Suppressing a smile, Addy turned to the others in the van.
"Some of us were chosen, some of us volunteered. This will be a dangerous mission, because come on. Twelve half bloods all together outside of camp? Even with an enchantment, monsters will still smell us. But we've trained for this. And this isn't about us; it's about Camp Jupiter. Just be glad that there really isn't a prophecy yet, and that we aren't apart of it. Believe me, you don't want to get yourself involved in a prophecy."
Michael looked outside. "This is going to be great." He put a hand on his gun. "Where are we going again?"
Lewis sighed.
"Yeah, I'm Hecate's kid. But honestly you wouldn't know it."
He frowned.
"I didn't exactly get a choice. Chiron basically forced me to go."
He leaned back where he sat. Gods. This was going to be miserable. He knew he was here because he had been at the camp a long time. Because he was "responsible" or whatever. Ultimately, that really just made him feel useless.
"Why so?" Zyra asked, glancing at Lewis. "Don't you have powers? Or are you still waiting for them to come?"
Lewis choked on laughter.
"I think 'waiting for them to come,' is a bit generous. I've been here since fourteen, and nothing. Even my… um… my sister had some sort of powers going on, and she was a few years younger than me. I think I could've gotten away with living my whole life without knowing if that weren't the case."
Angel put her hand on Lewis's shoulder and whispered, "If it makes you feel any better, I don't have powers either."
She was pretty sure her telepathic connection with Anna was a figment of her imagination resulting from loneliness.
"I didn't have any powers when I first came here either," Zyra said. "You could try and learn Latin or Ancient Greek? Those are the languages Hecate kids use when casting spells."
Lewis pulled away from the hand on his shoulder.
"Look, I didn't just come here. It's been almost four years. Besides, I'm almost fluent in Latin and Greek at this point. I've been working hard on other things, you know. Just no powers, and not for lack of trying."
Daisy listened to their conversation, getting bored. Who cared about some dumb powers? She had powers and she was getting along just fine without any. She folded her arms, still leaning against the van. “Not everyone has powers,” she added, giving her half-hearted attempt at comfort.
"We're going to California," Addy told Micheal. "To Camp Jupiter." Then she turned to the rest of the group.
"Not all Demigods have powers, but they make up for it with other things. You guys all know Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. She can't throw any balls of fire, or control water, or manipulate light. But she's probably the only reason the Seven of the Prophecy survived the quest, because she was smart. We all have attributes from our godly parents, even if we haven't figured out what they are yet. And even if they aren't easy to see, like being able to summon lightning from the sky, they're still important."
Michael snorted. "Stop with the speech." (are they going to have any monster encounters on the road trip?)
(I think they probably would)
“I guess my attributes would have to be my good looks and amazing sense of humor,” Daisy replied dryly, fluffing her hair. They probably all knew her real “godly attributes” or whatever else one liked to call them: her uncanny ability for stealing and mischief. She didn’t know why she had volunteered to go on this trip.
"Yup. Not anything else at all." Michael said sarcastically, looking at her carefully to see if she pickpocketed any of them.
Daisy rolled her eyes, holding up a watch. "Is this anyone's?" she asked, not seeming to care. She practically couldn't help herself at this point, or at least that was what it felt like sometimes. It was just so easy to bump in someone, and then take their stuff. And that was only one method that she could use.
Angel turned back to Addy and said, "California's all the way across the country. Did you know it's called the gold state because of the Gold Rush in 1838, when a miner found gold in the river? It's also because of the golden poppies that bloom in the spring."
She got excited when she knew things that other people didn't. She's not a know-it-all, but random bits of information do tend to slip out.
"Did you know that it's also because of the Golden Gate Bridge and the brilliant sunsets over the Pacific? Anyways, how many Drachmas do we have?"
"That's awesome!" Angel replied to his first question.
As for the second question, she simply shrugged. She had brought energy bars, bottled water, and her pocket knife. She knew there was something she forgot! Must've been the monz.
Lewis sighed.
Yup. Already knew all of that. Didn't care. Couldn't bring himself to be excited. Especially not with how dismissive they were of his whole "no powers" issue. He was a child of Hecate, and he couldn't even manipulate the Mist. All of his other siblings were able to do at least that. That was kind of an important part of her domain. A literal magic goddess was his mum, and he couldn't even cast a simple spell.
Lewis rubbed on the metal Hecate's wheel amulet around his neck, feeling each groove in it with his fingertips.
"I hope you all actually packed a good bit of money, because I only took enough to take care of myself," he grumbled.
Daisy grinned. “Why would you pack money when you can just steal it?” she asked, holding up the random watch again for emphasis before stuffing it into her pocket. The people she would steal things from on the trip were just donating their money to the kids to Camp Half-Blood, even if they didn’t know it.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because not everyone carries drachmas around?" Lewis said, "You know, just a guess."
He tried to relax, but his posture was still so tense.
"Besides, if anyone learns it was you who stole, you could be in for undue trouble."
Daisy rolled her eyes. “Stop being so uptight,” she complained. “First off, I do have some drachma, and second, nobody ever catches me.” She had liked Lewis up until this point. Now it was time to do what she always did and push people away again.
Michael sighed. "So how exactly are we going to stop Erebus?"
"Well, he's the god of darkness so I can't do much," Zyra said with a laugh. "But, we have an Apollo kid with us, so we might have a chance."
Addy blushed. "C'mon Zoe, you'll be a help too. Darkness is kind of your home territory." she smiled, and then held up a back pack.
"I've got enough drachmas as well as normal money to keep us going, and… I have no idea what we're gonna do about Erebus." she admitted. "Back to our earlier conversation, we haven't been sent on a real quest, so we don't have any real directions on what to do. Just get to Camp Jupiter, and help them however we can. As far as we know, he hasn't risen yet, there's just a lot of signs indicating he could."
as her friends continued to talk, she smiled as it turned to bantering, and from bantering to arguing. This would surely be an interesting trip.
Suddenly the van lurched forwards, taking everyone with it.
"Good night!" Addy yelled, sitting up and looking around. The van had stopped, but her heart rate picked up. Was this the first monster attack, all ready?
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