Chapter 4

Avoiding

Rachel Dare.

I woke up to the sound of a train passing by. And that was weird because I don't remember falling asleep. I sat up and looked around.

Nico was sitting right next to me. Eliza was sitting a bit further away. I couldn't see Logan anywhere. The last thing I remember is all three of them running and then my mind went blank.

I groaned.

"I said a prophecy, didn't I?" I asked

"Yeah, you did." Said Nico

His eyes were closed but he seemed to be awake.

"What happened to all of you?" I asked.

Both Nico and Eliza were just sitting sadly where they were, not moving.

Logan had disappeared

"I honestly don't know." Replied Nico

I got up. If Nico doesn't know then maybe Eliza does. I could have only been out for a minute, maximum, but from the way they were acting, maybe it had been longer.

I walked over to Eliza. I could hear Nico following me.

"Are you alight?" I asked her.

"No." she replied

I looked at her carefully. Her knee was bleeding.

"Doesn't your knee hurt?" I asked

"Doesn't you hand hurt?" she asked

Why should my hand hurt?

"It doesn't hurt." I said

I heard Eliza unzipped her bag. It was kind of surprising that she still had it.

She took out a torch and flashed the light on my hand.

I looked at it; my hand was completely covered in blood with glass sticking out of it.

Slowly, she started taking the glass pieces out.

I winced as she did so

"Okay, now it hurts." I said

After all the glass pieces were out, she dug into her bag again and took out her handkerchief, which she tied around the cuts on my hand.

"What all do you carry in that bag?" asked Nico

"Anything I think I will need." Said Eliza

"Do you have antiseptics?" I asked

"We aren't allowed to carry liquids on an international flight." She said

"You mean you reached London today?" I asked

She nodded

"And I've already lost my brother." She said, her voice cracking up

"What will I tell my mom?" she asked me

I looked at her eyes; this was the first time I'd gotten a good look at them.

They were completely red. She'd been crying a lot, it seemed.

"Nothing." Said Nico

"Don't tell your mom anything. You can't go home now." He said

Eliza looked at me.

"He's right." I said

"Then where am I going to go?" she asked

"Camp Half Blood." I said

"That's where Nico and I were planning to taking you in the first place."

Eliza stood up.

"I am not going anywhere with him." She said

"Why not? What did Nico do?" I asked

"Logan thought you'd protect him!"Said Eliza, loudly

"I didn't tell him to think that!" screamed Nico.

"This is not my fault."

"Then whose is it, Rachel's?" she retorted

It couldn't be my fault because I didn't do anything.

"Maybe it's your fault." Said Nico

"How so?" asked Eliza

"Maybe he got fed up of you always tagging along with him wherever he went and ran away." Nico said

"You don't know Logan like I-"started Eliza

"I don't need to know Logan. Anyone would get tired of you if you behaved like that."

"Like what?"

"So freaking annoying! You're like a..."

"Okay!" I interrupted them.

"That's enough from both of you." I said

"It's more than enough." Said Nico

"See you later, Rachel." He said and before I could do anything to stop him, he disappeared.

"He's gone?" said Eliza in shock.

"You know when you make a mistake you're supposed to stay and correct them not run away." she said

"Eliza, this is no one's fault." I said

She didn't respond.

"We need to think of a way to get to camp half blood." I said

"We could take the train." said Eliza

"How are we going to do that?" I asked

"We are in the London Underground and a train just went by; there must be a platform nearby." She said.

And that's exactly what we did. We kept walking in the darkness till we found the platform. With some difficulty we climbed on to it.

The next train would arrive in a couple of minutes. We waited in silence. I had no idea what to say to her. I barely knew her and I wasn't that good with people; especially those who cried. Eliza wasn't crying anymore. I think Nico leaving was a bit of a surprise to her. I'd actually been expecting it.

The train came and we got on.

It was empty except for a girl sitting facing the door.

She smiled as we stepped in.

"Hello there." She said

I recognised her voice. I'd heard it before, once maybe twice. She was one of Percy's friends.

"Thalia, right?" I said

"Right." she said, still smiling

"Nico finally left, huh?" She said

"You knew he was going to?" asked Eliza

"Of course I did, Eliza. Why do you think I came to meet you then?" she asked

"You said you wanted to recruit me back then." said Eliza

"When was this "then"?" I asked them

"A while back." Said Thalia, "I knew you'd never say 'yes'"

"Then why did you come?" asked Eliza.

The train started moving.

"I wanted to meet you. Heard a lot about you, you know."

Eliza sat down on the nearest seat.

"From whom?" she asked softly, tears starting to pool in her eyes again.

"Logan" said Thalia.

An then they stared at each for a while in a way that made me feel like I was the only one who had no idea what was going on.

"Three years ago, I met him." said Thalia

Eliza winced at her words, as though trying to block out the memories that were coming back to her.

"All he talked about was you. He told me that he wasn't scared because he knew you'd find him.

"And you did. You found him; of course, I helped." Said Thalia

"How am I going to find him this time?" she asked

"Don't worry... you will. You're powerful."

"No, I'm not! I can barely..."

"You're the only half blood I know who managed to use Apollo's power!" Thalia interrupted her.

Eliza looked at her, probably feeling as confused as I was.

Thalia sighed

"How do you think you defeated those monsters back there?" she asked

Eliza shrugged, "I don't know" she said

"It just sort of happened..."

"You got upset, lost your mind and awakened Apollo's power that rest within you, the power of the sun!"

"SO what? I don't know how I did it and I don't think I could do it again!" said Eliza

Thalia stood and for a second I thought she was going to disappear too but instead she walked over and sat down between me and Eliza.

"I thought you might say that, so I got you this." She said and handed her a sheath. Eliza took it and placed her hand over the silver handle of the sword inside.

"Look here." Said Thalia and pointed to the sheath. I leaned over her to get a better look.

Φόβος was written on it, but it was really small and you had to squint to see it.

"Fear." Said Eliza (Don't ask me how she knew that)

"Yeah," said Thalia

"This sword was made so had that people would fear who ever used it. Of course when it was made it was a lot bigger. Thousands of years did a lot of damage to it but I got it fixed and it's still in great condition. Except you can't really call it a sword anymore... It's more like a really big blade."

"Thank you." Said Eliza

Thalia smiled.

"Put it to good use, okay?" she said and stood up and this time she did disappear.

"I hate it when they do that." I said

"Do what?" asked Eliza

"Just disappear. It's annoying." I said

"Rachel, three years ago I ..." she started

"It's okay." I said

"You don't have to tell me what happened if you don't want to."

Eliza smiled.

"I don't want to." She said, then dug into her bag for the third time this evening and took out my book.

"Where did you get that?" I asked her.

"Picked it up from your room... I hope you don't mind I thought I might need it..."

"That's right. You will need it." I said

"Read up."

And that's exactly what she did. I'm not sure whether it was because she wanted to take her mind of things or because she was genuinely curious.

Nico Di Angelo

"No." I said

"Are you sure?" she asked

"Yes, I'm sure I didn't light a match and set my hand on fire, nurse." I said

"I was just asking." She said as she applied some sort of cream on my burned hand.

"Why? I already told you what happened..."

"Maybe I should call your parents and tell them what happened." She said

"My mom is dead and good luck trying to reach my father." I said

"Ok, now your story makes sense."

"It does?" I asked

"Yeah, I mean, I'd never put my hand into boiling water to take out my cell phone but I guess friends must be pretty important to you." She said

"Why would you say that?"

"Friends are pretty much the only family you've got." She said

I didn't say anything.

After she finished she told me to hurry up and get out of there before any doctor sees me.

I ran out and hailed a cab.

"Where to?" asked the driver

"The airport." I said

It was the only place to go. After all, the nurse was right. Friends are the only family I've got.

Rachel Dare (again)

"This airport is huge." Said Eliza

I agreed with her. The airport was enormous. We'd been walking for ten minutes and we were totally lost.

"Maybe we should ... Nico." She said

"What?"

"Nico." She said and pointed straight ahead.

"Is he really there or am I hallucinating?" she asked me

"No, I think he's really here because we both can't be having the same hallucination."

"Nico!" she called and waved him over.

He came

"I'm sorry." She said

"Yeah, um, so am I." He said, kind of surprised that she apologised first.

"SHHHHH!"I said suddenly

"What's wrong?" asked Nico

"Listen." I said.

"To what?" asked Eliza

"Just listen." I said.

This is the last boarding call for the flight 345 to New York. Would the di Angelos please report to boarding gate no. 7.

"I have never been so happy to hear an automated voice." I said and started running.

Mandy was an angel. That was all I thought as we ran to gate no. 7, this was the second (or third) time she'd helped us out. I could see the gate now so I turned around and called out to Eliza and Nico who were running behind me at a snail's speed;

"Come on, let's go... I don't want to miss our flight!"

"The best seats you could possibly get." I said and sat next to Eliza. She took the window seat but I didn't mind. I like aisle seats better. Eliza sat quietly, staring out of the window.

Nico sat two rows behind us. They hadn't spoken to each other since that brief exchange of apologies earlier.

"Are you going to sleep?" I asked her

She shook her head.

"I know I'll have nightmares if I sleep." she said

I didn't say anything. I don't like flying in airplanes; makes me feel like Zeus is going to zap me out the sky any time though there's no reason why he should.

After takeoff I expected Nico to come over and to talk to Eliza but he didn't. He stayed in his seat and she in hers. So, I got up and went over to him and wacked his head.

"Ow! What was tat for?" he said.

I knelt beside his seat.

"Go talk to Eliza!" I said

"Why?" he said "I have nothing to say to her!"

"Well, think of something and then go talk to her!"

"I don't want to talk to her..."

"Nico, she's had a tough evening, the least you can do for her is talk to her!"

"I can't!"

"Why not?" I asked, "You promised Logan you'd look after her and now you can't even talk to her?"

"How did you know about that?"

"I heard you promise him." I said

"So, I won't let any monster get to her..."

"That's protecting her. Logan asked you to take care of her." I said

"I can't."

"WHY NOT!" I asked him

"Cause that's what I do! I avoid people so that I would have to talk to them!" he said

"I avoided Percy when Bianca died, I've been avoiding civilisation for the past years, I ..."

"You never avoid me." I said

He shook his head.

"You didn't know Bianca. Being friends with you is my way of avoiding her memory." He said

I stayed silent for a while.

"Then your avoiding the wrong person." I said

He looked at me, confused.

"She's going to find Logan, Nico, and when she does... do you want to be standing next to her feeling like you kept your promise or do you want to be back at camp avoiding Logan for the rest of your life?" I asked him.

He didn't reply. I got up and went back to my seat. Eliza was still awake, clutching my book in her hands.

Another hour into the flight, Nico came over asked if we could switch seats.

I got up again but I did go to his seat, instead, I sat in the empty seat behind Eliza's.

"Hey." Said Nico

She didn't reply.

"I'm sorry." he said

"For?" she asked.

"For letting Logan think he'd be safe with me. I'm not going to apologise for him disappearing though, that was not my fault, the tunnel was dark, I couldn't see anything and it just happened too fast." Said Nico.

"I'm sorry for saying it was your fault." She said.

"You couldn't have stopped him even if you tried. I just needed someone to blame.

"Losing someone is easier when you have someone to blame." Eliza said.

"Yeah, I know." Said Nico.

"My mom got a job in London three years ago and it was a really good offer so she took it. We had to move to London. Mom was at work all day, I had to catch up on school work because we shifted in the middle of the year and Logan would usually sit in my room and just fool around. Sometimes, we'd go to the park. One day Logan asked me to take him to the park but I had homework so I told him we'd go later. Then later, I couldn't find him... he wasn't in the house he wasn't with the neighbour, he just vanished. We, me and the housekeeper, found a note on the refrigerator. It was from Logan. I said he'd gone to the park. Except he didn't know the way, he got lost on the way... He wasn't at the park.

"For 4 days we couldn't find him... we called the police, we asked everyone and we just couldn't find him. Then he just turned up on the fifth day, dirty and hungry but safe. But he had nightmares every night, he'd wake up screaming, he wouldn't step out of the house alone. Finally things got so bad that mom sent us back to New York to live with my aunt.

"I blamed myself for that. I kept thinking that if I had just taken him to the park, he wouldn't have gone through all that. I don't want to blame myself again. God knows where he is, is he alright, is he even alive...?" she said

"He's alive." Said Nico

"How do you know?" she asked.

"I'm the son of the god of the underworld. I can tell when people I know die." He said.

"Will you help me find him?" she asked

He nodded, "Even if you don't want me to, I'm going to help you."

She smiled.

"I'm sorry." She said

"For what?" Nico asked.

"For all the unfair things I might say to you in the future."

"Well, in that case, I'm sorry too." He said

They were quite for a while. Then they talked a bit about Camp half blood and I think they fell asleep after that.

"How are supposed to find a cab at this time of the night?" asked Eliza

"Don't know, don't care." I said. I felt like I hadn't slept at all. My head hurt and I just wanted to lean against something and pass out.

Nico was staring at the road hoping that a cab would just materialise out of nowhere.

"Eliza?"asked someone.

"OH MY GOD JACK!" shrieked Eliza and threw her arms around 'Jack'.

"What are you doing here" asked the boy.

"I'm here with my cousins. We just landed." Said Eliza and then she introduced us.

"Jack, these are my cousins, Rachel and Nico and this is my friend Jack." she said and then they launched into conversation about "what jack was doing at the airport." Which eventually turned into a conversation about where Jack was going and then Jack started talking about directions and then.

"That's where we are going!" I said. The mention of the road he mentioned woke me up.

"Ok, that's not where we are going but it's really close to it." I said

"Really?" asked Jack.

I almost felt like saying that I was lying but I was too sleepy to bother.

"So are you waiting for a cab or can we give you lift?"asked the kid.

"If it's on the way then..." said Nico. Nico was easily 4 inches taller than Jack and the fact that Nico could speak seemed to surprise the kid.

"ou guys can come with us... we have minivan and there 're only three of us. Let me ask my parents if it's okay." he said and ran off excitedly.

"Why did you tell him our real names?" asked Nico.

"He's a friend I made at camp. His parents love to travel and they are never in one place long enough to know the local news. They'll probably forget about us as soon as they drop us off." said Eliza.

"Ok, guys, you can come with us!"Said Jack happily.

Jack and his parents talked the whole way. It almost made me glad when we reached camp half blood hill.

"Stop here, please." I told Jack's father.
"Here?" he asked

"Yeah." said Nico, "Our car will pick us up for here."

"And where is your car?" asked Jack's mother.

"I don't know but our driver is there" I said pointing to the man standing some distance from the car.

"Who is that?"Asked Jack

Apollo; that was Apollo standing there, I couldn't see his face but I could tell it was him.

"Our driver." Said Nico

"Do you know him?" Jack asked Eliza

"Of course I do!"She said indignantly.

"Prove it!" Jack said

"Fine." She said and opened the car door. She gave me a quick look and I nodded at her and then she walked towards him in the dark. I waited in the car. Apollo was here. Eliza was going to talk him. This was either going to go well or not well. And by not well I mean bad; really bad...

A/N

So sorry I updated so late. Let me know which one is your favorite chapter so far! ;) :P