Chapter 9: The best day of your life
The party was already starting. There was a big tent in the middle of the cabins, everyone was invited so there was no need to find a more closed location. Of course Luke and Maria didn't everyone at camp but those who weren't invited would show up anyway so why bother alienating people? Camp was a small community and marriage wasn't something most of us lived long enough to see. It was also the first wedding at camp in twenty years so there were few to no demigods who could at least share the happiness with someone else. Seeing the tent from the outside made me wonder if I would ever find the happiness Luke had. I doubted it, it just wasn't for me. Hell I hadn't had a girlfriend in seven years, marriage wasn't happening before I got myself killed somewhere along the line. Given how reckless I could be I figured it wouldn't be too long until the fates would cut my lifeline. Of course I wasn't going to let that happen without a fight. But tonight wasn't for fighting, tonight was for a party.
Sophie and I appeared on the outside side of the Erebus cabin. It was the easiest place for me to shadow travel from or to given it was pure shadow. I didn't need it but it made it much easier so I went for it. Sophie was carrying a bag for some reason. Of course, she usually did so it wasn't very weird. "I'm going to change, I think you should do the same. You have a suit right?" As soon as she said that I started sweating. A hadn't thought about getting a suit for a second but I was kind of going to the wedding of a good friend tomorrow and we were having a party for it tonight. How could I not wear a suit?
"Yeah of course, got it inside." I said smiling. She raised an eyebrow and walked towards the Aphrodite cabin. I sighed and tried to figure out how I was going to get a suit in the next twenty minutes. I figured I'd have about twenty minutes as I was sure Sophie was going to take at least half an hour if not more. So I did what any bloke would do, I went to the most expensive suit store I could think of after closing time to steal a suit. Given in L.A the stores were still open I went to Manhattan. The store was probably the fanciest store I had ever been in. Some of these places wouldn't even let me take a look inside. Now here I was among some of the most expensive male clothing I had ever seen, and most of it wasn't in my size. Some of those suits seemed to be made for midgets compared to me. Eventually I found one suit that fitted me. I tried not to look at the things price. I hated having to steal this but I figured I'd bring it back. Of course the price card made me very nervous. 900$, I would never be able to pay that. It didn't matter though, this was for Luke's wedding, I had to take it. So I put it on and got back as fast as I could.
At least twenty minutes had past, I knew it had. I walked out of the Erebus cabin and heard Sophie's voice mocking me. "And I thought I was the girl here, I've been waiting for ten minutes." That was unexpected. She appeared from the side of the cabin and you could say my jaw dropped. I always thought she was beautiful but the only thought going through my head right then was: wow! She was wearing a white dress with white shoes. Her hair was completely straight and a smile covered her lips. Maybe it wasn't anything special but it knocked me off my feet that was for sure. Around her neck was the necklace she got from her mother years ago. It was also her sword much like the lighter in my pocket was mine. Even though I was wearing a expensive suit and was really hoping that I wouldn't need it I couldn't go anywhere without that lighter in my pocket. Most demigods would know that whenever you didn't take your weapon you would get attacked, good old sod's law. "You ready to go then?" She asked me. I nodded in reply and we made our way to the tent.
Inside music played loudly, the Apollo kids were great musical talents. Looking at the guitarist playing a pretty simple riff I wondered if I still had it in me to play like I used to. I used to waste hours away playing the guitar and I loved it but I couldn't even remember the last time I played. I wanted to buy a guitar every time I walked past a guitar store (and there's a lot of those in Los Angeles) but I never actually did it. Every gives up things they like doing along the road, playing the guitar was the thing I gave up. The tent itself was filled with standing tables and a lot of people. There was a bar which needed no bar guy as it magically filled itself (I happened to know that Luke loved this more than any other.) I saw the happy couple in a corner talking to some bloke I didn't know. The guy was big and bulky and wasn't the best looking guy here so I figured he was a son of Ares. Sophie and I were walking side by side but kept our distance. Neither of us wanted anyone to think we were actually coming here together. I happened to know there were rumours already and I didn't want to make it any worse. I saw a few familiar faces. Alex and Hectar were holding some kind of soda drinking contest near the bar and Colin was talking to his girlfriend away from the big group. Whenever I saw them together it made me feel good as to me it justified all the horrors that happened last year. Seeing them happy was my prize for it all.
"Damn you Angel!" I heard a familiar voice say. Max walked up to me wearing a suit (although his wasn't worth 900$) and with his chain carefully hidden underneath the baggy sleeve of his jacket. He was looking pretty good, better than usual. Obviously he had tried to look his best for the wedding of our common friend.
"What did I do now?" I asked with a smile. Max and I had history just like Luke and I did. Max and I had always known we were alike. Neither of us really enjoyed our young years but it seemed like both of us had finally gotten loose of them. Colt had appeared when I was angry but since then there was no sign of him. I figured if I continued to control my inner rage he wouldn't come out again. Max had been released from Phthonos when we sent him to Tartarus, I always thought that was one of the most releasing moments he ever had. Little did I know that he was about as free as a man imprisoned for life, he had just changed jailers.
Instead of telling me what he meant he grabbed my arm and pulled me towards Luke. "Luke, look what this bastard decided to wear after all." Max said. Luke turned away from the son of Ares and checked out my suit. By the way, I hated it. A person should have paid 900$ for this thing and it was not comfortable at all. How could someone walk around that thing? I wished I could change back into my good old jumper with jeans but given everyone was wearing suits I was quite happy that Sophie had mentioned it.
"I can't believe I actually won that, you owe me fifteen bucks Max." Luke said with a big smile on your face. "Looking stylish by the way mate." Angel said to me. I had no idea what was going on and they seemed to pick up on that.
"Luke and I made a bet whether or not you'd show up in a suit. I was pretty convinced you would never wear one of those so I betted no while Luke figured you might so we put fifteen bucks on it and waited." Max said. I could see that they had become close. It was to be expected. They spent a lot of time together so it was obvious that they'd grow closer. It was just funny to see as Luke didn't trust Max when we first started the quest a year ago and he was proven right in the end. Of course Max had redeemed himself when he went against Phthonos in the end. Now I was pretty sure Luke would go the distance to save Max if it was needed.
"Well in that case congrats Luke." I said. "And of course congratulations on the wedding, to the both of you." I said to Maria and Luke. I had congratulated them before but given it was the evening before the wedding it had to be said again. I was happy for them, if there was any demigod couple that deserved this it was them. Maria and I had our difference but she loved Luke more than anything and I knew that went both ways.
"Thanks bro." Luke said. Maria just nodded and smiled when one of her sisters came up to her screaming like a high school girl. So Luke and I were left alone as Max walked to stop Alex and Hectar from drowning themselves in soda. As he walked away he mumbled something about not being a fucking chaperone. Luke and I didn't say anything. There was nothing standing in between us yet it felt like a weird silence. Like the ones we used to have when one of us fucked up. It was weird. We had spoken little when I was at camp less than a week ago and already we had nothing to say to each other. We were long past the how's life stuff but what else was there to ask? I was his best man tomorrow and this was the second time he saw me in a year.
"I was actually not going to ask this until Sunday but I figured I might as well do it now." I said to Luke. There had been questions I wanted to ask and I knew that Luke was the only one that could answer them. He was the smartest guy I knew and this was kind of in his street.
"Ask away man." Luke said taking a zip from whatever he was drinking. I figured it was something the bar didn't serve. Of course Chiron didn't allow anything stronger than lemonade to be served but this guy was getting married tomorrow. Screw legal drinking age.
"It's about shadow-edge. It's been acting strangely lately. It's like it's more than one weapon in one shape. It listens to my thoughts as if I bend it to my will. If you can, could you try to find something on it?" Luke looked at me in the eye as he chugged the drink in one go.
"I've been looking for a while. Don't have anything certain yet but I'll try to spent some more time on it." Luke said. Something about it seemed to trouble him. I wondered why it would. I was still hoping it was just a sword with some extra traits but seeing Luke's reaction that explanation seemed to be off the table.
"Hey congrats Luke!" Alex yelled over all the noise in the tent. "Congratulations on your wedding." Luke and I turned our heads with the common, 'what is that idiot doing now' look. Alex stood on one of the tables like a drunk. He was barely standing up straight and was talking as if he had been drinking vodka this entire time. Of course all he had been drinking was coke and sprite. The question going through my head was whether Alex really thought he was drunk or if he was simply acting like a fool. Neither would surprise me. "I think we should all drink on the soon to be happily married couple." Alex raised a full bottle of coke and threw it backwards as if it was strong alcohol. The funny thing was that he actually pulled it off, everyone drank as Alex wanted. Alex himself acted a little too drunk and fell off he table. That's when everyone started laughing. For Alex that probably meant that the mission was successful. Either that or he would have a killer it's all in your head hangover in the morning.
Through the large group of demigods I spotted a girl leave the tent. I could only see her long curly black hair but that was enough for me to know who she was. "Excuse me mate." I said to Luke and walked off. I hadn't spoken to her in too long and I didn't see her around camp a lot. She was more of a shadow than I was. Outside she sat down against the Hermes cabin looking more content than she did inside. "Ashlyn?" I said to her.
"Angel. I haven't seen you in a while. How are you enjoying life with Sophie?" Ashlyn asked me. Sophie and Ashlyn were good friends so I figured she knew the few less likeable attributes of Sophie's personality. I sat down next to her and answered her question.
"Fine I suppose. We live besides each other though. If I'm not out she is, we hardly see each other." I said. It was true of course it hadn't been the last week. But what was one week against forty? And given the death of Will and my recent finding this week had been even more hectic than a regular one. "So how have you been?" I asked her. Ashlyn and I only met once or twice but given she was a good friend of Jake's I tried to look out for her.
"I've been good." She said simply. The way I knew her she wasn't a big talker. I knew she changed a lot after Jake's death so I could only guess what she was really like. I hoped that it would come back to her someday. She needed to get out of the depressed state she was in but how was she supposed to get out after being there for so long? I figured it had become some sort of comfort zone. Being the quiet girl in the background had become easy to do but coming back to who she was was hard. I didn't know if that was true, I wasn't a shrink but I figured it worked like that. People like the easy way out whether it is the right decision or not. "You've been dreaming about Ethan haven't you?" I was surprised when she said that. I knew her father was Morpheus, god of dreams, but I didn't think she'd just know what I had been dreaming about.
"How do you know that?" I asked a bit snappish. My dreams were awfully disturbing sometimes and I rather kept them to myself. Especially the ones I didn't understand like the ones about Ethan. They were crystal clear but the question why I was having them still burned.
"The fact that you've been having bad dreams, that I can sense with ease. The Ethan thing was just a guess." I wondered how she could have just guessed that. I wondered if she was lying about it. I couldn't figure out why she would. She was usually pretty straight with me. That's why I was going to tell her about my troubles, something I wasn't known to do.
"I don't get why I would see him though. Is he still such a threat that I need to keep an eye on him? Am I supposed to kill him or something? I just don't get why he's so important." I said to her. If anyone could explain my dreams it would be her. She was the only child of Morpheus around so she was the only one I could ask about this.
"Dreams are hard to explain Angel. They show many things. Things we want to know, things we need to know. Future expectations or things we want to achieve. Maybe you're seeing Ethan because you want to keep an eye on him. He is still out there and to you that means he's still a threat." Ashlyn said. Truth was I had never thought like that. I always thought the demigod dreams were either rubbish or stuff you had to know. Apparently I was wrong about that.
"Thanks Ashlyn." I said not knowing what else to say. She nodded with a smile.
"No problem. Now go back inside and go mingle or something." I chuckled and got up. I knew she didn't really like crowds like the one inside the time. She would spent some more time outside if she was coming back inside at all. I doubted she would.
Going back inside the tent I made my way to the bar and let my glass fill with energy drink. I chugged it backwards with ease. I drank way too much of that stuff but there was something about it that I liked. I turned around leaning against the bar looking at everyone doing their thing. Luke and Maria had gotten a little alone time while Max and Colin were arm wrestling just cause. I saw another girl who I wanted to talk to. This one was standing alone at a table. I don't know why but something about her looked sad. She was actually smiling slightly and people who didn't know her would think she was happy but I knew her and this wasn't her happy face. Something in her eyes made me realize something was up. So I walked towards her hoping to cheer her up a bit or at least find out what was up.
"Not mingling?" I asked her. Sophie looked up with a small smile. Her emerald green eyes trapped me as they always did. I never liked admitting it to myself but she made me feel so strange whenever she looked at me. A shiver ran over my spine and I felt nervous but on the outside I looked calm as I always did.
"Meh, not really my thing. And anyway it's Maria's night not anyone else's." I almost completely agreed with that. I understood why Sophie stood back to give Maria her shine but it wasn't just her night.
"And Luke's." When I said that Sophie just started laughing. I had no idea why. I didn't get the joke obviously. "What?"
"Nothing, nothing at all." She said trying to control herself. I still didn't understand why she laughed and I figured I never would. I did wonder why what I said was weird though but I wasn't getting a answer to that question.
A young boy entered the tent, I hadn't seen him before. He was thirteen by my guess but the blood covering his face made it hard to see. As soon as he stumbled in the music stopped and the crowd grew quiet. He got three steps before someone had to support him. Luke was the first to run towards him. His look was worried as was everyone's.
"What happened?" Luke asked. Everyone was looking with shock. What had happened to this boy?
"Dracanae, they´re inside the borders." Everyone seemed to panic and started getting restless. Everyone but me and Sophie knew Dracanae were attacking camp pretty much daily but inside the borders? How could that be? The only way that could happen was if the golden fleece (the thing powering the magical border like a battery) was missing or if someone let them in. But who would have? Why would anyone let monsters inside camp?
"Get him to the infirmary." Luke said to the two guys holding the boy up. "Give him Nectar and ambrosia and protect him." Luke walked turned around facing the crowd of people in the tent. "First line grab your weapons and meet me in front of the tent ASAP. Second line get everyone towards the big house and hold your position." I wondered when Luke became the commando of camp half-blood. I wondered what first and second line meant, I wondered when these lines were put up. Everyone seemed to know what they were supposed to do though. Some of the older demigods started to get everyone out of the tent, I figured they were second line. The ones who I saw speeding out of the tent were Max, Colin, Maria, Galia and Hectar and Alex sneaking behind them. They obviously weren't part of the first line. Not officially anyway. "Angel, Sophie, are you two coming with us or what?" Luke said to me and Sophie who stood there not knowing what to do. "If you want to get out of the fancy wear and into armour now is the time to do it." Sophie rushed towards the Aphrodite cabin while I figured I'd be fine. I never really used armour and I had some questions.
"What's going on Luke?" I asked as he walked behind the bar and was undoing his jacket with his right hand. "What's all this about first and second line and since when are you seen as some kind of leader around here?"
"Since we needed one." Luke said with a bit of a nasty tone in his voice. He pulled of his jacket and shirt which revealed a metal looking thing which was flat and didn't look very strong. Of course Luke made it to be comfortable and turned it into something practical. Within seconds the flat metal turned thick and spikey. I had to admit that it was an awesome looking armour. From behind the bar he pulled his watch and a bronze shield I had never seen before.
"Why would you need one?" I was still completely confused. What on earth was happening here? Why was Luke prepared for something like this? He had his weapons behind the bar, was he expecting this? Luke twisted his watch making it turn into his sword, Tyche. He was completely ready for battle.
"You've been gone for a long time Angel. Don't ask questions, just get out there." Luke said. Out of my pocket I pulled the black lighter and twisted the flint. I was ready now. I relied on speed and agility when I fought, so all I needed was my sword. I followed Luke outside where everyone stood ready with their weapons drawn. Most of the times Max hid his arm but now it was open for everyone to see. If he covered it in a fight it would lose all of its use. "Is everyone ready?" Everyone nodded. Sophie had changed from her white dress to simple armour and carrying her sword. "They'll be coming from the hill, that's where Wesley was patrolling. We need to be ready and make sure no one gets hurt, understand?" Again they all nodded. "I know this is going to be tougher than usual, they're inside the boundaries which makes it a lot harder to fight them but we can't allow anything happening to the demigods in the big house." Other times? Had this happened before? I couldn't think straight as we moved out to meet our attackers. We didn't stand far from the bottom of the hill watching about twenty Dracanae come down the hill. The neared us with a lot of momentum and their sharp weapons pointed at us. "Ready!"
The first Dracanae that neared me was dead as soon as it was within reach. I had gotten pretty good in fighting these things. Its spear pointed towards me and with a simple duck and stab it was done for. The others were all fighting and Galia was shooting any Dracanae that was still coming down the hill. I was amazed at how good they all were at killing Dracanae. They pretty much predicted every move these things could make. How many times had these things attacked camp? How many battles had been fought without me knowing about it? Another Dracanae stood in my way, this was much rarer than most. It seemed to be unarmed but its tail was far more dangerous than most. Dracanae could give quite a smack with their tails but when they placed a spiked ball at the end of it, it became deadly. I dodged the thing twice in a row trying to keep myself alive. I made one mistake which could be fatal in a fight. Any mistake could be. The thing swept me off my legs with it's tail and I was ready to be finished off. The monster's tail was raised in the air ready to be brought down and killing me. Before the monster could move it was decapitated by a bronze shield, Luke had saved my ass once again. I just gave him a quick nod as he sprinted back into battle. I would thank him later if it was necessary. We had saved each others lives multiple times so it didn't really matter who saved who any more. All that mattered was that we both survived. I got back to my feet and took a quick look around the battle. I saw dust laying around everywhere and the amount of Dracanae had halved. The first line of defence was making quick work of these things. Two more ran towards me, one carried a spear and a shield while the other was holding a bow in hand. I knew that one had to be taken care of first. While I was fighting the one the other would shoot me in the back, I couldn't have that. I jumped into the good old shadows and appeared behind it. My sword sliced its back turning it into dust. The other one was disorientated by my sudden disappearance. Once it spotted me again the charge was back on. The only thing that made it hard to kill was its shield. I easily dodged or parried the spear but the shield kept me away from its weak points. So the only thing I could do was neutralize it. I sidestepped away from the spear and cut it splintering it into smithereens. The monster was only carrying a shield now and desperately tried to bash me with it but just a shield wasn't enough to defeat me. I feinted an attack to her head and as it rose its shield my blade went for its snake trunks. As I brought my sword down I had a dejavu, I killed one like this before. They were way too predictable, or I was. As it screamed in pain I finished it off. We seemed to have won when Colin killed one final Dracnae with his double bladed spear. A last pile of dust formed on the floor and we all thought that the danger had been neutralized. But we still heard weapons connecting, screams of pain and cries of the dying. The sounds came from the other side of camp. Was there another group of Dracanae attacking?
"They're at the big house!" Max yelled out. The nine of us sprinted towards the big house with all the speed we could pull out of our legs. The screams were more obvious now. People were dying, they had distracted us and sneaked up on everyone in the big house. When I could see the big house I saw about five dead demigods, how could this be? How could we have missed this? How could this happen the night before Luke's wedding? It made no sense. There were quite a few Dracanae left, the second line had been trying to defend the big house and they were doing a pretty good job now. The nine of us charged right into the remaining Dracanae and we made quick work of them. They probably thought the other group would keep us busy longer than it did. The second line had taken casualties and I saw a girl that was probably about seventeen that was hurt. The tip of one of the monster's spears had scraped her side. It was bleeding pretty badly. As Luke went to see how everyone was inside Galia tended to the wounded fighters.
"Are you all right?" I asked the girl. I hadn't seen her before, that seemed to happen a lot tonight. I knew I didn't know everyone but so many strangers in one night was something I wasn't used to. Camp was supposed to be an everyone knows everyone community but that definitely wasn't true.
"I'm fine." She said bravely but I could see she was in pain. I knew what it was like though, she didn't want to show any kind of weakness. Obviously this was a tough girl, or at least she wanted to be. "You should get your head into the fight, there's more coming." She said. I turned around and saw more Dracanae coming towards us. This was the biggest group yet. The second line was tired and wounded, we were the ones that had to do it. Of course pretty much every demigod could fight but they weren't prepared like we were. We were the oldest (excluding Alex and Hectar) and probably the most experienced demigods ready and able right now. Galia shot a few arrows at the monsters but it didn't kill any sadly. Truth was I wasn't worried about myself or the others. They were all fighters and I knew they would be fine but could we keep so many away from the demigods inside. There were still a few armed demigods in there but if a group got through they would surely cause some damage. We couldn't let that happen. We had to stop them here and now.
That's when two figures appeared from the right flank of the monsters. One was a girl with long black hair and carrying a five feet long sword which looked pretty heavy, yet she carried it with ease. The second was a man in his early twenties. He was tall and built athletically. He had brown hair and blue eyes and was wearing a black and red trench coat. The weird thing was that he was walking into battle without a sword in hand. He just walked calmly towards the group of monsters. The girl started to chop down Dracanae without any trouble. She was an amazing fighter and with the giant reach of her sword she cut down enemies before they could even get close to her.
The man raised his hand and to all our surprise flames appeared from the tip of his fingers. With ease he burned half of the Dracanae present before he lowered his hand again. There were only a few of them left after the flames and the frenzy of the girl. They looked terrified. Afraid of what the pair would do to them. Before they could start running they were killed either by more flames emerging from the young man's hand or by the blade of the girl. Within minutes they had slaughtered the entire group. They neared us and for a second I was afraid they were enemies. When the girl sheathed her sword I figured they were allies, they had saved us after all. Personally, I was amazed. How did they do that without any effort at all? I could hardly believe my eyes. The pair +stopped in front of us. I looked to the others. Most of them were shocked like I was but Luke and Maria looked at the black haired girl with rage in their eyes.
"Hello Luke," She said at an almost seductive tone. "Maria." her tone changed completely. Much more spiteful and diminishing. Obviously they knew this girl and something had happened between them. I could only guess what it was. Luke never told me about her that was certain. For a second I wondered if she was an ex girlfriend of Luke's or something like that. He never told me about any but I figured there was a lot about his life he didn't tell me.
"Nox." Luke said with a spiteful tone. Obviously Luke disliked her, the both of them did. I was curious who this Nox girl was but I was even more curious about the other guy. And since Luke wasn't being very civil I figured I'd thank them for helping us out.
"Thanks a lot, you came exactly when we needed some help." I said to the guy. "Mind if I ask how you did that? The flames I mean." I was wondering what that was. I knew there was a goddess of magic called Hecate, could he be a son of hers? I didn't know for sure.
"It wasn't a problem." We all saw that, it seemed easy to kill half an army of Dracanae when he did it. "I used Magic, Hecate is my patron and she gave me the gift of magic even though I'm not her son."
"You're a sorcerer." Max said with an angry tone. No one seemed to be getting along any more. I wondered why Max said it like that. What did he have against magic?
"Indeed." The guy said with a smile. He didn't react to Max's anger, maybe it was better that he didn't. Of course I thought Max was being ungrateful, the guy had just helped us out.
"I'm Angel by the way, the grumpy one is Max." I said to him. "What's your name?" I asked him. I wondered what his name was, maybe someone had heard it before. I doubted someone with that kind of power and willing to help people in need went unnoticed for long.
"Nice to meet you Angel. I'm Jaeden Swift."