Chapter 16

They had been riding for about an hour and Hunter was starting to feel the effects. Hunter was about to ask for a break, when his centaur looked back and said, “Where specifically in LA do you need to be?”

“Valencia Boulevard, I think.” The centaur thought a second then got a strange look on his face.

“Are you going to the underworld, little one?”

“Yeah that’s the plan.”

“Well good luck with that.” In the next few minutes the four of them arrived in LA and stopped in front of a tall black marble building. Stuck onto the door was a sign that read, ‘NO SOLICITERS. NO LOITERING. NO LIVING.’ The four campers got off of the backs of their vehicles and stretched their stiff bodies. “Alright. This is where we leave. Stay safe little ones.”

“Thanks for the ride!” Marina waved goodbye to the centaurs as the rode off toward Seattle. “My butt hurts…” Marina said as she walked toward the building and leaned on it. Hunter walked up to the door and looked in. It looked relatively nice for being an entrance to the Underworld. The four of them walked in and looked around. The lobby was full of people pacing and looking agitated. Hunter turned around.

“Let me do the talking, okay?” Hunter walked up to the security guard standing at a podium. Hunter looked at his nametag. “Charon? Is it?” Hunter knew that the others in his party were actual demigods, meaning that they were both dyslexic and had ADHD. Hunter was always good at thinking quick on his feet. He figured that it might be better if he did the talking.

“Yes it is. You actually got my name right. And on the first try too. So what can I do for you four?” Charon looked at Hunter with an expressionless face.

“We’d like to go to the underworld, if you please.” Charon raised his eyebrows.

“Wow. How polite. Well how did you guys die?” He gestured toward the group.

“Well, Charon, the four of us got a little drunk and a party and Marina, here, thought she could drive us home. You know teenagers….” Hunter gave Charon a toothy smile who flashed a forced half-grin in return.

“Indeed.” Charon looked down at his podium and scribbled something down. “So we accept all major credit cards or we can tack on the fee to your next cable or cell phone bill. However since none of you seem to be old enough to do that, you can wait here in the lobby for the next few…centuries or so. Thanks, bye now.” Charon put on a fake smile and stared at Hunter.

“Would it change anything if I gave you this?” Hunter reached into his pocket and pulled out a drachma and placed it on Charon’s desk. Charon eyed the golden coin greedily.

“A golden drachma.  Now where did you get that?” Charon stared at Hunter in a way that looked like it was burning a hole through him.

“I found a few of these on the ground. I thought they looked valuable so I kept them. Obviously they’re valuable to you so why don’t you keep them. And in exchange you get us into the underworld? What am I going to do with a bunch of old coins?” Hunter put on his most persuasive smile. Charon eyed him very suspiciously. Hunter reached into his pocket and pulled out three more drachmas and placed them on the desk. Charon couldn’t take his eyes off the golden coins. He finally looked around and then motioned Hunter to come closer.

“You’re not a dead teenager. None of you are. So this is a secret between you and me, okay?” Hunter nodded. Charon picked up the coins, put them in his pocket and then led the four of them into an elevator. He got in and put his card into a slot on the elevator panel. The elevator started to descend. Hunter had never been in an elevator before. It seemed so daunting to him. Hunter closed his eyes for the whole time. He felt the elevator whirr downward. All of a sudden Hunter felt the elevator moving forward and starting to sway back and forth. Hunter slowly opened his eyes and saw that he wasn’t standing in an elevator; he was standing in a boat. He opened his eyes completely and looked around. He was in the Underworld.

Chapter 15

“Well, it looks like we’ll just wait here.” Kyle shrugged and sat down on an oil drum.

“Hey, there’s no reason that we need to just sit here doing nothing. We could walk around the nearby area a little. We’ll just make sure we’re back here in an hour.” Will said. Marina and Kyle both looked at Hunter.

“I guess there’s nothing wrong with that. Let’s go.” The four of them hadn’t been walking very long, when they found a nice park. They walked a little bit on a path, all the while making jokes and having a good time.

“Hey, follow me, I have an idea for some food.” Kyle led the three of the path off the path and behind some bushes. He crouched down and closed his eyes. Pretty soon a little plant popped up from the ground. It kept growing and growing until it was maybe four feet tall. It started growing branches that sprouted an assortment of fruits and vegetables. “Alright. Dig in.”

“This is amazing! How did you do that!?” Marina said as she grabbed and apple from the tree.

“Child of Demeter. Remember? I call it the Omni-tree. It grows pretty much.” Kyle grabbed an orange and started peeling it. Will crouched down and grabbed a banana and a couple of strawberries. Hunter grabbed an apple and watched it grow back before his eyes. He gave it to Orion and then picked another.

“I wish I had magic powers. I’d never go hungry.” Hunter said, before biting into the apple.

“Magic can be a dangerous thing, you should be careful what you wish for.” The four campers turned around to see a policeman staring at them. “You should also be more careful reading signs that say stay on the path.”

“Oh, sorry, officer. We’ll leave.” Marina dropped the banana peel on the ground and picked up her stuff. The police officer took a few steps closer to the group.

“It’s Officer Thorn or sir to you. And sorry, but you’re not getting off that easily. You’ll have to come with me.”

“For walking on the grass? Come on, man give us a break.” Kyle stepped forward.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. I’ve got orders to stop you from getting to the underworld.”

“The Underworld?” Hunter stared at Officer Thorn. All of a sudden, a spike from out of nowhere came and hit Marina in the arm, just grazing her. She cried out in pain. Hunter, Kyle and Will all looked back at Officer Thorn.

“That was a warning shot. The next one won’t be so…kind.” As he spoke Thorn started to look less and less human. He slowly transformed into a lion standing on its back legs with some sort of tail behind him. The tail flexed and shot out another spike headed toward Marina. Kyle slipped his trowel from his pocket, changed it into the scythe and knocked away the spike before it hit Marina. Will already had his sword drawn before the Manticore could launch another spike. Orion had been growling before he even transformed. Hunter summoned Kate and loaded an arrow backing up the whole time. He fired the arrow and then looked back at Marina who was now on the ground clutching her arm and crying out in pain. Will and Kyle charged the Manticore parrying blows and landing some of their own. Orion charged and jumped at the Manticore’s neck. The Manticore blocked the wolf’s attack and got caught on the arm. He growled out in pain as Orion let go of his arm and backed up by Hunter and prepared for another attack. Hunter loaded another arrow and fired straight for the face of the Manticore. Hunter ducked just as a flurry of spikes came flashing past his head. Hunter loaded another arrow and fired again. The Manticore traded blows with Will and Kyle while Hunter fired arrow after arrow.  Will dodged around giant claw from the Manticore and slashed at it in the back of the thigh. The Manticore roared in pain. Kyle blocked and attack with his scythe and did a flurry of large swings at the chest of the Manticore before slamming the end down, creating string of vines grow out of the ground and trapping the beast’s arms. The Manticore tried to break free but the vines kept wrapping around and around and around his arms. “Let me out of this, Flower Child or I’ll break your limbs off!” Thorn shouted at Kyle, who deflected a last minute spike fired straight at his head. Hunter fired another arrow at its tail, impaling it to a nearby tree.

“I really don’t see that happening. Now that we have you tied down, though I’d like a question or two answered.” Hunter loaded an arrow and aimed straight for Thorn’s face. “Who gave you the orders to find us?” Thorn was silent. Hunter changed his aim and fired the arrow into the Manticore’s foot. The beast growled in pain. Hunter loaded another arrow. “What is causing the trouble in Olympus?” Hunter asked, looking straight into the beast’s eyes. Thorn didn’t say anything. Hunter fired the arrow into his other foot. Hunter stared at the Manticore in the eyes. All of a sudden, it seemed like a mist disappeared from behind his eyes. The Manticore’s expression softened.

“What’s going on? How did I get here?” The Manticore looked at Hunter. “I don’t know what’s going on! Please don’t kill me!” The Manticore started sobbing. Hunter nodded to Will who stabbed the beast in the heart. The monster turned to dust. Hunter put away Kate and watched as Will and Kyle put away their weapons too. They were just about to grab their stuff when they heard a soft moan. They looked back and saw Marina, still clutching her arm where the spike grazed her. Hunter was knelt down by Marina when he heard a soft whimper coming from behind a bush. He stood up. Kyle and Will stayed with Marina as Hunter followed the noise. Hunter looked behind the bush and saw Orion whimpering on his side. He looked closer and saw the Orion had three spikes poking out from his side.

“ORION!” Hunter cried running over and kneeling down to the side of his pet wolf. Hunter cradled the one friend that he has had since he was born in his arms. Hunter looked over at Will who was starting to walk toward him. Hunter waved him off. Will turned around and headed back to Marina who was still on the ground. Hunter looked back at Orion who was breathing heavily and with every breath more blood poured out of his side. “You’re gonna be okay. I promise you’ll be okay.” Hunter’s face was soaked with tears as he tossed his bag off his shoulder and started to dig through it for some bandages.

“You know that’s not true.” Hunter heard a voice. It was calm and strong. For some reason it was familiar. He looked around for the source of the voice. “The Manticore’s spikes have punctured my lungs. I won’t survive very long.” Hunter looked down at Orion.

“Orion? I can’t…“ Hunter was crying harder than he ever cried before. He was staring into Orion’s eyes. The once strong wolf was now helpless in his arms. Hunter was starting to notice Orion’s eye becoming more and more human.

“It is time. You must know.” Hunter watched as the wolf he had known for all of his life changed into a man. The man was wearing a toga and had a bow unlike any other Hunter had ever seen slung over his shoulder. “Hunter. I am Orion. The great Hunter.”

“You…but…” Hunter was speechless.

“When I was killed by the scorpion sent by Apollo, Artemis didn’t exactly put me into the night sky like the story says. In a way, she split me into two things: my body and my spirit. My body she turned into the constellation that you see in the night sky, but my spirit she placed into a wolf. The same wolf the saved your mother from her uncle. The same wolf that the lady Artemis sent to watch over you as you grew up in Camp Half-Blood. The same wolf that you grew to trust and to love. The same wolf that fought with you until the very end. However, the injuries that I have sustained are too great. I won’t live to see another day.”

“So…so what happens now?” Hunter said, his voice shaky with sadness.

“Now I must join my body up in the sky. I must return to where I belong. The lady Artemis knew that someday this would happen. That my wolf body would be broken and fractured. She couldn’t stand to be without me on earth. That’s why she put me into the wolf, but now I must return to my body so that I can enter the underworld and forever live in the fields of Elysium. But before I go I have something for you.” He held out his hand and in it lied the tag that once resided on the wolf’s collar. “In the time of your greatest need this will transform into an arrow fashioned from the scorpion’s tail that killed me. The poison is so potent it’s been said to be able to fell the mightiest enemy. Some say even a god.” Hunter took the tag from Orion’s hand and fingered it in his palm. Orion placed his large hand on Hunter’s shoulder. “I’m very proud of you. I’ve watched you grow up and I’ve never stopped being proud of you.” With that Orion took two steps back, unshouldered his bow, and loaded an arrow. He smiled at Hunter, aimed straight up, and fired. Orion disappeared. Hunter broke down and cried. He cried for what seemed like a long time. The only thing that had been consistent in his entire life was gone. He stood up and brushed the tears off his cheeks. He turned around and looked back at his friends. They weren’t moving. It was like the world around him was frozen. Hunter took a deep breath and took a step forward. Everything around him started to move again. Everything that had just taken place felt like hours to Hunter, but it was only a few seconds. He walked back to the group wiping off the tears.

“Marina, are you okay? Is it just pain?” Kyle asked as he brushed the hair from her face.

“YES! It’s a lot of pain!” Kyle set aside his stuff and stared at the ground. A minute later a fully-grown plant had popped up from the ground. Kyle took some and ground it up and then fed it to Marina.  Marina gave Kyle a look of disgust as he fed her the green mush. “What are you feeding me? It tastes awful.”

“Ocimum Tenuiflorim.” Kyle said, matter-of-factly. “Or Holy Basil. It’s an herbal painkiller, I hoped it would help.” Kyle smiled and Marina smiled back.

“I hate to ruin this moment, but we need to get back and get our ride and then get to Los Angeles. So that we can save the world, remember?” Will said looking around for more monsters. Marina swallowed down the rest of the basil and stood up.

“It helped. Thanks, Kyle.” She walked over to Kyle and kissed him on the cheek. Will rolled his eyes as Kyle turned beet red.

“N-No problem.” Kyle said to Marina with a gooey look in his eyes. Marina picked up her stuff and started looking around.

“Where’s Orion?” She looked at Hunter who was still holding the tag from his collar. “Oh…I’m so sorry.” Marina walked over to Hunter and gave him a hug. Hunter couldn’t cry anymore. He had exhausted himself from crying.

“Thanks.” Hunter could barely muster the energy to speak. “He’s…where he should be.” Hunter broke the embrace. “We should go back.”

“Yeah they’ll probably be waiting for us by now.” Will said, as he elbowed Kyle in the ribs. Kyle broke from his trance and shook his head a couple of times.

“Huh? Yes! Of course. Onward!” Kyle led the way back to the meeting point and sat himself down on the oil drum he sat on, what seemed like so long ago. Hunter sat down on the ground tired from the fight and emotionally injured. They had only been there for a minute, when the four of them heard the clop of hooves on the cement. They stood up and looked toward the noise. 4 centaurs were standing there looking at Hunter.

“Are you the four little kids that need a ride to LA?” one of them asked. He took a beer helmet of his head and ran his hand through his hair. He put it back on and turned to the other centaurs. “If we leave now then we’ll get there with enough time to not miss the party.” He turned back to Hunter. “Well? Chiron said you needed help and we’ve got a party in Seattle that we plan to be there for.” Hunter nodded his head still a little stunned at the sight of them. “Alright. Then climb aboard and we’ll get going.”  Hunter, Kyle, Marina, and Will all climbed onto their own centaur and in a flash they took off. Urban dock area quickly changed into forest and trees as the four campers rode on the back of the centaurs. Hunter started to think about what had happened. He thought about what Orion had said to him. He thought about everything Orion told him. He took the tag out of his pocket and looked at I in his palm. Hunter looked up and thought, ‘I miss you, buddy.’

Chapter 14

“So now that we’re here, we need to find Nereus, right?” Marina asked.

“Yeah. I’ll let Kyle lead the way on this one.” Hunter turned to Kyle and punched him in the arm. Kyle took a deep breath.

“Alright then. Let’s go find him.” Hunter, Marina, and Will all followed Kyle as they searched the coastline. They had been searching for a few hours when Kyle started sniffing the air.  “Something smells…fishy…”

“Really? Fishy? Well, we’re right outside of a fish market, Kyle, so yeah it should.” Marina said rolling her eyes. Kyle started looking around. He had only been looking for a minute, seemingly following the smell, when he came tiptoe-ing back to the group. ”Wha—“ Kyle shushed Will as before he could get a word out.

“He’s right over there. The one in the fisherman’s vest.” Kyle whispered in a very low register, pointing behind a storage container. All four of them leaned over to look behind the storage container to see a dirty-looking man with a messy beard and glasses. He looked like he was sleeping. Marina smiled and then started digging in her bag. She pulled out her makeup case and started examining it.

“Now really isn’t the time to be touching up your makeup, Marina.” Hunter said, still whispering making sure that Nereus didn’t wake up. He had just stopped talking when the makeup case transformed into a large cannon that Marina held in both hands. Hunter had seen her practicing with it in the arena, but he still stared as Marina made adjustments to her hand cannon. She finally finished with the adjustments and took aim at Nereus who was still sleeping soundly. She pressed a button on the side and a second later THOOM! A large net made of metallic cables came flying from the end of the cannon right towards Nereus. The noise the cannon made was a not exactly quiet. Nereus had heard the noise and dodged around the oncoming net. He was now making a run for it. Will quickly dropped his stuff and started chasing Nereus. He jumped on to his back.

“AAAGHH! Get offa me!” Nereus screamed as he tried to shake Will from his back. Orion ran over and starting barking at the screaming Nereus.

“Hold on just another second, Will!” The whole time Marina had been making adjustments again to her cannon. She aimed and fired again. THOOM! Another net came flying out towards Nereus and Will. It hit its target and trapped both of them.

“Get this net off! He smells awful!” Will screamed as he tried to pry his way out of the net. Nereus, now trapped, started transforming into various sea animals. Every time he transformed the net gave a little bit of electric shock. Just enough electricity to shock Nereus into his original shape. Every shock though made Will scream in pain. Nereus struggled in the net for about 10 minutes, then he finally gave up. 

“I’ll answer your question just get this net offa me?!” Marina walked over and pressed a button on her cannon, then changed it back to the makeup case. Hunter and She pulled the net off of Will and Nereus. Kyle dragged Will away from Nereus and tried to wake him up. The electricity had rendered Will unconscious. Nereus was lying on the ground, defeated and breathing hard. Orion right next to him, growling. “What…What do you want? I don’t…have all day.”

“You get to ask him Marina. Technically, you caught him. Will’s unconscious so it’s up to you.” Marina thought for a little while and then took a deep breath.

“Where is the source of the curse that is affecting the gods?” Nereus stood up. And dusted off his pants.

“Simple. The Underworld. DOA Recording Studios.” With that, Nereus ran and jumped into the water turning into a seal in midair.

“That seemed like a lot of trouble for not that much information.” Kyle said. He looked back at Will who was just coming to. Marina knelt down and started hugging him.

“I’m so sorry!! I didn’t mean to get you in the net, too. I couldn’t let him go or he wouldn’t have told us where to go. And that meant getting you caught in there too. I’m so sorry!” Will opened his eyes.

“It’s okay, Marina.” Will said through pained laughing. “I knew what I was doing when I jumped on his back.” Will slowly stood up and stabled himself on Kyle’s shoulder. “Ugh…I can still smell him. Gross.”

“So what’s the plan?” Kyle asked.

“Well, fish-man said we needed to go to the Underworld in a place called DOA Recording Studios. I don’t know where that is.”

“That’s simple enough. Chiron would probably know, right? We’ll just Iris message him. And he’ll tell us.” Will explained, now standing up on his own.

“That’s…not a bad plan.” Hunter shrugged and started walking toward the beach. He found a beach shower and turned on high enough to create a mist. “Goddess, accept my offering.” He dropped a drachma into the rainbow. “Chiron. Camp Half-Blood, Half-Blood Hill, Long Island, New York.” Soon after Hunter could see Chiron sitting in the Big house. Hunter could hear yelling in the background. “Chiron!” Hunter shouted into the picture.

“OH! Hunter. How are things going?” Chiron put on a forced pleasant smile. Hunter had known him too long to be unable to tell when something was worrying Chiron. “What can I help you with?” Chiron was obviously hurrying.

“Well, Chiron. We were wondering if you could tell us where DOA Recording Studios was. Apparently, it’s an entrance to the Underworld, which is our next destination according to Nereus.”

“I’ll be right back.” Chiron trotted away from Hunter’s view. Hunter could hear his calm voice resolving some issue with a couple of other campers. Everything got quieter as the other campers left. A few minutes later Chiron returned. “The only location I have is Valencia Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. It’s a pretty clearly marked building, though. It’ll be hard to miss.”

“Los Angeles? That’s like 6 hours away. How are we gonna get there? We don’t have a car.”

“Wait where you are. I’ll send help. Now if there is nothing else. I really need to be going.” Chiron then waved his hand splitting the connection.

Chapter 13

                Hunter woke up crying and sweating from the intense dreams. He was breathing so heavily he thought he was going to throw up. Sunlight was just starting to stream into the cabin windows. Hunter sat in bed and stared up at the ceiling. He was still trying to reorganize his mind after the assault it experienced last night. He finally got out of bed and got dressed. He put on a plate of armor he had never seen before. It was much lighter than his old set and it wasn’t as constricting. Hunter wondered where it came from. He grabbed his backpack and walked out of the door. Hunter, with his backpack on his back and quiver in tow, he walked to the dining pavilion for breakfast. He got in line and grabbed some food. The mess hall was mostly empty. Hunter had only been sitting there, playing with his food, for about 10 minutes when Kyle walked in. Kyle was a disgustingly pronounced example of a morning person.

                “GOOD morning, Hunter!” Kyle got his food and sat down across from him at the Artemis table. “You ready for the quest, man?” Kyle looked down at Hunter’s food which had been pushed around the plate, but not eaten. “Are you not eating? Is something bothering you?” Hunter looked up.

                “Hmm…Oh I’m sorry did you say something?” Kyle rolled his eyes.

                “No. Nothing important. So you ready to go?” Hunter rubbed his eyes.

                “Yeah I guess. I’m more worried than anything.” Hunter looked back at Kyle who was nodding in agreement just as Marina walked in.

                “Ah. So you both got your new armor. I spent almost an hour forging each of those. It’s good to be a child of Hephaestus.” Marina smiled. “Do you like it? I made it help to fit your strengths and combat styles.” She sat down next to Kyle, staring intensely, alternating between Hunter and Kyle.

                “You made this?” Hunter looked surprised at Marina. “I love it. It’s so much better than my old armor. That piece of junk always got in the way when I was using my bow. Thank you.”

                “Mine feels a little bulky.” Marina elbowed Kyle in the ribs. “…er than my old armor. Is what I was going to say. In a good way. I mean, I didn’t feel that elbow so…well done.”

                “You’re both welcome. So what exactly is the prophecy? You didn’t really tell us, and we only heard about every other word. Something about a curse?” Hunter repeated the prophecy word for word.

                “Apparently, the gods are starting to get angry with each other for no obvious reason. So we need to figure out why. Nothing’s been stolen it just seems like they’re becoming very hostile towards each other. So that’s why Chiron thinks it’s a curse that’s been placed on Olympus.”

                “Explains why Mr. D is no more hostile than usual.” Kyle said with a chuckle.

                “Do we have any leads?”

                “Well in a few hours, we’re supposed to go to San Francisco and find Nereus. He’s the ‘eldest son of Pontus’ that the prophecy talks about.”

                “Yeah, I know about him.” Kyle said. Marina looked directly at him.

                “How do YOU know about him?”

                “Percy told me about him. Percy Jackson told me about him. Apparently, if you catch him he will answer any one question you have. See? I know stuff.”

                “Catch him? What does that mean? How hard could it be to catch him?”

                “Percy said that he can change into any sea animal. Making it incredibly hard to catch.” They all thought for a while. Suddenly, Marina stood up excitedly.

                “I’ll meet you guys later. I have an idea.” Marina was out the door before either of them could say anything. As she was running out the door, Will was coming in. He watched Marina blow by him. He walked over to where Hunter and Kyle were still sitting.

                “Where’s the fire?” Will said, motioning towards the door. Both Kyle and Hunter shrugged. “So are you guys ready to leave? I know, I am.”

                “Actually, I’m not. I’ll meet you guys later.” Hunter lied, but he had reasons. Hunter, honestly, wasn’t positive that he was ready. Also, Kyle and Will needed some time to get to know each other. Will knew Marina, since she was the best smith in the camp so almost everyone knew her. Kyle was the best with plants, but was kind of a dork. Which he exhibited every day since Hunter met him. Hunter obviously knew all three of them well enough. Hunter left the dining pavilion and walked to his cabin. He double checked his backpack, picked up all his stuff, and walked to the Big house and picked up Orion.  With Orion close behind he walked to the stables. He got there and saw a very ornate looking chariot parked outside of the stables and Helios brushing his horses. “So this used to be the sun chariot?”

                “Yessiree! Same chariot and same horses. These mares still fly like racehorses.”

                “So does this chariot change into different vehicles, like Apollo’s?” Helios’ eyes started to glow again.

                “Do NOT say his name near me again, boy!” Helios took a few deep breaths. “That…piece of junk that he flies across the sky every morning is nothing compared to these horses. Pyrois, Aeos, Aethon, and Phlegon, here are still the greatest horse to ever guide the sun. When this chariot was first created no other vehicles existed, so no. It can’t change into anything. Sorry to disappoint.” Helios went back to brushing his horses. Hunter stood around. He looked at the chariot and pet the horses on the nose. Finally Kyle and Will showed up laughing about something. It seemed that Hunter’s plan had worked.

                “That’s the dumbest joke, I’ve ever heard.” Will said as they walked up to Hunter who was standing there staring.

                “Why you staring like that, Hunter? You got something on your mind you need to get off your chest?” Kyle said. He looked over at Will who was looking back at him and they both started laughing again.

                “You boys quiet down! You’ll scare the horses.” Helios looked over at the three of us. “Where’s the girl?” He asked looking in a way that seemed like he thought she was hiding from him.  “She’s got five minutes or I’m leaving without her. I’ve got ‘Pretty Little Liars’ DVR’d at home…” Hunter, Will, and Kyle all studied the ground as they stifled their laughter. Four minutes later, Marina came running up with all of her stuff.

                “Sorry, I’m late guys. I had to work on something, kind of last minute.” Marina smiled and blew her hair out of her eyes.

                “Alright. We all here? Good. Then let’s shove off. Everyone on to the chariot!” Helios shouted like he had given rides like this as a gimmick at a county fair. Hunter with Orion, Kyle, Marina, and Will all got onto the chariot and Helios grabbed the reins. “You ready, kids?” All of them nodded. “Alrighty. Let’s go.” With that Helios gave a hard whip of the reins and the chariot started floating into the sky. This was the first time Hunter had ever flown anywhere in any type of vehicle. Hunter closed his eyes for the majority of the takeoff. He held on to the side of the chariot tightly until he felt the chariot even out and reach a constant speed. Hunter slowly opened his eyes and looked around. The chariot was soaring through the sky whipping past the earth below. Kyle looked sick to his stomach and Will looked a little uncomfortable. Marina seemed to be doing just fine. She had pulled out a magazine and was leafing through it. Hunter looked at their current situation and realized that the 5 people in the chariot was a cramped, but it looked like they were making great time. “We’ll be there in about 20 minutes.” Helios said looking back. He looked back and stared at Kyle who started to turn a little green. If you’re gonna hurl, wait for my signal. Helios raised his hand and then threw it downward. Like they had planned it, Kyle leaned over the rail and threw up all of his breakfast. “Don’t get any on the chariot!” Kyle came back and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

                “Why did I have to wait?” He asked with another wretch. Helios put a big grin on his face.

                “Apollo’s Las Vegas home. It was a bull’s eye.” After saying that Helios let out a big, hearty laugh. Kyle’s eyes bugged out.

                “I’m not gonna get in trouble, am I?” Kyle looked like he was thinking about jumping out of the chariot. Having noticed, Marina grabbed on to his arm.

                “Nah…You think a little puke on his vacation home is a major concern of his, right now? You’ll be fine, kid.” Helios gave his hearty, belly laugh and turned his attention back to the horses.

Those 20 minutes seemed to fly by. Pardon the pun. Hunter watched as the coastline he had seen from a distance was coming closer and closer. He looked at Marina who was still holding on to Kyle, who looked like he was still going to through up. He looked over at Will who had somehow fallen asleep standing up. Hunter nudged him in the side, which roused him from his sleep.

“We’re almost there. Get ready.” Hunter turned to look at Kyle. “Did Percy say where exactly this Nereus guy likes to hang out?”

“I vaguely remember him…erp…saying something about…ugh…the docks.” Helios turned in that direction and took the flying chariot down right behind a warehouse near the docks. Kyle felt and looked better as soon as he stepped down off the chariot. “I’ve got a thing with heights, okay?” Kyle looked around, searching for reactions.

“So how do we find this guy?” Marina asked very excitedly.

“He said he’ll be dressed like a typical homeless man, but he will smell like…oh how did he describe it…smell like week-old catfish stew after being thrown up by a dog.”

“So all we need to do is find the really smelly homeless guy. Alright good.”

“I’ll see you kids later. DVR is calling.” Helios turned his chariot around and took off again. Hunter and everyone else waved goodbye at Helios.

“Thanks for the ride!” Hunter shouted to Helios. “I’ll be okay if we don’t see him again.” The four of them chuckled.