A Demigod Tale

Chapter 10: Flight and Fóvos

Jade and Jake had no choice but to stay at the gas station until Jordan regained consciousness. When he finally did, they had only two hours before their flight to Greece.

Jordan shot up, a panicked look in his eye. He whipped his head around frantically, searching for something, probably monsters. "Where are they? Did we win? Who was laughing? Who was laughing?!"

"Whoa, calm down," Jade said. Jake was checking Jordan's injuries again, making sure they weren't infected. Jordan winced as he saw where the arrows had hit him. He felt sick looking at them and turned his face away. He locked his eyes on a Walmart across the street.

"Well, his injuries aren't fatal. I recommend some Ambrosia. We need his arm to heal and bit more before he can drive," Jake said. Jade pulled a bag of Ambrosia out of her backpack. She took out a square and handed it to Jake, who broke off about one-sixth of it. He gave it to Jordan, who still seemed a bit rattled. Jordan ate it.

"What do you mean who was laughing?" Jade asked. Jordan shivered.

"Well, right before I killed the snake lady she was laughing. After I killed her I could still hear it, but it sounded different. I blacked out and had a weird dream. I was in this huge Greek styled building. It looked.....familiar. I heard the laughter again. I tried to run away, but the laughing followed me. Then I woke up," Jordan explained, his voice slightly shaky. The dream had clearly frightened him greatly. Both Jake and Jade hugged him, not sure what else to do.

"Well, I didn't expect that!" Jordan shouted, a grin breaking out on his face. The trio separated and began gathering their belongings. Jake gathered up all the arrows, Jade put everything back in the backpacks, and Jordan put the packs in the car. A few minutes later they were driving again.

The rest of the drive was completely uneventful. Jake and Jade sat close to each other again and ended up falling asleep. Jade's head rested on top of Jake's as they both dreamed. Jordan hummed to himself, careful not to wake up his new ship.

At last they arrived at the airport. Jordan laughed as he suddenly blasted very loud rock music, waking and annoying Jake and Jade. They gathered their packs and stepped inside the airport. They saw the car vanish from behind them.

"That's just our airline transporting the car to Greece. Come on, our gate's this way!" Jade called out as she ran. The boys followed, not really knowing what was happening. Jade led them to a seemingly abandoned part of the airport.

"Let's see...one......three.....ah! Five!" she proclaimed. She kicked an old tree stump. At first nothing happened, and Jordan briefly wondered if Jade had one to many bowls of macaroni. Then the stump changed. It grew taller, it became more rectangular, and soon as beautiful oakwood door stood where the rotting stump had been moments ago.

"What?" Jordan said, confusion and curiosity filling his voice.

Instead of explaining Jade opened the door and stepped inside. Jordan looked at Jake for some form of answers, but Jake simply shrugged. The brothers stepped through the door. As soon as they were through the door disappeared, probably a stump once more.

Before the trio was one of the strangest places any of them had ever seen. It was designed like an ancient Greek temple, with statues of Zeus everywhere. Little shops dotted the area they were in, such as Starbucks and even a McDonalds.

"Come on, we're gate number 12," Jade said. She grabbed Jordan and Jake's wrists and dragged them along. The boys didn't struggle, as they had no idea where they were going.

"Ah, here we are! I got us some seats on Zeustastic airlines. It's okay, but watch out for lightning," Jade warned. The three only had to wait for a few minutes before a woman cane out and said they were ready for departure. About two dozen people, including the trio, lined up. All the classic airport rituals of boarding were preformed.

However, instead of boarding a plane, the three found themselves being shoved into chariots. Each chariot was pulled by two Pegasi and piloted by a.....satyr? Well, this isn't a normal airport, Jordan thought.

They had to wait for about half an hour before lift off. Apparently Zeus was having a bad day or something, because the wind was too rough to fly in. Eventually they took off, the Pegasi pulling them through the sky. The chariot was much faster than a jet. In just a few hours they arrived.

Jade shook Jordan, who had fallen asleep around the middle of the flight.

"Wha? Huh? Oh, it's you," he said after waking up. He looked worried. Jade knew he had had a bad dream. He had thrashed around in his sleep, muttering about laughing and libraries.

"We've landed," Jake told him. The three thanked the pilot and got off the chariot. The next few hours were a blur of getting from one place to the next before they could even begin their quest!

At last they were able to begin. They were about three days away from the Library of the East, as they now called it. They couldn't take a cad or drive, Jade told the boys. The library could only be found if you walked to it, if you slowed down and observed the world around you. Under Jade's instructions they began.

They had only been walking for forty-five minutes when they encountered monsters. The monsters were pitch black like tar with bright red hands and eyes. They had the body of a normal human, though instead of hands and fingers they had sword tips attached to the end of their arms. They had red wings with black areas like someone had thrown ink onto them. There were three of them in all.

"We are the Fóvos, servants of fear! You dare enter our master's land?" one snarled. Then they noticed Jordan's belt.

"Well, what have we here? Show us your knife, boy, or we shall take it from you!" it said. Only one of them ever spoke. Jordan pulled his knife out. The Fóvos all laughed. It sounded cold and crazy and...familiar.

"You seek a way to break the curse. Foolish demigod, the curse is not what you should fear. Then again, you're not very afraid, are you? Go, find your little library. You will find more than what you want to," the lead Fóvos said. She and her pals disappeared in a flash of red light.

"What just happened? Why did they say you weren't afraid? What?" Jake asked. Jordan just stared blankly at where the Fóvos had stood.

"Let's keep going," Jordan said. He didn't speak for the rest of the day. When they finally made camp in a cave they had found, he went right to sleep.

"What does Fóvos mean?" Jake whispered to Jade.

"Fear," Jade replied.