This story is a taking a turn for the boring side again, but realize that I have no time anymore.

What with state tests, homework, school, studying, projects, and limited computer time, I don't have time to write anymore. Sorry, but that's just the way that life goes.

Just keep on reading the meager portions I give out, and be glad I'm adding around 30 percent more text.

Chapter 13

Constantinople

(it's in Turkey, and it's currently Istanbul, for you ignorants)

"Jackson?" I hissed out, crouched on the ground next to Lin, "what are you doing here?"

He grinned, a bright smile that could have gotten every girl in the train station on her knees. Except, I hoped, Lin. "I'm here to save her." He pointed the tip of his sword at Lin, who was lying curled up in pain on the ground.

"How? We've got no medicines, and any doctor we get her too will be suspicious." I sat, Indian-style on the ground, making a small pile with the rakshasa's claws.

Alexander sat down next to me, picking one of the claws up, and holding it to the light. "This should work…I read about it, and since a rakshasa is part sorcerer, some magic should have leaked…" With that, he swung his sword, smashing the claw with the pommel stone. "This'll work, I think." He hit the pommel stone to the claw again, leaving a small powder pile of shattered fragments. He picked a pinch of it, and held it to Lin's nose.

Lin breathed in, ever so shallowly, and a few flecks went up her nose. She took a larger breath, inhaling more of the rakshasa claw powder. Lin's eyes fluttered, then she propped herself up on her elbows, and turned coughing. Alexander thumped her vigorously on the back, until she quieted. As she looked up from discharging the contents of her stomach, her eyes widened, a furrow between the brows. She reached for her sword, which was a few feet away, and held it protectively to her.

"What are you doing?" She growled, her voice hoarse from the coughing. She slid her sword back into her baldric, and tried to stand, legs quivering. With a thump! she fell to her knees, unsteady.

"Helping you." Alexander smiled. "Or trying to. Here." He gripped her elbow, and helped Lin stand. She got to her feet shakily, a grimace on her face. "The magic should finish the healing process in a few hours. Meanwhile, you should take a rest."

Lin shook her head, pulling her arm from his. "No! I don't have time! I have to go: there are other places to see, more monsters to fight!" She stomped off, but Alexander caught her hand.

"Please, just rest. You can't help the battle if you're weak and helpless. Just get some food, and then you can go." He took her elbow again, like a proper gentleman to a well bred lady. Except Lin was nowhere near that, with her ripped, bloodied clothes, dirt streaked face, and silvery chains. I followed them.

Alexander led Lin out of the station, into the bright sunlight of the city of Le Havre. Le Havre was a bustling sea side town, a port of trade, and second largest city in the province of Normandy.

There were a few side walk cafés, so we got seats at a table in the front. There were large round umbrellas in the middle of the tables, and rectangular chalkboard menus near the café building.

A waiter in a white apron came immediately after we were seated, holding a pad of paper and a menu. Lin turned to him, a fake smile on her face, and ordered a quiche, s'il vous plait?

Alexander didn't order, so I asked for a crêpe. I needed sugar, and I was hungry. Sugar could steady my shattered nerves, unlike a lot of people. The waiter nodded and left.

Lin broke the frosty silence. "So, how did you find me, Monsieur Jackson?" Her hands were on the cast iron table, gripping the sides tightly. I could feel her barely restrained anger.

"I knew it would come to this." Alexander looked calm, and knew he was making Lin mad. "I hacked the airline company. I knew it was obvious that you'd use JFK. And I found you on the passenger list. And after he," he looked at me, "left, I knew for sure. You were going to Normandy. And when I got to Caen, I followed the monsters, which led me to Le Havre. Nice action with the rakshasa, by the way, but fighting on a moving surface makes you lower your guard on the sides."

Lin scowled. "You have no business following me! I can handle this all by myself! I don't need your help."

"But you did. Without me, you'd be coughing out your last breaths on the hard ground in a foreign country. And even he couldn't help, worthless mortal that he is."

Lin got up, and snarled. "Don't you ever say that again, or I'll personally your lungs out through your mouth with my sword, and feed it to you! Alexei is better than you, you worthless-"

The waiter came, a strange expression on his face. He held a quiche and a plate of creepers with multiple cups of toppings. I remembered that most French people learned a foreign language in school. And this man, the waiter, probably knew English.

Lin blushed, a furious shade of red, and sat back down. She picked up her fork and poked the quiche, which let a puff of steam. She whispered angrily to Alexander. "You stay away, you hear? I've got stuff to do, and I don't need you."

I picked at my crêpe, my appetite lost. I pretended not to listen, and fiddled with a small bowl of chocolate sauce. I poured it over my crêpe, eating tiny bites.

Alexander glared at the table top, the shade of the umbrella hiding his features. "The monsters are gathering. Luke, son of Hermes, is back, and getting as many allies as possible. He's been traveling, to any place where there is or has been Western Civilization; he's going to any place where there's civilization at all. My father told me this before I left." He looked away. "He's been traveling, signing on anybody who believes his foolish lies and promises.

"I asked his father. Luke has gone to England; he's enlisting the help of the dryads, gnomes, and goblins. He's moving to Scotland, getting the Unseelie Queen's promise, and all of her court. He'll get the kelpies, the monster of the loch, anything. Then on to Ireland, with the leprechauns."

"Why all these other monsters?" Lin asked, taking a tiny bite of her quiche. "These creatures aren't the customary sort…"

Alexander turned to Lin, a thin smile on his face. "This is a battle for the Earth. And why stick to Greek myths, when there's the whole world as the prize? There's no sense limiting yourself, not when you could do so much more. Luke is taking the world by storm, with his sweet talking and honey coated lies."

So they went on talking, and I drifted off in a sugar induced haze. I hadn't slept in ages, and I was tired, so very, very tired. And someone was shaking my shoulder. Hm…why was my head buried in my arms…and why was it so dark? I regained bleary consciousness and I saw Lin bent over me.

"Wake up, sleepy head." She looked impatient, biting her lip in nervousness. "We have to go…soon."

"Where?" I asked. I had zoned out at the café, and things came to me, fuzzy recollections. "I don't want to travel."

Lin bit her lip again, leaving a red welt. "You aren't going. It's been decided. When you were passed out, Alex and I….we're going to Constantinople on the Orient Express."

"WHAT?! Without me?" I was so furious. All I had done for Lin, and given her. But she was Lin, and she had the save the world, no matter how clichéd that sounded.

"I'm so sorry…but you can't fight, you can barely hold your own, even against a weaker opponent." Lin sat down, pulling an iron chair back with a scraping grate.

I sighed. "I guess, good luck, then. But Lin…can I tell you something?"

"Sure."

"You'll probably feel weird after this." I admitted.

"No I won't. I won't laugh at you or anything." It was hard to see her in the dark, but a street lamp was reflected from the chain around her wrist.

"Lin…I love you. But not as brother and sister." I said this with reluctance, wishing I'd bitten my tongue, kept my feelings in…In a way, I was a lot like Lin. "But in another universe, and if we weren't brother and sister, I wonder what might have happened."

Lin was silent for a few minutes, an awkward silence, a pause that stretched on and on, but only in my mind. "I don't know. I love you too, Alexei. I guess we could move to Alabama…but things are complicated. I have to go now." She started to get up, pushing the white painted metal chair back. But I caught her wrist before she could leave.

"Don't get yourself killed, Lin." With that, I kissed her on the lips, like that time days ago, at Belmont Park.

"I hope not….But I can only do the best I can." So Lin walked off, without a second glance at me. To Constantinople with Alexander Jackson.

So I stood there for a few silent moments, watching Lin walk off. And my thoughts in turmoil, I did the only thing I could.

I went home.

Home. Not the apartment in New York, but to my mother's Roman villa in Italy. With the terra cotta tiles, the paved stone floors, the beautiful skyline. I missed Lin, but I would have to do without her. For weren't such unique things as frail as blossoms, where a gust of wind could blow off all the petals?

My house, it stood, empty. I walked up the path, and lifted up the red tile, the one surrounded by slightly yellow tiles. It lifted up smoothly, revealing a plastic box containing a ring of keys, and a tin with "emergency supplies". I had never opened that tin up; there had never been any use for it before.

So I left it, and unlocked the door. The air was still and stale; no one had been in here for a few weeks. I opened the window, and breathed in. This was truly my home, close to the Mediterranean. It was sun baked, bright, and sunny. And quite unlike cloudy, dirty New York City.

For a couple of days, I lived by myself, eating, and sleeping. I was trying to forget that Western Civilization was on a decline, and that Luke was raising an army of monster warriors.

But I could never forget.

Because Lin came back.

There was a knock on my front door, as I was eating sorbet in the living room. I was surprised, because no one knew I was here, no my friends, and I wouldn't get any mail.

I opened to the door, and there stood Lin. Her clothes were torn and ragged, and she had parallel gouges in her face, as if some giant, angry cat had taken a swipe at her. The cuts ran from her temple to her cheek, and were dotted with drips of partially dried blood.

"Lin?" I asked softly. I stepped forward, into the sunlight, the hot Mediterranean sun. I helped Lin into the house, and it was disturbing to see that her hair was matted with dried blood, and there were suspicious maroon stains on her shirt. The chain around her waist had metallic red splatters on it too.

Lin was so tired, I could feel her trembling in my arms. I brought her to my room, and then went outside, to the walkway. Lifting the tile up, I grabbed the tin. The emergency was here, and maybe there was something helpful, like medicine.

I pulled off the lid, letting it clatter onto the walk, and then ran inside. There were waxed paper bundles tied with string, and a few small vial of a honey colored liquid. I opened the waxed paper, and there were small golden brown squares, like what I had imagined lembas bread looked like.

Lin was sleeping, a deep sleep where her breaths rattled in and out of her lungs, like she was deathly sick. I shook her awake. She jerked, and her eyes flicked open, trying to get to her feet, but I held her down.

"Lin…I have some food for you, but I'm not sure…" I crumbled the bread up and mixed some of the amber colored liquid, making a paste, which I dissolved in a glass of water on the bedside table. The water turned cloudy, little yellow crumbs floating around. "Lin, drink this; it may help."

I put the glass to Lin's lips, and slowly, she began to drink it. Drops spilt down the rim, sloshing over the cup and onto the bed. Lin's shaking hands stopped quivering. I gave her the glass. When she finished, I just sat at the foot of the bed.

"Lin, this fighting is killing you…" I began to say, and then hesitated. "You don't' have to fight, you know? You're killing yourself. Please, don't die for this cause, you're worth a lot more than that."

"I have to!" Lin's hands twisted the blankets. Her voice was hoarse and grating. "Without me, Western Civilization would fall entirely apart…and besides, the Kraken is coming…"

"Kraken?" That name had seemed familiar, but forgotten at the same time. But then I remembered those sailor's stories of a giant sea monster who'd take down ships with a single blow. "You can't fight something that big. Please Lin, just stop fighting. Maybe we can work something out…I may have an idea."

Author's Note: I'm getting bored and losing interest, considering going on a semi-permanent hiatus. Also, why am I writing Percy Jackson fics, if I could be doing other great authors? Hm…Because a comedy/adventure series is not really on my regular reading list.

I have so much school work, to get ready for state wide testing, and fiction doesn't really have a place on my schedule.

Just review, and hate me for incest.