Charon paddles the four boys back out of the Underworld. This time, Ashton knew to hold his breath and pinch his nostrils closed with his fingers. Unlike Luke, who looks completely at home and comfortable, dry as sand, Ashton was definitely not made to be in the water. He screws his eyes shut as the boat rises through the water swiftly, nearly flattening them from the pressure. When it surfaces and bobs along the top of the water once again, Ashton feels like he has been caught in a whirlpool. His hair drips on his shoulders, mussed and wildly thrown in every direction. He has droplets stuck to his eyelashes, caught on his lips. He shakes his head like a dog, water droplets flying.

Calum strikes Ashton's side with his elbow. "As though I'm not already wet enough."

Ashton sticks out his tongue. Childish, yes, but effective nonetheless. Calum rolls his eyes and stands up. The boat wobbles precariously.

Charon snaps his gum lazily. "Out you go, go on." He waits while the four boys scramble out of the rowboat and onto the ship, feet firmly on the ground, before lifting his hand in a farewell. "Goodbye, living ones. Don't die any time soon."

"We'll try not to," promised Michael, and then Charon slowly let his boat sink below the surface of the water. Ashton watched it all with tired eyes. He collapses on one of the benches the moment the boy disappears.

The ocean is calm, at least for the time being. It rocks the boat this way and that, making Ashton want to curl up and fall asleep. Michael sits delicately on the edge of the bench by his feet, while Calum sits and boredly goes through the belongings in his backpack. Silence stretches between them. The sun creates what feels like third degree burns on their necks. Ashton quite suddenly wants to be anywhere but there, in the middle of the ocean, sticky with heat and sweat.

Since nobody else seemed willing, Ashton initiates the conversation. "So."

Calum looks up from investigating his backpack for the third time over. "What?"

"What's the plan? We met with Hades, so where do we go now?"

Luke's face is open and suggestive. "We could sleep here, on the ship. I can aim the sails toward the shore, and nights at sea are actually really pleasant, so--"

"No way," Ashton says. "Nooooo way."

Luke looks offended. "What's wrong with the boat?"

"The fact that it's a boat is unpleasant enough. That combined with the ocean and the heat and the general dangers of the sea is enough to make my skin crawl."

There was a silence after Ashton's statement. Then Michael, so dark and moody he nearly resembles a shadow, speaks up.

"I have to agree with Ashton on this one," Michael says carefully. Luke looks disappointed. "I feel like we need to figure out somewhere we can stay for the night, and then we'll discuss what is the best move next."

"It'll take forever to get the ship to shore," says Luke, his voice less enthusiastic now. "We're days away from the nearest land. Especially a city, with motels and stuff."

"Have you forgotten Michael's ability to time travel?" Ashton asks. Michael gives Ashton a dark look.

"It's shadow travel, Ashton."

"Okay, whatever," Ashton says dismissively. "Let's just pick somewhere to go and Michael can take us there." He says directly to Michael, "You have enough energy, right?"

Michael considers. Then he nods slowly. "I think so."

Ashton claps his hands together. "Fantastic. So, where should we go?"

He is met with silence. Calum returns to looking through his backpack, Luke stares out the side of the boat and into the ocean, and Michael closes his eyes and sinks back in a way that Ashton wonders if he'll just transform into a shadow himself. After a moment, Calum looks up.

"The problem with staying at a motel or something, is that we have no mortal money. We used the last bit on the way here for food," Calum says. Ashton blinks for a few moments.

"Okay," he says. "Well, that blows."

"We could stay at maybe one of our parent's house? Or a friend, maybe?" Luke suggests. "I'm not suggesting mine. They have no idea about the whole demigod thing. I don't know. And I doubt Ashton's family does either. But Calum and Michael-- you were both raised in this world, so how about you guys?"

Calum looked uncomfortable. "Well, uh... I don't know about my dad. I haven't seen him in years. In fact, I'm not sure I even know where he lives."

Luke looks frozen for a second, and then he nodded a little too vigorously. "No, yeah, it's fine-- don't worry about it. No problem."

Except it is a problem, because that just leaves Michael, who is averting his eyes and staring instead at the necklace of teeth around his neck. He touches each one carefully, as though oblivious to the boys' stares. Then he speaks in a very small voice.

"I could take us to my mother's," Michael says slowly. "But I don't want any pity from you guys. We'll only be there for a day. No questions asked."

Luke ignores the last statement. "Why would we pity you? Who's your mother?"

Michael clears his throat and stands up, spreading his hands out for everyone else to grab onto. "I just don't want pity. Do you understand? All of you?"

Murmured confirms is mumbled halfheartedly by the three of them. Michael, small and dark and brooding, shakes his hands. "Good. Now come on, grab my hands. We'll have to leave the boat here, but I don't think any of us feel too attached to it anyway--"

"Excuse me," Luke objected. Michael continued as though he hadn't spoken.

"--and I'll take us all to her house. She lives in North Carolina, by the mountain sides. It's a long travel, but I think I can make it."

Calum knits his eyebrows together but takes Michael's hand, and Ashton takes the other. Luke turns around reluctantly and holds Ashton's right and Calum's left. Michael shuts his eyes. Ashton starts to feel the world grow dark, once again, the temperature lowering, the sudden feeling of lightness and weightlessness.

The next thing he knows, Ashton is tumbling onto freshly cut lawn grass, and his head collides with something hard and cold. Ashton yelps and grabs at his skull, opening his eyes.

The three other boys are sprawled beside him, excluding Michael, who landed gracefully on his feet. Ashton sits up, rubbing his head scornfully. It appears that his head had smacked the pole of a stopsign.

"Ouch," he says, massaging his scalp delicately. "Watch where you land us next time--"

Ashton stops, because Michael looks pale. Well, paler than normal, at least, as though that were possible. Almost as soon as his feet touch the ground and the world around them begins brightening once again, Michael's eyes flutter shut and he collapses to the ground.

Luke is the first to react, clambering to his feet and kneeling by the boy's side. Luke presses his fingers to Michael's wrist, looking frantic. "There's a pulse," Luke says, "but I don't know what's wrong with him. He's unconscious."

Calum pushes himself up slowly. "He must have lost too much energy. Malcolm has told me about children of Hades and their powers regarding shadow traveling. It's a difficult ability to use, in that it is very hard on the body. Shadow traveling requires lots of energy, especially for long journeys. We travelled from the middle of the sea to here in North Carolina. That would have taken days, weeks, otherwise. He probably just needs to re energize."

Ashton has never seen the blonde boy look so relieved. Luke sighs deeply and sits back on his heels, looking down at Michael with relief etched into his face. "Gods. I thought he was hurt."

Ashton furrows his eyebrows at the two of them, but before he can say anything, Calum lets loose a strangled yell. Luke's head snaps up. Ashton twists around to see what caused the mayhem, and sees a nearly indescribable figure standing at the edge of the underbrush and trees. And it is staring right at them.

Oh hell, Ashton thinks to himself.

The figure moves closer, massive paws and golden eyes that look sharp and as clever as a bullet. Flames singe the fur on its muzzle.

Oh holy shit, Ashton thinks again.

Luke hardly wastes any time picking up Michael and holding him to his chest, frantically looking around to see where he can put him. Ashton swiveled and points across the street, where a spot of grass is nearly concealed by a row of finely trimmed bushes.

"Put him there!" Ashton whisper screams.

"Just put him there?" Luke whisper screams back. "Wouldn't the person who lives there wonder why there is some unconscious kid lying in their lawn?"

"Do you have any better ideas?" Ashton snaps, and then he looks back at the creature. Luke tore off across the street to carry Michael to safety, like the lovely Prince Charming he is.

There really is no way to describe the creature. But Ashton can try.

For one, it's massive, and closely resembles a lion. Except it's not a lion, because the back of its body has a goat-like shape with razor sharp hooves, and a serpent's tail slithers in the air. The creature snarled and white teeth flashes in our direction. Ashton gets to his feet warily.

"Calum," Ashton says. "What the hell is that."

"It's a Chimera," Calum says, and he says it in the way someone would comment on the weather, as though it's common sense or something people say casually all the time. His hand is at the blade around his waist, his shoulders straight and feet braced. Ashton feels like his head is full of water. His movements feel sluggish, and his lack of knowledge regarding mythology starts to catch up with him. He's heard of Chimeras. But he has literally no idea what they do.

Ashton finds out fairly fast, because with a blood-curdling snarl, the creature leaps out from behind the tees, claws sharp, mouth wide open. Calum widens his eyes and yells, "DUCK!"

Ashton wonders if he meant to say "fuck", but then Calum hits the ground and Ashton reacts too late and the strange Chimera creature breathes literal fire as though it popped straight out of a dragon fairytale.

Ashton tumbles to the ground as heat flares into his face and something on the side of his face starts to burn and a thick smell like the scent of literal burning shit fills the air. Luke appears, Michael-less, and widens his eyes.

He can't seem to form words, so he points at Ashton's head frantically and says, "HAIR."

He catches on a few moments later. Ashton slaps his hands over his head, beating the flames out of his hair. Calum whips out his blade as easily as though it were a pencil and stabs it into the thick flesh of the Chimera's side. The creature makes this very painful sound in its throat and then whirls and tried to send Calum up into flames too, but Calum dodges it just in time.

Luke is looking at the creature like someone would look at a particularly confusing math problem. "What the hell is that thing?"

"A Camyra," says Ashton.

"Chimera," Calum corrects, and does this little dancing movement with his feet while avoiding the fire-breathing animal. "Now come and help!"

Luke reluctantly pulls out his sword. Ashton's is in his hands, and he cautiously approaches the creature's serpent-like backside. The tail whips back and forth like some kind of intense weapon.

Luke takes the other side opposite from Calum. They stare at each other from over the back of the animal, and then Ashton raises his sword over his head and brings it down on the Chimera's tail, slicing it clean in half. For a moment, he's shocked, and then pleased. And then the tail started to disgustingly grow back in the place it used to be.

The creature roars. Calum flinches from the heat and tries to aim his sword for the animal's heart, but the creature splays its claws forward and knocks Calum's sword away from his hands. It clatters somewhere in the underbrush, and Calum goes pale.

Luke attempts to go next. He gets further than Calum this time, actually driving his sword unto the soft skin of the animal's shoulder, making the monster scream, but still he doesn't do so much as limp. Blood covers his fur, but he simply snarls and bares his teeth.

Ashton really does not want it to be his turn, but it is, so he takes in a shuddering breath and raises his sword.

Before he can do anything, however, the temperature drops. He sees Michael appear out of the fucking blue, all pale and ghostly and brooding with menace and anger, and he has his slick black sword in one hand and the other has the palm outstretched and facing the Chimera.

The animal spins and now bares his teeth at Michael, who hardly flinches. Michael lunges forward at the same time as the monster, and Ashton sees it as though it were some slow motion featurette of a really bad action movie. The Chimera opens its jaws and flames begin shooting out from it's throat, hot and fiery and so burning that it's nearly blue. As the fire reaches toward Michael, ice begins traveling from the bottom of Michael's shoes, crystallizing itself on the palm of his hand, creating an icy cold block as the flames lick the ice, and in one fluid motion, Michael cleanly slices the Chimera's neck with the sword.

The Chimera falls in a heap to the ground. Michael drops the sword and the ice begins to melt as the temperature raises slowly back to normal. He looks exhausted, cold, and dark. He slumps his shoulders and takes a deep breath, all three of the others frozen in shock.

For a moment, all they do is stare at him. Then Luke says, "Michael."

Michael doesn't appear to hear him at all, still catching his breath. He doesn't look overly back to normal, still pale and tired and moody-looking.

Finally, he looks at them and asks, "How long was I out?"

Calum says, as though it were an answer, "Ashton got his hair caught on fire, so."

Michael and Ashton made some eye contact. Then Michael cleared his throat and said, "Anyway. My mother's house is on the corner. The one with the patio and the red bricks."

They all followed his gaze. It was a very unsuspecting house, normal in every single way possible. Definitely not the type of house that someone would think of housing the son of the Lord of the Dead in.

Michael stiffens and picks up his sword. Luke cleared his throat and says, "Michael. Thank you, for--"

Michael raises a hand. "Don't. It's fine." He begins walking toward the house, clearly expecting them to follow. "Let's just go in. Remember, no pity. No sympathy. And no questions."

---
A/N: sort of a filler, but these kids get attacked by monsters wherever they go, so

honestly don't have anything to say lmao i'm so exhausted because school literally just makes me so tired i can barely breath without wanting to go to sleep

so that's what im FINNA DO bc its late here. what time is it where u are

anyway thanks 4 reading love u all to the moooooon vote & comment (please) godbye