XVI: We’re All Going To Die

We didn't bother the Stoll household for much longer after me and Nico stepped out of the kitchen, both pale and troubled enough for Connor to take notice. After I'd convinced him I was fine, his mom had a quick conversation with him and he exited the kitchen ecstatic. 

He was hopping down the aisle to come speak to me, laughing so happily that I felt a little sorry for him. Did he even know what he was getting into? I didn't try to dissuade him this time, and I smiled back at his genuine joy, chuckling with him when he hit his head, until I inevitably crossed gazes with Nico.

For once, the son of Hades too looked worried for him. He and me knew best that this wouldn't be some sleepover or camping trip. His forehead was contorted in a scowl, but it seemed like he was more angry at himself than at anyone else. 

We went into his room and helped him pack. Besides the usual clothes and hygiene kit, he grabbed the cloves-based oil he used to polish his sword, climber's tape, water flask, a tin box filled with climbing chalk, and tried to sneak in a stuffed giraffe without me noticing. I pretended to not see it, while Gasper raised a brow at me.

Connor said goodbye enthusiastically to his mom with a tight hug, and she laughed as she made fun of his sloppiness, but as they sprinted down the stairs, I looked back and, for a single moment, I could've sworn I saw a tear on her cheek. 

***

"Nakamura, didn't your daddy leave you enough money to pay for hot water?" Gasper shouted from the bathroom. "Because it's cold as fuck!"

I groaned, tempted to storm into his shower and haul his ass through the open window and down three stories. Hopefully injuring him enough to disable him vocally. Keller's influence made my mind switch between suicidal and homicidal tendencies.

He'd changed a lot since the last time I spoke to him. Before, his ironic provocations were a way of showing his superiority, an exhibition of his power, knowing well that we'd do nothing to him even if he'd stepped on our nerve. But now, it felt as if the sarcasm and the petty jokes were more a defense than an offense, like he did it to forget about what might scare him. 

"If you don't shut the fuck up, I will walk into that fucking shower and drown you in that cold water." I shouted back, as I laid another blanket on the couch I'd sleep on. 

I kept on grumbling insults and death threats while Nico sat, legs crossed, on the floor between the couch and the living room table. He hugged a bowl of crackers, munching on them like a hamster. He had a blanket around him, and he'd thrown the pillows and cushions onto the floor so he could sit on them.

Before we left Connor's, we'd decided to spend the night at my house since his stepdad and sister were to arrive later and needed some peace and quiet. We'd walked the whole way, since we'd have to wait a whole hour for the bus. 

No one had spoken a word the whole trip, even Connor was quiet and sensed the heavy tension. Gasper whistled, maybe to annoy me, but I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened in Connor's kitchen. What we'd seen… Fuck. I couldn't even look at Gasper after that. Each time Nico and I looked at each other, there was an intensely serious exchange of thoughts. 

Somehow, it quieted down a bit when I walked into the comfort of my own home. I'd arranged for Nikaea and Connor to sleep in the room made for me and my brother, Gasper in my room, and me and Nico would sleep on the couch.

Gasper had been showering for the past twenty minutes, which was starting to irritate me immensely. The other two showered already, and had just gone into the room to settle down.

"Fuck this." I grumbled, standing up and walking to the bathroom. I tried to open the door, but it was evidently locked. I started banging on it. "Open up the door!"

Gasper ignored me, and so I started kicking on the door, until I was interrupted by a gentle tap on my shoulder. Nikaea was behind me, her brown hair wet and slicked across her bare back. A white towel was wrapped around her torso, but beside that she was naked. 

I hadn't been able to take a good look at her, but now that she'd cleaned herself, I saw how simplistically pretty she was. Gentle almond green eyes, with flattering long lashes, symmetrically placed on the sides of perfectly curved nose bridge that ended in a slightly snobby tip. She had pink pump lips, upturned and just… right.

It's not that she was beautiful like Helen or Psyche, but it was just aesthetically pleasing to look at. I saw how Gasper liked her.

"I'm sorry, I honestly don't have a lot of clothes with me." she said, smiling politely. "Could you borrow me some stuff to wear?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." I shrugged, taking a look at her figure. She was about as tall as me, and I was slightly slimmer, but I had loose clothing. I kicked on the bathroom door again. "Gasper, hurry the fuck up, yeah?"

"Leave me alone." sounded from the other side of the door, but before I could shout back, Nikaea knocked on the wooden door.

"Gasper, you should hurry. You should rest sooner, since we're leaving early at dawn." she said, and immediately I heard the water stop. 

"Alright, two minutes." he answered, the entire tone changed.

I rolled my eyes while I led Nikaea to my room to get her some of my clothes. I gave her a random t-shirt and a pair of shorts, and while she was changing, I found her two pairs of pants, some shirts and a jacket. 

When we walked out of the room, Gasper was half naked, dripping wet and staring at her. I do imagine it would've been hot if I was her, but I wasn't, and I just felt like throwing up. He tied the towel around his waist, and the rest of his scarred torso was glistening with drops of water. Nikaea looked at him with a flustered smile, while I nearly gagged. 

"You don't have clothes either?" I asked, looking away from him in disgust. "I'll get something for you."

Before he could do so much as respond, I turned back to the room and scrambled in my father's few drawers that I hadn't cleared out, throwing a pair of pants and a shirt at him desperately. I wished the metal button on the pants had hit him in his eye (it didn't). Nikaea snickered shyly while I took her to my old room and pushed her inside. 

Connor was sitting on the lower bunk, folding his clothes and drying his hair with a towel. He smiled when he saw my head peek through the door, waving.

"Sleep soon, alright? We leave at seven." I said, before closing the door like a mother.

Back at the living room, an American map was spread on the table, and Nico noted on it with a red sharpie while eating crackers. I sat down on the floor across the table, grabbing an open notebook and a pen. 

"So what do we know about this?" I pronounced, reaching for the bowl of biscuits. I got a handful and put them in my mouth. "Patroclus and Neoptolemus."

"Keuthonymos, a death god, Euryalos, the cyclops." Nico continued, while I wrote. "Some demigod, a dragon, and our mystery guest."

"Right." I muttered grimly. The most important character of this quest was some guy we knew nothing about. "Let's call it… Troy. Where Patroclus died."

"Alright, if you say so." he shrugged. With his approval, I wrote down Troy on the notebook. "Speaking of that… Nikaea said she sensed Patroclus in the far west. Like, West Coast west."

"Do we know if it's north or south?"

"California or Arizona is what Hades told me."

"That's ridiculously far from here…" I sighed, wondering how we'd possibly get there. "Gasper doesn't own a car, and even if he did… Fuck, do we even have a deadline?"

Nico shook his head, scratching his hair like an anime character. None of us really knew what we were facing. None of us except…

"Alastor." I called, causing the golden dragonfly to materialize next to me in the form of an Anemoi. I'd given him some normal clothes so he wouldn't go around in a Greek toga, but he refused to wear shoes, claiming they were too heavy. 

"Yes. Hello." he said, words running from his lips like a casual whisper. "M'lady."

"Erm… Don't call me that either." I cringed, shivering as I remembered what he'd shown us an hour ago. "Stick to names, Alastor. Right, about… our quest."

"A day for each throne, Erica." he answered quickly, as he floated around the room and checked his reflection on the windows. "At most. More than that, and you've failed."

He started fluffing his hair as he proclaimed the sinister words, his pointed voice swiping past me and Nico like a current of freezing wind. His tan skin seemed to shiver, but it might've been some trick my eyes played. He glided toward me and Nico, and sat next to me. 

"There's still twelve thrones in Mount Olympus." Nico concluded, stretching forward to write down the number on paper. He lifted his face to consult the shapeshifting wind spirit. "So we have twelve days, max. Is that right?"

In response, Alastor nodded calmly. I wondered if he ever wasn't calm. Nico seemed to accept it, maybe because he'd always dealt with spirits. 

"You can't tell us details, but Troy, can we know anything about him?" Nico continued asking, but instead of answering Alastor glanced at me for approval. 

I shrugged and nodded at him, slightly intimidated by his glowing golden eyes. 

"He's faster than wind, stronger than time." whispered Alastor relaxedly. "You will have to be careful, or you might perish."

Nico and I both shivered upon his warning. The word "time" was an obvious innuendo to Kronos, which was worrying at least. Kronos was very powerful. His warfare, physical or psychological, was so ruthless it would've brought down Olympus (which wasn't a weak opponent either) without Percy Jackson. We didn't have Percy for this.

Nico gulped on the cold air, twisting his ring slowly before asking another question:

"What's his business with the tormentors of Patroclus?" 

Alastor didn't miss a single beat, smiling casually enough for it to scare me without his own realization. 

"Power and destruction. He hasn't grown to full power… yet. Staying with Neoptolemus and the rest is only a way to regain energy. After rising to his full potential, he seeks to destroy the fragile balance that has been– Eris, are you alright?" 

He seemed to realize my fearful scowl and pale face, and curiously touched my face with a semi-solid finger. Nico's suspicious eyes darted nervously between me and Alastor, for some reason. I tried to push back down my nervousness, but it pressed against my temples insistently.

"Are you sick?" he inquired, pulling out a block of ambrosia. He put it back when I shook my head. "You seem troubled."

"I'm just… startled." I answered, barely managing to spit the words out. "Please don't say that type of serious shit with a smile."

"Oh, I apologize." he chuckled, bowing his head respectfully as if I was his elder. "I'm new to acting like a human. I was a tree five days ago."

Nico and I laughed, and the gloomy atmosphere seemed to lighten with our clear chuckles. Alastor finally smiled at the right moment, and we laughed a bit more seeing that.

"Anyway… So he's fast, and he's looking to fuck over the world?" Nico muttered, throwing a biscuit into the air that fell between his teeth. "Sounds like our usual opponent."

"Finding Patroclus and putting him to rest will kill Troy?" I wondered aloud, tapping on the glass table with my indicator finger. 

"Killing Troy will slow it down. You'll need to do that if you want to put Patroclus to rest." Alastor answered, this time serious. He was improving pretty quickly for someone who'd been alive for four days. "I can't tell you more. I don't know much more besides that."

A new set of footsteps found their way into the living room, and as I turned my head I saw the arrogant strides I was familiar with. However, these specific paces seemed to shatter my heart to pieces, dread tightening my ribcage enough to scrape my lungs. 

It had been seven years since I saw those clothes on someone while… awake. I resented how the clothes fitted him so well. He didn't deserve to even touch what had belonged to my father. I shouldn't have even let him into the house, when he'd almost gotten Ethan killed more than once, purposely.

My face scowled at him, my throat closing upon itself as I fought the urges to make him take it off. 

"Being dead and wearing the clothes of some other dead guy really hits different, eh?" Gasper provoked, as if he'd known what I was thinking of. His scarred skin lifted in a disrespectful sneer, as I glared at him, unable to say anything else. 

"Watch it, Keller." Nico snarled. "Don't think I won't kill you."

The room darkened around him, silent death crawling across the air like a poisonous mist. Even Alastor felt uneasy, I could feel him shivering behind me. Gasper shifted, putting his hands in the pant's pockets and adjusting his stand. I might've even bought that he wasn't afraid, but the sweat trickling down his neck unmasked his terror.

Gasper wasn't the only liar here. Although I could barely bear to lift my eyes at the son of death besides me, under the thick charcoal of his pupils I saw his fear as well. I knew that look all too well. I'd seen it, I'd done it, over and over again, until I believed in my own lie. 

The lie that I was ruthless. 

In the Army, there was almost always one point in which the recruits would prove their worth or loyalty. That pledge was sometimes seen by monsters, or titans, or even older demigods. But when it was it, we all knew it was it. It came in many ways. Betraying someone you cared for for your new side, succeeding in some stupid quest, but most regularly, killing an enemy. 

It would often come to something that seemed more like an execution. The others would stop, turn to the new kid, and if they were strong they wouldn't shiver. Then, they would clench their fists and their jaw, determination raging in their eyes. They would think that this was their choice, that this was their worth. And while they stared down the unfortunate enemy, I knew that there was more than all that. There was compassion and hesitation as well.

Nico hid that hesitation well. I wouldn't have noticed it if it were any other day. But on that day… We both knew we didn't want to kill Nikaea and Gasper. After what Alastor had shown us… The compassion screamed louder than my hatred.

"My bad." muttered Gasper, nervously scratching the back of his neck. "I came to hear the plan."

"So, twelve days to get there." I gulped, ripping my gaze away from Nico and onto the book. "Does anyone have pegasi here?"

I knew that Connor didn't: at the park, he told me that he'd never gotten the chance to get his own pegasus, and he'd always rode behind someone or on a borrowed steed. Gasper didn't either, so my hopes were on Nico conjuring up some dead horses for the rest of them or Nikaea magically having access to an unfathomably large stock of mythical creatures. Unfortunately, neither of those options were very likely.

I waited for either of them to speak, but they just shrugged.

"So no one. Shadow-traveling?" I suggested, looking at Nico. He shook his head with a sigh.

"I definitely can't take five people to the other side of the country. But I can try Mrs. O'Leary, maybe?" he suggested. Seeing that neither me or Gasper knew what he was talking about, he clarified further. "Daedalus' hellhound, he gave–"

"No way." Gasper and I denied in unisound. We both had unpleasant experiences with that dog. 

Besides, it wouldn't even make sense to ride around on a dog. I sincerely doubted its comfort and practicality. Nico didn't seem that bummed out of the shutting down of his plan, like he knew it would happen never.

"Hermes Express may sell equines, or so I've heard." Gasper suggested, his voice still trembling. He cleared his throat, but only got a pitiful glance from Nico.

"The headquarters are in Westchester County, if I remember correctly." I input, scribbling it down. "Hyperion was to take it down, but… Well, he thought it was boring."

Nico nodded, casually eating another cracker while making a red dot in the New York State. Gasper gulped, scratching the back of his head hesitantly before nodding along with us. I noticed how he shifted his weight before crossing his arms. I'd never seen him nervous at the Army, but it wasn't hard to realize that this was it.

Had he offended Hermes before? It was possible that he was scared of being seen by another god and getting sent back to the hell Nico had freed him from.

"Alright. So our first stop is Westchester. We'll get on a bus tomorrow morning. We'll try to get as fewest stops as possible, only enough for us to rest. There's monsters and villains all across the country." proposed Di Angelo, while he drew lines connecting New York to California, and Arizona.

I looked down at the map, watching as he dotted down on some places as rest stops. Pegasi were slower than cars, and that car trip would be five or six days, counting the stops. Shadow travel is much faster than riding, but we'd have to wait for Nico to rest up. 

Plus, Nico was right. The ideal is to do as fewest stops as humanly possible. The more stops we made, the higher the possibility of a monster spotting us and slowing us down. The way he'd drawn it, we'd stop at Ohio, Illinois, Nebraska, and Utah, before going to either California or Arizona. 

We'd avoid big cities and go for towns with lesser people. Buy food from supermarkets, sleep in hostels or motels, and move fast. Like I'd always been taught to.

But this wouldn't be easy, and I knew it. Even if we were already in California, maybe this quest would take weeks. California wasn't a small place… and to find a single crypt in the underground of the west coast would be, at its least, troublesome. 

If we didn't die before reaching our goal, there was the chance that we didn't reach our goal in time, which would bring devastating consequences. And if we did reach this crypt, we would probably be killed by this Troy, or Neoptolemus, the son of the Aristos Achaeon. Dogs of Artemis, they had a fucking dragon with them!

I looked around the room. A traitor, a rogue, and a ghost. Were we even here for the same reasons? What did we have in common? The answer was simpler than you'd think. 

We all needed to get this shit done and live to see the day after.