Demigods » 1D + 5SOS

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

(a/n) hey y'all, sorry for the late update, I had a crazy weekend. Enjoy!

"How do you guys feel about trains?" Ashton asked.

They had accidentally stumbled upon a train station while walking, and the four of them grinned at each other eagerly. Trains were much faster than buses, and they covered more ground.

"Ooh, can we jump in an open car like a hobo on the rails?" Michael pleaded, clasping his hands together like he was begging.

"Of course not!" Ashton exclaimed. "We still have some shred of humility left."

"But I've always wanted to do that...."

"Maybe later. For right now, we have to abide by the law and buy tickets."

They had enough money to buy four tickets in first class, but they decided not to indulge and have access to the food and sleep cars. They had plenty of their own food to eat, and the seats in first class were super comfortable. They were paired by two, so Calum and Luke sat together and Ashton and Michael sat across from them.

"I call window seat!" Michael shouted, and the drummer shushed him. "Sorry, mum."

"Dad," Ashton corrected him absently, already rolling out the map.

"What's the plan, padre?" Calum asked, leaning over the aisle.

"Well, we're in New Jersey now, so that's a start. We still have a long ways to go to get to Los Angeles. The train only goes so far as to West Virginia, so when we get there, we need to book another trip."

"I still don't understand why we can't take a plane," Michael piped up. "Can't we just ask Zeus to let this one slide?"

"Have you ever met a god?" Ashton retorted.

"No, have you?"

"No, but Percy has. He's met a gazillion gods, and they're all as stubborn as you are when you don't get what you want."

"Rude," Michael huffed.

"He has a point, though," Calum agreed. "You get pretty stubborn sometimes."

"We have to take trains," Ashton insisted. "They're faster than cars and buses, so we should get to LA in no time."

The whistle on the train blew twice, and the boys lurched forward as it started to move.

Ashton continued to work on the map, drawing and redrawing the shortest routes for them to take. He wished that they could take a plane, but he didn't want to upset any gods. According to Percy, they were horrible enough even when they were kind, and the last thing he wanted was to get on a god's bad side.

Luke passed out almost instantly, leaning his head against the cool window. Calum glanced at him every couple minutes, anxious that he might suddenly wake up as Castellan. How did Castellan take over Luke's body? Could he do it when Luke was awake, or only when he was asleep? What would happen if they attempted to kill him? Could he be killed? What if Luke was trapped with Castellan inside him forever?

Calum could feel his heart pounding faster and faster with each question, and he took a couple deep breaths to soothe his anxiety. Luke was going to be fine, they were all going to be fine. As soon as this quest was complete, Castellan would leave Luke's body and everything would go back to normal. Yeah, right, the bassist thought sardonically.

Calum looked over at Luke again, and this time he frowned. There was an extremely faint white line that started at his eye and ran down to his jaw. Calum had never seen that before, and he'd known his friend for over five years. He squinted his eyes to get a better look at it, and he realized that it was a scar of some sort.