Chapter 14 ~ Enryx
Enryx wandered over to Lys and gently took the book and turned to page 394 to find images of mini tornados of what looked liked black velvet.
"What's this?"
"Well, you have to read it to find out!" Lys said, skimming through the page.
"I will!"
"Fine!" Lysandra stormed away from Enryx onto her bed top bunk. Enryx rolled his eyes and went over to his bunk which was far away from Lys'. Thank gods. Enryx propped himself onto his bed and started to read.
There are mysterious and magical kinds of evil in this world. Ones that can take your greatest fear and turn it into reality. They suck your fear out of your soul and consume it, scanning it and saving it into their malicious mind. They copy your fear, making an exact copy then they enter the victim's body and possess their minds and make them see and feel their exact fear. They are living their own fear. They continue the hallucination until the victim is on the verge of their 'death'. These daemons are called the Phantoms of Fear.
Enryx smacked the book shut, panting. He was extremely frightened about what it said on the page. He buried his face into his hands and curled up into a ball.
"Hey buddy, you ok?" Adrian asked, climbing onto the spare bunk, attempting to sort through the mess.
"Yeah, it's just, the text, the thing that nearly killed Kyle," Enryx couldn't finish his sentence but instead tossed Adrian the book. "Just read it!"
Trudy had come over and climbed up onto the top bunk as well and cosied up to Adrian, reading along with him. Enryx watched as their eyes widened and their hand clamped tighter onto each other. Trudy shuddered, drawing herself nearer to her boyfriend, who wrapped his arms tightly around her and snapped the book shut. He picked it up and tossed it to Lysandra, who frowned at him for treating books that way.
They all turned to her, whose eyes were threatening to pop out of their sockets. She was visibly shaking, and Enryx wondered if the others would think of it if he went over and comfort her. He almost began to jump up and giver her his jacket, but decided against it. Too soon, too soon.
"Poor Kyle," Lysandra whispered.
Vytoni and Katerina came down the stairs, who was limping on her non-injured leg and walked over to their bunk. They gawked at the four, who were wearing frightened looks on their faces.
"What?" Vyt took the book from Lys' hands, handing it to Katerina. Kat paled, her eyes dancing across the page. She passed it to Vyt, who scanned the page quickly and flinched slightly, obviously trying not to show her fear.
"Ooh, is wittle bitty Vyt a little scaredy cat?" Nethrys crowed, striding into the room, when it was Elektra's shift as driver. Vytoni shot daggers (not real daggers, but they might as well have been) at him, and walked up to the smirking Godling, roughly shoving the book into his hands. She went up the stairs, leaving the others.I'm gonna have to look into them - find out what their deal is.
"Oh," Nethrys had to sit down, his eyes never once leaving the page. He closed the book, swallowing hard, "Oh, wow."
Enryx walked over to him, taking the book from Nethrys' hands, "I'm just gonna put this over there... way over there."
"Rosamynd and Elektra needs to read it," Lysandra gulped.
"It's alright I'll read it later!" Elektra called from the driver's seat.
"Where are we going now?"
"Anywhere - we have to do our research, though," Elektra replied, not turning to look at them, occasionally looking at a map.
Lysandra instantly reached for a book on her bookshelf, knowing exactly which book went where. That's pretty cool! Enryx started to tidy up his bunk, hanging his bow and quiver and making his bed.
"Maybe we could stop at PB teen and grab some things to customize our caravan?" Trudy suggested, leaning her head on Adrian's shoulder.
"PB what?" Enryx look at her strangely. Maybe it comes with being a child of Aphrodite.
"It's this amazing decor store! It stands for Pottery Barn!" Trudy said, all excited.
"Well, we do have to buy some time to figure things out" Kat taking off her boots and putting some turquoise flip-flops on.
"Sure, off to New York City!" Elektra said over her shoulder and changed direction in her route.
"You've gotta be joking!" Nethrys gaped to her, "Thats, like, a long way to go!"
"Are you kidding? That's only like an hour and a half away? Do you even know geography?" Elektra corrected.
"Well, we haven't got a time limit! At least Chiron never set us one," Lys said.
"Where's Rosamynd anyway?"
"I think shes in the den," Vytoni leapt down the stairs two at a time, landing silently. She yanked her combat boots off and climbed up to her bunk, picking a book and generally tuning out the conversation.
"Well, we better get comfortable, we'll be stuck here together for a long time," Lysandra sighed, also settling in.
"Adrian and I are already really comfortable," Trudy and Adrian were in a warm embrace on his top bunk, watching some sappy movie form the portable DVD player, that Adrian had brought along. Enryx rolled his eyes and leaned into his pillow, marvelling its comfiness. It was silent for a few moments, until-
"Hey, is anyone hungry?" Nethrys jumped down from his bunk and made a beeline for the fridge, "I'm gonna see what's in here."
"Can you get me. something?" Adrian shot up and looked at Nethrys and started listing all the food he wanted from the fridge. Trudy looked up and rolled her eyes, but laughed. Everyone burst into laughter, and Enryx thought he was getting an ab workout from laughing so much. By the end of the day, everyone had settled in and gotten along great, apart from some people who didn't seem to even acknowledge each other's existence. Nethrys spent most of his time in the den, while Vytoni spent hers up at the deck, where nobody seemed keen on going because of the strong wind the van creates.
Night drew in, and by 11pm everyone was in their beds, either reading or watching a movie or Gods knows what. Elektra had stopped driving and had settled in as well.
"Night night," Enryx called out. There were a few giggles and laughs, and he heard Lysandra respond.
"Sleep tight."
"Don't let the bedbugs bite."
Finally! Enryx sat at the wheel, marvelling the van in renewed respect. He placed his hands on the leather wheel cover. Lysandra, Vytoni and Katerina were doing research- Kat was on her laptop; Vytoni was looking through a Dark Magic History book and Lysandra was re-reading the page 394 in the book Chiron gave her.
"Oh my Gods! I can't believe I didn't notice this," Lysandra suddenly screeched, breaking the stony silence.
"What, what?" Came Katerina's voice, as she limped towards Lys.
"Yeah, what?" Enryx said, called over his shoulder as he drove the minivan peacefully across the road.
"Well, Chiron forgot to mention to look at page 395, as well. Apparently there is this God of fear- Phobos- and, I don't know for sure if he's the person we're looking for - but it's a good start."
"Well does it say where he is?" Enryx asked, "Because that's no help to us, if we don't even know where he is."
"Nope- it doesn't," Said Vytoni, who was reading over Lysandra's shoulder.
"We could ask Hades, I'm sure he knows of Phobos' whereabouts. I've heard him talk of Phobos before, once or twice," Kat suggested.
"We could try, but I'm not sure the information he's gonna give us is not that helpful," Vytoni said skeptically, putting away her dusty tome.
"You don't know our father like we do, so trust me on this. And at least it's some kind of information to start off with. Let's iris-message him now," Kat limped into the bathroom and turned on a tap, diverting the water so it made a rainbow. reached into her pocket and took out a single drachma. Nethrys woke up in time for the shift change, and he went over, wanting to listen to the iris-message.
"Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering," Kat announced loudly, creating a rainbow with the water from the sink. "Hades, the underworld."
Hades' face popped up on the screen. His dark hollow eyes and head of greasy black hair made Enryx having to suppress himself from making a face. This guy needs a makeover.
"Katerina? What's wrong? Are you lost again?" The rough voice of Katerina and Lysandra's father said.
"Dad, no, I'm fine. I was wondering if I could ask you something."
"Who's that?" Hades asked.
"Who?" Kat pointed at Lys who was behind her, who was staring fish-eyed at her father. "Her?"
"Yes, her, she looks vaguely familiar."
"She's Lysandra, your daughter."
"Oh. You look so...old," Hades said. "How's Hecate? Good? Magical?"
"Yeah, she's ok," Lysandra replied blankly. Enryx could understand - this was her seeing her dad after Gods-know-what, and he treats her like this- as if she meant nothing to him.
"Enough chit chat, dad. I need to ask you something," Katerina said, a worried expression clouding her face.
"Yes, what is it?"
"Well have you heard from Phobos lately?"
"Phobos? Why?"
"I'm on a quest, father, I need to know where he is,"
"A quest? Last I saw of him, he was in Phoenix-Phobos, Deimos, Nyx and I were having lunch in the mortal world,"
"Phoenix? Is that where he is now?" Lys asked.
"No, Lily, he's not, that was ages ago, maybe a few years back,"
"Dad! That's not my name- it's Lysandra. Do you not remember me at all?"
"I do remember you, Lysandra. I just-" He sighed deeply. "I apologize."
"Apology accepted."
"Do you know where Phobos is now, Dad?" Kat urged, steering the conversation away from the awkward angle.
"No clue. Sorry princess, I have to get going now. I have a special dinner set up for Persephone and I. I'll say hi to her for you!"
The iris-message ended, and after they all stared into the sink in dismay, they left the bathroom shortly. Enryx quickly swapped back with Nethrys and set course for Phoenix. Rosamynd, Elektra and Trudy were still asleep while Adrian was in the den, contentedly chomping down a huge breakfast he made for himself.
Enryx stared at the open road -they were near the Hither Woods, having not travelled that much since they left- but at least they had some information on where to start looking for Phobos. It felt good to be back in the driver's seat again. He had a car back home with Apollo - one of the best cars in the mortal world, Dad had said.
"Enryx," Lysandra said interrupting his thoughts. She slid into the seat next to him, her arms wrapped around a thick book.
"Hey, what's up?" He said, not taking his eyes of the road.
"Nothing, Katerina and Vytoni are discussing battle plans."
"You're not that interested?"
"Not that much, no," Lysandra said softly, opening her book.
"Do you think we're gonna find Phobos in Phoenix?" Enryx asked turning up the radio to drown out the silence.
"I don't know if we can trust Hades," Lys confessed, turning to look at him.
"But he's your father!" Enryx exclaimed, entering a thick fog.
"That doesn't mean I trust him," Lysandra murmured, skimming through her book, being careful with the delicate, ancient pages.
"Argh!" Enryx suddenly shrieked, as he saw a figure standing in the mist. He couldn't see what exactly it was, just the silhouette standing within the fog. Enryx yelped and slammed his foot onto the brake, swerving off the road and onto the forest floor. Enryx immediately turned off the ignition. Lysandra smacked her book shut and put it on her seat as she stood up. Rosamynd, Elektra and Trudy jolted up, rudely awakened from their nap. The Godlings, ran out of the van, weapons at ready. Everyone in their pajamas, barely awake for battle. The dark silhouette slowly walked towards them slowly. Enryx could just make out the figure. Greasy, matted fur, a stink that could knock your breath out, snarling face and for some reason, very glowy red eyes.
Monster.
~~~ END Of CHAPTER 14 ~~~