Equilibrium

Chapter 14: Luka's POV

I guess, deep down, Jackie really did have a heart. Somewhere in there she cared. I decided to listen to Percy and be a nice person, which she seemed to appreciate. It definitely didn't seem like her at all. Jackie was still leaning up against me, fast asleep, and I was highkey confused as to why she would want to be there, in my arms at all. I mean she hated my guts and I hated hers, so I have no clue what's going on here. Whatever it was I decided to be nice. I even held her hand which was kinda ew but it's whatever. Oh Gods, now I sound like a kindergartener afraid of getting the cooties, which who knows, I might. Jackie may have numerous diseases which she could have already passed onto me. Ok, I'm overthinking this, oops.

Jackie shifted a bit letting out a tiny grunt. Cute.

NOPE, I DID NOT JUST THINK THAT. I'm sleep deprived, that's what it is and I need to sleep, but of course I can't do that unless Jackie decides to wake up and think about someone other than herself for once. Now I'm annoyed. I shook her by the shoulder trying to wake her up, but she wouldn't budge.

Great, how fun. I moved around a bit trying to get some reaction but I didn't get any.

All of a sudden, I heard a swoosh coming from my right. I turned my head and saw a strange, scary looking... bird? It looked almost like a machine but probably wasn't. The bird thing had really sharp feathers that looked like they were made out of metal and a beak made out of bronze.

Suddenly it swooped towards us and squawked aggressively. I swear to all the motherfucking gods if this is a monster and if Jackie decides to not wake the fuck up, I am going to throw her off of Harper and into the mouth of a very large, about to erupt, volcano.

I shook her as hard as I could, no time to be 'nice' right now, and hALLELUJAH she woke up.

"Wha-," she sounded flustered and confused.

"JACKIE, LOOK!" I was not about to die at the hands of a bird. Not today at least. Her head shot to the right and faster than my reflexes would have been, she whipped out a shiny bronze shotgun and shot the bird twice, once on it's left wing and the other on its head. It spiraled towards the ground in a flurry of silvery feathers before exploding into a cloud of greenish-yellow dust as it hit the ground. Jackie grinned and tucked away her weapon into its holster on her hip. How had I not noticed that this bitch was carrying around a shotgun?

"What the hell was that?" I asked, angry and sleep deprived. She huffed, blowing her hair out her face. Why can't she just bRuSh iT?

"A Stymphalian bird dumbass, do your research."

I pinched her. I don't know what compelled me too, maybe the fact that she's always mean, but I just did. It probably didn't hurt, but it was satisfying.

She glared at me, "how old are you, two? Why'd you do that?" I sniffled because I was fed up with not knowing what the hell was going on.

"Jackie, can you stop being a warthog and tell me what's going on? I have no clue what we're going to freaking Ohio for, and to be honest I would really like to know who Mr. D is and what his relic is."

She sighed, "did you just call me a warthog?"

"Yes."

It was her turn to pinch me.

"Mr. D is Dionysus, duh, and his relic is like this wine glass thing, I'm not sure, I don't have a lot of specifics on the relics and what they're purposes are, but I have a general list of what they are and where to find them. I'll show you the list after we find this relic or soon or something, ok?"

I nodded my head, glad that she finally decided to cooperate with me.

Harper suddenly started swooping downwards and we broke through the clouds, seeing the town down below us.

Jackie squirmed in her seat and proceeded to be sarcastic, per usual, "Well, it looks like we're here! Don't fall off Harper now, that would be tragic," I rolled my eyes.

She pointed to a building directly below us, "I think that's the place we have to go." I'm not sure how she knew that, but I didn't question it for once. As we continued descending, I wondered how things were going to play out. Would this be an easy situation, where we quickly find the relic and leave? Or would there be a ton of monsters similar to the Stymphalian bird. I hoped with all my heart it was option number one, I was really not ready for anymore monster encounters, I mean, I didn't even know how to fight, much less stay alive.

Harper landed on the soft grass in front of a winery. Jackie grinned, "this is it!"

A winery. Sounds great. Well, here goes nothing.