Together We Stand

fifteen

"We're going to have to take another bus," Layla said as she inspected a paper, before placing it down on the wooden table we were sat around in a park. "No taxi's take us all the way to the coast, plus, it would cost more and we have very little money left. I think we have enough for twelve more four-hour bus tickets, but that's it."

"Another bus?" Aidan asked, looking less-than-thrilled with the idea. Luka looked just the same.

"You wanna walk?" Layla asked, sass in her voice. "It would take us four times as long to get there if we walked."

"It would probably take us the whole day to get to the coast by bus. Do we have enough for that?" Luka said, quirking an eyebrow. Layla glared at his smug look and sighed.

"Trains," I said.

"What?"

"We could go by train. It'll get us there faster."

"Do we have enough money for six train tickets?" Levi asked and Layla sighed.

"No. But we have enough for three," she mumbled.

"Three people can go," Luka said as if it was obvious.

"Or we can contact Chiron and see if someone can bring us more money," Layla replied in a more sarcastic tone.

"And wait longer?" Luka asked, raising an eyebrow again.

"She's only weak in camp! Right now, nothing's happening to her. It'll be fine if we wait another-"

"Guys!" I yelled. "Stop fighting, please!" They stopped and I sighed, ignoring a feeling of light-headedness. "You guys are giving me a headache."

"Well if Luka would be smarter-"

"Maybe you should be a bit more considerate of Elle!" he cut her off with a burst of anger, his amber eyes so bright with the feeling that they looked like fire. "The curse doesn't just effect her inside of camp - she gets worse and worse as she gets away from it! Haven't you noticed?!"

Everyone stopped and turned to look at me.

"Her eyes changing, the fact that she can't stay conscious for very long...they're all symptoms," Luka said, his voice quieter and his eyes not as angry. "She's dying."

"How do you know?" Layla asked, her voice every bit as angry as Luka's was just a moment ago. "You cursed her, didn't you?!"

"You really think I'd curse one of the only things I care about?!"

Everyone seemed to stop breathing as he stood up and walked away, seething from Layla's words.

"Maybe blaming him wasn't the best idea," Jase offered and Aidan gave him a stern look. "Sorry."

"I'm dying?" I asked, and Layla shook her head.

"You're not-"

"How do you know? Why are you so patient with this?! You seem to want to take your sweet precious time on this quest," I replied, standing up, ignoring a wave of dizziness.

"No, Elle, I'm taking the rational approach-"

"Rational?!" I seethed, before Aidan stood up and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Listen, you guys, we're all a little skeptical of each other, but we were put together for a reason. So we need to trust each other. Which means no more annoying cat fights, alright?" he said, looking at Layla. "You and Luka fight more than Zeus and Poseidon and that's saying something."

"I'm going to call Chiron to ask if he can send someone to bring us money."

"While you're doing that, three people should head to Glyka Nera," Aidan suggested. "It'll get things done faster and more efficiently."

"Is anyone going to mention the fact that Luka's out of sight?" I murmured and everyone looked around for him.

"Dammit," Aidan muttered. "You guys just can't stop fighting for one minute so we can get things figured out."

"He seemed to suspiciously know a lot about Elle's curse," Levi mentioned, taking Layla's side.

"Okay, let's not think about it now," I said, cutting anyone off before they could find another reason to fight. "Let's just find Luka and find the next train."

"I'm fine," Luka said, popping up out of nowhere like he normally does. I jumped and turned around to face him.

"Good. Who's going on the train? I should go."

"I'll go," Luka offered.

"No, I'll go," Layla glared at him.

"Still don't trust me?"

"I have my doubts."

"I'm taking Aidan and Luka," I said, cutting off yet another blooming argument.

"Fine," Layla said stiffly. "Here's money to take a cab to the station. And here's the money for the train tickets." She turned to Luka. "If anything happens to her while you're on this trip, I swear to Zeus that I'll take my sword and shove it up your-"

"We'll Iris message you when we get to Glyka Nera. Be safe," I said and pushed Luka away from Layla. Well, I attempted to push him away. He was quite heavy. "Guys, let's go."

Aidan started walking over towards me, before Jase grabbed his wrist.

"Be safe. Please," Jase begged and Aidan smiled.

"I will. I promise."

Then we headed for the street to find a cab.

---

"I've never been on a train," Aidan said.

"Me neither," I mumbled.

We stared at the tracks as we waiting for our train to pull into the station.

"Five more minutes," Aidan murmured, staring at the clock that was suspended above us. I turned to Luka.

"What Layla said-"

"I didn't curse you," he replied simply, crossing his arms.

"I know," I said, smiling softly at him. "Layla's just a little bit overprotective."

"A bit?"

"Okay, maybe a lot, but I know you didn't curse me. You don't have a reason to."

"A lot of people do a lot of things for no reason," he murmured. I opened my mouth to say something, but the train pulled up into the station. We boarded quickly and quietly as we chose a spot to sit. There were small booths with tables sitting in between each of them. We chose one in the back and sat down, Luka and I on one side, and Aidan on the other.

"This is going to be a long trip," Aidan said quietly as he stared out of the window. The train pulled out of the station.

"A few hours, at most," Luka said. I stared out of the window at all of the passing people and buildings. Aidan and Luka made small talk about gods know what, while I stared out of the scratched up window. It didn't take long before my eyes began to droop and my head slumped against the window. The last thing I saw before I fell asleep was Luka's worried face as he watched me fall asleep.