Chapter 3: Welcome home
Shadow travel wasn't the nicest nor the most comfortable way of travelling but it was the fastest. Within seconds Sophie and I stood on top of that all too familiar hill. It was dark which was the only reason why the major mileage I just shadow travelled didn't make me pass out. I felt weak in the head but other than that I was fine. "You ready?" I asked Sophie. I had been gone from camp half-blood for almost a year but she had been gone a lot longer than that. There were people at camp who still believed she was dead. The only ones that knew that she was with me were Luke, the other children of Aphrodite, Ashlyn West and Grace Harper. It wasn't that any of us were trying to hide it but it was something that didn't really pop into a conversation naturally. Or maybe it did but still no one talked about it. After all none of us knew how to explain her sudden return. Of course now we had to think of something. Both of us were back and that was something that wouldn't go unnoticed at camp. Maybe not now, after all it was nearly 12 AM. Most of the demigods would be asleep by now. I wasn't even tired yet. Of course for Sophie and me it still seemed to be early. Time difference, so confusing at times.
"Angel, Sophie." Someone said happily. It was Luke, one of the best blokes you'll ever meet. He was about as tall as I was (6 foot 2 if you care to know) and had blonde hair. He had blue eyes and a never dying smile. The most remarkable about his appearance was his bronze hand. He had forged it together with one of his brothers when he lost his own hand to someone from his past. Of course Luke, being the son of Hephaestus got of gadgets and cool stuff (or smiths and machinery if you want to get factual) Luke didn't just forge a new hand. His bronze hand held an arsenal of weapons and gadgets. It was pretty cool stuff. But most of all Luke was the one guy you could depend on no matter what. Even when I went all evil and tried to kill his girlfriend he still trusted me, well kind of. That's a long story.
"Luke." I said and walked up to him. We hadn't seen each other for a year, a brotherly hug was in order. Truth was Luke was like family to me. We had been through a lot of stuff together and I would lay my life on the line for his and I knew the same went for him. "How are you mate?" I asked him. Maybe I should say something more inspiring but truth was I didn't know what to say. I was bad at goodbye's but I was just as bad as greeting a friend I hadn't seen in too long.
"I'm good. I just wish I could call you two here on better news." Luke said. I still didn't know what he was talking about but it had to be bad. "I'm glad you came too Sophie. It's good to see you again by the way." As far as I knew Luke and Sophie weren't friends or anything but they were brother and sister in law so to speak. Luke's girlfriend, Maria Wilson was a daughter of Aphrodite so she was Sophie's sister. I figured they would know each other.
"And you." She said to Luke "How's Maria?" For a second I thought it was the wrong question to ask. Something bad had happened and she asked about Maria. For a second I considered the possibility that something happened to her. Of course that possibility was quickly discarded. If something bad had happened to Maria Luke would be falling apart. I could see tears forming in his eyes and his voice didn't sound as cheery as it usually did but if Maria was in bad shape he would be unreachable.
"She's fine." Luke said quickly. He turned around and signed us to follow him. He didn't want to just tell us. The three of us walked through the woods for about ten minutes until I saw people up ahead. Unlike Luke and Sophie I had no problem seeing in the dark. Being the son of Erebus being able to see in the dark was one of the perks. We neared the people and I started to recognize a few of them. One of them was Colin Price, son of Nike. He was a good guy. He had been cursed by Phthonos but when we send him to hell the curse seemed to have broken. These days he tried to help out camp as much as he could and given he was the son of the goddess of Victory he usually succeeded. Then there were Alex Jones and Hectar Garner. The self acclaimed camp half-blood detectives. They were idiots who knew nothing about being a detective but truth was they saved my ass quite a few times. Although that was something that I try to deny to this day. There were one or two people I knew by face and one I had never seen before. He was slightly taller than I was (did that even happen?) and he was strong looking. Most remarkable, he was quite old. Not old old, I mean mid twenties old. That didn't happen among demigods. Not commonly anyway. Who was this guy? He looked up at me once I was in their view. Truth was everyone did. Some smiled, some seemed confused, the new guy just stared. I couldn't make out what his look meant, but it didn't seem like a nice look.
"Angel! How have you been?" Hectar and Alex said at exactly the same time. If they didn't look so different I would have said they were twins. Their hair and eye colour wasn't very different. Both brain hair and brown eyes but their faces had almost no other resemblances. Alex's face was a lot more that of a trickster. He always had a sly look and his face was sharp. Hectar seemed a lot more childlike (although he was slightly older than Alex) and was smaller. I heard a few more greetings. The man and Colin stayed silent. They weren't real talkers obviously.
Only when I looked at the centre of these people I saw the reason why we were all here. There was a blanket hiding something which I guessed was a body. So someone had died after all. For a second I wanted to walk away. I didn't want this any more. A year ago it had started like this. Dead bodies in the woods. Of course now I was sure it wasn't me but still. I didn't know if I could still look at a dead body without going sick. And the thing was that I was sure this was someone I knew well, else Luke wouldn't call me here. I saw everyone I knew at camp that wasn't here in my head. Who could it be? I didn't want to find out. But I saw Luke's hand go towards the top of the blanket ready to pull it off. "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry." Luke said as he removed the blanket.
As soon as I saw the girl's face my eyes filled with tears. Not her, it couldn't be her. There in the centre of us all lay the corpse of Grace Harper. Grace had been there for me when I first woke up with amnesia. She was the kindest, sweetest girl I had ever met. Of all people...she didn't deserve this. I could see her throat was cut, a quick death if it was the only thing her killer did to her. I turned my head away from the body. I saw Sophie now, she was crying. Grace and her had been good friends. I wondered why Luke had to show me rather than tell me. Maybe that would have made it more bearable, or would it have been harder? I don't know. "Cover her up." I said trying to swallow sadness.
"Angel you know more about this stuff than anyone." Luke said. I knew why he brought me here. If he didn't want me to look at her corpse he would have just told me. I knew about stuff like this. Alex and Hectar were the self acclaimed detectives, I was the assigned detective. I was the one with the most experience in death and probably the one with the most messed up mind. I was the person who did this sort of stuff but this was a good friend of mine and the one person in the world I hoped to protect. But I failed.
"I said...cover her up." I couldn't do this now. Not with so many people around, not with just knowing that she died. I reached into my pocket. There was a small pack of cigarettes there. One left, only one for a moment like this. Stress smoking, an idiotic thing that I couldn't stop myself from doing. I needed to be alone and that wasn't too tough for someone like me. "Erebus." I whispered. The glove I wore on my right hand became pure black for a second and then I disappeared. Well to the others it seemed I had disappeared anyway. I was invincible as long as I was in the shadows and given it was night time there were a lot of those about. I started making my way deeper into the woods. I wanted to get as far away from the others as I could. Maybe it was harsh leaving them all behind like that. I felt especially bad for Sophie. She had just found out one of her best friends had died and I left her alone. But I was already gone. I didn't want to return before I put myself at ease. When I thought I was far enough I sat down against the trunk of a tree. I stuck the cigarette between my lips and lit it. Truth was I disliked smoking. I wanted to quit but events like this made that very hard. I sat there letting the smoke fill my lungs. I could feel my throat burn and my heart race. If I stopped lying to myself I would know that it was disgusting but even so it calmed me down. As I took another pull of my cigarette I could hear her voice. For a second I thought I was going mad, maybe I was. Maybe the amnesia and Colt had finally taken its toll. Maybe that´s what the head aches meant, that I was going mad. Or maybe, this was just my fucked up way of dealing with the loss of another friend. 'You shouldn't smoke Angel.' I heard in my head.
"Why shouldn't I? What's the fucking point in resisting?"
'I thought you wanted to die in peace. I wouldn't call lung cancer very peaceful.'
"It's better than getting a sword through my gut." Then she was silent. Maybe because I was an ass or maybe because my mind figured out that this wasn't healthy self help therapy.
"Angel right?" I heard another voice, unlike the last one this one was real. I turned my head to see who's voice I just heard. My right hand had already reached into my pocket to find my black Zippo lighter. But once I saw the man's face I decided that wasn't necessary. I didn't think it was anyway. "I'm Ethan Rayne." He said. It was the same guy I saw earlier. At least I knew his name now but that didn't change all that much. He was still a stranger to me.
"Angel." I said simply. I figured I should be kind of polite but that didn't change that I wasn't all that good around strangers at camp. Mostly because the last time someone new got introduced to me he turned out to be a spy. Of course later that same guy turned out to be one of my best friends but for some reason I forgot about that now. Truth was Ethan gave me a weird feeling. My senses told me he was trouble although nothing about him made me understand that feeling.
"I'm sorry about your friend. It's never easy to have someone die." Ethan said as he pulled out a cigarette of his own. He offered my one as my cigarette had pretty much completely burned out. For a second I doubted about taking one but eventually I shook my head. I threw the cigarette I was still holding on the floor and stepped on it with my foot to make sure it had stopped burning.
"So how did you find me?" I asked him. I thought I had gotten away pretty successfully. Unless he followed by listening to my footsteps (which would mean he was quite the predator) he could have only come across me by luck.
"I went for a cigarette much like you did when I saw your cigarette burn. Figured I'd walk up here and give my condolences." Ethan said. It was the most logical explanation I knew that but still I didn't believe him. Maybe I just wanted to create an enemy for myself. It was a logical thing to do. After all someone must have killed Grace and this was the only new guy. Other than someone who hadn't been here for long I couldn't imagine anyone I knew from camp killing Grace. Everyone liked her. In my mind, Ethan was the killer all along.
"Angel! Where are you?" I heard Luke call. He really wanted my help here and I was denying him that. I knew I had to go. I owed him and Grace that much. But I couldn't look at Grace's body and try to think what her killer thought. I couldn't do that.
"You should go to him Angel. When he found her body this afternoon he was heartbroken. He didn't want to bring you into this. Not to help find who did it anyway. But Luke couldn't figure it out without you. You're the only one who can give Grace justice. If there was anyone else he would contact them but there's only you." Ethan was right. I still saw him as the bad guy but I couldn't deny his words of wisdom.
"Thanks...Ethan." I said. I nodded to him and made my way towards Luke. We walked back to the body I so dreaded to see. When Luke and I arrived most of the people were gone. Colin was still there and I saw Sophie sitting with Maria in the distance. Maria looked up at me for a second and tried to fake a smile. Maria and I weren't friends given Colt tried to kill her but I kept Luke out of trouble last year and she was thankful for that. Ever since then she seemed to be all right with me. Of course this was the first time I saw her in a long time.
"You ready?" Luke asked me. I tried to keep a cold expression when I nodded. I still didn't want to do this but I had to. There was no other way. Luke let out a heavy breath as he pulled away the blanket. Now I saw that the killer had done far worse than I hoped. This wasn't just a murder, this was a slaughter. It reminded me too much of the bodies I saw last year. Although there were differences. Many of them. This was a much more fatal kill. All her main arteries had been cut while Colt usually let his victims live as long as possible. I was sure it wasn't me that did this but it was hard not to compare. Grace had been bled to death, much like a ritual slaughter in my opinion. Could it be something like that? I didn't know for sure. The weirdest thing about it was that there was so little blood laying around. Grace's arms, neck and legs were covered in it but the ground itself only had little blood covering. All her main arteries being cut would create a bloody mess you can't imagine. Was she killed somewhere else? "Any ideas?"
"I don't get. It doesn't make sense at all. It seems kind of ritual to me. All the main arteries cut open that's how they ritually slaughter animals and stuff like that. But where's all the blood?" I didn't understand what had happened to her. I didn't really want to. Maybe I couldn't see what happened because it was a good friend of mine laying there, maybe it was because this time Colt wasn't the killer. I didn't know the answer to that either. I didn't seem to know any answer. "We should give her her last rites tomorrow. I think her friends and siblings will want to be there." I said. We usually performed last rites in the amphitheatre. It was like a funeral or cremation. We grieved our dead just like the mortals did.
"Okay." Luke said. Again I left him. I needed to be alone again. I had done what I could and the truth was the only thing that was going to give us more info were our dreams. Demigods dreamt about many things and usually these things were important. Maybe I could see something important in my dreams. Before I made my way down to camp half-blood I walked past Maria and Sophie. Sophie hid her face in her hands and Maria sat next to her trying to comfort her.
"Take care of her all right?" I asked Maria. She nodded. Sophie remained silent. I didn't know what to say to her. I figured it was better to leave her with her big sister for now. So I walked on, down the hill and into camp half-blood. One I was out of the dense woods the first thing I saw was the big house at the far end of camp. Chiron's place. I hadn't seen the old horse yet. Last year I barely saw him and I doubted that he liked me returning very much. After all I was a known trouble maker even among demigods. We were all trouble makers but I was the trouble maker among them. Still Chiron seemed like the kind of guy who didn't care about that. He was a kind man/centaur as far as I knew. I didn't think he would hold a grudge against me. Still though I didn't go see him. I probably should have given I just returned from another unauthorized sneak out. Instead I went to the Erebus cabin, the place at camp where I belonged. A cabin which was nothing but shadow. It was dense and thick shadow and most people probably found it uncomfortable or even scary. But I liked it. Every cabin was built for the children of the god in question. So this cabin was built exactly for the children of Erebus. And well, they had built it exactly right. Once inside I sat down on the bed I used just before I left camp. I buried my face in my hands and tried to keep myself from crying. I had to think. Who could have done this? Could it be Ethan or was I wrong about that? Were there other new guys around? I didn't know these things. Truth was that even though I tried to think of anything there was only one thing going through my head. Why her? How could anyone do that to her? She didn't deserve this. I kept thinking that way until I was too exhausted to think. I lay my head down and closed my eyes hoping my dreams would offer me some peace.
Ethan Raine woke up in his expensive bed, which stood in his penthouse apartment in New York city. It wasn't his only penthouse apartment, the New York one just happened to be the one he inhabited at the time. Of course they weren't truly his. They were his grandfather's, and everything that was his grandfather's was owned by the order. Ethan tried not to think about those politics though. It was better to just stay out of official business and do what he was meant to do. He raised himself out of his bed and got dressed. He wore black jeans, a simple white t-shirt, a jumper and a leather jacket. He dressed simply even though he had a lot of money available. He had been raised in a giant house and with servants and everything but he didn't live an easy life. His parents died when he was a boy and ever since then his grandfather had raised him. Now he did the only thing he was meant for. He hunted. It was what he had been trained for since he was 9 years old. He knew why, but he tried not to think about that. It was better to just act rather than think. Ethan knew he was better off having no emotion than actually thinking about his actions. Guilt was a heavy thing to carry around. So he dropped it along the way.
Ethan's job was simple, seek and destroy. They weren't hard to find even though they themselves believed they blended in so well. There was something about them that Ethan always spotted. Demigods, disgusting filth of society. That's how he felt anyway. So he hunted them, he hunted them till they were down in the underworld with their possible father. Hades didn't have many children any more. Ethan knew about the pack him and his brothers made after the second world war. Of course now there were a few children of the big three running around. They were class A demigods, highly dangerous. Not all class A demigods were children of the big three but all the big three demigods were class A, funny how that worked. The fortunate thing for a guy like him was that demigods tended to die quite easily. Monsters tried to kill them, sometimes they tried to kill each other and every once in a while they went on some sort of quest and got themselves killed. It was almost too easy for a demigod hunter to kill them as they didn't need to kill half of the demigods around. The thing was that these abominations kept popping up everywhere. They were like cockroaches. Kill one, two more pop up. So Ethan had to be quick. He had another advantage though. There were more like him, many more. None of the demigods actually knew about them but they were around. Most of them were just eyes, watchers. Ethan was a soldier. A hunter. The eyes found a target and he neutralized it. This time it was a guy about thirteen years old. He had only known for two months and was only a class D demigod but he could become a threat later in life. It didn't matter which class they were, all of them had to be killed eventually. He went to a small time middle school in New Jersey. He lived with his mother (meaning there was a chance of him being a son of the big three) and seemed like a pretty normal kid. Of course all that didn't matter to Ethan. He was only here for one reason. He followed the boy home, he couldn't kill him anywhere crowded and the eyes had told him that his mom worked so all he had to do was follow the kid to his house and murder him in the safety of his home. But the kid made it easier than that. Along the way he chose to enter a closed alley. No one would see what goes on in one of those. Ethan followed him down the alley and walked beside him. From his pocket he pulled a bronze thin dagger, a true assassination knife. It was quick, easy to hide and deadly. In a smooth motion he stuck it inside the boy's neck and pulled it out. He walked on as if nothing happened while the boy crumbled to the ground. The next pedestrian who chose the alley way was an old woman. She nearly had a heart attack when she saw the boy's corpse. Ethan was never linked to the murder, in the end no one was arrested. Ethan had done another job well. Of course this was nothing compared to the ultimate goal. The goal Ethan had been training for. The meeting point of all demigods, camp half-blood.