So here is Chapter Seven. I hope you will enjoy reading it!
As alwasy I want to thank those of you who reviewed and of course everyone who reads the story.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan do.
Aurelia's POV
Getting off the train the next morning, the Questers found themselves in train yard near a small ski town in the mountains. The sign at the town's entrance said that they were in New Mexico.
As the group made their way towards the town centre, which was about half a mile from the train tracks where they had arrived, Percy told the rest of the Questers about a conversation he had with Apollo the night before. The group apparently had to find Nereus the 'Old Man of the Sea' in San Francisco according to Apollo.
When they had reached the middle of the town and took a look around however they soon discovered that there was nothing, like a bus or taxi, to take them to San Francisco. Happily however for the coffee addicts, Grover and Zoë, they did find a coffee shop as they were searching. So it was decided that the two of them would buy coffee and food for the group while the rest of the group went into a nearby grocery store to ask for directions.
Inside the store Percy and Thalia got informed that there was no way in or out of the town without owning their own car and to call a taxi would probably cost several hundred dollars and with six of them they might even need two if they couldn't find a taxi service with vans or larger transport than cars.
After leaving the store again, Thalia decided to go ask other store owners on her own, leaving Percy in a very awkward position where he struggled with not being comfortable around two Hunters, the fact that one was Aurelia made it even worse. Bianca looked like she was felt a bit out of place near Percy as well.
As Bianca and Percy gradually fell into a conversation with each other Aurelia herself drifted away in her thoughts. She saw her vison go blurry before turning sharp again when she came back to her surroundings. As she looked around she saw that Zoë and Grover just had arrived and Zoë was offering her a coffee.
"We should do the tracking spell again" – Aurelia said, convinced that it would help them to find their way.
Zoë turned to look over at Grover asking – "Grover do you have the reagents for another try?"
"I think so. I just need to fin..." - He cut himself off letting his cup of coffee fall to the ground.
Suddenly they were enveloped in a fresh breeze of warm springtime air as it gushed past them, it seemed as if life itself was breathed into their surroundings animating the lifeless pictures of birds on their cup to real living flying birds. Aurelia immediately recognised whose doing this was. Pan had chosen to aid them on their quest.
A quick look to Grover showed his eyes were glazed over before he collapsed to the ground possessed by the Lord of Satyrs himself.
It was this moment Thalia chose to appear with the group of zombie warriors chasing her who seemed hell bent on hunting them down.
The group quickly grabbed Grover and turned to run as well, escaping as far as to the edge of the town, near a wood area, before they were forced to face the skeletons as they reached them.
Soon they found themselves surrounded by the four skeletons as they quickly spread out in an attempt to pen them in.
Pan's gift couldn't come at a better moment. Grover possessed by Pan served as a sort of transmission tower to call upon the might of the wild, Aurelia knew.
But first they would have to defend themselves against the skeleton warriors. Aurelia and Percy were the first to charge into the fray. Staff and sword making short work with skeletons only for them to regenerate almost as soon as they were destroyed and reaching for them as they attempted to work on another.
The only one who could really show some success in fighting the skeletons was Bianca who stuttered in surprise when she managed to destroy one of the warriors permanently turning it to ash with one simple stab of her hunting knife leaving the rest of the Questers looking dumbfounded.
It was then that the trees behind the skeletons were forcefully ripped out of the ground surrendering to the might of the largest boar Aurelia ever had seen with large wicked looking tusks. It was the 'Erymanthian Boar'.
"A blessing" – Grover cried out as the boar tossed the skeletons away with one swipe of his massive head.
"How is that a blessing?" - Bianca shouted stumbling away as the boar charged them. - "It wants to kill us!"
"Of course it wants to kill us. It's wild!" - Grover answered enthusiastically before turning around and fleeing, an action quickly copied by the rest of the quest as the boar began to reach them in his charge.
As the Questers raced ahead of the boar with all their strength Percy and Thalia ended up separated from the others with the boar surprisingly following them instead of the rest of the group most likely through to it disliking Thalias Aegis.
Turning around for them and following the track of uprooted, broken and torn out trees, the boar left in it's wake, the primarily hunter based group found both campers alive and the boar in a stunned condition.
"We have to use the blessing!" - Grover exclaimed as soon as they joined the two campers.
"It would be unwise to ignore a god's help, we have to use it." - Zoë agreed.
"And how do you know it's a blessing?" - Thalia asked irritated.
"It is our ride to the west" – Grover explained - "We have to board it. I just wish we had more time. With more time I could take a look around... but it's gone."
The satyr was very out of it looking around frantic. Percy who seemed concerned about his friend asked the Hunters just before they reached the boar. - "Do you know what he's talking about?"
It was Aurelia who answered before Zoë could – "Of course. Grover felt the very presense of Pan himself. You felt it too, I would imagine. It was in the air, a breeze of warmth like in spring, even though it's winter here in the mountains."
Quickly climbing onto the boar, with that the group of Questers continued on on their way west as the boar charged forward controlled by a magically floating apple.
...
At sunset the group found themselves at the edge of a massive junkyard in the middle of a desert. They had been forced to leave the boar not long before when he refused to take them any futher in to the barren land.
Looking around Aurelia noticed large pillars of old cars, scrap metal and other junk, there was even a freezer lying over to the side!
Grover who had once again performed a spell with his acorns had told them that danger laid ahead of them in the junkyard, their next challenge.
The Quest group decided to rest for the night before going into the yard the coming morning. After making a fire and setting up camp they found themselves spread around a comfy fire. During the conversation with the group as they asked Bianca about her past they were surprised, even if some had their suspicions, to discover that Bianca was actually seventy years older than they thought.
"Bianca who was the last President of the United States?" - Zoë asked her.
"Roosevelt" – The answer came from Bianca after a short time thinking. Aurelia, who wasn't sure considering that she wasn't up-to-date herself on the political situation in a previously foreign country after spending three years isolated inside a maze, didn't know if the answer was right or not but looking around and taking in the facial expressions of the others she could tell that it was the wrong answer, and if she wasn't mistaken the last Roosevelt president she remembered was the one who was in power during and before World War Two.
Before the discussion about Bianca's age could continue however they were all surprised and interrupted by the arrival of a white limousine.
Out of the limo stepped a huge muscle packed man in biker gear wearing leather wielding a sword who had it pointed straight at Percy's throat. Behind his shades Aurelia could only see a burning fire and no eyes. Just standing near him her anger peaked continued to rise. It was like waves of rage crashing into her, flooding her mind, clouding her reason.
"At ease, people." - He spoke. And with a snap of his large fingers the groups weapons fall to the ground, but also the anger they felt lessened slightly.
"This is a friendly meeting." - He said before looking at Percy. - "Of course I'd like to kill you, but someone wants to see you and the half monster. And I also make a habit out of never beheading my enemies in front of a lady."
"What do you want from her?" - Zoë asked protectively.
"I doubt she will want to speak to the likes of you girl so shoo" - He flicked his fingers away - "find something else to do" – The God of War sneered, as he continued to speak she felt his presence continue to beat down on her she knew it could not be anyone else.
"We will not leave them alone with thee." - Zoë stated clearly in response as she stood her ground.
"Also there is nothing here to do!" - Grover pointed out.
Sighing Ares snapped his fingers again causing a Taco shop to appear out of nowhere before their eyes and beginning to raise his voice – "Now leave us alone we have business to discuss!"
"Don't worry we can handle ourselves" – Percy said looking at Aurelia who nodded in agreement curious of what the god would want from them.
"So we will do it like this. Princess will go in there first after that it's your turn, understood?"
Nodding Percy stepped inside the limo, ignoring the insult, leaving Ares and Aurelia standing outside. Standing outside waiting for Percy to be finished Ares and Aurelia looked at each other now and then before falling into a conversation when Ares complimented her skills in capture the flag and told her that he liked that she used the direct approach. After a few minutes of talking with Ares it became painfully clear that there was nothing else on his mind than fighting and battle, all in all he was not very pleasant company but it was interesting enough to distract herself.
Talking to Ares she also noticed and compared the differences between Artemis and the other god. Where Artemis was graceful Ares was a brute. Where Artemis seemed level headed, Ares was uncontrolled anger. If she wasn't mistaken Artemis even had a stronger aura on her.
A short time later they were interrupted as the car door opened and Percy shuffled out of the car, she quickly entered leaving Percy to either Ares company or to join with the rest of the quest.
Sitting across from the goddess, for the woman could not be anything else, Aurelia found she couldn't focus on her face and body and that it seemed like it was constantly shifting. The woman was certainly beautiful but the auburn hair that appeared on her head seemed a bit too dull, the facial structure not sharp enough, and the silver eyes held no light. It was like looking at a copy, it was a good copy but in the end only a copy.
In the beginning Aurelia couldn't tell what the shifting was trying to accomplish, but as soon as it settled she knew. It was to show the person she was most attracted to, and to her, it seemed that was her Lady Artemis.
"I don't really have something to talk to you about" – The woman in front of her smirked after introducing herself as Aphrodite. - "I just wanted to see the person who is about to achieve the impossible. You know I just knew that someday some one would come that would be able to prove that prude who's right. "
Now that sounded suspicious. What did she mean by 'the impossible'? Thinking about what she knew of Aphrodite and Artemis, she couldn't help but feel like she was a pawn against her Lady in Aphrodite's endless game of manipulation, and she wouldn't let herself be manipulated only to hurt the person who had granted her a home and family. Her anger was roused by these thoughts putting her on guard and this time it had nothing to do with the presence of Ares outside.
"You can go now. Soon I will have plans for you but at the moment my focus is elsewhere. But be warned your life will not be easy and know that I only want to help you." - With these words she was dismissed. Some of the gods really must have some nerve to interrupt a quest just so they can take a look at a specific quester... – Aurelia thought irritated before she turned around and opened the door next to her before leaving.
...
The next morning was still hours away when Aurelia got out and the limo left so everyone got into their sleeping bags to try and rest for the next leg of their journey as soon as they had all settled down again. The next day they would enter Hephaestus' junkyard filled with deadly, dangerous gadgets and trinkets, as Percy had learned in his talk with Aphrodite.
Soon Aurelia was the only one left awake as she lay on her back looking up into the star filled sky wondering how her life would progress from now on. After joning the hunt she thought that she knew everything this new life would entail, she would hunt with her new sisters following Artemis into battle until the day she would eventually fall to an enemy's blade, and that was a good life to live if one were to ask her, but now thinking about what the goddess of love had said to her she couldn't shake off the feeling that she would find so much more in life than what she had expected her life would be like.
Deciding to think of it more later with a final gaze at the moon Aurelia closed her eyes, it was the last thing she saw before she drifted off into Morpheus' realm.
...
In her dreams Aurelia was running through a wonderful forest. The trees were thick and covered in fresh moss. The very air was as clean as one could possibly imagine, filling her lungs. Through the treetops the light of the stars shined bathing the midnight woods in a silvery light.
Here she was on a hunt, trailing her prey through the hidden paths of this sylvan land. Soon she would reach her prize, she knew it! Coming close to an opening in the trees she slowed down and stalked forward carefully. Soundlessly and graceful she slid into the clearing coming face to face with silver eyes on a shapely figure enveloped in the moon's light.
...
With a start she woke up sitting up in a flash, her breathing hectic and fast. As she calmed feeling like her heart in her throat and with her fist clenched over her chest and her rapidly beating chest she noticed that it was still a short while to morning and laid back down knowing she wouldn't be able to sleep again. She laid there her thoughts flying around in her head as she tried to determine the meaning of her dream. Artemis...
...
The morning found them at the edge of the God's Junkyard, a place full of dangerous artefacts, weapons and trinkets that could kill them easily if looked at wrong, at least that was the impression everyone got from Zoë's warning.
Walking into the junkyard Aurelia felt a deep despair settling in her heart. It was as if she was about to lose something very important to her heart. All her instincts warned her to stay alert, last night's dream buried itself making place for her to focus. She looked around herself, as she walked in the middle of the group, watching for any kind of danger to herself and the others. She was in a state of over alertness, the conversations around her drowned out and ignored to better concentrate on what was going on around her.
There were pillars upon pillars of cars wheels and other things one would expect from a normal junkyard but what clearly showed that this wasn't a normal mortal junkyard were the piles of old weapons, reaching from classic swords to exotic arms like staffs with a long curved blades on them, other staff weapons with barbs, and every once in a while defective magical automatons.
It was near the end of the yard, in some sort of clearing, free from metalic scrap, when her sharp eyes left their surroundings, feeling a sense of danger, and zoomed themselves in on Bianca. The younger girl was bent over and had her arm outstreched reaching for a small shining figurine.
"BIANCA!" - Aurelia yelled at the small Hunter in an effort to warn her.
But it already was too late her small fingers closed around the miniature statue taking it with her as she stood up looking at Aurelia with a question on her face.
"What?" - Bianca asked innocently just before the world around them was engulfed in chaos.
With a loud crash cars and other metal objects were sent flying from a nearby junk hill, that looked like a pile of trash the size of a football field with what looked like massive toes stuck out at the bottom, as what seemed to be an earthquake took place.
The earth shook and suddenly giant metal arms shot out of the hill. What followed was a large humanoid if deformed head made of metal with large shining red eyes as it moved out of the junk hill and the hill seems to collapse and fall around it. The head took a 360° look around before it snaped into place focusing on the group of Questers.
"INVADERS" – An ear shattering voice coming from the metal head boomed.
"RUN!" - The genius idea found many convinced followers in the group as they made a run for it.
...
Please tell me what you think about the stroy or just this chapter.