Ariel Sagitta - a Percy Jackson fanfic

Chapter 22

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Chapter 22
    
    “Laelaps.” Katie grumbled.
    They had trekked a good 30 minutes away from the attack. After Austin had retrieved his arrows, the monsters had disintegrated into gold dust. Katie, with a spew of Greek words, had rerooted the tree in its proper place.
    And Ariel had stood there, staring at the ground in horror and shame. She had been so close to death. It was one thing to live in the streets, where death was a looming possibility. It was completely different, facing it head on and accepting it.
    If it hadn't been for her friends, she would've die. She should've died. She was supposed to be the leader, and what had she accomplished? Apollo was trapped, and they were no closer to Chicago.
    “Gesundheit.” Austin said.
    Katie scowled. “That's what those dogs are called. Laelaps was a dog that always caught his pray. My guess is that those dogs were his offspring, so they almost always catch their prey.”
    Austin frowned. "Where did you learn that?"
    “Oh yeah—I forgot you only came to Camp Half-Blood last year. In… normal conditions, we have history classes and Ancient Greek lessons. But last year, with the whole Titan War and everything…” She trailed off, looking wistful.
    “Right.” Austin frowned. “So we were lucky.”
    Ariel stared at him. They were lucky? Four monsters had already tried to attack them in the past hour!
    “Like we said, we haven't lived the easy life.” Katie said in reply to Ariel's expression. “Demigods are constantly being attacked.”
    “Which brings me back to my question.” Austin spun around and faced Ariel. “How the heck did you know they were coming?”
    Ariel blushed. “I—I don’t know.” she admitted. “I just had this feeling that something was after us.”
    Austin and Katie continued to stare at her. She really couldn’t explain the feeling, or why she trusted it completely.
    “So you didn’t hear or see it coming.” Katie clarified.
    Ariel shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. My vision’s as good as Austin’s.”
    “Speaking of hearing things,” Austin turned to Katie, “What do you mean, the trees were speaking to you?”
    Katie glared at him. “It’s a Demeter thing. They weren’t speaking to me, like how I’m talking to you right now. But the forest is my domain.” She gestured to the surrounding trees. “The Children of Demeter are kind of like satyrs—we sense the plants around us. Nature can recognize danger before humans can, and I picked up on that. I usually don’t pay attention because plants think they’re always in danger. But they were frantic, and I figured it wasn’t a coincidence, getting two warnings.”
    Austin frowned. “So… you’re saying plants have feelings?”
    Katie made a face. “Depends on how you think about it. Dryads have feelings, and they’re essentially tree nymphs. And remember Thalia, when she became a tree? It’s hard to claim that plants don’t have feelings. They’re just not as acute as animals or humans.”
    Ariel only understood one thing from Katie’s explanation. “Thalia was a tree?”
    She thought they were joking, but Katie nodded gravely. “It happened eight years, when she, Annabeth, and… well, she and a few friends were trying to get into Camp Half-Blood, but they had a ton of monsters on their tail. Thalia sacrificed her life for her friends, and Zeus turned her into a tree to save her. It guarded the border—until she was freed by the Golden Fleece.”
    Ariel frowned. “So do the gods always save their children?”
    Austin and Katie shared a grim look.
    “They don’t want us to get killed,” Katie said, her voice lowering, “but they don’t fight our battles for us. Thalia was a special case. She was the daughter of Zeus, the only child of the Big Three at the time. But that got dicey when she got turned into a tree.”
    “I’ve known this for a year, and I still don’t get it.” Austin complained.
    Ariel rubbed her head. The supernatural talk was beyond her comprehension. But her heart felt heavy at the thought of Artemis. Was that why she abandoned her? Did Artemis want Ariel to fight her own fight? She almost felt sick.
    “We can talk about that later.” Katie said. “We don’t have much time, and now we have an even bigger problem than the Echidna—”
    “Freeing Artemis and Apollo.” Austin said bitterly.
    There was a wetness forming in Ariel’s eyes. She blinked it back, astonished. Why was she crying?
    A memory popped up in her mind. She was at a food court, stealing leftover food form tables. A few tables away, there were a father and son, playing with a toy car. She remembered her heart bursting with jealousy—not because of the car, but how they laughed and ate together, oblivious to the rest of the problems in the world. She had watched as the father lightly kissed the son’s forehead.
    No one had ever given her a kiss.
    Was this the relationship between all fathers and sons? Maybe not the kiss—she couldn’t imagine Austin accepting a kiss from Apollo—but the tight bond.
    Ariel glanced at Austin. Apollo’s capture must’ve been harder on him than he let on.
    “We’ll find them.” Ariel said, trying to sound encouraging. “We'll get them out of the prison.”
    This seemed to help. Austin looked up at Ariel, a small smile on his lips. “Thanks. I hope we do.”
    “Unless we get transportation, that’s not going to happen.” Katie said, bringing them back to reality. “I don’t even want to know how far we are from Chicago.”
    “618.23 miles.” Ariel answered immediately.
    Austin and Katie stared at her.
    “I don’t know how I know!” Ariel said hastily. “I just do.”
    “I’ve been thinking.” Katie replied, gazing at Ariel. “Maybe these are the skills of a child of Artemis.”
    “What, being a human GPS?” Austin asked.
    Katie rolled her eyes. “Artemis is the goddess of the hunt. You’d need an excellent sense of geography, which Ariel has. She knows where we are, how far away we are from our destination, and how to get there.” Katie turned to Ariel. “I’m guessing you know which direction Chicago is?”
    Ariel blinked. Until then, she hadn’t realized that she’d been unconsciously facing northeast for that particular reason. “It’s that way,” she said, pointing straight ahead.
    “That also explains how you sensed the three monsters.” Katie continued. “Nothing can sneak up on you without you knowing?”
    “Sick!” Austin exclaimed. “You’re a human GPS slash monster tracker!”
    “A what?” Ariel raised an eyebrow.
    “Never mind.” Katie said. “But the thing is… those skills could be really helpful for us.”
    They all grew silent in their own thoughts. Ariel thought back to her life in the streets. It was a horrible existence, but she had fared better than the majority. She always knew where the best food was, she could find shelter (or make one, if necessary), and always sensed when gangs were nearby. Despite the odds, she had survived, even done well on the streets, at least compared to others. The only things that had eluded her mind were the monsters.
    But that wasn’t the case anymore, was it? Hadn’t she sensed the three laelaps coming towards them?
    Could she now sense any danger?
    “We still have to remain cautious,” Katie said, “just in case we’re wrong about this.”
    “But dang, if we’re right, you’d be one of the strongest demigods alive.” Austin marveled at Ariel.
    Ariel turned her face away. They stared at her in awe, with respect… something she didn’t deserve.
    Knowing where her enemies were wasn’t going to help her if she couldn’t defeat them. Sure, she had pointed out the laelaps, but it was Katie and Austin who defeated them.
    “Guys, I hate to sound like a broken record, but if we can’t get back to Chicago, our quest is mute.” Katie said.
    “Are there other rivers nearby that we could—er—borrow a boat from?” Austin asked, but Katie shook her head.
    “It wouldn’t work. Naiads don’t normally help demigods; we can’t rely on that.”
    They all stretched their brains for any sort of idea.
    “See, what we need is a chariot or something.” Austin said. “Or maybe pegasuses.”
    “Pegasi.” Katie corrected.
    “No.” Ariel protested. “We can’t ask Camp Half-Blood for help. We can’t put them in danger.”
    “This wouldn't put them in danger, the borders are heavily fortified.” Austin said.
    “It didn’t keep out the manticores.” Ariel whispered.
    Austin pursed his lips. “I know. But if there’s anything I’ve learned in the past year—”
    “Doubtful.” Katie grumbled.
    “—it’s that you can trust Camp Half-Blood.” Austin continued. “It seems like we pester and squabble amongst ourselves all the time, like Katie—”
    “Excuse me?”
    “—but when it really matters…” his voice softened. “They’ve got your back. They don’t let you down.”
    Katie stopped protesting. She looked at Austin in awe. “That was an intelligent thought.”
    Austin, for once, didn’t bicker back. “I’m plenty intelligent when it comes to Camp Half-Blood.”
    His words sounded wonderful to Ariel’s ears. She wanted so badly to believe that something could be so constant. Nothing in her life had ever been constant. Out on the streets, there wasn’t anyone to look out after you or offer support.
    But Camp Half-Blood had surprised her. They had taken her in and accepted her. But the bigger surprise was that her heart had accepted Camp Half-Blood.
    “Okay.” she exhaled. “Let’s contact camp.”

    With a prism and Austin’s spray-fan bottle (which he insisted was a prized possession), Katie managed to get in contact with Camp.
    “Will!” Austin exclaimed gratefully.
    “Hey guys.” Will smiled. He was still in the hospital ward, but looked like he was on the mend. He didn’t grimace in pain when he sat upright. “What’s up?”
    Katie’s ears began to grow red. “Uh. Hi. We weren’t expecting… you.”
    Will’s smile faded. “Chiron’s still not back, if that’s who you were trying to call.”
    “What?” Ariel gasped. “Is he okay?”
    “I’m sure he’s fine. But I don’t know why the meeting’s taking so long.” Will admitted.
    “Are you feeling better?” Austin asked.
    “Loads, but we all decided that another day of rest couldn’t hurt. Kayla’s already discharged, she healed faster than I did.”
    Austin smirked. “Today’s kitchen duty for Apollo cabin, isn’t it?”
    Will just grinned. “Anyway, why did you call?”
    “We need transportation.” Katie said bluntly.
    Will frowned. “Have you tried contacting Apollo? He could get you guys there in no time.”
    All of them paled as they shared fearful looks.
    “About that…” Austin paused. “We’ve got some bad news.”
    He quickly told Will about what had happened, trying to keep the despair from his voice. Will’s eyes grew wider with every word.
    “Apollo and Artemis are captured?” Will gaped. “No way. Who would have that kind of power?”
    “We don’t know.” Katie replied. “But we know that Kampé is responsible.”
    “Because she was chasing me.” Ariel whispered, blinking back tears. “It’s my fault, Will.”
    To her surprise, he started shaking his head. “Not your fault. Apollo must’ve known what he was getting into—he’s the God of Prophecy, after all. Though I can’t imagine how he would’ve been defeated by Kampé.”
    “Maybe she called reinforcements.” Katie said, her expression pained. “We don’t really know what happened, we all blacked out.”
    That cheerful thought settled down on them, creating an uncomfortable silence.
    “So. Transportation.” Will said cheerfully, as if the past minute hadn’t existed. “Sure, we can get that. Are Pegasi okay?”    
    Austin, Katie, and Ariel all looked at each other. “Fine by me.” Austin said.
    “I’m okay with it.” Katie agreed.
    “What exactly are Pegasi?” Ariel asked.
    “Flying horses.” Katie explained.
    Ariel blinked. “Flying… horses.”
    Her expression made Katie and Austin laugh. “Don’t worry,” Austin said between laughs. “It’s not as ridiculous as it sounds.”
    Ariel couldn’t imagine how flying horses weren’t ridiculous, but decided to keep her mouth shut.
    “Alright. I’ll ask Butch to send some to you guys.” Will smiled. “Do you guys need anything else?”
    A miracle, Ariel thought.
    “I think we’re okay.” Austin said. “You’re the best, Will.”
    Will grinned. “Well, it’d be a crime not to help out my favorite brother. And my almost-cousin.” He nodded at Ariel. “And… and Katie.”
    Katie’s face flushed pink. “T—Thanks.”
    He winked at them, though Ariel noticed he kept his gaze on Katie In many ways, Ariel thought, he was exactly like his father.
    “I know you guys will do the right thing, so just keep faith, ‘kay?” Will flashed another grin at them.
    Ariel had to smile. “Thanks for everything, Will.”
    He beamed at her, then waved his hand to cut the connection.