Leonata Olivieri
"Huh, what?" Nata said lifting her head from the diner table.
"Geez, you slept like the whole ride and you're still tired," Chase said exasperatedly.
"I happen to enjoy sleeping," Nata replied sticking her chin up.
"Here are the room keys," Cleo said walking in. She had bought four rooms, just like the last time, and gave one key to Charlotte, Alec, and Will.
Nata got up quickly and walked over to Cleo, this was her chance to talk about what happened. Everyone else grouped up and went to their rooms.
"So, what did Artemis say?" Nata asked.
"She just said where the weapon can be found," Cleo said shortly.
Tara walked up to the two. "There's more to the story. Afterward Artemis asked to speak to Cleo alone. She hasn't spoken a word about the secret little meeting," she explained. There was a hint of spite in her voice before she walked away to her room with Charlotte and walked inside.
Cleo glared at Tara before unlocking their door.
"So, what was it?" Nata inquired.
"You'll just tell Zia, who will tell Tethys. I don't want to endanger this quest, like you," Cleo responded.
"Please, Iris messages aren't working and Zia doesn't have a phone," Nata replied, waving it off. "Speaking of which, I guess you made your choice of which you're going to help, the gods," she made a face when she said gods. She had had a normal life, and for the longest time she looked up to the gods, but she went on a quest for a personal favor for one of them, and no help came when it all went downhill.
Cleo looked down, "I'm still not completely sure; I don't want to turn my back on my mom or my friends…."
Nata nodded, "I understand… kinda," she didn't really have close friends at camp. "So, what did Artemis say?" Nata asked again. Maybe by getting Cleo to warm up a little she would talk.
"Well, so you know everyone thinks that I am a daughter of Poseidon, and thanks to that I wasn't smited or anything. But anyway, she talked about how she could tell I had doubts somehow, and that the offer to become a huntress is always on the table," Cleo said with a slight shrug.
Nata couldn't tell if she was lying or not. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, I'm gonna catch up on some much needed sleep," she said, even though she knew that wasn't true. Nata jumped onto one of the empty beds and fell asleep as soon as her face hit the pillow.
The next morning she woke up to the smell of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Cleo was sitting at the table, already ready for the day with a small box of doughnuts in front of her.
"Great, I was just about to wake you up. Alec and I went and got doughnuts for everyone. We are about to leave," Cleo explained. Nata nodded and got up to get ready. She changed into her camp shirt and put her black hair into a messy bun on the top of her head. Walking back out of the bathroom, she grabbed a doughnut and walked outside with Cleo where everyone was waiting.
"You just missed it. We got a new mission," Chase said with an exasperated look.
"What?" Nata said shocked.
"Yeah, Hermes was ambushed a little while ago and lost his sword, the adamantine one that Apollo gave him. He asked us to get it for him," Alec explained.
"He left it at this postal workers convention," Tara continued.
"Let's make this quick then, 10 of us, it should be a piece of cake," Chase said waving it off.
Drey was the first one to offer to drive. "It's only ten minutes away, we can make a plan when we get there," he said as everyone filed in.
He was right, ten minutes later they pulled up to a convention hall building with a sign on the front saying, "Annual Postal Committee Convention."
"Wow, I've never seen anything so lame," Nata whispered to Cleo, who nodded in agreement.
"Alec, can you go scout it out? Be careful though," William said, looking around the empty parking lot. Alec nodded before walking through a side door. After a few minutes he walked back outside.
"I couldn't get close, but there are 16 telekhines from what I saw just walking around, and I saw the sword in the middle attached to a mailbox," Alec explained.
"So it's the sword in the mailbox," Chase attempted. Everyone sort of just looked at him and shook their heads.
William with an amused grin continued, "Okay great, So Nata, Cleo, Alec, Tara, Ace, and Drey, you guys take care of the telekhines. Charlotte and Chase, you come with me to get the sword, and Jose, you watch the van," he commanded. Nata felt bad for Jose. He made one bad decision in the last battle and he was stuck with van duty. "You guys go through the front, we will go through the side door," William added.
"Okay, see you in a little while," Ace said, leading their group through the front door. There were a bunch of mailmen sitting at tables with cheap decorations of postal stamps all over. On the stage was a mailbox with a bluish sword attached to it, Nata didn't want to admit, but it actually looked like a sword in a stone.
Alec was right, there were sixteen telekhines all around, and they all turned to look at the demigods walking through the door. Everyone instantly grabbed their weapons.
Tara turned her watch into a shield and drew her sword from its sheath, Nata grabbed one knife for each hand from the belt she wore, Ace held out his hands and two stygian iron swords appeared in each one, dropping the room temperature, Drey's right arm changed into deadly looking claws, Alec turned his gold pocket watch to 12 o'clock, changing it into a celestial bronze sword, and Cleo ripped off her shell necklace, which turned into a sterling silver sword hilt decorated with sapphires, then a blade formed out of water. That is what Tethys must've given her during the meeting.
The mortals in the room all screamed and ran out. Who could blame them, they looked like a pretty deadly group, with weapons ranging from throwing knives to clawed hands.
They all mowed through the telekhines. It surprised Nata how well they all fought together, even Tara and Cleo helped each other out.
More and more of the demons filed out of a door and were so distracted by the demigods they were fighting they didn't notice the other three taking the sword out of the mailbox. In no time there was just a pile of monster ashes.
"Great job guys," Cleo said happily, out of breath.
"That was amazing!" Ace exclaimed. Nata nodded in agreement, she had never fought with such teamwork before.
"Is everyone okay?" Nata asked. The fight had been like a blur. It was as if they were all meant to fight together. She could only imagine how much more efficient it would be with the other four.
"I got a small scratch," Cleo said holding her arm. She lifted it up for a second and it wasn't just a small scratch, but three deep claw marks with blood flowing out. "Oh… not just a scratch," Cleo added looking faint.
Alec cut off a long strip from the tablecloth and walked over to Cleo bandaging the cut. "We can heal it up better when we get outside. The police are probably almost here," he said softly, which surprised Nata. Alec was usually stoic and serious all of the time.
Cleo nodded, "well, let's get going then," she said trying to smile through the pain.
Nata walked next to Cleo. "Alec to the rescue," she whispered, laughing a little at her own joke. Cleo rolled her eyes, but she had a slight smile.
"Hermes said that when we did get the sword he would meet us in the soonest safe place," Ace said, holding open the glass doors for everyone.
"Thanks," Nata said as she walked out towards the van. The other four were already there, holding a very deadly looking sword.
Will rushed over when he saw Cleo holding her an already blood soaked bandage on her arm.
"What happened? You guys were amazing in there, did a telekhines do this?" he asked, trying to get all he wanted out as soon as possible.
"While you were sneaking onto the stage for the sword we managed to kill off all of the telekhines. Alec was right in his guess of 16 at first, but there were a lot more hiding around," Tara explained.
"Yeah, and one managed to scratch me," Cleo said with a strained smile.
"I'll heal it," Tara said, but she didn't look at Cleo while saying it. Nata held a laugh to herself, wondering how that was going to turn out. Tara and a grumpy looking Cleo walked to the van to fix up the scratch.
"Okay, so, what do we do with this?" Chase asked holding up the sword of Hermes. Nata got a good look at it. It had a blue hilt and blade made of the unbreakable adamantine. It was simple, but still had a look of power and strength to it.
"Thanks a lot for that guys," said a voice from behind. Nata turned around and saw who must've been the god Hermes. He looked like a middle aged man that had curly salt and pepper hair. He was wearing a Boston marathon shirt with running shorts and shoes.
Nata turned to look at Chase; it was his dad after all. Surprisingly he had stayed in the back, as if he didn't want to see Hermes, but unluckily for him, he was the one holding the sword.
"Hey dad, here ya go," Chase said handing the sword to his father.
Hermes grinned, "Thanks Chase, in return take this," he said, holding out a shoe box. Nata could only guess what was in it. Hermes smiled fatherly at his son before turning to the rest, "You probably want to leave as soon as I do, the Titans have probably sensed my presence here, Good luck," he said with a wink before disappearing.
Tara walked over holding a bloody bandage, "what did Hermes say?" she asked as she threw the trash away.
"He gave us these," Chase said opening the box to reveal black running shoes with; you wouldn't be able to guess… wings.
"Well, we're ready to go," Tara replied as she grabbed the keys from her pocket and got into the driver's seat, while everyone else filed in.
"Off to Canada eh," Chase said cheerfully. A collective groan was heard throughout the van.
Charlotte Lace
Charlotte sat quietly as the scenery flew by. She wasn't much of a talker, and everyone knew that. She was pretty sure she hadn't even said a single word to the whole group. There were a few close friends Charlotte would confide in, but luckily for her, at least one of them were on the quest with her, Cleo.
"It'll only take a few hours to get to Canada," William told everyone as he looked at a map.
"We need to know where the 'center of the boreal forests' is," Alec pointed out. "There isn't a designated center point in the forest, it pretty much covers all of Canada," he added.
"Then we have no idea where to go," Chase groaned.
"We can always ask when we get to the border since we'll have to get through it anyways," Tara said.
"We'll have to use the mist since we aren't really allowed to cross the border…" Ace pointed out. Charlotte though about it, and he was right. They were all under 18, and there were no adult chaperones or anything.
"We can manipulate a piece of paper to look like an I.D. saying we are over 18, like Doctor Who," Chase said excitedly.
"That's actually a good idea Chase," Nata said shocked.
"Don't need to act so surprised," Chase mumbled.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he had a thing for this one huntress we met," Cleo whispered to Charlotte. As if he heard her, Chase turned up the radio super loud, so no one could hear each other talking, no one complained though. Despite the blaring music Charlotte felt herself falling asleep.
Her dream started out normal enough. She was back at camp and saw Zia talking to Nick.
"I told Tethys where Artemis was; apparently by the time they got there the goddess was already gone. No doubt they suspected spies," Zia said with crossed arms.
"What did she say about the prophecy?" Nick asked.
"Well, she knows what the weapon is, and where it is. Khione was sent to separate the group so they won't be able to use the weapon," Zia explained.
"Wait, Khione?! I thought they were trying to get rid of the minor gods?"
"Yeah, but Khione is a valuable asset. None of the Olympians suspect her yet so she is managing to lure the gods to the titans," Zia explained. Charlotte narrowed her eyes watching them. Khione, her mom, had come to her a little while ago to try and convince her to join her cause. After she refused she put it out of her mind, but now she knew who the spies in camp were. Before she could see anything else the image faded, and Charlotte woke up to Cleo talking.
"Okay, we are here!" Cleo said as Will slid open the door. Charlotte was the last one to step out. They were in a filled parking lot with a small building in front of them saying, North Point Montana Canada Border.
"Cleo, I need to tell you something," Charlotte whispered. She needed to tell somebody.
"Sure thing," Cleo responded starting to walk.
"I had a dream about the camp, I think I know who the spies are," Charlotte said looking at the gravel.
Cleo stopped in her tracks, "what?" she said shocked.
"Yeah, I saw Zia and Nick plotting something and speaking about Tethys," Charlotte explained.
Turning to face her, Cleo had a serious expression, "are you sure? It may have been something trying to mess with your dreams and turn you against people," she warned. "I mean, I was with Zia on the night the fleece was stolen."
"Yeah, yeah, you're probably right," Charlotte nodded. She pushed the dream out of her mind and turned back to the of the group.
"Okay, so here are your passports and I.D.'s," Alec said as he and Jose handed out blank packets of paper and cutout pieces of cardboard.
"Tara and I will manipulate the mist, it should all be a breeze," Alec said as he led them all into the building. Charlotte was happy that what he said was true. The officers didn't even look twice at the scraps of paper. She was the first one done so Charlotte walked over to the brochures and looked through them bored.
"See anything that can help?" Will asked, appearing next to Charlotte.
Slowly shaking her head she responded quietly, "nope, but there are some great fishing tours," she finished with a small smile. Suddenly something caught her eye.
"Wait, what is this?!" she asked, picking up a brochure.
"Wow, what are the odds," Will whistled looking at what Charlotte found. Written in swirly gold letters over a picture of evergreen trees said Calgary Boreal Tourist and Research Centre, the one and only centre of the boreal forests.
"Great job Charlotte!" he said with a smile. Charlotte shyly looked down; his smile sure was gorgeous… Everyone finished quickly and met at the small café next door.
"Okay, so Charlotte found the center Artemis was talking about," Will explained, showing the brochure they found earlier.
"Was I the only one that thought that she meant the actual middle or center of the forest?" Cleo asked confused.
"I'm pretty sure everyone thought that," Charlotte said confidently, starting to feel more in place ever since she actual helped.
"Well, since we have all eaten let's go find a dangerous weapon to defeat the titans!" Ace said with a serious tone, finishing up the rest of his coffee. No one disagreed as they all went back into the van and crossed the border into Canada for another car ride that would last another grueling 3 hours.
"Okay, here we are, Calgary Boreal Tourist and Research Center," Drey said, finally pulling into a parking lot that had a scattered amount of cars. The building was made of logs and looked like a rustic normal building, other than the giant stuffed grizzly bear with tourists taking pictures in the front of it.
As soon as Charlotte stepped out of the van, she felt a strange cold feeling, like someone was standing behind her, and as if she was slowly freezing from the toes to the top of her head. She had felt this once before.
"I'm gonna be right back, I have to find a bathroom," Charlotte said rushing off before anyone offered to come with her. She followed the extremely cold path that would drop the temperature fifty degrees as soon as you step onto it, leading her to behind what looked like an outhouse.
Standing there was the only and only Khione. She was extremely pretty, but in a cold and proud-looking way. Her skin was pale, which was expected of the goddess of snow, and she had black hair and coffee brown eyes, looking almost nothing like Charlotte with her light brown hair and ice blue eyes. The strangest part was that Khione looked 16, the same age as Charlotte.
"Hey mom… Khione," she greeted awkwardly. Khione hardly looked like her mother, let alone a mother.
"Hey Charlotte, long time no see," she repeated, her voice devoid of any warmth.
"What is it you want?" Charlotte asked bravely.
"A favor, and an opportunity for you to have a second chance. Strong magic was placed on the weapon, disallowing any immortal being from being within 20 feet of the garden it is in; even Zeus can't get close to it. All I want you to do is to destroy the marble statue of the goddess Soteria," Khione said crossing her arms.
"Isn't Soteria the goddess of safety? Wait never mind, I won't help you ever! You'll never be my mom; you don't even have the decency to try and look older and not the same age of your daughter! Just stay away," Charlotte said angrily. Without waiting for a response she turned and stormed away, back to the van with her friends.
"You okay?" Jose asked when she returned.
"I'm fine, let's go get rid of the titans," she said loudly.