Leo paused, and then laughed. "Yeah, Sexy; It shouldn't feel anything less than sexy." He placed his hand on Eirene's back and motioned over to a wall filled with armors.
"I saw the fight, and I'm assuming you already have a sword. By the way, I'm sure you're a hero to most of the campers. Including me," He cheesed at her, and she couldn't help grinning back. He had that effect on people, Leo did. "But there are beasts out there wilder than Clarisse, and I'm afraid you'll probably need some shielding out there."
For the sake of appearing normal, Eirene agreed. "Though, I'd like something light, so I can move around easier."
"Of course, I already have one picked out for you." He pointed upwards, motioning to a small-sort of armor, a light blue and that glowed silver when reflected. It came with cuffs of the same colour, embroidered with intricate designs. "A beauty, isn't it?"
Eirene nodded, waiting patiently as Leo brought it down and over to her. He helped her into the armor and latched on her cuffs. It felt light and airy, though when Eirene moved her shoulders the suit seemed to pierce her armpits, and it made for an uncomfortable feeling. She glanced down at her cuffs and noticed that there was a button shaped like a wing resting on it. Softly pressing it, a shield erupted from it and formed a protective barrier in front of her.
"Awesome!" Connor gazed longingly at Eirene's shield-producing cuffs. "How come she gets the decorated armor?" She heard Connor complain as the shield retreated back into its container. Leo hovered the armor above Eirene's torso; seeing if it would fit.
"Oh I don't know, I guess I always put in extra work for the ladies; especially ladies who challenge Clarisse." He winked at Eirene and handed her the piece of armor. Andrew rolled his eyes theatrically.
"I think that's it then, right? We can go?" He walked up to Leo and gave him a strange handshake that led into a one-arm hug, which Connor imitated. Leo gave Eirene a hug and ruffled her hair before letting them get on their way.
Before setting off, Eirene felt like she had to say goodbye to Sam. She knew she would miss her a lot, the girl had made such a big impression on her in just a short time that she was reluctant she wasn't coming with them. As she set off to find Sam in the Apollo cabin, Andrew and Connor went back to their respectable cabins to saying goodbye to their own friends.
The door swung open and Eirene saw April greeting her. "Hello?"
"Oh, hi," She paused. "Is Sam here?"
The blonde head disappeared into the house and in its place was a brunette. Sam beamed up at Eirene, though her smile did not reach her eyes. They looked slightly misty; sad.
"Eirene! I'm so happy for you, your first quest! And you beat Clarisse!"
"Keep your voice down! I don't want her to think I've been gloating about it…"
"But it is something you should gloat about, Eirene! Child of Ares, undefeated, was defeated for the first time. It's an—"
"Okay! Okay, fine. Just please, keep your voice down." Eirene pleaded, looking around and leading Sam out of her cabin.
"Oi, new camp champion!"
Eirene cringed at the title but turned around anyways; knowing it was her they were calling. It was Heather and Matthew; Heather who was smirking and Matthew who was staring at Eirene the way a competitor would stare at its competition. Sam seemed to freeze by Eirene side, unconsciously moving in front of Eirene as to draw Matthew's attention to her.
"Please don't call me that." She pleaded in a small voice, getting skeptical looks from both campers.
"I have to admit, it was a battle worthy of Ares and Athena. And now you're going on a quest, because you won fair and square." Heather spoke slowly and with precision, putting emphasis on the every word that made Eirene know she, like Andrew, also thought she had taken a swim in the river.
"Even though you shot me, that fight today made up for it. You brought glory to the cabin of Hermes, which is commendable." He nodded at her, and Eirene heard a breath go into next to her.
"Wait, you shot him? You're the one who shot an arrow at Matt?"
Eirene gulped, hands flying everywhere as she tried to explain herself. "I didn't mean to! I heard rumbling in the woods and assumed it was a monster so I…I'm sorry Sam."
"Really Sam, don't worry about it. I'm fine now, April healed me," He pulled up the arm of his sleeve and showed a patch of skin that was covered in a thin bandage. "Tis nothing but a scratch now,"
"But still! Why did you lie to me, why not just say you did it?"
"W-why? Well didn't you hear Clarisse threatening to severely punish whoever committed the crime? I was scared." Embarrassed but determined to not have the guilt pinned on her, she pleaded her case. Plus, it wasn't Eirene's entire fault that she had shot Matt; if he hadn't been spying on her then she would've never heard the rustling! "I'm sorry I lied but I was at that moment I was scared…"
Sam sighed, smiling grudgingly. "I guess it couldn't have been helped, and I shouldn't be yelling at you when you came to say goodbye. Bye!" She yanked Eirene into a hug, squeezing her tightly.
"I wish I could go on this quest with you, I have been itching for a chance to sneak out for a while…" Heather tapped her chin, pondering. The gesture, however innocent, connected with Eirene. The lines of the prophecy flashed through her minds and they suddenly made sense.
"No!" She suddenly yelled, her hand shooting out to grab Sam's arm forcefully. "No," She said softer. "Sam, Heather, Matt. You have to promise me something."
They all looked at her warily, Matt shook his head profusely. "Sorry, I don't make promises. It's bad luck to children of Hermes." He earned a skeptically look out of Heather and a glare out of Sam.
"Please," She pleaded. They all stared uneasily at each other, and then turned back to her.
"Is something wrong, Eirene? Because if there is, we can help—"
"Yes, something's wrong. And yes, you can help, But only if you agree to the promise. It could potentially save the camp and maybe…the world."
Silence spread out over them, and their expressions mirrored one another: Fear, Confusion, and uncertainty. Heather ran her hands through her hair uneasily, speaking first. "Alright, what type of promise?"
"Promise me you won't crash this quest. Promise me you won't try to follow me, or sneak out to help me or to find Dennis."
"Are you kidding me? We don't need to promise that, we already know not to sneak out. Plus, it's not like I was chummy enough with Dennis to want to chase after him," Sam said, trying to reassure Eirene that she would never even consider sneaking out.
Heather nodded. "True, Samantha has a point. Although…" She eyed Matthew. "I think it's the Hermes campers you should be warning. They were the closest with him."
"Hey, you stop that; always putting the blame on Hermes. I won't go looking for him; why would I? He lied to everyone."
Firmly reassured in their statements to not go looking for Dennis, Eirene nodded and smile at them, pulling them all in for a group hug. "Thank you, you guys. I can breathe easier now!" She released them and waved goodbye again before walking away and meeting up with her quest members in the process, who both had book bags draped over their shoulders.
"Are we taking a portal or something, or do we exit the same way we came?"
Andrew scoffed and pointed towards the pine tree. "The latter one; except we actually have a chauffeur this time."
Argus was waiting for them at the bottom of hill, honking his car impatiently. Chiron had told them he was to drive them wherever their quest led, which Eirene was told was East by the Oracle. Andrew and Connor seemed to race to the car, each calling out 'shotgun' though in the end, Argus had forced them all in the back seat because he claimed the boys were annoying. While all squeezed into the backseat, Argus began driving. After a long, awkward silence, Andrew broke it with a question.
"Do you even know where the hell we're going?"
"Um, not exactly," She admitted. She knew what the area around the place looked like, but she didn't even know where the place was. She had been to several places while on the run, and the bakery could be in California for all she knew. Andrew gazed at her momentarily before putting his forefinger and thumb between his eyebrows. He sighed deeply before letting his hand smack back down on his thigh.
"So we're just going to wonder in bloody circles for how many days?"
"No! I'm sure we could possibly get our hands on information about the bakery eventually."
"Do you know how many bakeries there are in New York, let alone the world, Eirene?" Connor too sounded annoyed, and she started to panic with the amount of guilt already being placed on her shoulders.
"It…it was called Levain bakery. The cookies in the doors were huge and the sealed-off building was right next to it."
"Well, we could look up 'Levain bakery' and—"
There was an earsplitting sound followed by a crushing impact and all three demigods were thrashed around the car before the windows shattered and they were eventually thrown onto the road. Momentarily distracted and disoriented, Eirene barely had time to open her eyes and sit up before someone was yelling 'look out!' and she felt herself being pulled out of the way. There was a deafening roar and Eirene wrenched her hair out of her face to see the beast that had attacked them. It roared again, flexing its wings and revealing a row of sharp teeth. Its human- face did not fit well on its lion-like body, with a tail like that of a scorpion. It looked like something the gods had made on a drunken day, mixing the body parts of multiple demons into one.