floriography [ stories five ]

carnation || three

[ honestly i'm just revisiting my favorite book series and next thing you know there'll probably be a mortal instruments / shadowhunters au

i should probably keep a list of what books i've read recently,,,,

anyway

stay safe,
lew. ]

—————————

We left at dawn.

I felt like I was still half asleep as we left camp, but soon enough, we all started waking up. Harry probably knew more about the quest than I did, but it didn't matter. I didn't really need to know the details. Or at least that's what I told myself.

"I hope you're okay with walking," Logan said, glancing back at me. He and Harry had taken the lead, and I was trailing behind like always.

I shrugged and hiked my backpack up a little further, gripping tightly to the handle of my weapon. "I don't mind, as long as we can stop and take a break occasionally."

—

It turned out, quests were pretty boring.

We didn't have much money between the three of us, so we ended up walking for what felt like hours. I wasn't used to that much physical activity, at least not since my brother's girlfriend taught me how to drive and I got my license.

So, finally, I shared that tidbit of information, casually mentioning that maybe stealing a car wouldn't be that bad.

I could tell that Logan's eyes lit up, and he threw his arm around Harry's shoulders. "Babe... Let's steal a car."

Harry didn't seem too enthused, but he caved pretty quickly. Logan had that effect.

It wasn't too long before we came across a used car lot. All older models, probably bought at an auction after being repossessed or something. On the porch of the office trailer sat an elderly couple, who probably owned the place. They looked friendly enough, and I thought maybe we shouldn't do this.

But Harry had already climbed the steps and struck up a conversation with the old folks. Logan grabbed my arm and asked, "Which one do you want to take?"

I looked over my options, which honestly weren't that great. A Toyota Camry with the exhaust pipe almost broken off completely, a Dodge Ram truck with a halfway-busted frame, a Kia Rio that looked okay but was a stick-shift. Nothing seemed like a good choice, until I saw the other truck.

A Chevy Silverado, older than me, but it looked decent and reminded me of Chloe's dad's work truck.  The only downside was that it had a bench seat, and I doubted Logan would sit in the middle. But I'd made my choice.

We joined Harry on the porch, and Logan told him what vehicle. Then, I couldn't believe what happened.

He just told them, "You're going to give us that truck."

I wanted to laugh, because it sounded ridiculous. But Logan swatted my shoulder, so I didn't make a single noise.

Finally, the old lady shrugged and said, "The keys are hanging up, dear. Go ahead."

Harry shot me a smug smile as he went to get the keys. But I didn't have a good feeling about this. "What if it's a trap?" I asked Logan, my fingers hovering over the button on my walking stick.

Logan laughed. "It's not. Harry just used his gift. It's all good." He pulled me down the steps and towards the truck we'd picked.

"What gift?"

"We'll talk about it when we get back on the road," he promised, opening the driver's side door. "Climb in."

"What do I do with—?" I raised the stick, because I really didn't think it'd be a good idea to stick it in the bed of the truck, and it was too big and unwieldy to keep in the cab.

"Did May not show you how to completely deactivate it?" He groaned and snatched it from me, locating a little slider I hadn't seen. In a brief second, it morphed from a four foot long handle into a goddamn flower crown.

I needed to have a talk with the Hephaestus kids when we got back.

——

I didn't like being in a confined space with Harry.

He kept messing with the radio, turning it from the rock station to various pop ones. Logan called shotgun, so Harry was in between us. At least it wasn't a stick-shift, because there was no way in Hades that I'd reach between his knees to shift the truck.

Finally, I slammed the 'off' button on the stereo. "I feel like y'all are keeping me in the dark about something. Where are we going, what's the quest, and why was Harry able to just talk those people out of a truck?"

"Well..." Logan started. "Right now we need to head towards Ohio."

"Ew." It was an involuntary reaction, but I really didn't like the Buckeye State. Sometimes I thought the rednecks on the other side of the Ohio River were worse than the ones on my end.

"I have a gift from my mother. Charmspeak. People are compelled to listen to me and obey when I use it." Harry seemed a little pissed that he'd even had to explain, but I was new to all this demigod bullshit. I should be excused.

"That still doesn't answer about the quest."

"We've gotta stop a couple idiots and bring them back to camp, okay?" Logan snapped. I wasn't expecting it, and I almost swerved off the road. "There's a group of kids causing trouble in the Mid-Ohio Valley and we have to rescue them."

This time, we were silent for so long, I didn't mind when Harry turned the radio back on.

——

Things went pretty uneventfully, until I took us on a detour.

Sure, there were gas station stops where we got attacked by harpies or hellhounds or whatever, but when we came rolling up on my house, Logan realized that I deviated from the plan.

He and Harry had been sleeping for a couple hours, so my only company was the radio, set to whatever shitty pop station. They played a Fall Out Boy song, so they couldn't be too bad.

As soon as I parked, I shoved Harry's shoulder. "Wake up. There's an actual bed here. But... act straight, okay? My dad's not that accepting."

He and Logan both let out a tired groan, but slowly, they woke up enough to get out and grab their backpacks. I snatched the crown off my head and found the tiny slider to switch it back to weapon mode.

Then, as a group, we climbed the steps and faced down my childhood home.

——————

[ yeet lewis' family next part

and you get a hint as to what the quest actually is. when i thought over my old ocs, i have three that literally live in the same little area, but i might swap stuff around.

as a counter for lewis, i was thinking of putting my old daughter of khione dipshit. then as a counter for logan, i thought maybe my legacy of selene destructive dumbass, and maybe put his friend son of ares in too?? idk there's literally like twenty five old ocs to choose from