°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ ENDGAME} act iii. . .
. . .true love, that doesn't exist
CHAPTER NINE°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
— 'missing my friend'
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･Rayn°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
I thought I was doing great. Then everyone in the back started screaming.
"Put your seatbelts on!" I smiled back at them.
"This is a van! We don't even have seats back here!" Percy yelled.
I looked in the rear view mirror at a black military helicopter like the one from Westover Hall.
"They know the van," Percy said. "We have to ditch it."
I swerved into the fast lane and heard a thud.
"Is everything okay back there?" I asked.
"No," Percy groaned. "I think I just got a concussion."
"No you didn't," I turned on the radio and hummed along to the song.
"Rayn focus!" Thalia screeched.
"I am very focused!" I slammed onto the accelerator. "How can the General use mortals anyway?"
"Mercenaries." Zoe said bitterly. "Mortals will fight for any cause as long as they are paid. Sometimes mortals can be more horrible than monsters."
The helicopter kept coming, making a lot better time than we were through D.C traffic.
Thalia shut her eyes and prayed hard. "Hey, dad. A lightning bolt would be nice about now. Please?"
The sky stayed gray and snowy. No sign of a helpful thunderstorm.
"There!" Bianca said. "That parking lot!"
"We'll be trapped." Zoe said.
"Trust me," Bianca said.
"Okay, hold on," I shot across two lanes of traffic and into a mall parking lot at the south bank of the river. We left the van and followed Bianca down some steps.
"Subway entrance," Bianca said. "Let's go south. Alexandria."
"Anything," Thalia agreed.
We bought tickets and got through the turnstiles, looking behind us for any signs of pursuit. A few minutes later we were safely onboard a train.
Grover let out a sigh. "Nice job Bianca, thinking of the subway."
Bianca looked very pleased with herself. "Yeah, well. I saw that station when Nico and I came through last summer. I remember being really surprised to see it, because it wasn't here when we used to live in D.C."
Grover frowned. "New? But that station looked really old."
"I guess," Bianca said. "But trust me, when we lived here as little kids, there was no subway."
Thalia sat forward, "wait, no subway at all?"
Bianca nodded.
I didn't see how the subway could be less than twelve years old. I guess everyone was thinking the same thing because they looked pretty confused.
"Bianca," Zoe said. "How long ago..." her voice faltered. The sound of the helicopter was getting louder again."
"We need to change trains," I said. "Next station."
Over the next half hour, all we thought about was getting away safely. We changed trains twice. I had no clue where we were going, but after a while we lost the helicopter.
Unfortunately, when we finally got off the train, we had reached the end of the line. We were in an industrial area with nothing but warehouses and railway tracks. And snow, lots of snow, it was freezing here.
We wandered through the railway yard, but there was just rows and rows of cars.
There was a homeless guy standing at a trash-can fire. We must've looked pretty bad since he grinned and said, "y'all need to get warmed up? Come on over!"
We huddled around his fire. My teeth were chattering. I said, "well this is g-g-g-great."
"No voices are frozen," Grover complained.
"Feet," Percy corrected.
"Maybe we should contact camp," Bianca said. "Chiron—"
"No," Zoe said. "They cannot help us anymore. We must finish this quest ourselves."
I looked at Percy who seemed pretty warm in his new coat. He caught me eyeing up his coat and he smiled at me, "do you want it back?"
"N-n-n-no I'm doing great," I tried to smile back at him but I felt like I was about to turn into a popsicle.
Percy lifted his arm from one side of the coat and let me huddle under it with him.
"You know," the homeless man said. "You're never completely without friends. You kids need a train going west?"
"Yes, sir," Percy said. "You know of any?"
He pointed his hand at a freight train. It was gleaming and free of snow. It was one of those mesh curtains and a triple-deck of cars inside. The side of it said Sun West Line.
"That's... convenient," Thalia said. "Thanks, uh..."
She turned to the homeless guy but he was gone. The trash can was cold and empty, as if he took the flames with him.
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･Percy°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
An hour later we were rumbling west. There was no problem about who would drive now, because we all got our own luxury car.
Zoe and Bianca were crashed out in a Lexus on the top deck. Grover was playing race car behind the wheel of a Lamborghini while Thalia got-wired the radio in it.
Rayn and I shared a black Mercedes SLK. I sat in the drivers spot and Rayn was in shotgun seat.
"Rayn?" I asked her.
"Yeah?" She said groggily, like she was about to fall asleep at any moment.
"Do you think... Annabeth's okay?"
"She has to be, she's smart and I don't think Luke would try to hurt her."
"Yeah," I was going to ask her about the Hunters again but before I could she was asleep.
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･Rayn°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
I thought I was about to finally have a good sleep. I was extremely wrong though. I had the worst dream ever. The dream was me basically reliving my first quest.
The day started off pretty normal.
"Rayn, hurry up!" Chase said excitedly. "It's finally time to go!"
"I'm almost ready, just wait a minute," I called. "Just have to pack a few things."
I rushed outside with my backpack and sword. "Let's go!"
"Don't get ahead of yourself," Chase laughed. "We have to go let Chiron know we're leaving, then, we're off!"
I practically skipped towards the Big House.
"Chiron, Chiron!" I yelled. "We're leaving!"
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
After three days we still hadn't gotten to the automaton that was trying to crush camp.
"My feet hurt," I complained.
"Here," Chase lifted me up onto his back and I got a piggyback for a few hours.
We settled down at a makeshift camp.
"That was tough setting this camp up," I said.
"You didn't even set any of it up," Chase said. "I did."
"Yeah, I know," I laughed.
We both laughed until there was a rumble in the woods. I could see the automaton's face in the trees.
"Is that the.." my voice faltered.
"Automaton..." Chase jumped up and grabbed his spear. "Do you remember your practice?"
I nodded and grabbed my sword.
The fight lasted not as long as I expected. Chase did most of the work with his spear and shield but I managed to distract the automaton a few times.
"Good work partner," Chase gave me a high-five.
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
On the way back to camp, we ended up on a beach.
"You." Ares pointed his sword at us. "You broke my automaton."
"It was going to destroy our camp," I tried to say confidently, but my voice stammered.
"What do you need, father?" Chase asked.
"Somebody has to pay for what you did to my automaton." He smiled evilly and raised his sword.
Chase blocked the first attacked with his shield. "Go, Ray!"
"I'm not leaving you," I cried. I watched Chase and Ares battle it out.
I ran over and swiped at Ares but my sword shattered on impact.
Ares turned and pushed my back ten-feet.
"No!" Chase started to run over to me but Ares stabbed him in the back.
I watched Chase crumple to the floor, and Ares slashed his sword across his neck.
"I'll let you clean this up," Ares grinned at me before disappearing.
"Chase!" I screamed and ran towards him.
He was clutching his neck and coughing up blood. I could see the pain in his eyes until they rolled back into his head.
I cried by his side, feeling so alone. That was the day I figured out my fatal flaw. I stayed by Chase's side until an Iris message appeared.
"Rayn, what—" Chiron stared at Chase's body through the rainbow image. "Let me send somebody to come get you."
I found out that I couldn't function properly if I was alone. Nothing seemed right.
I stared at my shattered sword. I didn't think I'd ever find a sword so perfect again. Until, one showed up to me in a dream and then I found it.
I wasn't talking about swords.
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
When I woke up, my eyes were blurry and I could feel the burning tears streaming down my face. My ears were ringing and everything sounded like it was miles away.
"Rayn!" I heard Percy yell. "Listen to me, please!"
I felt him hold my shoulder but I couldn't stop the tears.
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･Percy°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
After a torturous few minutes, Rayn calmed down a bit.
"What happened?" I asked her.
"It-It was just... a dream," she said in between sobs.
I didn't want to overstep. "Just a dream doesn't make you freak out like that."
"It..it..." she told me everything about her first quest. About the automaton, Chase, and the beach.
"That's where the Ares fight was," I realised. "Rayn, I'm so sorry."
She moved closer to me and I hugged her until the sun rose. I wish we could've stayed like that for eternity.
Sometimes writing depressing stuff makes cute moments
Act 3 has gone by so quick I feel like, there's only around 9 chapters left
TYSM FOR READING<3
©️gracexeo , 2024