Child of Zeus {Interactive Story} (PJO/HOO/TOA)

THIRTY-TWO: We Fly Home

I can't explain much about what happened next, because I was unconscious for most of it.

I recalled dropping the Pithos to the ground near where Diana was standing over Johnny, then rolling into a crash landing that sent my body reeling in pain all over again.

When my eyes opened again, Diana was nowhere to be seen and Johnny was slowly pulling me to the edge of the peak, bags pulling behind me.

Suddenly we were back at the Cable Cars. I was on some kind of gurnee, being rolled into the last Car. Marco was standing next to Diana above me, and Johnny sat on a folding chair, being tended to by a Russian medic.

"Princepessa!" I heard Marco say before I was out again.

I came to in a bleak grey room, alone.

At first I thought it might be a hospital, but there were no machines, no IV tubes, nothing you might find in an actual hospital room. The bed I was on was hard with little padding, like one might see in a school infirmary.

I slowly pulled myself to a sitting position. The muscles around my abdomen felt tight, and it still hurt to breath in too deeply. Feeling had returned to my left arm, but I couldn't move it without feeling like I was lifting a weight. My whole body was stiff and aching, but at least my rib had gotten better.

I groaned when I swung my legs off the edge of the bed, and pushed myself up. I swayed from side to side as I made my way out the door. I didn't know where I was, but I knew I had to find my friends.

In the next room, I did.

~

The room that wasn't a hospital room turned out to be holding cell. We were in the Russian equivalent of a police department. They had a translator to tell us what the chief was saying. The translator happened to be Marco.

"The kid refuses to leave." Diana whispered. Both she and my furry friend (wearing pants) seemed significantly better. Beside the rubbing of his temples, Johnny was back to his regular self - as seen when he cautiously helped me into the seat next to his.

"Y/N," Marco smiled softly. I noticed he was wearing his blue jacket. I wondered how he got that back. "How are you feeling?"

"I thought you were Italian," I pointed out. "How are you our translator?"

"I know Russian, too. And Spanish, Greek, Korean, and I'm learning French. Chief Ivanov needed me. Besides, I promised I'd be with you until you lifted your left arm."

Diana raised her eyebrow at me. I offered him a nod, because suddenly I wasn't sure if his main goal was to be helping me. I thought about the old lady in the bake shop back in LA, how normal she had seemed until her eyes glowed orangey gold. Marco didn't seem like a monster - but he was way too friendly to be a normal person. 

The chief cleared his throat, stretched out the papers on his abnormally uncluttered desk, and started talking. 

"I see here," Marco started translating as Chief Ivanov pointed to some papers. "There is a warrant out for the arrest of Johnathan Overwood and Y/N Y/L/N in all of the Americas." Marco's face fell when he looked at me again. The chief continued.

"Diana Harvard was added to the list when the three of you were spotted at Valencia Central Valley Park together. How you got through customs to Russia, I don't understand. But you'll be on the next plane to the United States, escorted by the finest officers I have. I don't like that you are in my country, but you are not my problem." He stood from his desk, like that was that. "Plane leaves in three hours."

Chief Ivanov thanked Marco for translating, and left the room. I realized that his desk was so empty because it wasn't his. We were in a room with the desk, connected to two holding cells that we were not locked in. I heard a door close and lock behind him.