The Scythe of Thanatos

ALASKA!!!

After the whole running into trees thing Nico and I picked up hazel and shadow traveled to Canada. He stumbled and let go of hazel who I gently lowered to the ground.

"Are you okay?" I asked him as he sat on the ground

"You're not tired?"

"I don't need to sleep." I replied "should I?"

"Definitely, I passed out the first times I did it"

"Well, I guess we could take a break"

"Nope, we need to move." Hazel was looking at the sky

"Why?" I asked looking up "oh. Yeah." The sky had darkened all around us and it was beginning to sleet. Large slushy spheres rained around us and one hit me in the head.

"OOF." I scraped the slush out of my hair and started walking north. Hazel and Nico were miraculously not getting hit by the slush balls.

"Seth we should try to shadow travel again!" Nico yelled over the pounding of slush and snow winds blurring around us. Oh did I forget to mention that a BLIZZARD had started?

"The trees are all iced over! Look!" I pointed at the grove of trees that were succumbing to the cold. A few nymphs were standing next to their trees wiping the advancing ice away with nature magic. But the ice was quick and fought against them.

"Stupid ICE!" a nymph yelled as she froze standing next to her tree

"ACK!" another gasped and was frozen.

"I think the same will happen to us if we don't move!" hazel suggested, and we trudged out of the grove of trees and saw a few lights shining from houses.

"How far north did we go?" I asked Nico, we had huddled together to stay warm as we marched towards the town.

"I don't know. Quebec?"

"Quebec?" I asked bewildered, Nico pointed to a sign. It read "La Haute Saint Charles Quebec city" frost and snow quickly covered it but farther away the grass was green. If we ran would the snow and slush leave? I asked myself.

"Nay, the cold fights hard but is not strong here. It will dissipate within the hour." The oracle answered in my head

"The cold will be gone within the hour." I told my friends.

"Good, then we should get some warm parkas." Hazel said.

"Good, let's just waltz in to that village and steal stuff." I retorted

"nah. I've got this." Hazel bent down and the ground shook but then about 50 euros in coins appeared at her feet.

"Whoa, seriously cool!" I said as she scooped up the money and we walked into town bought three warm parkas and ate some poutine, a mix of fries gravy and cheese.

"So where do we go from here?" I asked, as the oracle had predicted the storm ceased to exist.

"I don't know. Travel north to find the blade... should we just keep going north?"

"I don't know." I replied, suddenly I passed out.

"Hi Seth..." a voice rang in my head,

"Who's there?" I asked into the darkness.

"Oh, you know who I am." It was definitely a girl's voice. Though not warm like Rachel's this was cold and harsh.

"Beware the Cold?"

"Ugh, I have a name!" and to that the darkness shifted and I was standing atop an iceberg. It was snowing like the blizzard we had just run into, the girl stood there. She was beautiful, but not the way I liked beautiful, this was cold and shallow like a spoiled kid. I realized that the snow seemed to be emanating from her and not just snow ice slivers that were scratching the Glacier above a shadowy spot embedded in the ice.

"Khione? The goddess of Snow?" I guessed based on her appearance and the snow thing.

"The first one to recognize me by sight and I want to kill him!" she sighed "maybe I'll let you live... maybe"

"Living sounds good, what are you trying to get out of the ice?"

"Oh just a thing." She nonchalantly responded "you would be worried though, if I told you what it was."

"I think I know what it is."

"Then what is it?" she batted her eyes at me. It really only looked like she was having seizure in her face.

"The Scythe of Thanatos, my father's."

"Oh hi Seth..." a voice said to my left.

"Who?" I asked turning to see a round pudgy guy who looked like an exploding marshmallow.

"Clovis, we never met but I'm Hypnos's son. Never seen you dream though. You don't sleep do you?"

"Nah, don't have to."

"UGH you act like I'm not even here!" Khione shrieked and the dream faded

"Oh Seth, you might want to check out Alaska, that's where I think this is..." Clovis's voice faded off and I woke up on the grass which had died.

"SETH!" hazel's voice called.

"ALASKA!" I yelled at her.

"AAA!" she jerked back as I sat up. "What?"

"We should try Alaska!" I got up and brushed the dead grass off my new parka.