Chapter 35: Good deeds

[Zoë's Pov]

Orion is back.

Of all the news that I could've received in the current situation, that would easily be the worst.

I glanced up at the star. The constellation of that bloated ogre was turned nearly upside down; a sign that he was indeed near his reckoning…after countless withdrawals over centuries.

Sadly, as useful as star-gazing can be, they were no oracles. Stars were merely a sign of what was happening, in the most comprehensive way possible. I, nor any of the hunters could tell where that troll was nor what he is plotting to do. Well, apart from trying to dismantle both us and the Amazons. He is not one of those monsters whose goals are as inconsistent as humanity's preferable language.

But this may be one of the worst timing for his return.

We had managed to thwart him time and time again, but on no other occasions was Lady Artemis missing. She had been preoccupied from time to time, but never unavailable.

He should be staying low. He always did, because rotten as he may be, he was a hunter. And hunters were never careless. He'd always bide his time for a year or two before he made his play.

However, if he ever knew that Lady Artemis was missing…

"Heads up."

"What?"

Something jerked upwards out of my eyesight. My hands jumped to my knives, but the sudden movement only came from a low-hanging branch of a silver tree that David was holding upwards. If it weren't for him, I would've whacked myself on the branch.

The utter hideousness of that possibility was too humiliating to handle. I could feel my cheeks heating up, and I opted to glare at him to hide it.

Unfortunately, that relayed the wrong impression that I was mad.

"I, uh, sorry?" David slowly lowered his arm, looking nervous and slightly confused.

He reminded me of a chipmunk caught in one of the small, harmless traps that the younger hunters would put out as a practice. If it weren't for the concerning matters at hand, I would've had much more trouble trying to suppress a smile.

"…Thou don't have to apologize. I have a lot to think about."

"If you want to go ahead—"

"I have previously presented the reasons for my choice. If I ever come to rethink them, I'll aware thee first-hand."

David didn't look satisfied with the answer. But instead of persistently asking through, he shrugged and walked past.

That was when I realized something was off with him.

"Have thou become taller?"

David looked around.

"What?"

"Come here."

I hoped over a bent hose buried ground and stood up close to him. We were identical in height when I distinctly remember being some inches taller before. He did become taller.

"Thy father must've given thee a gift."

"Yeah, he gave me this motorcycle."

"A what?"

David fished out a black key from his pocket. And with an excited grin, he pressed one of the buttons.

A sudden eruption of fire nearly made me jump 3 feet into the air as my reflexes went for my bow. But when the fire died down, there was a slick motorcycle standing in the middle of the junkyard.

I recognized the vehicle from back at the abandoned repair shop. The one David whined that he wanted to take it on a test drive.

"Thou brought it here?!"

"Yeah. Turns out, it was placed at the shop as my 15th birthday gift." He smirked. "Looks like it wasn't evil after all."

"It was still not natural—oh, forget it."

The boy snickered.

Again, he reminded me of a chipmunk.

Again, I had to really try and stay upset to keep my lips down.

"Anyway, I wasn't talking about a gift in a physical object. Thy father must've enhanced your physiques."

"He can do that?"

David looked around his body, trying to find some noteworthy difference.

"Thy father is a god of warriors, is he not? He would be able to make anyone into an idealized warrior with ease."

"Idealized warrior? What does that even include?"

I rolled my eyes out of exhaustion. Not at David, but the subject in question.

"Whatever stereotypes men come up with: apt in combat, courageous, appropriate height, more hand…some…"

My voice trailed away as I caught on with what I was saying. But it was already too late.

David had stopped in the middle of his inspection. He stood up straight, and at the worst possible moment, I realized that being at a similar height meant that we were set to look each other in the eyes.

"…"

"…"

BOOM!

Oh, thank gods, a distraction!

Literally, a small eruption of lava spurted into the air several tens of feet away. It was not close by any means, but it was enough of an event to be an excuse for both of us to look somewhere else.

"That must—" My voice was an octave higher than usual. I cleared my throat loudly, non-verbally warning the boy to not question anything.

"That must be one of Lord Hephaestus's guards. Thou said there were guards here, yes?"

"I—yeah. He, I mean she—Aphrodite said that." David said, spectacularly fumbling over his simple sentence.

So he did meet her. He had met Lady Aphrodite.

A small part of me wondered who he must've seen. The other parts of myself told that part to shut up. At least I wasn't the only one flustered. I forced myself to focus on 'not being the ridiculous one' rather than trying to dissect him being flustered as much as I implied.

"Come on, we have to go."

David faltered in his step. He glanced at the motorcycle and opened his mouth to say something. But whatever he may have been thinking, he must've decided against it. He clicked the key again, and the vehicle shimmered away into nothingness.

We had to climb several hills of junk to get to the eruption site, which was great because I could use some distance from the boy about now.

The bad news was that the site was not pretty at all.

A Tophuchĕlys was lying on its back, unconscious. It was certainly not dead, because it would have disintegrated into dust if it was, but the damage made me wonder how it was still alive.

The shell was completely smashed. Lava trickled out from its back and sizzled into the ground, expelling an awful smell. All four of its legs had several arrows embedded, slowly melting against the dying heat of its body. I picked up a stray arrow not far away. With a chill, I noticed that the tip was made of Stygian Iron.

Whoever attacked this monster had a connection with someone in the underworld. It's the only explanation for having Stygian Iron arrows—a weapon that was more on the expendable side. Even our arrows weren't Celestial Bronze, though that had some other reasons as well.

As I made more inspections around, David climbed down the hillside.

"Why is it so hot—oh my god."

Instantly, he carefully made his way over to the fallen monster. He carefully looked around the body of the Tophuchĕlys. He finally knelt next to its beaten-up face and carefully rubbed on its skin.

"Zoë, can we—?"

"It's wounded by Stygian Iron, we can't heal it," I replied, then was taken aback at how naturally it came to my mouth.

I knew what he was going to ask. And I didn't have an ounce of quaere in his decision when we were attacked by the very same species only a few days prior.

David wasn't satisfied with my answer. He rubbed the rough skin of the turtle and paced around it as if trying to figure out some miraculous way to help it.

"David, monsters reform when they are killed. Death is not permanent for them."

"But still…" His shoulders sagged down.

I stepped over a pool of lava to put a hand on it.

"It went down doing what it was supposed to do. I'm sure it doesn't regret its choice."

The Tophuchĕlys growled in a small voice. I couldn't translate the language of a monster, but I was more than certain that it was agreeing. David understood too because he extended his weapon and slowly made it over to its head.

"You did good, man. Leave the rest to us, ok?"

And he stabbed down. A swift painless strike.

After the golden dust scattered into the winds, David turned to me with an unusually stricken face.

"You said something about Stygian Iron? Do you have any guesses on who it may be?"

"Not yet," I said. "But whoever they are, they didn't make any efforts to hide their trail."

"What trail?" David looked around the scenery.

I tried to explain how tracking works for a few minutes, but in the end, we both decided it would be better if I just lead the way.

"I remember telling thou to search for a trail back at the mall."

"Yeah, well, I didn't do a good job at it back then too." He grumbled, huffing slightly in the effort to keep up.

To be clear, neither did I expect him, or any other members of the quest to perform well. Chiron would not train any of his pupils to go and look for monsters after we, the Hunters of Artemis took charge of eliminating the endless hordes of monsters that infested this earth. And Luna…

…

…she wasn't skilled in tracking. Always too impatient, rash. I could never understand how she was patient enough to build traps of her design when…

The footsteps halted from behind. I turned around to see David looking up at a bronze statue. It depicted a tall woman hunching over some children as if shielding them from the sky. I walked closer to read the placket etched at the bottom of it.

[Apollo and Diana kill the children of Niobe]

I would've preferred if someone rubbed salt over my eyes. Then at least I wouldn't have to pretend that I'm fine.

"I got their name wrong," David muttered.

He was skimming through the description carved in with minuscule letters next to the title of the art. I managed to tear my eyes away from the sculpture of the youngest girl, held tightly in her mother's arms.

"The Niobids. When I said their name, I got them wrong. All of them. Except for…"

"I don't think they will mind."

David looked up. The moon was shining overhead, and for once, I had trouble making out what he was thinking.

"How so?"

"When thou are forgotten—truly forgotten by everyone, then even the most almighty beings cease to exist. That's the true reason why getting sent down to Tartarus is the ultimate punishment. With enough time, thou will be forgotten.

By remembering them, whether with or without wrong names, you are ensuring their existence."

David stared at the statues again. He clenched his left fist tightly.

"Sounds like Santa Claus."

"Yes, it does."

I decided not to say that Lady Artemis was the one who kick-started the legend. For the first time in my life, I found it hard to say something positive about my lady.

My lady…

From birth, Artemis had only been in one environment, where she was supreme…

…She is much, much younger than you, or anyone else gives her credit for.

Aphrodite's words circled my head as we walked deeper into the junkyard. It didn't help that more and more disturbing artifacts kept appearing in our path.

David wrinkled his nose at a tapestry, which depicted Ares sending a boar to kill the Adonis out of petty spite when Aphrodite took interest in the young mortal. I had to turn away from the portrait of Kallisto, a hunter turned into a bear after she bore a child of Zeus. The exact piece where Artemis would have been was torn out.

"We need to keep going," I said. David replied in nothing more than a grunt.

It was getting harder to go further.

Not because of the harsh landscape of literal trashes piled over millennia, but because every step we took led us to the worst of the Olympians, time and time again, that it made me wonder if the next step was even worth taking.

"Zoë, you're immortal, right?"

"As a hunter, I am bestowed with immortality. Until I fall in battle, that is."

"Why is that an exception?"

"For an equal exchange. In a hunt, we must risk our lives in order to take lives."

I snapped off another Stygian Iron arrow. It was lodged in a statue of Diana's eye. The silver metal sizzled against the tip as it burned through the glowing metal like dried leaves against flames.

David wasn't done with his question.

"If you are immortal, can you understand why gods do all…these?"

He waved his arms widely. He looked so ridiculous and childish doing so, which made me want to smile. Thankfully, this time they didn't go up without any effort to keep them in place.

I paused, pondering for myself. The memories of ancient times came by.

Before I became a hunter…when I was truly immortal alongside my sisters. I did something really stupid then. The first misstep I took in my lengthy life. I'll never be forgiven for that; the nymphs had been making sure I understand that to this day.

For a fleeting moment, I was tempted to tell him everything. I never realized, until now, how much the guilt of my first wrongdoing was weighing me down. Maybe if I just told him…

…if I told him, what would he think?

"Zoë?"

"…No. I may be immortal, but no hunters escape death. That's something gods don't have to worry about. I wish I could answer thy question, but…"

Again, I couldn't read what David was thinking about.

Perhaps he noticed that I was hiding something. Or maybe he caught wind of my massive guilt. I do remember some children of Ares being able to sense a portion of negativity in people's minds. It was vastly inferior to telepathy, but it worked well enough in some cases.

Whatever the case was, David didn't ask any further.

He walked over to a portrait depicting Lord Ares getting stabbed in the stomach by Diomedes with Athena aiding him.

"You know, maybe the gods aren't that different from us. If these stories are all true."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what I said."

I glanced up at the sky. I half-expected it to show a huge thunderstorm in the shape of an angry face looking down upon us; Lord Zeus hates when gods were disrespected.

But the sky was the same as before. The moon peeked out slightly from behind the layers of clouds.

If I had heard that quote a week ago, I wouldn't have had any of it.

If I had heard that quote 2000 years ago, I wouldn't have had any of it.

The number of times passed has little to no meaning to us. What matters is how much we take in.

For a love goddess, Lady Aphrodite had astounding amounts of wisdom.

"Perhaps." I agreed.

Perhaps, Lady Artemis was indeed 'young'. I was certainly young until…

…until I met this boy.

"David."

"Huh?" David looked up from the portrait. He had drawn a twirled mustache over his father's face with a nearby pen.

What a child.

"Thank you."

He frowned in response, confused.

I didn't bother explaining either, but I couldn't help smiling at his expression.

We continued forward.

The disturbing depictions of the gods were much less concerning.

[Line Break]

[David's Pov]

You know, I think I'm starting to pick up how tracking works.

How it exactly functioned was still a mystery beyond the centuries, but I could pick up some abnormal signs in between the piles of rubbish.

It ranged from something visible: like a big claw mark or a fairly new gash in one of the shields, to something more ambiguous: such as a smoky trail that I couldn't touch nor fully make out.

I told Zoë about the latter, more as a joke than anything, but the huntress grimaced as if I confirmed her in-going theory.

"This is not good." She muttered, staring in the direction I pointed out.

"Why?"

Instead of answering, Zoë suddenly tensed in her spot. Her face drained out every ounce of nervousness and inquietude into full alert mode. Her bow shimmered into existence, notched with 6 arrows to go.

The faintest rustling winds blew through the junkyard. I drew my sword as well. Then I remembered this weapon held my lifeline—both figuratively and literally. It has never failed me before, but if it ever broke…

"Enemies nearby." Zoë hissed. "Don't, move."

I nodded.

I could tell that she was using every sense she possessed as a hunter to detect the attackers. Meanwhile, I scanned the area and noticed that we were at a low point with walls of debris surrounding us at 360 degrees.

My 'son-of-the-war-god-instinct' noted that it made us vulnerable to an ambush, especially if the opposition had a means of long ranged attacks. We'd either need a point for obscuration, or a means of reaching up without getting shot down.

Right as I was about to pass the information, Zoë suddenly yelled "Don't move!" and aimed her bow right at my face.

With a sharp twang, two silver arrows sailed half an inch below both of my earlobes and knocked out two black ones that were aimed at my back. Zoë leaped backward to dodge one aimed at her chest, and let another three loose while she was still in the air, intercepting another volley from her back, and letting her last one fly straight forward as she landed on her feet.

There was a surprised yelp from behind. Zoë cursed in Ancient Greek and rearmed her bow with a twitch of her finger.

It took me another full second to remember how to talk.

"Can I turn back now?" I tried my best to be witty, just to shake off the shock of what I had just seen. The fact that I managed to track that crazy maneuver was one thing, executing it without a hitch in a breath was another.

Zoë nodded with a large glower. Thankfully, it wasn't aimed at me, but someone behind.

I turned around, and a large, black wolf was licking a fresh wound on its left shoulder. Wound, I soon realized, obtained from the last shot Zoë made. She'd not only covered both of us from an ambush but also aimed the kill the ambusher as well.

"Who are thee?!" She demanded. The wolf stood up straight, its shoulder wound healed completely, and howled in laughter.

"How many archers are there?" I whispered.

Zoë held up 5 fingers, closed them, and held up an additional 3.

So, we were surrounded by 8 archers and a big bad wolf.

I doubted we'd last very long if the archers started assaulting on full force. Zoë seemed to be making similar calculations in her head. She constantly looked around, trying to pinpoint where the opposing archers were set.

I took up the role of distraction.

"She asked a question." I pointed at the wolf with my sword.

"Who are you, and what do you want with us?"

The wolf gulped down another laughter and stretched out its legs. Its full height was at least 15ft—which would have been a terrifying height for a wolf, but compared to the Calydonian Boar, it was less imposing.

"Your weapon," The wolf said. I nearly dropped my sword out of shock—this wolf was a female. "Cannot hurt us, youngling. Alas, I see that your hunter friend hadn't equipped you with a suitable weapon."

My thought jumped to the brooch, but I held my tongue.

The wolf seemed to have understood the silence as a grudging agreement and laughed again.

"Then again, why would she? She is a hunter, after all, they don't look out for men. I'm more surprised that she hasn't slit your throat at any given chance.

To answer your question, youngling: My name is Hecuba. A banished wolf from Lupa's pack, and a proud member of the [Ageli Lykon]—servants of Orion."

Zoë made a horrific wrenching noise.

"Servant of Orion?" She asked back in disbelief.

The wolf sneered, or growled; whichever made more sense.

"Yes, retched hunter. When I was left to die by Lupa, the great mother had given me a second chance at life, and I pledged my loyalty to him as his precious companion."

I noticed a sense of dreaminess in Hecuba's voice when she mentioned the legendary hunter. From the corner of my eye, Zoë looked horrified and sick at the same time, ready to throw up at any moment.

Hecuba snapped her jaw at Zoë, growling in annoyance.

"At least he doesn't coldly abandon his own followers after a singular mistake. Unlike Artemis, or Lupa!"

She barked into the air. From behind the hills of junk, 8 hooded figures arose from behind the junks.

Zoë clenched her jaw tightly.

"You'd recognize your own sisters, wouldn't you?" Hecuba cooed.

"I do," Zoë said calmly. "They were expelled after they broke their oath."

"Once," One of the archers hissed. She had a crooked tiara that resembled Zoë's in a weird, twisted way. "And for that, we were abandoned."

The girl raised her arm to notch her arrow. The rest of the archers followed suit, and Hecuba crouched in her spot poised for an attack.

I was about to raise my arm when Zoë put a hand on my shoulder.

"Let me handle this." She whispered. "Please."

I looked at her. Her coffee brown eyes were hardened, just like when I first met her. But like a well-made brew, it held a certain warmth that wasn't their way back when.

The ring of archers was peering down with amusement. It would be a safe guess that their memories of Zoë Nightshade wouldn't be this close to a man. They were intrigued by her change.

I nodded and returned my sword to a lighter.

Zoë smiled, squeezed my hand for a brief second as a thank you, and then turned to face the archers. She dropped her bow, disarming herself, and stepped forward.

"The hunt had many problems. I am coming to terms with them.

But if thou are to call me, or...Artemis a traitor; then I must say thou are misled.

Thou are putting thy faith in the wrong man."

Silence settled down in the area. But I could almost taste the bewilderment of many coursing through the air. Non-verbal commotion trembled through the air. Some even lowered their bow, conflicted.

To them, Zoë was the lieutenant of the hunt. If anyone was supposed to be most loyal to Artemis, it was her.

"I recall every one of thee. We trained together. Ate together. Lived together. We were a family."

"Were," The tiara archer muttered. "Not anymore."

"No." Zoë agreed. "Not if you let go of that. Eola."

Before the tiara archer, Eola could answer back, Hecuba intervened.

"Cease your tongue, you Impudence witch!" She barked. She did very little to hide the nervousness in her voice. Her tail swished in a wide arc, and a few clucks of metal rolled down the hill as she shuffled in her spot.

"You cannot worm your way out of this, you uncanny nymph!

Orion has shown them the errors of your beloved goddess's way. They will not return to their old prison. They have obtained freedom!"

"Freedom." Zoë echoed. "Under his rule instead of the gods?"

"Silence!"

The giant wolf leaped off the hill, lunging straight toward Zoë.

The huntress, however, didn't bat an eyelash at the roughly 300 pounds of black fur and fangs pouncing at her. Instead, she gave me another glance to not interfere, and then rolled sideways.

After a second Zoë moved out of the way, and two front paws smashed the ground making two small craters in the ground. The archers flinched, some aimed their bows at Zoë, but Eola shouted "Hold!"

The former hunter edged her way around the fight. Zoë was dancing around the nose of the wolf, the latter growled and barked in anger as she snapped and clawed at thin air; missing her target always by a second.

"Hi, nice to meet you. My name is David."

I offered a hand for her to shake. Eola didn't take it.

Instead, she lowered her hoodie and turned to the current battle going on. With her face revealed, I could see the utter perplex on her expression. Also, her skin was light green—she was a nymph.

"What happened to Zoë?" She asked.

"A lot. But I think you'd do better if you asked her after the fight."

Eola huffed and waved her hand.

A series of thick roots coiled up from the ground to make a long bench. She sat down in the middle, and the other 7 gathered around her, albeit rather cautiously sharing wary looks.

Meanwhile, the fight was slowly tipping over to Zoë's victory.

"Coward…stop dodging and fight!" Hecuba huffed and expelled a column of purple flames from her mouth.

But Zoë ducked under it easily. I waved at her to notify the small crowd that had formed. She smiled again, making the archers look weird at me, and went for the attack.

You know, it dawned on me that up until now, we had very tuff battles.

Because Zoë took down this big bad wolf in a blink of an eye.

She scooped up her bow as Hecuba blew another set of flames, and she slid under her slashing claws to fire an arrow straight through her lower chin

Hecuba coughed loudly, but before she could say another word, her body fell over and melted into the shadows. Zoë strolled to us as if that was a Tuesday for her.

"Orion didn't keep her for her strengths, didn't he? The filth."

"No," Eola admitted. "She was very loyal though. That was enough to make her a suitable hunting dog for him."

I raised my hand to get both leaders' attention.

"Quick question; is Orion full-on evil? Because in the myths he was—"

"It's not something thou need to worry about." Zoë cut in. Eola raised her eyebrow but didn't answer either. The former huntress looked Zoë up and down as if she was trying to find anything different in her looks. She failed.

"Were you guys the ones who were stealing materials from this junkyard?" I asked.

Eola raised her eyebrow.

"We didn't do that. I swear upon the River Styx."

Thunder rumbled from afar. Zoë cursed in ancient Greek and rested her chin on her hand with a frown.

"We don't have time to search any longer. Today is the winter solstice. If Artemis isn't freed by tonight..."

I vaguely recalled the time limit we had at the council meeting back when the quest was decided. Something about wasting a year's worth of preparations because gods were lazy.

Look, I was shocked that I would be going on the quest; I wasn't paying much attention. The fact that I remember anything from that meeting should earn me some points.

"Didn't you used to call her Lady?" Eola asked Zoë.

"I did. But I figured out that she is still young."

"What do you mean 'young'?"

Zoë smiled widely. Eola winced as if the smile was too bright for her to handle.

"I'll gladly talk about it with thee. Phoebe and the group are at Camp Half-Blood, so you can—"

"I'm not rejoining the hunt. None of us can. We are tainted."

Zoë paused for a second.

"…Eola, you know you don't have to be a maiden to join the hunt." She muttered.

The former hunter huffed again.

"Be that as it may, I don't think Lady Artemis would be pleased to see our faces again."

The other archers nodded alongside their leader. They were still putting a fair distance between them and me as if worried that I'd suddenly attack them or something.

Zoë tried to argue, but Eola raised her hand to cut her short.

"You are still going to hunt down Orion again, aren't you?" She asked.

Zoë nodded without hesitation.

"As soon as Artemis is freed. Speaking of; why did thee go under Orion? Thou all know what he has done to maidens."

"We didn't go under Orion. We were sent to him."

"Like a mercenary?" I asked.

Eola nodded. Zoë frowned again.

"Mercenary? But then, who is thy employer?"

"That, I can't tell."

Then, for whatever reason, the former hunter gave me an ominous look.

"But he is not happy with the gods, and neither am I. It would be best if there is no next time between us, Zoë Nightshade. Next time, you won't get off this easy."

"Eola—"

Before Zoë could complain any further, Eola put back the hoodie and signaled to the rest of her crew to follow her. In a few seconds, all 8 of them vanished behind the hill of debris. The sun was slowly rising over the horizon.

Zoë hugged her shoulder as they sagged down. I put a hand on one of them.

"You'll meet them again. Ah, in a non-lethal situation."

"I hope so. But Eola was always down to earth. She doesn't say things that are light weighted."

I was worried that Zoë might spiral down to melancholy again, but this time she surprisingly shook it off rather quickly.

"I did the best I could," she said. "I hope Eola would see clearly eventually."

"That's the spirit!"

Zoë smiled. My mind noted that she was doing that quite often now. It was nice to see.

"You said we didn't have much time left, yes?"

Zoë nodded.

"We need to reach San Francisco before the sun starts to set. I—"

She bit her lip, her smile vanished as fast as it came.

"If we could offer a sacrifice to at least appease Lord Hephaestus for a time being…"

A sacrifice. For a moment, I considered leaving the sword behind; you know, since Hephaestus was angry with it in the first place. But that was woefully unsafe for obvious reasons.

"What about this?" I held up the Nemean Lion fur coat.

"David, are thee sure? Thou had it signed by your hero."

"If I held on to it because of that, Cadmus would regret ever signing it."

Zoë didn't argue any further. On the contrary, she seemed rather happy that I was willing to sacrifice it.

We found an old fireplace that sparked on its own. Zoë started a fire inside, and I did my best sacrificial speech to Hephaestus based on what we said at Camp Half-Blood before each meal.

I was worried that the fur coat might put out the flames, but the golden skin shimmered out of existence in the fire.

"He took the sacrifice," Zoë confirmed. "I think thou are clear, for now. But we still need a way to travel."

"I have a solution."

Barely containing my grin, I clicked on the key.

With a roar of blazing fire, my trusted Harley appeared. I got in the driver's seat and offered a hand to her.

"Thou cannot be serious," Zoë said with crossed arms. Though, her eyes lingered on the back seat.

"Unless you are open to taking something from here."

She considered the options and finally gave in. With a huge sigh, she reluctantly seated herself in the back seat.

"How is this even safe? Where do I hold on?"

It was a good question. I've never ridden a motorcycle before, and my auto-filled knowledge didn't stretch out to safety accords. Go figure, dad.

"Just hold on wherever you see fit."

"What does that supposed to mean?!"

I turned on the engine, and the motorcycle roared to life. Zoë yelped and wrapped her hands around my waist.

I gripped the throttle tightly, and we zoomed off through and out of the junkyard.

My throat is killing me. Stay healthy everyone!

Firstly, The fight scene might have been way shorter than what most of you would be used to;

The first idea was that two powerful enemies would block the path, forcing Zoe and David to split up to achieve victory separately. But that was horrifyingly challenging to write and ended up boring back and forth as a result. I wanted to give Zoe some more spotlight since she had been the one that had learned much, even more than David in characteristics, if you ask me.

But what good is learning and growing if you don't use it? That's how this chapter got made.

I could've made the fight scene between her and Hecuba the wolf longer, but that would've taken another week or so, and I really didn't want to postpone the update any further. I'm not abandoning this story, I promise.

The newly introduced characters went by rather quickly, I didn't want to overstay their welcome or explain too much about them. I'm not even sure when would they return. Both Hecuba and Eola have more backstory I have written down, I just didn't squeeze them in here for later keeping. Who is the thief in the junkyards? Who knows.

I hope I don't get too busy before I reach them. As much as I like spraying hints here and there, I'd hate to leave any of them hanging without any results.

And this also marks the end of another 'arc'; I guess the desert arc?

Now we are getting close to the end of TTC. I know, it's crazy. I'm excited as well.

I hope you had fun reading, feel free to PM or comment on anything you want to say, and I'll see you next chapter.

Ta ta~