Thia's POV

The sound of nails scraping against the roof of the train caused my eyes to flutter open. Glancing about I wondered if maybe Leah or Andy had decided to sit up too for some particular reason.

The sun from outside shone through the half opened train door. "Guys, did you hear that?"

Leah stirred sitting up groggily with her hair an extremely wild mess. "What?"

I was about to respond when I heard it again. Leah made a move to stand but I held a finger to my lips. It was best if we remained quiet. Leah nodded and anxiously glanced at Andy who was still asleep having been the one to take watch last out of us.

We sat there anxiously for what felt like years while the noises continued getting closer and closer all the while. At last Andy moved. He reached for his axe careful not to be too noisy. All the while my heart pounded.

A flash of movement caught my eye as something appeared in the gap that allowed the sun inside. "Now this is interesting. I thought I smelled something familiar."

Sharp white teeth grinned and eyes narrowed into near slits. The sound of figures on the roof was all I needed to know that reinforcements were here. Andy yelped and scrambled to his feet being the closest to the threat. He held his axe wearily glancing between the two of us.

"Looks like you don't have any silver. This will be fun. Talk about sweet revenge. You ever get that feeling of deja vu? I'm quite certain I've been in this situation before only last time...my dinner jumped off." A howl like laughter filled the train cart.

"Who are you?" Leah asked, her back pressed against the wall, expression guarded.

"Lycaon. See, I love these tracks. Railroads always bring up demigod dinners," Lycaon sneered, stepping inside the train and easing the door shut bathing the interior in near darkness. "Who wants to be eaten first?"

"Not happening hair ball,"Andy glowered, testing the weight of his weapon.

"You first then." It happened quickly. One moment there was a man and the next a large snarling wolf was launching itself towards Andy. I had to give him credit, he held his ground. Using the flat of his axe, he smacked at Lycoan as if he were swinging a bat.

"The door." I called but Leah was already on it. She slid it open letting strong currents of air waft inside.

"There's wolves up there?" She glanced up outside where the sound of snapping jaws met my ears.

"We don't have to go up." Moving into action I slipped onto the side of the train grasping the door handle. Perhaps years of doing that stupid lava rock wall at CHB helped but I managed to wriggle my way over to the second train car without plummeting to my death.

Leah seemed hesitant to follow but Andy practically shoved her out of the train. "I hope you have a plan, kid!"

"If you call improvising a plan, then yeah." Grunting, I nearly dodged a paw that came too close to my face for comfort. My clothes whipped about violently in the wind and my hair snapped about making it hard to see. Still, we needed to keep moving forward.

Testing the next foothold carefully, my sneaker slipped as I tried to find traction. At last I gathered myself and launched forward narrowly grabbing the handle of the locked train door. Arms burning, I managed to pull myself up to hook my feet in between the narrow space of the cart and train bed it rested in.

"Shit." The remark drew my attention and I glanced back to see that Leah was slipping in her hold feet skimming against the ground at a speed so quick a hole was wearing into her shoe. Andy grabbed her by the belt and tugged her upwards.

"We need to find a place to get off!" He yelled, glancing over his shoulder where Lycaon was now following us in human form but at a much quicker pace.

"I don't see anywhere safe enough." The tracks rested on a very steep slope. Jumping off meant a long tumble down to who knew where. I wasn't even sure what our location was. I didn't exactly have a GPS.

"We don't have time for that! Just jump!" Andy cried, panic seeping into his voice.

"It isn't safe!" I yelled, feeling nerves grip my stomach and twist it into knots.

"Fuck safety." With that, Andy leapt from the train toppling to the ground and disappearing in the thick brush. Leah grudgingly followed and with a sigh I let go.

The ground slammed into my feet and my ankle flared with an intense pain only that wasn't the only problem. As I'd suspected, my momentum carried me at a perpetual tumble downwards. The world spun in circles and was nothing more than flashes of green and brown.

Pain flared up in every possible inch of my body. Yelps of pain sounded next to me and all I could do was try to cover my head. At last, my momentum began to decrease enough for me to get my surroundings. Leah had collapsed in a heap next to me but Andy was no where to be seen.

"Andy?" Scanning the terrain I still saw nothing.

"Here!" Came a gruff and desperate sounding reply. Following the noise I stumbled across a cliff face where Andy was barely hanging on about two feet down.

"Hang on." Grunting, I laid down on my stomach and tried to offer him a hand but my reach was about six inches short. Glancing around for any sort of aid I spotted a small overhang just above his head. Awkwardly, I managed to slip onto the thin ledge but if I knelt to help I'd topple over. "Hand me your axe."

"What?!" He asked, his face turning red with effort.

"Shut up and do it!" I demanded. He didn't need to be told twice. With his Axe in one hand he held it upwards. "When I count to three let go with your other hand. I'll pull you up until you can get clear of the ledge.

"Are you insane?" He asked, as I hooked my hands under the curve on either side of his weapon. Thankfully this part of the double bladed axe wasn't particularly sharp.

"I didn't suggest jumping off a train." Growling, I gripped the weapon tightly and pressed my back hard against the wall of the cliff face. "Three...two...one."

Andy grunted and let go of the ledge he'd held onto and gripped the axe handle in both hands. The weapon dug vigorously into my palms and the fleshy part of my fingers. The pain was nearly enough to make me let go.

Gritting my teeth and with shaking legs I straightened supporting his weight. "Latch on!"

"I'm trying!" He called.

Andy struggled to reach the hand hold and with each passing second I feared I'd drop him. Blood made my grip horrifically slick. "Andy!"

He must have heard the panic in my voice because he made one last ditch effort. A moment later he was swinging up onto the ledge, chest heaving with sweat decorating his features. Leah had recovered from her tumble and staggered over pulling us up onto solid ground.

"Ow. Oh Gods." My hands shook uncontrollably and my vision swam at the sight of the wounds. Gripping the axe with so much weight on the other end, even holding the dull part, had split open my palms and the crevices of my fingers. It was deep and the flesh bled profusely. There were even flashes of bone amidst the blood. "Ow, ow."

"Holy shit," Leah breathed, spotting my hands for the first time. She tore off her back pack and began digging through it. "Where's the first aid?"

"Here." Andy practically ripped the zipper of his backpack off and tossed a small clear container to Leah who caught it with shaking fingers.

She pulled out a water bottle from her back pack as well and knelt in front of me. She struggled to unscrew the cap but managed to get it at last. She hastily poured the liquid onto my hands. I couldn't keep the yell of pain from tearing out of my throat. It burned like battery acid being dumped into exposed flesh.

Pulling bandages from the container she wrapped my hands roughly but urgently. Tears pricked at my eyes and I was suddenly aware of how light headed I felt.

"Lay down. Easy," Andy spoke gently. Leah inspected her work as Andy rested his bag beneath my head forcing me to lay down. "Gods. How the hell did you do that?"

Leah smacked his arm harshly. "Let her breath you idiot."

Their concerned looks were enough to make me anxious about the entire situation and if it hadn't been hard to breath before it was now. Closing my eyes I tried to get a grip on myself. I couldn't afford an anxiety attack right now. It was not happening.

"Please tell me my fingers didn't fall off." My voice was impossibly small. Leah and Andy snorted in laughter at the remark but I was partially serious. The other part of me was simply too exhausted not to laugh.

"You have balls, kid." Andy shook his head, his green eyes holding some ounce of respect.

"As far as I'm concerned you could use some," I breathed, sitting up carefully. Leah laughed so hard tears pricked at her eyes.

"Touché," Andy nodded, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. It was rather charming.

"What do we do now? I don't know where we are exactly." I winced trying to flex my fingers the slightest amount but it hardly worked without feeling like my nerves were on fire.

"You need to rest for a bit the we can move on," Leah decided, packing up the medical supplies and downing the rest of the water. "Pick a direction that's the opposite of the way we came. Maybe try and get directions."

"Sounds like somewhat of a plan," Andy agreed picking up his axe blade and using the ground to wipe off my blood. "Hopefully that guy doesn't come back."

"Oh he will. He always does. He's good at holding grudges." I sighed just thinking about what our next encounter may hold.

"He made it sound like he knew you," Leah noted with a frown.

"Not me. My parents. They kicked his butt more than once. He didn't take kindly to it." Leah and Andy smiled slightly. "If there's a monster we meet- my parents have probably fought it."

"Ever killed any gods?" Leah asked.

"No, gods can't die remember. But yeah they've fought gods." The look of pure impressment on their faces made me smile slightly.

"Is there anything they're afraid of?" Andy asked.

"You'd be surprised. Mama is afraid of heights or being a disappointment and Mom is afraid of failure or dying in battle without ever being found." This seemed to capture their attention.

"What about you?" Leah asked curiously, tilting her head to the side like a bird.

"I hate snakes," I shrugged.

"Besides that," Andy encouraged.

To be honest I hadn't put much thought into it.  There were a lot of things people could be scared about. Mine well, they were kind of stupid. "I guess I'm afraid of never amounting to anything. Being stuck as just some other face in the world. A word in a story that doesn't matter. That I'd never make friends who stick around. I'm doing pretty bad at the last one."

Andy's expression softened. "Remember, Marianna isn't your fault."

"I know but whether we want to talk about it or not, two of us are going to die." This caused a thick silence to settle over our group. "Either way my fears come true. Maybe that's why I'm so scared of them and why I try not to think about it."

"I'm afraid of never being good enough," admitted. "My family's big, I'm the youngest, and we're just shitty diluted legacies. They always said none of us would ever amount to much. They said back when the Civil War happened that the bad guys had a point about trying to cleanse the camp. That they should have saved the strong."

Andy shook his head. "That's dumb. You're amazing Leah. You too, kid. You guys are two of the fiercest people I know."

"Thanks Andy," Leah sighed, but there was no real comfort to be drawn.

"If it makes you feel better I'm actually rather scared of  being a Venus kid. I don't want to be attractive or some sort of player. I don't want to break someone's heart because it's a stupid right of passage. I don't want to be another pretty boy who doesn't do anything. I don't want to be useless. I don't want to be good just for lipstick and shit." Andy shook his head gripping the handle of his axe. "I guess I'm terrified of my heritage from my moms side and my dad's. I don't want to end up like that him."

"You know what my parents always say?" I asked. The other two looked at me with questioning expressions. "We learn from our parents, and we may inherit some of their traits, but we don't let them define us in a negative light. My Mom grew up with a war veteran for a dad who suffered from severe PTSD and drank. Mama, had a depressed actress who drank herself to death as a parent and a jerk for a dad who has power issues. They're both amazing people despite their heritage."

Leah and Andy  looked at me with wide eyes as if they were hearing this for the first time. As if no one had told them this before. It was...sad. They deserved to be told they were worth more than they thought. "Andy, your dad may have been a scum bag and you may have done things you regret but it takes honor to admit your wrongs. You actually own up to them and work on being a better person. Leah, you may be a legacy but the Gods gave you this quest and you're going to help us in no way a legacy ever has before. You're going to save the world with us and when you get home you can tell your parents they were wrong to doubt you."

Inspiration flared in their eyes like small fires being ignited for the first time. "We may be kids and we may be our parents' children, but the world has never seen the likes of us before. You think anyone would have thought a kid of Venus, a multi generation Legacy, and a daughter of two of the most powerful demigods were going to team up?"

"Hell no," Andy laughed.

"Then you better believe the world's gonna see something amazing." I'd forgotten all about my injured hands. Even now it was like the pain was suddenly gone.

"You really think so?" Leah asked.

"In the words of my uncle. I don't think, it interferes with being nuts."