Aymee Parker B2 - The Cursed Mark

Chapter 19 : How to crash a rocket-bike like champs

Aymee fell head first on Alabaster. They rolled on the ground and ended up all tangled and covered in snow. They both let out curses in Greek as they straightened up before freezing as they stared into each other's eyes. Aymee immediately recognized her half-brother's green eyes. His cheeks and nose were red from the cold and he was wearing an old green parka.

"Aymee?"

"Al?"

Aymee looked around. A shiver ran through her when she didn't recognize the place. They weren't behind the Big House. They were on the side of a highway, between a convenience store and a dense forest. Aymee closed her eyes and concentrated to try to feel the presence of the magic barrier which protected the colony, but she felt nothing. She watched her older brother get up and dust off the snow.

"Where are we?" she finally asked.

Alabaster glanced at her, lips pursed and eyes full of questions, as if wondering if she was serious. He must have judged her innocent, because he finally sighed and held out his hand to help her up.

"On Long Island. The colony is about thirty minutes from here by car. We're not far."

"Ah," said Aymee, getting up.

Alabaster stared again.

"And you, where are you coming from? And what's this flute? Some sort of artifact?"

He took the flute from her to examine it closely. Aymee let him do as he pleased, too stressed by coming up with a plausible excuse.

"Hum yes. It's... It was supposed to transport me to camp. The enchantment must have been miscalibrated..."

"I didn't know you mastered this kind of enchantments?"

Indeed, what she said made little sense. Teleportation spells and enchantments were some of the most complicated to perform. One mistake and you could end up in two places at once, all bloody. Aymee could only cast a few easy incantations—and even then, with tremendous difficulty—so there was no way she was the one who enchanted that flute. Even Alabaster, who was without question the best caster of all their siblings, did not risk casting this type of spell. Aymee stammered.

"I... I didn't do it. It was my godfather. He... He received Hecate's blessing, and..."

Aymee didn't finish her sentence, for the simple reason that she had no idea how to. Alabaster watched her stammer for a moment, looking thoughtful. He handed her back the broken flute.

"Huh," he said before walking off.

Aymee hurriedly buried the flute in her back pocket to catch up with her half-brother.

"And you? What are you doing here?"

"I went out for a walk," he summed up with a shrug.

"...Half an hour away by car from camp?" she asked.

Alabaster did not answer. He went deeper into the woods. Aymee stood by the side of the road without moving, uneasy. Well, it wasn't the Forbidden Forest, but still! She cast nervous glances around her, hesitating to follow her brother. In the parking lot of the convenience store, three tall men dressed as skiers and wearing Canadian flag toques were arranging their equipment on the roof of their car. Apart from them, there wasn't a single cat around. The young half-blood was evaluating the chances of a monster falling on them in the woods versus on the road when Alabaster came out of the woods, with a strange red bicycle.

It had big winter tires and a dodgy pipe pointing rearward like an exhaust pipe. Aymee also noticed that, in addition to the bell, there was a big red button in the middle of the handlebars and sort of little mirrors on each side to see what was happening in the back. This strange means of transport looked like a bicycle to which we had seen fit to add a few contraptions of a scooter. Or was it the reverse? Aymee only needed a glance to realize this was the work of a child of Hephaestus.