'How had she found us? Why was she here?' My mind raced, shocked by her appearance. None of us moved, waiting for her to do something else; talk some more, attack us, anything to break the nerve-wracking silence. Luke seemed to come to a conclusion, because he gave us a look, his face set.

"Well, it looks like we are out of time. You caught us, congratulations! What now? You going to take us back to your master?" Luke had stood up in the aisle and was calling out to the Fury.

"You will be judged, and punished accordingly." She rasped in reply, her voice echoing around the carriage. "Lord Hades will be most pleased with this new turn of events."

That confirmed it, she was working for Hades, and he was trying to capture us. We had to keep heading west to the underworld. Of course there was just a little predicament in the way, namely the scary bat lady trying to kidnap us.

"What, do you expect us to come quietly? I doubt Hades will be merciful. I think you will find us rather more difficult to take than your usual prey." What was Luke doing challenging her like that? Even if we outnumbered her, in the cramped compartment that would only hinder us.

Annabeth signalled to me urgently, it seemed she had realised something as well. I looked where she was pointing, and sure enough on her side of the carriage there was a fire escape door. That must be what Luke had seen as well, and he was hoping we would escape without him. 'As if we'd just leave him!' There was no way we would let him face her alone.

I fiercely shook my head at Annabeth. Then I had a realisation of my own, I mimed putting a cap on towards her, and her eyes widened, then set in determination. She grabbed her Yankees cap out of her bag, and slipped it onto her head, disappearing before my eyes.

I hoped she knew what I meant, after all, there is only so much a look can convey. Luke stepped up the aggression, simply beginning to insult her now. Their voices faded away as I focussed on my own role, gathering the bags and quickly, quietly carrying them over to the door. My task was soon over and I crouched watching the Fury hiss in anger. A flash of light from behind her, and suddenly she screeched in pain, twisting around. Her blazing eyes hunted for Annabeth. I drew my dagger in preparation, although I wasn't sure what I could do from where I was stood. Throw it? In the end I didn't need to worry as Annabeth reappeared next to Luke, her cap in her hand. She began to drag him back and I turned to the door.

In my desperation I nearly missed the bright red lever, but I grabbed it and pulled before pushing the door out. It clattered across the hard and dusty ground outside and was soon left behind. The noise had caught the Fury's attention and she rushed after us. It was now or never. I leapt out the door, twisting to crash into the scrubs with my back. I pulled up my knees and brought in my hands, practically curling in on myself to protect my extremities. The train rumbled on, and to my right two more people dropped into the wiry bushes.

I remained there, not moving, while the mysterious train rolled and clattered away. Only when it was long gone did I dare to stand up and limp towards the others. Annabeth had landed in a deep section and was just pulling herself back out when I stumbled over to her. Her arms were scratched from the rough landing and her hair was disheveled, but she looked otherwise fine. Luke wasn't as successful. He had landed feet first and his left foot was twisted at an unhealthy angle.

"Gods my foot hurts. I think my ankle is broken." He complained to us as we dragged him out.

"We'll have to reset it." Annabeth said, grimacing in distaste. "I-I know what to do, in theory."

I sighed in relief, as I had no clue how to go about resting an ankle. We soon had Luke laid out on the hard dirt, one leg suspended. His teeth were clamped around the strap of a bag, and I was holding his legs still, while Annabeth knelt opposite his foot. Her face, flushed red from the sudden chase and subsequent impromptu exit of the train, slowly returned to normal as she breathed deeply. Her eyebrows drew together in concentration and she stuck her tongue out slightly. Suddenly she grasped Luke's unfortunate foot with both hands and firmly twisted it straight again. Luke bellowed in agony and his limbs thrashed. Now I understood why I needed to hold his legs down.

Annabeth hurriedly searched through the duffel bags, still miraculously intact, and triumphantly pulled out a pouch of...some kind of yellow squares. She took one out, broke it gently in half and placed some into Luke's open, gasping mouth. He chewed briefly and, despite his earlier pain, his face was briefly covered by nostalgic relief, before opening his eyes with a sour expression.

"What was that?" I queried, confused.

"Ambrosia, it's the food of the gods. It helps demigods heal if they're injured but too much can make them burn up - literally," Annabeth replied helpfully. "We normally carry them in squares, about one of which is the maximum safe amount. They sell it on a stick on Olympus though."

I was still confused, but resolved to learn more later. Right then we needed to help Luke, since however it worked he still wasn't wholly healed. With a coordinated effort me and Annabeth got Luke up onto his remaining foot and, as best as we could stumbled off along the tracks towards civilisation.

•••••

A/N

Hey guys, sorry this one took a while to come out. I kept writing a section of it and then running out of steam. I still have a lot of room to cover in this story and it feels like it's dragging a bit, but rest assured I'll get there...eventually...

I have written some things that might not be exactly canon here but represent my own interpretation of the world, such as how ambrosia works. It's never really clear but I'm assuming it simply provides a burst of energy that helps your body heal, instead of doing it for you (hence the feverishness). I also don't know if resetting an ankle is especially helpful in the real world and would always recommend calling an ambulance - or perhaps an Uber, I hear those are cheaper in the US - if you break your ankle.

As always guys, remember to leave a review if you enjoyed and even more importantly, if you didn't enjoy it. Feel free to tell me where I can improve.