Chapter 08

I was tired. I had been tired as soon as the adrenaline left my body but the fear of Otus somehow catching up didn't leave me until now, when I finally switched to the slow lane. Jessica hadn't woken up for the entire drive, every so often she was mumbling something I couldn't quite understand, and she was twitching as if she was still plagued by nightmares. At this point, all I could do was pray that she'd wake up on her own. Luckily, the highway was a lot calmer at this time, and it was basically just trucks passing by me, roughly half of them loudly complaining about my speed with their horns.

"You humans have quite the imagination. This is truly a magnificent chariot", I heard a voice from the passenger seat. At first I thought I started imagining voices, but then I noticed the slight silver glow coming from the young woman that hadn't been sitting there seconds ago. I almost drove the car in the opposite line. "You must be the one who helped me, Lady...", I attempted to talk to a goddess as soon as the shock had left my bones at least a little.

"Artemis", she smiled. It felt more like amusement over my shock than anything else. "I had a long-standing grudge with those two. And so did Ares. Even more than me, arguably."

"Ar- Lord Ares? Is that what happened to me? Did he possess me?"

"He personally? No. He just gave you his boon. It turned you into a... warrior. But it was a good choice for the moment."

"I... I see." I had trouble coming to terms with the fact that not only one but two deities had interacted with me within minutes.

Artemis looked back at Jessica, and a hint of genuine sadness crossed her expression: "The poor girl went through a lot. And having to relive this now... Ephialtes' power was truly a vile one. I would offer her a place in my hunters, but I know it's not what she would choose for herself."

"Do you know what happened to her?", I couldn't halt my curiosity.

The goddess of hunting and the moon gave me a long look. "I heard whispers under the moonlight, but if she didn't tell you, it's not on me to tell you either."

"Of course. I'll ask her later, once she wakes up." And after a short pause, I continued asking: "Will she wake up again?"

"I'm certain she will. Ephialtes isn't capable of cursing someone to this degree, it is but a momentary effect. Soon, she'll awake as if it was a normal slumber."

"Thank you. Both for the help back there and the advice now. I'm in your debt."

"Don't be. Others might exploit such a statement. And besides, if you hadn't proven your courage, I wouldn't have helped you. You did well for a mortal boy, Jacob Cooper."

"Thank-", and before I could finish the sentence, the silver sheen in the inside of the car was gone, only the moon seemed to shine a bit brighter than normal for a moment. I must've blinked right when left or something. I didn't hear anything, not the doors of the car, not even the sound of moving clothing, she just vanished without a trace.

I took a deep breath, focusing on driving for a few seconds. A real goddess just spoke to me. Two deities just helped me out of a dangerous situation. I had wanted to be a demi ever since I read those books, but maybe I got more than I bargained for with this quest.

I was glad that I had already stopped the car when Jess finally woke up or I would have almost driven the car into the opposite lane for the second time that night. In one, lightning-fast movement, she shot up from her bench, screaming out a single word. "Nerissa!".

"Jess! Are you all right?", I asked, turning to her as quickly as possible.

"I- Where- Jacob, is that you?"

"Yes, it's me. Don't worry." I hurried to turn on the inside lights of the car, although it wouldn't be long anymore until the sun would rise anyways. Jessica's face seemed pale in this light, even more so than it normally would. But even now, she tried to bring the conversation back to a factual level:

"Where are we? What happened to the brothers? Why are you driving the car?"

"Right, you wouldn't know...", I began. "These two dudes turned out to be the giants Otus and Ephialtes. I'm still not entirely sure if they wanted to eat or marry us, but either way it wouldn't have ended well. I managed to run into the woods when they tried to get me out of the car. When I came back, Lady A-, the moon goddess and the god of war helped me.One lured Otus away, the other gave me some sort of boon that helped me fight Ephialtes."

"You fought a giant? Alone? And you won?"

"I got him by surprise", I admitted. There wasn't much he could have done, unarmed and all."

"Still, that's pretty impressive. Maybe 'giantslayer' would be a better name for your sword", she grinned.

"Maybe", I echoed her. Although I thought about how I only managed to rescue her with divine intervention. Wasn't exactly the most heroic of deeds either to have to be helped by two gods no matter what Artemis might have said about courage.

"Anyways, thank you for bailing me out. It was... bad." I got a feeling that Jess would have rather chosen a number of heavier words than that one, but she still held back.

It took me a couple of moments of silence before I finally mustered the guts to ask her: "If you don't mind me asking... What did you dream of? Ephialtes said something about showing you nightmares and it seemed to have been bad. Artemis said something about that as well, and-"

"I do mind, but thank you for your concern." Her voice wasn't angry or anxious or anything, she just calmly interrupted me. "Let's just say the Hecate cabin hadn't been supposed to be a single member gig."

"Okay. I'm sorry to hear that, it must have been hard for you to go through that again."

"It was. Which is why I am thankful for you that you bailed me out before I reached breaking point."

Another pause filled the car. I didn't know what to say in response, and Jess clearly didn't want to go deeper into the topic. The silence was only broken when the daughter of Hecate changed subject: "So... Why aren't we driving anymore? Is it still far away from LA?"

"Well, aside from the fact that I was dead-tired after a night of fighting and driving? We're out of gas. But LA shouldn't be far off, a couple of miles until we reach the suburbs, at most."

"Walking distance, then", she smiled. "Maybe we'll make it before the sun rises too much to be bearable without an AC."

"Seems like a plan", I answered. "Are you up for the walk?"

"Should be. Neither hungry nor thirsty, just a bit tired. I'll manage." And with these words, Jess jumped out of the car, only reaching back in to drag her backpack out with her. After taking one quick look around the insides, I followed her lead. The night air was still cool enough to make walking through near-empty land a pleasant experience. We could try and hitch another ride, but neither I nor Jess were too eager after what happened with the last. Apparently, the daughter of Hecate was attracting enough monsters for the two of us.