Chapter Four: Coke Dependency
I didn't realize I had drifted off until I awoke to the first sounding of the conch shell… It startled me so badly that I almost fell off the roof.
Thankfully, though, I did not. Thank you demigod reflexes.
After a second to recover from my almost broken neck, I quickly scale down the tree and walk over to the door of the cabin.
Upon listening a moment and realizing that no one is stirring around, I carefully open the door and step inside. I find myself tiptoeing across the floor once more to reach my bunk. Reaching it, I pick up my backpack with one hand and walk over to Travis' bunk, this time avoiding the shoe I had tripped over last night.
Instead, I opt to trip over the other one.
I barely catch myself at least enough to not fall on my face and hastily stand back up, once more finding myself in a battle of glares with one of Travis' shoes.
"We'll continue this another time," I say to the shoe before turning to look at its owner.
The morning wake up—and my rather noisy fall—haven't even fazed him. He's still sprawled out, one arm hanging off the bed and head thrown back, snoring ever so lightly. The covers are everywhere except where they're supposed to be. Keeping him warm.
Instead, I'm given a view of his green and blue plaid sleep pants and his green 'Duct tape fixes everything' t-shirt. This obviously has to be true because Travis has had this shirt long enough that Duct tape is literally holding it together in some places.
What amazes me is that only he and his siblings have the ability to sleep so deeply that not even Typhon rampaging through the camp would wake them.
Now one might wonder how this can be true considering how easily he had woken up last night. Well, the strange thing I've noticed is that the children of Hermes—and some children of certain other gods—sleep lightly at night, while in the morning they are impossible to wake up.
My theory is that, at night time, when danger hides itself easily in the shadows, the slightest noise out of the ordinary will wake them; however, during the morning when danger cannot lurk so closely to them, they sleep deeply enough that the apocalypse could be happening right outside and they would still be snoring.
Yet another reason I know I am not a child of Hermes. I can't even get to sleep, much less stay asleep.
As he rolls over in his sleep, I can't help but shake my head and smile. I really wish I had a camera so that I could capture for documentation the only time that he or any of his siblings—especially Connor—have the capacity to look angelic.
In their sleep. Too bad I'm going to have to wake him up…
"Travis," I say quietly, trying not to wake anyone else. As expected, he doesn't even move. "Travis," I repeat, poking him in the shoulder. Again, nothing. So like any other self-respecting, impulsive demigod, I grab his shoulder and shake. "Travis!" I exclaim quietly.
Suddenly, the whole room spins and a very drowsy and startled Travis has me pinned under him, his pocketknife held to my neck.
"What the… Kita?" he asks blearily, opening his eyes, his face just inches from mine.
"It's time to leave," I say, undaunted by the knife at my neck.
"Leave?" he questions, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. He never has been a morning person.
"Yeah, you know. The big important mission. Trip to Olympus. Which I'm leading. Hey, speaking of me, could you move the knife away from my neck and get off of me? I'd hate for Ava to walk in and get the wrong idea again."
He looks at me dazedly for a second longer before conscious thought returns to his half-asleep brain. His eyes widen substantially in understanding and he quickly jumps up from being on top of me and stands, offering me his right hand as he puts the knife away with his left.
"I'm sorry, Kita. I just—"
"Reacted, I know," I sigh, as I take his hand and he helps me up.
It's not like this had been the first time; it probably wouldn't be the last. So many demigods had gotten this way during the TWII.
He smirks impishly. "How many times has this happened to you now?"
"Well, I don't wake Theia up anymore. Not since the pencil incident," I say instinctively flinching as I recall the event. "And with you, at least six or seven times… In the last four months."
This time, an apologetic grin spreads across his face.
"Sorry."
"I know," I smile, shaking my head. "Now hurry up, get dressed, and grab your backpack. Double check to make sure you have everything. I'm going to make sure Theia is up. Meet us at the Big House."
"Got it."
"Alright. See ya there."
I quietly walk toward the door without a moment's hesitation, exit the cabin, and cross the open area to the Apollo cabin.
Usually, at the first sounding of the conch shell, only a few campers—the earliest of risers— are awake, and this morning is no exception. I walk past a few of them and say a hasty good morning on my way up the Apollo cabin steps.
Looking in through the window, I see that Theia is indeed not awake, and I sigh. I really didn't want to have to wake her up ever again... But… This is somewhat important…
I approach the door of the Apollo cabin and silently open it. Upon stepping inside, I have to blink a few times in order for my eyes to adjust; one might think this is because it was bright outside, but no, it's because even with everyone asleep, it's brighter in here than it is outside in the daylight…
After allowing my eyes a moment to adjust, I begin to look around the cabin. Having only briefly been in here once before, I give myself a moment to take in some of what I'm seeing.
The whole Apollo cabin seems to shimmer and glow a faint gold color. The ceiling is one huge mosaic of the sky with the sun in the middle which is actual a huge light fixture that looks like the sun. Well, the mortal perception of the sun, anyway.
The amazing thing about the mosaic on the ceiling, though, is that the colors magically change with what time of day it is. Looking up right now, the tiles are an orangey-red color on one end of the cabin, slowly fading into blue till the wall on the far side of the cabin, perfectly reflecting the sunrise outside. Even watching briefly, I can see the colors slowly changing.
Moving my gaze from the ceiling to the walls I see that they are lined with instruments, bookshelves, medicine shelves and just about anything else you can think of because—like Apollo himself—children of Apollo have many different interests. Medicine, archery, music, poetry, art, etc. Needless to say there's a lot of stuff in the cabin.
Focusing on the reason why I had actually entered the cabin, I start to look to where I know Theia's bed is situated, but then I stop.
For the first time since entering the cabin, I realize that while Theia and the rest of the cabin are not yet awake, someone is, and he is staring at me curiously.
He probably had been sitting in his chair by the window, just as he is now, this whole time that I've been standing here staring at the ceiling. It really scares me that I hadn't noticed him earlier. One day, that could end up getting me killed, and I would quite prefer to stay alive.
"Hey, Will," I say quietly, not wanting to wake any of the other Apollo campers.
He nods with a smile and rises from his chair, coming to stand closer to me before answering.
"Hey. So you're leaving on your first big quest today, right?"
I smile nervously in response and nod.
"Yeah."
"Well, I've never really lead a quest or been on a major one either, for that matter," he frowns as if having just thought of that fact before looking back up at me and smiling. "But I'm sure you'll do great."
Despite what quite a few campers think, children of Apollo aren't just show-offs with projectile weapons like arrows and masters of the arts; most of them are genuinely nice people. Theia's been my friend since a little while after she showed up at camp, and Lee Fletcher and I had been friends for several years before he was killed in the Battle of the Labyrinth.
His death had been hard on many people, Will included. That's how Will and I had become friends. One week, we were talking about how good a friend Lee was, and then a week or so later, we were talking about our favorite books and music. Like I've said before, war and loss can really bring people together. Odd how something so horrible can have its good points, too. I'd still prefer that it didn't happen, but I'm glad that if it must, there are sometimes good things that follow it.
So with a genuine smile, I look at Will.
"Thanks, Will. I hope you're right. I really do."
He returns my smile and then looks at Theia nervously, his smile fading quickly.
"So… You gonna wake her up or should I?" he asks with noticeable hesitation in his normally strong, self-assured voice.
I glance at Theia, looking as though she is innocently sleeping, but Will and I both realize the hidden danger. Waking Theia this early in the morning is the equivalent of waking up a sleeping hellhound: dangerous and life-threatening.
Looking over at Will, I sigh.
I can't shove this off on the poor guy. He's dealt with it enough…
"I guess I will. I mean, you have to deal with her every morning. I suppose I can do it this time."
"Okay," he says, obviously not even going to consider arguing with me. "Well… I got your back, y'know… If she tries to kill you with her hair scruncii or something…"
The idea of killing or even attempting to kill someone with a hair scruncii may seem absurd, but something in Will's voice leads me to believe that he has, quite possibly, experienced this first hand.
I nod to him, glad that someone would have my back, and then I step toward her bed.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, my demigod reflexes are starting to wake up, clearly sensing the danger. For a split second, I want to turn to Will, tell him that I was kidding and that he can wake her up, and then run away to the safety of the outdoors.
One more glance at the 'trying-so-hard-to-be-brave' Will and I force myself to take another step. No, I cannot run or shove this off on Will. This is the first challenge of my quest. To run away now, I might as well tell Chiron, No, I'm sorry. I can't even find the courage to wake up Theia. You should just find someone else for the quest. Someone who has a backbone preferably.
I will not do that. I must be brave.
Just as I start to reach for her shoulder, I stop myself because out of my peripheral, I catch sight of several lethal weapons on Theia's bedside table.
Pencils and erasers.
Okay, one might think, 'Pencils I can understand. They have sharp points to them, after all. But erasers? Come on!'
Yes, even erasers, seemingly harmless erasers, can become lethal weapons in the grasp of a half-awake Theia. One should not test the theory, especially if one is not a demigod. It will not end well even for those who are. Therefore, one should just have to take my word about the dangers.
I withdraw my hand quickly, then put both hands on her bedside table, and pull it into the walkway, far out of her reach.
Casting a quick glance at Will, I see him smile and nod his approval before we both return our attention to the form of the sleeping sixteen-year-old.
I slowly re-approach the bed, Will following me closely, a pillow in his hand. Apparently, this is the closest thing to a shield that we will have at our disposal for the protection of our lives. This thought alone is alarming, but demigods are used to improvising.
Just as with Travis, the first action I try is poking her in the arm.
"Theia," I practically whisper as I poke her.
She doesn't move—just as expected—and so I glance back at Will who nods encouragingly.
Once more turning my gaze to Theia, I lean away a little before shaking her arm lightly.
"Theia!"
Just as before, there is no change...
Until she starts to move and both Will and I freeze…
And then she just rolls over and continues snoring.
I release the breath I didn't realize I had been holding and then glance back at Will. He merely shrugs and I turn to Theia again. This is not going well. We cannot be late because she refuses to wake up.
A little bit more impatiently now, I grab her shoulder.
"THEIA!" I yell a little more loudly.
"GET DOWN!" Will yells a lot more loudly, tackling me to the ground, him using his arm to keep me from hitting my head and obtaining a concussion.
Once I have regained my senses, I sit up and turn to Will who sits up as soon as my weight is off his arm.
"Thanks," I say to him, as I glance at the wall behind where I had been standing which has a dagger embedded in it to the hilt.
He nods and stands, then helps me up, too.
While he begins to inspect the elbow he had used to cushion our fall, I look at Theia who is glaring daggers at us. I have the urge to tell her there's no need to do so since, upon having been startled awake, she's already thrown one at me but I refrain. In her current humor it probably would not be well-received.
"What. Do. You. Want?" she growls.
Clearly, she has no idea what today is.
"Time to get up. We have things to do," I answer vaguely.
Will's yelling had woken up several other Apollo campers who are curiously looking at us. Chiron had wanted this to remain a secret from the other campers, and between Theia and Will, they were doing a bang up good job of keeping it anything but a secret.
"What is so important that you have to wake me up at this ungodly hour of the morning?"
"Theia," Will begins, not happy that he had quite possibly overextended and bruised his elbow while trying to cushion my head in the fall she caused. "It is six-thirty. The sun is out. You are a child of Apollo. Get over it."
Her glare slides over to her older brother, but he's upset enough that her glare is not even going to intimidate him right now.
"And your point is?"
Will puts his hands on his hips and his lips purse in annoyance.
"My POINT is that you, Nakita, and Travis have something rather important to do today."
"Can't it wait?" she halfway whines, halfway growls.
Normally I wouldn't think of the words 'whines' and 'growls' working together, but there's really no other way to describe her tone.
"No, Theia. It can't. So haul your butt up out of the bed and get dressed. Grab your pack on the way out," he orders, leaving no room for argument.
He then turns to me with a definitive nod and leads me toward the door.
Right as he opens the door, we hear a very confused Theia ask exasperatedly, "Why is my bedside table way over there?"
He and I both choke back laughter and quickly walk outside.
As soon as the door has shut, he turns to me and smiles.
"Well, she was actually rather pleasant this morning."
I'm not entirely sure if he's being sarcastic or not, but I smile anyway.
"You definitely had my back. A good thing, too. I wouldn't have reacted in time. Your elbow okay?"
He raises it to look at it again and then nods.
"It should be fine. It'll probably bruise, but it'll be fine."
"That's good."
"Anyway, I wish you well on your quest. Like I said before, I know you'll do great and can't wait to see ya back soon, but right now I better go back in and make sure Theia's doing what she's supposed to do. She doesn't really think so clearly in the morning."
"Alright. Thanks for helping. See you when we get back."
"Definitely," he answers, opening the door and re-entering the cabin.
I turn to look out at the camp, the same thoughts I had been having last night drifting into my head. I can't bear to think that the camp might be torn apart again. It can't go that far. It just can't. Whatever's going on has to stop before it reaches the camp.
As I hear someone reach the door, I quickly move back, barely missing being hit by the door that is thrown open.
"Hey, Theia," I smile at my less than enthused friend.
Theia's expression is a scowl at best as she turns to me and replies, "How is it that you get less sleep then me and yet you get up smiling?"
Having thus spoken, she starts walking toward the Big House.
"Well, good morning to you, too, Sunshine," I mutter before following her. "On that matter… For someone whose father is the sun god, you are not a morning person."
"Yeah and I don't like haikus either. Your point?"
I take a moment to process this piece of evidence and then smile.
"I dunno. Just saying... You know something? You need your morning wake-up caffeine," I chide poking her in the shoulder.
"Ah, yes and on that ever so crucial topic. What is Travis smuggling out of his and Connor's stash to go on the quest?"
"Um… Mostly Dr. Pepper, I think, seeing as how both he and I drink that. But I'm sure he hasn't forgotten about your Coke dependency."
"Good," she says, and for a moment, the evil grin on her face makes me want to run far, far away as quickly as I possibly can to cower in a corner only after curling myself into as small a target as is humanly possible.
After that, the rest of our walk is remarkably uneventful. Theia and I make it over to the Big House fifteen minutes before Travis, but when he finally gets there, the three of us begin following Chiron on foot to the border where Argus will be waiting with the camp van.
The walk there is quiet. In fact, not much is said at all, but when we reach the border with the van waiting there, Chiron stops and turns to us.
"Well, my young heroes."
"Some younger than others," Travis jokes under his breath, but he and I both know that, despite how low he had whispered it, Theia had heard him. This is only affirmed as she glares daggers at him almost as soon as the words are out of his mouth.
"This is your first big quest. I hope that you have been trained well here. Do the three of you have your weapons?"
Though she carries a backpack, she does not open it, instead producing her favorite dagger from under her 'hobo jacket', which is truly just a really stained AERO hoodie. Chiron nods and looks to Travis who unzips the duffel bag slung over his shoulder. This reveals a sword, a knife, and a few canisters that look suspiciously like the flash-bangs Apollo gives his kids on their birthdays.
"Where did you get those?" Theia demands, hands on her hips.
At this, Travis rezips the bag, as he scowls, "My dad gave them to me. Who do you think invented them for your dad? My dad is also the god of inventions and technology, in case you forgot."
Theia opens her mouth to say something, but I give her a look that suggests she should not. She looks at me as if to accuse me of taking sides, yet remains silent, anyway.
This isn't exactly the best way to start out a quest, but…
Chiron turns to me next, and I sigh as I unzip my own duffel bag to reveal my sword.
In reality, I hate swords. I can't use a sword worth anything— on my end of summer reports, I get a C+ for lack of focus— but I can't very easily smuggle a bow and arrows into the Empire State Building.
Chiron's eyebrows rise slightly, clearly surprised by my choice of weapons. Instead of saying anything of it, he looks at the three of us as if he'll never see us again and smiles sadly.
"Before you embark on this quest, I have a gift for each of you."
It is at this point that I realize he has had a backpack slung over his shoulder the whole time. How could I have missed that? Gee thanks, ADHD.
Once again, he looks to Theia first. He slings the backpack around and unzips it, pulling out two shiny celestial bronze sais.
"These are for you, Theia."
Theia's eyes get huge. She had wanted those exact sais since she'd seen them in the marketplace on our field trip to Olympus before the second Titan War.
She takes them from Chiron's hand as if she's afraid that they might break, but after staring at them a moment, she looks up at Chiron and smiles gratefully.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. Oh! I almost forgot. Those have been charmed by Ares himself so that, much like Percy's 'pen', no matter how far away you throw these weapons, they will always return to you after a short span of time."
I wonder how exactly Chiron managed that, but then I remember how proud Ares was about Clarisse. He probably told Chiron that he owed him a favor for teaching his little warrior how to fight a drakon. Who knows? It's Chiron. Honestly, anything is possible.
Theia, on the other hand, probably doesn't even think about it, though, because she just grins widely, obviously liking the idea of charmed sais. She stares at them a moment longer before putting the sais away and hugging Chiron. This done, she walks to the van, opens the door, and climbs in, giving Argus a wary hello.
Chiron next looks to Travis.
"You, I had a much less difficult time finding something for seeing as your father already had it taken care of."
Travis looks slightly surprised, not that I can blame him.
"Dad?"
"Indeed. He left these with me for you or your brother not long after the second Titan War. He told me that they were to be given to you or your brother in the event that you might need them. Now seems appropriate."
Chiron nods, once more reaching into the pack, this time presenting a small pouch and a pair of black high top sneakers with the design of wings on each side.
Travis and I exchange looks. We hadn't been with the victims of the last shoe incident, but the actual victims had told the entire camp about the shoes. Grover had been especially unimpressed with them…
Seeing the look the two of us make at the sight of the shoes, he smiles.
"He thought you might be suspicious of them so he instructed me to tell you not to worry; these won't drag you to the dark depths of Tartarus. They are perfectly safe."
Travis takes the shoes, slightly more reassured, and then takes the pouch, the latter of which he looks over curiously.
"What's in this?"
"Smoke bombs, I believe your father said. Not to be used for pranks," Chiron finishes upon seeing the gears turning in the mischievous imp's head.
Travis slumps and whines for a minute, reminding me very much of a five year old once more.
After he gets that out of his system, he unzips his duffel bag and places the items inside before zipping it back, shaking Chiron's hand— because 'hugging is for girls'—and then walking past to join Theia in the van.
And then the centaur's eyes settle on me and, for a moment, I would believe it if he had told me he was five million years old. His eyes have this look as though he has lived an eternity, which I suppose he has, but… He just looks so old. Something Chiron almost never looks.
"And you, m'dear," he says finally, removing the last item from the bag. He holds it out for me to see and I can tell that it is a celestial bronze cylinder that looks suspiciously like a hair clip. "This is very special. Lord Hephaestus himself made it many centuries ago for Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. It is a concealed weapon. One that, I believe, will prove quite useful to you."
I have to admit. I am skeptically intrigued. A hair clip?
"How does it work?"
"It is charmed so that when you take it from your hair and hold it in your hand, you imagine any handheld weapon and it becomes that weapon with the clip as the handle or grip. Try it," he says, handing it to me. I take it from him, wrap my hand around it, and picture a bow. Almost in the blink of an eye, it has changed to it.
My breath catches in my throat.
"Wow…" is the most intelligent thing I seem capable of saying at the moment.
He chuckles.
"Yes, I suppose 'wow' covers it. Now to revert it, you simply imagine it as it was before."
I do so and it immediately returns to being a hair clip. With a smile, I look up at Chiron.
"Thank you."
"You are welcome. This should allow you to use a bow and arrows rather than that sword. I have already put a quiver full of arrows in the van."
I nod, then look down at the 'hairclip' and back at him.
"Can you help me with it?" I ask turning and holding it up to him over my shoulder.
"Of course."
He takes the clip from me, and then his calloused fingers brush the back of my neck as he fastens the clip around my thick blonde hair.
"There you go," he finishes.
I turn around to look at him once more. Chiron. The ancient trainer of heroes. My adoptive father. The first person who had ever cared anything about my well-being.
I blink back tears—now is not the time—and throw my arms around him in a tight hug. He seems surprised momentarily, probably due to the fact that he knows about my dislike for any kind of physical contact beyond hand-holding.
After overcoming the initial shock, he puts his strong arms around me, as if to protect me from the dangers he knows I'll face.
"I'll miss you," I say quietly.
"Be safe, Nakita," he relies just as quietly, almost sadly as if he's already thinking of what he'll say at my eulogy. "Be safe."
"I will," I reply as we both step back.
"C'mon, Kita!" Travis yells from the van. "We gotta get going!"
"He's quite right, m'dear. It is important that you leave now," he adds, blinking twice before looking back at me. "You must arrive at the Place of the Muses quickly."
"Olympus."
"Yes. As the prophecy states, they will know the reason for your quest."
"Alright… Bye…" I say before running to the car and shoving Travis out of the way so that I can get inside. In the son of Hermes' haste to leave, he must have forgotten that neither he nor I can phase through solid objects, and, therefore, forgotten that he was standing in the way of me getting into the van.
Even before the door shuts completely, Argus begins driving. I absentmindedly find myself hoping that an Olympian doesn't appear out of nowhere.
I shiver remembering back to my first driving lesson with Argus… That is why Lord Hermes is now very careful about 'appearing' in camp. Dealing with a wrecked camp van, broken-armed Argus, an injured camper—namely me with my forehead gashed open— and a worried Chiron is not something I suppose he wishes to repeat... For that matter, neither do I…
I shrug off the feeling and stare out the back window of the van until Chiron is out of view, and then I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn to see Travis smiling reassuringly at me.
"We'll be back before you know it."
"Yeah. You're right," I smile back, though I am not entirely certain.
As I stare out my window and absently twirl my bracelet, I begin to wonder what the Fates have in store for us…
Well, some of you know what's going to happen. Some of you do not. But I don't think any of you know the twists and turns that are in store. Even if you read to the point I got to on the original edition. Glad none of my readers are Apollo or Rachel. Haha. ^_^
~Kanae~