Author's Note:

Extra update! Yay! Also, we're finally on the actual quest!

There is a minor spoiler for book four of ToA in this chapter, if that matters to you.

I'd love if you would review, and tell me what I'm doing right and wrong so I can improve

Cheers!

justapercyjacksonfan

Chapter 11:

Jess leaned her head against the window. The monotonous sound of the train running along the tracks had played in her ears since New York, and by now, they were passing through Ohio.

After several minutes of watching fields go by, she picked her head up and looked over at her companions. Jo was whispering something to her brother, with a serious and almost scared expression etched on her face. Caleb nodded, and said something back. Jess couldn't quite tell what it was they were saying, but from what she heard, their conversation was in French.

To her right, Ian was tapping at the handle of his gladius. Across from him, and next to the Lynk's, Bri studied a map, pointing to different places, and tracing her finger along other routes.

She glanced out the window again. More crop fields. She turned back to the group. "Guys, do we have any idea what we're doing?"

Ian seemed jerked out of his own thoughts. Bri looked up from her map.

"Yes. We're going to the Waystation."

"On ne sait même pas quelle est la Waystation." Jo replied. She frowned as though she didn't realize she was still speaking French. "We don't even know what the Waystation is." she translated. "Enlighten us."

Bri huffed. "Right. I'm the only one here that's known about this for more than a day. The Waystation is something of a base for the Hunters of Artemis. Who-" she held up a hand to stop the question that was about to burst from Jo's lips "are the maiden huntresses of the goddess Artemis. They hunt monsters at the orders of the goddess. When they join the hunt, they gain immortality unless they fall in combat. A few of my friends, and even Percy and Miss Annabeth's friends are members of the hunt. Thalia and Reyna have been part of the hunt since my teachers were young. I've met them the few times they've come to camp." she continued

"The Waystation is the house of the goddess Britomartis. She used to be a Hunter, before Artemis made her a minor goddess of nets. The hunters can spend time there, and Leo Valdez and Calypso also live there, after Leo came back from the dead and Calypso escaped from Ogygia. That's where they live, and take it upon themselves to look out for any demigods on quests who pass their way."

"I'm just going to ignore that this Leo person came back from the dead, and ask something else. I just wanted to know about you guys. Apparently we're supposed to save the world together or something, but we barely know each other. I just wanted to know you guys."

"Fine. My name is Bri Trenton, and I'm the child of Zeus. I've literally never lived anywhere besides camp, because when I was a few days old, Hera sent a Hydra after my mother and I. Marianne was sent to save me, and she brought me to camp where Percy and Miss Annabeth raised and trained me for my entire life. That enough for you?"

The annoyance was dripping from her voice, but Jess decided to ignore it. "Yes, thank you. It at least gives me some reference for you."

Bri snorted, and turned back to her map. Jess wasn't going to let her continue to ignore them though. "Ian. What about you?"

He looked a little baffled at being addressed. "Oh...oh me. Right. Well, I guess I'm the son of Dionysus. I lived with my mom and step-dad in North Carolina until I was seven when…" he stopped, as though considering how much to say, "...when they died. I lived with my uncle Aaron until I came to camp. Is...is that what you wanted?"

Throughout his story, Bri had been staring daggers at Jess for continuing the conversation. At the end, she immediately cut in, "Yes, that's perfect." Before returning to her map once more. For about five seconds, she was able to focus on the paper in ther hands before the five almost fell over when the train was shoved. It teetered on its tracks, before it stabilized.

Bri shot to her feet, stuffing the map into her backpack and pulling out her sword. "Come on! The only thing that could have done that is a monster!"

She shoved the door open, and ran out, forcing her companions to follow. Jess had her hands at her belt, ready to draw her daggers if the situation required it. The Lynk's had their weapons in hand, Jo with an arrow laid on the bow string, ready to fire and Caleb with his staff out. Ian had his gladius half drawn.

Upon exiting the train, it became clear what the disturbance had been. A herd of hostile centaurs were harassing Bri, who was doing her best to occupy them all. They caught a glimpse of their fellow heroes, and called out, "What are you waiting for?" before slashing her sword through one of the monsters, turning it to dust.

Jo drew her bow, but the longer she held the arrow nocked, the less likely it seemed she would be able to go through with the act. Caleb, meanwhile, smacked a charging centaur with one side of his staff, before spinning the pole to hit the horse-man with the other end as well. He pushed the staff against the monster, freezing it to death. After a few agonizing seconds, it exploded into dust. He turned to face the next one charging at him, defeating it in the same manner.

Meanwhile, Jess ran at one, and flipped onto its back. It immediately began to buck, attempting to throw her. It was all Jess could do to keep from biting her tongue, but she managed to unsheath her knives, and drive them into the centaur. It joined it's comrades, dropping the daughter of Nemesis into a pile of dust and knocking the wind out of her. As she was trying to catch her breath, one of the nine remaining centaurs charged at her. She attempted to bring up her knives to slash at it before it could trample her underfoot, but just before it got to her, three arrows sprouted from its neck, and it collapsed, dissolving.

She turned, to see Jo had finally loosed her arrows, and gotten over the shock of fighting the monsters. The young daughter of Apollo shot another volley into a centaur threatening her brother.

The child of Zeus, however, was having the time of her life. Their skills at swordplay were finally being used against someone completely untrained, and she had already felled three of the monsters before two ran at her, gaining up.

Ian, for his part, hadn't been able to go on the offensive yet. He hadn't had a lesson in any sort of fighting in his life, and it was all he could do to stab at any charging monsters before they stomped him flat. The sword did feel balanced in his hands, but he didn't have any innate abilities with it.

He hadn't managed to defeat any, when five of the original fifteen swarmed him, noticing the easy picking. "Guys!" he yelled, "A little assist please?"

But no one came. Bri had her hands full with two, and although Caleb tried to run to him, he was stopped by another, who insisted he take his attention back to freezing monsters. Jess and Jo were taking a different one down.

Ian could feel the monsters closing in, about to trample him, when something snapped inside him. He yelled, and the sound cut through the air. The centaurs all broke down, no longer attacking, seeming confused, and yelling at nothing, trying to hit things in front of them that weren't there, like they were insane.

His companions immediately cut down the ones in front of them, while Ian was able to slash, stab, and cut through the horse-men before him.

Caleb turned to the son of Dionysus. "What did you do?"

Author's Note:

Oof, I'm not great at writing combat from five different perspectives. (to be fair, that's a lot of people to be doing something at the same time) Sorry for the not greatness of it.

Huge thank you to The needle-sword expert for following, favoriting, and reviewing! The triple threat! You are awesome, and I thank you.

To StreetWeakness: I did briefly consider having Marianne be a part of their quest, but decided not having such a veteran with them would make it that much harder for the five man band to complete their goal. Because I'm mean to them. She will come back later-but not for a little while. Thank you so much! It really means a lot to me.

To The needle-sword expert: Hmmmmm. I think that Annabeth would design the cabin, but she would absolutely take his opinions and design choices into account. Maybe like how Nico had a lot of style input into the Hades cabin? It's an interesting thought!

If you would like to make my day like these fine folks did (it sounds lame, but I'll freely admit to how excited I was to hear from you, the readers) then please review with all your criticisms and compliments!

Have a lovely day!

justapercyjacksonfan