Chapter 7

Natalie goes back to her Roots

Frank's P.O.V.

Though they said otherwise, I doubted that both Natalie or Percy would have woken up if we hadn't shaken them off. They slept like dead. But we didn't argue. Hazel and I knew that they both had been awake for so long since we left camp, so they sort of deserved it. I guess I was the only one who slept a bit less, but I wasn't asking for more. We docked our boat on the Willamette at the outskirts of Portland, because we didn't want to draw attention.

"So how do we find Phineas?" I asked, as we stepped out into the land. It felt a lot better on land after being on a boat for a long time.

"You're the one who knows the way around here. Do you know where we can find him?" Percy asked Natalie. She looked a bit uncomfortable here, and I figured out that she probably had had bad experiences here. This reminded me how little I knew of her life.

"No, I haven't come back here since I was ten. Last I came was on the quest for Vulcan. There wasn't any Phineas guy around here that time."

"So what do we do?" Hazel asked.

"Let's go downtown. The place where I used to live. We can get cleaned up and all."

"Does somebody live there?" I asked.

"No."

I would probably have asked more questions, but Hazel changed the topic.

"So you two slept well?"

"Dreams, as usual. But I found some information that might be helpful. This giant - Alyceoneus - he's on a glacier. I just don't know which one. Probably Phineas can tell us."

"I had them too," Natalie sighed. "About Phineas. He was a king, had the gift of sight, blah, blah. The only thing useful - he's kinda blind and crazy, so it mustn't be that hard finding him. I know some people who can help."

We walked for about half an hour, until we reached downtown and Natalie led us past alleys to the front of a house. It was not too big, but not small either. It was beautiful, but the house radiated the emptiness.

"This is your house?" Percy asked.

"Yeah. Come on. We need to get the keys," she said.

"You don't have them?"

She shook her head. She led us to her neighbours front door. We knocked. A middle-aged lady opened the doors. She looked kind and friendly, and her face immediately became gentle as she saw her.

"Hello, children. Anything I can help you with?" she asked in a sweet tone.

"Mrs. Richardson, it's me. Natalie," Natalie said.

"Natalie! Oh my god! You've grown so much since I last saw you," she said, hugging her. "It's been so long since you visited. Where's Ben? And your other friends? Oh, silly me! Why don't you all come in? You look like you haven't been having a good time," she said, as we hustled inside.

After so much, getting welcomed into a warm felt like heaven. Mrs. Richardson looked at us with such a motherly expression, it was hard not to feel at home. We sat on the comfortable couches, and if felt so nice, just for once, to be normal visitors.

"It's been so long since you last came here. How are things going at your school?" she asked.

I looked at her, perplexed. But Natalie just nodded, trying to smile.

"It's all great. We were just on a recreational trip, so we thought we should drop by."

"And where's your brother? You came, but Ben hasn't been here since you left for your boarding school."

"Uh - he couldn't come this time too. He had - some important work. But he would have been happy to see you too."

"Your house feels all lonely, you know. It never feels the same again since you both left. Things were already bad, and then you both had to go. It's not so good here these days."

"Yeah," Natalie nodded. "It isn't the same. Uh - Mrs. Richardson, we haven't got too much time to spend by. Can you give us the keys? We'll leave after we freshen up."

"Sure, dear. They are upstairs, I'll go get them," she said, getting up from her couch and going upstairs.

Percy sat forward, perplexed. "School?"

Natalie nodded, her face looking grim. "Yeah, that's what we told them. When we had to leave. Anyway, that doesn't matter. We're gonna leave as soon as we can. We must get to Alaska fast."

"Yeah, and we still don't know about the Phineas dude."

"We'll get some information here, don't worry."

Mrs. Richardson came back downstairs with the keys. "I've been taking as much care of the house as I can. It's empty, yes, but I thought that when you come back…,"

"I really don't know how to thank you, Mrs. Richardson," Natalie said, getting up. We got up too.

"Oh, you don't need to," she said, opening the door.

We stepped outside the door, and suddenly, it felt strange after the comfortable warmth of the house. We opened the gate. A stone corridor led towards the door of the double storeyed house. The lawn was green, but the plants in the corner were growing wild. Natalie unlocked the door.

The living room must have been very cozy, but it felt hollow inside. Pictures hung on the walls. One showed a young girl and boy, about five, with sea green eyes and black hair. They were standing arm in arms, in a beautiful lawn. Another had four people. A beautiful woman who looked just like Natalie, a kind looking man with glasses, and two kids grinned at us from the frame.

Then I realized I was looking at her family. Natalie's mother had the same shade of hair color, the same look as Natalie when she smiled. Her brother looked so similar, I would have known they were twins even without anyone telling me. The other man must have been her step dad. I looked at the happy family. Now, all Natalie had left was herself. I wondered what happened to her parents. But one thing was clear, it must have been very tough for Natalie to come back here. Yet she did, to help us.

"There're rooms upstairs. Let's go. Get freshened up," she said, looking around the house in a trance.

Hazel nudged me, and we started climbing the stairs. I was walking straight, thinking about her past, when I ran into someone - no, something.

"Neiggghhhh," it said.

"What?" I said, looking in disbelief. It was a horse. No, a pegasus. It was very beautiful. It's body glittered as if it was made of silver.

"It's beautiful," Hazel gasped.

Natalie came forward, and patted it's mane, mesmerized. "What are you doing here, fella?"

The spoke in a series of horse language, which I absolutely didn't know, but Percy and Natalie looked like they were understanding each and every word.

Percy translated for our sake. "It's saying it's a she. It - she says that Natalie is her master."

"It's a she?" Hazel asked.

"You speak horse?" I looked at him with wide eyes.

Natalie was frowning at the pegasus now, as if she couldn't make out why suddenly a pegasus would pop up in her house, which I wholeheartedly agreed with. "Yeah, we can. But who….,"

The pegasus spoke again. And Natalie suddenly looked like everything made sense. Her face lit up, which was a lot, because she had been looking quite miserable.

"Oh! Wow - I never thought it would be a pegasus."

"It just said - 'You'll know when the time comes.' Seriously, what sense did it make?" Percy frowned at her.

"It's a gift from Neptune. It's - well, it's a long story. But, wow, it's so cool. What's your name? Do you have a name?" hse asked the pegasus.

"It says it's name is Swiftsilver," Percy translated.

"I'm gonna call you Swifty. But - what will you do right now. I mean -,"

The pegasus neighed again.

Percy, our private horse translator, told us what she was saying. "She is saying that she will be leaving now. She will come to Natalie's aid whenever she needs her. When Natalie whistles, she'll hear it, even if she might be in another part of the world. She says Neptune himself created her."

"She said all that in three seconds?"

"Wow, I - really, it's a great gift. Thank you, dad," Natalie said, as the pegasus went upstairs to the terrace and took off.

We all freshened up and met downstairs in the living room. Natalie was wearing a long shirt and black jeans, and I thought I'd seen them somewhere. Then I remembered that it was the same outfit her mother had been wearing in the picture. But it looked absolutely new and ironed. As for us, we all had changed into fresh clothes that we'd brought from the camp. Someone rang the doorbell, and that someone turned out to be Mrs. Richardson, who'd brought us homemade cheeseburgers and orange juice.

"I thought you'd all would've been hungry, so I brought you some food," she said gently. We thanked her and sat around the dining table, munching on the snacks. It was then I realized how hungry I'd been. Suddenly another person entered the house. It was a man. At first I thought it was Natalie's step dad, but he looked different.

"Mr. Richardson," Natalie greeted him.

"Hello, young lady. Now there's a person who's changed so much, huh," he said, in a joking type of accent.

"And you haven't changed a bit," Natalie said to him.

"Oh, of course. I don't look like I've aged six years, right? I heard Ben couldn't come. And these are your friends? Good to see you all, children."

"Yeah. But I thought you'd have been at the court. It's your working time."

"Yeah, I had to come. Couldn't have missed you coming here. And anyways, there's something I have to give to you," he said, taking a seat beside me.

"Your step father left something for you two. Here," he brought out a file with papers. "His will. He has left you both this property. The last time you came, I couldn't give you."

Natalie opened the file gingerly. Inside were government papers. Natalie looked at Mr. Richardson gratefully.

"Mr. Richardson, I - thank you so much. I'll always be in your debt."

"Oh no need for that. It was my job to give you this. But I heard you'll be leaving right now?"

"Um, yeah. We're on a bit of a tight schedule. We must leave now," she said.

Mrs. Richardson looked at us with kindness. "It would have been so good if you'd have stayed, dear."

"Really, Mrs. Richardson, I have to go, it's important. I was hoping you could help us in one more matter. We are looking for a person. Have you heard about anyone who's like - kinda blind and crazy types?"

"I've heard about a crazy man like this. Does he keep shouting stupid things? Chases chickens?" Mr. Richardson asked.

"Yeah, do you know him? Where can we find him?" Natalie sat forward.

"Oh, he lives on the Glisan street. Near that golfing area."

We looked at each other.

"Thank you Mr. Richardson. We'll get going then," Percy shook hands with him.

"Are you sure you all don't need a ride?" he asked as we locked the door.

"No, thanks. We'll be fine. Thank you, again," I said coming on the street.

Natalie gave Mrs. Richardson the keys, but she shook her head.

"No dear, it's yours now. You should keep them."

Natalie looked at them gratefully once again, hugged her, and we set off towards Glisan street, wherever that was.

"I got some money from there, let's get a taxi. I don't think we should have taken their help. Too much explaining," Natalie sighed as we reached the main road. She looked like she didn't want to talk about anything related with her house, or her past.

Percy stopped a taxi, and we hopped inside. Natalie handed him some cash, and we speeded off towards meeting a blind, crazy dude with chickens.

Hello, everyone! Okay, so I know this chapter is quite small, but it's a very special one too. And gradually, in the next three chapters, Natalie's past would be revealed. I'm really sorry for the big gap that occured a few days back, but I had some other work and I couldn't focus. But I promise that I won't leave this story until it's completed. And I have many things planned on that will, hopefully, keep you rooted to it. I hope you're enjoying it as of yet. I'll try to improve more and more, and I hope you'll support me through.

With best wishes,

Silverstriker27