel my chest beginning to tighten once again. I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath to try and console myself. Upon opening them again, I saw that all three of them were staring at me expectantly.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," Erica replied somewhat cheerfully, "I just think it's interesting that you've found this connection with your parents- or your mother, at least."

"Except I haven't," I growled, "I'm not passionate about Architecture like you say she was. I don't want to be an architect."

"You're still reading the book. The book that belonged to her."

I promptly slammed the book shut, and threw it down into my backpack, before turning back to Erica, and giving her a look that said, see?

She just smiled nonchalantly.

I had hoped that the subject would be dropped altogether, but of course Carolyn had to step in again.

"What do you want to do?"

I quirked an eyebrow at her. "What?"

"When you grow up- what do you want to do? Or want to be?" Her voice was vibrant, full of curiosity, and unnerving at the same time. I had hoped Carolyn would have read the room, and left me to sulk. Unfortunately, I got the feeling she knew exactly what I wanted, and didn't care. She had a way of speaking her mind, without actually doing it.

I also got the feeling that she wasn't the 'soft love' sort of person. She was bold, honest, and understanding of the fact that life was short. And I somewhat resented her for that.

I shook my head. "Couldn't tell you. I've never had the luxury of being able to plan out my future."

"You mean there's nothing you're passionate about? Nothing that you want to accomplish someday?"

"I'm sixteen years old, Carolyn. Forgive me if I don't already know what I want to do with my life."

She furrowed her eyebrows. "I was just asking- sheesh."

"I'm guessing you already know what you want to do then, huh?"

A prideful glint shone in her brown eyes. "I hope to make it to the Olympics someday… for track and field. Hopefully, as a triathlete or decathlete." She announced this with just a smidge of arrogance, but not in such a way as to hold it over the rest of us. It seemed to come from a place of security in herself.

And to hear her talk in such a way, how she knew what she wanted to do with her life, and how she had such confidence in it, and in herself- it made me jealous.

"What about you two?" She then asked, turning to face Erica who sat next to her, and then back to Alek.

The blonde girl shrugged. "I don't know. All I know is I don't want to have to worry about being poor again."

Although Carolyn didn't know about Erica's family, or why the daughter of Hermes had such a dream, she simply nodded her head understandingly.

The three of us turned to face the son of Ares. He ruffled his own short-cropped, black hair, his Samoan tattoos on full display. I expected him to have a similar answer to Erica and me; pretty much no clue what we wanted to do with our lives. That seemed to be the norm for demigods and legacies.

"A contractor," He said, surprising all of us.

"Like… a defense contractor?" Carolyn asked, "Security contractor?"

Alek shook his head. "General contractor. I want to build things."

I was floored by his answer to say the least. Sitting there somewhat shocked, I could see that Erica had a similar reaction. Underneath her shocked exterior though, I could see her fractured heart, broken by the hammer that was the goddess of love, and fighting to mend itself.

Carolyn seemed to be the only one not surprised. "Why?" She questioned curiously, full of contagious sincerity and interest.

"I guess- I always liked the idea of making someone's dream become a reality."

I couldn't help but think that Alek's dream sounded awfully similar to what my mother's was. Reality… Permanency. At that moment, they didn't sound all too different.

Alek's answer seemed to pass a blanket of gravity over everyone. Silence overcame our little group, as we each sat down fully in our seats, hiding inside our own minds and thoughts.

I glanced out the window of the bus, and watched as a large flock of birds glided above the rugged terrain in the far distance. Giving a swift glance in Erica's direction, making sure she wasn't looking, I reach into my backpack and pulled back out the book on Architecture. The one that belonged to my mother.

I opened it again, and resumed reading.

….

When I looked up from it ten minutes later, I noticed that the flock of birds had gotten closer.

And they were closing what distance they had left extremely rapidly. They also appeared to be quite large, and somewhat abnormally shaped, as they soared towards the bus.

I don't consider myself to be a paranoid person, but in that moment, just to be safe, I reached over and tapped Alek lightly on the shoulder. He glanced at me, and I pointed somewhat casually, but also enthusiastically, out the window at the approaching flock.

The boy's eyes widened.

"Gryphons!" He shouted, just as the horde attacked.

I wasn't sure what happened, but the bus began to rock side to side, each time tilting more and more either way. What few people were on the bus with us were screaming, and the driver was yelling something about tornadoes, although he didn't sound convinced himself. The sky had been pretty clear that day.

Out the window, I could see large creatures flying about in a flurry of golden-colored hair and feathers. They seemed to be taking shots at the side of the bus, divebombing it at high velocities, and then grabbing at it with their eagle talons.

"It was only a matter of time," Erica yelled, as she held on tightly to her seat. "It's a miracle some monster hadn't tracked our scent sooner!"

There wasn't much else we could do but hang on, as we felt the bus suddenly lean far to the right, and then watch as our worst fear came to fruition. It kept leaning, until the elongated vehicle flipped on its side completely.

I was thrown against the window, which sent a wave of pain up my shoulder, which still hurt thanks to Enceladus. I lay stunned against the window, still hearing the screeches and scratches coming from outside, as the gryphons circled.

It seemed like staying in the bus was the safest option…until I heard more glass shatter. I flipped around to see the head of an eagle, a very ugly eagle, screaming at me from just a couple feet away. Its body was halfway through the broken window, and it seemed hell-bent on wedging itself through entirely.

Only Erica's sword slashing through it's neck saved me from becoming the gryphons next snack.

"Get up, Luke!" She yelled, pulling me up by my hand.

I looked to see that Alek had already helped Carolyn out through the emergency exit in the top of the bus. He quickly followed her. Since the bus was on its side, it was actually more like escaping through a window, which proved to be fortunate, otherwise Erica and I would definitely have been picked apart before we could even get our feet on the ground.

As soon as emerged from the bus, I snatched my trident from my backpack, and touched the mark, before taking off after Erica, who had scrambled off the side of the road, and into the dense thicket nearby.

Running through a crowded wood of small trees while simultaneously carrying a full-fledged trident was not the easiest thing in the world. I struggled to keep up with Erica, who, being a fleet-footed daughter of Hermes, as well as carrying only a sword, was much more agile.

I had no idea where Alek and Carolyn where, but I could only hope that they were safe. The screams and screeches of the gryphons behind us indicated that they were following closely, and I knew that while the trees provided some cover, we would not be able to escape fully.

Right as I thought that, one of them came crashing through the tops of the trees, and dove straight at Erica. She sliced through it without hesitation.

Unfortunately, that seemed to put a homing beacon on us, as all of a sudden, we were bombarded with gryphons plunging toward us. They came from all directions, such that we had to stop and hold a single position so as to watch each other's backs.

"On the left!" She screamed, as I jabbed with my trident at a gryphon crawling towards me.

"Which left? Yours or mine!"

"Nine o'clock!"

"Whose?! Yours or mine!"

"Does it- oh, forget!" She spun in a circle, swinging her sword in a wide arc, as she vaporized an attacking gryphon.

We were picking them off slowly one by one, but it was too slow. They just seemed to keep coming. Pretty soon, they had us surrounded, one the ground, and encircling us in the air. I counted about thirty- maybe more. Ugly creatures, with the head and feet of eagles, and the body of lions.

That's when Alek and Carolyn charged in. Well, it was mostly Alek, but Carolyn helped… sort of.

The son of Ares struck by like a one-man army, as he brandished his celestial bronze, Samoan war club. A red glow seemed to illuminate his body, as he cut through gryphon after gryphon. Erica and I were pretty much starstruck watching him, until we finally figured that maybe we should help.

It all seemed to be going pretty well at that point. The monsters became disorganized, and were unable to do anything about the onslaught that was Aleki Nuamali'l. I managed to cut down a few as well, which of course, made me feel a little cocky, and probably a bit too sure of myself.

Which is why I never saw the gryphon creeping up behind me.

Carolyn did, but she was just a little too late. "Luke! Watch out!"

And of course, the gryphon just had to attack my bad shoulder. It jumped me, pinning me to the ground under its claws, before biting into a sizable chunk of my shoulder with its large beak. I screamed in agony, but was unable to do anything under the weight of the creature. At any moment, I could feel that it was going to rip my shoulder right off, as its beak cut deeper and deeper into my skin.

One second, I was being practically eaten alive by some animal straight out the Avatar: The Last Airbender universe, and the next, I was covered in a fine layer of yellow dust.

I coughed, and spit as the yellow particles threatened to clog up my nostrils, and then turned my head slightly, to see Carolyn standing there, celestial bronze dagger in hand.

Despite the pain that my nerves where definitely feeling, and the adrenaline pumping through my veins, all I could think to say was, "Where did you get a knife?"

She didn't answer, as we still had more pressing concerns. Taking up Torrent, she stood by me, standing guard over my practically useless self, while Alek and Erica finished off the rest of the gryphons. Pretty soon, they had dwindled their numbers to only a few.

"How you guys doing?" Erica yelled, as she fended off two at the same time.

"Horrible," I croaked.

"Great!" Carolyn yelled back.

Alek clubbed the one he had been handling, and as it disintegrated, he flanked Erica's gryphons, and within a matter of seconds, they too were turned to dust. What few gryphons remained must have decided the cause was lost, and we all watched as they took to the air, and flew off back in the direction of the road, screeching as they went.

Imagine my confusion when I caught sight of the first silver arrow, as it glinted in the sunlight, before burying itself in the side of one of the gryphons. Not a second later, a whole volley of arrows soared through the air, each one finding its mark, with a single gryphon escaping.

All the four of us could was stand (or lay) there in shock, as figures began emerging from the trees.

They were all girls, most of them teenagers or younger by the looks of it. They wore silver and black camo all over, and each one carried a bow, with quivers full of silver arrows on their backs. They had us surrounded, blocking all escape.

Surprisingly, Erica seemed to relax a little bit, as she lowered her sword, as if in realization. Alek, however, still retained his glowing aura of red, as he still held his club at the ready. He seemed more irritated that concerned though.

"You've got to be kidding me," The boy growled.

At that moment, one of the girls stepped forward. She seemed younger than most of the others, with her auburn hair and pale complexion.

"I am Artemis," She announced, "And you four better have a good reason for interfering with our hunt."