3079 words

Once again, I didn't have pleasant dreams. But they weren't my own this time. Instead, I found myself in Raiden's dream. Which, of course, was a nightmare. Thanks a bunch, Morpheus.

In the dream, Raiden was kneeling before a man with black curly hair and an unnerving, long pointy beard, and golden eyes. I stood behind her.

"You failed," He thundered.

He towered over Raiden, looking like the statues I saw of him in Greece.

His voice sounded unspeakably cold, powerful and old, like knives scrapping against stone.

"Father," Raiden said, her voice shaking. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it this time!" Kronos thundered. "You've failed over and over again. You told me the girl would die in the museum! I'll give you one last chance. If you don't kill them, you will regret it. You're already a disgrace to me. DO. NOT. FAIL."

"I-I won't," Raiden stuttered.

The dream dissolved, and I found myself in a forest at twilight.

Two people stood there, talking.

The woman was beautiful in a scary way, tall with a well-built body, auburn hair tied back in a ponytail, striking silver eyes, wore a white shirt, silvery camo pants, a silvery jacket, and black combat boots.

The man was handsome, had blue eyes, a muscular body, shoulder-length blonde hair tied back in a man-bun, and was wearing a golden t-shirt bearing the legend: Mister Music, ripped black jean shorts, and red Nike shoes

"Apollo," The woman said. "This prophecy. You're sure it's about twins?"

"Yes, Arty," Apollo said. "I'm sure."

Artemis rolled her eyes. "Don't call me that, Polly. Are my children the ones?"

"I'm fairly sure," Apollo said.

"Great," Artemis said, sarcastically. "Another Great Prophecy. And this time, it's about my children."

The dream dissolved, and I fell into darkness.

I awoke on another train, with Aidan sleeping soundly next to me, and Agro laying on my feet.

I'm so sorry, Agro said. I failed you. My job is to protect you, and I didn't. You almost died on my watch.

"Agro," I said, stroking her head. "You didn't fail. And I didn't die, did I? I'm still here."

Well, I suppose so, Agro said.

I heard soft arguing nearby and looked up. Zoë and Dad were going back and forth.

"Orion, it's a terrible idea!" Zoë said heatedly. "You know what they'll do with Greeks!"

"My parents are in charge there, Zoë," Dad said just as heatedly. "We'll be fine!"

"Fine," Zoë said, sitting down. "But if we get killed, I'll make sure your afterlife is far from peaceful!"

Dad grinned widely. "Okay, I'm warned."

"Dad," I said, standing up.

He jumped and looked around. "Kid! Great, you're awake!"

"Can I talked to you?" I asked. "Alone?"

He frowned. "Sure."

He gestured for me to follow him to one of the other cars of the train. We had to jump over the couplet connecting the two train cars; I went first, Snow came next, and then Dad came after her. Dad opened the door for us, and we slipped inside the other car.

"What's up, kid?" He asked, gesturing for me to sit next to him.

I told him, in a whisper, about the dream I'd had.

"So," I finished. "Raiden is working for Kronos. We need to tell Chiron."

"I don't think so," Dad said. "It sounds like she's trying to kill you. But you haven't died yet. All her attempts seemed to have failed."

"That doesn't mean she isn't working for Kronos," I said angrily. "Why has she been trying to kill me, then?!"

"Kid," Dad said. "I understand you're upset."

I opened my mouth to speak, angry, but Dad cut me off. "Zoë, Snow, and I will keep an eye on Raiden. But don't talk about it. If she is working for Kronos, then we don't want to raise the alarm."

Yes, Snow said. We will. Don't worry. If she tries something, we'll know.

"Ok," I said.

"Ainsley," Dad said, suddenly very serious. "You must not tell Aidan about this."

"Why?" I asked, surprised. "He deserves to know! Do you not trust him?"

"Of course I trust him," Dad said. "It's just...he's been off lately. I don't want to worry him anymore. So please, don't tell him."

"What aren't you telling me?" I asked.

"A lot of things, kid," He said. "There are things I can't tell you, not yet. You're not ready. You'll know someday. I'm trying to protect you."

And with that, Dad walked away, Snow walking behind him. I stood there for a moment before I followed him back to the other train car, Agro and Zoë behind me.

"What was that about?" Aidan asked, once I had sat down next to him again.

"Nothing," I said.

"Nothing?" Aidan said, raising his eyebrows.

"Nothing," I repeated.

He looked hurt. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Aidan," I said. "It's not important. But I still can't tell you, okay?"

"Okay," He said, still looking hurt.

Aidan slumped against his seat, with his back to me and shut his eyes. I leaned back and shut my eyes too. I felt guilty. Aidan and I told everything to each other. Everything. I even told him when I tripped on an acorn (Long story. Let's just say some squirrels weren't very happy with me).

I got lost in my thoughts.

What did Dad mean 'he's been off? What does Dad know about Aidan that he's not telling me? Why isn't he telling me? And what's all this about a prophecy? What is Artemis talking about?

"HA!"

I was jerked from my thoughts as a yell tore through the air. Zoë stood over Dad, smirking.

"I win!" Zoë yelled , slamming the cards she was holding onto the pile.

"Dam!" Dad said.

"What are y'all playing?" I asked, standing up and walking over to where they were sitting, Agro right behind me.

"Go Fish," Dad said. "And Zoë's been cheating!"

"I have not!" Zoë said, offended, but she was smiling. "You're just jealous my streak of winning 657 games in a row goes unbroken!"

"656, actually," Dad said.

"Whatever," Zoë said, rolling her eyes. "The point is, I'm better than you!"

"You won't win this next one, though!" Dad said, shuffling the cards. "Rematch!"

"That's what he says everytime," Zoë whispered to me and I snickered.

The next few hours passed without much happening, unless you counted Aidan falling off his seat while he was sleeping and causing milk to squirt out of Raiden's nose, as she roared with laughter.

We arrived at Montgomery Station near the Oakland Bay Bridge. Dad rented a car and we all clambered into it. I climbed in first, followed by Agro, then came Raiden, then Aidan and Pher. Agro sat on my feet, while Pher sat at Aidan's. Zoë climbed into the front passenger seat, and Dad drove. Snow sat in Zoë's lap, as if she had at in Dad's lap, we probably would've crashed.

"Where are we going?" Raiden asked, as we merged onto the highway.

She was tense and looked very agitated. She clutching her knees very hard, and her knuckles were white.

"You good, Raiden?" Aidan asked, looking concerned.

"I'm fine," Raiden snapped.

Aidan recoiled, looking hurt.

"Sorry," Raiden said. "I'm just stressed."

"About what?" Aidan asked.

"My father," Raiden said.

"Kronos?" I asked.

Raiden's face went white. "Don't say his name! Are you crazy?!"

"Don't talk to Ainsley that way!" Aidan said angrily.

"Aidan," I said soothingly. "It's okay."

"No, it's not okay!" Aidan yelled, leaning forward to look at me. "She shouldn't call you crazy!"

"I wasn't!" Raiden yelled back.

"Yes, you were!" Aidan yelled even more loudly.

"Enough!"

We jumped as Dad's voice cut through the air like a whip.

"I'm trying to drive," Dad said sternly. "No more arguing."

We all sat silence after this, Raiden and Aidan glaring at each other. At this point, I was getting the prickling on my neck, which usually happened when someone was watching me. I twisted around in my seat and looked out the back window. There was nothing there.

"Does anyone else-" I began, but before I could finish my sentence something shiny came whizzing through the roof and embedded itself in my left leg, and I yelled with pain. Blood started to pour from my leg.

"What?!" Dad yelled, jerking the steering wheel hard to the right.

He looked back and saw my leg, and he stared at whatever thing was in it. Dad's face went white.

"Oh no," Dad said.

"What?" Zoë asked.

Dad jerked his head back at me.

Zoë glanced at the shiny thing and said, "Schist."

"What?" Aidan said.

"Can someone please explain what's going on or help me?!" I bellowed, blood still pouring down my leg. "I'm in pain!"

"Snow," Dad said calmly, letting go of the steering wheel. "Take the wheel."

"What?!" Raiden yelped. "We can't have a wolf drive!"

Dad ignored Raiden and grabbed his backpack. Snow climbed over the armrest and took the wheel in her mouth.

"Here," Dad said, opening his backpack.

He tossed me a shirt and a length of rope.

"Take the feather out, put the shirt over the wound, and tie the rope around your leg," Dad said, as though this would solve all my problems.

"This isn't going to stop the bleeding!" I said angrily.

My combat boots, and the car's floor were stained with blood.

"Kid, I'm sorry," Dad said, closing and handing his backpack to Zoë and taking the wheel again (Snow went back into her lap). "I can't do anything til we get there. They'll be able to heal you."

"Who?" I asked, grasping the shiny thing and preparing to pull it out.

I took a deep breathe and pulled the shiny thing out. The scream of pain that came out of my mouth was louder than a rocket launching. As soon as the feather was out, blood came pouring out faster.

"Quick!" Dad said urgently, glancing back at us.

Raiden, who had been holding the shirt, quickly put it over my leg. The bleeding immediately stopped, but the shirt, which was white, began to turn red.

Welp, I thought. Dad's gonna be able to wear this for Halloween. He can be a murdered victim!

Raiden pulled the rope around my leg and tied it tight.

I winced. "Ow, Raiden! Don't tie it so tight!"

"Actually," Dad said, twisting around in his seat to look at me. "That'll help stop the blood."

Raiden grinned sheepishly. "I took a first aid class from the Apollo kids."

Dad smiled at her. "Goo-"

But before he could finish, the windshield cracked as a barrage of the same golden feathers hit it. Dad swerved to the right, crashed through the steel barrier thingy, and we went flying.

Yep. Really fun.

"Brace yourselves!" Dad yelled.

CRASH!

We slammed into the ground, cracked windshield first, and everyone went flying.

Dad and Snow went flying through the left front passenger window, while Zoë flew through the right one. Me, Agro, Raiden, Aidan, and Pher flew through the back windshield.

Agro and Pher turned into their carthorse forms and landed on the ground and cushion me and Aidan fall with their fur.

Raiden, however, was not cushioned and hit the ground with full force. She was knocked unconscious, and I heard something snap.

"Get up!" Zoë yelled, running toward us and skidding to a stop in front of us. We have to go, now!"

"Why?!" Aidan yelled back, jumping to his feet.

"That's why!" Zoë yelled, pointing at the sky.

A group of what appeared to be giant pigeons were circling over head. They were glittering strangely.

Then, I realized.

"Stymphalian Birds!" I yelled.

As if they could hear me, the birds suddenly dived at us. A barrage of their feathers fell on us, cutting me, Aidan, Zoë, Pher and Agro.

"Run!" Aidan bellowed.

"What about Raiden?!" I yelled. "We can't leave her!"

Leave it to me!

Pher grabbed Raiden but the wrist with his mouth and tossed her onto his back.

"Let's go!" I yelled.

Together, we sprinted away from the birds

"Where's Dad?!" Aidan yelled.

"Orion is up there!" Zoë yelled back, pointing up at the sky.

I stopped and looked up at the sky. A huge dragon with a white wolf on its back was torching the birds. Snow kept leaping off of the dragon's back, grabbing the birds in her mouth and tearing them in half.

"What are you doing, Ainsley?!" Aidan bellowed, grabbing my arm as he ran past. "We need to run!"

"Oh, right!"

We continued running, feathers still raining down on us, until Aidan yelled out in pain.

"What's wrong?!" I yelled skidding to stop beside him.

"My leg!" Aidan said through gritted teeth, clearly in a lot of pain. "Something hit me!"

I looked at his leg. There were black spikes embedded deep in his right leg. I touched one of them, trying to pull it out, and he howled in pain.

"Can you stand?" I asked him urgently, trying to ignore the barrage of feathers still hitting us.

He tried, but fell.

Here!

Pher came running over. I'll carry you!

"What about Raiden?" I yelled.

"I'll carry her," Zoë said, sprinting over and lugging Raiden's unconscious form onto her back.

Then, she saw the spikes in Aidan's leg. She swore in Ancient Greek.

"What?!" Aidan and I asked together.

Manticore! Agro barked. We need to go, now!

Too late. The manticore had caught up to us. It had the black tail of a scorpion with deadly spikes sticking out of it, a body of a lion, and the face of a man.

"It's ugly!" Aidan yelled.

The manticore roared in fury and lunged at Aidan. Pher dodged it and snarled at the manticore.

"Take Aidan to the tunnel, Pher!" Dad yelled, coming down from the sky with Snow.

Right! Pher barked.

He ran away at the speed of a bullet, Aidan clinging onto his back.

"Ainsley!" Dad yelled. "Flank it!"

"Right!" I yelled back.

I unslung my bow and quiver of arrows from my back and notched an arrow. While the manticore was distracted with Dad, who was taunting it by throwing fireballs at it, Snow, who had grabbed it by the tail and Zoë, who was shooting arrows into its legs, I let my arrow fly. It landed in the manticore's back.

The manticore stopped trying to attack Dad and Zoë and Snow and turned and charged me instead.

"No!" Dad yelled. "Over here, ugly!"

The manticore ignored him. I started sprinting in the direction Pher had run, Agro at my, shooting arrows over my shoulder at the manticore. It caught up with us eventually. The manticore tried to tackle me, but Agro grabbed it around the neck with her mouth. They rolled around, claws and fangs ripping at each other.

"Nobody hurts my wolf!" I yelled, grabbing my daggers and charging it.

The manticore turned and stopped fighting with Agro to charge me instead.

No! Agro barked, seizing it by the tail, even though she was cut in several places and bleeding profusely.

I did something then both very brave and very stupid. I leapt onto the manticore's back and plunged my daggers into it with all my strength. The manticore roared and tried to throw me off and shot several spikes into skin, but I held on, forcing the daggers deep into its flesh. Between me, forcing my daggers into its flesh, and Agro ripping its tail off, we managed to turn it into dust.

"Agro!" I yelled, falling to my knees beside her even though I was in pain. "Are you okay?!"

I'm alright, Agro panted, licking the cuts from the manticore's claws on her body. Just a little winded.

"Good," I said.

I placed my hand on her head and scratched her behind the ears. Her back leg thumped on the ground, enjoying the attention.

I began to chant in Ancient Greek and golden light glowed from my hands. Agro's cuts faded, and she stood up.

Thanks, She barked. Let's get back to your father. He'll be worried.

Right on cue, Dad, Zoë, and Snow came sprinting toward us, weapons drawn. Snow was carrying Raiden's limp form.

"Kid!" Dad said, catching sight of the spikes sticking out of my leg.

He pulled them all out and healed me up.

"C'mon," Dad said.

He transformed into a huge giant eagle and squawked, C'mon, let's go find your brother! Grab Agro and hold on tight to her. Zoë, grab Snow please and hold on tight.

I grabbed Agro around the middle, and Zoë did the same with Snow. Dad picked me and Zoë up by the back very gently, and we took off.

We flew over forests and when we started to descend, I heard growling and shouting. I looked down and saw two people wearing golden armor and shoes with heavy metal cleats. They wielded short swords and were stabbing and advancing on Pher, who was standing guard over Aidan. He was sitting in a corner, panting hard, and cradling his injured leg.

I was furious. Don't try this at home kids, but after prying myself free of Dad's claws, I jumped. Agro and I plummeted to the ground.

Ainsley! Dad screeched. What the Hades are you doing?!

"Get away from my brother!" I yelled, landing on the ground and causing it rumble and roar.

Agro landed beside me.

The two armored people looked up, stunned. Apparently, it wasn't normal for people to drop out of the sky and causing an earthquake.

"Get away from him!" I thundered, charging them and drawing my daggers.

I ran at them so fast that they didn't have time to react. I swung my daggers and sliced their spears in half.

"Back up!" I yelled, swinging my daggers with my eyes flashing.

They backed up, terrified.

I heard a chuckle from behind me. I whipped around.

A young man was leaning on his sword, which seemed to made of lightning and was smiling at me. He had curly blonde hair, sky-blue eyes, tanned skin, and muscular arms. He was wearing the same golden armor as the two terrified people, a purple cape, an eagle metal, and black Nike shoes. The man also had a golden bow and quiver of arrows strapped across his back.

"Grandpa?!" I asked incredulously.

He winked at me. "Wassup, Lee?"