The Spirits of the Universe (PJO)

Chapter 50--We Have the High Ground

The white light twisted and turned enough to make me close my eyes before I threw up. When I opened my eyes again, I was in a forest. Not again . . .

To my relief, it wasn't the Great Forest. In fact, wherever we were was nowhere near Helmmount. We were on the top of a tiny hill, with dense shrubbery covering every angle around us, but I could still see the sunlight streaming through the tiny holes in the leaf canopy. The birds in the branches chirped happily in the warm air of the morning as we peered down at a long, winding dirt path that looked like the main route through the greenery.

When I heard that Ananke's Crystal would "show us what we desired the most," I was thinking that we'd have something like an Iris message to peer through. But this wasn't an Iris message—it wasn't even the freaky mind invasion technique I'd used with Paul back in the Great Forest. 

No. It was like we'd been teleported here without warning.

At least it's warm here, End said, who'd sadly been teleported with me. Your pajamas are so thin I'm surprised you haven't tore them yet. 

"These crafty imbeciles," Aridne growled from beside me.

"You sure we're in the right place?"

"This is near the capital. I'm sure of it. They've been hiding under our noses the entire time—waiting for the right time to move."

I had a lot of questions for her: like how she could deduce our location with only a single glance at the greenery, or, even if we were able to get what we needed to from here, how we were supposed to get back.

But the question pressing the hardest against the inside of my skull was: Who even was "they"? I was pretty sure that she wasn't talking about the squirrels—or whatever the equivalent was on this planet—but I couldn't see anyone. No twigs snapped in the distance; the birds didn't seem alarmed at any unfamiliar presence; and, most importantly, we hadn't been ambushed yet.

Before I could question Aridne's competence, the wind died down, and I heard it—horse hooves.

They sounded pretty close by, so I peeked above the shrubbery—and immediately ducked.

They were already here.

Something sour seemed to coat my tongue. How'd Aridne known they were here when I'd barely noticed. Had I lost my touch? There's no way . . .

My friends hadn't sacrificed themselves for this level of incompetence.

Silencing magic, End explained. It erases even screams in its area of effect. Though it's ineffective at short ranges, it's a must-have for any party wanting to surprise any ambushers.

I thought back to my time at Camp Half-Blood. The Hecate cabin, despite their proficiency in many spells, had never used anything like a silencing spell in Capture the Flag. That had to mean that hiring a magician capable of using such spell must be expensive. Why'd they go through all of this trouble for a small party of people?

I peeked up cautiously again—and then my breath caught in my throat. It couldn't be true. It just . . . couldn't.

My heart sunk. But it wasn't like that was going to make things better. 

Looks like this mission's going to be a lot harder than you could've imagined, Order said sympathetically. 

We might've been the people behind the commoditization of silencing magic, but I'm still surprised at how much it's improved over the centuries, End whistled appreciatively. 

"Improve" wasn't a strong enough word for this. With the sounds I could pick up, I'd thought that we were spying on a small group of people—not one bigger than six.

Instead, it was a whole caravan. 

I pushed away a particularly sharp bramble to get a clearer view just as the last carriage turned into view. There were seven on them, their cargo enclosed from the elements with tarps tied down with ropes. Their wide bodies were almost falling off the thin path. They were pulled by strong horses, while guards in heavy armor marched on all sides.

Aridne cursed. Clearly, she wasn't expecting such a grand entourage as well. "What are they doing with those carriages? Did they loot half of the palace as well?"

"It's a diversion tactic—if anyone tries to attack the convoy, they don't know which contains the book. Plus, it's good space to store a lot of food for a long journey—looks like they've prepared for everything . . . What?" I asked as Aridne looked at me in surprise. 

"I didn't expect you to know something like that."

"Some stupid harpies back on earth used this same strategy on me. It's a long story, but all you need to know is that one of Hermes' snakes owes me a big favor."

"Speaking of favors, I'm going to need a big one from you. We're going to need to find out where they've kept the book—"

"It's in the second carriage from the back." Immediately after saying this—and even before Aridne looked at me in shock, I cursed silently.

There were a lot of problems with having two primordials in your mind. Turning a blind eye to the privacy invasion aspect of it and having the additional mental fatigue of babysitting two beings, you had the matter of their speech as well. Most of the times, it was easy to know when End or Order wanted to say something: when a thought not even remotely close to anything I would say appeared in my mind—but it was suspiciously close to what an omniscient being would think in that situation—it was pretty easy to understand who the owner of it was. But for some of their thoughts—like End's observation of the carriage—I unfortunately didn't catch them before it was too late.

"How do you have so much confidence?"

If there was one thing End and I agreed on, it was that the less people knew that she existed, the better. There's a lot of guards at the rear of the convoy, meaning it has to be around there. Then there's the fact that, if these guys were smart enough to steal the book right underneath my sister's nose, there's no way they're dumb enough to keep it in the last carriage—that's the one filled with extra supplies, so they can abandon it at a moment's notice. Of course, you still wouldn't be completely sure about the book's location without my sight, but if you speak confidently enough, the girl will definitely think you came up with this conclusion yourself.

In situations like these, I'd usually follow what End suggested. However, my time in the Great Forest—specifically, my experience in Paul's thoughts—taught me that, without the beings inside my head, I was completely powerless. I wouldn't always have End in my head to order me around. Sometime in the future, I needed to figure out how to manage on my own. And the "future" was now.

Let me handle it, I told her. Then I turned to Aridne and said, "I think I'm wrong."

"What?" Aridne said in confusion as End screamed, What are you doing? How is THAT going to make her believe you?

"I'm wrong," I repeated. 

"Then why'd you say that?"

"I was just guessing, y'know? I've been bored out of mind while we've been . . . er . . . trying not to die the past couple of days. I'm trying to pass the time a little bit faster."

Aridne looked at me as if she wondered if I belonged in a mental institution. Then, she shook her head, muttered something under her breath, and turned around. I was safe from her suspicion—at least for now. 

End and I sighed in relief. I can't believe that your strategy actually worked. For the record, mine would've been less embarrassing.

Still, I couldn't help but feeling proud. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Only, I hope my management gets better from here.

As much as I wanted to believe in myself, a tiny, subconscious part of me knew that Aridne probably didn't feel like questioning me when the book was this close to being in our grasp. 

But it was only partially correct. Aridne was fixated on the caravan, but not on the book. 

And her gasp of concern made me realize that we might not be as safe as I was hoping.