AN: So it's been quite a while since I updated this story, so I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.

.

.

.

Reborn of Fire.

Chapter 10: From Bad To Worse.

"Looks like we made it, finally," Annabeth said, breathing a sigh of relief nearly two hours later as they stood on the sidewalk waiting for the bus.

Thea had taken the time to add a black waistcoat over her light blue t-shirt. As a way to disguise the scuffs marks and small rips it suffered from the explosion with the Minotaur. She'd been happy she'd packed an two extra outfits, in case she needed them.

The walk had been something which hadn't bothered her, and Thea looked at everything in awe. Though she did eye the bus a bit warily. To her this was getting ridiculous. She wasn't as ignorant of this place as she'd been before coming to Camp Half-Blood, but she was still lost on the majority of things. Like computers and things of that sort.

Camp didn't exactly have technology of any kind, mostly because it seemed to draw monsters towards them. Especially cell phones, which Annabeth had once explained to be devices used to have long distance conversations.

It made her feel stupid, and sort of ashamed for lack of a better word, not knowing what seemed to be common knowledge to everyone else.

She couldn't help feel bitter that she'd had to live on a island with only her mother's visits, Calypso, her grandmother's visits, and the wildlife and sea life around the island.

She dismissed it almost as soon as she felt it, despite it not being the most typical of upbringings Calypso was her family, along with Tethys, and her mother, and Ogygia was her home.

Still, she had no desire to be trapped there for eternity.

Sighing, Thea noticed Grover was shaking, eyes nearly popping out of his as he stared at something across the street. Sitting in a vacant lot were three little old ladies. They all had white or silver colored hair, and looked well into their senior years, and oddly seemed to have really light eyes.

But from the distance she was at she couldn't be sure if they were blind and the eyes were a milky white or if they were just a really light gray.

There was basket of bright blue thread and they looked to be knitting really big socks.

"Di Immortals, is that who I think it is," Annabeth whispered loud enough they all heard, terror in her eyes and voice, face oddly pale.

Luke looked just as surprised, but not quite as terrified by them. Looking at them in confusion she glanced back at the three ladies, noticing they were staring at them, more so her and Luke than Annabeth and Grover. Tilting her head to the side, she made her decision, she ran across the road when the traffic was clear, despite the protest Luke, Annabeth and Grover yelled.

"Hello child," one of the old ladies said, rather polite. "You're brave, not many would venture over here when we show ourselves."

"Sister, you shouldn't become attached..." the one of the end said, and she noted a pair of silver sheers in her hands.

"But you must admit, she has quite the courage. She takes after all of her parents quite a bit it seems," the last sister said, and as she held the blue thread out for the colder sister to cut, Panthea gasped.

"You...you're the Fates," she said, and the three sister's looked at her and gave a mysterious smile.

"You catch on quickly. Though we hadn't anticipated you'd come over here...you are quite the odd one, Daughter of Hestia, Poseidon, and Sally Jackson."

Thea wanted to say something more as she saw who she realized was Atropos ready to cut the blue cord. Was it her's...was it one of her friends' threads? Annabeth had said it was bad luck to have more than three quest members at a time, was she right?

"You wonder who's thread," Clotho began, watching as Atropos cut the cord with a resounding snap which made Thea shiver. "You'll know in time. Now, go, you're bus will be here soon and you've seen what we came to show you."

"Yes, go. You presence is no longer required," Atropos said, and Lachesis shook her head at her rude sister.

Panthea felt as if she could hardly breath, but nodded anyway. If there were any deities she did not want to anger or argue with it was the Fates. Her mother, grandmother and Calypso had told her of them, and they were not the kind of deities one trifled with. They were outside of any control of Olympus.

She nodded, bowed slightly and turned back around, nearly as pale as Annabeth now. She quickly cross the road and nearly collapsed against Luke's side once she was. Looking back over to the fruit stand she noticed it shimmer, and disappear as if it never existed, similar to a mirage.

"You okay?" Luke asked, looking at her with some concern.

Thea nodded, breathing in deeply.

"Fine."

"Good," Annabeth said suddenly, and then her stormy eyes glared into her multicolored ones. "What the Styx were you thinking?"

"I didn't realize...not until I got over there," she said, head bowed for a moment before she shrugged. "I don't know, I just felt compelled to go over there."

"Compelled..." Annabeth muttered, concerned. "The thread...who's was it?"

"I...I don't know. They said I'd know with time," she replied. "let's not worry about it, we have a quest to complete."

Annabeth, Grover and Luke nodded, and seconds later the bus pulled up. They entered, placed their bags away and sat together, though Luke sat directly in front of them.

.

.

.

A few minutes after the bus left it made one last stop, allowing a cloaked man to board. As he came down the aisles, finding himself a seat, he looked right at them.

All four of them froze. It was almost like a primal fear overtook them for a few seconds. A shiver inadvertently traveled down their spine. This was no mortal, the smell, like a rotting corpse that he gave off was the first warning sign.

The second was when he'd looked a her, at them, his skin was barely see-able, and was dark, but not of the normal human skin tones, but a blue-black rotting dark. It seemed to crack and try to peal in places.

His face was thin from what they could tell, almost starved looking, and his eyes sunken. The eyes nearly glowed with hunger and were a acid red, like blood under florescence. He was cloaked in what looked like some kind of bird hide.

As he sat down a few seats ahead of them Annabeth gasped softly, going as pale as the dead.

"Monster?" Thea muttered questionably and Annabeth nodded hesitantly.

"Sort of, but worse than any run of the mill monster," she began. "Eurynomus, He's kind of like the furies, their brother actually they have the same mother, Nyx. He's not a god though, at least he's not written or considered one, much like the furies aren't. He's a spirit or demon of hunger. He eats the flesh of corpses, and wears the hide of vultures. I don't understand though, he never comes to the surface, at least not like this, and never after a demigod as far as anyone knows."

Luke's jaw tightened as he growled low in his throat, his eyes flashing.

"Not unless Hades ordered him to," he said, and Annabeth nodded fearfully.

"What do we do?" Grover asked, chewing loudly on an empty can.

Panthea wondered exactly what the mortals saw him eating, if they even noticed, or if the mist didn't effect something so small. In which case she wondered what they thought of a boy eating a can.

The redhead shook her head, not wanting her thoughts to wonder at a time like this.

She could tell this was bad, even if she'd never even heard of Eurynomus, she was glad to have Annabeth with her. If anyone would know it would be a child of Athena.

"Well, we better think quickly, because he's getting up," Thea said, pointing out their lack of time.

"Windows?" Annabeth asked, and Luke shook his head.

"They don't open."

"Emergency escape?" she tried again and Thea looked around knowing at least what that was, it was pretty obvious even to her.

"There isn't one," she said, and Annabeth groaned.

"Who made this bus, an idiot?" she muttered harshly under her breath, rubbing the area between her gray eyes.

"I must use the restroom, excuse me," the cloaked man said, turning and Panthea wondered if mortals could really be so stupid. She knew the mist was powerful, but what exactly could they think he was doing? There obviously wasn't a bathroom on the bus.

"Uh, they'll see a man trying to kill us, right?" she asked, and Luke shrugged, pulling his bag and hers from the compartment above them. Annabeth and Grover's were further back, and there was barely time for him to grab theirs.

"Depends if it's our lucky day, but most likely no," he said, and Annabeth stuffed her hat into hand.

"Take it and go, it's you he's after," she muttered.

She shook her head, but Luke took the incentive, shoved his and her bag into her arms and jammed the invisibility cap over her head, forcing her away and into the seat across from them which was empty.

"Where is the girl? Lord Hades demands her soul and flesh brought to him," the man said, voice gravely and low.

Annabeth withheld a shiver, and brought her knife out in front of her. Panthea breathed heavily and skirted around the vulture cloaked underworld spirit, her insides burning with guilt. She didn't want to leave them behind. They were her first friends, and she'd always treasured her family and friends. With her mother being Hestia it was kind of second nature for her to be.

"She's not here," Annabeth said, and Luke snarled.

"You won't touch her," he spat, pulling his sword from under the seat.

Eurynomus seemed to hiss, and shriek at the same time, like a vulture, and his cloak seemed to move like something was under it, and she shivered as she backed away.

"Give it to me and the girl...and maybe I won't strip the flesh from your bones demigods!"

"Go to Tartarus," Luke said, and Grover was the first to attacked, trowing two of his tin cans at the demon.

Eurynomus was so startled he took a few steps back, and the mortals began to notice something, as slowly as it was. Luke and Annabeth sprung into action, with more room to move in. Luke came forward with his sword, but simply glanced off his cloak, like it had hit metal.

Annabeth tried to stab him with her knife but he grabbed her arm, which seem to blister and burn, causing her to scream out.

Thea gritted her teeth and stopped at the front of the bus. She looked at the bus driver who was beginning to take notice of the fight, and she saw the emergency break. With one last glance at it she allowed Pyrós to appear in her hand from bracelet form and pulled an arrow from her quiver, only to realize it was still in the compartment with Annabeth and Grover's bags.

Cursing she focused on the hearths flames and pulled back the string, instantly a arrow of flames flickered to life and she prayed to her mother that this harmed Eurynomus who seemed to have impenetrable fashion sense.

Letting the arrow fly, she watched in bated breath as it hit him in the middle of the back, making his screech and the cloak, or what she thought had been a cloak burst to life, spreading wide.

Thankfully there were no mortals that far back in the bus, otherwise she feared some may have been beheaded since the wings cut deeply into the bus walls when they spread out completely.

He seemed to wear little under the wings, loin cloth like fabric over his crotch area, though she wasn't too sure being a spirit or demon of the underworld if he had male anatomy or not, and she didn't want to know.

His teeth grew sharp and black, almost greasy looking, and his skin was worse than once thought, and the smell grew more intense. Nearly knocking her out, she wasn't used to such foul odors back home. Grover, Annabeth and Luke seemed just as affected by it.

The mortals began to scream and she turned, acting on impulse and pulling the emergency break. The bus rocked and swerved as it tried to break.

The bus driver cursed a mile a minute and she was thrown into the left seat behind the driver, and Eurynomus, who turned out to be like a demonic fly-vulture being, flew back some as well, hitting the top of the bus roof, and the sides as well.

Miraculously avoiding the mortals on the bus, but they were in a panic nonetheless. She tore the hat off, and stuffed it in her back jean pocket.

"Luke, Annabeth, Grover!" she yelled, breathing hard in the adrenaline. "Come on!"

"No one leaves!" Eurynomus shouted once he'd gotten a foot hold on the ground and the bus swerved sharply once more, nearly tilting over onto it's side as it came to a stop just before running into the water.

"Everyone off the bus!" the bus driver cried, opening the doors and getting off first.

So much for going down with the ship...or whatever the saying was, Thea thought with a short snort.

The mortals pushed their way out, nearly taking Eurynomus down for them, unfortunately it didn't deter the spirit too much, simply annoyed him.

"Pan, get off the bus!" Annabeth yelled, but instead Thea swung her bow at the spirit, using the blade like ends as a weapon, but while it wounded him, most of it was blocked by his iron-like wings.

He approached and she let her eyes widened, she had no room to let loose an arrow, and she didn't like using her fire powers in confined spaces, it was more dangerous, not so much for her but those around her.

"You've angered the gods, young one," he snarled, raising claws she could tell were made for rendering the flesh from corpses.

She flinched, and gasped when the clang of a sword hit Eurynomus' armored back, along with more tin cans. Annabeth was close behind slashing but all of them were unable to pierce the flesh.

Eurynomus growled in annoyance and swept his arm and wing span behind him, throwing Luke and Annabeth back to the back of the bus. Seeing her opening Panthea uncapped the pen she'd been clutching in her hand through her jean pocket, and thrust the sharp blade into his gut, just below the ribs.

He was rather well armored, but to those who knew what to look for could realize that the armor was only on his back and wings, along with part of his chest. Below that he was as vulnerable as any other monster.

Twisting the blade once for good measure as he turned his attention back to her, sunken eyes wide in surprise, not expecting her to get the drop on him. Slowly at first he actually combusted into gold dust, showering her and the now approaching Luke, Annabeth and Grover in the monster dust.

Thea sneezed, and Luke bent down in the small gold pile and pulled out a black and blue hide, which he offered to her.

"Here, you killed him so the spoil of war goes to you," he said. "I'm guessing the hide is similar to the Nemean Lion."

"Would have been nice to know before we fought him," Grover groaned, and Annabeth shook her head as Thea accepted the hide, which thankfully didn't look as corpse like nor did it smell as it had on Eurynomus.

"Wouldn't have known, there is very little about him known. From what I know he dwells in the underworld, is a son of Nyx and is the worst of the worst you can find there, usually in Tartarus. Not much on his appearance, abilities or if any demigod had faced him, exist. The only accounts of him on the surface is when he takes the guise of a vulture to feed on corpses not of the underworld."

"Morbid," Panthea said, and watched as the hide changed as soon as she'd touched it, taking the form of a raven colored leather jacket. "But this is cool."

"It'll come in handy, now let's get our stuff and..." Annabeth began but the rumble of the sky alerted them to a new danger.

"What's that?" Grover muttered and Luke glanced out the window, seeing the dark clouds overtaking the bright sky.

He cursed, grabbed Annabeth and Thea's hands and pulled them with him.

"Come on, we've got to get off this bus," he said, and Grover was right behind them.

"But...our bags," Annabeth began, and Thea nodded.

"My arrows..."

"No time!" Luke exclaimed and they were only about a dozen steps away when the lightning shot from the sky, and hit the bus.

As they reached the forest entrance Thea grimaced as the exploded buses flames reached her quiver and the exploding arrows ignited, along with some of her other special arrows. The fireball that overtook the bus wreckage shot nearly fifty or more feet into the air. The shockwave sending some of the mortals onto their butts, and nearly shocking the demigods from where they stood.

"Zeus," Grover muttered and Luke nodded grimly, a bitter look on his face.

"Yeah," he said, before turning back to the forest. "Come on, we've got to go before the mortals catch on."

The other three nodded and the four of them headed into the forest at a jog.

.

.

.

Within a few minutes of their escape of near death, it was raining. Thea could keep herself dry, and the leather jacket seemed to repel water like a raincoat.

Thankfully the trees also gave them some cover, but night fell within a few hours. She could see pretty well despite the night, the moonlight helped some, but otherwise it was pitch black. She learned pretty fast that having pretty good eyesight at nighttime did not equal night-vision when she walked into a tree.

"You alright there Ariel, still not used to walking on land?" Luke asked, a teasing smirk on his face.

Thea scoffed, and straightened up, pulling her arm from Luke's helpful grip. Annabeth and Grover stood ahead of them, having stopped to make sure she was alright and were chuckling to themselves.

"I'm fine, I was just thinking...if back at the bus was anything to go by, I don't expect we'll get any breaks from here one from either my uncles."

"Right you are young Heroine," a female voice said, voice holding a promise of pain. "Time to repay you for what you did to our darling younger brother."

The demigods all turned at once, eyes wide at the sight that met them.

Three women, looking almost as ugly as Eurynomus, with wings in a similar style, but more bat-like.

"Prepare to die, honey," the one in the middle, with the most authority it seemed, said.

"Furies," Annabeth and Luke muttered, one with more bitterness than the other.