Curse of the Triblood

Chapter 28

"Silena, you're oddly quiet," Grover pointed out. We could see Silena playing with the lions. She was scratching one while petting another. The lions being the size of a smaller dog made it so they were sitting on her lap.

"Are thou serious? That thing, when it is old enough could kill thee," Zoe told her.

"I don't care. They are the cutest things I have ever seen. I'm getting one. I am going to live with it and feed it and I'm going to love it. Her name will be Nala and we will sing the Circle of Life every day and I will get another lion named Simba and they will happily ever after together," Silena told us.

"We should go through different trains to make sure the mutt has a tougher time tracking us," I told everyone.

Everyone nodded in agreement and after a few hours, we were somewhere south of where we were previously. It was getting colder, and the lion cubs were fitting off the cold with a high pitch yelp or two. I had to pick them up and keep them in my black Nemean Lion coat. We walked around and saw an empty trash bin.

"Grab some newspaper and flammable garbage," I told everyone. "Then throw it in the trash bin."

Once they did, I took out the Olethros coin and flipped it in. As it slowly spun into the bin it caught fire and set everything ablaze. The fire roared to life quickly and everyone surrounded the bin trying to bask in the heat it offered. The lions fought to get more heat than the other. The fight wasn't too serious and was mostly them jumping on each other trying to get the upper hand.

I fished  the coin out of the fire by it flying into my hand and I placed it on the ground. A new fire burned on the ground more than large enough for both cubs. I squatted down to sit down by them, they placed their paws on my shoulders and tried to nuzzle their heads into my neck.

"Can I get some fire too," an old man came walking towards the bin.

"Sure, there's enough for everyone," Silena returned her answer. The man-made his way to stand between Silena and Thalia. I shot him a glare and turned to look at Grover. Grover taking the hint moved between them so that he was between the stranger and Silena.

"Names Lester," the man told us. He turned to me. "Are those lions?"

"No, they are large cats," I told him.

"That's basically what a lion is," he replied. "Beautiful creatures." I turned to the man and waved him over. He did come over and sat next to me and my lion cubs.

"Lord Apollo, what are you doing here?" I asked in a whisper so that only the two of us could hear.

"Sshh, gods can't affect quests. Call me Lester," he warned. "Listen, kid, I need you to save Artemis."

"That was the plan," I reminded him.

"I know but...I can't see her. I'm the god of foresight and prophecies and I can't even see my sister. I know that you want to save your girlfriend, but can you make sure that my sister is at least second on the list of people that are most important to get out of this quest?"

"Noted," I told him. "We need to go west. Can you help us out? Anything I ask for is going to get both the mercenaries and the press on me in ten seconds."

"Yeah, fighting off a lion not once but twice to save people's lives will do that for you. Make the most out of it man! It could be fun. Next time we go out to drink, it might be easier for you to talk me up if everyone knows you're a hero," Apollo told me patting my back. "There's a car tractor-trailer that will lead you west."

"Thank you," I replied.

"The lions are good for you. They are very protective of those in their pride. Playful, but they play rough" Apollo told me.