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Chapter Quote:
"I intend to live forever or die trying."
~Groucho Marx
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Chapter 7: I Knock On Death's Door

Luke

After the stopover in Tennessee, the demigods didn't encounter anymore strange shadows looming ominously over any of them. However, for precautionary measures, at least two demigods stayed up each night to make sure that the shadows made no more appearances. It was almost always Brady and Bradley and Hallie. Luke and Bryn drove most of the way with Silena and Derek periodically taking over for them.

They stayed the next night in New Orleans. Bryn and Hallie seemed to know their way around the city a little too well which prompted Luke to ask his girlfriend how she knew it so well to which she replied she'd come here briefly when she was 'dead'. Bryn refused to go into detail about it so Luke figured it wasn't a pleasant memory.

The trip after New Orleans went like this: Brownsfield, Texas; Poza Rica de Hidalgo, Mexico; Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico; Santa Ana, El Salvador; Matagalpa, Nicaragua; San Jose, Costa Rica; Panama City, Panama; Bogota, Columbia; Elorza, Venezuela, and finally Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela.

"I'm never getting in another car again," Bradley declared when the seven demigods stopped at the marina. Bryn and Luke, who had been doing most of the driving, were stretching.

"I think my butt has grown into the seat," Derek remarked. "It physically hurts to stand up because my body is so used to sitting down."

"There is a very distinct imprint of my butt on the seat," Hallie added, glancing distastefully behind her at her seat as she hopped out of the vehicle.

"Well, on the bright side, we won't be driving anymore," Silena said.

"The bad side?" Brady asked.

"We're sailing the rest of the way."

The twins and Hallie groaned. Bryn assured them that Luke and Silena would make sure the turbulence wouldn't be too bad; however the other demigods were still not excited about going on a boat.

"How exactly did we get a boat?" Hallie inquired.

"Our parents have boats all over the world. This is actually a smaller cruise company we have that does tours around the country's ports. Mom called to make sure the boat was scrubbed clean. We have full control of it. It's also run by some demigods so we'll have some automatic friends when we get there," Luke said, shouldering his backpack.

"Can we find a place to eat first? I'm starving," Bryn commented.

"What, tired of protein bars and trail mix?" Brady joked.

"Don't tell me you're tired of bottled water," Bradley joined in.

"No, but I'm tired of you two. Now where's some food?" she replied. The twins clutched their hearts in mock hurt.

"I was googling stuff on the way here. There's supposedly a good restaurant just a few blocks down from here," Silena said. "What do you say we go there?"

"Lead the way," Bryn told her. The seven set off, trying to hurry as fast as they could to get out of the blistering heat. Although the temperature itself was actually pretty decent being in the low eighties, the high humidity vilified it immensely. After ten minutes of walking, they arrived at the restaurant. Upon entering Luke reveled in the crisp, cool air that the AC provided.

"Oh I never want to leave this place," Derek said.

"Quantos?" the hostess asked.

"Sete," Silena responded. They were seated at a table in the back, far away from the rest of the crowds which actually was rather nice, but Luke couldn't help but notice the strange looks that he and the others were receiving. They were very much out of place here which put him on edge.

"What's wrong?" Bryn whispered, leaning next to him so only he could hear.

"Just getting a bad feeling is all. Everyone keeps looking over at us."

"Maybe they just think you're good looking."

"I mean I won't dismiss that because that helps my ego but I don't know, I just have a bad feeling about this."

"You want to leave?"

Luke shook his head. "No, you're hungry."

"I'm pretty sure I can handle eating one more protein bar if it means we'd be safe."

"It's fine, really, although maybe eat quickly, just to make sure?"

"You got it Sharkboy." Bryn proceeded to casually urge the others into eating quickly, making up an excuse that the better we were in a familiar setting (a.k.a. the boat), the better off they'd be. A couple groans erupted from the twins and Hallie about the encouragement, who weren't looking forward to being on water for a few days but otherwise, no one argued about it.

When the food came, Derek asked, "So what are we doing with the truck?"

"Dad said it could fit on the boat somewhere, that the crew would know what to do with it," Silena answered.

"How big is this boat exactly?"

"Around two hundred feet. It's meant to be a small cruise for traveling down the coast of South America but our company has built a new one so we're using this one for other purposes, like going to a snake infested island."

"You're not going to drop that are you, Miss Sunshine?" Luke queried.

"Nope. This is one of the most dangerous snakes in the world and I'm pretty sure there's no specific anti-venom for this snake because there's no record of anyone being bitten by one."

"See? Nothing to worry about."

"That's because it's illegal to go on the island."

"Okay, a little thing to worry about. But we're demigods. We have ambrosia and nectar and some kickass healers on our team. Four, might I add. Besides, I'd takes snakes over spiders any day."

"I do actually agree with you there. Listen, I'm going to go call mom, let her know we're here. I'll call the Michaels and Winchesters as well."

"I'll go with you. We should stick together here," Hallie said.

"Agreed. If you go outside, take someone with you. Speaking of going somewhere, I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'll meet you outside?" Bryn walked off.

"I'm going to go make sure the girls are okay. All three of you were getting way too many stares from the men here," Brady said. "I'll see you all outside."

He left. Luke announced he was going to pay and walked to the cash register. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Derek and Brady getting out of their chairs. They joined him up front, waiting patiently for him to pay.

"Oh crap," Luke said, patting his pockets when he'd finished paying. "I think I left my phone at the table. You two go on ahead. I'm going to go grab it really quick."

He jogged through the crowd back to his table. His phone was lying on the table, just like he thought it'd be. Luke had just picked it up when he felt someone come up behind him. He whirled around only to be greeted by a familiar, but extremely unwelcome presence.

"Not you again," Luke groaned. "Didn't Derek and I turn you into a kebab last time we met?"

The manticore sneered at him. "Nice to see you Mr. Jackson. I must make you aware that I serve a new master now. A stronger, wiser master."

"You've literally sided with Kronos and Tartarus, two of the most powerful beings in the universe next to the gods, and you've still lost. When are you going to get it through your thick head that-" Luke dodged out of the way as the manticore flicked a projectile straight at Luke's neck. Unfortunately, the grandson of Poseidon hadn't been quick enough, feeling the projectile rip into the side of his neck. It hadn't embedded itself, but it'd created a big enough gash that Luke could feel blood pouring down the side of his neck. He snapped his hand up to the wound to try and stop the blood.

"Luke!" Derek shouted.

"Goodbye, grandson of Poseidon," The manticore said. The monster turned around, darting into the kitchen. There were a bunch of screams before an explosion rocked the restaurant. The last thing Luke remembered was flying across the room.
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"Luke? Hey, can you hear me?" a feminine voice asked. It seemed distant, as if the person was miles and miles away. Yet the voice was familiar. "Hey, stop, you're going to kill yourself if you heal him anymore."

"I can't let him die!" another person snapped, sounding hysterical, but not in an amused type of a way. It was as if they were petrified of something.

"Bryn, he's breathing, okay? And look, the gash stopped bleeding. Stop."

"Bryn?" Luke croaked out. Although his head screamed in pain at him for doing so, he opened his eyes, if only barely. Bryn and Hallie were staring down at him, the former a color worse tan ashen white. The latter seemed to be pale but she had too much dirt and grime on her face to be sure.

"What happened? You okay Cat Woman?" Luke asked, trying but failing miserably to sit up.

"Stay down," Hallie ordered gently as Bryn nodded shakily. "The manticore made the propane tanks blow up and the only reason you're not vaporized is because there was a wall between you and the explosion from what we've gathered. I don't know when it happened but something slashed the side of your neck and you've lost a lot of blood. You've been out for about thirty minutes."

"No I haven't. I-I saw Bryn come out of the bathroom after the explosion. I saw you on... the other side of the room," Luke protested, suddenly feeling lightheaded.

"The only way you could've seen that is if you had an out-of-body experience which isn't actually all that far-fetched of an idea..."

"What aren't you telling me? Bryn, what happened?"

"You were dying," his girlfriend responded, her voice cracking.

"I was-"

"I ran into the restaurant right after the explosion and saw you first. I could- I could see your soul trying to leave your body," Hallie said, suddenly losing her collectedness. "I saw you dying and- and then Bryn came over to you and started healing you and your soul attached itself back to your body. It took her ages though. If she hadn't gotten to you when she did..."

"I wouldn't be here," Luke finished grimly. His hand searched for Bryn's only to find she was already gripping it tightly in her own.

"I'm going to go find the others. Tell them we found Luke. Hopefully rescue crews can get in her soon," Hallie said, standing up. "Bryn, will you be okay?"

Bryn nodded, softly saying, "Go."

Hallie shadow-traveled out of there. For a few minutes, neither of the demigods said a word. Luke's head hurt too much and his girlfriend seemed to be in too much shock to do much of anything.

"Luke, wake up!" Bryn commanded quietly, shaking him.

"Wha- what happened?"

"You fell back asleep. You need to stay awake no matter how hard it is, okay? Are you up to drinking some nectar?" Bryn whispered. He told her was. She unshouldered her backpack, unzipping the top of it where she pulled out a flask of nectar. With trembling hands he took it from her, taking a few sips. Bryn took it back from him. He felt the effects within seconds. His head felt much clearer, his headache disappeared, and he could fully open his eyes.

"Thank you," he said, attempting to sit up again. This time it went much better although his world spun in circles for a bit, making it hard to focus on one specific thing. "Do you have ambrosia?"

Bryn pulled out some squares for him. As Luke nibbled on them, he asked, "How bad is it?"

"Um, you most likely have a moderate to severe concussion. You have a gash in the side of your neck, first degree burns all over your arms and legs. I have some ibuprofen in my bag but no water for you to take it with. You have some scrapes and bruises that I'll clean with rubbing alcohol and put antiseptic on when we get to the boat. I have some aloe vera right now that Hallie put on your burns while I tried healing you so they shouldn't be causing you too much pain right now."

"I meant with you. Ashen white doesn't even begin to explain how pale you are."

"I nearly watched my boyfriend die. Last time I heard, Bradley and Derek were out cold and not showing any signs of waking up. Brady has shrapnel from the explosion embedded in his arms. Hallie and Silena are mostly unscathed except for dust and dirt covering them."

"What about you? You're in a jacket when it's a hundred degrees outside."

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

"Bryn, that doesn't answer my question. What happened to you in the explosion?"

"I have a second degree burn on the top half of my back. The bathroom was right next to the kitchen and it happened when I was washing my hands. My back was to the explosion. The bathroom stalls prevented it from being worse. Hallie put aloe vera on it already. She sprayed the inside of my jacket with aloe vera too so having it on helps keep the burn cool."

"Let me see how bad it is."

"Here," Bryn said, unlocking her phone and handing it to him. "Hallie took the picture so I could see my back for myself."

Luke felt his stomach contract. Knowing what was coming, he lunged for a trash bin that happened to be laying nearby. His girlfriend placed a hand on his back as he was sick.

"How- how are you able to move? That's got to hurt," he said, breathing heavily.

"I took a lot of ambrosia and nectar. Probably more than I should have."

"You could've killed yourself trying to save me."

"I couldn't. I would pass out before that happened." Luke tried to wrap his head around how Bryn was being so calm right now. He could tell by the look in her eyes that she was far from emotionless right now, but on the contrary, she was acting completely emotionless, almost robotically. It was confusing him.

Before he could think any more about it, light flooded the scene. Men came into the room. One made a beeline for the two demigods.

"Vocês dois estão bem?" the man asked. Bryn and Luke stared at him blankly. Seeming to understand they didn't speak Portuguese, he said, "Are you two okay?"

"Yes, sir," Bryn responded. "Just in shock. There are people more severely hurt than us. Please go help them."

The man nodded, unaware that Bryn had used Charmspeak to get him to listen to her. Once he'd left, Luke asked, "Are people dead?"

Bryn looked down at the ground. "Mostly the cooks and a couple servers. I don't know about any customers being dead, just seriously injured."

"Bryn! Luke!" Silena shouted, rushing over to them. Hallie and Brady were right behind them. "Oh my gods, what happened to you?"

"I was too close to the explosion. Bryn and Hallie saved my life," Luke informed his little sister as she smothered him with a hug.

"It was mostly Bryn," Hallie said. "I just helped with the burns."

"Speaking of burns, how's your back?" Brady inquired of his sister.

"It hurts a lot but the ambrosia, nectar, and aloe vera seem to be helping. How are Derek and Bradley?"

"They've woken up but they're really out of it. They can barely put sentences together. We've given them as much ambrosia and nectar as we dare. Can you two stand?"

"I don't know. We haven't tried. Luke's only now just been able to sit up a few minutes ago."

"Silena, help me with Luke. Hallie, help Bryn up," Brady ordered. Luke was unaware of how little strength he had until Silena and Brady were practically having to drag him out of the restaurant. He kept looking back to check on Bryn who was cringing with each step she took.

Luke was placed in a chair next to Derek and Brady who were mindlessly watching everything going on. The grandson of Poseidon waved a hand in front of Derek's face to see if could garner any reaction. The son of Hades jerked back, his head swiveling madly around.

"What is it?" Derek asked.

"Just checking to see if you were okay," Luke replied.

Derek blinked at him. "Dude, terrible you look."

"Thank you, Master Yoda."

"He has a severe concussion. Like Brady said, they can barely put coherent sentences together. Listen Hallie and I are going to go get the car. I'll drive us down to the marina. Brady is going to watch over you four. We'll be right back," Silena announced. She and the daughter of Hades bolted off through the crowd, returning barely three minutes later with their ride. Brady and Hallie helped Derek and Bradley into the back row. Bryn got into the middle row's middle seat with Brady and Hallie flanking her. Silena helped Luke into the passenger seat before getting into the driver's seat herself. Halfway through the ride, Bryn passed out, slumping over onto her brother's shoulder. Bradley decided he no longer wanted to be in the back and tried to climb into the middle row. Hallie had to push him back into his seat about fifteen different times. Derek kept catching himself on fire which annoyed Brady so much that at one point, the son of Zeus zapped Derek with a small lightning bolt. It was enough to jar Derek to his senses for the rest of the trip.

Upon arriving the marina, it was easy to pick out which yacht was to be theirs, and not just because they had three people running up to their car. Silena rolled down the window to be assaulted by a barrage of questions which she answered accordingly. The next few moments were a blur and the next thing Luke knew, he was in a room on the boat be taken care of by Hallie and Brady who were flitting in and out of the room. It took him ten minutes to finally get an answer out of them about what they were doing.

"Silena is getting the boat out of the harbor, the people that greeted us are helping her. Bradley and Derek are sleeping. Bryn is going in and out of consciousness. She was in severe shock earlier so if she seemed out of it to you-"

"I was, actually. She was acting too... robotically."

"The pain in her back has flared up now that she's out of shock so Brady and I tried as much as we could to relieve her of it. Silena is going to have the water heal Bryn's back once she has the boat on course. We figured Bryn would be more comfortable with Silena, despite how close the two of you are."

"Is she okay?" Luke started to get up but Hallie pushed him back down.

"Oh no, you're staying right here. You can see her when I'm done with you. And yes she's fine, just sleeping until Silena goes and gets her."

"But-"

"No buts. Now, go take a cool shower. If you take something too hot, it is going to be extremely painful. I'll have some fresh clothes ready and waiting for you when you're done. You can see Bryn when you're done."

"Thank you, Hallie. For everything."

She smiled at me. "You're welcome."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. I'll be better when I know the rest of you are okay. I haven't known you that long, not like how you and Bryn and Derek and Silena have, but all of you are the closest thing I've ever had to a family."

"You're family to Bryn, which means you're family to me. Not to mention you're part of the reason she's alive again. I can never thank you enough for that."

"She was my first friend. I won't let anything happen to her, no matter what. I'll see you soon."
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Bryn

A whimper escaped her lips as she tried to move her arms. She had to stay awake until Silena came to help heal her back but the urge to fall asleep was so strong and Bryn was so tired of fighting. All she'd ever done almost her entire life was fight.

Fight to train.

Fight to destroy monsters.

Fight to protect camp.

Fight to protect her life.

Most importantly, fight to protect her family and friends.

"Bryn? Are you awake?" Silena's voice whispered.

"Mmhmm," Bryn answered.

"Do you need help getting up?"

"Yes please."

"I've got you." Silena tucked Bryn's arms next to her sides so she could roll her friend over. Grabbing Bryn by her hands, Silena pulled her best friend up, but not without a few groans of pain. With the help of her friend, Bryn made it to the bathroom where she sat on the edge of the tub. She painfully took off her shirt.

"This shouldn't sting. I made sure the water was cool. It should prevent scarring too," Silena said. "Hallie and I discussed having Luke do it but since he's injured himself, we thought it was a bad idea. We also thought you'd be more comfortable doing this in front of a girl, even if Luke is your boyfriend."

Bryn felt the water slithering up her back onto her burns. "I appreciate it. I don't know why I feel comfortable wearing a bikini in front of him but not bra and underwear. They're practically the same thing."

"I think there is something slightly more intimate about the latter."

"How is he doing?"

"He's fine. Anxious to see you. He should be taking a shower at the moment and I can assure you the moment he's done, he's coming straight here. I'm glad the shock's passed for you though. You were scaring me."

"I'm sorry. Silena... I didn't tell you the whole story about what all happened. It wasn't just the burn and the explosion that-"

"Hallie told me about Luke. I meant to thank you earlier but I thought you were too out of it to fully comprehend how grateful I am for what you did. You could've died trying to save him."

"I would've passed out before I died healing him. It's actually impossible for me to die while healing someone."

"That doesn't matter. You were hurt and you still saved my brother. Thank you."

"I'd do it for any of you."

"I know. All right, you're all healed. Now I suggest you get some rest. I'll come get you when dinner's ready."

"Thank you Silena. I feel much, much better," Bryn said, putting her shirt back on. The two of them went back into the bedroom where the daughter of Zeus proceeded to collapse on her bed. Silena had barely been out of the room ten seconds when someone said softly, "Bryn?"

"Luke," she murmured, sitting up. "How are you feeling?"

"For someone who just died and came back, surprisingly not bad, although that's due to you and Hallie. You?" He asked, laying on the bed next to her.

"My back is completely healed thanks to your sister. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't even be able to move right now," she replied, laying back down. She rolled over so she could rest her head on Luke's chest.

"I can't help but think this is a really crappy start to the quest which worries me about how the rest of this is going to turn out. I mean a near-death experience before we've even gotten the first weapon has to be a record of some sort."

"That record is probably held by your parents. Most likely your dad."

"There is a reason my mom nicknamed me Percy Jr."

Bryn chuckled. "Well Percy Jr., I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted, and I want to get some sleep before the waters get too rocky for me."

"Sleep it is," Luke agreed. Bryn closed her eyes, allowing herself to relax as she reminded herself that she was safe on the boat with her family. As long as she was with them, she'd be okay. And that would never change.
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Hope you enjoyed- next chapter is where the real fun begins (if you haven't had fun already). Reviews would be lovely :)