Chapter 21 ~Elektra
Enryx had decided to let Elektra take a rest while he drove to Florida. Apparently that's where they were headed to now. Elektra quickly scribbled down the prophecy that Enryx told her while they iris-messaging with Chiron. She quickly calculated that she had maybe eight hours of rest before it was her shift again.
She decided it was best to get some rest, considering the long day they had. She shooed everyone away from their bunks, shepherding them up the stairs so only she, Vytoni and Lysandra, who were already asleep after staying up all night. She punched her pillow until it was nice and comfortable, and snuggled in her blankets, finally letting sleep claim her...
She woke up enclosed by desolate, dark gray stone walls. The air was chilly and dank. She walked a couple steps forward her hand reached out, in hopes of finding some - but what? She wasn't too sure. A thud came from behind her, and she spun around quickly and backed away slowly until she collided into the wall.
The wall opposite her shuddered and groaned. A huge chunk of rock was pulled back then slid out of place. A dark haired girl around eighteen strode through the narrow gap in the wall, followed by a shaggy haired boy a little taller than her.
"For the last time, Will, I am not gonna use my status as leader to get Ashlee to fall in love with you, alright?" The girl snapped
"I don't want you to get her to love me, she already does, all I'm asking from you, sister dear is to pair us up together more often!"
"It's half sister and listen, Will, this mission is not an excuse to get girls, okay?"
The boy sighed listlessly, his mind already somewhere else.
"You and Logan need to take this mission seriously. We have to do this for father ok?"
The boy sighed, " Fine," He grumbled something that the bossy girl was better off not hearing.
"I want you to do guard duty tonight."
The boy nodded dispiritedly and did a small polite bow and started to walk away from the girl.
"And Will, I'll pair you up with Ashlee," The girl gave in, sighing. The boy gave a whoop and went away, a small stride in his step.
"Thanks, Courtney!"
The girl called Courtney rolled her eyes and turned away, looking right at Elektra. Courtney narrowed her eyes, then turn away, her footsteps fading...
Elektra woke up abruptly; she rubbed her eyes and sat up then checked the clock. Been only asleep for six hours. She yawned and stretched, then the contents of her dream came tumbling into her drowsy brain. She pondered on it while she grabbed a sprite, trying to remember where she heard the name Will before.
She sipped on her sprite, thinking heavily, before being interrupted by Katerina and Lys. They barged into the room, Kat knocking over Elektra's empty quiver while doing so. She got up hastily, retrieving it from the floor and swinging it over her shoulder. Never mind, upstairs in the training room there's a whole stock of quivers ready. She decided spend the other two hours in the training room and just do some target practice. She climbed up the stairs to the room, carrying her empty quiver and bow. Vytoni and Adrian were sparring, and Nethrys was aimlessly hacking at a small army of dummies. They stopped when she walked in, and she quickly walked over to where the target stand was and restocked her quiver. She shot each arrow accurately, but was interrupted when Vyt tapped her on the shoulder.
In a hushed tone, she whispered, "Well?" Vytoni frowned disapprovingly at Elektra's confused expression.
"Wh- What do you mean?"
"What was your dream about?"
"Oh!" Elektra said surprised at first, then remembered who the Godling's father was. She summarized her dream to Vyt, and Adrian and Nethrys came over, curious. There were patches of sweat all over the boy's shirts, and Vytoni grimaced then stepped away from the boys a little.
"I remember hearing Katerina mention the name 'Will' and something about Nyx, but she said it wasn't that important," Nethrys supplied.
"Of course it's important!" Vytoni snapped, "The Will she was talking about is working for Phobos, isn't he?"
"But then again, tons of boys have the name 'Will'," Nethrys retorted.
"Well, what did he look like? Did he match the appearance in the picture frame Enryx was talking about?" Adrian broke into their argument hastily, diverting his question to Elektra.
"The last picture of him apparently was of a baby boy, there's no way of telling! And how would I know what the photo looked like, anyways." Elektra sighed, then huffed in frustration.
"Yet it might not be the 'Will' you saw in your dream," Nethrys said.
"Where was the dream?" Adrian inquired, "Like, what kind of place was it? It could really narrow down the search."
"It really could be anywhere, but it was in some type of cave maybe," Elektra shrugged, feeling helpless.
"So, Will was camping in a cave, or?"
"No- there were others, a girl maybe a couple years older than us with black hair, they mentioned another boy too, a Leo or something."
"Anyway, we'll sort it out later with the others, just concentrate on improving your battle technique," Vytoni turned away and continued her spar.
Elektra nodded and pushed the thoughts of Will out of her mind. She picked up her bow, notched a sparkling arrow onto her string and made her way till she was standing in front of a new, clear target board. She took a deep breath, squinting at the board and shot a clear bullseye. She latched another two arrows at once onto her bow, and fired. They both hit the target, one of them pierced right through the first arrow she shot and landed on the bullseye.
She smiled, satisfied with herself, and her thoughts suddenly went to the day her father Apollo, the very first time he taught her how to shoot an arrow, when she was at the age of four. She missed, obviously, but her father didn't seem to mind - instead, he seemed quite impressed, possibly at the fact that she could even hold the bow. Apollo, Enryx and Elektra would have shooting competitions, with their mother, Luna, as their judge. Bitterly, Elektra pushed her mother out of her mind, shooting an arrow so violently it went to the target.
It was originally only Elektra that would be equipped with the bow and arrow because Enryx wanted to be 'manly' and use a crossbow. However, he failed at using it so Apollo took him aside and said that (a) archery was not a feminine, nor masculine activity - but both masculine and feminine and (b) he would excel in the art of archery along with his sister, if he tried.
Enryx still refused to be seen in the quiver and bow, and ran outside the house. But that night, after they were sound asleep, Elektra heard the front door close, ever-so-slightly and she saw Enryx from her window, which faced his room's window, small little four year old Enryx, trying to aim at the target. There were dried up tears on his cheeks and unshed ones in his eyes. He sniffled and held up his bow with an arrow hooked inside. He aimed for the target board hanging on the tree. He shot an arrow but he missed by quite a lot.
Elektra crept out of her bedroom and out of the house into the cold countryside air. She would shuffle towards Enryx and gently take the bow out of his hands, aiming for the target. However, when she hit the center Enryx would only get more upset. She tried teaching him tips for a better aim, but he always refused her help. She stayed up all night that day, helping him and by the time it was morning, he was already a much improved archer. But when morning came, and the kids were eating breakfast for some reason, he never mentioned anything to Apollo about their midnight practices.
Several years later, Apollo and Luna separated, Luna returning to California and becoming a patron goddess at some camp. Elektra was greatly saddened by this, since they had a very strong bond- but right before her mother left, Luna had left something specifically for Elektra- a necklace with a small, silver-glazed star as the pendant- which Elektra immediately looped around her neck - and a quiverful of silver tipped arrows. She remembered that night clearly - she had walked up to Enryx and showed him her arrows, only to see an identical set of arrows in his hands, only they were golden. Elektra tried to resent her mother for leaving them, yet every month on the full moon, Luna has hundreds of silver arrows delivered to Elektra and she always went through the trouble of asking Apollo to deliver some golden ones to Enryx, too.
She snapped back to reality from her hazy daydream, surprised to see she was still holding her arrow at a certain angle towards the target. No-one else was in the room now, so she quickly shot, smiled, then kept aiming and shooting, training until her quiver was once again empty.
As she bent down to get more arrows, she heard a clink, and saw her necklace on the ground. As she bent to pick it up, she noticed that one edge of the silver star was a little cracked, and the star looked crooked at a close angle. But who's going to look at my necklace, anyways - I wonder when the next full moon is.
Right before her shift started, Nethrys had stopped the caravan in front of a grocery store, thinking that they needed more food - especially for Adrian. They all got off, and Nethrys clicked the lock button on the car keys. They got off the caravan and stretched their legs and many other body parts. They walked in the store and immediately split up. Adrian dragged Trudy over to the snacks section, while Lysandra and Elektra loitered about. They all got everything they thought they needed for the long road ahead, and together they went to the cashier. After they paid, they left the store by the other exit, hands filled with bags. They hung around and chatted for a bit.
After about five to ten minutes of relaxing in the fresh Oklahoma air, they returned to the caravan. As they stepped in, Nethrys tossed Elektra the keys, and she caught them with haste. As the others went inside, doing their own business, she stepped into the driver's seat, settling down on the comfy chair, before clicking the key into the right place, and starting the ignition. The engine started rolling, and Elektra gripped the wheel. She moved a couple of centimetres from their stop, before the engine abruptly stopped.
"Hey- what's the holdup?" She heard someone shout from inside, but she was too busy trying to figure out to answer. After a few seconds of miserable failure of getting the caravan back on, she heard unusual footsteps coming closer to her. Her heart started beating more fast than before, and she made herself calm. It's only your friends, Elektra, why are you scared? But, something was wrong. Nethrys or Trudy would usually be the one to come for car trouble, but his footsteps were loud and brisk, and Trudy's were light and flouncy, unlike the ones she just heard. But if this was a monster, or an abnormal creature, wouldn't the others be fighting it by now? After all, the only way the creature could come was through the door, or I would have heard a crash. She took a chance and glanced in the rearview mirror, and gulped. The sight was astonishingly beautiful, a lady with curly, brunette hair that was parted in the middle. She saw the lady smile, her teeth platinum white, but something about her smile irked Elektra. Fangs. Now Elektra was starting to notice others things about her. Her skin was so pale it was practically white; her lips were thin and blood red; her eyes were a hypnotic mixture of poisonous green and red. But most horrifying of all, the monster had snake trunks instead of legs. Snake trunks! Elektra shuddered involuntarily.
"Hey, ugly!"
A golden arrow shot Lamia at the back, but she only winced and turned back, snarling. Elektra took the opportunity to bolt to the main room, where the others probably were. Rosamynd was passed out, her face as pale as sheet. Rosamynd! Elektra's first instinct was to go tend to Rosamynd's medical needs but she knew that she had to take out the horrid vampire-monster first.
Enryx repeatedly shot arrows at the beast, but they just bounced off her hard shell-like skin. His face grew red with anger and exhaustion, he shot two arrows at a time. Still it was not enough, and the beast snarled and whacked Enryx on his head, he sank down to the ground, clutching his head. Trudy had been stabbing at the fiend's hard shell, as Adrian was slashing his black and white swords at the vampiric demon. Elektra picked up her argentate bow and quickly latched on a gleaming arrow. She saw Trudy suddenly ducking out of the demon's way and rummage through her closet with haste.
"Elektra!" Trudy called. Elektra paused, her bow still held up. Trudy's eyes was filled with panic and alarm, and she tossed Elektra a golden piece of wired fabric. She turned around to pick up her dagger that she dropped. The beast snarled at the easy target and lunged forward.
"Trudy!" Elektra yelled as she shot an arrow into the demon's neck. Adrian took notice of the demon lunging at his girlfriend and jumped in front of her, throwing his black sword in between the demon's eyes. The savage gave a horrendous yell and attacked Adrian, digging her claws deep into his shoulders then throwing his aside. The beast shoved Trudy to the side, knocking her out senseless.
Elektra quickly fumbled with the golden net Trudy had given her, but her panicked haste only slowed her down. She finally found a net arrow in her stock, and ripped the normal one out. Out of the corner of her eye, Katerina had blending in with her surroundings; Nethrys and Vytoni were together against Lamia, and Lysandra was muttering spell after spell, sparks igniting at her fingertips. As she successfully notched the arrow with the net on her bow, she saw Nethrys get a nasty scratch on his forearm. She quickly shot the monster, entangling her in the golden mass of wires. Elektra vaguely recalled the myth where Hephaestus' net had trapped Aphrodite and Ares, and felt a momentary rush of safety. It is impossible to get out of that net.
"Ow," Nethrys brought her back to reality. She rushed over to him immediately tending his wound. He looked at the struggling Lamia, tiredness etched across his features, "What was that... thing?"
"It's the Lamia," Katerina explained, "Persephone said that others had threatened their children with the story of Lamia."
"Enyo used to tell me that too," Nethrys agreed.
"She's a vampiric creature that fed on children," Lysandra rattled off with her usual textbook knowledge.
"She's probably an Adept Elemental, or at least skilled in some sort of black magic," Vytoni muttered, "She's apparently a child of Hecate."
"We're sisters with a demon," Katerina whispered, in shock.
"Well, half demon, and we're half-sisters," Lysandra corrected, sharing looks of disgust with Vytoni.
"Not so proud of your bloodline now, are ya?" Nethrys teased them, but his gaze lingered on Vyt for a moment. She ignored his jibe, her expression unreadable. Nethrys stared at her for a second, as if he was genuinely concerned for her lack of response, then turned away, a slightly disappointed expression on his face. Yeah, right, Elektra snorted, he was looking for a fight all day.
"Maybe..." Vytoni muttered to herself, her finger tapping a symbol on her wrist. Craning her neck, Elektra could make out a wheel - Hecate's wheel, Elektra realized, as she remembered countless times of Lysandra blabbered on about it.
"Do you think-?" Katerina stared at her half sister. Do you think what? Elektra frowned in indignation, This is too confusing.
"Maybe," Lysandra breathed. By then Elektra was ready to rip her hair out in curiosity and annoyance.
Vyt chanted something in Ancient Greek under her breath. Hecate's symbol glowed green, and there was a flash of light and a beautiful woman stood in front of them. She had Lysandra's dirty blonde hair tied into a messy bun perched on the top of her head, Katerina and Vytoni's wide iridescent eyes- but instead of Kat's turquoise color or Vyt's dark brown-gold, they were a luminous green, with a motherly glow. She had on white alchemist robes, embroidered with symbols and runes in silver thread.
"Not again," She sighed, with a hint of frustration on her plain but beautiful face. She looked from her children to Nethrys, then to Elektra, then to the Godlings who were knocked out cold, then at Lamia under the golden chain-link net, who was hissing at the sight of her godly mother.
"Let me go!" The demon shrieked, "Mother, save me! Free me from this net!"
"Banish her!" Katerina argued, "Mother- all she had done today is delay us from our quest by bombarding into our caravan."
"Very well, Katerina," Hecate muttered. Her voice was smooth and lilting. She turned to look at Lamia, "Baraz'ath Le trian'n Vynthoz," She hissed, and the Lamia suddenly cowered in the corners. The beast was emitting ear-splitting screams, and Elektra had to clap her ears to block out the noise. On spur of moment, Lamia had chains wrapped around her arms, torso and legs in addition to the net. Lamia wriggled around for a bit, struggling to sit up. The creature inhaled a deep breath, and snarled she gritted her teeth and gave another high-pitched scream, she burst out of her chains and transformed. All of a sudden, her claws turned a hideous colour - the colour of vomit - and way much longer than it was before. Her fangs, too, turned the colour the same as her claws, and as sharp as a blade. They recoiled from the sight, but as soon as Lamia had burst free, she vanished into a pile of rust-colored sand.
Elektra let out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding. She watched as the Goddess walked around the room, saying something under her breath that made the other Godling come to. When they were all awake, Hecate gently pushed off the floor and poised in mid-air, her snowy white robes floating gently behind her. She smiled at all of them, and her green, orb like eyes landed on Nethrys. She spoke softly to him, too softly for anyone else to hear. He turned beet-red, then muttered something back to the Goddess. She nodded, though Elektra didn't think Hecate looked convinced. She turned to the rest of them, a kindly smile on her docile features.
"I'll see you soon, my children," She whispered. A explosion of light forced Elektra to look away, and when she blinked, the Goddess was gone.
"I guess you won't be seeing Lamia soon," Adrian said triumphantly, he was sat down, leaning against the closet, breathing heavily.
"You were unconscious most of the time," Nethrys reminded him. Adrian made a face at him, and then they were bickering as if nothing particularly life-threatening had happened. Rosamynd was chatting with Trudy, and ELektra saw Lysandra, Katerina and Vytoni talking in low, fast tones to each other, though they didn't look very negative about their mother. I wish I can say the same thing. Elektra felt a pang of homesickness and pushed it away, blinking back tears.
~~~END OF CHAPTER 21~~~