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Having been selected for a quest, I make my way up to the big house to hear what it is all about. A folding table has been setup with 5 chairs around it, 2 on each long side and 1 at one of the narrow ends. Chiron stands at the end without a chair, waiting for us to arrive. He nods to me as i enter and I slip into one of the chairs on the side. Nos, as can be expected, takes the chair diagonally from me to be as far away as possible. Chloe jumps in the end seat, which sparks a faint hope that I might end up sitting with Angelia. It is not to be though as the hyper blonde comes in next and takes that seat, chattering non-stop about how excited she is and wondering what she should pack.
When Angelia enters and takes the last seat, Chiron clears his throat and addresses us. "Thank you all for agreeing to take on this challenge. It seems to be an interesting one. Who here knows much about the underworld?" The blonde shouts out, "We are going to the underworld?!?" Chiron makes a calming motion with his hands, which has absolutely no effect on her, "No, no, Ms Evette. But your quest is tied to it in a way. You will all be searching for some lost souls."
Now the dead following the normal rules of the universe are a unsettling thought all by themselves. Learning we are looking for dead things that have somehow gotten outside the natural order of things creates a whole new level of uneasiness in my stomach. I don't have much time to dwell on it though as Chiron continues his speech. "The vast majority of souls do reach Hades just fine, but every once in a while some go missing. Even for the missing, an explanation can usually be found for most. However, there are still a few that just disappear without a trace."
"Lord Hades has recently come to the conclusion that these mystery disappearances are all linked somehow, but he does not have proof yet. As we discussed possible connections, the Oracle delivered the prophecy you heard by the fire. We believe that the five of you are the ones meant to solve this mystery." I look around the table and see Chloe and Angelia mirroring my look of unease about the whole situation. Nos seems rather indifferent to the news and Evette just looks more excited than ever.
"We have one possible lead for you. A town out west where several of these disappearances have happened before. It's not much to go on, but it is the best place to start. We have train tickets for each of you. Go pack what you think you will need. I will have someone take you to town when you are ready." With that he waves us out and we each walk off to gather our stuff.
Luckily, I don't have much to pack. I can't take my armor, so I am pretty much just figuring on some changes of clothes, my sword, and a new dagger I picked up from the armory. However, I am surprised to find a bit of a care package waiting for me when I get back to my cabin, courtesy of some of my sisters. A stylish black leather pack waits on my bed, already stocked with a small bottle of nectar, toothbrush, hair brush, and cologne. My sister, Keri, helps me fold and pack enough clothes for several days and then add my blades in an easy to reach place, in case they are needed. As I get set to head out the door, she gives me a hug and says playfully, "Now go make me proud and come back with at least one of those girls in love with you." I just give her a smile as she gently pushes me out the door and on my way.
On the way back to the big house, I see a dark haired boy leaning against a tree. He steps out into the light of some torches along the path and I see that it is Michael. Not at all what I need right now. He steps into my path though to make sure I can't go around. Fire burning in his expression as he looks at me. "Why did you have to do that? Can't you just leave her alone?" I stand my ground and look right back at him. "I didn't force her. She could have said no if she didn't want to go." He pokes his finger into the front of my chest, "I'm warning you, anything happens to me sister...she so much as sheds one tear because of you and I swear..." He doesn't finish his threat, but we both know what he means. I step around him and continue on my way.
I meet the others back at the big house and we are directed to a group of trucks that are hauling strawberries into town for sale. The drive is fairly uneventful and there is plenty of moonlight and clear skies on the drive into the city. I am not sure if that means we are off to a good start or if we are well and truely doomed. We get dropped off at the train station without any problems, so I hope it is the first case.
Our first challenge comes when we get to the ramp leading down to the boarding platforms. We wait in line with a lot of the other passengers, nothing out of the ordinary as far as we can tell. We go around a corner in the passage and I see Chloe's eyes get wide as she quietly says, "Oh snap....!" I try to look around the large lady in front of us and eventually see what she is looking at. Security screeners. Looks like the trains have upgraded security to levels similar to the airports now. Bag checkers, x-ray machines, the works...and here we are, a handful of teenagers carrying around a small arsenal of weaponry in our packs. I look to see if we can turn around and find another way through, but people are crowding in so tight in the hallway that there is no way we can get out without making a scene and pulling security right onto us.
Chloe whispers, "What we going to do?" I look at the guards, they seem like laid back kinda guys. Big line of people waiting. Maybe they are cool and will let us through without checking if we play it cool. I see an elderly couple reach the checkpoint next and that theory goes right out the window. The old man has a pocket knife, maybe 2 inches long end to end when fully extended. He shows it to the guard to make sure they know he has nothing to hide. And this guy is like 90 years old, you could breathe on him wrong and he would be knocked to the floor. No threat...at all! Yet here comes the brute squad to carry him and his wife off to be searched further like they are some kind of terrorists.
I try to keep my breathing under control as I think about what we can do. Before I can think of anything though we are already at the checkpoint. "Tickets and ID please." Damn! I put all five of our tickets on the counter and start to tug my wallet out of my pocket. Not a good time to be wearing tight jeans. Trying to think of anything, I just say, "Do you really have to see our identification?" The guard gives me an appraising look and says, "Why wouldn't we need to see your identification?" Ok, I panic. I just jokingly say the first thing that comes to mind, "Because we are not the droids you're looking for."
Guard number two bursts out laughing, but guard number one gets a glazed look in his eyes for just a second and whispers, "Yeah...not what we're looking for..." He shakes his head as if he was just about to doze off and snapped back awake. "Hey, Johnie. Let's these kids pass, right? They won't casue no trouble." The other guard stops laughing and looks over at his coworker curiously, "You sure Jack? Rules say we check everyone." "Yeah,yeah. I'll vouch for them." Guard two open the gate to let us through, "Ok, Jack. Whatever you say." "YAY!" shouts Evette before Nos kicks her in the shin and subtly motions for her to be quiet.
We move ahead quickly before the guards have a chance to change their mind. Chloe and Nos both gives me looks that clearly ask WTF? Evette just skips along making random Starwars referrences. "Die rebel scum!" as she poses dramatically and points her fingers at us like a gun. "You don't know the power of....SNOW CONES!" And with that she goes running off towards a snack food stand up ahead. Nos growls and runs after her.
We move ahead to the boarding platform to wait for them. A few moments later they both come out of the crowd holding huge rainbow snow cones. We all just stare at Nos, since she seemed so angry just a moment ago. She just stops and looks back at us. "What? They are good..." Just then, Angelia tugs on my arm and points. "I think we need to go, now!" I look where she is pointng and see several men in dark clothes and sunglasses looking at some papers and then pointing straight back at us. They start to run in our direction.
I look around. Too many people, this is not good. "We can't fight them here. Over there!" I point a doorway that leads to some fo teh service ways used by employees. We sprint to the door and down the hall. After a few turns we find outselves in a storage area for luggage that is waiting to be loaded on the trains. Two of the men catch up to us and we have no choice, but to turn and fight. Evette starts grabbing bags and flinging them at the men while the rest of us pull out our weapons and enter the fight.
Nos and Chloe team up against one and it quickly becomes apparent that these are either seasoned fighters or demi-gods or both. I have all I can handle with the other guy, but I manage to hold my ground as Angelia draws her bow and takes aim with green and yellow fletched arrows. She fires first at the man Chloe and Nos are fighting, hitting him in the upper leg. She then turns and fires at the man in front of me. I don't know how she manages the shot, but it whistles past my ear by less than an inch and buries it in the guy's shoulder. Seeming satified with the two hits, she shoulders her bow and waits to see what happens.
Attacker number 1 is affected first. It looks like his leg just suddenly goes numb and his fighting posture tips severly to one side. Chloe takes advantage of the opening and runs her spear into his other leg. He stands there for just a moment before Nos knocks his knees out form under him and follows up with a few blows to the face until she is satisfied that he is unconscious.
Meanwhile I am in a standoff with attacker 2. I almost lose ground when I am hit suddenly in the back by a squashy duffle bag. "Sorry!" I hear Evette call out. Had it been any harder, it might have changed the fight for the worse, but I shrug it off and continue my parries, looking for an opening. Then, just like attacker one, this guy's arms seems to go limp and his guard drops. Not wanting to kill him, I strike him across the face with the pommel of my sword. I strike him two or three more times before he drops to the floor. He may need some dental work, but he will live.
We quickly clean our weapons and hide the men back behind the piles of luggage. I check my watch. Damn! The train leaves in a couple minutes. We need to get going. Angelia whips up a quickie smoke bomb from her poison pouch and tosses it down one of the adjoining hallways. After a moment we see the other dark clothed men run down that way. Pretty sure that accounts for all of the ones we saw. We run in the other direction. Just as we near the end of the hall though, a maintenance closet door opens and a younger man in similar dark clothes and sunglasses steps out. He has a surprised expression on his face as he sees us. "H-hey!!!" he shouts at us.
"No time! Knock him over!" Nos does exactly that as she does a picture perfect hockey style body check to the guy's chest. He slams into the door frame and falls to the floor. We all run past him and towards the boarding ramp for our train. I turn my head and see the guy get up and start to run after us. Just a few more feet... We pile into the door of a passenger car right as the doors are closing. We find an open cabin with 6 seats and drop into them to catch our breath. I look out the window to see the young man in black run up and beat his fist on the glass. As the train starts to pull out of the station, he shouts"Get off! You MUST get off the train!" But there is no way I am getting off now and he is left well behind us.
As the train leaves the lights of the station, there is nothing to see but the black of night out the window, so I close the curtains just in case anyone else may be looking for us along the way. I stow my pack overhead and settle into one of the window seats. The others settle in as well. The seats are not the best, but somehow we all start to drift off to sleep.
I wake a few hours later, leaning against the outer wall of the train cabin. No sun comes through the window, but a look at my watch shows it is early morning. I try to shift, but feel something holding me. I turn to look and see Angelia leaning on my shoulder with her arms wrapped arounf mine. I don't know if she is used to hugging a teddy bear, or just wants to stay warm, or if it is something more. Whatever the reason, it feels good. My slight movement starts to wake her up and she opens her eyes. I whisper, "Morning..." and smile at her. She smiles back and squeezes my arm tighter. She suddenly gasps and sits straight up, fully awake, and drops my arm. Her face is blushing as red as I have ever seen. It's really cute.
Not wanting her to feel embarrassed though, I try to change the subject. Looking down at the golden sun hanging from a black cord around her neck, I say,"Uh...nice necklace you have there. I don't think I saw you with it before." She puts her hand over it and starts to calm down a bit."This? My brother gave it to me before we left. For good luck..." I smile,"And to ward off boys too, I'll bet." She laughs and smiles at me.
I then get hit with a flying pillow. "Would you two knock it off? It's too early for that..." Nos grumbles into the cushion she didn't throw. Evette starts to stir and then sits bolt upright. "Waffles! Who wants waffles? I'm going to look for some!" She then runs out the door singing a song about waffles. A few seconds later, she comes running back in. "Hey!Hey! Hey!!!! Come look in the hall there is some kind of costume party going on!!!"