Changing Fate (Book 2: We're The Same But Different)

10

AFTER BEAR TRAPS and pressure-activated explosives, I didn't think the afternoon could get any worse. Of course, it did.
Once we told Emmie and Josephine what had happened with Britomartis, our hosts sank into despair. They didn't seem reassured that the griffin quest might lead to Georgina's rescue, or that their little girl would remain alive until the spectacular kill-fest the emperor had planned in three days.
Emmie and Jo were so resentful—not just of Britomartis but also of us—that they assigned us more chores. Oh, sure, they claimed that all guests had to help out. The Waystation was a communal living space, not a hotel, blah, blah, blah.
I knew better. There was no way scrubbing toilets in the Waystation's twenty-six known bathrooms was anything but a punishment.
At least I didn't have to change the hay in the griffins' lofts. By the time Leo was done with that, he looked like the victim of mugging by scarecrow. As for Emma, she got to plant mung beans all afternoon with Emmie. I ask you, how is that fair?
By dinnertime, I was starving. I hoped for another fresh meal, preferably one prepared for me, but Josephine waved listlessly toward the kitchen. "I think there's some leftover tofu enchiladas in the fridge. Agamethus will show you to your rooms."
She and Emmie left us to fend for ourselves.
The glowing orange ghost escorted Emma to her room first. Agamethus let it be known, via the Magic 8 Ball and lots of gesticulation, that girls and boys always slept in entirely different wings.
I found this ridiculous, but like so many things about my sister and her Hunters, it was beyond logic.
Emma didn't complain. Before leaving, she turned said, "See you in the morning Leo. Goodnight Apollo" She lead over and gave me kiss on cheek cause me blush.
A few minutes later, armed with leftovers from the fridge, Leo and I followed Agamethus to our guest room.
That's right. We had to share, which I took as another sign of our hosts' displeasure.
Before leaving us, Agamethus tossed me his Magic 8 Ball.
I frowned. "I didn't ask you a question."
He pointed emphatically at the magic orb.
I turned it over and read APOLLO AND EMMA MUST BRING HER HOME.
I wished the ghost had a face so I might interpret it. "You already told me that."
I tossed the ball back to him, hoping for further explanation. Agamethus hovered expectantly, as if waiting for me to realize something. Then, shoulders slumped, he turned and floated away.
I was in no mood for reheated tofu enchiladas. I gave mine to Leo, who sat cross-legged on his bed and inhaled his food. He still wore Georgina's coveralls with a light frosting of hay. He seemed to have decided that being able to fit in a seven-year-old girl's work clothes was a mark of honor.
I lay back on my bed. I stared at the arched brickwork on the ceiling, wondering if and when it would collapse on my head. "I miss my cot next Emma's sleeping bag at Camp Half-Blood."
"This place ain't so bad," Leo said. "When I was between foster homes, I slept under the Main Street Bridge in Houston for like a month."
I glanced over. He did look quite comfortable in his nest of hay and blankets.
"You will change clothes before turning in?" I asked.
He shrugged. "I'll shower in the morning. If I get itchy in the middle of the night, I'll just burst into flames."
"I'm not in the mood for joking. Not after Britomartis."
"Who's joking? Don't worry. I'm sure Jo has this place rigged with fire-suppression equipment."
The thought of waking up burning and covered in extinguisher foam did not appeal to me, but it would be about par for the course.
Leo tapped his fork against his plate. "These tofu enchiladas are sabrosas. Gotta get the recipe from Josephine. My homegirl Piper would love them."
"How can you be so calm?" I demanded. "Emma and I will going on a dangerous quest tomorrow!"
Leo concentrated on his tofu. "You guys be fine."
"Guess you right,"
"Yeah. I can tell Emma's fighter, ese. You watch. Emma will still save both your butts tomorrow."
I didn't like that idea. I didn't want dependent on titan who's angry with the goddess that give us the quest.
"And if she's still angry in the morning?" I asked. "I'm gonna be dead."
Leo's fork hovered over his last enchilada. "Dude, Emma was clearly just jealous"
I considered that. I tried to imagine suffering through four times as many trials as I'd already experienced. "That doesn't make sense"
Leo nodded glumly. "Plus, I don't think Emma's used to being around a lot of people in place she's never been."

"She's safer here than out there," I said. "She'd be dead if she was out there."
Leo chewed his last bite. He swallowed as if the tofu had turned to clay (which, in my opinion, would not have been a dramatic change).
"Emma clearly hates that she can't insure that place safe," he said. "Maybe since she the daughter of the leader of titans, she's uncomfortable when she's in no control of what she does" He said. "I think compare Emma's behavior to a machine"
"What do you mean by that?"
He set his plate on the nightstand. "Well An engine is only built to handle so much stress, you know? Run it too fast for too long, it starts to overheat."
This I understood. Even my sun chariot got a bit tetchy when I drove it all day in Maserati form. "You need time for maintenance. You haven't had a chance to find out who you are without all the danger and constant movement."
Leo smiled, though his eyes were devoid of their usual impish gleam. "Yeah. Except danger and constant movement—that's pretty much my life. I don't—I don't know how to fix that. If it's even fixable."
He picked a few pieces of straw off his borrowed coveralls. "Enough of that. Better sleep while you can, Sunny. I'm gonna crash."
"Don't call me Sunny," I complained.
But it was too late. When Leo shuts down, he does so with the efficiency of a diesel generator. He flopped down sideways and immediately began to snore.
I layed down. I thought about what Leo had said about Emma. This way of doing things seem even more different to Emma than it do to Leo or other demigods. I used watch demigods do this kinda thing all the time. Emma had never done quest things. During the trip here, Emma had told me that during the Battle of Manhattan, she was in the open fields of Oklahoma taking out Kronos reinforcements led by Maddie Long. During the fight Emma and Maddie slashed head-to-head in which Emma accidentally released a huge wave of titan energy nearly killing herself for the amount of energy released. Emma explain to me that the titan energy is something all demititans have. It's their life energy and they can released it and use it has an attack and that it slowly replaces itself over time, but it's rare for demititians to be able to use it as a attack and only the some of the most powerful ones can to this because of how dangerous it is. When we gods were fighting Typhon Emma's blast of energy had blinded Typhon, giving us the chance to attack. I remember feeling the grass fields around me, I felt so drained, I felt cold and fright. There was a pain in my abdomen that I was now holding, it was wet and warm...blood. I remember using my godly powers to heal me. Then I saw that I had no wounds but I'd been hit by Typhon and had fall to the ground. Emma told me that I had heal her that day and what I saw was what she was seeing and feeling in that moment.
Keep thinking about her until at last I drifted into an uneasy sleep.