a Queen of Butterflies

Chapter 09: I accidentally hit him with that spear

"What did he say?" Matt demands right after I enter the living room area. I'd checked the library and when it turned out empty I figured I should probably go here.

"Matt?" Ada calls. 

"Yes, Ada", he answers.

"Stop harassing people", Ada's curls appear in front of me and she grabs my hand, "Give her a chance to come inside. But like, I'm also curious. What did he say?"

Matt huffs whilst mumbling something that probably isn't very polite.

"He said he knows who my divine ancestor is and that he wants to train with-"

"He wants to train you?!", Lucas jumps - what is wrong with this guy, seriously- down the staircase and is closely followed by Peter who is, wisely, using the stairs the way they were intended to, "That's insane, you're lucky."

"To be honest", I admit, "He kind of creeps me out. Also what exactly does he look like?"

Both Lucas and Peter look confused, "Huh?!" Lucas says.

"-and he doesn't like it when you do that", I add.

"I get that", Peter continues, "'Huh' is an absolutely useless response but what do you mean by 'what does he look like?' Do you not have eyes?"

That hurts.

"No but I'm a descendant of Hecate and I can like, see his magic or something. I don't really get it either. I'm pretty sure he'll explain it later or something, maybe he doesn't even know what's happening. I wouldn't be surprised."

Matt chuckles, "Well for as far as I can tell he's around two meters tall with a short, dark brown beard, dark brown hair, I think dark blue eyes-"

"What do you mean 'think'", Peter interrupts.

"I don't know", Matt defends himself, "It's not like I went on a date with the king of the Underworld or something. How am I supposed to have thoroughly examined his eyes, bookworm."

Peter rolls his eyes and all of the sudden he looks a lot like Thanatos, "Never-mind, did he say something else?"

"Yeah, I was supposed to say he expects you at the lake for combat practice-"

"Why didn't you start with that", Matt yells, "Come on Cupid, stop grumbling get ready, you too bookworm."

"I don't like this nickname", Peter grumbles as he's dragged upstairs, "Too bad!", Ada shouts after them, "Come on No, you need to get ready too."

"Where are the others?" I ask Ada, "I haven't seen them yet."

"No that's normal", Ada clarifies, "Alex, daughter of Hephaestos, can like bend fire so she's out to train with Phlegeton and Giulia is out riding one of the horses I think."

I'm a little embarrassed, "So who exactly are these Hephaestos and Phlegeton people, because I'm not that big of a champion with names."

Ada raises an eyebrow, "You're kidding right?"

"Nope."

She sighs, "Great, well erm..." She scratches her head, "Hephaestos is blacksmith of the gods and Phlegeton is the river of fire and also a god. So they can train together really well but, can you please hurry. I want to get there before Cal arrives."

"Yeah about Cal, where is he?" 

We run through our corridor and Ada pulls me into her room, "I think I have a spare set of armor and some weapons somewhere", she mumbles, "Cal is out for some extra flight training because he accidentally slapped Thanatos right in the face with those wings of his."

The thought of Cal clumsily slapping someone makes me laugh.

"Laugh later", Ada demands, "We need to hurry up. Put this on"

"How?" I look at the leather armor in my hands. 

"Just pull it over your head", Ada is swiftly fastening the straps of her armor, like she has done it before. On second thought, she did do it before so she should know how it works by now. She sighs, "I'll just do it for you."

She quickly tugs the armor over my head, adjusts the shoulder straps and tightens the strings on the back. She runs through her room -which is awfully messy by the way- and tosses me a sword. Whilst she is strapping on her own sword she instructs, "Put a bun or something in your hair. It doesn't matter which type just make sure it's tight and as low as humanly possible."

"Okay", Ada is putting her hair up with a pencil, "Why don't you just use a hair tie?" I ask.

"Because I can't ever get them out of my hair again. On top of that, have you ever tried to stab someone with a hair tie?"

She continues rummaging through her room and throws me a helmet and a shield. As we walk outside she also passes me a spear, "Aren't you going to use a spear Ada?"

"No", she answers, "Thanatos strongly advised me to stop using them."

"Why?"

"Because I came pretty close to hitting him with the spear instead of the dummy."

"Ow."

"Yeah, I'm a little clumsy for a spear. Anyways hurry up!"

Ada and I race through the palace, "What is it like, this combat training?" I ask

"It's fun, but it's always different. Hades will make an illusion and it's always created to test a specific skill used in combat. One time we had to fight demon ducks, that was a strange experience."

"Won't I be able to see through it?"

"I don't think so. I mean you might be able to see that it ìs an illusion but I don't think an untrained demigod would be able to beat his magic. If you can, I'll eat the very spear you're holding right there."

I look at the spear, "No thank you. Anything else I need to know?"

"No. Actually, maybe yes. I think little Ross might be there, but he isn't dangerous or anything. Barking dogs don't bite you know."

"What do you mean by that?" I'm starting to get a bit worried. It feels as if Ada is leaving a lot of details out of this Ross-person's description.

"Oh don't worry", she says, "you'll see it for yourself soon enough."

"Sure..." I say skeptically.

To be honest I'm glad I practiced running because we are sprinting through the palace and through the little crater surrounding it, "You take this winning thing very seriously don't you Ada?"

"Duh", she rolls her eyes dramatically, but also fails dramatically.

"I wouldn't roll your eyes anymore", I say, "I'm never going to be able to delete that from my memory ever again."

She pouts, "Oops, I guess. Either way, yes I need to beat Cal at something just once. Just to prove that it's possible."

"What do you mean 'just to prove that it's possible'?"

"He's a son of Nike-"

"Like the brand", I laugh. Ada's look makes me shut up immediately, "yes, like the brand. Nike is goddess of victory beating Cal at something is near impossible."

We arrive at what I presume is the lake and I need to gasp, just like everything in the Underworld it was stunning, a crystal-clear mass of water surrounded by all sorts of  plants with next to it a beautiful meadow that we're standing on right now.

"Oh for fuck's sake", Ada muttered underneath her breath. I follow her gaze and spot both Thanatos and Cal who managed to arrive before us. I look farther to the right and see Hades and right next to him what I suppose is 'little' Ross.

This can not be happening right now.