CHAPTER XVII

AL

Al hated her life. She positively detested it.

She had gone to sleep after a normal day, in her normal room, in her perfectly ordinary bed, and woken up to this insane world.

She loved logical things. She really did. It was why she was so good at mathematics and computers. She could remember almost unending strings of information as long as there was a logical thread to them, no matter how complex. Even when she was with her dad as a part of a travelling carnival, she had known one thing; she wanted out.

Not because she hated that life. The truth was that she loved it. She loved the people, the constant movement, the opportunity to visit new places. She didn't care that they couldn't afford nice things, that there was rarely enough money to go around, that the days were long and the work was hard. She was more comfortable in a bunk in the corner of a trailer rather than in a bed. But the work was the same, the carnival was the same, and after a few years it had become downright monotonous. The only highlights had been when her dad planned a con.

She'd only gone to school for two years; one when she was seven and the second when she was eleven. She'd spent hours in libraries and labs and become so good with electronics that soon she was pretty much responsible for fixing any electrical mishaps that happened during the carnival. She'd even managed to develop home automation and security systems for ordinary appliances when she was thirteen on a laptop retrieved from a dumpster, way before smart plugs came out.

After her dad had died and her world went to shit, she'd managed to provide for herself and her sister by doing odd jobs around, fixing stuff and selling software she'd developed, working at garages, amidst a hundred other things. After her sister died, she had gone on a downward spiral into crime, but still, she'd based her whole life on logic.

And there was really no logical explanation for how she managed to get herself into this situation.

After the crazy Roman ghosts had attacked, she'd tried her best to fight them off. Reyna had taken out her javelin and started to fight like the devil. She, on the other hand, had made a fool of herself.

In her defense, she was completely out of her depth. She performed best at a desk with a computer or a notebook and a pen. Or even in front of a locked door with a pin in her hand. Fighting with a sword against a bunch of dead Roman guys in an underground maze? Not so much.

Which was why she'd tried to stab a dead dude, gotten slammed by a sword instead, tripped over her feet, and been knocked out and carried to some underground cell. Because apparently, she was wanted alive.

Why was there a price on her head? Why was she involved in all this craziness? Who was so interested in meeting her? Why did her life suck so much?

The ghosts didn't really seem to be smart. They'd locked a former thief in a cell with a padlock. A padlock. It was almost insulting. It had taken her a grand total of twenty-two seconds to pick that lock. She could have done it in fifteen if her head didn't hurt so much.

That was the easy part. She'd then tried to follow the blue trail she'd seen earlier to see where it led. She felt bad about abandoning Reyna to the ghosts like that, but she really had no idea where the ghost room might be. Besides, she would actually be a hindrance in a fight. Her sword and Reyna's knife had been taken away, and her only weapon was a nineteenth century violin of unknown origin.

Which still didn't explain why the next hallway had a giant snake in it.

All right, it wasn't really a hallway. It was the size of a giant stone ballroom, except like the inside of a creepy temple. And the snake. Did she mention the snake?

Her best guess was that the snake thing was guarding something. She decided to turn around and try to find another way, but of course, the door had to disappear, and the snake just had to notice her. Suddenly she wished she'd stopped herself from exploring without Reyna.

Now she was stuck in a closed room with a giant snake, no way out, no weapons, and no purple Roman ninja at her side. She doubted the snake would appreciate her attempt at music, given that she'd be taught by a former-gypsy-turned-carnie.

The snake was about fifty feet long and ten feet wide, a hundred yards in front of her, long and scaly, black in color, and it gave her the creeps. To be honest, everything in this world gave her the creeps. She just wanted to run as far as she could from this nightmare.

But she was sick of running.

She was sick of hiding behind Reyna waiting for her to deal with all of her problems. She was sick of making a fool of herself everywhere and pretending that it didn't matter. She was sick of this whole situation. She just wanted to go back to her sane, rational world.

If she had to go down, she might as well go down fighting.

That resolution lasted for a grand total of two minutes. As soon as the snake displayed its forked tongue, it was over.

The only thing that went through her mind was, 'RUN!'

She got a grip on the wall and tried to get as far away from the snake as possible. She was really grateful for all the carvings on the wall. They made great niches for her fingers and feet to climb up. She could hear hissing from behind her, but she didn't dare to look back. If she did, she'd freeze and never be able to move. Instead, she focused on the wall in front of her. It wasn't until she saw a black shadow to her right that she risked a glance in that direction. She almost fell off the wall.

The snake was ten feet in front of her, and it was rapidly making its way even closer.

She did the only thing she could. She jumped.

Big mistake.

She'd forgotten how big the snake was. She fell right onto its scaly coils. Before she could even climb her way out of them, they tightened around her, pinning her arms to their sides, squeezing the air out of her chest, rendering her completely immobile.

She tried to squirm her way out of its grip, but that only made the snake crush her even more. The violin case was digging uncomfortably into her back. There was nothing she could do as it lifted her higher into the air, closer towards its face. She could feel herself panicking. She thrashed against the scales, but the coils tightened even more, making it impossible for her to breathe.

And all the time, the snake just kept bringing her closer to its fangs.

She could feel herself getting overwhelmed by fear. She could smell the stink coming from the snake's mouth. She could see the venom forming near the tips of the long fangs. She drew her arms closer to her chest and in a desperate attempt, punched the part wrapped around her as hard as she could in the limited space.

She wasn't really sure what happened after.

Maybe it was panic. Maybe it was the adrenaline. Maybe it was the sheer absurdity of her situation. Maybe her powers from her unknown godly parent only kicked in under duress. Whatever it was, the snake dropped her.

She stared at her hands, which were shrouded in black flames. Tongues of flame danced across her palms, occasionally leaping up and settling down again. Her fingers tingled, like pins and needles were coming to life there. She stared, mesmerized, at the pitch-black fire shrouding her hands. She suddenly heard a hissing sound from her right. She snapped out of her trance and turned.

How the reptile managed to creep upon her so silently was a mystery. She closed her eyes and focused on the fire in her hands.

More, she thought. Burn more.

The flames crept up to her elbows. She raised her hands and grinned. "All right, Fang Face. It's on."

The snake lunged at her, faster than it should be able to. She barely had time to dive to the side before its jaws snapped at the place where her head was a second ago. She raised her hands and imagined the fire blasting out of her hands.

A thick column of flames shot from her palms towards the monster. It hissed and reared back, surprised to receive a mouthful of flames instead of a tasty demigod snack. She suddenly felt tired, like she'd just carried a large box and thrown it at the monster.

Her arms were completely on fire now. She tried to restrain the flames, to bring them back to elbow level. The flames just crept over her shoulders. She felt a brief surge of panic; she didn't want to burn up completely.

Calm. Her father's advice from all those years ago when she first became his apprentice resounded in her head. Relax. Focus on what you want to do. The flames crept back to her elbows, but it was like trying to hold back a river after the dam was broken.

Also, she couldn't keep the monster at bay like this forever. Sooner or later the fire (again, no clue what the hell that was) was going to give out. She needed a plan.

The snake tried for another go, its body coiling around her. But she was prepared this time, and jumped on top of the moving coils. As soon its heads came into firing range, she let out the biggest blast that she could. It hit the reptile right inside its mouth.

She wasn't really sure what happened next.

She was pretty sure that some of the venom fell on her shoulder. And it burned like acid.

Five years ago, the gas explosion that killed her father left her with glass in her right shoulder. Between running away, looking after her sister, and being broke, she never got the shards out. By the time she could, it was too late, and removing it would be far more painful than letting it be. Most of the time, it didn't bother her, but there were still some bad days.

Poison didn't really help.

She staggered back until she hit a stone wall. The snake had retreated for now, hissing and watching her.

It's waiting for the poison to do its work, she realized. Her shoulder was burning with pain, and she could feel her world going darker.

She tried to stand erect, but her legs were shaking too badly. Her vision dimmed at the edges, and her head pounded. She felt like she was going to throw up.

It was a crazy, desperate, attempt. She launched herself at the snake and allowed the flames to take over completely. She saw the snake's fangs getting closer, and the world went black.

When she woke up, the place was gone.

Just gone.

Like it never existed.

Had she been hallucinating?

The place was completely bare, just a long black hall with nothing in it. She sat up and checked her shoulder. There was nothing; no burn mark, no open wound, no trace of poison. But the sleeve was torn through. Damn. She liked that jacket. Her shoulder still ached and she felt tired, like at the end of a long day, but it was as though it had just healed itself.

She staggered to her feet and looked around. There was no way out of the place except for a small square hole in the center. She stumbled over to the hole and peered into it. It was far too dark to see anything. She stretched her hand into the hole, knuckles scraping against the cold stone side. Her fingers brushed against something wedged into the hollow, cold and metallic. She gripped it and drew it out of the hole.

Juno's sword. Or rather the one she sent them to retrieve. Semantics, really.

She heard the scraping sound of a door opening behind her. She turned and saw the same hallway from which she'd entered. At least, that was what she thought it was.

She had to admit, she was rather surprised. Given Reyna's description, she expected it to be a bit more difficult. It could be a trap. On the other hand, she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. She ignored her hesitation and ran down the hallway, trying to find her way back.

Al was impressed.

Last she saw, there had been close to two hundred ghosts lounging in the Roman square. Now barely two dozen remained. God bless purple Roman pirate ninjas.

Reyna was standing near the narrow opening of the large doorway, backed by walls on almost three sides. It limited her movement but it also meant that she had to fend off attacks from only one direction.

The ghost had rather one-track brains. They didn't even notice her coming from behind. Her free hand burst into flames. She lifted the sword and swung it at the nearest ghost, who dissolved into shadows. Reyna noticed her and nodded.

A few of the ghosts split from the group and tried to make their way behind her. She copied Reyna's idea and backed up against the opposite wall. Considering everything, she wasn't doing too badly. She loved this sword. It seemed to give off an aura that made the ghosts hesitate to attack her, and turned to shadows as soon as her sword touched them, leaving behind all manner of weapons and spoils. She grinned as the last one disappeared with a hiss.

She glanced around and saw Reyna fending off the last batch of ghosts. One of them had managed to sneak behind her and was raising his sword. She was too busy fighting another to notice or do anything about it.

Al didn't think. She grabbed a fallen knife from the ground and threw it. It spun, blade over handle, and lodged itself in the ghost's chest just as the sword came down. The ghost turned to dust, the sword clattering to the ground. Reyna stabbed the last ghost with her spear and gave her a grateful look.

Al grinned and gave her a showman's bow. "Glad to be of assistance, Praetor."

Reyna rolled her eyes. "Is that-"

Al nodded. "Yeah." She swung it again. "It's totally cool."

Reyna sighed. "You know we have to give it to Juno, right?"

Al shrugged. She held up her hand, which was still burning. "Any ideas about my parentage?"

Reyna frowned. "Pluto, perhaps? But I've never seen Nico or Hazel do that. Besides, a child of the Big Three, undetected for so long? If it were your mom who was your godly parent I'd say Hecate, but you say your mom-"

"Was hundred percent mortal."

Reyna shook her head. "I don't know. Perhaps some minor god then. You'll probably be claimed soon."

Al smiled and started walking away, but she couldn't shake the uneasy feeling in her gut. The way that room had simply disappeared when she lost control didn't seem like the power of a minor god. She shook her head and tried to clear her mind. She was just being a paranoid idiot. It was all going to be fine.

She didn't realize how wrong she was.

This is the first time that I wrote from Al's POV. Tell me what you think. I'm also undecided whether to write the next chapter from Reyna's POV or Al's. Most probably Reyna, followed by Al, followed by an epilogue or something. This fic will have 20 chapters, after which, I'll start the second part of this series.