Once and for All- Part Three Of The Conclusion To The United Series

Chapter Eleven

Max's POV:

I almost started crying when Leo left.

We disconnected the Iris-message, and now I'm left wondering what to do. Jason will be peeved if I don't eat, though.

But I just stand up off the bed and walk out of the bedroom, heading towards the only other place I know in this hell-hole of a ship/home; Finn's room. Honestly, I've come here so many times it's like Finn expects me everyday. I don't even bother knocking on his door when I reach his room. I just open the door and walk right in like I'd walk into my own house, and Finn is sitting on his bed, holding a pencil and a sketch pad. He looks concentrated when I walk in but looks up and smiles at me. I actually kind of feel bad for interrupting his concentrated art.

"Hey, Max. Anything new?" Finn asks me, looking down at his new drawing, and I'm just about ready to tell him everything I just found out; the vision that Jason had, the Iris-message with Leo, humans/demigods getting legacies. But I hold back. I know that I can trust Finn, but I don't think I should be blurting out every single important thing that happens to him. I don't think he even really wants to know about the vision Jason had. I sure as Hades wouldn't.

So I just shake my head and force a smile. "Nope. Just the same old boring ship and idiot Mogadorians. Not counting you, of course." I say. He chuckles and I sit next to him on the bed, watching him sketch...space. It's space, the millions of stars and even Earth peeking out in the bottom left corner and I wonder how Finn even drew this. It's so beautiful and realistic, the shading and the detail, it's almost like I'm looking at a pencil-filtered photograph. But Finn said that he traveled a lot and drew everything he remembered. How could he have possibly have drawn this without seeing a photo of it or something?

"Finn, this is amazing." I tell him, my voice full with disbelief. He smiles warmly in response just as he finishes the last few touches.

"Thank you. If you like it so much, then it's yours." He replies, perfectly ripping out the paper from his sketch pad and handing it to me. I chuckle and shake my head at him.

"I can't take that, Finn. You drew it, so it's yours." I refuse, gently pushing his hand away from me. He shouldn't be giving away such a beautiful picture like this. He should keep it and remind himself how amazing and talented he is.

"It's okay, I have plenty more." He responds, gesturing to a corner of his wall, where there are in fact tons of pictures of space, all of which seem pretty recent.

"But...how? You draw what you see, right?" I ask him and he nods his head. "Then how did you...?"

"There's a place on the ship called the 'Glass Room'. It's made so that you always have a perfect view of space no matter where you are or at what time." Finn explains. Gods I have got to explore this giant ship more.

"I'll take you to see it if you'd like." Finn offers, as if reading my mind. I smile at him and nod my head.

"Thank you, Finn." I thank him and he smiles at me again before placing his wonderful space drawing on my lap.

We're both quiet for a few moments before Finn speaks up again, his voice and features a lot more serious. You know it's serious when Finnian gets serious.

"I have something else for you." Finn tells me, standing up off the bed and heading to his drawer on the other side of the room. I chuckle and roll my eyes at him.

"You don't need to give me anything else, Finn. The drawing's fine." I reply. He puts his pencil and sketch pad away and instead pulls out a small- maybe about five inches long- silver cylinder. There are intricate designs carved into it and what I can only guess is a small piece of Loralite embedded right in the middle on both sides. Finn walks back to me and sits down again, handing me the cylinder.

"I know that they took your weapon away from you. This is just in case Remo decides to come near you again." Finn explains carefully, staring at the cylinder- which is apparently a weapon good enough to keep Remo away from me- with deep concentration.

"What is it?" I ask him, flipping the cylinder in my hands. Finn doesn't answer me. He just takes my hand and guides it to where the cylinder fits perfectly into my hand and my thumb rests on the Loralite stone in the middle. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion and look up at Finn expectantly.

"And what does this do exactly? Does it ward off Mogadorians if I throw it at them?" I guess, examining the cylinder more carefully. Finn chuckles and shakes his head at me. A lot of people do that, especially more recently, and I'm honestly not surprised.

"Press the Loralite." Finn orders me.

Did he just say to...

Press the Loralite?

I'm sorry, I just didn't know Loralite was a button now.

But I shake it off and press the Loralite under my thumb, and it actually clicks when I press hard enough. The moment I do, a sharp and deadly four-inch blade protrudes from the other side, startling me. I look up at Finn and he's smiling down at the cylinder-knife.

"What is this? How'd you get it?" I ask him, examining the knife with much more interest now. Finn chuckles at my enthusiastic curiosity.

"It's a Loric weapon, called 'Iepida'." Finn starts and that word automatically clicks into my mind like a light being turned on.

"Iepida." I repeat, thinking over that word. "'Blade' in Greek." I guess and Finn nods his head.

"Remo gave it to me last year, when I turned sixteen." Finn says and now I'm more confused than I've ever been in the past two months.

"Remo gave you this?" I question and Finn nods his head again, a grim look on his face. "But...why?"

"It's a family heirloom."

Those two words ring in my ears like church bells- family heirloom.

"A family heirloom? And Remo gave it to you? Why?" I inquire and Finn furrows his eyebrows in confusion.

"I thought you already knew..." Finn trails off, his raven black eyes striking with realization. I shake my head at him.

"Know what?" We're both silent for seconds, as if he's deciding whether to tell me or not. After a few more moments, though, he finally decides to do it, and when he does, I'm more shocked and, well...scared...than I have been all week.

"Remo is my brother."