Chapter 3
"Travis! Connor! I swear to the gods, if you don't give me my dagger back, I'm going to jam your swords somewhere very unpleasant!"
Connor gulped. He wasn't afraid, of course, he was just... cautious. An angry Helena was a force to be reckoned with and he didn't want to be the one on the recieving end of her temper. She was vicious with her punishments and very imaginative. The last time he did something to upset her... well, he still flinched when someone even mentions ducks.
He looked around trying to find someone willing to help him but the arena was almost empty. Some Hephaestus' kids were training, but didn't even glanced in their direction when the argument started. Their shouting matches and prank wars had became familiar to the rest of the campers since the Daughter of Thanatos came to the Camp two months ago.
At first she was very reclusive, never talking or laughing with others, so Travis and Connor decided that a shy girl like her would be a perfect victim for their next prank. It was very elaborately done and included a lot of glue and a pink glitter. It was absolutely amazing, in Connor's humble opinion, and it worked beautifully. They went to bed that night in high spirits and completely forgetting that Helena slept in the same cabin.
They woke up with their faces painted a lovely shade of purple and their hair lime green. Their clothing was replaced with simply awful blue tutus and even their nails were painted orange. They had no idea how she had done it and spent an entire day begging her to tell them her secret. She just lifted an eyebrow as an answer and looked at them emotionlessly, but her eyes were literally twinkling with amusement.
It was a start of a beautiful (if slightly dysfunctional) friendship.
Helena was still reserved with others, of course, partly due to her own nature and partly because most of the campers seemed to avoid her since her parentage was revealed. Demigods didn't really like the God of Death and it reflected on their treatment of his only daughter. Even a few demigods that were magical and had heard about the Girl-Who-Lived, (And wasn't that a ridiculous moniker. The Stolls burst into the laughter when they had heard it.) didn't approach her, although they weren't necessary malicious.
Their frendship, as wierd as it was, mostly consisted of pranks and bickering. The brothers often got frustrated with her skills in those areas (Connor had to admit that she was magnificent at pranking, but nowhere near their level, of course. They had been doing this for years. She was not even close. Not at all. (Travis told him that he's in denial.)), while she just seemed to be entertained with everything they threw at her. Lately, Travis and Connor had started to steal her things in hopes of getting some reaction beyond amusement. They didn't have any luck.
Until now.
They were starting to regret it, though.
She was storming across the arena with a narrowed glare aimed at them. There was a murderous gleam in her usually bright eyes, and Connor could feel her power swirling around her, like an angry beast wanting to be unleashed. He knew she was powerful, of course, with her magic and regular demigod powers of a Child of Thanatos (Whatever they were. She refused to tell them), but he never felt her anger reflected like this. It was frightening, and Connor was sure that he heard Travis squeak beside him. He will never let him live it down, if they survived this.
"Where is it?"
This time they both squeaked; her growl was that scary. Connor didn't know before that a human could produce such a threatening sound. He could've lived his life happily without finding out.
He exchanged glances with his brother. Travis' face was an alarming shade of white and he looked absolutely terrified. More so than when Chiron found out that they were the ones to be blamed for a prank on the Naiads. They were stuck on the kitchen duty for two weeks. Now it was worse. Chiron wasn't allowed to hurt them, but Helena didn't have similar restrictions. They didn't want to know what punishment their friend would think of when she was this angry, so they only had one option.
They lied and hoped she didn't see through them.
It was a futile hope.
"What dagger? We don't know anything about a dagger, do we, Travis?" Connor said, his voice an octave higher than usual. Despite his long pranking experience, he never really could lie to the people he called friends. Authority figures, victims or even their mother, yes, but friends, never.
"No, of course not. We'd never do something as despicable as stealing someone's weapons, truly", Travis confirmed, nodding his head strongly to ephasise his point.
Helena's glare didn't lessen, if possible, it became even more deadly. (Connor would've laughed at the pun if he wasn't ready to piss his pants.)
"My dagger. Now!" she ordered in a hard voice. Travis squeaked for the third time and glanced at Connor, begging him to listen since he was the one hiding the weapon. Connor obeyed and fished the damn dagger from the waistband of his jeans, his hand shaking the entire time.
"Here", he wispered in fright and practicaly threw it at her. She exhaled in relief and inspected it for damage. Connor didn't really see what's so special about it. It was nice looking, he supposed, with the ivory hilt and black leather sheat decorated with the engravings of silver flames. They didn't have time to inspect the blade itself before she caught them, but he suspected that it was as nice as the rest of the weapon.
"Thank the gods", she breathed and than glanced at them. Connor was suprised to see concern in her emerald orbs. "You didn't touch the blade, did you?" she asked. Connor looked at his brother for explanation, but Travis just shrugged and answered.
"We didn't have time, really. You caught us quickly."
"Good, good." There was relief in her eyes now and Connor wondered what got her so worried. "I want you to promise that you'll never again touch this dagger", she said and gave them a serious look. She wasn't kidding, he realised. He couldn't fathom what's so dangerous about that dagger. It looked as innocent as a weapon could. Not much, of course, since it was a weapon, but innocent enough.
"Why? What's so important about it?" Travis asked, voicing the questions Connor wanted to ask. They were thinking alike, as always.
Helena looked both of them in the eyes for a moment, as if judging how much to tell them. Then she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in an annoyed gesture. "This", she started, motioning at the dagger with her hand. "was a birthday gift from my father." Connor couldn't help it, he really couldn't, but he felt a pang of jealousy at the thought of her seeing her father. She told them before that Thanatos sometimes appeared in her dreams because Zeus doesn't care what minor gods do in their free time as long as they don't break the Laws blatantly. It reminded him of the fact that Hermes never did something like that.
His attention was cought again by Helena when she unsheated the dagger. It wasn't made from Celestial Bronze as he expected, but from some kind of black metal that didn't shine in the sunlight. It looked incredibly sharp and somehow gave off a sinister feeling. He unconsciously took a step away from the blade and Helena smirked in amusement.
"Do you know what kind of metal this is?" she asked, showing them the dagger for a closer look. Connor shrugged; he really had no idea. "This, my dear friends, is a Stygian Iron. It's mined and forged in the Underworld and cooled in the River Styx. It's indestructible and only Children of the Underworld can wield a blade made from it. Anyone other than me touches it and it sucks his essence, his soul. Monsters can't reform after I kill them but neither can demigods and mortals go to the Underworld. Do you understand now?"
They nodded, looking vaguely sick. They were thankful now that she had found them so fast. If they had touched it...
"We promise", they said in union. Helena smiled, a beautiful, true smile they rarely saw.
"Great! Now lets go to the climbing wall. I still have to get you back for stealing it from me."
Connor groaned. They hated the wall, but Helena loved it, especially the lava. She had a wierd fasciantion with fire. Travis' theory was that she was crazy. At times like this, Connor was inclined to agree.
Helena had always enjoyed the heights.
Since she remembered she always searched for a higher vintage point and climbed on everything. Trees, closets, even a car on one memorable occasion, nothing was secure from her. She liked the feeling of freedom and safety it gave her. She could see bullies coming long before they noticed her if she was above them. She could hide from the Dursleys if she was careful enough to leave the house quetly. It gave her a feeling that she could actually control her life and that she could do whatever she wanted.
So it was no suprise to her that she had found a way to climb on the Hermes Cabin only a day and a half after she came to the Camp.
She was currently lying on the roof, eyes closed, listening to the howling of the wind around her. She wondered if her love for the heights came from her father, now that she knew who he really was. He had wings, after all, so he could fly. It wasn't an ureasonable conclusion, she decided.
Helena sighed. The thought of her father reminded her of the gift he gave her. She was estatic when he told her, of course, she had never got a gift before. She loved the dagger, it was perfectly balanced and incredibly sharp but she had to always carry it because it was too dangerous to be left lying around the cabin. She almost got a hearth attack when she realised that Travis and Connor stole it. It took only a small cut to kill a demigod and she didn't want her first friends to be harmed.
She was roused from her thoughts by the shouting at the hill. She opened her eyes and sat up trying to see what was happening. It was night outside and all lights were extinguished but there was a fire in the hearth before the cabins and it was a full moon so she could discern shapes of monsters she learned about in the last two months. She was about to go into her cabin and try to sleep, knowing that the borders of the camp are strong enough to keep them out, but then she saw dark humanoid shapes running away from the monsters.
There were people there!
She quickly climbed down from the roof, almost falling a few times. She couldn't help them, she knew, she didn't have enough training and there was too much monsters, but she could warn Chiron and the campers.
She started running to the Big House, hoping that she will reach it in time.
