Chapter 8: Familiar Places Are Unfamiliar

The scorching afternoon sun shone down onto the deserts of Vacuo, heating the sand and rock to triple-digit temperatures. A lone truck rumbled through a narrow band of asphalt in the otherwise barren landscape, carrying behind it an open trailer and two young passengers.

"How long will it be until the next town?" Annabeth asked. Though the sun was intense and the open-air trailer they were sitting in offered no shade, Zazie had the foresight to buy a pair of large, thin cloaks the last time they bought supplies. Annabeth's cloak did surprisingly well at keeping her body out of the sun and preventing her from overheating, though it was still too warm to be completely comfortable. "You said that was where we needed to make the delivery, right?"

"Right! Whoever wants the package should be at our next stop, the town of Saguaro. It should be in about... two or three hours, maybe?" Zazie said, looking up at the sky and over the desert. "Then we can find an inn, kick back, and relax. It'll be nice to get out of the desert sun for a bit."

"I suppose it would," Annabeth said. Though relaxing wasn't exactly something Annabeth could afford to do, considering Zazie's circumstances. The Black Hand were still after Zazie, and Jessie Slate or any other assassin could be following them across the desert. Or even worse, they could be waiting at their destination. It was a very real possibility that they could be ambushed by an elite assassin at any time, or maybe even several. "By the way, Zazie? I'd like to ask you something?"

"Yeah? What is it?"

"You said you've done research into the Black Hand, right?" Annabeth asked, and Zazie nodded. "Could you tell me what you know of them? The organization itself, the assassins they might send after you, any information could be useful."

"What I know about the Black Hand? Hm, lemme think. I did most of my research back a few years ago, closer to when I... when they killed my family, so I haven't looked into them in a long time, but..." Zazie paused for a moment, rubbing her chin in thought. "Well, in terms of assassins, you've already met two of them. There's Cutter Gray, the guy you fought on the boat. Luckily, we don't have to worry about him anymore."

"Right." Annabeth remembered watching a fireball engulf his boat. "And the other is Jessie Slate. The woman I fought before."

"Yup. You already saw, but she's a crack shot with a revolver and a shotgun. Plus, her Semblance allows her to detect killing intent, so it's impossible to get the jump on her. Right now, she's probably the best shooter in the entire organization. Honestly, I'm surprised you did so well against her; either you're stronger than I thought, or she had a bad day."

"Let's hope it's the former."

"Yeah, let's," Zazie said with a sigh. "The Black Hand has many lower-rank assassins, but considering your combat ability and the assassins that we've encountered so far, I think we can expect to be fighting nothing but their elite assassins. The ones at the top of the organization. They're the ones who lead, the ones who make the decisions, and the ones who pursue the largest, most lucrative contracts."

"That means whoever wants you dead must be paying quite a fortune, if there are multiple of them after you," Annabeth muttered. "What can you tell me of these elite assassins? Do you know any more about how they might attack you? Any sort of weapons they use? How many are there?"

"Maybe... about ten, including those two? It's been a long time since I... since I did my research, so things may have changed," Zazie said. "I remember one was a martial artist who would challenge his targets to a duel to the death."

"That doesn't seem like the best way to assassinate someone. What if they just refused?"

"He would only take contracts to kill those who he thought would accept. If the target refused, he would just leave."

"That seems like an easy way to lose a contract."

"Well, other members of the Black Hand would pick up on the contract, I guess. Considering how he acted, I doubt he was in it for the money," Zazie said, pausing for a moment to think. "Besides him, from what I heard, there's a newer one who doesn't really like to fight. She'd rather just use indirect methods of killing, like poison."

"Quite cowardly, if you ask me."

"Yeah, well, they're assassins, not Huntsmen. Their main objective is killing, not fighting," Zazie said with a sigh. "There's a few more, I think. There's one who uses a ball and chain on her leg, and another with chainsaw tonfas, and - "

"Chainsaw tonfas?"

"Uh... that's probably gonna be hard to explain if you don't know what either of those are. Maybe you could think of it like - "

The truck jolted to a sudden stop, nearly causing Annabeth to fall over from where she was seated. She looked up to see Zazie catching herself against another box and push herself up before turning towards the front.

"What happened?" Zazie shouted up to the driver. "Why are we stopping?"

"There's people coming this way. Looks like bandits," the driver replied, looking back at Annabeth. "Hey knight girl, you got a sword, right? Can you use it?"

"I certainly can, though I doubt it will be necessary," Annabeth said, standing up and looking past the front of the truck. There was another truck coming down the road with several armed men in the back, each wielding a gun or some sort of bladed weapon. She turned to Zazie. "Does this seem like this might be the work of the Black Hand? You may be able to tell better than I.""

"I don't think it is," Zazie said, also looking at the oncoming truck. "Bandit raids are common along the desert roads, so travelers have their guard up. If I were a Black Hand assassin, I would attack someone in town, where they'd be more relaxed and less likely to spot an oncoming attack."

"I see. In that case, I should have nothing to worry about," Annabeth said. She had dealt with common banditry before. Sure, these foes wielded weapons that she was less familiar with, but even in this world, a bandit was a bandit. She bent her legs slightly before leaping into the air towards the oncoming truck. As she did so, she gathered magic energy into her hands, holding them out in front of her and concentrating the energy into a growing ball of light and heat in front of herself.

This should be enough. No need to overdo it.

Satisfied with the energy she had used, Annabeth launched the fireball towards the truck full of bandits before landing back in her own truck a second later, right next to Zazie. Meanwhile, the fireball crashed down right next to the bandit truck, exploding in a great burst of heat and fire. A shockwave ripped through the air, slamming the bandit truck with enough force to overturn it and throw the bandits out onto the desert sands.

"That should handle things. Please drive us out of here before they recover," Annabeth said to the driver, who nodded and sped past the crashed bandits and the smoking crater in the road.

"Wow," Zazie said. Annabeth looked over to see her mouth agape. "I knew you were strong, but... damn."

"This is nothing compared to what more studied mages could do. What the old version of you could do. Though I suppose if there aren't others in this world who can use magic, then this is indeed impressive," Annabeth said, looking out in front of the truck to the road ahead. "That's why I would like to get to Valus sooner rather than later, if there's any possibility of your magic and memories coming back."

"Yeah..." Zazie said, trailing off for a moment. "Well, here's hoping, I guess."

The truck continued down the desert road, leaving the bandits far behind.

The sounds of clinking glasses, bustling conversation, and general rowdiness immediately washed over Annabeth's ears as she pushed open the door to the tavern. Looking around, she saw that the place was nearly full; all the tables she could see had groups either chowing down on dinner or drinking copious amounts of alcohol, and the seats by the counter were similarly taken.

"It's quite busy here. Is this really the best place for us to be?," Annabeth asked as she turned to Zazie. "An assassin could be among the crowd and we would be none the wiser."

"Don't worry about it. It's actually not a bad idea to hang out in such a crowded place, since there's so many eyes around. Assassins prefer their targets out of sight and secluded, you know? Makes it easier to get in, kill the target, and get out," Zazie explained. She pointed over towards the far corner of the tavern. "I think I saw an unoccupied table over there. Let's go grab it before anyone else does."

"You needed to make a delivery to someone in this town, right?" Annabeth asked as they made their way over to the table and sat down. "Do you have an address? We should probably get that out of the way so that we can focus on getting to Valus."

"We can leave that for later. Sometime after dinner, or maybe even tomorrow morning. I'm tired and hungry from all that traveling," Zazie said, slumping back in her chair as she pulled the hood of her cloak over her head. "I could really use something to eat, you know?"

"I suppose some rest and food would be nice. We have been out in the sun for most of the day," Annabeth conceded. She looked around the tavern, searching for anything or anyone suspicious, but it didn't seem like anyone had taken any interest in the two of them. They were probably safe, at least for now.

"You know, I'm kinda curious about - "

"Hello!" Someone said from behind Annabeth, interrupting Zazie. Annabeth turned to see a waitress standing by their table holding a pencil and a notepad. "Thanks for coming in! What can I get for you two? Our menu today is shepherd's pie, pea drop soup, or steak with roast peppers!"

"Um..."

"Two shepherd's pies, please," Zazie said.

"Perfect!" the waitress said, flashing Zazie a smile as she wrote the order down. "Our kitchen is backed up slightly due to the crowd, so can I get you two something to drink in the meantime? We've got water, soda, juice, milk, and... are you two of drinking age?"

"Soda?" Annabeth asked.

"Two sodas then. Thank you!" the waitress said, quickly moving away.

"No, I mean, what - " Annabeth started to say, but the waitress had already disappeared into the back kitchen. Annabeth turned to Zazie. "What's soda?"

"Huh. I guess it figures you wouldn't know what that is. Don't worry, you'll love it," Zazie said with a smile. "Anyways, I was about to ask: what's with that pendant around your neck? You've had it on basically ever since you got here."

"Ah, yes," Annabeth said, pulling the pendant up and holding the blue stone between her fingers. The stone was now a dull blue, much less bright compared to how she remembered it. "You... gave it to me. The old you, that is. Just before we... just before I arrived in this world."

"What kind of stone is it? I don't think I've ever seen anything like it before," Zazie said, leaning forward to look closer at the pendant. "It's well cut, too. I wonder how much it'd be worth?"

"I'm not putting it for sale."

"Yeah, I figured. Just thinking to myself," Zazie said, leaning back once again. "It's not like you'd need it to make money, anyways. From what I've seen, you could probably make a decent amount of money just from being able to fight."

"What do you mean?"

"There's a lot of ways to make money if you're good at fighting. For example, you could be a mercenary and take dangerous jobs, or you could become a prize fighter. There's a lotta tournaments, both legal and illegal. Heck, there's a really big underground arena scene just a few days north, in Saltmouth. You could make a killing there."

"My sword is meant to protect. Not to earn money."

"Yeah, I figured. You could go to one of the Huntsman Academies and become a Huntress, though. They're sworn to protect the people, but they also make a decent amount of money doing it," Zazie said with a sigh. "A lot more money than us Couriers get delivering mail."

"Could you not do the same?" Annabeth asked. "You were able to fend off so many foes back in Peakstone with your Semblance. Would you be able to control that, use it to earn money in the ways you mentioned?"

"I... could. It would be possible. But... I'd rather not. I don't like using my... Semblance, and it would probably attract unneeded attention," Zazie said, looking away. "Sure, I complain about the money, but otherwise, I like being a Courier. It makes me feel normal. A lot more normal than being a Huntress, a mercenary, or a prize fighter. I... I like normal. I like having a normal life."

"I suppose unneeded attention would be the last thing you would want, considering the assassins after your life," Annabeth said. She heard footsteps from behind and turned to see the waitress coming back, this time carrying a tray with two glasses filled with a brown, bubbling liquid.

"Here's your sodas. Your food will be out in a bit," the waitress said, putting one of the glasses in front of Annabeth and the other in front of Zazie. She then made her way back to the kitchen, out of sight.

"This is soda?" Annabeth said, looking down at the bubbling brown liquid. It certainly didn't look very appetizing. "What is it?"

"Give it a try, you'll probably like it. It's better than it looks," Zazie said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her scroll, opening it up. A frown came over her face. "Huh."

"What is it?" Annabeth asked as she brought the glass to her lips and tentatively sipped some of the liquid. It was sweet, and the bubbling she saw in the liquid was also felt in her tongue and mouth as she swallowed. It tasted nice, but there was a slight aftertaste that she couldn't fully describe.

"Nothing. Just... missed a message," Zazie said, pocketing her scroll before looking at Annabeth's glass, then at Annabeth. "Did you already drink some?"

"I did. It was sweet, but the aftertaste was... strange. Bitter. Is that normal?"

"Bitter?" Zazie asked. She took a sip of her own drink, but instead of swallowing it, she held it in her mouth for a second before spitting it back out into the cup. "How much did you drink?"

"Only a sip. Why?"

"It's poisoned."

Annabeth's heart skipped a beat.

"I can taste it. Slow-acting, but lethal," Zazie said, wiping her mouth. "A sip shouldn't do much, but if you had more, maybe about half the glass, you'd be dead by midnight, and that waitress would've been out of town by then."

"The waitress?" Annabeth asked as she stood up, her hand on her sword.

"I'm betting she's the one who did it. She approached the table and offered us drinks," Zazie explained, pointing to the door to the kitchen in the back. "You need to go after her. She's probably another Black Hand assassin in disguise."

"Got it," Annabeth said. If what Zazie was saying was true, then she had no time to waste. She couldn't let another assassin get away. She pushed through the crowded tavern and barged into the kitchen in the back, much to the surprise of the two chefs inside. "A waitress passed through here! Where did she go?!"

"Uh..." one of the chefs muttered, pointing to a door further back.

"Thank you!" Annabeth said, quickly shoving past the chef and to the back door. She kicked it open and ran out into the street, looking around for any sign of the waitress. The rumbling of an engine caught her ears, and she spotted a car turning on further down the street, with a familiar-looking waitress in its front seat.

There you are, Annabeth thought as she ran towards the vehicle. The waitress looked up, and her eyes widened as they locked with Annabeth's. Suddenly, the car sped forward, rushing past Annabeth and down the road before she could intercept it.

"Get back here!" Annabeth shouted, running to catch the car. However, as fast as she was, the car was faster, and the gap between her and the assassin was rapidly widening. There was no way she'd be able to catch up on foot - at least, not without magic. She drew magic energy to her legs, gathering it to a point at the soles of her feet.

Burst.

With one more step, Annabeth unleashed the pent-up energy, launching herself forward and into the air above the car. At the height of her ascent, she gathered magic energy once again, this time in her hand as she formed a fireball in her palm, similar to the one she had used against the bandits earlier in the day. As she fell, she threw the fireball downwards.

Boom!

The fireball exploded against the ground as Annabeth landed, unleashing a shockwave that rippled through the street. Unfortunately, the waitress had seen the attack coming and steered out of the way, avoiding the brunt of the blast. However, it was still enough to slow down the car for a moment, and that was all Annabeth needed to catch up.

You're mine, Annabeth thought to herself as she jumped towards the car, landing on its roof before it could speed away. The waitress must have noticed, as she started steering erratically from side to side; it was all Annabeth could do to keep herself from being thrown off as she tried to balance herself. In a single moment when the car seemed to sit still, she drew her blade, plunging it down through the roof of the car into where she remembered the waitress had been.

"Shit!" Annabeth heard from inside the car as it started to veer from side to side again. So the attack had missed. Unfortunate. She drew her sword back up and stabbed twice more, but the car continued to drive erratically as it gained speed. She raised her sword once more, ready to stab into the car once again.

Then, the car came to a sudden stop, crashing against the side of a building in a cacophony of twisting metal and shattered glass. Annabeth was flung forward, slamming against the building before falling to the ground.

Dammit! Where'd she go? Annabeth thought as she regained her bearings, pushing herself up and looking around. She spotted the waitress running into a building nearby, a dilapidated house that looked like it hadn't been lived in for years. Keeping her blade at the ready, she ran to the house and barged in...

... only to recoil as a cloud of thick, noxious smoke suddenly consumed her. She tried to draw breath, but instead of oxygen, the only thing that reached her lungs was a painful burning sensation.

"Can't... breathe..." Annabeth coughed out as she quickly gathered energy in her hand. She raised her arm and a storm of wind suddenly blew out from her palm, clearing the smoke and revealing the waitress, who had a thick, heavy mask over her mouth and nose. With the gas cleared, Annabeth drew a breath of fresh air into her lungs as she raised her sword.

No, wait. The fresh air never reached her lungs. The burning sensation continued.

What... Annabeth clutched her chest and fell to her knees as she gasped for air. She could feel it going into her mouth, going down her windpipe, but her lungs only felt that burning caused by the cloud of smoke. The waitress stepped forward, holding up some sort of metal canister. Annabeth heard her breathing through her mask.

"You know, if you had just drank the poison I gave you, your death would've been painless. You'd have gone to sleep none the wiser, your organs would've seized up, and that would've been that. Instead, we've got to go through this," the waitress said, squatting down in front of Annabeth. The burning in her lungs was getting worse; she couldn't tell if it was from whatever poison she had inhaled, or from the lack of oxygen. Annabeth clutched her throat, panicking as she tried anything to get air back into her lungs. "I don't like using this, you know? It's messy and painful, and it puts me too close to the scene. I'd rather just be out and away by the time they even know they're dying."

Help... Zazie... Annabeth thought as she continued to gasp for air. Her vision was starting to get blurry, and she could feel strength leaving her body as the burning in her lungs reached unbearable levels.

"Well, I guess that's that. Honestly, I'm surprised Gray and Slate failed. This didn't seem that hard," the waitress said as she turned and walked away. "Guess there's one more thing I gotta take care of before I report in, though."

Zazie... she's gonna kill Zazie, Annabeth thought. Her eyes wandered over to her blade, which was still clutched in her hand. Then back to the waitress. I need to protect her. Protect Zazie.

"The instructions on the contract are a bit weird, but hey, I'm not complaining about this much money," the waitress said, her back still turned from Annabeth. As she pulled out a scroll, Annabeth slowly pushed herself up to her feet and raised her sword. "I don't really get it, though. A target with no history, no family, no registered citizenship in any kingdom... who's even paying this much for - "

Die.

Using the last of her strength, Annabeth lunged forward, stabbing her blade into the waitress's back and pushing it in deep. The waitress gasped in pain, her scroll clattering to the ground as her arms came up to the tip of the blade poking out of her chest. With her strength spent, Annabeth fell to the ground, her lungs burning and her vision fading as she lost control of her body.

The last thing Annabeth saw before she blacked out was the waitress falling as well, her hands clutching the end of Annabeth's blade. And a strange blue glow, just below her vision.

"Zazie, get back!" Annabeth shouted. She had no time to be gentle, shoving Zazie through the doorway and shielding her with her own body. An arrow struck her shoulder, and she winced in pain as she slammed the door closed before turning towards the assailants.

"If you move aside, no harm will come to you," an assailant wielding a sword said. He was flanked by two more, one with a bow and another who seemed to be a mage. They all wore the uniform of castle guardsmen, though considering they were trying to attack Zazie, they probably weren't guards of any kind. "Our Lady is forgiving to those who concede to her will."

Annabeth said nothing, only raising her sword in response.

"So be it. Kill her."

Another arrow. Annabeth sliced it out of the air, but the swordsman charged, forcing her to step back as he slashed towards her. His blade caught her side and cut into her, but that same attack left him wide open. Gritting her teeth, Annabeth pushed forward and raised her sword before cutting twice across the swordsman's body, carving a pair of bloody gashes across his chest. He fell without a sound, leaving two foes left.

"One down," Annabeth muttered under her breath, her gaze shifting between the archer and the mage. The mage seemed to be preparing some sort of spell; she decided to go for him first. She rushed forward, ducking beneath yet another arrow as she closed in on the mage. She saw a fireball form in his hands. Too soon. Not enough time to close the rest of the distance. She brought her arms up and raised a barrier -

BOOM!

- just as the fireball exploded against her. The barrier protected her head and upper body and withstood the brunt of the attack, but she hadn't had the time to extend it to her legs, and she felt the scorching flames burning at her shins as she pressed forward. As the flames faded, she leapt forward, pushing through them and finding herself in front of the mage who had created them. Said mage had a surprised look on his face as he stumbled back.

One slash. Annabeth cut him down where he stood.

"Die!" Annabeth heard the archer shout. She whirled around to face him and caught an arrow out of the air, just before it pierced her eye. Before he could nock another arrow, she rushed forward and knocked the bow out of his hand. He reached for a dagger at his waist, but by the time he grabbed it, Annabeth's sword had already pierced his chest.

"Three down," Annabeth muttered, looking around for any more assailants as she pulled her sword out of the archer's chest. After confirming there were none, she dropped down to her knees as her sword clattered next to her. Her hand went to the gash the swordsman had cut into her side; it was still bleeding, and she had already used much of her magic to block the fireball. She wasn't sure if she had enough to close that wound, let alone -

"Annabeth!"

Zazie's voice. Annabeth turned and saw Zazie emerge from the room she had shoved her into. She ran over and knelt down next to Annabeth.

"Are you okay?" Annabeth asked. "Sorry for handling you so roughly, but - "

"Never mind that, you're hurt!" Zazie said, interrupting Annabeth as her fingers started to glow a bright white. She ran her hands over the gash on Annabeth's side, and Annabeth felt the wound start to mend itself closed. "You need to be more careful. If any of these attacks had landed more cleanly..."

"Don't worry, I'm fine," Annabeth said, gritting her teeth as the flesh around the wound pulled itself closed. "What matters is that you're safe. I'm fine with getting hurt as long as you're - "

"That's no excuse to be reckless. I know you swore to protect me, but going by yourself to take on three foes at once... I could have fought as well, you know. I'm not helpless."

"I know, but your safety - "

"You should be thinking about your own safety. About your own well-being. You should be taking care of yourself as well as me," Zazie said as she cleaned the blood from around the now-closed wound in Annabeth's side. She looked up at Annabeth. "You are taking care of yourself, right? While I've been gone?"

Huh?

"What do you mean?" Annabeth asked. The pain from her wounds suddenly felt distant, almost as if they didn't exist. "You're not gone. You're right here."

"I'm sorry I can't be there with you. It took all that I had to just..." Zazie said before trailing off. Her hands went over to the burns on Annabeth's legs, but unlike before, Annabeth couldn't feel anything as Zazie healed them. "I just hope you've been doing okay without me."

This wasn't how it went. Was it?

"I don't understand. What are you saying?"

"I've got to go now, but please stay safe, okay?" Zazie said as she stood up, making her way over to the door to the room Annabeth had shoved her into before. She looked back at Annabeth and flashed her a smile. "After all, you don't have an excuse to get yourself hurt anymore."

"Wait! Where are you going?!"

Zazie entered the room and closed the door behind herself. Then, everything went black.

A/N: And that's chapter 8! The two girls reach a familiar-sounding town, and an assassin gets the jump on Annabeth. What happens next? Stay tuned!

Thanks to Boerhae for the review, as well as to everyone who read, favorited, and followed! If you've got anything to say, please leave a review, and have a nice day!