We had no trouble finding what we were looking for this time around. In a matter of minutes, there it was -sitting on a small black box. We actually found the silver key, at least, we hoped it was the silver key.
"Gods, finally." Travis threw his hands up in the air. "We can get out of this damned place. It's giving me the creeps."
"You can say that again." Connor replied.
We hurried towards the key and Travis reached for it with both his hands. When he opened his palms, the key was gone and we transported back into the black room. Morpheus looked pleased.
"There, we found your key." I spat out.
Morpheus gave us a devious smirk. "Well done. Do you know how many days you've spent searching?"
"Two?" Travis piped up.
"Wrong. You've spent a minute searching." He chuckled.
There was something wrong with this guy.
"Okay," Connor raised an eyebrow. "Now can we get going with the next task or something?"
Morpheus nodded. "Yes. You must visit Eurytion's Ranch in Dallas. Inside your bags are human currency, water, and clothes. Do what you want with those."
I was stunned for a moment. I always heard stories about Morpheus being one of the bad apples, you know, working for Kronos in the Last Battle two summers ago. He was being generous and I didn't know what to feel.
"I'll be sending you on your way now. Farewell, young demigods." He waved his hand and suddenly we were outside the store, in the burning Florida heat.
"That was underwhelming," Connor commented. "I feel like we got in detention and the teacher let us out without punishment or something."
"Where to next?" Travis asked me, completely ignoring Connor.
"Well we have a choice to fly to Dallas or take a road trip there. How much did he give us?" I asked.
"A couple hundred. I don't think it's enough to get three of us to ride a plane. We gotta ride a bus." Connor replied, shaking his head.
"Okay, where's the bus station? Or is there a train, actually? Because that would be much better."
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The train was a little run-down, honestly. I expected a much more comfortable carriage.
"This is eighty dollars?!" Travis complained.
"I know, I expected chairs made out of gold." Connor replied sarcastically.
"I feel like we've been on this quest for forever," I groaned. "And it's only been a day."
"Hey! We spent three days in that stupid maze, remember? Time is just fucked up for us right now." Travis replied.
I sighed, looking out the window as the train started to move. "Cheers to myself for being in here for seventeen hours stuck with two idiots."
We knew it was a risk to ride the train because of monsters. It's not like we could exactly hop out and expect not to die or anything. We went with the train because Chiron had told us to. We had to get to Iris fast. Trains were our only choice.
"Do you think dad's staff is actually gone or is he playing a prank on us?" Travis asked.
"I think the goddess we're going to in Hawaii has his staff, Travis," Bella whispered. She couldn't exactly say Iris's name out loud. "That's why this quest is connected?"
"Right. But...why did she personally ask for us if she stole something? Wouldn't that blow her cover?" He asked.
"Wow, I actually think you just asked a really good question, brother." Connor clapped.
"Fuck off, bro." Connor replied, unimpressed.
"You're right. Hm..." I thought aloud. "I don't know. I guess we'll see."
Around the four hour mark we arrived at our first stop, a town called West Riggsboll. The train driver announced that we either had to leave or stay. We opted for the stay. Another four hours later, it was almost midnight and the train ride gave off a weird feeling to me.
"Connor, I think there's a monster on this train." I shook his sleeping body.
He immediately woke up. "What?"
"I think there's a monster. Or a spirit. I don't know, it just feels weird." I whispered, not wanting to wake up Travis because I wasn't too sure about my hunch.
Why I woke up Connor instead of Travis? I don't know.
"Well, I don't feel anything. How close is it?" Connor asked.
I shrugged my shoulders. "How would I know? I just know that it's either outside or around here somewhere and I don't like it."
Connor looked at me with that look again -where he actually looked like he was concerned for my well-being. I rolled my eyes.
"I'm not crazy, Connor. It just feels like the Cyclopses that tried to kill my dad before. You know..." I trailed off before I realized I was giving away too much information.
Connor's eyes darkened and his eyebrows furrowed. "Cyclopses tried to kill your dad?"
I didn't look him in the eyes. "Yeah...I mean, don't they do that to all demigods? Annabeth told me that, you know, they do."
"No, no they don't, Bella." Connor said in a serious tone. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah." I replied immediately. "Don't worry about me, I'm completely-"
That was when a large boom was heard right beside our trolley. It immediately woke Travis up, and caused him to pull out his knife. "I knew it!" He screamed.
Before I could punch him in the face for being so stupid, the feeling of a Cyclops coming was getting stronger and stronger.
"Time to fight, boys. This time, in the real world." I said, pulling out my bronze dagger.
A/N: So yeah. I have no excuse other than I didn't know where this was going...uh...I didn't think I would get this far into the story. Anyway, I was reading the last chapter and saw that it was from September 2014 whaaat!! And that Hoodie sent me dms! Well last year (September 2015) he tweeted me greeting me a happy birthday :) It's a tradition, no big deal (hehehe OF COURSE IT'S A BIG DEAL). ANYWAY, thanks for sticking around, I'll definitely try to be more active since this is now the true way to procrastinate writing papers!
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Confessions of a Teenage Demigod
قصص الهواة-CURRENTLY RE-WRITING- Bella Grayson and Connor Stoll have never been on friendly terms. Maybe once Bella had a tiny crush on him, but that was it. He was that annoying, pesky, troublemaker who everybody depended on if it was either for stealing som...
