And so it begins...
Braxton: Griffins, Train Schedules, and Giant Queens.
I woke the next morning to the sound of Reis going through my things. She was in my backpack, and half my stuff was next to her on the bed.
"What are you doing?" I mumbled, so the words weren't exactly crisp and clear, but she got the message.
"Oh, half the stuff in here is useless on a quest," she said. She held up a pack of playing cards. "What do you plan to do? Win a hand of poker against a monster for your life?"
"I figured more to pass time on things like busses or trains," Braxton said.
"It's just extra weight," she said. "Plus, it's flammable and if you lose just one, they're useless."
I sighed and fell backwards in my bed. "I've put in some packaged pastries," she said. "In case you're hungry and can't find food. The others will be grateful, but don't just eat them because you feel like eating. Wait until you really need them."
"Have you ever been on a quest before?" I asked even though I knew the answer. No, she hadn't. She had never been given a quest or chosen to accompany anyone that had. "How do you know what I will and won't need?"
"I've wanted to go on one," she said. She stood up and put my backpack down. "You should be honored."
I grabbed my backpack, which was considerably heavier seeing as she had just pulled a ton of its contents out. I looked in. A change of clothes and two daggers. As well, a bag of granny smith apples.
"I figured that you'd want those too," she said. "Now, what are you wearing?"
"A shirt and pants," I said rolling my eyes.
"Obviously." She pointed to the foot of my bed where a pair of my jeans and one of my Camp Half-Blood shirts sat. "And that new belt, right?" she asked.
I looked at the whip, which I hadn't given back to Dawn yet. I knew I should, but it just felt right in my hands. I nodded. "Yes, I will bring it," I said.
"Okay, lets get you breakfast and then I'll see you off," she said, standing up and walking out, allowing me to change in privacy. I grabbed the playing cards and stuck them back into my bag.
At precisely nine, I met Dawn, Mary-Ann, and Troy at the top of Half-Blood Hill. Hermione was there, along with Chiron. "Here is Ambrosia for you all," he said, giving us each a small tupperware of the godly food. "And nectar. Remember, it can kill you."
"Okay, Argus is going to take you to the nearest train station," Hermione said. "You'll be on your own from there." She bent forward and kissed Dawn on the forehead.
We were all sort of silent in the car ride. There wasn't much to say. Once we were dropped off, we began to question if any of us knew what we were doing.
"Well, we have to go west," Dawn said. "Right?"
"Where can we get agate?" Mary-Ann asked.
"You didn't look that up yesterday?" I asked, lowering my eyes at her.
"Well, I was a little preoccupied," she said. She turned away, her cheeks going red. Dawn wrapped an arm over Mary-Ann's shoulders and pulled her close.
"Griffin eggs," Troy said after a moment of silence.
"What?" Mary-Ann asked.
"Griffin eggs are made of agate," Troy explained. "I mean, there are other ways to get agate, but the griffin eggs hold magical properties. Other forms of agate may not be strong enough to cure Ariadne."
"But doesn't it become normal egg shell when the griffins hatch?" Dawn asked.
"Then we need to get an unhatched griffin egg," I said. "That'll solve the feather as well."
"Griffins don't ever shed their feathers," Dawn said, hands on her hip. "You really think we should pluck its feather and steal its egg?"
"We can solve that on our way there," Mary-Ann said. It was the first time I heard her speak with any kind of authority. "We only have a week, and we don't have a clue where a griffin lives."
I cleared my throat. "That, actually isn't true," I said. "I have a pretty good guesstimate." I smiled. "So, let's hop a train toward Montana."
"Why Montana?" Mary-Ann asked.
"Because, that's where I was when I saw a griffin last year," I said. Dawn opened her mouth to protest, but I didn't give her time. "I know they can travel fast, but I doubt that they're all that fast."
"Plus, they don't tend to wander too far from their nests if they don't have to," Troy said. I pointed at him.
"See," I began speaking again, "so, if I saw it in Montana, it probably lived not too far from where I saw it."
"And if it was a male griffin?" Dawn asked. She narrowed her blue eyes at me. "And aren't you from Montana? Are you sure you don't have ulterior motives to go there?"
"Let's just get going and buy tickets to Montana," Mary-Ann said. "We don't have much time."
Dawn nodded. "She's right." She turned to Mary-Ann. "It is your quest. You lead. How do we get to Montana?"
Mary-Ann thought for a moment. "By train," she said.
"Tickets can get expensive," Dawn said.
Mary-Ann bit her lip. "Then we'll sneak on" she said. Dawn smiled and I was not exactly pleased with the thought. Sneaking on train was probably what Dawn had been hoping for, her mother being a train-robber and all.
As it was, sneaking onto a train was even harder than I had thought it would be. First, we had to find a train heading to Montana. The nearest one was four stations away. Getting on that train was easy, but when the attendant came toward us to charge us, we realized that we'd have to pay.
"It shouldn't be too much," I said as he was three rows away. "We did get some money."
"I say we save that for when there are no other options," Dawn said. She looked at Mary-Ann, and it occurred to me that Dawn was really calling the shots.
"It's your choice, Mary-Ann," Troy said. "But decide quickly."
She looked at me. "Anyway you could cause a distraction that would help us avoid having to pay?"
I sighed. It was easy enough. I looked around and noticed someone drinking a still steaming thermos of coffee. And across the aisle from him was a large man and a girl. I concentrated on the guy with the thermos. He lightly blew at it, until I finally reached into him. His eyes glazed over with a rage and he tossed the contents of his thermos at the couple across the aisle. Luckily I didn't need to continue to work on the large man, because being purposely splashed with hot coffee was enough to enrage him. He yelled, standing, pushing the shocked girl out of his way and launched himself at the guy, now confused about his actions. The train attendant ran to stop them.
"Move up a few rows," Dawn said, leading the way up a few rows. We changed the way we were sitting, and Mary-Ann ducked a little low, as her red hair was an attention drawer.
By the time the attendant had calmed the two and gotten back to his money collection, he didn't take noticed that we had moved past the point he had been at. The fact that we weren't the only ones to do that more annoyed me than anything.
We had to wait a few hours for our next train. There were no direct trains to Monana, so we were catching the next train with a major west destination. It would take up to Cleveland. We could have taken a bus, but it would have taken days and we didn't really have days to spare. So, while we waited, we went to a bookstore down the street and started on some research.
Walking in, the front looked like a normal used bookstore. However, the woman running the store smiled oddly at us as we walked in. Mary-Ann walked up to her nearly immediately. "Do you have any books on Griffins?" she asked.
The woman cocked her head. "Why on Gaea would you want to read up on Griffins?" the woman asked. I realized, as she stood at least a half foot over six feet, that this woman was one of the largest I had ever seen. Aside from being so tall, she also had the body-type that would have called herself 'big boned.' She wasn't exactly fat, but she was no super-model, that was for sure.
"School project," Dawn said, though she was looking at the maps near the front of the store. "You guys go ahead. I'll catch up."
"Follow me this way," she said. She began walking into the store, but led us right past the mythology section. I was about to say something when she opened up the back room, revealing hundreds of books, these much older, and more authentic than mortal mythologies. "I assume you can find something here," she said.
"Definitely," Troy said with a nod. "Thank you."
I sighed. I was definitely not a fan of reading. Dyslexia kind of ruins it for you. Mary-Ann had a face showing that she felt pretty much the same way. But, she charged forward, not allowing a little annoyance get in her way. The three of us spread out to different corners of the room, naturally knowing that we had to cover more ground.
Upon reaching an actual bookshelf, I was surprised, and a little relieved, that the books were actually written in Greek. Which mean, though I'd only had a few Greek lessons, I was naturally able to read the books more easily than if they were in English.
Of course, nothing in my section had anything about griffins, or any other creature for that matter. Though I did come across one about supernatural sickness, ones that could affect gods and goddesses. As Ariadne was sick, I figured this would be a good book to use to look for actual cures which used agate as an ingredient. I pulled it out and turned to find Mary-Ann was already sitting at a table.
"I think my dyslexia is cured," Mary-Ann said. She had three books in front of her, one opened.
"Why do you think that?" I asked, sitting across from her.
"Because I can read," Mary-Ann said. Her eyes were racing across the lines. "Like, it's easy for me suddenly."
"That's because it's Greek," I said. Her eyes shot up to me, hazel orbs wide.
"It's... what?" she asked. "But I don't know how to read Greek."
"It's been hard-wired into your brain, Red," I told her. "That's why most Half-Bloods have dyslexia. They were born to read Greek." I motioned to the book. "Look closer at it, at one specific letter."
She looked down, concentrating, before gasping. "I can read Greek."
"Yes, you can," I said.
"Anyway, I was thinking," Troy said, walking over. "Washington state isn't far from Montana, relatively speaking."
"Okay," I nodded.
"Mt. St. Helen is a volcano," Troy said.
I shook my head. "That's a little too far from where I saw it," I said.
Troy frowned. "Where's there a volcano near Montana?"
"Yellowstone," Mary-Ann said. "It's a giant, super volcano." Troy and I both turned to look at her. "What? I might have been failing science, but I'd pass ecology if my school offered it." She flipped a page. "I mean, it would destroy most of the United States if it ever did erupt, but it is an active volcano. Thus all the geysers."
"So, we have to search an entire National Park in under a week," I said.
"Maybe we're supposed to split up," Mary-Ann said. "After all, the prophecy said all but one would fail. So, we split up and one of us will find it."
"And when you are attacked my a monster while you're on your own?" I questioned her.
"I, uh... yeah, you're right, stick together." She sighed.
"We have to go," Dawn said, walking into the room. She looked a little panicky.
"What, but our train doesn't leave for another hour and a half," Troy said.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want to sneak on too early or we'll be caught," Mary-Ann said.
"And we'll never make it if we get eaten by the Laestrygonian that runs this book shop," Dawn said.
"The what?" Mary-Ann asked, her eyes going wide.
"It's a man-eating giant," Dawn said.
"And it's favorite treat is Half-Blood," I said. I opened my bag and pulled out one of my daggers. I slipped the book I had grabbed inside.
"Do you think we could sneak past her?" Mary-Ann asked. Troy grabbed one of her books and slipped it into his own bag.
Dawn surveyed the room. "Not unless we can climb through the window," she said. There was one small window near the top of the room. Dawn dropped her bag and began to climb the book shelves to get to it. Once she reached it, she began struggling with the lock. "It's rusted shut," she said.
"Well hurry up and unrust it," I said. However, before she could actually get any more headway on the window, the woman burst into the room. This time, knowing what we were about to face, I saw her for what she was. A huge, brutish woman, and what appeared to be a toy tiara slanted and caught in her wild hair. I noticed her name tag said Mormo, which meant she was more than just a Laestrygonian. She was their queen.
"Naughty, naughty, Half-Blood, children," she said, and grabbed at me. I slashed at her with my dagger, but missed. I didn't want to get any closer to her than I had to. She closed the door behind her, essentially locking us in the room with her. It didn't exactly lend a lot of room for fighting, and without having really learned how to use the whip, I couldn't really use it cause I'd probably hit Mary-Ann, Troy, and Dawn as much as Mormo. In fact, I was likely to even hit myself.
Please review! I'd love to hear your opinions on this so far.