Alexa remained at Melody's place long enough to see Jazz and Sean off, but the day after that, her bags were packed and the note from Hera was left sitting amongst her luggage.
"Alexa, my dear," It read "I hope this letter finds you well and that you enjoyed your time with your family. In your time away I have reached my decision on the subject of your next labor. I have decided your task will be to find the Gargareans and retrieve a signet ring from their king.
Best of luck, Hera."
"Are you sure you have to leave so soon?" Melody asked as Alexa headed downstairs, her bags on her shoulders.
"Sorry, Aunt Mel... I'm kinda back on the clock." Alexa muttered apologetically. Truth be told, she had no idea where to even begin looking for the Gargareans. The name was vaguely familiar, she probably heard about them in her lessons at camp, but the who and the where evaded her.
Melody pursed her lips.
"Just be careful, then." She urged her before pulling Alexa into a hug. Alexa squeezed right back.
"Thanks Aunt Mel...I'll be careful." Melody nodded and gently pushed Alexa away. The younger woman smiled and headed from the house. Luna was waiting in the backyard, tail wagging, eager to get going again. Alexa took one final glance at the house and at Melody before she and her faithful winged canine took flight once more.
The trip going back to camp took longer than it had getting to Melody's, it took them the better part of a day before Long Island once again came into view and the dynamic duo landed near the Big House.
The next few days were peaceful, but filled with work. It had taken a bit of research to discover who the Gargareans were, but Alexa had managed it with the help of the Athena cabin. Annabeth had been a huge help, spending most of her free time with Alexa, either aiding in the research effort, or else getting in some training with the older camper. Alexa got the feeling that she wanted something, but didn't voice that opinion, the blonde girl just kept staring at her when she thought Alexa wasn't looking.
It turned out that the Gargareans were the male equivalent of the Amazons, an all male tribe of warriors. According to the old stories they lived on the other side of a mountain range and met the Amazons once a year in order to keep both tribes' populations up. The Amazons would keep the girl children, and ship off the males to live with their dads at some point.
"You'd think they'd tear each other apart, with the whole 'Our gender is better!' thing going on." Alexa mused.
"Fences make good neighbors." Annabeth pointed out. "They only have to deal with each other one night a year. Every other day they steer clear of each other."
Alexa nodded and fell silent. Annabeth was staring again. Alexa politely ignored it.
"Now...there're several mountain ranges here in America, we just got to find where they moved to. If we can just find one group…"
"Then we can find the other group and we can go there and-" Annabeth began excitedly, but Alexa cut her off.
"Woah there, hang on! I appreciate your help but...I can't take you with me." As Alexa tried to explain, Annabeth seemed to deflate.
"But why!" Annabeth asked, obviously trying her best not to sound whiny. "Chiron said I have to wait for someone special before I can go on my own quest and you're doing the Ten Labors! What's more special than that?"
Alexa smiled slightly, reached out and gently took Annabeth's hand
"You know that's not what he meant...Annabeth, just the fact that you want to tag along is really brave, but you know you can't go with me." Alexa said as gently as possible. "If you do, I could get the labor invalidated, and you know Hera is a stickler for rules. Just be patient a little longer, okay?"
Annabeth huffed and looked away. Alexa continued to smile gently.
"You know," Alexa said with a small grin. "You remind me of another camper a few years back. She wanted to go on a quest with her best friend, but her friend didn't want to risk her going."
"Uh huh." Annabeth groused. "And what happened? Her friend came back and everything turned out great?"
"Nah!" Alexa laughed "She stole a pegasus, her friend slapped her for putting herself in danger, and she got stabbed by a giant scorpion!"
Annabeth looked up, wide eyed and startled, her eyes flicking all over Alexa's face. She was trying to figure out if Alexa was teasing her, but she'd find no lies in that expression. A small bit of mirth, but no lying.
"I think you're smarter than her, though. More importantly, I know you're going to do amazing things one day, but it won't start by being someone's sidekick, especially not someone like me. You're way better than that."
Annabeth's face flushed but she still huffed. "Not good enough…"
"Maybe this is just opinion talking, but I think you'll do amazing things when you hit the real world. You'll do things no other half-blood even dreamed of." Finally that got Annabeth to smile. However, that smile quickly turned into a frown.
"Hey.. look at this…" she said, pointing to an entry in one of her books. The book was thick, like a textbook, and sported an orange cover with the imaginative title of "Camp Half-blood logbook number 7"
Some of the brainiacs in Cabin 6 had started keeping track of their quests and fights against monsters stretching all the way back to Jamestown. Not every child of Athena wrote down their adventures, but those that did put them in the Log for safe keeping. Volume 2, supposedly, had hand written accounts from General Washington himself, Volume 5 had been torn up and burnt during a fight with a dragon, leaving the civil war section in tatters, but Volume 7 had written accounts from the 60s to the present day.
The entry Annabeth had found was pretty recent; it described a demigod named Steven's quest for the new stomping grounds of the Cretan Bull. Apparently Steve and his friends had been blown off course by some angry wind spirits, a fact that the author, who only identified himself as Tim, was not particularly happy about.
"August 13th, 1993" Annabeth read. "We found ourselves in an office building in Seattle. Why Sticky-fingers thought a barnyard animal with a bad attitude would be working a temp job doing data entry, I have no idea!"
"Uh...yeah that does sound kinda dumb but…" Annabeth quickly waved off Alexa's concern.
"The cubicle farm was filled with the most beaten down and tired looking dudes you ever saw." Annabeth continued. "All chained to their swivel chairs. We hadn't even taken two steps inside when armored girls burst through an elevator door and charged us. I'm not proud to say this, but we ran like cowards. As we ran I heard one of the girls scream 'You cannot escape! This city will be called new Themyscira with the year! This is Amazon country!"
Alexa blinked.
"I...feel like there's something there, Amazons and Seattle, but I can't put my finger on it." Alexa muttered. Then it clicked.
"Wait, the shipping company?" She squawked.
"It may be a front for them." Annabeth pointed out "Who else would suspect it?"
Alexa groaned and shook her head. Every time she thought the world couldn't get stranger, it just found a new way to surprise her. Amazons owned Amazon...sure, why not?
Alexa took a look at a map of the Continental United States, and quickly located Seattle.
"Looks like there is a mountain range in that area too...oh this keeps getting better and better." Alexa chuckled "Looks like I'll be going over the Olympic mountain range."
When Alexa returned to her room to pack, she was surprised to find someone waiting for her; Luke looked up with a small, almost shy, smile, a gasoline soaked dog biscuit in one hand. The happy chomping of a certain metal canine indicating she had already eaten one before Alexa's arrival.
"Hey." He said hesitantly. "I heard you and Annabeth found out where to go."
"Yeah...kinda sucks that I can't take her with me. I hate to see her disappointed like that." She muttered, heading over to give Luna a pat before gathering up her saddle bags.
"I know how that feels, she seemed heartbroken when I had to go on my quest." Luke agreed "But I wanted to thank you for including her in your planning. It really means a lot that you're doing that."
Alexa chuckled and shrugged. "It's not like it's a huge inconvenience. She's a good kid, smart, talented, she's going places."
Luna let out a belch after scarfing down the second biscuit, whirring contentedly. The silence between her and Luke stretched for a few awkward seconds.
"Are you...you know...scared of going back out there? I mean it's okay if you are. No one really asked me how I felt going out there so…" Luke trailed off awkwardly. All at once Alexa felt a weird feeling in her gut; As if her intestines were tying themselves in knots while butterflies were having a dance party in her stomach. All the while she could only really stand there and consider the fact that Luke had come by to see her off.
"W-well uh...yeah I guess but it's sorta a background thing, ya know? I'm always worried about going out there." She answered. He nodded, his blue eyes flashing slightly, reminding Alexa of a particular lake she found while on her hunt.
"Yeah...sometimes I kinda have to wonder…" he trailed off with a soft sigh. Alexa was far too aware of her heart thundering in her chest.
"Wonder what?" She asked quietly. She couldn't help but take in his face, the almost elfish features, the blonde hair, the stunning blue eyes, that rugged scar. The sadness in him that just made her want to hold him...and perhaps it was the three years alone followed immediately by a wedding that made her want to hold him for other reasons…
"I wonder if the gods even care about us. They just kinda treat us like tools, playthings. Do you really think they care what happens to us?" Luke grumbled. Well that was a mood killer. She shelved the odd feelings.
"I know they do. The gods might not be able to show it, but they care for us. They're kinda distant and not the best parents in the world, but they care." Her mind flashed back to a winter, many years ago, when her father had held her while her heart broke, and the more recent dance Ares had had with Jazz. Maybe it was those tender memories that made her miss the flash of anger in Luke's eyes. She did notice the disappointment, though. He was trying to talk her into staying! It was so sweet. She really didn't know Luke that well but she thought in that moment that she'd very much like to get to know him more. Perhaps next time she had shore leave. She gave him a half hearted smile, the butterflies in her stomach giving another flutter.
"Even if I didn't think they cared...I'd have to go anyway. I gave my word." She said, trying her best to let him down gently.
"Well can you do me a favor while you're out there?" Luke asked
"Of course!" She answered, maybe a touch too quickly.
"Kill some monsters for me!" Luke urged her, a grin completely transforming his face and causing her stomach to summersault. He turned and began heading for the door, only to pause and pat his pockets.
"Thought I had one more!'' He said with a laugh, pulling out one more fuel soaked Milkbone, quickly removing it from the plastic bag he had put it in. Luna snapped it out of the air about a second later, leaving both demigods chuckling.