Chapter 12
Falling for It
The chariot was actually pretty roomy for how small it looked, and it did look small. Hermes stood at the front of the chariot holding onto the reins, while Connor and I stood behind him. We seemed to be going pretty fast especially considering we were in a flying chariot, I kind of felt like Santa Claus being this high up. The view was amazing and there was no turbulence surprisingly. I could see New York getting farther and farther away, luckily it was night time so I got to see all of the lights from high in the sky.
Hermes turned around and asked us a question, "So do you guys have help from any other gods or is it just me?"
"Not really." Connor replied, "Artemis helped us a little bit, but she told Arrow she was too busy apparently."
"Typical gods, eh?" Said Hermes, "Honestly, I wish my family would help out their children a bit more. It's pretty sad seeing all of you losers struggle so hard without us all the time. No offense."
"Yeah, there is definitely some offense being taken. I'd say we'd do just fine without you. Half the time it's your fault anyways. We usually have to fight our parents' fights for them, which isn't exactly fun, you know." I said.
"Alright, then. Getting a little "triggered" there, huh?"
Hermes then muttered under his breath. "Humans."
After that interesting conversation we became silent again. The journey was smooth and I started to see the outlines of states. I started seeing Michigan and then Wisconsin, my home state. I miss it there, everything was so peaceful and quiet, just spending time with my dad and best friend, Mitena. I miss them a lot, too. Suddenly, as if on que, everything started to go wrong. I felt a strong rush of wind blow through my hair and I was pushed forward and fell onto Hermes. Connor fell on top of me and I began to feel the chariot shake.
"Hermes, what's going on?" I yelled.
"I don't know! I think it might be Aeolus."
"Aeolus, as in god of the wind?" Connor asked.
"Yes, that Aeolus."
I could feel the chariot start to fall about and I heard a strong voice whispering through the air, "You shouldn't be here."
The floor of the chariot was shaking and I felt pressure pushing against my feet. The floor pushed up and I saw a bag of wind being deflated under the floorboards. I knew it wasn't the bag of wind that Zeus had given to Hermes because Hermes had put it in the sack that he had. I felt myself being pushed up out of the chariot and suddenly the wind pushed Connor and I back, but Hermes stayed put in the chariot. It didn't look like he willingly stayed there, and as I looked closer I could see the wind was pushing him towards the front of the chariot so he couldn't move. I suddenly felt as though I was following and realized I was. Wisconsin seemed to be getting smaller and smaller and I decided I had to do something.
Luckily the moon was out tonight so I could use that power to turn into a bird so I could help soften Connor and mine's fall. I knew that we were far away from earth so I had some time to concentrate. I looked at the moon and then closed my eyes, I prayed to my mother and asked her to please help me harness her powers of the wild. (That's why I could turn into animals, if you didn't know.) I could feel my face changing slowly and my arms became wider, I let go of Connor for a second and realized my feet had become large talons. I didn't know what kind of bird I was, but I assumed I was some type of eagle. I gripped onto Connor as tight as I could and started flapping my wings. The descent to earth became slower but the ground was still coming closer and closer. I used all the energy I had to pull Connor up a little bit to soften the fall. We were almost to the ground when I passed out of exhaustion.
I woke up to find Connor poking at my face. I looked at myself to see if I was still a bird and luckily enough I wasn't. I asked Connor what had happened. He told me that I had grown wings, a tail, a beak and talons, but the rest of me had pretty much stayed the same. Apparently, I had never fully transformed into a bird. (I really need to practice on that.) I asked him how long I had been out and he told me it had been at least overnight because he also got knocked out by hitting his head on the ground and when he woke up it was morning, and he had to wait hours for me to wake up. Apparently, the fall had hurt me, but it had also taken a lot of my energy to barely become a bird.
I asked Connor if he knew where we were and he said he didn't know. I told him the last thing I remembered was seeing Wisconsin get closer and then not being able to see its shape anymore. I then asked Connor if he knew where his dad was and he told me the last he had seen him he was stuck in the chariot.
I couldn't believe my luck had come to this. Of course there had to be a disaster, it just couldn't be as easy as it was, could it?