(Re) Zo̱ntanoús Nekroús: Chapter Two

Trive Fides:
I was blessed to be blind. As my mother's "prophet", I had a wider access to my locked away powers.

And as a person, judging by the sounds of the undeads smashing against the hood of the car, I probably would have thrown up if I'd seen it.

I'd been traveling with Allison and Nate during the skirmish. We weren't much of fighters, at least Allison and I weren't, so we were left scavenging while the recent horde converged around our friends. We probably wouldn't have been able to save them had I not felt the thudding of footsteps through my cane.

We happened upon a Jeep and with a swift smash of my cane the glass of the trunk broke open. Allison climbed inside, being a smaller girl, and turned the ignition up front. The rest of us followed inside.

I could hear the creak of Carter's arm and everyone's voices clearly now as they opened the doors, filing inside, going wherever the hunt would take us.

Allison moved to the back seat with me, while Tristan moved to the passenger side. Nate maintained his position at the steering wheel. Next came Eleanor, who climbed into the open air of the trunk, and Carter followed suit. They had an unspoken relationship, and when they were asleep I could sometimes hear Charlotte talking about them almost enviously.

The way she sounded, it was like she was in love with someone too.

And maybe I was a little jealous. Not that I liked her, but she was....?

I leaned back in my chair once I heard her slide graciously in the car and slam the door.

It was almost like the skirmish had never happened. I heard Charlotte's hair graze the leather seat as she turned and spoke to Allison, getting her up to speed. Ahead of me, Tristan and Nate trying to remove the "remains" - which I did not even want to imagine - from the windshield so they could see the area and search for survivors.

The most interesting conversation was behind me with Eleanor and Carter.

"You didn't need to do that." Eleanor huffed. "I could have moved out of the Jeep's way."

"If you were actually paying attention." Carter retorted, adjusting the sleeve of his coat over his arm. "But you weren't. You're welcome."

"Well excuse me if I have to be focusing on not BLOWING UP in the middle of a mission!" Her accent slipped and I could feel everyone in the car get very, very uncomfortable. Eleanor hated her accent, and when she didn't cover it up, she meant business.

Nate cleared his throat from the driver's seat. "And we appreciate that, Els."

"Stay calm, please." Tristan sighed from the front, and I heard the sound of his fingers kneading the bridge of his nose. As a leader, Tristan was the best we could ask for, but he was still a bit.....overworked as of late.

"Sorry." Eleanor replied. "I just.....hate this whole 'emotional' thing. None of my siblings had it, so why me?" I heard Carter shift around as though he was going to say something, but he didn't.

Instead I turned around, bracing my hands against the head of my seat.

"I can fix it." I said plainly, and the sound of her hair fanning around her shoulders told me she was alert to my voice.

"Really? How?"

"I'm Stygian, remember?" I smiled against the wind blowing on my face. "I've got a few thermoses of oath water in my bag. Theoretically, you could all bathe in it and become unstoppable. Like me."

"Wait, wait, back up. When did you bathe in the river?" Eleanor sounded confused, and I noticed everyone else had quieted down, listening.

"My mother is Styx. I didn't bathe in the river, the river is in my blood." I nodded. "I was born invulnerable to sickness and pain, and only a few people know where my cursed spot is."

"Where is it, then?" Tristan added from the front seat. "It could be valuable to know in case you're being attacked."

"....The back of my left calf. My shin is sensitive too, but not lethal."

"Okay, but how does it work? The bathing, I mean?" Eleanor cut in once again, and I noticed she'd scooted a little closer to the back of my seat. I could feel stray whisps of her chair against my face.

"We go into a dark room, and I pour the water over you. If my mother, the river, deems you worthy then you are blessed with immortality."

"And if it doesn't see me as worthy?"

"Your soul is lost in the river and your body will either met under the strain of the oath, or you will become undead."

Everyone in the Jeep was silent. It wasn't just an offer to Eleanor, it was for everyone. Complete invulnerability - well, almost complete - in exchange for the possibility of having your mortal soul ripped from your body.

"Percy Jackson did it. I live with it. It isn't so bad."

"Yeah, well look where Percy Jackson is now." Carter muttered from the back. "A husk, not a hero. We aren't doing it."

"''We?" ''Eleanor asked incredulously. "I think I can handle myself, Carter."

"It's not worth it. I'm....too weak." Allison whispered, and the sound of her shoes against the upholstery told me she was sitting with her knees at her chest.

"Not yet. Maybe....if it's an emergency?" Charlotte's answer was a bit more practical.

"Right. We can't go wasting this gift. We have to agree to only use the water in dire situations. Understand?"

There seemed to be a collective understanding, and I heard Eleanor shift back into her seat next to Carter. I retrieved a thermos from my bag quickly and held it just in front of Allison, the exact center of the car.

"Make the oath." I said plainly. "Swear you'll only use it in an emergency."

Everyone began pledging. Tristan began the pattern with as much authority as he could muster.

"I, Tristan Daniels, son of Zeus, vow to Styx that this water shall only be used when absolutely necessary."

In truth, Tristan could have just said 'We won't use this water unless we have to', but everyone seemed bent on a full pledge. I was fine with it, after all, because when this war was over mother would get to hear the kind of oaths she liked - long, heroic, cheesy.

Nathan came next, followed by Charlotte and Allison, then Carter, and finally Eleanor, whose voice was breaking with doubt. Finally, it came to me.

''"I, Trive Fides, her Prophet and last son of Styx, grant this oath under my protection." ''I placed my hand on the cap of the thermos and felt the water swell within.

The oath was official now. Whoever broke it would be placed under exile, possibly death.

"Hey, guys, look." I felt all heads shift one direction to Nate's voice.

"What are we looking at?" Charlotte asked.

"The paper." I heard Nate's door open and his shoes against the pavement as he hurried to gods-know-where to collect whatever paper he was talking about.

He slid back into the car a few minutes later and I heard the rustle of papers in his hands. "They were lodged into the wall by an arrow."

"Like mine?" Eleanor asked, referring to her crossbow.

"No, it was a lot more ornate. It had an almost pure white tip and it was shining, I'm surprised you guys didn't see it."

"That sounds like something a Hunter might......have..." Allison's voice died out next to me and she shrunk back into the seating further.

"Read the note." Tristan commanded, and Nathan read as calmly as he could.

"Hunter, Room 354, Hotel Luna Clareau

Right across street

I'm the only one inside

Avenge my sisters

- V. Lecter"

Tristan turned to his side of the car and out his window, where I imagined a smaller hotel, and a lost hunter of Artemis trapped in her room, starving.

"Come on, let's find her." Tristan's door opened and everyone was following.

"What if she's dead?" I asked, gripping my cane and feeling toward the ground.

"We avenge her."