She closed her eyes and imagined the energy deep within her, festering and growing into something more. She thought of Connor's wounds and imaged him closing up, healing and turning back into the smooth unscarred skin it used to be. She heard Connor's breath catch but didn't stop. She could feel the energy flowing through her and didn't break her concentration until she felt it stop on its own.
She opened her eyes and smiled at the healed skin she saw replaced the scarred ones. "It worked." She whispered, astonished at her own work. She'd never tried it before; it was amazing to see her own work before her. She looked up at Connor and saw a smile on his face that made her feel like he did the right thing.
"That…that's amazing! I would hug you right now but…I wouldn't." He looked at the rest of his body that was good as new. "I don't believe it. How'd you do it?"
Eirene froze. Uh-oh. She hadn't thought this through; she acted in the moment and hadn't thought of an explanation for her god-like abilities. Oh Zeus, oh Zeus, oh Zeus, what am I going to do? She wanted to ask him, but knew he wouldn't respond. Zeus barely even talked to her, and he wouldn't now after what she'd just done. So out of embarrassment, she just kept quieted.
"Eirene?" He still had that smile on his face, and staring at it made her feel even guilty for knowing she could never tell him the truth; so she dropped her head.
His smile faded. "You can't say?"
She shook her head, red rushing to her ears.
"Why not?"
"I…just can't. I'm sorry." She was hoping he'd drop it, but knew he wouldn't. No normal person would. Oh gosh, what had she gotten herself into?
Just when it looked like he was going to say something, the door swung open and Andrew was back with a shirt in his hands. "So no monsters and I was able to get a shirt for Eirene from the souvenir sto—" As she guessed he would, Andrew stopped short when he saw Connor's skin. "How the bloody hell did you heal so fast?"
For a second they were both silent, until an idea struck in Eirene's mind. "I fed him Ambrosia."
His expression was blank, unbelieving. "What? No you didn't."
"Yes I did, I'm sorry but—"
"No, you couldn't have. Unless you have animosity against him or something, I don't see why you'd want to kill him."
She'd gotten used to Andrew's biting comments so she'd braced herself for this. "I'm sorry, but my hand kept shaking so I couldn't rub the aloe vera and I couldn't watch him sit in pain when I knew something could help him. Is that so wrong?"
His immediate thought was that he wanted to scold her. He wanted to tell her off, and make her feel just a little bit bad. But he looked at her face, the sincerity and sadness and flush of her cheeks made him feel like just a little bit of a jerk for even considering it. Instead he sighed and threw her the shirt. "Just change and let's get going."
Their departure was quick and timely, they were out in no longer than twelve minutes and searching the streets for a computer café. Eirene tried to ignore the weight of the gaze she felt on her, mostly from Connor but some from Andrew too. She knew in the end she should have just sucked it up and patched him up, she would of avoided what she's going to assume will be a lifestyle of questions. No doubt the moment they're alone Connor will pull her away and pummel her with questions.
"I think we have to disguise our scent, we seem to be giving off a stronger smell than usual." Andrew suggested.
"Why does it seem like you're the leader of this quest?" Connor questioned rebelliously.
"Because you both are being mighty unhelpful and I seem to be the only one throwing out suggestions on what we should do." He retorted. "Now, we need to find a perfume store or something…"
"I thought you said to keep to the quest and not get too distracted?" Connor countered.
"We are keeping to the quest. We won't be attacked as much if we disguise our sent. And unless you want to have another reason to take ambrosia…" He let the sentence fade. Connor narrowed his eyes but kept his mouth shut, looking at Eirene and rolling his eyes. She had to agree with his frustration, the quest had barely started and Andrew was already close to unbearable. She was starting to wonder why she had agreed him coming on this quest in the first place, instead of taking Heather or Sam.
"Let's just focus on finding the computer café," Eirene suggested, but getting a no-go from Andrew.
"Strong scent plus electronic device equals a shit-load of monsters we don't want to be dealing with."
"I can deal with them." Eirene insisted. "I don't mind, as long we managed to get the address down first. I can fight them myself. " She was feeling indignant, even a bit rebellious herself.
He laughed. "You expect us to just sit on the sidelines?"
"Why not? It's all you guys have been doing." She thought back to all the arguments Connor and Andrew had had, and she was suddenly extremely upset. "All you two have been doing is sitting back and arguing while I've been the one who was not only swallowed by a Manticore but fought off a fury on my own! And it's like you two—" She caught herself when she realized her anger was shooting up and she felt energy shooting through her veins. When she looked at their expressions, part of her felt a little embarrassed she was throwing a fit like a child, but the other part of her, the part of her she didn't know she had, wanted to yell and scream and let out all the emotions she'd been holding in ever since they'd first been attacked.
"And it's like you two don't even care, you're so concerned with who's more macho or smarter or who can hold a quarrel the longest that it's you've completely forgotten the goal of this quest." She ran her hands through her hair and tried to calm herself down; she could feel energy pulsing through her veins. "I'm just tired, you guys. I'm tired and I feel like I can't rely on you when trouble comes because you'll be bickering."
There was a silence in which Andrew and Connor stared at and contemplated each other. In a way, in every way, she was right. They had been arguing a lot in just the couple of hours they'd been on this quest, and had failed to rescue Eirene twice. Why exactly did they dislike each other so much? Connor wasn't so bad. And Andrew…well Andrew had his moments. If they really wanted to find Dennis, then they needed to be a team.
Connor broke the silence. "Well that was kind of awesome,"
"I wouldn't say awesome, but it was a pleasant change."
Eirene was confused, why did they think her rage was awesome? Did they really not care about what she thought at all?
"I never thought you'd ever tell us how you really felt, it's nice to know you've got a little spunk in you." Connor grinned.
"I thought you were only filled with please, sorry, and thank you's, kind of boring really." Even Andrew cracked a smile. "But you're completely right. We've been bickering like old ladies and I don't blame you for blowing up on us."
Connor nodded, patting Eirene on the back. "You seem to have your head screwed on tighter than ours; I'm not really sure what loosened ours."
For the first time, Andrew was bigger man and held out his hand to Connor. "Truce?"
Connor shook it. "Truce."
Feeling a lot more satisfied and in control, Eirene felt so much better and happier that the boys were taking things more seriously. But now she was curious. "Why do you guys hate each other so much?"
"Eh, we don't really hate each other…"
"It may just be an Alpha male thing." Andrew offered, placing his hand on top of Eirene's head. "But we keep forgetting, in this wolf pack, the Alpha would be blondie over here."
In just a few minutes, Eirene was tapping away happily at the computer after they had all collectively agreed to hit the café first. The search for 'levain bakery' had conjured 196,000 results, including a map and directions on how to get there. Connor had briefly talked to the cashier and came back with three drinks in his hands.
Andrew eyed him. "Where'd you get those?" Suspicion was clear in his voice.
Connor didn't even bat a lash. "We are in a café, right? I simply talked to that nice lady over at the register and she gave me these, free of charge!" He placed too on a table and held one out reluctantly to Andrew. "You want it or not?"
Still looking suspicious, he gingerly took it out of Connor's hands and took a sip. Eirene looked up at Connor, who winked at her. One of the talents of the children of Hermes was persuasion, which she assumed Connor had used to get them those free drinks.
She turned back to the computer. "It's in New York."
They both turned around to look at her. "What?"
So she showed them the website of the bakery that clearly stated where it was to be found.
167 West 74th St
New York, NY, 10023
"Hmm," Connor leaned over to get a better look. "That's incredibly convenient, except they are three different locations. How do we know which one is which?"
"Let's try this one," Andrew pointed to one of the locations that said it was 'open seasonally'. "That basically means it's rarely open." He took out a pen and piece of paper and wrote it down. "Let's get going."
Andrew was first out the door and Connor and Eirene followed suit. She felt a bit elevated, a bit productive. They were finally getting somewhere in their quest, and it seemed like they were uncannily close to not only finding the sealed off building, but also Dennis. She was starting to wonder how he'd react to seeing her again, maybe he wouldn't be too pleased to hear that she'd come to take him away. Or maybe he wouldn't remember her at all. Either way, she wanted to know more about him.
"Hey Connor," She called. "Do you mind telling me more about the pranks you pulled with Dennis? Did he come up with most of the ideas?"
A sly smile crept up on his face, and he slipped his arm around her shoulders. "Listen close little one. I'm about to tell you the greatest story you've ever heard."