"Where is she!" A week and a half later Alexa was awoken by a scream.
"Uh oh…" she winced, sitting up from the place she had passed out the night before. Her new work table was covered in blue prints, bronze gears and aluminum frames that had only just started to resemble a four legged animal. It was coming along nicely, but not fast enough for her to avoid the chewing out she knew was coming her way. Alexa sighed, got up from her stool and turned the key in her table. The entire thing, project and all, disappeared into the tool box it had come from.
There was a pounding on the door to her room. She had been moved to the Big House so that she could work through the day and night without bothering the other campers. Alexa made her way to the door before Jazz could beat it down and quickly ducked the punch that had been intended for the wood. The two stared at one another, one red faced and vibrating with rage, the other calm and sullen, ready to take it. Alexa broke the silence.
"Hey Jazz...I guess you'd better come in" she stepped back inside the little spare room, and sat on the edge of the bed. She waited for Jazz to start shouting, but she was so mad she couldn't even get any words out. What escaped her best friend was all consonants. She marched back and forth in the space that had once been occupied by Alexa's table. Occasionally Alexa would get words and phrases thrown at her like "What the hell were you thinking!" "Going to get yourself killed!" Or the ever popular "Malaka!".
Over the minutes it took for Jazz to calm down enough to lay into her, Alexa didn't make a peep. She deserved this for making her worry.
"You couldn't even Iris me! That's what pisses me off most! You sent a letter through snail mail because you knew I'd try to talk your dumbass out of it!" Jazz screamed, waving the offending letter in one hand.
"I'm sorry." Alexa muttered.
"Two years! I was only gone two fucking years before you decided to throw yourself into something this dumb, this fucking stupid! You couldn't even wait for me to get my Bachelor's! Now I got to deal with worrying about you on top of everything else!"
"I'm sorry…" Alexa mumbled again, lamely.
"Do you have any idea what happened when I opened this stupid thing? I put a hole through five walls! Mom had to talk me down for hours just to get me to see clearly! Sonya had to tell Sean all sorts of bullshit just so he'd stay away from the house!" Jazz continued, barely resisting the urge to yank at her hair.
"Who's Sean…?" Alexa asked, unable to help herself.
"Don't interrupt!" Jazz barked. Alexa shut her mouth.
"Do you know what the worst part is? Because you plowed ahead and did this, I am completely helpless! I can't go with you or your labors might be counted as not done correctly! And if I stop you from going, that's as good as an automatic failure!" Alexa had started shaking, but she made no effort to stop the tremors.
"You'd better have a damned good reason why you did this, or so help me, with gods as my witness, I'll march up to Hera myself and beat her bloody until she releases you from the Labors!" As humorous as the idea of Jazz getting her way from Hera might've been, Alexa didn't laugh. She didn't even smile. She kept her eyes down as she willed the words out.
"Jazz...it happened again." She mumbled.
"What happened again?" Jazz asked harshly. Then she stopped. All the little context clues piling in at once; Alexa's decision, her body language, the way she was avoiding eye contact, even the massive pine tree, which now that Jazz thought about it, hadn't been there when she left. Jazz's demeanor softened slightly as she stammered. "I...who…?"
Alexa took a shuddering breath before looking up to meet Jazz's eyes.
"Her name was Thalia Grace. I didn't even know that until a day or two later...she was a daughter of Zeus, Jazz. Zeus!" Alexa shook her head, still completely stunned by it. "She and her friends had half the monsters in Tartarus following them, including all three Kindly Ones. She broke her leg at some point and she decided to stay behind so her friends could get to camp safely. I tried to help her...tried to save her. We fought the monsters together but...but we were overrun and her dad...her dad turned her into that tree...I know it wasn't my fault, not entirely, I know there was nothing else I could do, I know I barely knew her for longer than fifteen minutes but...but…" Alexa fell silent. How could she put into words how awful that moment was? How she had felt like her insides had been ripped out of her, leaving her feeling empty. Empty, except for the little voice that used that emptiness to turn it's awful whispers into shrieks. She couldn't, not accurately, but she had to say something.
"Jazz...I was in such a bad place...I honestly started thinking that everyone would be better off if I just walked off the pier." Alexa saw Jazz's body stiffen.
"You're not-!" Jazz began to say.
"Going to fail on purpose? Of course not!" Alexa interrupted angrily. "I may have been suicidal when I came up with the plan but I'm not a masochist! I know what happens if I just give up, if I wanted to end it all that badly I'd have done a swan dive into the Hudson and see if I could grow a third arm or something before I drowned!"
She took a deep breath after her mini tirade and continued.
"It popped into my head that if I did that I'd never be able to do anything for anyone else. Not unless Hades put me to work or something. I'd...just be gone. The Labors are supposed to make you stronger, to push you to do things you never knew you could...so I thought I'd make it up to Thalia, and Morgan and everyone else by going through them, getting stronger, and that way...that way when someone else was fighting with me I wouldn't have to lose them too."
Jazz sat on the edge of Alexa's bed, frowning at her.
"What if you fail…? If you go out there...most gods make their trials either deadly or impossible." Jazz asked, all anger gone now.
"Then I die." Alexa answered with a shrug. "I die trying to help, and likely while taking down a monster. There are worse ways to go. But that doesn't really matter, because I won't die."
She turns to face Jazz, a set and determined look in her eyes and a small smile on her face.
"I'm going to do this, Jazz, because I have a reason to, because I know I'm doing something good and not because there's any sort of reward at the end. And I'll do it because either way, I'm doing something for the people I love and the camp."
"And because you know I'll beat your ass black and blue if you fuck it up and die on me." Jazz adds.
"Yeah, that too!" Alexa laughed. Jazz hugged her, squeezing the life out of her like she always did. Alexa smiled and squeezed her right back. When they finally broke apart, Alexa grinned at Jazz.
"So, you going to tell me who Sean is?"
The two spent the rest of the week in almost constant contact. While Alexa worked, Jazz gave her the updates that she would've saved for Christmas.
Sean, it turns out, was Jazz's boyfriend, Sean McDonnell. He was, in Jazz's words, the biggest dork in the history of dorks. He was the stereotypical nerd, a lover of fantasy, tabletop roleplaying games, Star Wars, and he happened to be the regional Mythomagic champion. Jazz swelled like a proud peacock as she listed all of Sean's qualities in the loving detail she saved for weaponry.
They had met last fall when he helped tutor Jazz in Algebra and they had started dating back in February. When asked whether or not Sean knew about their shared godly connections she promptly answered.
"No, and I intend to keep it that way if I can! I like having a normal boyfriend!"
Alexa couldn't help but smile.
"As long as he makes you happy, then I'm happy." She said, "And if he ever hurts you…"
"You'll be second in line to knock his teeth out. Sorry, mom beat you to first place." Jazz chuckled.
"Ah well, can't win them all."
Alexa reciprocated by sharing what had been going on at camp since she had gotten back from Christmas. She told her how the two newest campers, Annabeth and Luke had been claimed within a day of arrival by Athena and Hermes respectively, how most of the last capture the flag matches had gone to Ares cabin, and how Chiron had recently rediscovered Elvis in spectacular fashion.
Most of all in those few days they spoke of nothing. They talked about every topic under the sun except for the one that loomed ahead, the one that got bigger and more well defined with every piece Alexa added to her creation.
It was finally finished three weeks after Alexa had first left Hera and Olympus.
"Why does it have so many wings…?" Jazz asked after Alexa had stepped back to admire her handywork.
"The Oracle said to make my own legacy...this is part of it. A new creature, just for me." Alexa explained. What stood before them was an inactive automaton like nothing that had been built before, to Alexa's knowledge. It was a dog, a pitbull, roughly the size of a horse, with two massive wings on its back, and a smaller set on either side of each of it's paws.
"Besides, I'm going on a journey, I think Hermes might get a kick out of her having something similar to his sandals, even if it is mostly for turning." As she spoke, Alexa calmly stepped forward. She gave the metal canine a small tap on the nose. The eyes flashed green.
"Time to wake up." She said gently to the metal beast. The eyes flashed and turned yellow. The winged dog yawned lazily, it's large silver tongue poking out as it did. It took notice of Alexa then, it's head tilting slightly before it's metal nose began to sniff at her, familiarizing itself with her scent.
"I think I'll call you Luna." Alexa said
"Arrooof?" Luna responded with a tilt of her head.
Alexa turned to Jazz with a smile.
"So what do you think?" She asked.
Jazz smiled sadly right back.
"I think she's going to take good care of you." Jazz mutters. Luna responded with a loud thumping of her metallic tail. She leaned in and nosed at Jazz's hair for a moment before laying her boxxy head on Alexa's.
"That's why I made a pitbull. They're nanny dogs." Alexa explained. She turned the key on her work table, the whole thing collapsing back into a tool box. She scooped it up and led the way down from her temporary abode to the camp. Luna bounded forward eagerly, exploring the new environment with relish.
"Well it seems like you're finished with your project." Said Chiron, the centaur trotting out from around the porch. Luna raised her head at the sound of the voice and happily hurried over, sniffing at the unfamiliar creature. Chiron let the massive pitbull sniff him for a moment or two, then quietly reached out and began petting Luna's neck. The dog paused before letting out a sound that could only be described as a happy power drill. Luna flopped down onto her side, her leg happily twitching as Chiron ran his fingers through the shimmering metal fur of her neck. Each metal wire sparkled in the sunshine, bending just as normal fur would, under Chiron's fingertips.
"Yeah…" Alexa muttered, watching Luna's foot twitch, wondering idly how she had managed to work that response into her programming. Chiron gave the canine one final pat before stepping towards Alexa.
"I suppose that means you're almost ready to leave." He said gently, a hand reaching down to squeeze her shoulder. Alexa shifted uncomfortably.
"Yeah...I guess I am…" she mumbled. Chiron offered her a small smile at the sound of her hesitation.
"Although I can't say I wanted this for you, there're precious few who I'd trust to fulfill this task other than you. Take heart, my dear. You'll get through this one way or another. I'm sure of that."
With that he turned and retrieved a pack for the stunned Alexa. She quickly took it and strapped it to Luna once the mechanical canine stopped nudging at her for ear scratches. She turned to Chiron.
"Thank you," she half whispered. "Thank you for everything."
"Thank me by coming back safely." He responded gently. Alexa turned to Jazz and gave the older girl a hug.
"And you'd better be safe! I don't care if you got to take the next hundred years on this quest! You be careful and do it right, then visit me in the old folks home when you're done!" Jazz added.
"No way! You'll just hit me with the cane!" Alexa teased as tears began to burn at the edges of her vision.
"Damn Skippy! And you'll be grateful!" Jazz said with a grin of her own. The two embraced each other for another few moments but eventually Alexa forced herself to pull away. She crossed the short distance to Luna and climbed onto the winged dog's back. A series of panels opened in the canine's false hide, two at Alexa's hip, slightly in front of the wing joints, and two further up, slightly behind the dog's shoulders. Without a word Alexa reached into the panel at her left hip and stretched the seatbelt over her waist and plugged it into the plug set into the alcove on her right. Jazz snorted.
"I'm not a good rider and Luna's a brand new design!" Alexa explained as her cheeks went pink. She slipped her hands into the front two spots, clutching the hidden handles.
"Well...I guess this is it..." she said
"Good luck, and may the fates be kind." Chiron said, taking a step back.
"Come back safe." Jazz added, trying to keep her jaw tight despite the glistening sheen of tears in her eyes. Alexa nodded and squeezed the handles. Luna took two bounding steps away from the porch, her large wings spreading wide. She cast them downwards, sending both her and her rider skyward and turning Camp Half-blood into a postage stamp sized smudge beneath them. Her smaller wings began to flap, clicking and clanking as they buffeted against the metal flesh of her ankles. All six wings beat in unison as they climbed upwards. Alexa found herself both surprised and overjoyed that Luna was not only stable, but actually able to keep pace with some of the pegasi wheeling beneath her. And all without making Alexa feel like she was going to fall! After a moment of marveling at her handiwork, Alexa set her jaw.
"Right…" She said, gently pulling her faithful canine to one side, angling her Southwest towards Philadelphia and in time the Appalachians. "Let's go meet our destiny"
"Awroo!" Luna eagerly agreed.