Chapter 17
The inside of Zeus's plane was luxury. There were leather seat with cup holders and TVs with every magazine you could ask for, a bar (that kindly gave kids soft drink) and heaps more. There were two spare seats, one next to Maya and one next to Zeus. Sitting next to the father he met two days ago made him feel extremely uncomfortable.
I wonder why, Lachlan thought. He walked over to Maya who was deeply involved in staring out the window and looking at the beauty of Olympus. She didn't notice him sit down until he placed his brand-new shield on the ground.
"Nice plane, isn't it," Maya muttered just loud enough for Lachlan to hear.
"Yeah. Only the best for the king of the universe." Lachlan was hoping to get a smile out of Maya but she just kept the same expression.
Lachlan glanced down at his shield and saw a blue ascot, right in the centre. Picking it up, he noticed there was a note attached to it.
Dear Lachlan,
Ever since you were a child, I took a special interest in your life and tried to help you out as best I could (mainly in the romance department) so I have given you a special something that can get any beautiful lady to do anything for you, just by asking them.
I hope you have some extra special fun with it.
Love from Aphrodite.
Hephaestus's words rang in the back of his mind. 'If you ask me, it's nothing more than trouble.'
Brushing Hephaestus's words out of his mind, Lachlan slipped the ascot over his head and around his neck.
Ganymede's voice rang throughout the plane. "Good morning passengers. Thank you for flying with…"
Zeus's voice boomed over the top. "GANYMEDE! GET ON WITH IT!"
"Sorry boss. Anyway, we will be taking off very shortly so lease fasten your seatbelts." The green seatbelt sign blinked on overhead and the engines whirred to life.
Lachlan clipped on his seatbelt and turned to look at Maya, who was white and frozen with fear. Maya's fingers laced in between Lachlan's and they shot off down the runway, much faster than a typical airplane.
Maya gripped Lachlan's fingers so tightly that they started to turn purple. "Maya just relax," he whispered in her ear and hoped that she could hear him. Instantly, her grip loosened and her face went back to her normal, rosy colour. Once they levelled out, Maya breathed a sigh of relief. Lachlan opened his mouth to speak to her but a he did, he drifted off to sleep.
His eyes snapped open and he was back to two days ago. The last time he had seen his best friend alive. He sat next to her in a typical English class where all the guys were goofing around with the substitute teacher and all the girls were sitting in their little groups, pretending to do their work.
As he and the girl next to him flew through the worksheet they talked about what they wanted to do during the next holidays. "I'm going back to Australia to visit my family. If you wanted to, you could come with me. My parents would be more than happy to pay for your flight," the girl said while chewing thoughtfully on her pencil.
"I wish but I'm going back to San Francisco to see my family. Just like always." They both finished the worksheet and as they were handing it to their substitute, the wall closest to them exploded. A cyclops loomed in the hole in the wall.
"I've waited a long time for this, tasty half-bloods." The cyclops smacked his lips. "Tonight, I shall feast on demigod flesh!"
Lachlan's dream faded away and he woke just as the jet jolted against something.