Heroes of Olympus (The Throne of Stone)

Chapter 44 The Haiku of Ages

Chapter 44

The Haiku of Ages

 

Sam

“Sam, we’ve landed, dude.” Jason nudged me. My eyes snapped open.

“HOLY FREAKY DEMIGOD DREAMS!!!” I hollered without thinking about it. Jason sympathized.

“I know. But you might want to keep it down because Reyna is so not a morning person.” Jason grimaced. I sat up and scanned my surroundings. Piper was dragging some luggage she had grabbed from the pilot’s compartment, apparently some Oreos, Duct tape, cotton balls, a pocket knife, 20 dollars in cash, band aids, and a first aid kit. Those Oreos look like heaven right now. Piper caught me eyeing them,

“Hey, you have to share.” I nodded, and made sure I wasn’t drooling in anticipation. So dang hungry. I stood up, ignoring my head rush.

“How long was I out?”

“You slept like a log for at least 5 hours. It’s a weird time zone here so it’s still dark. Reyna’s waiting outside. You might want to hurry. She’s seriously grumpy. She brings a new definition to being a bear.” I tried to quick fix my bed head. I walked towards the door after Piper with her bags. Jason was the last one out of the airplane. He closed the hatch behind him, Reyna was waiting for us with her arms crossed over her chest.

“You Greeks take forever.” She mumbled. Someone was standing in front of her. He was in uniform, from a distance I thought he was a soldier, but now that I was up close I could tell, he was just some random UPS man. He was tapping his foot impatiently.

“What can we do for you man?” Jason said from behind me.

“Well you could try and get out here faster. Apollo has a message for you, he says to head to the North, inland. There you will find an angry mistress, but she might be able to help you. He also sends his regards in haiku,

‘Niobe is mad I am

so awesome and fabulous

Artemis is so jealous.”’

The delivery dude clutched his clipboard to his chest, “His poetry is to die for.” Jason smirked,

“Yeah I see that, so um...you can you translate Apollonese to English for us?”

“Apollonese? Nicely said. He says go to the North until you reach his temple where Niobe is waiting.” The UPS man checked his watch like he had to go somewhere important soon. His foot tapping continued, “If we’re done here, I have somewhere to be.”

Piper nodded and he turned and marched away his clipboard at his side humming a random song. Delivery dudes are associated with gods now? Maybe if I knew this I would have started interrogating delivery men a long time ago. Then maybe, I wouldn’t be as clueless.

“So, where do we start?” I asked out loud. That’s what I’ve been asking myself all along, also accompanied by the question You have powers? Da heck? Piper pulled her hair up with a hair tie.

“I saw a building in my knife. I think that we should, for now anyway, do as Apollo has recommended, even if I have a sinking feeling about this ‘Niobe’.” She looked back at the rest of us, “Does her name ring a bell for any of you?” We all shook our heads no. “I thought so.”

“We’ll need transport right? I mean where do we go from here?” I asked again.

“That wasn’t the only thing I saw in Katoptris. I also saw the Taxi of Damnation. You know, the taxi made of smoke. Does anyone have any drachmas on them? I’m empty.” Piper showed us her pockets. I was a blank on anything involving a deathly taxi, and I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to hitch a ride on some smoke, but...whatever.