Christina:
I'd like to say I got a good nights sleep before the quest, right?
WRONG!
I know, I know. Your parents say, 'You better get a good nights sleep before we go on vacation,' right? Or they say the same thing but only for something else that's big. But you're so excited about it, you can't sleep so you're always constantly waking up. Well its vise versa for me kind of. I wasn't excited about going on the quest. Liam was suppose to die. I was probably leading Logan, someone who was barely trained, into suicide. Then to add to that, two kids whose dad were the same? That was definitely going to get us killed because now he knew he was a child of Poseidon, a powerful god. And me being the daughter of Poseidon and Athena, another powerful god, was going to attract a whole lot of nasty monsters.
Another reason why I kept waking up. Dreams. The dreams that I had been having ever since two days ago, Logan was claimed, were frequent, scarier and more horrible. But the night before the quest, they were worse than ever. I'd dream of where Alethia was being kept and we would be finding her. Then a war would begin. I would be fighting but every single time in the dream, Lillian, Liam, Alethia or Logan would end up dying. And I would wake up in cold sweat. But I would calm down quickly. In the Poseidon cabin, it sounded like waves rolling in and out however, it depended on our mood. If we were calm, the waves sounded small and calm. If we were angry, they sounded like they were pounding the beach. Now, with two of us in the cabin, Logan's half sounded pretty calm while my half sounded like an angry sea.
Anyways, I was constantly dreaming of that same dream all night long. Finally around 2:30 am, I got out of bed grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and sat down on the sofa. I wrote down at the top: Remembrance from My Past, in Greek. I took out my clip that was the shape of a trident and set it down on the table.
"Allagí̱ ," I said in Greek, meaning to "shift" or "change". The trident flickered and turned into a golden key.
"Píso̱ allagí̱ ," I then said. In Greek, that means "back change" and only that. Not "back shift" which was "píso̱ metatópisi̱ " The key turned into a trident. I rather liked the trident form instead of the golden key.
I tried to think of what happened before I started living with Lillian. But nothing came. It was just blankness in my mind. About an hour later, I hadn't written down anything and Logan woke up looking for a drink of water. After five minutes of looking for a glass, he got his drink and sat down on the bed, watching me.
"What are you doing up at this time of the morning?" he asked.
"What are you doing up also?" I said.
"I needed a drink," he replied.
"Then you could've done that and gone back to bed," I answered sourly.
"Well sorry. Its just that I think something's troubling you. I think its your past. Besides, Lillian said earlier when we were on the porch and you were asking her about her being a companion, she said, 'it could be like the old days.' So I was thinking something sparked about your past that your can't quite grasp."
"Yeah, well..." I sighed. "Ok I guess you could say that. I'm disturbed about my past and I haven't been able to sleep because I have been having some weird dreams…lately." What I didn't say was, 'I have been having some weird dreams ever since you got claimed by Poseidon'.
"Oh." He noticed the trident clip reflecting the moonlight. "Why do you always carry that with you? I mean like, I see it in your hair always, never leaving. So I was wondering why its so special."
"Well, I keep it with me because its my weapon," I answered. He laughed nervously.
"A clip? What does it do? Do you like take it out of your hair and attach it to a monster so they scream about having a fashion pin on them and die?" he asked. I chuckled.
"Heck. I wish that would happen. No, Logan. It's not just any ordinary clip. Watch." I picked it up and touched the middle point. It transformed into a three foot long celestial bronze sword that gleamed in the moonlight. I made it transform back only this time it was in golden key form. I switched back to the trident clip.
"Whoa." Then Logan noticed something else about the clip.
"Fuscinadentimos Maxima."
"Trident in Greek and greatest in Latin ," I answered. "Wait. Isn't the word Fuscinadentimos mixed with different words for trident in Greek. Why?"
"I don't know. Ask Poseidon if you want."
"And isn't that also the one you used the day you saved me against the hellhounds?"
I nodded.
"That's amazing," he said. "Well, you should get some sleep and so should I. Goodnight." and with that he let himself fall back, but he did it again. Thonk!
"Owwww. Why do I always do that?" then with that he was sleeping.
I chuckled. He was now famous for hitting his head in this cabin. I looked at my paper then I set it on the couch, climbed back into bed and went to sleep. And I had a dream that I didn't expect. One that made me mad with my parents more. One that I hope I'll never dream of again.
I woke up to the sound of birds chirping and the morning sunlight flowing in and hitting my face. I got out of bed and changed into my Camp Half-Blood tee shirt. I put my hair up into a tight ponytail and then made sure Logan and I had everything in both our backpacks. I secretly made sure I grabbed the 'Remembrance from My Past' paper, the pen and stuffed it into my backpack. Then I woke up Logan.
When he was done dressing, we both grabbed our bags, took one last look at the cabin, and left. We met Lillian and Liam five minutes later in the Mess Hall with Chiron and some campers who had come to wish us good luck. Even Griffin had come. They were lighting the pyre in honor of Liam. The camp store had loaned me three-hundred dollars, dozen gold drachmas, ambrosia and nectar.
Chiron clip-clopped up to me and said, "Good luck Christina. I know you'll do well and I know you'll find Alethia and get everyone back safely. And speaking of Alethia, yesterday, when I went to Olympus, I reported to Zeus that she was missing and he was outraged. I mean it's his only child so of course he was going to be like that. But he said that he wants his daughter returned and it has to be at Olympus. I don't know why it has to be at Olympus, but he wants his daughter to be found and returned at Olympus. So when you find Alethia and save her, go to Olympus. Ok?"
"Ok."
"Oh yeah and your parents told me to tell you some things that might help with your quest. Your mom, Athena said to keep your eyes peeled when you are in the west states and your dad, Poseidon said to remember the rivers, lakes and the ocean. It will help. He also said something about seashells and underwater stuff working where there is no water."
"Well I don't care what they tell me because they think it will help with the quest. They don't care." Chiron gave me a stern look.
"Ok they do care, but this is the only time I'll take their advice."
Chiron still looked at me sternly but he said, "You better get going before it gets any later."
"Sure."
I turned and all the campers that had gathered wished me good luck. Griffin came up to me and said, "Good luck because I know you'll succeed."
"Griffin, I'm sorry that I didn't pick you." His eyes grew wide.
"No no! It's ok! I wouldn't have been able to anyways because I have to go undercover again and go to a new school to look for new demigods. Seriously I would have backed down if you had asked me because I don't want monsters sniffing my furry hind and attacking us. I don't want to be goat steak still!"
I laughed and replied, "You've left that thought in my mind. Goat steak? Yuck!"
Griffin smiled and answered, "Get going and go kill some monsters for this camp. And keep Logan safe!"
"Ok, I will." Then me, Logan and Lillian and Liam walked down the hill towards Argus who would be driving us for a little bit. Logan, Liam and Lillian crossed the border and I stopped short. I took one last look at the valley and before I crossed and jumped into the car, telling Argus to step on it. The last thing I saw as we drove away was Chiron raising his bow in farewell. We drove along the road and finally got us onto the Long Island Expressway which we drove along for a while. After what seemed like hours, we got off the Long Island Expressway and onto the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. The white Camp Half-Blood van kept following the expressway roads until we reached an exit that lead to the Williamsburg Bridge. Then from there we took a few turns and got onto Broadway street. Argus drove on Broadway and then I looked at Logan and said, "There's the Empire State Building, the entrance to Olympus."
He looked up ahead and saw it and answered in awe, "Whoa." And then, "Wait. What?" I explained to him why it was above the Empire State Building and he just nodded.
We turned the corner and drove along 34th street West and then left onto a corner with a train terminal. We thanked Argus, paid for our tickets and got on. In no time we were on our way to Hoboken which was across the Holland Tunnel. No one talked for a while until about halfway. Liam looked a bit pale and I wondered if he was thinking about him dying.
"So, what's the game plan?" Logan asked. Me and Lillian looked at him like it was obvious which it was.
"Well west of course," snorted Lillian.
"I know that were suppose to go west, smarty. But where west?" he replied.
Then that's what became our next problem.
"I really don't know. All the prophecy said was to go as far west as you can. What does that mean?" I said miserably. "I didn't even think about where in the west. I was so focused on getting Alethia back, that I didn't even think about where in the west would we find her."
"Hey its ok," Logan said trying to reassure me. "You're doing great. I mean, we haven't seen a monster so far which is good."
"Yeah I guess. But still Logan. I should have planned on where we would go in the west."
"Still. I think you're going to fine on this quest."
"Easy for you to say. You're not the one whose leading the quest and your friends into something that can get them killed," I said glumly.
"Or where one of them you know is going to die," Liam added quietly.
No one said anything for a few minutes.
"Well, lets just focus on going west," Lillian finally said, breaking the ice. "And then when we reach the west coast, we'll see about where we can go."
"Sounds like a plan. And there is something I want to tell you guys. Two things actually and I think one of them is going to give us some useful information actually as to where we need to go in the west. But first thing is first. Zeus wants Alethia found and returned to Olympus."
"What is that suppose to mean?" asked Lillian and Logan in unison.
"I was getting to that," I growled. Liam glanced at me but I didn't meet his eyes.
"Right," replied Logan.
"What Zeus means is when we find Alethia, we have to bring her to Olympus. I don't know why we can't just take her back to camp and then Chiron tell Zeus she's safe or Apollo tell Zeus because Apollo sees all seeing how he drives the sun chariot across the sky," I explained.
"True. But since Zeus ordered it, we half to follow what he says," reasoned Lillian.
"Lillian is right," Logan said.
"I know that, Logan," I said glaring at him but he kept talking.
"Anyways, what's the other thing?" I looked at Lillian and sighed.
"Poseidon and Athena sent a dream to me after we went to bed," I divulged.
Liam looked at me and I finally met his eyes. I stared and worry sat hidden behind those blue eyes. He knew I had a hard time talking about my parents.
"Uh-oh. What happened because I know you have bad history with your parents and hate talking about them," Lillian commented, her voice quavering a little.
"Well, actually we just talked in the dream. Athena gave me some useful information for where we might be able to find Alethia. Wait, that's it! We might know where Alethia is instead of having to worry about where she is when we get to the west coast!" Lillian and Logan grinned. Even Liam kinda smiled.
"Sweet," Logan said grinning.
"Anyways, she said that either she's in San Francisco, The Bay Area or Las Angeles. So now that we know those locations, she's in one of them being held hostage. All we half to do is check each place and find her. Also, Poseidon said that he would help me with the powers over the ocean and rivers. But I'm not quite sure I if I want him to help me. I don't even care for him. But I guess it will do."
"So was that all there was in your dream. Just Athena and Poseidon giving you somewhat useful information to help us on our quest west?" Logan asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, not really. They tried to talk to me about my past. About how they do care and all that stuff. But I got mad at them in the dream and told them that they have never cared for me and that if they did then how come they haven't showed up all those years and why I don't know my past and what really got them was when I said if they cared so much about me, how come they didn't help me and protect me when I was on the run."
Lillian and Logan were silent for a long time. I gave a quick glance to Liam who was just giving me this sad look. I almost told him to cut it out because he was killing me with it.
"That was harsh," Logan admitted, shaking his head.
"Yeah, well they deserved to hear it," I objected.
"Mmmm-hmmm. And you've told them that same statement how many times again?" Lillian pointed out.
"I don't know and I don't care," I snapped.
"Okay, okay. Don't get all snappy with me Christina. I'm just saying," she grumbled.
"Whatever. Forget it," I sighed angrily, rolling my eyes.
"Do you always have to glare or roll your eyes?" asked Logan with a monotonous tone.
"No," I answered firmly. "And do you always have to be annoying?"
"I'm not always annoying," he said. "I'm just pointing out things."
"Is it just me, or are you becoming more of an idiot?" I asked.
"That's nice to hear," grouched Logan. "I guess that clears it all up. I am annoying and an idiot."
"Yeah. You said it yourself. You are annoying and an idiot and you always ask obvious questions," I retorted.
"Shut up," he answered, making a face.
"Oh good job. Bravo! That really is going to make a difference about you being an idiot. Making faces is so 12 year old like. Its really going to do an effect on me," I answered sarcastically. Logan made another face and I chuckled.
"You keep on making those faces."
Logan opened his mouth to retort but couldn't thanks to Liam.
"Shut up guys," Liam cut in. I looked out the window and watched the city go by. 10 minutes later, the conductor got on the intercom and said we would be arriving in Hoboken in about five minutes. I continued to look out the window and not speak until we had arrived at the station. We got off and began walking out of the station and into the city where we caught a bus with a huge smiling sun in, a blue sea on the right and a city on the left. I couldn't exactly make out the title of the bus which was painted right next to the sun because it looked something like this, 'All rundoA the US Sunnshie Traeevlr'.
"What in the world does that say?" I asked.
"I don't know," Christina replied. I forgot that as smart as she was, Christina was also dyslexic. I asked one of the passengers who were boarding what it said. She told me it said, 'All Around the US Sunshine Traveler,' and that it was traveling to Charleston, West Virginia. We hopped aboard as a couple more passengers got on and the bus left.
The bus was perfect for traveling in of course. It was massive! There were comfortable chairs that you could lean back in and sleep. The leg space was big enough to stretch your feet out with still a bit of room. There was a miniature flat screen TV that would come out of the armrest because if it was on the back of the chair of the passenger in front of you, and they leaned back, you wouldn't be able to watch TV. But, everyone on the bus had enough room to stretch out and put their stuff without any problem. The other passengers on the bus were: a boy and a girl with their mom, a grandma, and a young woman and a man. Six other passengers. The bus also had a bathroom with a shower and a staircase that lead to a second floor that had massaging chairs, and a miniature snack bar. That was it. Not bad, I thought. Its only 10 am and we're almost leaving New York and heading for West Virginia.
So me, Liam, Logan, and Lillian sat at the back of the bus where we believed had the slightly a bit more leg space. We stretched out and Lillian said that around noon, she was going up to the snack bar to get something and she was going to try one of those massage chairs. I agreed that I would come with her and Logan agreed too but only for the snack bar, not the massage chair. He said while we would be in the massage chairs, he would be down here watching TV.
As eleven rolled around, we all began to get restless. Four ADHD kids on a bus for I-don't-know-how-long even with a second floor that contained a massage area and a snack bar was not fun still. Finally, we couldn't stand it anymore. We all glanced at one another and then we all got up, and went to the second floor around 11:20 am. As soon as we reached the second level, Logan and Liam headed towards the snack bar while me and Lillian walked to the massage chairs.
"Ahhhh," sighed Lillian. "This feels so good."
"I know right. I wish that they had these at camp. Then we could really relax after some major training."
"Ha-ha." We sat there for a while and finally Logan came over and stood in front of us. Liam didn't follow for some reason. He sat at the snack bar, his back to us as he drank his smoothie.
"I'm am resisting the urge to sit down in one of those comfortable, massaging chairs."
"Yeah, I bet you are. Because you know you really want to sit down," I smiled. Then I whispered, "They're calling your name."
"That would be scary if they actually did call your names," he said.
"It would be."
"You know what?" Logan replied. "I'm going to sit down in one of those chairs. Its too tempting to resist it."
"Join us than," Lillian welcomed. He took a seat next to Lillian and sighed with satisfaction.
"Better. Man I could get use to this," Logan said. No one said anything for a long time. After hour of not talking, I sensed something. I abruptly stood up and said cautiously, "Guys, do you guys sense that?"
"Hmmmm," questioned Lillian.
"Lillian!"
"What! Oh I'm awake! Yeah, what's the matter?" she frowned.
I heard a small growl.
"You heard that right?" I asked her.
"I sure as Hades did," Liam finally said.
Lillian nodded.
"Get Logan," was my only reply.
"Why?" she questioned, still mystified.
"Because something doesn't feel right," I answered. "I sense something and it seems out of place."
"Whaaat? Fine, I'll get him up." She turned and shook Logan who yelped, "Its okay mom!" then said, "What's happening? Are we here?"
"No you big dim-wit. That's 602 miles or 969 km. But something is wrong," reacted Lillian.
"Oh. Because for a second, I thought we were here already. But what's wrong? What do you mean?"
"Something doesn't feel right on this bus. I sense it, but I can't pinpoint exactly what's wrong," I cut in.
"Ooook then. I don't know what you mean by sensing something wrong and then pinpointing it but whatever," sighed Logan who started to close his eyes. Lillian caught him closing his eyes and then kicked him in his shins.
"Ow!" yelled Logan. "That hurt!"
"Sorry," though Lillian didn't sound very sorry. "I was making sure you weren't falling asleep on something important like this. If Christina and I sense something that feels out of the ordinary or something doesn't look right or seem right, that usually means we're in danger."
"Yeah. Anyways. You guys can keep sensing. I'm just going to sit-," he started.
"No you're not Logan! You agreed to come on this quest so you're going to help!" hissed Lillian.
"Ok, ok. Don't get all huffy. I was just saying that I would like to sit back while you guys did the sensing. Then if a monster came, we could just kill it."
"Doesn't work that way Logan. Sometimes the monster will stalk you until its sure and then it will try to pull tricks. Duh," I grumbled.
"Fine. Then what's wrong?" he asked.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out genius," I growled.
"Right." I looked around and I noticed something that did seem unusual. It had gotten really silent downstairs. The other passengers also hadn't come upstairs yet. I kind of figured that they would. The snack bar was opened but there was no person behind the counter.
"Liam, where's the snack bar person?"
He shrugged.
"He went around to the other side. I mean, this is one of those wrap around counters so it wraps around the oval wall which I can't see around," he replied.
"Right."
I listened to hear anything downstairs.
Silence.
"Doesn't it seem quiet? A little too quiet?" I asked the others. Lillian and Liam nodded. Logan looked mystified but I could tell from the expression on his face, that he was trying listen also and figure out what else was wrong. Finally, he answered.
"Yep. It sure does seem quiet. What's up with that?"
"I don't know. Lets check downstairs. See if anything is out of the ordinary down there too."
"Ok," answered Logan.
We crept downstairs and when we got down there, something surprised us. All the passengers where crammed in the back seat with a look of terror on their face. They seemed to be looking behind us. We looked back and saw what they were looking at. Our first two monsters. They were humanoid creatures with reptilian features and where their feet should have been, were two twin serpent tails. Both were slithering and walking down the aisle and going in between the seats, checking the passengers bags.
"What. Are. Those. Things?" drawled Logan nervously.
"Scythian dracaenae," I replied.
"In English," whispered Logan. I thought for a second.
"Snake women or dragon women."
"Well let's hope there's only two and if so, lets just kill it," Logan replied. That's when Logan's hopes of there only being one was crushed. Just then three more stood came out between the seats, obviously they had been bending over, snuffling other bags.
"Di immortales!" Liam cursed.
"Great. Now there's five. What are we going to do?" Logan whined. I exchanged glances with Lillian and Liam and they seemed to understand. We would all take one and I would take two. Lillian leaned over and whispered the plan in Logan's ear and his eyes slowly widened but quickly were replaced with slits as if he were mad at them because they had done something to him.
"Ok?" she questioned. He nodded. They both went to their backpacks to retrieve their swords. I grabbed my trident clip from my hair and it turned into a sword. I slapped my hand on my watch. As it turned in midair, it morphed into a silver shield and landed on my arm. I looked to see if Logan and Liam were ready. Lillian took a bracelet out and tossed in mid-air. It turned into a shield and attached itself to her arm.
I nodded encouragingly to Logan who looked a little nervous. One of the dracaenae looked up and saw us, its mouth breaking into a grin.
"Three demigodsssss and one child of two different godsssss," it hissed, drawing the 's' out. "Interesssting."
I growled in the back of my throat.
Then, we charged.