Butterflies

Chapter 18

AHHH. THIS ONE WAS SO FUN TO WRITE HELP ME. 

~O~

Piper's yellow brick road led the group across a ginormous field of grass and two orchards. Minor monsters kept popping out of the wheat and appearing from behind trees, but none of them were as bad as the Kere's or required as much work to kill. It had become a game, who could kill more monsters, and at the last leg of the road they were practically battling each other for the chance to kill the monsters. That confused the monsters to say the least.

Finally, at about dusk, they got off the path and took a small dirt road over to a collection of buildings nestled between a tree grove and a wall of rock. A few of the cabins were inhabited, with smoke coming from the chimneys and light streaming through the windows.

"Hey, Nico," Lou Ellen called, jogging up to his side. "What are we doing stopping in a place like this? Don't we need to keep going?"

"Lou Ellen, my dear, you're never supposed to walk in highly monster filled areas during nighttime. It's how you get killed." Nico didn't notice, as he was too busy talking to Lou Ellen, but upon calling her 'my dear' Will stumbled next to him and nearly fell on his face.

"Right," she continued, "But I still don't understand why we are at this little sack of a town. I mean, is there even plumbing in a place like this?" Her gaze went to all the little shacks and dirty porches surrounding them, settling disdainfully on a bar a few yards away.

"It was the closest inhabited place to us, so I figured staying here would be better than setting up camp out in the trees." Nico put a hand on her lower back and steered her in the direction of the shabby bar she had just been glaring at. "Unless you would still like to set up a tent. If so, be my guest and tell me how you managed to sleep between fighting and waiting for attack." With that they stopped in front of the bar door, Nico smirking mischievously and Lou Ellen looking both put off and annoyed.

The sign above the door they were only just stepping through read, "Resting Grounds" with little people wearing battle armor sitting on stools all around the big words. Inside, the room had a similar theme to the sign, with armor in one corner and swords mounted on the wall. A clutter of tables filled the space not taken by the bar, each one shaped naturally from tree wood and polished to keep away splinters. The stout stools surrounding each placement were of the same design and gave the place a more non-formal, natural feeling.

The first breath of air the seven sucked in wasn't of alcohol and stale bread as they had all expected. Instead it was fresh pastries and warm coffee and about every smell known to man that was calming and comforting. Mixed together as they were the smell could probably lull a titan into domestication.

"Oh," Lou Ellen said softly with a small sigh of contentment, "Maybe this isn't that bad."

But Will, who was a step behind Nico, was stiff and placed a firm hand on Nico's shoulder to catch his attention.

"Look," he whispered hoarsely, "That's an Empousa." He pointed to a chirpy girl catting up a tall, burly man behind the counter. As they watched her hair whisped into a few small flames and an odd shine came to one of her legs.

Nico, Jason, and Piper all inhaled sharply and Jason whispered, "The battle at the House of Hades."

Piper nodded and adds, "I'll just have to charmspeak her again, I guess."

Nico turned slightly and whispered, "I think we should probably get her away from the bartender, though. She might be about to hurt him."

The whole group nodded and then right as Nico was starting to draw his weapon and sneak towards the Empousa, a clattering came from behind the bar and someone practically yelled, "Wait a damn minute you little demigod!"