The Forbidden Four

VI

"You're too weak. You need to rest." Ashley said.
"Yeah....I-I do." Cam whispered weakly.
"Do I give him some nectar?" Jen asked
"No. He'll just sleep for a while. You do too. I'll watch. We have a long ride tomorrow."
"How are we going to go to Virginia?" Jen asked
"Don't worry about it. Just Get some rest."

"Where is it?" Ash mumbled as she kept looking in her bag. "What are you looking for?" Cam asked. Ash jumped. "Why aren't you sleeping? You should rest. You're drained." Ash walked over to where he was lying down.

"I'm better now. I'll be fine. But....mind giving me my shirt back?" Cam said
"Here." She gave him his shirt.
"Help me put it on."
"No."
"I'm tired."
"No."

Ash walked over to her bag and continued looking. "What are you looking for?" Cam asked, standing and walking over to where Ash was. "I need a- Ha!" She took out a sack of golden drachmas from her backpack. "Why do you need those?" Cam asked. "Because I'm going to hail our other way of transportation."
"Which is?" Cam raised a brow.
"The Grey Sisters."
"Woah...aren't they really reckless though? And they have one eye..."
"Wake Jen up. We're leaving."
"Do you ever listen to me?"
Ash threw the golden drachma on the ground.

"Stêthi 'Ô hárma diabolês" Ash said. A few moments later, a taxi that looked as if it were made from smoke appeared from the ground.

"Who are those?" Jen asked.
"The Grey Sisters AKA our ride to Virginia." Cam answered her. "I don't like this idea, Ashley." Cam said. "You never like my ideas, yet you never refuse. C'mon."

Cam looked at Jen. "She's right. You never say no." Jen winked and climbed into the cab. Cameron sighed. "I hate both of you."

"Richmond, Virginia." Cam said.
"Pricey!" The three sisters said in unison and the cab sped off.

Ashely, Cameron, and Jennifer have never yelled so loud in their lives.

"I told you this was a bad idea!!"
"They have one eye!"
"Shut up!"
"Anger! Give me the eye!" Wasp said
"You had the eye last week!" Anger said
"The driver should have the eye! Remember what that boy from the prophecy said!?" Yelled Tempest.
"I almost died a couple of hours ago." Said Cam. "Now it's happening again."

"Jen, are you okay?" Ash asked. "Yeah sure. It's not like we're riding a cab made of smoke and there are black chains instead of seatbelt. I AM VERY FINE, THANK YOU." Jen yelled. "You know, this is such a great start to this quest! Great! I came close to death just twice." Cam said. "They have ONE eye, Ashley!" Jen said. "Oh and one tooth as well, dear." Tempest said. She turned around with a smile and faced the trio. They tried not to scream even louder. "We mainly use it to see wether the golden drachmas are real or not."

"Almost there!" Yelled the three sisters in union.
"Drachmas?" Cam asked. Jen pulled five golden drachmas from her pocket.

"There you go. Out! Out!" Anger said
"Hand me the drachmas!" Wasp shouted.
"Beware the dangers ahead!" Tempest said and the three sisters left.

"We survived." Jen said
"Told ya." Ash said, "C'mon let's see if we can find Hal's mansion."
"How are we supposed to do that?" Cam asked
"I'm positive that the house made history in the city here. The fire was huge. If we ask one of the locals about a mansion that burnt down ten years ago in a really great fire, maybe they'd know." Ash said. She didn't sound so sure. Jen and Cam just stared at her. "What!?" She yelled out of frustration. "You want us to just go ask people about a mansion that burnt down ten years ago? Even if we do find the house. What are we looking for? What if those leucrotae are still in there-"
"- I don't think they would have survived the Greek fire." Ash cut him off
"We don't know! No weapon ever killed those things. And even if the fire killed them. Monsters come back, right? What if like all other monsters, during the war with Gaea, they came back?" Cam said. Jen and Ash turned pale. "Think positive. Maybe they didn't. We don't know......Look, let us find the mansion first, then we'll see if there are monsters in there or not."

They kept asking people about the mansion but no one knew anything. They asked people at coffee shops, libraries, and grocery stores. Nothing.

"We won't find the house." Jen said desperatelyj. "Yes we will. We just have to keep trying." Ash said. "Where do we ask?" Cam asked.
"You didn't ask me." They all turned around to see who just joined their conversation.

Sitting on a wooden box beside a dumpster was a homeless guy. His hair was gray, long ,and bushy. He wore an old coat that was two sizes too big. And he had bare feet. He held a stick and used it to look in the dumpster.

"Uh....hello, sir. D-Do you know where we can find an old mansion that burnt down ten years ago. The fire was huge and no body lived there." Jen said. "What do you mean nobody lived there. A man lived there alone. He never left that place. I've seen kids go in but never come out of that place. I've seen the huge fire. It took them days to put it out!" The man said. The trio looked at each other. "He knows." Ash muttered. "Sir? Can you take us there. We need to find the house." Cam asked as nicely as he can, trying not to think about the other kids who've entered the house but never came back out.

"I'll take you there. But why?" The man asked.
"Just take us there, old man." Jen said.

"Have you seen anyone come into the house lately?" Ash asked, crossing her arms. "Not in five months." The man answered her. "Five months?" Jen asked in disbelief. "Yes! I don't know anything about them. That person was wearing a hoodie and I couldn't make out anything about them. But from how torn and dirty the clothes were, it looked like they were in the wild for a while." The man said. "They stayed in the burnt mansion for 3 days."
"You make a really good spy." Commented Cam.
"Do you know where they could have gone?" Ash asked. "I don't." The man said blankly. "I won't repeat myself. Do you know where they might have went. Don't get too smart." She clinched her fists and the ground cracked but she managed to control herself.
"Why is she so mad?" Jen asked
"He won't say more. He'll give us answers for money. "Duh." Cam said, matter of fact.

"I've followed them to the public library, not too far away from the mansion. They stayed there for so long I got bored and left. But they kept browsing through so many books. As if they were looking for something specific." The man said, clearly annoyed that he gave more answers without anything in return.

Ten minutes later, they have finally arrived at the mansion.

"Thank you." Ashley said blankly and turned her back to the man. She signaled to Cam and Jen to follow her. The man scowled and left them.

"That's it." Jen said.

Twenty feet away from where they were standing, was a big, half destroyed mansion. The windows were broken, bricks were out of place, the house looked unbelievably old.

"The place doesn't look this bad. I mean people could still live there." Jen said. "Do you think it'll be easy for us to open the doors?"

"Probably. The fire must have weakened them." Cam said. "Cmon."

The trio walked over to the mansion's door. It was broken. The door was blocked by a piece of wood.

"Why didn't anyone reconstruct it or close the house or whatever?" Jen asked. Ash unsheathed her sword. Aimed for the door's lock and broke the wood. "In." She said sternly. They all walked in and closed the door.

"I can't see anything, does anyone have a flashlight? Or can Cam summon fire?" Jen asked.
"I can." Cam said. "No, enough summoning shit. You're still not fully recovered." Ash said.

"I wouldn't really come here if I were you." Said a voice from the dark. Ten seconds later, Cameron, Jennifer, and Ashley were knocked out, bound and helpless.