Project cosmos: The Golden Ring

We Meet Travis's Greatest Enemies

It's been a week since we started looking for Travis. DJ joined our party as well, but he seems like he's hiding things from us. We are currently making our way to New York. Mark said that he had sensed something coming from that area.
"Mark, what did you see, exactly?" I asked.
"A group of people. Four girls and one boy who reminded me a lot of Travis," Mark explained. "Those four girls really stood out to me,"
"How?" Sandy asked. This was the first time I can recall her ever caring about one of us.
"I can't really explain it. You wouldn't understand,"
"Are you calling me stupid?" Sandy scoffed.
"N...no,"
"Good,"
"What about the boy? Did anything stand out about him?" I asked.
"Like I said, he just reminded me of Travis, so there's a chance it is him. And it's a chance we need to take," Mark explained.
Sandy had brought up the idea of driving multiple times at this point. I just think that she's too lazy to walk from eastern Maine all the way to New York. But, we all declined. Being demigods, most of us suffered from motion sickness. Sandy thought I was the only one with that problem, but it was clear she was wrong. Siv had told us that even though Sandy was technically a demigod herself, she's never had a problem with motion sickness. I wonder why...
Anyway, by this time we had just gotten to New York. Mark said that group of people we were looking for were nearby, maybe a days walk until we reached the place they were staying.
"I really hope Travis is there. It's been so long since he went missing..." Latona sighed.
"Don't get your hopes up. The boy I sensed, was greatly injured," Mark explained.
"Wait, what? Why didn't you say that?!" Latona yelled.
It's been too long since I heard Latona yell like that.
"Latona, calm down," I said, putting my hand on my friend's shoulder.
"How can I calm  down? Travis is not only missing, but now he might be hurt! I can't calm down!" she cried.
"Don't worry. Like I said, we've postponed our quest until we can find Travis. We won't go on without him," I explained.
None of us talked until we stopped for the night. Even then, the only words I was able to hear was Latona muttering to herself. Just seeing her like this made me worry for her mental health. Even Sandy looked worried.


THE NEXT DAY...
"Guys, we need to start moving again. That group of kids left," Mark sighed.
"Can you see where they are now?" I asked.
"Luckily, they've moving closer to us since they left. It should only take us maybe another day to catch up with them," Mark explained.
"What about the boy?" Latona perked her head up.
"He seems to be doing fine,"
"Good,"
We quickly packed up our temporary camp and started walking again. But this time, there was more conversation, making it a bit easier to keep going. Regardless of the amount of sleep we got at night, we were all always tired, well, that's not including DJ.
For the entire week we'd been walking, not once did DJ look tired. In fact, the kid barely slept at night! I know I haven't known him long, but I can tell that something's not right about him. He just doesn't sit right in my head...
"So, uh... DJ... Why don't you tell us more about yourself?" I managed to say.
"Ya, we've been together for a whole week and the only thing I know about you is your name and your dad," Mark joked.
"Um..." That was the only thing to come out of DJ's mouth.
"You okay?" I asked. DJ looked nervous. He was obviously sweating, and he was avoiding eye contact with all of us.
"Y... ya..."
"You sure?"
No response.
"Just say something, kid. You're getting on my nerves," Sandy scowled.
Still no response.
"DJ, trust me, you don't want to make Sandy mad," Mark whispered.
"Shut up, air head,"
Mark's head shot up.
"Sorry!"
"Nice nickname," I said under my breath.
"What was that?" Sandy shot me a death glare.
"Geez, it was just a compliment!" I threw my hands into the air.
"Get your attitude out of my face!"
"You sound like my dad,"
Sandy didn't respond. She just stood there, staring at me, like she could kill me with her death glare.
We kept on walking, but once again, no one said anything. That is, until we saw posters hanging on just about everything around us.
The poster read:
Missing: Isabelle Lunete
Last seen: Grey Stone Academy
Atoka, Oklahoma
April 6, 2018
"Isabelle, I think you're missing," Latona said, ripping a poster off of a store wall.
"Oh no..." I sighed. There's only one person who would have done this. My dad. He's so overprotective that it scares me sometimes.
"It was you dad, wasn't it?" Latona asked. Since Latona and I have been friends since as long as I can remember, she knew my dad pretty well.
"Of course it was. I don't know anyone else who would have done something like this!" I ripped down a handful of posters as well. "We're just lucky he didn't put a bounty on me. Then we'd be screwed,"
"Why do you always cause us problems?" Sandy sighed.
I attempted to give her my own death glare, but she was completely immune to it.
"Guys, hate to ruin your moment, but those kids are in my line of vision right now, and I think they've seen us..." Mark said.
I turned around, and sure enough, there was a group of four girls and a boy.
"Travis?" Latona asked.
"I think so..." Mark said.
Latona's face lit up.
"Travis? Is that you?" she yelled to the group across the street.
The boy looked up. As soon as I got a good look at his face, I realized who it was. It really was Travis!
Travis tried to stand up, but on of the girls pushed him back into a sitting position. Then the same girl pointed directly to Travis and whispered to the other girls. One of them picked up Travis by the arm and threw him across the street. And by that, I don't mean she just pushed him away. She actually threw him like she was pitching a baseball. He landed directly onto Sandy, who proceed to slap him across the face.
Then the girls walked over to us, and grabbed onto Mark's arm.
"What's going on here? Put me down!" he yelled.
"Now why would we do that? We've been looking for you, Mark Hippolyte," they said in perfect unison.
"This is creeping me out," Mark sighed.
"Your father has been looking for you," one of them said.
"Wait, what? My step-dad? Or... my real dad?"
"What do you think?"
Mark tried to get away, but failed.
"Which one do you think would send the four Wind Spirits after you?"
"Wind spirits?" Mark looked confused.
"Of course," her voice sounded flat and emotionless.
"All four of you?"
"I did just say that,"
Then I realized how hard the wind spirit was squeezing Mark's arm.
"Let go of him, or else" I scowled.
"Why should I ?" the wind spirit glanced in my direction.
I pulled Shiru from my belt and pointed it in her direction.
"Meet my favorite sword, Shirubaburedo. I call it Shiru,"
"Should I be scared?" she squinted, as if she was looking for a threat.
"Ya! That thing is more powerful that you'd think," Latona steps back, pulling Travis and Sandy with her.
The wind spirit pulls Mark closer to her.
"You messed with the wrong demigod," I scowled. Shiru's blade began to glow a radiant silver.
"First, you kidnapped Travis. Then you took it a step farther and hurt him. That alone is enough to make me mad. But, no. You had to make it worse! You grabbed onto Mark. And now, I'm not just mad. You pushed me too far. Now, YOU'RE DEAD," I yelled.
The world around me and the wind spirits began to fade into black, including my friends. We were all alone.
I swung Shiru right through the wind spirits. Their forms began to shake.
"You just made some new enemies, girl," they said in perfect unison again.
"So have you. Be ready for our next encounter. Be prepared to fight," I smiled.
Then they faded away. Before I could even blink, I was back in New York. The wind spirits were gone. And my friends were by my side.
"Thank you," Travis said. He was sitting against the wall of a building, being healed by Latona, who had just healed Mark's wrist.
"Took you long enough," Sandy complained.
"Shut up, Sandy. I need to concentrate," Latona shot Sandy her own death glare. Sandy's eyes widened. For a daughter of the life goddess, Latona gave quite terrifying death glares.
I sat down next to Mark while Latona was busy at work. He looked very worried. Those wind spirits seemed to have pulled at something in his head.