The Fleece Job (Olympus Drive Chronicles)

Chapter 35: The end?

Ev

"Help Jason I've got this," I say, stopping one soldier from braining Angelica. There are five still standing. Five too many.

"Are you sure?" she asks, wiping blood from her face.

"Go, they'll get him when he comes down," I say, then I turn and start pummeling another.

I'm back in my zone. Not afraid. Not rushed. Just smoothly putting them down. And making them stay there.

"Down---stay---down," I say, spitting out blood. I broke my mouth guard a while ago.

"They stay down------stay down---longer-----longer if ---if-----they're dead," my dad is standing over me, unconcerned, watching as I pummel one of them in the face until he quits moving.

"They don't need to be dead. They need to be out of my way," I say, before turning to defend myself from another.

"You're----you're---y--y---you're a better man-----better man---than---than I am," he chokes out, his face contorting a little with the strain of the words.

"I am not a man," I inform him, wiping blood from my face before fishing the second to last off and getting it away from Angelica. She has the last.

My dad shrugs, then vanishes again.

"Got it---let's go---where's Maddy?" Jason asks, holding the fleece and looking like the tree tried to kill him.

"I gave you a potion to put them to sleep!" Maddy, rather blood splattered, is running towards us.

"Oh," I forgot about that.

"Whoops," Angelica says.

"Ah, that was fun," I say, hugging Angelica around the shoulders impulsively. But she immediately snuggles into it.

"What did dad say?" Angelica asks me, quietly.

"He didn't approve of my fighting methods. Doesn't matter," I say, a little more casually than I feel, "You throw a mean punch. You're gonna have to show me how to use that bow sometime, yeah?"

"Definitely," she says, smiling now.

"Okay cool---let's get out off of this island," Jason says, grinning, as a rather bloody Maddy comes and hugs him.

"Okay, yeah, we should probably run."

We do run, all the way back to the Argo. Everyone else has already made it.

"Get on the ship---that's it—that better be all we're missing. Welcome aboard, until someone collects you you're required to wear one of the shirts," Hugh says as someone tries to take his clip board and he throws a shirt at Maddy who is more than happy to put it on.

"Someday, we're gonna get through a trip without you having to punch your way through a problem," Ari says, clapping me on the back.

"Yeah, you could use the potions given to you. Just an idea," Bronte says, playing with a spider.

"How'd the creepy dude go?" I ask.

"Oh, I didn't feel like distracting him anymore so I did for like one minute while Bronte hexed him. He'll be pissed in a few hours," Zephyr answers.

"Yeah, he knows better than to try us both at once," she says, shrugging.

"All the guards were wearing bullet proof vests which are full of metal," Penny says coming over for a strong hug.

"Ah nice," I say, hugging her securely.

"Yeah, but we let Zag attack one because he was sad," Zephyr says.

"Which is not a reason to attack someone; we'll leave that though," Hugh says.

"Why is that man screaming?" Peter asks, leaning over the rail to look back at the island.

"Oh that's my dad," Maddy says, arms around Jason's waist. She is—covered in blood. She put on the shirt but she still has blood caked through her hair and splattered over her face.

"What is he holding?" Cassian leans to look.

"Somebody's leg," Ari says, putting a hand on his face.

"And somebody's arm," Frankie got binoculars.

We all stare. Yes. A man is standing on shore screaming, holding human body parts.

"Okay, who cut somebody up?" Hugh asks, very tired but not overly surprised, writing it down on his clip board.

"I did," Maddy says.

Hugh, actually choking "Whom? Whom did you cut up?"

"My brother."

She then puts her face happily in Jason's shirt as we all including Jason stare at her in her horror.

"Okay---are we gonna get to know why?"

"I needed to distract my father. I thought it would be funny."

"I thought it was funny, Maddy," Zag says, supportively.

We all continue to stare at her. Well, Penny doesn't; she's looking at the guy on shore through binoculars Frankie gave her.

"Now, my father's distracted and I get to leave," Maddy says, cheerfully.

"Yeah—he—he is. You---you achieved that," Ari says, slowly.

"Okay great---so that we're clear none of you are allowed to cut up any of each other or anybody else for the remainder of the trip," Hugh says, "New rule: no dismemberment."

"Damn," Zag says.

"Okay, I won't have to now, I have Jason, forever," Maddy says, still hugging him.

"Okay," Jason says, nodding.

"That was different," Penny says, still looking.

"Why don't we go down below and I'll get changed and you can make a sandwich?" I suggest, as the others start to drift off, "We'll hit shore in a few hours."

"Sounds good. I'm going home with you right?"

"Yeah I figured, my mom might as well give us a talking to at the same time," I say, squeezing her one more time before letting her go.

"And I'm going home with you. And we're all living happily ever after," Maddy tells Jason.

"Yeah, we definitely are," he says, like he doesn't believe it.

The End