I'd literally defeated a goddess with the power of love. Well, kind of. I would have found the situation funny if Charlie was there.

Love only means something if it's alive.

The cut my left arm was bleeding but it wasn't too deep so it should be fine if I wrapped it up. But I didn't want to take my shirt off, so I didn't have anything to wrap it up with. Instead, I wrapped my other hand around it to keep pressure. As long as I could fight, I would be fine. Well, could be.

You'll never be fine.

Charlie hadn't left anything else for me to use as a trail so I kept going in the direction of the last object he'd sent. I was carrying his shoe, but it was torn nearly in half. I must have been hallucinating because it came to the point where I was seeing what looked like winged shoes climbing down the crevices between cliffs.

I didn't think about how hungry or exhausted I was. I couldn't. The only thing on my mind was Charlie. Part of me knew I was no good to him if I killed myself by not stopping for a break, but I ignored that part.

He's already dead. Just give up

It had been at least a day, maybe three. Maybe more. I hadn't eaten, I hadn't slept, I had barely slowed my pace. I didn't even know where the River Phaethon was. I had lost track long ago.

I froze when I heard the familiar hissing of monsters. I turned my ear towards the sound and listened closely as I crept up to the small camp and hid behind a nearby rock.

"You a young one, ain't you? Don't think I ever seen no titan so small," the voice was strange. It was nearly impossible to understand. I peeked my head over to the rock to get a better look.

Without my glasses, I couldn't see much. But I saw Charlie. He was wedged between the two monsters. As the monsters spoke, he laughed along nervously. The were against a rock wall so there was no visible way of him escaping. His backpack and sword were on the other side of the monster to his right. I almost laughed in relief as I told the Arai to suck it.

The aeternae are fierce beasts. He will be dead within minutes

Charlie had one hand pressed to the wound on his shoulder. It wasn't bleeding that I could tell, but then again I couldn't see clearly more than a foot in front of my face. His other arm was wrapped around his knees as he tried to make himself as small as possible. Of of the aeternae looked up suddenly, staring directly at me. I quickly ducked back behind the cover of my rock. The aeternae had strange plates in their mouth that looked a lot like the Crocotta we'd fought back in Florida.

"You smell human?" It asked.

I heard Charlie's breath catch. "Human?" He said. "No, I don't smell human, definitely not human, no human here!" He chuckled nervously again.

"Young titan is right. Not human," the other aeternae hissed. Charlie sighed in relief before the monster continued with, "Demigod."

Well, I'm screwed.

You're both going to die

Someday, but not today. I jumped out from my hiding spot with my dagger raised, only to find that the aeternae were already upon me. I didn't even get one hit in before one slammed into my chest and knocked backwards. My broken rib pressed against my lungs and I lost my breath. My dagger slipped from my hand and fell far beyond reach. I smiled awkwardly at the beasts looming above me.

"Howdy," I greeted.

"Demigod smells familiar," one decided. Charlie stood shakily and I began to realize there was something else wrong with him. He looked sick.

"That, that's not a demigod," he stuttered.

I nearly rolled my eyes and stared at him. He only shrugged one shoulder in response, wincing slightly.

"It the one little titan was hunting!"

I raised an eyebrow at Charlie, who shrugged again. They thought Charlie was hunting me? The aeternae picked me up by the scruff of my neck, which hurt by the way, and turned around to face Charlie.

"He is captured, you can eat him now," they announced proudly.

Charlie looked mortified. "What?" he asked quickly.

"First kill is important for young titan," came the response. "This demigod is perfect. It is weak, easy to kill."

You are weak

Too weak to save your family

Too weak to save him

Charlie furrowed his eyebrows and glared. "I don't know about that," he defended. He met my eyes and we had a silent conversation. I was helpless, there was nothing I could do but distract. It was up to Charlie.

"Ok, then put him down. I want to do it myself," Charlie ordered, trying to sound confident. He sounded like a toddler.

"He will run."

"He will not," I interrupted. "I'm weak, remember? I can't run."

They stared at me and I shrugged. Most monsters were idiots, easy to fool. The aeternae were certainly one of those monsters. I mean seriously, they thought Charlie was a baby titan. Well, he kinda is but that's beside the point. So, the one with it's claws digging into my neck dropped me. I dusted myself off and stood, waiting for Charlie to make a move. He looked at me as if I was the director and he'd just forgotten his line.

"Well?"

Charlie lunged forward and grabbed his sword and without grace, ran straight towards me. I ducked out of the way and his sword impaled one of the aeternae behind me. The other gasped as it's brother died. I used this distraction to get my dagger and stabbed the other one in the back. It turned around as if all I had done was annoy it and raised a clawed hand. I rolled out of the way and took another jab at its foot. Charlie soon joined me, bumping his arm gently against mine.

"You ok?" I asked.

"Peachy," he replied. "What happened while I was gone?" The aeternae hissed and raised both its arms, giving us a chance to simultaneously run toward and hit it. Charlie used his sword to take a sensible chunk out of its armpit while I stabbed it in the chest.

"Well, I figured out that we've spent 73% of our time here fighting monsters. Also, I fought a goddess and found your shoe. It's ripped, by the way," I said as I side stepped to avoid a claw to the face.

"Dammit! I liked that shoe! And what do you mean you fought a goddess? Are you ok?" He whipped around and threw his sword with expert position, slicing off a third of the aeternae's arm.

"I'm fine, just a scratched arm! Really, it went better than you'd suspect." I swung my arm in a full circle, digging my dagger into the monster's neck while Charlie took off its head. Because he wasn't using a Greek metal, it didn't dissolve into dust. Dark red oozing blood splattered onto my face and clothes.

"Ew," I groaned. I wiped the blood from my eyes and walked over the corpse to reach Charlie. He dropped his sword and wrapped his arms around my neck.

"Charlie," I breathed his name as I held him tight to my chest. "I'm so sorry," I apologized.

"Gods, Jase, I was so worried!" He pulled away to look me over.

"You were worried? I wasn't the one that got kidnapped!"

He laughed, genuine this time. It was infectious. Amidst the laughing, he kissed me. I cupped my hand around the back of his head and deepened the kiss.

"Are you ok?" I asked, my lips hovering over his.

"Your breath smells like Tartarus," he responded. I moved to pull away but he pulled me closer. "Yes, I'm ok. I missed you."

I held his face in my hands and wiped away the blood and dirt with my thumbs, only smudging it more. He smiled and held my wrists. He suddenly winced in pain and bent over, clutching his shoulder.

My smiled faded and I held him upright. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"I think their bite is poisonous," he explained weakly.

So sorry I haven't updated in bit... Life's been kind of hectic and crazy. My mom was just taken to the psych ward for threatened my dad (who moved out a few months ago) with suicide. I'm kind of in a strange situation right now but I'm going to try to update as I usually do. I hope all of you have an absolutely amazing day because you deserve it so much.