"We'll need a real plan, Thankfully we were able to restock on food and toiletries at the motel. There is nothing we can really do about the lost Ambrosia and nectar, I'll try my best to heal using my magic, but in case of an emergency we won't have this privilege..." Megan said as they sat in a small compartment of the train.
"I have good healing abilities... But I do agree..." Lee said as both of them turned to Argen who was looking out the window.
"We'll train hop... And boat hop... At least until we get to Greece... Then we can get it... I hope" Argen said as he sighed and rubbed his temples.
He had tried experimenting with his power by following the silver lines with his mind. He had gotten around 20 feet before splitting headaches caused him to stop and listen to the conversation.
'Progress is progress...' Argen thought to himself as he slumped in his chair waiting for the other's reply.
"Get what exactly?... We still don't know what we should expect" Megan said semi annoyed as she looked Argen up and down with her eyes glowing green.
She had used a spell to let her see through things on accident and had seen through his clothes. Since then she absentmindedly did it, and not for the reason of simply peeking at his body.
There was... Another reason she wouldn't bring up. Though she hoped Argen would eventually share it himself.
"Well... An ancient object?" Argen said questionably as Megan and Lee looked at him like he was an idiot.
"No shit sherlock" Megan said sighing as she got up and left the compartment to go to the bathroom. Annoyed at Argen seemingly not able to plan things out and also slightly disgusted at the things she kept looking at.
"I'm gonna go to sleep... shake me awake if anything new happens..." Argen said to Lee who was doing a crossword puzzle with a gleeful smile on his face. Seeing him nod Argen got comfortable and soon fell asleep before Megan even came back.
...
"Come back!' Argen yelled as he ran smiling at the silver wolf that kept running away from him. he wasn't sure how but he was able to feel its emotions, it was happy as well seeing him running around and having fun.
Perhaps since it was a dream, Argen didn't seem to realize or even care as he was within a child body, running along the beach with the wolf, not a care in either of their minds.
"Caught you!" Argen yelled as he grabbed onto the wolf's pelt, in the next second his smile that was plastered on his face dissapeared and was replaced with one of confusion.
"Argen! Get your ass in here!" Argen's father yelled throwing a beer can at him. Usually Argen would be hit by the can, but today... he was able to dodge, not only dodge, the silver aura that floated around him ever since he had grabbed ahold of the wolf seemed to grab the can and throw it back at his father, getting rid of the small memory.
"Did you... protect me?" Argen asked the small silver wolf as it snuggled and rubbed its head against his foot. "You must have been put here by my mother..." Argen said out loud as he grabbed the wolf and found a tree in the hazy place, laying down and drifting off to sleep, not noticing the wolf had looked at him in confuson when mentioning his mother.
"Now we get started..." A man covered by shadows was saying as Argen looked ahead at him, floating for some reason beyond him. 'This is a dream right?' he thought to himself as the man flew back into a wall.
"God damn goddess! Please don't attack like this! i have an offer for you!" The shadowed man said to a woman that had her hair covering her face as she stood there in small clothing that barely covered her important parts.
"There is nothing you can offer that I want... you may now leave..." the woman said with a sad tone as she turned away. "What if you can get revenge on Artemis!" The man yelled suddenly causing the woman to stop and flash toward him grabbing his astral collar and raising him up to her level.
"DO NOT MENTION THAT NAME HERE!" The woman yelled as she threw the ghost body of the man to the side. "My hate for those twins has turned me into nothing more than a shell of immortality... I wish nothing to do with them" The woman said as she once again, this time with more anger, walked away.
"She has a son... and her son has Apollos kid with him as well..." The man said as the woman's emotions peaked and she looked back, interested for the first time as to what he was trying to say.
"Niobe... You can get revenge for your lost daughters and sons... wait... someone is listening" The man looked to the right, straight at Argen, who breathed in sharply as shadows convulged and grabbed onto him, causing him to struggle and kick at them while screaming in fear.
"Argen!" Megan yelled as his eyes snapped open, Lee and Megan were both holding him tightly as a light died down. "Are you crazy?... mist won't work if you use that silver stuff to blow us all to hell!" Megan yelled as Argen realized his silver aura had been flowing around the compartment dangerously.
"Sorry guy's... I... had a bad dream..." Argen said as he retold to the best of his ability, leaving out the wolf part and skipping straight to the suspicious parts with the man and the woman who didn't seem human. He left out the Artemis parts and told them their conversation while mentioning that Lee seemed to be one of the targets.
"So... Niobe?... didn't Annabeth say stuff about greek legends and things.." Megan couldn't be bothered to try and remember a random legend that she had studied.
"Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus, and also the wide of King Amphion of Thebes... a bereaved mother, she was shown as boasting that she had better fertility than Leto... the mother of Artemis and Apollo... after boasting they each killed her children and let the blood run down the rivers... one child survived but was left so pale she eventually came known to be called Chloris, or the pale one... Annabeth said that Chloris had actually turned immortal in order to be punished for her mother's crimes as well, living her life in constant grief..." Argen recited some of the tales Annabeth had told him when studyng. He may not be good with the sword but he could listen pretty well.
"Don't do that again... I barely understood what you said... too close to Annabeth for me" Megan said as Lee nodded and rubbed his temples as Argen looked away emberresedly.
"Fine fine, don't make fun of me for it... but you realize what this means right?... we need to be more careful... Lee is in danger..." Argen said knowing full well that he was in even more danger.
Not only had these people found out his secret, but they were also seemingly going to team up and target him and his friends, something he felt nervous about.
"As long as we stick together we'll be fine..." Argen said more to himself than them. He wasn't truly worried about them... they were strong... he was weak. He knew this, but wasn't too worried since he had his mother at his side...
"It'll take 5 days and then we'll take a boat to greece... we can hopefully be finished within the month..." Megan said as they all looked at the sun setting... and so began the 5 day train hopping.
Train to train city through city, they eventually made it to a boat, headed for Greece thankfully. "Seems my power is working fine..." Argen said with a satisfied nod as they hid under the deck.
They hadn't actually payed to ride on the boat, not after spending any money they had on food and train tickets, so they decided to stow away this time. Following the silver lines, which Argen had decided to name the "Trail" had payed off however, getting them here 1 day ahead of schedule.
It would only take a few weeks to get to greece, then... well Argen still wasn't sure what he needed to find... but he was sure he would find it.
And so the journey to Greece finally began... all at the same time Percy Jakcson was given his own quest to go on...
