Chapter 8

Siblings Of Victory

Jason looked at Nico and Ben, who were just as confused as he was.

„I think we should go to that man. He doesn't look like he would accept a ,no'", Nico said slowly. Jason grabbed his sword and started walking towards the man. Nico and Ben followed him closely, ready to fight as well.

As they were closer to the two people Jason could now make out how they look. The man had perfect olive-brown skin, dark blue eyes and as no hair was visible from underneath his helmet Jason assumed it was shaved. His bronze armour, which looked almost golden in comparison to his skin did not hide the massive amount of muscles this man had. The woman had a brutal gaze fixed towards the three of them. She also had a perfect teint, and the spear in her hand glittered golden. Underneath her black hair Jason was able to make out a Laurel wreath, also made out of gold. These things reminded him of Nike, although she didn't look the same as her. But that does not matter when it comes to gods as they can change their look to whatever they want, but the woman's features looked very similar to her.

„Hello", the man said in a very masculin voice.

Jason moved his head to the woman. „Are you Nike?", he asked, which he instantly regret. The woman looked to him in anger: „I am not Nike", she said. „Do you even know how often I hear that? ‚Oh my gods, thats Nike!' Everyone knows Nike, but no one knows Bia, her sister!"

„And no one knows Kratos, her broth-"

„Shut up!"

Bia looked at the man, who Jason assumed was Kratos.

„I told you if I talk, you stay silent!", she said anglily. She looked back at Jason, staring at him as if she was thinking of the best way to torture him to death. „Nike has two siblings! No one knows them! Nike had hundreds of altars and temples! How many did I have? Zero!"

„But why are you here?", Nico asked. Jason was thankful for Nico talking up as Bia looked at him now.

„Isn't that obvious?", Bia said. „Kratos, tell them!"

Kratos stepped from one foot from another. „We- uhhh – we are here to- win?"

Bia facepalmed. „Kratos, come on! What did Erebos tell us to do?"

Jason went pale. „We need to go right now.", he whispered to Nico and Ben while Bia argued with Kratos. Jason went through all of their escape possibilities. Bia turned to them, apparently able to read minds.

„And you guys don't even think about fleeing"

She turned back to Kratos, who looked like he would rather dissolve in the depths of Chaos itself instead of continuing to argue with Bia.

„Guys", Ben said. „I can teleport us out of here!"

„I told you it's safer if you don't-", Nico started, but Jason stopped him.

„We need to. Ben won't have to teleport too far. Only a few miles south!"

Nico sighed. „Okay, but only a few miles"

Ben nodded. He streched out his hands for Nico and Jason.

„Wait", Nico said. „We are in the middle of a street. With no shadows around!"

„That's still possible!", Ben told him. „I found out I don't need shadows."

They grabbed each others hands and disappeared into darkness.

As they reappeared a few miles further south Jason remembered something: „We don't have a car anymore."

Nico cursed on ancient greek. „We might be able to travel through the sea though"

„Even if we get a boat we would have to cross the Bermuda Triangle to reach Miami. And the Bermuda Triangle is more infested by monsters then Tartarus.", Jason said.

„But how are we ment to get to Miami then?", Ben asked.

„Well, this sign here says there's a gas station two miles further down the road"

Jason pointed towards a sign. „We could go there and see if someone is willing to take us further south."

„That's certainly not the best idea as we three will atract a ton of monsters", Nico said. „But I don't have a better plan so let's go with it."

They walked along the highway. It was unbelieavably hot, Jason was sweating and his shirt was sticking to his skin. Not even a breeze was going so there was no way of cooling down. After maybe 30 minutes they finally reached the gas station, which of course was completely empty exept for one shady looking guy standing besides an old, almost ancient dark green Jeep. They looked at each other. „He might be a monster", Jason said.

„I don't know.", Nico answered. „But that guy looks kinda drunk so getting a ride wouldn't end well anyway."

„We could steal his car", Jason suggested.

„What's up with you and breaking rules, Jason?", Nico smiled. „Aren't you meant to be the good guy telling everyone how to follow the rules?"

Jason laughed. Apparently, the guy heard that and looked over to them.

„Who're ya?", he yelled across the parking lot. They walked over to the guy. He was tall, fat, covered in gray hair and most certainly drunk. He looked at them with small black eyes hidden deep beneath his bushy eyebrows. „Can I help ya?" Although they were just a few feet away from him he still talked pretty loudly. „Uhhhhhh-", Nico started, but lucky for him Jason did the talking. „We are on our way to Miami and need a ride. We got stopped by a few guys who made us hold on and they stole our car."

The man looked at them, especially at Nico's sword. Jason didn't know what the man saw through his mortal eyes. „Mmpf" he growled. Jason had no idea if that was a „I'll think about that", a „No", a „Yes" or just a burp.

„Well", the man finally said after an awquardly long break. „I'm on ma way to Charleston to visit ma son. I can give ya a ride if-" He streched out his hand. Jason was confused. „He wants money", Nico whispered. Jason quickly grabbed 40 Dollars from his bag. The man counted the money. Then his face turned happy, „Hop in guys", he told them. „By the way, my name is Greg". So they all hopped into the car of a drunk old man they didn't even know.