Stolen

Ch.22: Ro accidentally burns her hair off

Ambrosia:

"WAKE UP!"

Ro's eyes, dark green that morning, the color of a murky lake, snapped open. She rolled out of bed, attempting to kick the invader backwards in the process, but the infiltrator jumped back before her foot made contact. Quick as lightning, she grabbed her staff and brandished it at her intruder. Ace carefully backed up a few steps, displaying that he was unarmed. Her eyes widened as recognition dawned on her. This explained why she didn't land a hit on him. Ace had woken her up enough to know that this was often how she reacted. His face was bloody and mostly-healed bruises were visible all over his face. His hair was on edge and singed on the ends, as if he had been electrocuted. What the heck happened to him? Ro thought. "Get out, now!" She hissed.

She was jumpy, as if she had been pumped full of espresso. Her ADHD already made her restless, but this was terrible. She felt as if she could wrestle Ace to the ground as if it were nothing, which is, in fact, nearly impossible. Ace's expression seemed sad and disappointed when she told him to leave. Ace held up his hands in surrender. "Just let me-"

A vicious roar shook her silver tent. Ace whipped around, pulling out his knives and scrambling out of the tent. Ro ran out after him, instantly freezing cold. Sun shown through the trees, leaving her momentarily blinded. The dried winter pine needles crunched beneath her freezing, bare feet. She shivered in only her gray t-shirt and jeans. She was greeted by another roar coming from a giant, ugly Chimera. Ro cussed in Greek rather loudly and she felt Ace wince. Her SMAC amulet, her only protection from the radar that was Greek Monsters, had broken when she fell from the cave.

The Chimera had the body of a colossal goat with a bloody mane. A lion's head emerged from the mane and a venomous snake acted as a tail. The staff in Ro's hand shifted into a glowing sword as she prepared to attack. "We leave you alone for one night and you attract the worst of all monsters." Logan called out from the other side of the beast.

"In my defense, I was left unsupervised. What about you, huh? You purposefully used the mortal medicine so I would sleep long enough for you to catch me!" She shouted at him from the other side of the big brute, jabbing at the beast.

He shrugged, not denying anything. She swiped at the venomous snake tail with a barely contained fury. "Attack plan Macedonia!" She cried out.

"What's that?" Kane cried out on her left.

"Distract it so I can make the killing blow!"

They took turns taunting the monster, until it was so furious, it turned on Ace. It's large lion maw glowed red like a furnace as he unhinged his jaw to blow fire at Ace. Ro leapt in front of him on a split-second impulse, taking the flames for him. He was the closest thing she had to family and she was not gonna let him die like that. Fire engulfed her until she was nothing but a shadow within the flames.

Ace bellowed her name behind her and Logan lunged for the Chimera, his sword entering through the monster's ribs while it was distracted and confused by her resistance to the heat. Her vision was smothered by the flames but, it didn't hurt. At least, not at first. Slowly by slowly it grew warmer until it scalded her. She patted the flames until they died out. It left only minor burns on her exposed stomach, where her shirt was left in cinders. Three jagged scars on her stomach from a previous quest were now visible.

Not to mention about four inches of her hair had been singed off. Her hair. She squealed and stamped at her hair with her hands in a desperate attempt to put out the lingering sparks caught in her beautiful hair. The blackened ends would have to be trimmed later.

Her clothes were on the edge of disintegrating. At that moment, the Chimera exploded into yellow monster dust. She looked around and saw that the guys were all staring at her in awe. Ace's face seemed shaky, which was perfectly normal considering they both had almost died. She scowled at their staring faces and dashed into her tent to change clothes. When she returned in warmer clothes, they bombarded her with questions. "What were you thinking?"

"Why didn't you burn?"

"Are you okay?"
"Well," she announced. "To answer your questions, I wasn't thinking, I don't know, and yeah, I'm fine but I'm going to need a little nectar for my stomach."

Kane quietly handed her a bottle of nectar, labeled 'Nemesis' Nectar: Just the Right Serving Amount For Your Demigod Needs.' Ro took a big swig and turned to the guys, glowering at them, Logan specifically. She stepped towards Logan and slapped him straight across the face. "That," she shouted, "was for drugging me and bringing them here!"

She whirled around to face Ace, who subtly stepped back. She lunged for him and pinched him on the sensitive part of the back of his arm. Ace yelped in an undignified manner. "That was for almost dying and leaving me to save you." She turned to face Kane who looked rather frightened. "I don't blame you, Kane. Thank you for the nectar."

"No- no problem." Kane said quietly. Logan chuckled as she glowered at the two of them. She raised her eyebrows at him and took a step in his direction.

She would've attacked him then and there if Kane, poor Kane, whom had just lost one friend, hadn't put a hand on her shoulder. For his sake, she calmed herself and reigned back in her anger. She shot Logan a look that said, "I will get you for that later."

"So, where's Fox?" Ro inquired. Ace's expression darkened and he cussed in Greek under his breath. Kane scowled, which was very unlike him. Logan looked pretty calm but, she saw through his mask. He was furious with Fox. Whatever had happened, it was not good.

"She knocked me and Kane out and ran away with the sword. I tried to slow her down but she was very determined to get out with the sword. Something about saving her sister?" Ace explained, looking at Kane for explanations. Apparently, Logan returned to their campsite to find Kane unconscious by the fire and Ace electrocuted and asleep in the middle of the forest and managed to lug him somewhere safe, so they didn't get to chat before coming to find Ro. Kane quickly explained that Fox's sister, Aviva, had disappeared the day after the winter solstice. She was the only family Fox had left, so when Fox was offered a quest, she accepted. But, she realized that the sword would only redeem one person. She had pondered what to do for days but, when Xander got hurt, her heart shattered and she stole the sword.

"So, we need to find her to get the sword?" Ro demanded. The guys nodded, their expressions bleak. "Logan, open a portal to Fox." She said sternly. He walked to a nearby tree and pressed his hands to the bark. His face scrunched up with concentration and black mist curled off the side. A dark, gloomy door opened and they all stepped in, Ro obviously ignoring Logan.

They exited the door to behold a clearing in the middle of the woods. The late morning sun hit the trees pulchritudinously. It resembled a scene you would find in a children's movie, except that everything was on fire. Orange and red flames flickered on the boughs of the pine trees surrounding the grassy, green glade. In the middle of the meadow, a young boy laid, slumbering. Ro approached him to check his vitals and recognized him as Cris, the unclaimed, amnesiac teen she had met at Camp Half-Blood. What in Hades is he doing here? Ro thought curiously. She grabbed his right wrist to check for a pulse. Sure enough, a steady thump greeted her and she breathed a sigh of relief. Now, to determine what exactly had happened here. Ro smelled ozone in the air, a tell-tale sign of a lightning strike. Ace said that Fox had electrocuted him pretty badly during her escape. As a descendant of Zeus, she could have very well tried to zap poor Cris. Anger rose quickly in Ro. She turned to Ace, bristling with rage. "Wake him up." She said sharply.

Ace cleared his throat and said in his low, soothing voice, "Wake up."

Cris's startling electric blue eye's flickered open, nearly identical to Fox's. His clothes were peppered with scorches and holes. He had a nasty cut on his forehead. He jumped up in surprise and pointed a glowing sword at them. Where did he get a sword? He recognized Ro and immediately began questioning her. "I thought you were on a quest? What are you doing here? Wait! Where am I? What happened?"

"Whoa! Slow down." Ro said. "We are by the Niagara Falls in New York. Why aren't you at camp?"

"I-I don't know."