Chapter 13 ~ Trudy
Trudy woke up after a late night's sleep, half worrying about the quest but the other half thinking about her time spent with Adrian. She sat up and stretched her arms a bit, smiling and blushing to herself. She buried her head in her hands and squealed in delight. She instantly shot out of bed and climbed down from the top bunk and dashed to get ready. She put on a her customized Camp Half Blood shirt with a belt around the waist and some fitness shorts. She quickly applied some mascara and blush, then tied her hair into a quick french braid from her head to her back. She sprayed on a little bit of perfume, almost dropping it as she dashed out the door to Adrian's cabin.
She stepped outside of the cabin and breathed in the cool fresh air. She walked over to the Ares cabin, where she stopped a kid of Ares and asked if Adrian was inside the Ares Cabin.
"No, sorry. Check at the Nemesis cabin- he might be there," The boy replied, rushing off.
"Okay cool, thanks," She said, waving him off as she ran in the direction that led her to Adrian. She arrived at the Nemesis cabin, knocked on the door and entered. A intimidating-looking girl opened up the door, her hair in a perfectly swept up ponytail, already in her armour.
"Adrian's here, he'll be out in a minute." The girl said blankly and shut the door in her face. Followed by a voice yelling 'Hey!' at her. Trudy sighed and waited against the desolate red and black patterned wall, absently playing with her hair.
Adrian soon rushed out, wearing no shirt, his pajama pants still on, with Enryx trailing behind him, close to bursting with insane laughter.
"Morning babe," Adrian kissed her cheek, flashing her a warm smile, "Wow, you look great!" Trudy giggled and wrapped her arms around him, returning the smile.
Enryx gagged jokingly, wrapping his hands around his neck and pretending to choke himself. Trudy rolled her eyes at him and playfully smacked him -not so hard- on his arm- which Enryx then pretended it as if the slap did hurt, and he exaggeratingly fell over and played dead, tongue out and all.
"Hold on, just gonna change into something appropriate," Adrian glanced down at his bare chest, his face going red once again.
"What you're wearing is fine with me," Trudy said, then sniggered, giving him a playful wink. "Go! Go change, Adrian."
"I will," He said, laughing, and blew her a kiss, which Trudy caught. He quickly ran inside to get changed, appropriately.
"So...you and Adrian, huh?" Enryx said, standing up again. Alli raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, it's pretty great," Trudy said, grinning to herself.
"So you and Adrian are like going out now?" Alli asked, sharpening a spear on cabin 16's weaponry rack.
"We are - it's been going great!" Trudy said as Adrian rushed back outside, wearing half decent clothes: a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt that had got some paint on it and some faded jeans as well.
"Your hair - it's turning amber, like your eyes," Adrian said as he walked towards her, snaking his arm at the usual spot around her waist.
"Guys, we should really get going. We were told to meet Chiron and Mr. D at 8:30!" Enryx interrupted. They all ran down towards the Big House where everyone else was waiting, including Kat who was on a wheelchair but didn't look too happy about it. Trudy took a seat near the healing Godling, who was sulking and looked ready to murder the healer - which happened to be Elektra, who kept sending nervous glances at Kat's direction. The handicap kept mumbling about her leg and cursing it for being injured. They all walked -and wheel-chaired- in at once to Dionysus' office.
"Where's Chiron?" Rosamynd asked, eyeing Mr. D's office.
"Not in this room." Dionysus simply responded, sipping his grape juice.
"But where is he?"
"Somewhere not here."
Trudy suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. Well that's very helpful.
"What do you want to tell us?" Lysandra was on the verge of ripping her hair out, which would be a shame.
"Well, you're quest is gonna start soon,"
"When exactly?"
"Soon, all I know is that preparations for transport have been made and you should pack lightly and be by the borders in around two hours' time," Director D sighed, uninterested, his mind already somewhere else, "Off you go, now."
The nine Godlings hurried out of the Big House, towards the cabins.
"He's right though - we should pack, soon," Enryx said as they stepped outside.
"Yeah, we should, we'll meet back in half an hour?" Trudy suggested, and the others agreed and they separated towards their own cabins.
Trudy trudged back to the Aphrodite cabin and took out a big rucksack out of her closet, and folded some changes of clothes and family keepsakes and packed them neatly into her bag. She went over to her desk and picked up a necklace that her father, Hephaestus gave her. It was a little hammer charm on a silver chain. She fastened it around her neck and smiled at her little charm. She lugged her bag and went outside, where Adrian was waiting for her.
"So I was thinking," Adrian took her bag, "Maybe we should squeeze some training in. I mean, since we got together we didn't really sharpen any skill, and we sure do need them."
"Sure!" They first dropped their bags in front of the Big House and walked to the training area. When they got there, Enryx and Elektra were at the corner somewhere, improving on their archery skills. Vytoni had arranged a bunch of dummies, and began taking them down with a different weapon each. And to think a bow staff is a flimsy weapon - that thing can crush a ribcage! Nethrys was hacking at one of the only dummies left with a mean looking blade, slicing the blade through it's 'heart', then cutting it's head off.
"Hey," Lysandra appeared breathlessly, with Rosamynd by her side, "Are we the last ones?"
"Yes - better hurry or all the test dummies are gonna run out. Wait, too late. Throw some knives or something."
Trudy and Adrian went over to the sparring arena and Trudy sighed nervously and backed away. Adrian caught her moving away nervously.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Adrian asked concernedly, cleaning his swords.
"Nothing, I just, I'm not that great with weapons," Trudy fiddled with her hair again, removing the braid and pulling it into a bun, then sweeping it into a ponytail.
"What do you mean? How do you defend yourself?"
"I don't, I mean, I've never been in that situation before," Trudy admitted
"Well, I guess we're going to have to teach you," Adrian said confidently, "So what can you do?"
"Change my appearance and bend metal."
"Well, that wouldn't be very useful- Wait! You can bend metal?"
"Comes with being a daughter of Hephaestus, I guess."
"Can you demonstrate?" Adrian said, tossing her a dagger that was laying around. Trudy gripping onto the tip of the dagger with her fingers and pushed and molded the dagger into a circular shape, sweat trickling off her forehead. The dagger bent, and she slumped back, suddenly feeling weak.
"It takes up a huge load of my energy, though." Trudy said, tossing Adrian back the deformed dagger. Adrian caught it and examined it, trying to bend it back to it's original shape.
"Woah, it's stiff - how?" Adrian asked, his hands turning red trying to reform the dagger. Trudy shrugged and picked up her dagger from her belt. It was gold with a brown leather handle- a special parting gift from her father, was designed to pierce through any material or density. Adrian held up his two dual swords, one was silver almost white, and one black. He swung them in wide arcs, testing his flexibility. He taught Trudy basic thrusts and parries, until she finally disarmed him (Well, maybe not really. But cut her some slack!) Kat rolled up to them in her wheelchair, holding multiple daggers in her hands. She stood up, well tried to, leaning on her uninjured leg and limbed up to them.
"Hey, can you train with me?" Kat hobbled up, holding a dagger. Trudy had to restrict a laugh for her determination to train. Stupid, but determined.
"I doubt you can train in your current state," Adrian said gently, "Just, exercise your leg, for now- and when you're sure it stops hurting, then maybe."
"Hey! I can still train, even with a broken leg, okay?" She replied, wobbling as she tried to stand straight.
"Stop it! You're going to hurt yourself. Honestly, woman. You know what, if you really, really want to train- here, fight me with your- wait, what's your weapon?"
"I call my dagger Kalypto. It's made of Stygian Iron - well it can release any soul in the underworld with one touch with the approval of Hades. You could say it's a smaller and less powerful version of the Sword of Hades," She said proudly, turning the long dark dagger between her fingers.
"So, do you throw it, or...?" Trudy asked, clutching Adrian's arm.
"I don't throw knives or daggers, like Lysandra," She said, eyeing Lys who was squealing, jumping up and down as her dagger hit bullseye on the target board. "I stab people with it," She said. Trudy's face paled, and she swallowed and smiled brightly at her.
"Great!"
"One on one? I'll go easy on you," Adrian challenged smugly.
"Oh, please" She replied, grinning but considered it for a while. "Fine."
Trudy instantly backed out of the way and gave them room to fight, pushing Kat's wheelchair out of the way.
And they were off. Kat cracked a smile. Adrian charged at her with his duel swords, going with a foreswing and following it with a backswing. Katerina dodged the first and met the second with her dagger. The weight of the sword and Adrian's force sent Kat tumbling down, so she improvised and rolled in contact, ending up behind Adrian. Adrian turned and swung down again. Kat deflected it with her blade, then swung it at Adrian's face. He staggered, blood flowing from a cut Kat's blade had made. She tackled Adrian, successfully pinning him down to the ground. He wriggled violently, but Katerina kept him down. Finally, Adrian yielded, flopping onto the floor. Kat got off him, grinning and Trudy rushed over, helping him up.
"I never said I'll go easy on you," Katerina said, smirking.
"But I did - and I went really, really easy," He said, on the ground, his lip gashed and bleeding.
"Sorry," Kat apologized, then leaned over to Trudy to whisper loudly, so Adrian could hear, "I'm not actually."
"Today was an off day for me,"
"Off day? I can barely move on two feet!"
"Your leg looks fine, by the way,"
"Is your leg ok?" Trudy asked, rolling her wheelchair over.
"It's been better," Kat grimaced, settling back down in her wheelchair while tucking her dagger back it's in sheath on her belt and picking up her bag, laying it on her lap.
"We should go now," Trudy suggested, the others nodded and headed to the crest of Half Blood Hill, where Enryx, Elektra, Lysandra and Rosamynd were already waiting for them. Trudy rolled Kat over to their destination. She noticed a dangling chain hanging around Kat's neck, with a locket with a ruby skull attached to it. Kat noticed that Trudy was staring at her necklace and quickly tucked it into her shirt. Trudy shrugged, waving it off.
"Hey," Lysandra looked around, "Where is Vytoni... and Nethrys?"
Just then, the last two Godlings arrived, both walking quickly, avoiding each other with deep glares on their face.
"Here they are!" Adrian exclaimed.
"And so is Dionysus," Elektra sighed, and Trudy looked up to see Dionysus walking out of the Big House and strolling slowly towards them.
"This ought to be a productive meeting," Vytoni mumbled, silently walking over to Lysandra. Nethrys not-so-silently strolled over to them, a half smile on his face.
Dionysus arrived and stopped in front of them munching on his curly fries. Everyone gathered in a semicircle around him.
"Children," Dionysus started to say, his mouthful of his snack, he started to count all the godlings, having to restart numerous amount of times because he would always lose his pace.
"We're all here, for the Gods' sake!" Enryx complained. Dionysus glared at the raven-haired Godling, who's grip was on his bow.
"Just checking. Anyways, your ride should arrive soon." Dionysus looked behind him, towards the Big House. They followed his gaze, but only saw the grassy lawns.
"Where's Chiron?" Rosamynd asked softly.
"He should be coming to see you off, but he probably has no time for you," Dionysus snorted, tossing his empty bag of chips for the satyr near him to catch.
"He has time for everybody!" Trudy glowered. Just then, a huge caravan drove up to them and nearly ran over Nethrys, who was standing near the pathway. Nethrys quickly jumped out of the way, cursing loudly. Dionysus tutted at him, then turned to the van.
"Your ride's arrived."
"That? A mortal caravan?" Kat said skeptically, turning to face the caravan.
"Well, off you go!"
"What do you mean? We don't even know what to look for." Trudy turned back to the God.
"Well, that's not my problem is it?"
"It kind of is," Elektra replied, but he had already disappeared.
A guy with these blue eyes all over his body came out of the caravan and tossed Adrian the keys, which he deflected off his sword he had instantly taken out and it dropped on the floor. He picked it up and looked around at the disapproving faces.
"What? It's a reflex!" Adrian shrugged, pocketing the silver keys. He put his sword back in his sheath, apologizing to the guy who tossed him those keys. They all climbed on to the caravan. Trudy gasped in surprise at how spacious and luminous the inside of the caravan looked. There were five bunk-beds - three on one side and two on the other. She walked deeper into the caravan and saw two luxurious bathrooms and an averaged sized kitchen with a huge high-tech fridge which Adrian ran over to throw open the fridge doors.
"Awesome! Free food!" Adrian whooped, and Trudy laughed, taking his hand and hauling him away before he starts to drool.
"I love magic," Enryx breathed.
There were maps and a huge hologram, for strategizing. They climbed up a flight of stairs and saw a living room, with a dining table and a TV with a bunch of bean bags. They found yet another flight of stairs and came across a patio/terrace deck. There were lounge chairs and couches with a barbecue pit.
They climbed back down to the main floor where everyone chose and settled into their bunk. Kat was at the end against a wall on the bottom bunk, with Vytoni above her, sorting out her stuff. Nethrys and Enryx settled in on the bunk bed on the wall opposite theirs. Enryx on the top, Nethrys on the bottom. Trudy was in the bunk in front of Kat's with Elektra above her. Opposite them were Adrian on the bottom bunk with an spare bunk on top, where he dumped all of his belongings which was already a mess. Lysandra was at the top bunk of the last bunk-bed, and was taking out her spell books out of her weightless bag with Rosamynd at the bottom.
"It's like our own private limo!" Trudy exclaimed, emptying her bag and placing them in her closet.
"Sure," Lysandra rolled her eyes, putting her books onto the bookshelf right next to her bed.
"I call shotgun!" Enryx said.
"I'm driving!" Adrian dashed to the driver's seat, happily putting his hands on the steering wheel.
"Can you even drive?"
"It's simple enough, you just turn the steering wheel to any direction you want!"
"Nethrys, Enryx and I will take shifts in driving," Elektra declared.
"We don't even know where to drive to!" Lysandra frowned.
The door burst open and it banged against the caravan wall. Chiron climbed onto the caravan with some struggle but managed to get his hind hoofs onto the steps and get on the van.
"Godlings! I have figured out what had happened to Kyle!" Chiron said, panting and wheezing for breath. The godlings immediately left their bunks and gathered around Chiron.
"You must go as soon as possible, take this book," Chiron thrusts a book into Lys' hands, "Turn to page 394! It'll give you all the answers."
Chiron turned and went out of the caravan. Everyone was left confused and clueless. The harsh wind banged the door shut, snapping them out of their confusion.
"You heard Chiron, we got to go!" Trudy exclaimed, knocking the rest of the godlings out of their silence.
"Where to?" Nethrys, who was at the driver's seat, turned on the ignition.
"Just drive, we'll figure that out later!"
~~END OF CHAPTER 13~~