Chapter 19: One Step Closer
Luke had been looking everywhere, every place he could think of. Even the places others had already checked. But he couldn't find what he was looking for. He had been missing for two days now. The last one that had seen Angel was Paxton and after that no one saw him. It wasn't unlike Angel to just disappear but not on a time like this. Not with everything going on. So then what was the explanation? Colt? Luke saw it as a possibility. Of course there was also the chance that something had finally gotten to him and that they would find his body in the woods somewhere. Then there was the most likely one...Jaeden. He disappeared the same day, so it had to be connected. Now he was going to find out how.
"Luke, you ready?" Sophie asked him. She didn't know if she was but Luke was more important. He would be the target in this conversation, she was just along for the ride. There were two reasons for that. Maria didn't even want to look at the person currently residing in the storage room underneath the forge and Sophie had to know where Angel was. Sophie didn't want to hear what she had to say from Luke. Those reasons, plus that she didn't want Luke there alone, made her join him
"As ready as I'll ever be. But it needs to be done." He said to her. He didn't feel like talking to the girl that almost ruined his life. It wasn't going to be the first time that he had to do something he didn't want to though and he doubted it would be the last one. He had to go talk to Nox, because she was the only person that knew what was going on.
He walked down the stairs with Sophie right behind him. It reminded him of when he talked to Colt a year ago. He had the same feeling that he had now. He knew Nox was going to mess with him. But he was going to do what needed to be done.
"Finally Luke, took you long enough." She said before he was down the stairs. "I'll tell you right now I haven't done anything wrong." She said with an innocent smile that quickly turned into a vile grin. Luke kept a straight face. He didn't want to mess around.
"Where are they?" He asked. He wanted to finish this conversation quickly. She wasn't going to make that easy on him though.
"Not here obviously." She said. She wasn't going to give him a single straight answer. Luke knew that, especially not to a straight up answer like that. Luke didn't know how he was going to get the answers he wanted, but he knew she had them.
"Then where did they go?" He knew it was useless but he had to give it a shot.
"Somewhere other than here." She said which made Luke's fuse burn up completely. In pure rage he punched the steel bars that were holding Nox. As incredible as it was he actually dented them, even if it was only a little it was inhuman. Any normal human being would have broken his hand.
"Stop being so fucking childish and answer the question bitch!" He yelled out. Both Nox and Sophie looked at him with shock. Neither of them knew Luke like this and neither knew that he was capable of what he just did.
"Please tell me what steroids you on because I need to get myself some of that." Nox said after hiding the shock. She wondered what had happened to the nice guy who's relationship she tried to ruin years ago. She used to be so jealous of the girl that he was dating. So all she could do was take what she had. But the guy that she saw now was nothing like the Luke Ford she knew.
"Answer the bloody question." You could still hear the rage in his voice and see it in his eyes which is the only reason why Nox changed her answer this time.
"Come on hotshot, aren't you supposed to be the smart guy that figures that out all by himself?" She leaned against the bars and got as close as possible with a smirk on her face. She realized it was dangerous as Luke just dented steel bars and could probably do the same thing to her if he wanted to but it was still Luke. Even if he was like this she doubted he would hurt her.
"If I knew I would have gone after them already and would have left you here to rot but here we are aren't we?" He said. He had been thinking, trying to figure it out. But he didn't understand at all. There was no reason why Angel would leave now and no sign of where he was going.
"Why did it have to be 'we' anyway. What are you doing here sis?" She said to Sophie. "Or should I say aunt?" Sophie seemed confused for a second until she took what Nox said as an insult.
"What did you call me?" The tone in her voice suggested that she had gone right into bitch mode. But it wasn't what Nox was after.
"I guess it is pretty fucked up that a little girl like you is my aunt." She said. Sophie didn't understand what she was saying or what she was trying to do. Nox confused her and she hated it.
"What are you talking about?" She asked. She wanted to know what Nox was talking about even if it meant believing what Nox was going to tell her.
"My mom is a daughter of Aphrodite and I'm the result of her bow chicka wow wow with Ares." She said. Honestly it didn't matter to Sophie. She wasn't very happy about the fact that Nox was that closely related to her but if gods actually had DNA all of them would be family in some way. "Either way aunty, why don't you clear out so that the grown ups can talk." This however, pissed Sophie off. She hated being treated like a child, she always had. And now a girl barely four years older was talking to her as if she was a little girl who still played with her dolls. So she launched her fist forward and aimed perfectly between the bars of the cell and into Nox's face making her step back from the bars.
"Stop your games and tell us where he is!" She yelled. She was sick of Nox and the sooner she got out of there the better. Luke didn't know what to say. This time he was the one with a look of surprise on her face. Only he didn't react the same way Sophie and Nox did earlier.
"Sophie get the hell out of here!" Sophie didn't understand Luke's problem. He must have agreed that Nox deserved that. She looked that him with a look that could kill before walking up the stairs and leaving the room.
"Finally, just you and me." Nox said. With that the smirk returned. Luke was much easier to control so for her it was a great advantage that the daughter of Aphrodite left the room. As soon as she started moving back towards the bars the smirk returned. Nox was a daughter of Ares, she could take a hit. She had more important things to worry about than Sophie's right hook.
"Whatever Nox. I'm just here for answers." Luke said. This was already more drama than he wanted. If it went his way he was already going after Angel and Jaeden. The sooner the better.
"Then think!" She yelled out. It is as if she wanted to tell him but not directly. Luke didn't understand why she did that. If she really didn't want to talk she wouldn't have said a thing. "What could someone as powerful as Jaeden possibly want with someone like Angel." She said. Luke's mind was going everywhere. He was thinking back on everything he had ever figured out, everything he had ever read, everything he was taught but nothing solved this riddle. Until he thought of the one thing that connected Angel with Jaeden.
"The weapon? The weapon Erebus sealed during the witch hunt. Is that what he's after?" Luke asked. He knew what it was, he knew Angel could fetch it from the darkness, and he knew what destruction it was capable.
"The staff of Hecate, one of the most powerful weapons ever made, at least in the hands of those who know how to use it." Nox said with a sadistic smile on her face. Luke knew what kind of power this weapon hold and that knowledge was something that made Nox glow from joy. Luke knew what he was going to be up against, and Nox knew that he would be hopeless to stand against it.
"No one knows where it is. Only Erebus knows the exact location and he wouldn't tell Angel even if he is his son." Luke said. Erebus hid with weapon in a specific place in the darkness, one that could only be reached from one point, in one point in time. Only Erebus or someone who was there to see it would know where it was. But somehow Jaeden found out.
"Jaeden is more powerful than you could ever imagine Luke. So he knows. And once he has it he will turn your precious camp half-blood into a smouldering pile of ashes and rotting corpses. But don't worry. I'll make sure you are alive to see you're pretty girlfriend's body burn." Nox was so convinced of that future. She looked so willing to make it come true. Even with his anger and power, it scared him.
"What turned you into this monster Nox?" Luke asked. Nox was never a sweet girl but she wasn't evil. Not like she was now. She didn't hate the world like she seemed to now.
"You! You and you're fake family of weaklings and idiots! When you pushed me away from here and into the cold monster infested world that's when you turned me into this! You don't know what I had to do to survive, what places I had to visit!" In her rage Nox showed something else. He spotted, fear, despair and shame. Whatever Nox was talking about it was a dark place that she had been. But Luke didn't care, not now.
"You did that yourself! If you had changed, been better, then you could have stayed. And it wasn't me or Chiron who kicked you out, you left. So don't blame this on me." Luke was ready to leave. He knew the staff had to be somewhere near Salem, so he had a general direction at least. But something kept him there. Nox had pissed him off by putting the blame on him, so he stayed.
"Blame? I never said I blamed you. I think it's more fitting to thank you. After all it turned me into who I am now, and I'm very happy with that." Now all those emotions were gone. There was nothing to be found but anger and madness.
"You're disgusting Nox." Luke had endured enough, he was sick of Nox and her whining. "You brought it all on yourself and you deserve it all and I hope it makes you rot from the inside." Luke said before moving back towards the stairs. He didn't look back at her as he walked up the stairs. He knew what he needed to know. Now she wasn't his problem any more.
Not long after he left Nox in the basement of the forge he was meeting with some of his fellow demigods, the people he could trust and that would be willing to help and he was going to need it. If Jaeden was really after the staff of Hecate they were all going to need help. Jaeden was already powerful, everyone at camp had been witness to his power. But with the staff his power would become much greater and then no one could stop him.
"So what is this staff exactly?" Colin asked Luke after he finished telling what he knew. Luke had found references to it before and tried to find everything he could about it because it was such a powerful weapon but to the others it didn't have as much meaning.
"It's a weapon from the 1600's used by a clan of Hecate's sorcerers. They used it for rituals for good harvest and stuff like that but if Jaeden has plans of destruction the staff will be very capable of that, it's been used as a weapon before." Luke said. "Basically a staff like that amplifies a sorcerer's power, and this is one giant amplifier."
"Hasn't Jaeden been helping us? I mean he saved us when the Dracanae got into camp and he healed the kid that ended up here a while ago." Colin asked.
"Probably all a trick." Maximus answered before anyone else could. He wasn't going to hide the fact that he didn't trust Jaeden or any sorcerer. He had just seen too much of what they were capable of and what they were willing to do to become more powerful. He doubted Jaeden would be any different.
"You've heard what Nox said Colin, and even if we are wrong maybe it's still better that he doesn't get his hands on the staff." Sophie said. Colin agreed on that. He had seen Jaeden's power as well and he didn't want to imagine the upgraded version of that power. Even the best men could be corrupted by power like that so it might not even matter whether Jaeden was really on their side or not.
"More importantly..." Max said. "How sure is it Angel is with Jaeden? And how sure is it that he's actually Angel right now?" Everyone fell silent. It was very possible that Colt had taken over and that he was going to help Jaeden out with getting the staff. Colt and a sorcerer with that weapon, it was a combination no one wanted to think about.
"We don't, all the more important that we find them quickly." Luke answered. Even he couldn't answer that question accurately. He didn't know whether it was Colt or Angel pulling the strings right now. Even though he hoped it was Colt, something made this seem more like Angel than Colt.
"Do you even know where they are?" Maria asked. Honestly she didn't even want to be in the Hephaestus cabin right now. She remembered the last time there was a conversation like this. That time Luke ended up going on a quest against Phthonos and now he was going after Angel and a crazy sorcerer. But she knew he was going to do it, so it was better to be there for him.
"Not exactly." Luke said honestly. "But I have a general idea." He said. Of course even then it was looking for a needle in a haystack. Although he knew that whatever they were going to do it was going to cause a racket. It wasn't just any weapon they were going to unleash unto the world.
"So where are you thinking?" Sophie asked. She had been quiet until then. She was pissed at Luke for how he acted in the forge. She didn't understand why he freaked out all of the sudden but she would like to know what was getting him so stressed out. But even though Luke's recent anger problems were bothering her, this wasn't about that. It was about finding Angel and if she still believed in the things Jake told her (which she did) she couldn't let anything happen to him. He was too important for that.
"Salem." Luke said. Max was the only one that knew why, he knew what really happened in Salem in the late 17th century but the others were confused.
"Why would they want to go to Halloween village?" Sophie asked. She knew about Salem's reputation for the witch trials but she didn't really understand why they would want to go there.
"Well the witch hunt from 300 years ago wasn't all superstition. Actually they were demigods fighting a clan of Hecate's sorcerer's. These sorcerer's used the staff as a weapon. When the Sorcerer's were defeated the weapon got locked away in a location only known by one god. Which is why Jaeden and Angel are probably guessing just as much as we would be." Everyone listened to Luke tell the story and with every word he said more questions were raised.
"So why would Jaeden need Angel?" Colin asked. He had more questions but this was probably the one that mattered most to him. Angel helped him when Phthonos cursed him, this seemed like the time to return the favour.
"Because the god that locked the staff away was Erebus." Max said before Luke could answer. "Angel is probably the only demigod that can get to it being Erebus' son, and if he gives Jaeden that weapon he's going to unleash hell."
"Why are you talking about Angel like he is our enemy?" Sophie asked Max. She knew that Max was different from anyone she had ever met. It wasn't so strange given he was Phthonos' slave for the better part of his life but as far as she knew Angel and Maximus were friends.
"Because he saw Jaeden as a friend and if he is willing to help Jaeden get that staff, then he is our enemy." Max said with a intensity in his voice. There wasn't any doubt in his voice.
"We don't know what is up. We don't even know if it's Angel." Sophie said. She didn't want to see any other demigod as an enemy, especially not Angel. She knew there had to be some reason that he was doing this.
"We'll find out what is up when we find them. But we need to go after them either way." Luke said. Jaeden had to be stopped, that was obvious. Whether Angel had to be stopped too remained to be seen. "So who are going with me to Salem?" Luke asked.
"I'll go." Max was the first to say so. He had already decided that whatever had to be done he would be there. He fought sorcerer's before and he knew that Jaeden was bad news, so he was going to be there when they took him down.
"I'll come with too." Sophie said. "I want to know what is up with Angel." She said. She needed to know if this was Colt or Angel, and if it was Angel why he was doing this.
That's when the doors of the Hephaestus cabin opened and Alex and Hectar entered with smiles on their faces. "We're on the team too." Alex said.
"Hell yeah, you're going to need us around." Hectar followed. They had spirit, no one denied that. But Luke knew his answer as soon as they came inside the door.
"No, you two stay here, and you Colin. We're going to need people to defend camp. And we still have a nutty daughter of Ares in the forge basement so you three will have to take care of her too." Luke said. He didn't want Alex and Hectar around for the same reason he never wanted them around. They were fourteen year old kids who had no idea how serious the problems they were facing were and that would get them hurt someday.
"I want to come with!" Colin protested. He had been an enemy in the woods too long. Now he had a chance to redeem himself and he was going to take it. "Why can't we all go? There's enough strong demigods that can defend camp and take care of Nox." Colin said.
"Because they don't know what we're going to do, and that Jaeden is a threat." Luke explained. "If we don't come back, you can prepare camp for war." He hoped it wouldn't come to that but he knew it was necessary to take the precautions.
"All right then." He said reluctantly. He didn't like it but he understood it and there was no point in trying to play the hero when they were heroes like Luke, Max and Sophie on the job.
"It's settled then." Max said. "Like last time, you two better say your goodbye's, we're leaving before the sun comes up." Max said. Luke and Sophie didn't protest. Anyway there was no point in protesting against Max, he would just ignore them anyway.
Everyone went their separate ways. Alex and Hectar went back to the Hermes cabin while talking about whether they were going to go after Luke, Sophie and Max or not. Sophie went to the Aphrodite cabin and Luke and Maria stayed together in the Hephaestus cabin. Max walked to the place that he always went to when he needed some peace. The stables where the pegasi resided. No one knew that he went there. He never talked about it and no one asked about it so what did it matter? He was perfectly fine with no one knowing that he liked going there. When he walked in a few of the pegasi made a wide range of noises but he paid no attention to it. They settled down after a minute or two. Most of the pegasi had gotten used to his presence and weren't really bothered by it any more but there were a few that kept a close watch on him whenever he was there. He figured it had something to do with him being a son of Phobos, or maybe they just didn't like demigods hanging around. He figured both were likely options.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" Max heard a girl's voice. At the door of the stables. Usually he could spend hours in the stables without being bothered but apparently tonight was different. "Hi there." Paxton said as soon as she spotted Maximus. "You're a friend of Angel's right?"
"Yeah I guess I am." Max said. He honestly didn't know if Angel and him were friends. He barely knew what a friend was. He knew that he trusted Angel, which was the only reason why he wasn't out to kill the son of Erebus. But he didn't know if friendship was the right word to describe his connection with Angel.
"So do you know where he is?" She asked him. Angel's disappearance hadn't gone unnoticed. Most people knew about the son of Erebus so him being gone for two full days was something everyone knew about. Of course he had disappeared before so most people didn't think much of it, Paxton wasn't one of them.
"Not exactly. But we're going to look for him." Max said. Given they weren't officially allowed to leave camp he probably shouldn't be talking about what they were going to do but he didn't care. He doubted Paxton was going to talk to anyone about it anyway.
"Is there a chance that it's not Angel who left?" She asked. She had met both Angel and Colt and even though she saw neither as truly evil she knew Colt could be pretty mean towards most people.
"There's a chance it's Colt, and that means we'll have to stop him." Max said. He wasn't going to sugar coat it. He knew she would understand that they would take down Colt if they had to. If she wouldn't she was a fool in his opinion.
"If you find him...and it is Colt. I think I can stop him, no matter what he's doing. I can at least give it a shot. So when you find him...let me know okay?" Honeslty Max didn't know what she was thinking. But before he could ask her anything she got up and walked away. She was a strange girl, that was certain. But she was intriguing. He leaned his head back against the wood of the wall and wondered what was going through her mind but he couldn't place himself in her. One thing was certain. Whenever someone talked about Colt, he could sense the fear they felt for Angel's other side. But he didn't sense any fear when he talked to Paxton.
Sophie couldn't sit in the Aphrodite cabin too long. She didn't want to be surrounded by her sisters right now. She needed some peace and quiet and there was one place she knew she could get it. The do-it-yourself made Prometheus cabin. The abandoned cabin made for the only child of Prometheus that had been recorded in history. She wondered whether this was all in Jake's plan, or if he even knew this would happen. The future changed constantly and no matter how much Jake tried to control it to achieve the best outcome there were still things that could change every minute. Was this something that would ruin Jake's plan? She didn't know what she was supposed to do, without the guidance Jake had left her all she could do was follow her instincts and she didn't know if that was a good thing. There were a lot of things Jake told her to do that went against her instincts so maybe she was ruining everything.
"Sophie," A man's voice got Sophie out of her thoughts. In front of the cabin stood a centaur with long brown hair and a beard. He had a kind smile that was mostly hidden by his facial hair. "It's been a while since we talked. It's good to have you back." Chiron said.
"It's good to see you Chiron." Sophie said. Honestly she never really talked with Chiron much. When she went on her quest she wasn't even an official member. Only three were allowed to go and she followed in their footsteps. It was something not many people knew. Only Chiron and the people that were actually there.
"So I take it you and the others are going after Angel tomorrow." As soon as the centaur said that Sophie turned pale. She knew that it wasn't allowed to leave camp unless there was an official camp. As soon as Chiron noticed he chuckled though. "Don't worry Sophie I won't try to stop you." Chiron said.
"But...the rules." Sophie stuttered. She never really had to talk about breaking the rules to the person that upheld them before and she wasn't very good at it. Chiron had something about it that made it hard to lie to him or go against him. He was too kind hearted to do that to him.
"The rules are there to keep everyone safe. But if what you're doing is important enough for you to leave than I take it that everyone's safety is already at risk and if anyone can fix that it's you." Chiron said. He didn't like it that there was a group of demigods that took it upon themselves to protect camp. But he had faith in his students.
"Thank you Chiron." Sophie said. She didn't want to go against Chiron and to have his trust meant a lot. Chiron sighed, even though he knew there was no way to stop it putting his students in danger was something he disliked. The cabin that he stood in front was a memorial to a hero that was lost. Chiron let his hand slide across one of the wooden boards of the cabin feeling how smooth it was.
"I must say you kids didn't do a bad job constructing this." He said while pulling one of the boards to see how well it was attached. That's when he used a bit too much power and pulled the wood right with the screws still in it. He looked at Sophie with a guilty look in his eyes. "I'll get that fixed I swear." I said knowing that Sophie was one of the people who worked hard to put it there.
"Don't worry about it." She said. "It's bound to be destroyed one day anyway." She said. No one was staying in the cabin so it didn't matter whether a few boards were pulled off.
"Still, it's proof of what a few kids can achieve when they work together." Chiron said. He remembered the day Jake Kopaka came to him in rage that there was no cabin representing the titan Prometheus. Out of anger he started to construct his own outside of the harmonic omega's of the other cabins just to spite the old centaur. Of course his friends helped him out and those that remembered those days looked at the cabin and remembered the heroes that defeated Hyperion. Chiron remembered the children that they were before that though. It was something that he always had with every hero he trained. He remembered their human side while others would remember them for their divine strength. "I hope you make sure everyone returns safely Sophie. In the meantime I'll make sure we're all prepared here." Chiron knew that there was a chance that camp was in danger, whether they succeeded in stopping Jaeden or not. So he knew what to do. He left Sophie after that, knowing that he'd have to think of some kind of excuse why demigods were leaving for no reason. He didn't know if anyone would ask but he better have an excuse ready in case that someone did.
"Thanks Chiron." Sophie said, long after Chiron had left.
Luke woke up before the light of the sun was there. It was what they agreed on. They'd be gone before the early birds got a chance to stop them. He had his bag packed and the route was set out. All he had to do was get dressed, say his goodbye's to Maria and meet Sophie and Max.
"Maria, I got to go." He said before opening his eyes. He figured there'd be some kind of response, a protest probably. But there was nothing. He opened his eyes and saw no one. He was sure she was there when he went to sleep. Did she go to her own cabin? No, she wouldn't let him leave without saying goodbye, he was sure of that. So where was she? "Maria?" He called out when he sat up. He looked around the cabin but he still didn't see anyone. Now he was getting worried. "Maria?!" He called out again hoping that she would respond but there was no response. She had to be here somewhere, she couldn't let him leave without saying goodbye could she?" He walked out of his cabin hoping to see her. "Maria?" He said again.
"Do you want to wake everyone up?" Maria asked. Luke jumped up, he hadn't seen her standing beside the door of the cabin. Luke was relieved to see her though, but something bothered him.
"Maria, what are you doing with that backpack?" He asked her. He wondered what she was planning. He figured she would see him off till the border but she didn't need a backpack for that.
"I'm coming with you. Did you really think I was going to let you go out without me again?" She asked. "We're getting married soon, can't let you die now can I?" She said. Luke wanted to protest but he knew Maria wouldn't let him, and when Sophie and Max arrived he knew he didn't stand a chance at winning an argument anyway.
"Come on get dressed Luke we got to go." Sophie said. She wanted to leave as soon as possible. They had lost enough time already, it was time to go after Angel and find out what he was planning. She just hoped that they would get there before he handed the staff the Jaeden, if they were, she didn't know if they could stop him.