Hello, hello, hello, and I HAVE DONE IT! I HAVE A NEW CHAPPIE! Thank you to my friend, thisiscorinth, who helped me with some of my ideas, mostly in planning some crazy ideas for the next chapter. I also have made the greatest amount of OCs EVER! Six in total for the story so far (Seven if you add Conjito.), four introduced in this chapter. Wow.
-SAVE THE NARGLES
Nico sat down on the chair, facing the couch. Leo and Reyna sat next to each other, Reyna as stiff a board, and Leo playing with his fingers. Nico knew that they had changed, but they were still those same people on the inside, the rock-hard praetor, and the goofy mechanic. And Eli.
Eli after she had brought the cookies out, had cuddled between the two of them, under a wool blanket, with her arms wrapped around her rabbit. Their daughter.
Daughter. It was unexpected. It was like two trains crashing into each other. But Eli was unique. Nico felt something stir. Was he getting soft for this little girl that he barely knew?
Well, who knew? Everything was crashing down anyway. Secret's out, Roman warriors in Houston, a dragon on the loose, and a four-year girl who speaks Spanish half the time, and hits people with wooden spoons. And he thought she was as innocent as any demigod could be. But even if only her parents were demigods, her blood was still half god, just a mixture of Hephaestus and Bellona.
Nico pulled apart the Oreo and scraped the inside of it out, wiping it on a napkin, then took a small bite of the cookie.
"So, what's going on? We can only assume what has been going on in the world of the gods." Reyna questioned as took a small sip of her coffee.
Nico poured some cream into his coffee, and stirred it. "Many things have happened. There are three legionnaires here for a quest. They are hunting a dragon, the Ismenian dragon. It was killed many times over the years, but now it has a home somewhere in Houston, and there has been problems with the water transportation here."
"I heard about the water main breaks." Leo answered. "It was near here, and its been on the news, with the other depressing shit."
"When have you been watching the news?" Reyna asked.
"I don't know. I just know that kind of stuff. Maybe you're rubbing off on me." He held his chin up a little bit, grinning like a mad man. Reyna smiled a little, and a spark filled her eyes.
"Well, it looks like Leo rubbed off on you, Reyna Valdez." Nico popped the rest of the cookie in his mouth.
"I can still beat the living daylights out of you, Di Angelo, even if I was pregnant once and haven't done eagle training in five years." She snapped at him, her some-what decent mood flying out the door. Leo frowned, like he was sad that she wasn't smiling, but then grinned, like he was glad it wasn't him taking the full blast. Of course he was.
"Well, the quest is in Houston for at least a week, looking for the dragon. Apparently, it used to guard the Castalian Spring near Delphi, and it was a son of Ares, or Mars. It was killed by Cadmus, who founded Thebes, but he was punished, and he and his wife eventually were turned into serpents."
"The dragon was a serpent, if I am right, and is cursed. Whoever kills it will be cursed by Mars." Reyna brought up, her brow creasing.
"Yes, but they are going to offer the spoils of war to Mars when they return, one of the greatest spoils of all time. The teeth." Nico grabbed another cookie, and split it apart again.
"The teeth like, if you plant them, they turn into blood thirsty warriors, right? Grow your own army, just plant magical teeth!" Leo exclaimed. He started for the sugar bowl for his coffee, but Reyna swatted his hand away.
"Yes," Nico cut off, "which makes it a great spoil of war. A perfect offering. Glory to whoever kill it, making Mars happy, and Houston will be safe, though the monster minds its own business unless it gets attacked." Nico summarized. All of a sudden a shiver went down his back. He knew it was time to go.
"Thank you for the food, I need to go." He stood up abruptly, and shook their hands.
"Please don't tell." Leo blurted out. "For Eli-V." Eli, who's curly hair was falling in her face, who's small skinny frame clutched Conjito like it was her lifeline.
Nico looked at the little girl. She was not completely innocent, but she deserved to live a normal life. But she still was a half-blood, with the blood of two gods. He knew she would have a great fate ahead of her.
He leaned down and kissed Eli on her forehead. Yep, he was going soft. Maybe it was Hazel, or Percy, or even being around people period. Or maybe he was just being tired of the moody, mysterious Son of Hades. Everybody would be glad to see the happy couple, and Eli would be adored. But that would have to wait.
"I will." Nico smiled, an unnatural closed lip smirk. But his eyes could light up the sky.
Nico walked out of the room and shadow-traveled out. He did not know where he was going. Just away so he could get his thoughts together.
Eli knew that Nico was a good person at heart. Though she tried tostay awake, she still was very dopey when the conversation happened. Red planets, snakes and teeth; it didn't make any sense to her, but she knew her parents were very, very worried. But life still went on.
Her mother and father had left her with a baby sitter for the day, because it was a Sunday, and both of them had to go to work. They only had Saturdays off, and Saturday became her favorite day of the week. She went to daycare during the week, but she stayed with Angela on Sundays.
Angela was an twenty year old college student who lived in the neighborhood. She had long blond-brown hair, hazel eyes and pale skin, which was odd where Eli lived. But she was a good friend, even if Eli didn't trust her as much as her parents or Conjito.
"You're a smart kid. You have just as much smarts and common sense as a third-grader. But you are very serious." Angela told her, handing over the purple crayon.
"I know. Mommy is like that. Demasiado viejo para su edad, as Daddy says." Eli answered when they were drawing pictures.
"Do you have any other family members? Besides your parents." Angela asks as Eli finished her picture of Mommy, which was a oval with long hair.
"Daddy said his Mommy died when he was eight, and Mommy has a sister who lives in Seattle, but they hadn't seen each other in seven years. Her name is Hylla. They might of named me Hylla, but it would of made Mommy sad." Angela handed her a piece of tape, and Eli taped it on the front of the fridge.
"Oh, well, do they have any friends?"
Eli stopped to think. She could not tell her about Mommy and Daddy's friends. That would be bad. Maybe she should just tell her about Nico. "Not really. They had friends when they were young, but I've only met Nico." She answered truthfully.
"Who's Nico?" Angela asked, as she opened the fridge to get Eli a banana.
"He was this man, and he was creepy at first and dressed in black, but he was really nice." Eli told Angela as she ate the cut-up banana.
"Well, that's good." Angela picked up the bowl and she placed it in the sink. "Do you want me to tell you a story?"
"Yes! ¡Sí! ¡Sí!" Eli ran and sat on the couch and grabbed Conjito, who was drawing with them. she sat down, crushing the crayons, and started bouncing up and down, smashing the crayons even more. She loved stories, maybe the stories Angela would tell her would be good, just like Mommy and Daddy's.
Angela placed the remainder of the crayons on the table, and started her story. "Ok, once upon a time..."
"That sounds boring." Eli told her. Angela stared at her in shock. Girls her age usually loved that.
"Stories start with that a lot." Angela recovered. "Now, once upon a time, there was a pretty maiden." Angela held up a picture of a girl in a pretty gown with blond hair and blue eyes.
"The pretty maiden lived with her rich father, and had everything a girl could have, except a mother. Her mother died a long time ago."
"Did she die of a cold, or was she stabbed?" Eli leaned back against a pillow on the couch and yawned while adjusting a bonnet that was on Conjito's head.
"A cold. But the father thought that the girl needed a real mother, and sisters, so he got married to a widow who had two daughters." Angela stared in shock at the girl. How could a four-year old girl ask those questions?
"But the daddy dies of a cold too. And the mother and sisters are matones. And the maiden gets married to a prince and lived happy ever after." Eli finishes fixing Conjito's hat. She was disappointed that the story wasn't about honor and glory, or about adventure.
"You don't like those kind of stories, do you?" Angela asks as Eli jumped off the couch and ran to grab a coloring book.
"Mommy says that girls who wave their pañuelos and get married to princes are not real. I want to be a real girl." Eli puffed out her chest and held her fists in front of her, her curls bouncing up and down, held back in a purple ribbon. She wore a simple white tank top and shorts. Angela noticed before that she wasn't all dolled up, like most of the little girls she took care of. Angela knew this girl was different.
Suddenly the back door opened, and Reyna walked in, in a simple skirt and blouse. Her hair was up in bun, and her apron was hanging loosely off of her slim body. Her faced was lined, and her face looked stiff, like she was frightened of something,
"¡Mami!" Eli ran to her and Reyna picked her up on que, smiling, a closed-lip smile, but with glittering eyes filled with approval. Angela always thought her smile was pretty. But today her eyes were replaced with worry.
"Gracias ,for taking care of her again." Reyna handed Angela fifty dollars, while placing Eli down. Angela knew that she should ask for more, but the family was lower class, and Angela knew they were both as sharp as pins, but life was hard on them, neither of them went to college, and they had a young daughter.
"No problem. Do you need to work late tomorrow? I can pick her up tomorrow." Angela asked, just to help Reyna a little bit. She knew something was wrong, but to ask was disrespectful. Probably in Reyna's mind.
"Sí, can you pick her up from daycare, tomorrow? I'll only be late for an hour or two." Reyna shook Angela's hand, she was not as touchy-touchy as some other people.
"That'll be great! Right, Eli?" Eli nodded, then hugged Angela's waist, then waved good-bye when Angela walked out the door.
Leo was cooking dinner when Eli heard the hissing noise. She was sitting at the table, looking at Daddy's drawings for work, for a kind of screw. It looked neat. He was just cooking beef for dinner, so she thought the hissing was the sound of the skillet. He still was humming a random tune, not looking worried at all. But when he took the skillet off the stove she heard it again. Still soft, but noticable for her keen hearing. She knew Daddy had heard it too. He frowned slightly, but he went on with cooking dinner.
The family ate dinner, which consisted of beef tacos and salad, when the hissing noise sounded again, slightly louder. Reyna stood up and whispered something into Leo's ear. He nodded, then she left. He looked upset, at least to Eli.
"Where did Mommy go?" Eli asked as she finished her salad. She held on to Conjito, even though he was not allowed at the dinner table.
"Mommy went to go and se what the hissing sound was. She'll be back soon." Leo told Eli. He smiled at her, and she smiled back.
Reyna came back and sat down. "I didn't see anything." Then she stiffened.
Leo went rigid too, and Eli felt something stirring, a ringing in her ears, like she knew something bad was going to happen.
Reyna grabbed Eli and they ducked under the table, and Eli saw a flash of gold and silver streak above them, making plaster rain on them.
"Un monstruo." She whispered in fear, and she knew that the stories were real.
Eli was thrown over Reyna shoulder, and they ran down the hall, Eli saw the monster clearly for a second.
The dragon was more like a snake. It had a long skinny body, covered in gold and silver scales, and a bronze belly. His head was square-like, and his eyes were a shimmery gold, with black slits. But the worst part was his teeth. Eli saw sharp, hooked teeth, many of them, too many for her to count. And on its back, were shredded wings.
Eli knew one thing. It was fast.
The serpent rocketed towards them, and Reyna ducked, and the serpent crashed into the wall at the end of the hallway. Leo yelled something to Reyna in Latin, and followed the monster. Reyna put Eli down.
"Eli, listen to me. We need you to get out of here." Mommy held her hands. Eli knew she was scared. She was scared too.
"Go into our room, and open the bottom drawer of our dresser. There is a small brown backpack. Get that. Then go outside away from the house, though the window on the floor. Stay there until you see one of us, or if Angela or Nico comes, go with them. ¿De acuerdo?" Mommy ordered, in an urgent tone of voice.
"Mommy, is the monster is going to kill you and papá?" Eli stared at Reyna, tears in her eyes, and Reyna knew that leaving her was going to hurt more than any wound.
"I'm not sure. We will try to kill the monster. But we can't let the monster get you. Go. Te amo, Eli, remember that." Reyna kissed Eli's head, and held her, the best thing that ever happened to Reyna. She let go of her, and pulled out her knife, and ran to help Leo.
Eli watched her until she was gone, then ran into the bedroom, and hauled open the drawer, and grabbed the small bag. Then she ran towards the little window, which was under the bed, and was covered in plaster.
Eli tried moving some of the plaster chunks, but the pieces were too big. They blocked the window, and the glass was caked in dust, burrowing into the cracks. She was trapped.
She crawled back from under the bed, and sprinted to the kitchen, jumping to grab the wooden spoon. She bolted to the living room and grasped Conjito, who was lying limply on the ground behind the tipped over table, throwing the backpack over her shoulder. THe wall were riddled with holes and small bits of furniture and insolation were on fire. There was hissing coming from down the hall, and she saw Mommy run from the room, ducking to avoid the snake. Reyna attacked the snake with her knife, aiming for its eyes and mouth. The snake hissed at her, and tried to snap at her. Eli ran towards the back door, but she saw Reyna swoop away from the snake, and land hard on the ground. But she did not get up.
But now the snake was heading towards her.
Eli slide to the right, and the serpent crashed into the wall behind her , leaving a large hole where the back door used to be. It's head shot up and faced Eli, its mouth open wide. Eli quickly stumbled up, and locked her eyes with the serpent.
"Legacy...Greek...Roman...powerful..." The snake mumbled, taking its sweet time to slither up to Eli, spreading its shredded wings, showing off its hooked teeth. She shivered, her bare feet stumbling backwards, away from the snake, until her back was against the wall. Her spoon was gripped tightly in her hands. She held it up towards her face.
"Destroy!" The snake lunged at her, and she ducked, waving her spoon above her head, striking the deadly cooking utensil in the monster's eye.
The snake wreathed, and slid away from her blindly, and Eli ran and hid under a small table nearby, with her spoon covered in a shiny, yellow liquid. The house shook, and Eli could hear the walls slowly crumbling, and she heard the bricks banging on the table, the clashes of a fight still going on. But she stayed still. She heard the honk of an ambulance, and people. But nobody came. The sirens slowly faded away as the minutes ticked by, but she could still see hints of the flashing lights, until they faded into the night.
Eli breathed in. Her teeth started to chatter, her clothing was more approprite for the sweltering Houston summers, not for the night. The air turned cold, and her fingers and toes went numb.
Eli wrapped her arms around Conjito and sniffled. She has cried all of her tears out already. Where are they?
Eli held out her numb hands and stared at them, Conjito in the crook of her arm, like a baby. She wanted to do her magic trick. Slowly, her fingers grew warm, and they were covered in red flickering strands, making her hands warm, heating her hands for three wonderful seconds. She sighed, and the red flames soon faded away, leaving her at the mercy of the night-time air again.
"...the dragon was around here somewhere..." A voice murmured; it sounded like a guy's voice. Eli's head shot up. She shakily wiped her cheeks, though there were no tears. Maybe she could get help.
"Really, you think so?" A girl sniped at the guy. Eli crawled out of her hiding spot carefully, so she would stay out of sight.
"No, I shot it over here. Or was it over there?" She peeked over the fallen table, ready to dash if whoever-it-was saw her. saw three people in sparkling armor with humongous swords were staring at the what remained of the house, a few yards away, too far away to see her.
"Seriously, Flynn?" The girl placed her hands on her hips. The two were glaring at each other, while the third person just watched.
"Hey! It's not my fault that the monster dust blocked our vision, Lucina!" Flynn yelled at her.
"It's LUCY!" Lucina screamed, pushing the guy back.
"Well, the praetors won't be happy if we don't find the dragon carcass, or the teeth." The third person murmured humbly. Praetors? They had to be lee-gin-aires. Eli breathed in. Nico was right. If they found her, she would have to leave Houston. And Mommy and Daddy. But maybe...maybe they were still in the house.
"Shut it, Milo! I'm supposed to lead the quest!" Lucy snapped at him.
"Stop sniping at Milo, Lucina! It's your fault that we didn't get here in time to save the mortals that lived here! You were being too stubborn!"
"No! You're the stubborn one, Flynn!" The soldiers started pushing each other around.
"The praetors should have never paired the centurions of First and Fifth together." Milo said to himself, shaking his head.
Without thinking, Eli crawled out fully while the group bickered. Plus if they were never here in the first place, Mommy and Daddy would not be missing.
Eli sighed, and faced the wreckage of what remained of her home. Parts of the roof had collapsed, and there was plaster and metal scales strewn about the floor. There were gaping holes in what was left of the walls, and Eli felt her courage dwindling. And in the bedroom, she saw the dragon,. But...it was dead. The empty armor was stretched along the bed, with scales in heaps on the floor, and the only part left of its body were the teeth, placed in a neat pile where the mouth would have been.
She hopped though the smashed wall and stared at the dragon. Quickly, she grabbed half of the pile of teeth and unzipped Conjito and placed the teeth inside. She also grabbed a couple of the scales, and stuffed them in her shorts pocket. She scurried away with Conjito, and now that she realized this, her brown backpack.
She ran past the three in full sight, though only Milo noticed. "Hey, did anyone just see a little girl run right past us- Lucy, put the knife down!"
Eli ran out though the hole where the back door was and into the brown dirt yard, where the shed door was open. Eli ran inside, where there were two backpacks and a duffel bag were sitting on the ground, along with a bow and arrows.
She sat down, her limbs shaking with exhaustion, her fingers and bare feet stinging. She unzipped the backpack and unpacked it slowly. Two cold metal bottles, a couple dried fruit bars, a plastic bag of Oreos and the special lemon bars that Mommy had for healing cuts. A silver wallet that held forty bucks came out next. Finally a large sweater and a hat. Eli quickly put on the sweater, along with the hat. But the hat would not go on her head.
Eli looked at the hat strangely, but took it off and dumped the contents out of it. A folded up piece of paper, a MP3 player and a pair of socks fell out.
She smiled and placed everything back in the bag, except Conjito, the hat, the sweater, and the socks.
"I still blame you." Lucy's voice proclaimed. Eli heard the footsteps of the lee-gin-aires fall into place, heading closer. Eli needed to hide. Her eyes fell on the duffel bag. If she emptied it, it would fit her and her bag inside.
Eli zipped it open, and dumped most of the person's clothes in a large pot nearby, but kept some of the food and personal items inside. She stuffed her bag inside, and curled up into a ball and grabbed Conjito and pulled the flap over her body right when they walked in.
"Ok," Lucy started, slowly, like she was thinking. "we grab an over-night bus to Phoenix, then we will be in San Fransisco by tomorrow afternoon, then Camp Jupiter, now that we have the armor and scales all packed up in the box that Cy made us. You know, the Daughter of Trivia."
"Best idea you've had the whole quest. And I know who Cy is, by the way." Flynn answered, but Lucy brushed it off, and Eli heard her pick up one of the backpacks, and leave the shed. Flynn sniffed, then grabbed the other backpack and the bow, and the arrows, rattling in their sheth, and ran after her. Eli could not hear Milo fo a while, then he sighed and zipped up the duffel bag and hoisted it over his shoulder. Eli slid to the right, but it worked. But now she was heading to the Lee-gin.
Well then, Lee-gin, here I come. And far away, Bellona smiled and knew that her grandaughter was worthy of her heretige.
Sweet, this chapter is about 4,000 words long. Did I take too much time on this...nah. Oh, Please fav, follow and review, even if you have already done all three. See ya! And Happy Holidays! Chanukah starts on the eighth, I think.
-SAVE THE NARGLES