Daughter of Death - Trip to Hell

VI ⚜️

          Jay and I went on a one-day trip by bus to Texas. On that day, we spent our time either by laughing while Jay was lamenting that he couldn't eat, or telling each other life stories. Jay told me about his parents.
         "So, have you met Hade..."
         "My dad?", he cut me off. "Yeah. Twice. The first time he came to see us when I was five"
         "You're lucky", I told him. "I've never seen my dad before"
         "I know". He clenched his teeth. "I never would have imagined such an important god would have time for his kids.
         "Yet, he didn't really come to check on us. He just came to warn us. I was still young then, so I didn't really understand their conversation". Jay sighed. "At least, he gave me a little fatherly gift"
         "What did he give you?"
         "My sword. He got it forged from Stygian iron. I never got to use it until three years later"
         "Three years...but, y-you were just eight. You've been fighting since you were eight?"
         He turned his face away from mine. "I'm not ready to talk about that". His voice sounded sad.
         "I'm sorry. Go on"
         "My mom loved Hades a lot. She couldn't bear for him to leave, so...", his voice broke.
         "She started drinking and smoking, and it kind of scared me. I was quite little, so I told my mom's brother.
         "He told us to come here, you know, to the US, and got us a house. He advised my mom to go for therapy. They didn't work. The lord of the underworld had messed with her head"
         He wiped his face with his hand. I didn't even realize he was crying.
         I held his hand to make him feel better. "You'll be fine"
         He smiled. He turned to look at the landscape through the window. "Yeah, maybe"
         I felt truly sorry for Jay. Yeah, he had seen his dad more than I had, and yet the meeting seemed to break him. I wished the bus could go faster.
                          🔸️🔸️🔸️
         We got out at the bus station. Of course, Texas was much different from California or New Mexico. It had a lot of farms, and not as much people. It was close to autumn, though, so there wasn't much farming going on.
         We walked around, trying as much as possible to stay in the background. We didn't want to attract too much attention. There weren't much alleys this time, for us to run into. But there was a fair amount of woods.
         We decided to rest near some trees. There was enough space to sleep and keep our things. We started setting down our stuff when we heard a sound. It came from the trees.
         We thought it was another hellhound, so we got prepared. Jay's hand was already on his belt. I didn't see any sword there, though, so I thought it had some camouflaging power.
         A woman, hardly in her twenties, came out. She was wearing a long flowing green gown that blended with the foliage. She had green eyes. I wasn't so sure, since it was getting dark, but she seemed to have greenish-yellow skin. She wore a circlet of leaves on her brown hair.  She looked quite pretty, except she had a scowl on her face.
         "What brings you two here?"
         I wanted to ask her what she was doing in the middle of the woods, but I kept shut.
         "Hiking. We're just hiking", Jay told her.
         Her face squeezed into an angry expression. She was facing Jay.
         "I don't appreciate you 'hiking' next to my trees"
         "Your trees? Who are you, anyway?", I asked.
         "I'm a dryad. And, you guys aren't welcome here"
         "A dryad? As in, a tree spirit"
         "Yes. I'm the spirit of the acacia tree. I'm Acacia"
         I looked at the clump of trees she had appeared from. "Oh, those trees"
         "Yes. Now get lost"
         "Why?", I asked.
         "I don't like your aura"
         "What aura?", I asked in surprise. "Wait, you know we're demigods?"
         "Yeah, so?"
         "So...you should know we aren't evil, or anything"
          "Of course you are! All humans are like that. They claim they're not here to harm the woods, then boom! They cut them down. Many of my sisters have died because of you"
          I did not like her usage of you. I looked at Jay. "We promise, we're not here to destroy anything. We just want to rest here for a while"
          Acacia raised her eyebrows. "For how long?"
          "Just until tomorrow morning", I answered.
          She waited for a while to think. "Fine. You can stay here. But tomorrow, you leave immediately"
          "A deal's a deal"
          She smiled, which I thought didn't look so bad on her face. She went back to one of the acacia trees, and blended into it. I turned to Jay.
          "Why doesn't she like us?", I said softly.
          "First, she can still hear us. There's no point whispering", he told me. "Also, I think she doesn't like me"
          "You? Do you know her?"
          He shook his head. "I'm an underworld kid. Dryads don't like that. They think we're going to use some of our underworld rot to kill everything"
          "Oh. That must really suck"
          "Yeah. It's no fun when you're trying to escape from something and you're being stopped by a bunch of trees"
          I chuckled. Jay smiled at me. Then he suddenly yawned.
          "You should probably go to sleep. I'll keep first watch"
           "No. You go to sleep. I'll keep watch", I offered.
           He yawned again. "Um, you sure?"
           "Yes. Go to sleep"
           "Okay". He laid on the soil. "Okay, I'll just...". He had already fallen asleep. I never knew he was this tired. All our adventures got him really worn out.
           I looked up at the stars.
           "Dad". I never would have prayed to him before, but I just felt like it then. "Whoever you are, just, keep my friend safe for me". I remembered what my mom said about him being fond of me. I found it hard to believe. "Do it for me"
                         🔸️🔸️🔸️
        When we woke up the next morning, we quickly picked up our stuff and left. We didn't need creepy Acacia chasing us out of 'her' woods.
        We looked for the train station.
        We finally reached it. There were a lot of people, but that was normal. It was just that, because of it, Jay's plan wasn't working as well as we thought it would.
         "Jay, this isn't working. Are you sure you don't have any cash left?"
         "No. And you didn't offer anything, either"
         "I told you I didn't have anything. Why did you have to buy those pretzels"
         "Hey, I was hungry. And, you ate out of them too"
         "Ugh..."
         "Still, it was funny to see you stuff it in your face"
         "Oh, shut up!"
         Someone shuffled behind us. "Heidi? Jay? What are you guys doing here?"
         We froze. We had already been caught. But this person surprisingly knew our names, and sounded all too familiar. We turned, and we saw the last person we expected.
         "ENID?!"
         "What a surprise to see you!", she said. "But why behind that?"
         We looked back at our hiding place, which was a big trashcan. "Yeah, right, that". I just smiled, hoping that would explain everything.
         "What are you doing here, Eni?"
         "Oh, I'm visiting my dad"
         Jay arched his eyebrows. "Didn't you go to school?"
         Enid laughed. "Look who's even talking. It's SATURDAY, dummy. How come you guys didn't know?"
         I couldn't believe my ears. Saturday? Did she actually say Saturday? We actually lost track of time. We spent four days going from California to Georgia. That was faster than I could imagine.
         "What happened, Jay? We didn't see you at school. We were afraid something had happened, so we called your mom. But she didn't know where you were either"
         Jay frowned. "Nothing happened to me. I was...with Heidi. I'm guessing my mom was worried?"
         "Yeah...very"
         "Ugh...of course"
         I wanted to ask what mother wouldn't be worried, but the look on his face shut me up.
         "So...what happened, Heidi? I wanted to visit you, but your mom told me you were gone. She refused to tell me where you went."
         I turned to Jay. He hesitated for a while, then he nodded. With that, I explained everything that happened from the beginning.
         When I finished, Enid stared at us in shock and excitement.
          "Whoa. No way! You guys are actual freaking demi-"
          "Shh...", Jay and I cut her off. "Not in public!"
          "Right, sorry", she said. "So, you guys are going to try and get Li back?"
          "Yes"
          "Yes, but we don't have enough money to buy tickets", I told her. "Someone got hungry on the way"
         "Hey..."
         Enid's lips curved into her weird smile that made us know she had a plan. She smiled like that whenever we played basketball, or when she was planning to take revenge on Aliya for bullying us.
         "Don't worry. You've just come across the Queen of Stealth. I'll get you into that train in no time"
         She was right. Soon enough, we were going through doors, passing strangers, and sneaking past officers. Enid was busy distracting everyone. She had already made mental calculations of how everything was going to go. See, I told you she was smart. And downright sneaky, too.
         Soon, we got into the train.
         "Wow. Thank you, O mighty Queen of Stealth"
         "Yeah, thanks a lot, Your Highness", Jay added.
         "No problem"
         "But, you know, that was a bit illegal"
         "A lot illegal", I corrected.
         Enid shrugged. "I don't mind doing anything for a friend"
           The exact thing Lina would say. Lina would not leave her friends, no matter what illegal things she had to do to get them out of trouble. Yeah, she could act playfully stingy at times, but she was never selfish. She always put her friends first.
         "I don't know why I couldn't control myself", I started. "Now she's...she's...". Tears had already started falling down my cheek.
         "Hey", Jay tried to console me. "it's not your fault"
         "Yeah, and besides, Lina will forgive you. She would come to your rescue if something happened to you"
         "Thanks, but-"
         "Hello", someone interrupted. "May I see your tickets"
         "Aaahh!". The three of us screamed in harmony.
         The lady in front of us didn't look so scary, but we were terrified anyway. She had dark hair and was dressed in simple uniform.
         "Do I need to repeat myself? I asked for your slips"
         "Well...um...look, a plane on the sea"
         She was actually dumb enough to look.
         "There is no plane". She turned to us and frowned. "Or sea"
         I gulped.
         "Uh...ma'am?", Enid asked.
         "Oh, don't worry, darling. I know you have yours. It's these two who need to come with me"
          Uh oh....