Chapter Five

When I woke up I hurried myself to my cabin. It was incredibly cold and early in the morning. My body was blue and my lips were a light purple. Shivers went down my body and my teeth chattered violently. I still held a high posture as I walked past a few early risers, keeping my eyes ahead of me. I couldn't make them think I was weak. Ever.

As I reached Zeus cabin, I threw open the door and stormed in, glaring at the huge statue of my dad in front of him.

"Morning. Don't murder me while I'm on this quest, please. Or my friends. Otherwise you'll find me sitting on your throne in mount olympus, sharpening a knife." I placed my hands by my sides and walked over to my duffle bag, picking it up and swinging it over my shoulder.

Suddenly, I decided I wanted a new weapon. Not something old… After making sure my ring was still on, I searched through the bag for my jacket with the daggers. As soon as I found it, I put a black tank top on and slipped the black jacket over. It took me a moment to find my baggy, military cargo jeans. I slipped them on and put on a thick, black belt before I put the duffle bag back on my shoulder.

Quickly, I began to head toward Poseidon cabin. When I reached it, I picked up all my clothes off the floor and dresser before shoving them into the bag. After a while of searching, I was able to find a hair-tie and my black, fingerless combat gloves. I pulled my hair into a tight, low ponytail and pulled the gloves on. Glancing in the mirror, I realized that despite being inside, I was still quite blue and purple. And shivering. My teeth chattering, I decided to ignore my makeup and didn't take it off. What was the point?

Grabbing the bag, I walked out the door, heading for the weapons storage. When I reached the place, I looked around, looking for a sword of some sort. That'd be nice… All of a sudden, something began to glow. Frowning, I dug through a pile of weapons until I was able to find something I didn't recognize; a collapsible double-sided scythe. It was huge, metal, and looked like they were made of bones; I liked it. It had a big Hades vibe going off them so I decided to leave them there. Turning around, I began to walk out but a sudden light weight tugged on my belt. Glancing down, I discovered that the collapsed scythe was hung onto my belt. Growling, I stalked out, feeling colder by the moment.

The scythe gave me a weird urge to strike it into my stomach and it made me so cold that my lips were now a noticeable blue. As if I were drowning. A pounding headache began but I kept my straight posture as I walked toward the Big House, my teeth chattered violently and my hands shook as if I were being electrified. It took me a moment to fumble around the door handle, but finally, I was able to get a good grip on it for a moment enough to turn it.

I could feel frost beginning to cover my eyelashes. How weird… I failed to frown so I lifted my violently shaking hand to my eyes, wiping the frost away with trouble. Why was I so cold? It felt like I was an ice sculpture… Seeing how I couldn't make facial expressions.

Stumbling slightly, I began to make my way down the stairs to the ping pong room. When I walked in, I glanced around the table, looking at Peter, Chiron, Rachel, then Paxton in turn. He looked like he'd been talking about something, but I'd interrupted him. Not that I cared.

"A-Anyone h-have a-a s-seat I-I c-can t-ta-take?" I stammered, looking around the room.

"Oh my gods, what happened to you?!" Peter cried out, standing up and touching my arm to guide me to a chair.

If my face could've heated, it would've.

"Geez-" his hand retracted almost as fast as he put it on me, "You feel like ice."

"T-That w-was a-a l-little r-r-rude, b-but I-I'll l-let i-it g-go-" I joked, and tried my best to smile, but it looked like a grimace and stumbled over to the chair next to Paxton, sinking into it and accidentally touching his arm in the meantime.

Peter looked like he was going to laugh but thought better of it, going quiet again. Peter trudged back to his chair and sat in it.

"Could you give an explanation to why you look like you took a dip in a glacier populated ocean?" Paxton asked.

"What makes you think I didn't do that?" I tried to grin again but it came as a grimace. Why was I in such a light mood today? I sighed, "Okay, fine. I slept outside all night… I'm not sure why, I'm just.. Really cold." I placed my hand over my new weapon under the table, my fingers turning blue as I did so.

Chiron cleared his throat, giving me a slight look of suspicion, "Well now that you're all here, though not in the best condition," he gave me a pointed look, "But I think Rachel should explain what the quest is."

Rachel started to nod but her eyes suddenly glowed green and a green mist came out of her mouth, "Journey to Boston, find the abomination, kill it, and you're all set!" the mist disappeared and she suddenly slumped.

"W-Well t-then-" I let out a short laugh/messed up giggle, "I-I g-guess t-that's i-it. L-Let's g-get o-out o-of h-here."

"Wait a second, that wasn't a prophecy, that was very distinct instructions!" Peter sounded stressed.

"Yes, it was, but it was definitely the Oracle, so I do believe that you're all set to leave now," Chiron said, looking slightly surprised.

"T-Then l-let's g-go!" I glanced around, "A-Anyone h-have a-any p-pocket w-warmers?"

"I've got hand warmers that you're free to hold!" Peter wiggled his fingers in front of my face, "Or of course, arm warmers." He goofily smiled.

"I-I'll t-take m-my c-chances w-without t-them, t-thanks." I stammered, making him snort.

Slowly, I stood and wrenched the scythe off of my belt, unzipping my duffle bag with struggle and shoving it in there. As soon as it was off of my skin, warmth began to sink into me and some color came back into my cheeks. Suddenly, I didn't feel so frozen. I was only slightly shivering.

"Maybe that hand thing might work." I teased Peter, feeling my stammer calm down much more.

What was going on? Why had most of my cold disappeared when I put the scythe back?

Peter jokingly hopped to my side and took my hand, making me blush.

"Well, you best be on your way then, good luck." Chiron stood.

"Thank you for everything," I said, smiling slightly at Chiron and Rachel -a rare sight-, "I hope we'll see each other again."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Paxton give me a weird look. Slowly, sticking my tongue out at him when we turned around, Peter and I led the way upstairs, where we happened to meet Dionysus, sitting in the living room next to Seymour.

"Heya, D-Man. What're you doing here?" I asked, shooting a grin in his direction.

Ew… Holding Peter's hand had made me all cheery.

Dionysus sent me a pissed smile before he stood up and walked over to Peter and I, placing his hand on Peter's shoulder.

"Hello, Peter. I'd rather not say goodbye to another one of my sons, not knowing if they'll come back," he looked as though he got a sour taste in his mouth and a tinge of sadness lined his eyes, "But I'm afraid I have no choice. Promise me you'll come back safely," he turned to me, "And you, August, take care of him, will you? Bring him back unharmed." After talking to us, he turned to Paxton and stared at him for a moment.

"And you, Parker, make sure that one, they behave," he motioned to us, "and two, that they both arrive back without a single scratch."

Parker- I mean Paxton nodded, looking miserable.

"Now get out of my sight. I've talked enough. I'll give you a little head start, though don't tell anyone," he winked, "I'll see you all eventually." He snapped his fingers and we all appeared on a random street in what looked to be Boston.

"Any idea where we are?" Paxton asked after a second.

"No," I shook my head, "We should split up, though. Cover more ground while we search for whatever monster this is…"

"Okay, but what happens if one of us gets attacked by this thing? We won't be able to know if that happens, and I really don't want to get on Dionysus's bad side." Paxton protested.

I grinned and turned to him, "Then you go with Peter and pray to the gods that you're the one who gets attacked. I doubt Dionysus cares about me as much as he does Peter. He knows how stupid I get sometimes."

Peter frowned, "And you think I'm just going to let you go off on your own?"

"Yes you will, unless you want to get karate chopped in half." I grinned wider.

Paxton glanced between us, "Actually, August, you and me need to talk about yesterday."

I grimaced, "Fine. Peter, give us a minute."

Peter sent a suspicious look at Paxton, then moved to the side, taking my duffle bag with him and muttering nonchalantly to himself.

"What?" I growled.

"You found out who the god is, didn't you?" Paxton folded his arms across his chest, his eyes narrowed.

"...Yes. But I think you don't want to know." I said quietly.

He shook his head, "I think I do. I have reasons to believe he's my dad."

"Fine. It's Loki." I sighed.

"Thanks," he said, looking a little more relaxed, "Where did you find out?"

"Believe it or not, I read books," I raised my eyebrows. "Where else?"

"I meant which book, you did say you would check the library," he said.

"Uh… Just some weird book that disappeared after I looked at it. The section was on Norse mythology."

He pressed his lips together, "You said it disappeared after you looked at it?" he asked.

I nodded, realizing how crazy I sounded. What was new?

"Well that can't be good, can it?" he asked.

I thought about telling him about how my new weapon had made me freeze when I picked it up.

"No, it's not," I shook my head, "Can we start looking now?"

"Sure, but we're going to have to come back to this later, I have a feeling he plays a big part in this quest." Paxton said.

"Okay, cool," I skipped over to Peter and grabbed my bag, "See you guys around, then."

Harnessing energy without listening to anything they said, I teleported away. As soon as I touched the ground, I felt a weird dark presence around me, making me search around for it. My eyes zeroed in on a homeless person, sitting on the side of the road and staring darkly at me. I sucked in a sharp breath, not realizing that momentarily I'd forgotten to breathe.

Everything screamed in me to run as he stood up and began to make his way to me, but I stayed put.

How was I going to get Paxton and Peter to help me? I hadn't thought that through…

"I'm sorry, do you need something?" I spat as he came nearer, cornering me into an alleyway.

He pounced on me and I shoved him away, a long cut going up my arm as I did so. Suddenly, the evil presence disappeared and I felt him shift off of me, suddenly disappearing into the ground, hissing.

"Aw, where'd Dank Guy go?" a voice came from behind me, making me jump. "A pretty girl like you shouldn't be walking around by yourself…" the hiss of breath came close to my ear, making me nearly barf.

For some reason, I'd frozen up again, feeling as though something was rooting me to the ground.

"Maybe you should go visit our little friend, eh?" he laughed softly and my nose wrinkled at his horrible breath as his arms slid around me, almost in a backwards hug.

"Don't touch me." I warned, but I couldn't move my body away from the ground, so he proceeded to slip his arms around my waist.

"No one to help you now, kid." he laughed again, cruelly.

"LET GO!" I screeched, not liking how close his face was to mine and where his hands were, "Watch your hands, mister!"

"Why would I do that? Then it's no fun!" he exclaimed, brushing his cheek against mine.

Eww…. He'd better get off soon…

Suddenly, the area around me exploded in flames and the people around me disappeared in my mind and I screamed out in agony, my body burning with the heat of the fire. Where had that come from?

I didn't have time to figure it out, because I crumpled to the ground, the world blacking out.