Artemis Child

Artemis Child Ch7

   The train ride to Tennessee was brutally boring. Countless hours passed as we made our way there. The train we were on was a very great travelling train. We had our own section of the train. It was a room with two seats, a bed and a small bathroom. I took to the bathroom to hurl, trains made my stomach hurt. Not the ride its self, the loudness of the train, and its unyielding horn is what did the trick. "Wow Cory, you don't look so good. Is it the train that's making you sick?" Gena asked me. "No not at all, its actually the boat that we are gonna be on later." I said sarcastically. "We can't go on a boat yet we are on a quest, dummy." Gena said a little confused by my answer.

"Just forget about it." I said before tossing up some more of my breakfast. 'I didn't even have my food in my stomach long enough to even get some nutrients. If I keep puking I'll pass out from lack of food. I missed all of yesterday, and half of today. That's a day and a half without food or water. Come on Cory stop puking.' I told myself in my head. No use the low water count already was taking its toll. The train's horn went off again. My ears started to hurt more, I puked again, then I lost my balance and the world when dark.

"Die devil dog die." "Die monster die." The voices yelled. The moonless night hung above me. I tried to move. "Shoot it, shoot its heart." "Burn it alive" "You curse." I tried to leave, my body aching. "No, please I'm no threat."

"Cory" A voice woke me up. "Cory we are here. Here drink." Gena said pouring water into my mouth. I woke up on a small bench in a train station. "What happened?" I asked. "You passed out from dehydration. But Drew here carried you off the train after we arrived." Gena answered and smiled to Andrew who was holding his wrist in pain. "Are you ok Andrew?" I asked, motioning to his wrist. "You were mumbling in your sleep, but when I got closer to hear. You grabbed my wrist pretty hard." He replied rubbing out the mark I left.

After apologizing and getting hydrated, we headed of to look for Prometheus. We search around, walking through alleyways, and looking everywhere. "If I were a god in Tennessee where would I go?" I asked out loud. "Well the death everyday curse is still on him, so maybe somewhere dead person wouldn't be a problem. So like a hospital, graveyard, or morgue." Andrew answered my joke. "I was joking."

As we were walking though an alleyway we came across something that seemed more like our kind of problem.

"Tell me what you know, or I will turn you into a pile of dust." Said a teenage voice. We ran around a corner to see a girl holding someone in a trenchcoat close with a bronze sword to their throat. This person wore a old leather jacket and dark blue jeans. Her brown hair was let down, and hung a little past her shoulders. "Where is he I know you know. Tell me." The girl continued. I walked over to see better. "Look little girl, I'm not some common creature. You don't scare me." The trench coated man said. Getting closer I could see that he had eight eyes, they all focused on the girl. The man grabbed her arm, and twisted her around to face me. "Oh look an audience." He said.

She was a cute girl, her face was looked like it was sculpted to fit a model. She had dark blue eyes and a small dimple on her lower left cheek. "Good." She replied as her weapon changed into a large round shield. She then bashed him repeatedly in the face then, changed her shield back into a sword. With one swift sliced, the creatures head came off. The body twitched and crumpled into dust, but the head didn't. She then picked it up, "Now tell me. Where is he?" She asked. "Two blocks down, green building. Now ple..." He was cut off by her sword, which she used to slice his head in two. That too turned to dust.

I drew my weapon, "Who are you? And what god parent do you hail from?" I asked while eyeing her sword. "What do mean by 'God parent'?" She asked back. "I am Cory, Child of Artemis. Demigod of Camp half-blood." I answered. Next thing I know she drops her sword and gives me a hug.

"I'm Serena, Daughter of Athena. I thought I was the only demi-god. I never met anyone else." I broke the hug by introducing her to Gena and Andrew. "This is Gena, daughter of Hephaestus and Andrew, son of Ares." She hugged them both. "Will you help me? That arachnid told me where my father is and I need to go get him." Tears were flowing from her eyes at the mentions of her dad. "He went missing from his night job. I haven't seen him in nine months. But now I can get him, I don't know if there will be more creatures and.." She was wiping her eyes at this point. "We will help." I told her.

"But Cory, we are on a quest." Andrew said trying not to be rude. "We are helping!" I snapped at him. I guess I was made a face because he raised his hands in surrender and took a few steps back. 'I know what its like to lose family. Also I lost my family nine months ago. Is this a coincidence?' I asked myself. "Thank you!" She said with a half hearted smile. "Ok lead the way." I said smiling a real smile for once today. "Why does she get to lead? We all heard the directions." Gena asked in a unamused tone.

We followed Serena to the building that was given in the directions. As we walked she told us about her past. She was raised by her father, he taught her everything he knew. Even fighting, but he never told her about other demi-gods. She told us that her father went missing the day she got her weapon. She never told us where she got it at.

We arrived to the building, and scouted the area. "So what is a arachnid?" Gena asked.

"Basically a spider in a human body. No particular metal or magic kill them except being decapitated or burned. The head can live even without the body for a while so decapitation only leads to their death." I replied quickly, but unintended. "No, I'm not going in there. I'll wait here!" She said in a panic. "Andrew you wait with her. I'm trusting you to take care of her." I said firmly. "No problem. You have my word." He replied.

As Serena and I climbed into the building, we made as little noise as we could.