As soon as the feeling came, it disappeared. Instead, it was replaced with the warm rush of water, very different from the Fluvius. Hallez barely managed to keep herself from letting go of her breath from the change. Then, some kind of force seemed to wrap around Hallez, and then spit her out. The warm water disappeared from around her, and for a split second, she was floating in zero-G again—until she landed and rolled onto part sandy, part rocky shore.

    The rocks were extremely uncomfortable to roll on. Especially with the large, awkward, weirdly shaped shield.

    Grimacing, she stood, shaking as much sand and rocks out of her hair, and her clothes, as possible.

    Fiona stood beside her, so did Travis and Lavi. Lavi's black hair looked more like dirty blond as she shook her head, and sand poured out. They were on a small strip of rocky shore. The lake itself was small all things considering, and they could see to the other side. Behind them and curving out into the lake, a small steep 7-ish meter stone cliff blocked them in.

    "Alright!" Fiona shook her right wrist, and her wristband glowed red. She tapped and swiped on the sleek surface a few times, and the glow turned to gold.

    "So, one use of these wristbands is that it can detect non-mortal presence," Fiona explained, and then a hologram appeared above the wristband. A small blue 3D map of Livermore. Beside an oddly shaped lake, on the shore, were four blinking green dots. "That's us. And that"—she tapped on the wristband and a small part of the city turned a faint gold color—"is a non-mortal presence. Different colors have different indications, and gold means godlike, or divine."

    "So that might be Mania," Lavi said.

    "Didn't Pauline say the trail went cold weeks ago?" Hallez asked.

    Fiona nodded. "She did, but usually the immortal essence lingers around for a bit. The color is faded, which means it's not exactly new. However, it's worth checking out."

    "We might be able to find a new trail that leads us closer to where she is now," Travis agreed.

    At the same time, Fiona was zooming in on the section with two fingers on the wristband. "Well...it looks like we're close to it at least. Just across another lake. But it's also an airport..."

    An airport? Hallez tried to remember her vision. The woman had been "piloting" a small plane above Livermore. Was it above the airport? She couldn't remember looking directly down, but the fact that the vision had been in a plane and that they were going to the Livermore airport couldn't be a simple coincidence.

    "Well, an airport it is then," Lavi said cheerfully. She put her fists to her hips and looked up at the cliff. Then she unslung her bow, and uncapped her quiver, taking out a thick, grey-shafted, heavy arrow. "I got this part covered."

    Before Hallez could ask, Lavi shot the arrow straight up, and it embedded its arrowhead firmly into the top of the cliff. Two thin ropes fell down to their level. As Hallez watched, the ropes seemed to grow metal rungs, which clicked together to form a ladder. It was oddly satisfying.

    "Easy transportation." Lavi slinger her bow over her shoulder again, and started to climb. Despite the thin, seemingly frail ladder, it held easily as Lavi climbed to the top, and beckoned to the rest of the contubernium.

    Hallez went next, slightly nervous, but she made it to the top without problem. So did Fiona and Travis. Once they were all at the top, Lavi pulled the arrow out (somehow) and the ladder retracted. She placed it back in her quiver, and capped it again.

    They set off in the direction of the airport, according to Fiona's hologram map. It wasn't a long walk, but it was hot, and the sun beat down at them mercilessly. Hallez was used to this type of environment. Her contubernium, however, was not. Three minutes in, they were slowing down, and Hallez only noticed when she looked back after noticing that she couldn't hear their footsteps or their breaths beside her. She saw the three of them trudging along a few feet behind. Fiona fanned herself with her hand, and Travis used his spear as a walking stick. Lavi was in front of them, less affected, but she had tied her short black hair in a short ponytail.

    Hallez stopped to wait for them to catch up.

    "How are you not affected...?" Fiona asked, astonished, as she caught up. Hallez started walking again, but at a slower pace.

    She shrugged. "The heat doesn't bother me. I had to get used to it eventually, while looking for Mesoamerican city ruins."

    Lavi looked confused. "Wait, why were you looking for city ruins?"

    Hallez blinked. "Did...I not tell you I'm an archaeologist?"

    The daughter of Apollo shook her head. "No. You're an archaeologist? How cool is that?"

    "It's rather hot, but I suppose so."

    She grinned. "I need to hear everything now! What do you do as an archaeologist? How do you find stuff? What stuff have you found? What is it like to find lost pieces of history, and be the first person to see or touch it in thousands of years?"

    Hallez did her best to answer Lavi's questions. Her achievements were great considering her age, so talking about the stuff she had found over the years wasn't difficult. She skipped the question about how she felt about it.

    Her parents were archaeologists first. Ever since Hallez was small, her parents would bring her with them on trips across the globe, to various different dig sites, and meet various different people. It had been a highlight of her early life. Or perhaps her entire life. In those days, she wasn't worried about anything. She smiled more, spoke more, and was generally more carefree and cheerful. Of course, there were incidents. People left her parent's team. Other archaeologists rejected them (some in a very harsh manner) for one reason or another.

    No one ever told her what the reasons were, but she figured it out. It had been mostly because of her. No one wanted a young, immature kid walking around while all the adults were busy. When she noticed, she started caring. She started being less enthusiastic, as to not appear childish.

    That was long before she met Cade, long before she had anyone else but her parents.

    They took a few turns on the way to the airport, and crossed a few dirt roads. After running across a large field of green and yellow grass, they encountered a road. Cars roared as they zipped past, most definitely passing the speed limit, and probably a safety hazard for humans and demigods.

    "This should be simple," Fiona claimed. "We'll go across together." She walked forward slightly, looking left and right as cars raced past. Suddenly, the last car zipped by, and the road was utterly silent for a few moments. "Now!"

    No one needed to be told twice. Taking off at a sprint, they raced across the road. By all means, it was no highway. It was quite narrow, actually, so Hallez thought there was no need to be so dramatic. But as she stepped onto the grass on the other side, a stab of pain shot through her, and she stumbled into Travis.

    "Hallez! Are you okay?"

    She heard his voice, but she didn't process it exactly. In would others would call the back of their eyes, she saw a flash of something bright red and orange, the ground rushing up to meet her, the sickening feeling of free-falling, a searing pain all along her arms, and then a body of a somewhat familiar woman lying next to her, clearly dead—

    "Hallez! Can you hear me?" That was Travis' voice again. It was like resurfacing after taking a brief dive, and everything was back to normal.

    She was standing safely on the other side of the road, her hands on her knees. Barely a second had passed, and Hallez almost thought she had imagined it. But she hadn't. The flash, or, whatever it was, had definitely been real.

    Hal was starting to change her opinion on visions.

    Looking up at Travis and the others, she nodded. "I'm fine..."

    Fiona was the closest to her, and she breathed a sigh of relief. "Phew, good... But what was that?!"

    She didn't know. She didn't want to talk about it either. So she just stood up straight, shrugged, and continued towards the airport. "I don't know. But let's just keep going."

    Maybe they sensed something about her reluctance to elaborate, maybe they also felt, like her, that time was a-wasting. Either way, no one protested against her suggestion.

†††

Within a good amount of time, they had managed to cross some of the plane runways, and gotten to the...parking lot of the planes.

    That term doesn't sound right, but she had no other ways to describe it. Was there even another word for it?

    As Travis and Lavi walked around, holding their wristbands up as they tried to get some kind of lead, Fiona tried to teach her some basics of it. Hal only managed to absorb the part on how to travel to various locations using the wristband with the Fluvius' magic, before disaster struck.

    It was a clear day, with a 100% chance of falling snakes.

    Hallez's head snapped up first, alerted by a faint hissing sound, and she saw about a dozen dark shapes, seemingly slithering down from the sky. She had no idea what they were, but when she saw other dark shapes with wings appearing, and flying down beside the snakes, she decided it was better safe than sorry.

    Hal grabbed Fiona's wrist, calling to the others as she pulled Fiona towards the building on the other side of the parking lot. "Watch out!"

    They looked at her, confused, but then they followed her gaze, and promptly followed.

    Lavi yelped before doing so. "What are those?!"

    "Who cares, just run!" Travis shouted back.

    Hallez pulled Fiona under the wing of an airplane as the snakes descended upon them. They thudded into the ground, and Hallez was half-hoping they would die from such a fall, but then one of them looked straight at Hallez, and let out a loud hiss. A plume of fire escaped its mouth. It was a snake, the length of her arm, with beady red eyes, dark green scales, and semicircular white and gold crest on top of its head, almost like a crown.

    "They're basilisks!" Fiona yelped. "Don't let them touch you! Their scales burn through organic materials!"

    "A weird way to phrase it!" Travis shouted back, though there was no reason to shout. They heard a snake thud on the wing of the plane, and flinched.

    "We need to get in the building." Hallez's voice was calm, but inside, she was panicking. "Let's make a run for it. Split up. Get under the nearest cover as soon as you can. Alright? Go!"

    Without question, they ran in separate directions, dodging basilisks, and also the new winged creature. At first glance, Hallez thought it looked like a normal owl. But why were so many of them coming out of the sky in broad daylight? Then she realized they were not, in fact, normal owls. They were bigger than any owl she had ever seen, and their feathers were obsidian black that seemed to suck in all the light. Their eyes and claws glinted red.

    One dive-bombed her, and she blocked with the Ancile copy strapped to her left arm, and willed it to let out a shockwave. It did, and knocked the owl away, but three more replaced it.

    One of the three let out an ear-splitting screech, and dived towards her on her unprotected side. Luckily, she was already at the building, but, unluckily, the door was locked. Of course it was locked—there was no one there.

    Maybe it was the panicking that did it, but a familiar feeling came over her. She turned invisible again—like she had the day before—and felt the owl-thing screech in confusion, then alarm, as it smashed into the door, going through where Hallez's body was supposed to be. She backed away, phasing straight through the door, and turned visible again, inside the building.

    Hallez let out a loud exhale. Her hands were shaking. This was her second time doing it, but for some reason, it scared her more.

    Maybe it had something to do with the visions from earlier...

    She shook the thought away. Focus. Unlocking the door, she opened it.

    "FIONA! TRAVIS! LAVI! HERE!"

    Her shouting caught their attention, and they dashed towards the door. The owl on the floor was starting to get up but Travis flung it aside with his spear shaft as he came by, and slipped in. Hal slammed the door closed the moment Fiona and Lavi were in.

    "Strixes!" Lavi panted out. "Evil...owl-like birds of ill omen...you'll be cursed if you kill any."

    "They also eat human flesh and drink blood," Fiona agreed. "And hang upside down. Very batlike."

    Travis jumped as a beep came from his wristband. He held it up, and a hologram appeared, a 3D blueprint of the airport. It was still gold, but about two dozen red dots were moving around just outside the building in the hologram, most near the door that they had just entered through.

    "I think we're surrounded," Fiona said.

    Right on cue, a strix slammed into the window left of the door, then flapped its wings, its claws scraping against the glass as it slid down it, screeching. In the window right of the door, a plume of fire came from below, presumably breathed out by a basilisk.

    But Travis wasn't looking at the strix, unlike the girls. Hallez looked back at the hologram when he said, "Well...at least we have a lead."

    Hallez looked at the hologram intensely. "Wait what?"

    Travis did a few swipes on his wristband, and the hologram zoomed in on a spot in the air. It was tinted gold—a brighter, sharper gold than the rest—and the image sharpened as Travis zoomed in, turning into a four-seat airplane, flying in the air. The sharp gold was coming from it.

    "That's a solid lead right there," Travis said. "The only problem is that it's in the air, and we're trapped by the basilisks and strixes. We can't go through that door without getting mauled."

    "Ugh." Fiona seemed to share the same frustration as her brother.

    Meanwhile, Hallez stared at the holographic plane. Her earlier vision from the Ancile copy that was on her arm right that second...it had been in a plane just like that one, flying above Livermore. This couldn't be a coincidence.

    At the same time (as if fate had demanded it or something) Hallez had a horrible idea. A (mostly) foolproof, yet stupid, idea.

    "You can't go through that door," Hallez said, quietly. "I can."

    Lavi frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

    She realized that no one had actually seen her while she was in that state, or whatever it was.

    There's no other way.

    The voice again. She decidedly did not question it, but she couldn't help but agree. There was no other way.

    "Don't open the door," she said firmly, then promptly went into the state of her own will, which was a first.

    She heard Fiona shout with alarm, as she phased through the door, after dropping the Ancile inside the building, and flew through the mob of strixes and basilisks, and soared upwards. She couldn't see well in this state, therefore didn't know exactly where she was going, but she felt something above. A new shape, with more radiant, stronger energy than the others, and she moved towards it. She felt the energy of the basilisks and strixes seemingly following her. Apparently, they only wanted Hallez. She willed herself to move faster.

    To her surprise, she did, and before she knew it, she was inside the blurry mass of sounds and colors, the energy right next to her to her left.

    She willed herself out of the state, and her vision returned to normal. She felt herself sitting in the copilot's seat of a small four-seat airplane, flying in the airspace above Livermore.

    Hallez looked to her left, and there she was, the woman from her vision. The same angular face, and short blond hair. Except this time, she was wearing headphones.

    It felt like deja vu when the woman turned, and her blue eyes stared straight into Hallez's soul, and spoke clearly over the noise of the plane.

    "Hello, daughter of Letum. We meet again."

---

...I have the next chapter pre-written, and I'm almost scared to publish it.
I'll publish it when I write chapter twenty
-Lunya