Chapter 26 ~ Vytoni
Vytoni surveyed the waking Godling, feeling distrustful and uneasy. The captured boy, William, woke up and immediately began struggling against the rope, but Vyt knew it was useless. "This is infused with sphinx hair," She told him. He stopped struggling and slumped onto his seat, glaring resentfully at them.
"It was worth a try," the boy shrugged. His scowl deepened, his gaze aimed at Katerina, who was glaring back.
"Get comfortable, you're gonna be there for a long time."
"What if I need to do my business?" He asked, "I can see perfectly, you know."
"Oh, right," Lysandra tied a black cloth around William, "Better?"
"I prefer being able to see."
"Too bad, buddy," Nethrys slapped him on the back, none too friendly.
"Why are you not torturing me for information?"
"Hold on, we're not there yet!" Enryx shrugged nonchalantly, "But if you insist..."
"Uh... not really."
"We have an easy way," Nethrys said, "Just tell us the truth. And I can tell when you're lying, by the way."
"I don't know where Phobos is," William immediately said.
"Is he lying?" Lysandra looked at Nethrys inquiringly.
Nethrys frowned, his face darkening, "No."
"How did you know we were going to ask that? Maybe we wanted to know what hair conditioner you use," Katerina commented sarcastically, pointing out his tousled hair.
"I use Aphrodite's Malako product line," William rolled his eyes.
Nethrys burst out laughing, "He's not lying!"
Trudy asked him another question, "Who are you working with?"
William stared at her for a second, then sighed resignedly and responded, "The girl is Courtney, my half sister, the boy is her cousin, Logan."
"It wasn't Leo, it was Logan!" Elektra smacked her forehead with her palm.
"It was close enough," Lysandra comforted her.
"I'll go start the caravan!" Enryx offered, heading to the front of the van, Rosamynd trailing behind him.
"Enjoy the ride," Nethrys smirked. Then he remembered that William couldn't see and added, "I'm smirking, William."
"You can call me Wolfe," He replied, "With an 'E'."
"Someone should be on guard from now on," Katerina decided.
"I recommend this lovely lady here as guard," William said, "Well I hope you're a lady since you sound like one."
"She's a girl," Adrian glared at Wolfe.
"Ahh, you are the girl who sang, right?" William glared at the general direction of Katerina.
"Yes, I am."
"Your name?"
"Katerina."
"Katerina." He repeated with his slight accent.
"You shouldn't have told him," Vytoni hissed, but Wolfe heard her anyway.
"And who is this charming girl?" Vyt made a face disgustedly at him. Old habits die hard.
"Shove off, Wolfe," To her surprise, Nethrys had stepped up, his ever changing eyes narrowing, his tone menacing.
"Don't fight my fights," Vytoni retorted, "if you call this a fight. Watch your mouth, William, if you know what's good for you."
"Ah," He nodded understandingly, "A Huntress. I'll keep my distance." Vytoni blinked in surprise, and she heard Trudy mutter, "I sense a beautiful friendship. Or, rather, a Maybe-I-won't-slice-your-head-off-ship."
"Katerina and I can take the first watch," She narrowed her eyes at Nethrys, who was opening his mouth in protest. He closed it again, and walked out of the room, followed by the others.
"Wow, so now you need two people guarding me," William started, "I am so bad."
"Shut up," Katerina bit back, "Vyt is here so I don't have to put up with you."
"Thanks," Vytoni said dryly. Kat shot her an apologetic look and shrugged before turning back to Wolfe. They sat in silence for a while, with Wolfe commenting occasionally about random things. They ignored him.
Due to utter boredom Kat decided to strike up a conversation, "So..uh...Wolfe we saw your mom, Nyx. She... she misses you."
"Yeah?" William's face darkened, "Then why'd she give me away?"
"She didn't have a choice," Vytoni said sharply, "Neither did you."
"And plus, she didn't give you away, Phobos kind of took you against her will." Wolfe shook his head, looking defeated, and Vytoni almost felt sorry for him. Almost.
"It doesn't matter anymore, I'm here now, aren't I?" He spread his arms to emphasize the point. Or, at least he tried to.
"So are you with us or not?" Katerina questioned bluntly. Wolfe began laughing. Vytoni was starting to have second thoughts about his sanity.
"With you? I didn't volunteer to come, did I? You captured me and here I am!"
"So you're a Godling, as well?"
"If you mean I'm a child of two Gods, then yeah- You already knew, didn't you?"
"Yup, just checking." Katerina replied cheerfully.
"Back then when you were fighting me, I swore I saw two Katerinas."
"Nice try, buddy. You're not getting any info from us," Vytoni smirked, then told him she was smirking. He didn't exactly look overjoyed.
"Wasn't trying to, just trying to start conversation," William looked shrugged and looked like he was falling asleep, but Vytoni knew better.
"Can't trust him," She whispered to Katerina, who nodded in agreement, "Don't give anything away." She saw Wolfe's mouth twitch, but ignored him and pulled a book from the shelf. She kept glancing at him from to time to time, although most of time he either feigned sleep or was annoying Katerina, who was trying to not fall asleep on her laptop. It's almost one. We should ask for a shift change.
"Stay here," She told Katerina, "I'm gonna get someone else to keep watch." She nodded gratefully and Vytoni went upstairs, where Nethrys, Adrian, Trudy and Scarlett were in the Den. Vyt scowled but hid it as she walked in, past Scarlett, who was flirting -again- at Nethrys. She turned to Adrian and Trudy, who were cuddled together on the loveseat. She still disapproved of relationships, but some of them really do work out, like Adrian and Trudy. Although when they shared a quick kiss, Vyt still had to look away.
"Can you two take out shifts?" She asked them. They nodded and stood up, stretching from being holed up there so long.
"Have fun with William!" She called out after them, refraining herself from laughing.
Vytoni went down to bathroom and decided to take a bath. She turned on the tap in the shower and rinsed, her body relieved momentarily of it's tension and stiffness. She washed the soap suds off her and directed the shower nozzle straight at her face, closing her eyes while doing so. She stepped out of the shower and towelled off, changing back to normal clothes - to her, there are no such thing as pajamas. Absentmindedly breaking open a new pen, she emptied the ink onto a small bowl and whispered a command in Ancient Greek. The ink glowed gold, then it just looked plain black. Vytoni dipped her stylus in the charmed ink and began tracing patterns all over her skin - the ones on her clothes never wash off.
"How long do you girls take in the bathroom?" Nethrys yelled on the other side of the door, "Gotta get ready for my shift!" Scowling, Vyt yanked the door open and glared at Nethrys, who was obviously rethinking what he said moments before.
"All yours," She shrugged, taking him by surprise.
"Thank you?" He glanced at her confusedly, then closed the door behind him.
Vytoni went back upstairs, taking the stylus -which had formed into her weapon of choice, a staff which had a dark, misty orb on one end, with runes and letters carved along the sides- and headed to the training room. Which was still splattered with paint from their paint fight they had before Lysandra interrupted. The floors were scrubbed clean but still had some stains of bright colours here and there. Sighing frustratedly, Vyt went over to the least messiest spot, where all the training dummies were. They were getting a little worn out, with straws and stuffed guts spilling out. Frowning, Vytoni decided just to hang out in her favorite spot of the whole caravan. She jumped up onto the weapons table and swung herself onto the rafters, climbing onto the highest one, where she stashed her sketchbook and extra rune-ink, this time conveniently fed back into the pen.
"Don't you ever worry about falling off?" Vytoni looked down at Enryx, who had walked in to probably improve his archery. Shrugging, she turned back to her sketchbook, looking through the designs to single out something she hadn't created yet. Protection, invisibility, enhanced agility, enhanced strength, enhanced reflexes , summoning... Vytoni frowned, having suddenly being hit with a brainwave. Would that be a good idea? Slowly, she let her pen flow throughout the page, forming a simple, deadly rune.
Destruction.
Thunk. Vytoni looked up, her staff already in hand. Enryx's arrow was inches away from her right hand. She jumped off the rafter and landed on the ground, striding up to Enryx, who was looking apologetic.
"What?"
"Sorry, didn't know how else to grab your attention," He replied sheepishly.
"Well, you have my attention. What do you want?"
He held his hands up defensively, "Nothing! I'm saying it's three in the morning and you haven't slept at all! I thought being a child of Morpheus and all, you would like more sleep."
"Nah," She shrugged, "I can go without sleep for days at a time. A week, at most. I just have a really irregular sleep patterns. Not really tired right now, so I'll just go read, or something."
She walked out of the training room to the Den. It was empty, for once. She took a book and sank into one of the bean bags, curling up in front of the TV, which was playing music she barely recognized. She tried to focus on her book, but something was nagging her on the back of her mind. Still restless, she went downstairs to the bunks, where Wolfe was still being guarded by Adrian and Trudy. She walked past them and up to Nethrys, who was looking dead on his feet. Grinning, she snuck up behind him and snapped her fingers right beside his ear, making him sit and and crash his head on the rearview mirror.
"Watch it!" He complained, "I'm gonna crash!"
"You were going to crash anyways," She retorted, "You were sleep-driving. Where are we?"
"Near Lakeland, I think," He rubbed his eyes, staring at the map, "Actually, we're not really there ye- Whoa!"
The caravan swerved of the road, spinning across the gravel and landing on mud. Vytoni smelt smoke, and instantly rushed out to the bunks, where most of them were asleep.
"Get up!" She shook everyone awake, "There was an engine failure and it caught on fire. Get out!"
Katerina stirred and sat up groggily and rubbed her eyes,"Hey, what about William? Can't just leave him." William, who was sitting there with his head leaning back against the chair moments ago turned his head at the sound of her voice, his mouth forming a surprised O.
"Fine. Take him," Lys made a split second decision, "But always keep an eye on him. Actually, just make sure you're holding on to him at all times." Kat nodded and began grabbing all her stuff. The others followed her lead, throwing stuff in their rucksacks and bags. Once they had all the essentials, Katerina untied Wolfe from the chair, but kept his hands tied behind his back, with Kat keeping a death grip on his shoulder. The others were already out, so Vyt stopped and assessed the damage. The back right corner of the caravan was totally damaged, the back wheel deflated and the walls were dented and charred. Looks like we need a new way on transport. With a flash of annoyance, Vytoni realized that she had come to rely on the caravan, and almost took it for granted. Of course not. She followed the others out, stepping into the damp, stifling hot air.
"Trudy, can you, uh, fix this?" Scarlett asked tentatively.
Trudy crouched down next to the damaged area and surveyed it, trying to find a way to fix it. She stood up and shook her head. "Sorry, most of the wires here are broken and there's a massive hole in the wall that can't be fixed."
"Thank the Gods I brought a map with me," Nethrys waved the map that was usually taped to the dashboard.
"But it's still your fault for sleep-driving," Vytoni pointed out.
"No, the caravan was slightly damaged after the encounter with Lamia, and not Courtney and her minions," Trudy reasoned.
"So it's your fault," Lysandra poked Wolfe, who had his blindfold removed and looked really, really grumpy.
"I guess we have to find somewhere else to stay until we finish this quest," Rosamynd suggested.
"I guess," Elektra looked uncomfortable, "But where? And I doubt we can afford it."
"That's not a problem," Katerina assured them.
"Why is that not a problem?" Adrian frowned, "We're broke! Well, on mortal terms. But we certainly can't pay with drachmas."
"Currency is not a problem, for my father is God of Wealth and Riches, remember?"
"Woah there, Katerina, you're a daughter of Hades? Met him once, he's slightly hilarious," Wolfe laughed silently to himself.
"I don't get it," Enryx frowned.
"Yes my father is Hades. Lord of the Underworld and God of the Dead. As in, you'll be dead if don't keep your mouth shut." Katerina threatened.
"So where do we go to stay now?" Lysandra asked; one side of her hair was brushed while the other was a tangly mess. Enryx handed her a comb he snagged on the way out, and with it she began to run it through her tangles.
"Besides, I have a bunch of camping gear," Vytoni shrugged, taking a two tents out of her bag.
"Yeah, but ten people can't fit in one tent," Adrian contradicted.
"Eleven," Wolfe added, looking slightly offended.
"Who said you were gonna sleep in the tent?"
"I can always sleep on a tree," Vyt shrugged, looking at the others amusedly - they couldn't tell if she was kidding. Finally, Lysandra nodded and the others copied her.
"So I guess we'll just be scouting for a place to stay, maybe a motel of some kind?" Rosamynd asked.
"Hotel maybe, the cost is no problem," Katerina reminded her cheerfully.
They started to trek along the Florida roads, the heat scorching at their skin, all of them trying to ignore Williams random remarks, Adrian's cries of despair that their 'beloved caravan' was now gone. Once or twice, they all stopped to have water, or to eat a little snack. After, about two hours of walking on and on, Elektra stopped midway pointed to something in front of her.
"Woah, what is that?"
Just in front of them was a huge lake with luminous lights around it, and right in the middle of the lake was a structure of a flower of some kind. It was three times their height and on top of it was a lady in a sparkly red dress singing in the most high-pitched screechy voice. The flower had a beaming light source from inside so it glew a illuminated magenta pink. There were lily pads that acted like gondolas, tourists sat on it with their cameras blinding others with their flashing lights and a man dressed in striped black and white shirts, blue pants and straw hat were rowing the lily pads around the sparkling red lady.
Behind the explosion of bright lights, there was a huge grand entrance with columns supporting the weight of the roof above the people that were arriving. Right above the roof was a big bright neon sign that read 'Star Lotus Hotel". The O's were replaced with lotuses that outshined the other letters so it just sort of looked like two crooked lotuses.
"It seems kind of sketchy to me," Nethrys remarked thoughtfully.
"What do you mean? There are thousands of people going in and out and the atmosphere is fantastic!" Rosamynd said, Wolfe nodding in response.
"Do you want to stay there?" Scarlett looked really enthusiastic, her head spinning in hundreds of directions.
"Why not?" Adrian exclaimed excitedly. Vytoni could tell he was desperate to go to bed and snack on expensive food. Everyone walked towards the main entrance; there was a crowd at the door waiting to go in but it dispersed quickly enough.
They strided into the main lobby where they were christmas trees set up a month earlier than needed. Katerina walked up to the receptionist, who looked like a life-sized barbie doll with an oversized smile. They started chatting excitedly, and Kat soon came back, holding five room keys.
"This place is great! Here are the brochures," She handed them out and Vytoni stared at the flyer, suspicion nagging her.
"Okay, so Enryx and Nethrys will share one room," Katerina gave one to the boys, who disappeared to the rooms. "Unfortunately for you Adrian, you have to stay with William and you have to guard him," Kat tried to sound enthusiastic about it but Adrian looked sulky and stared at Trudy for a long time before he grabbed Wolfe by the arm and dragged him to the elevators.
"Elektra and Scarlett can share the suite of the top floor, and Trudy and Rosamynd can have the next room," Kat continued, distributing the hotel keys to them.
"Which leaves Katerina, Vytoni and I to have the last room," Lysandra said, looking very pleased of herself. Vytoni followed her half-sisters up to the top floor, feeling uneasy. Until she stepped into the room.
In front of her, there was a gigantic flat-screen TV, and a bunch of snacks that seemed to be free, since there were no price tags. Along the free-because-they-forgot-the-price-tag food was huge welcome basket which was filled with a bunch of fruits - like a lot of fruit. There were were four doors leading from the main room, which were obviously leading to the three rooms and bathroom. It was painted with a cream-colored background and patterned with lotuses - Obviously.
Katerina put down her things and left to see if the others had got settled or if they were having problems, especially Adrian with his new roomie. Lysandra went to her room and came out in a fresh change of clothes, picking out a book from the shelf. Already bored, Vytoni went downstairs to the main lobby, wandering around the hotel. She came to a stop at a huge balcony and stared, at ease, out at the view Florida offered. It was almost sunrise, so she stayed and watched the sun slowly rise up behind the valley, bathing the room in golden light.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" She turned and saw a boy around her age next her, smiling at the sun. She nodded in agreement, and was about to leave when he spoke again, "Hey, why don't I show you around? My uncle's the manager, so I know all the best places." She shrugged.
"Why not?"
~END OF CHAPTER 26~