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Chapter Quote:
Like Indiana Jones, I don't like snakes - though that might lead some to ask why I'm in politics."
~Theresa May
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Chapter 9: You Had to Ask

Bryn woke Luke up around ten in the morning, telling him that Silena and Derek had made breakfast for the rest of them. He groaned, rolling over to stare at the ceiling. Every part of him told him to stay in bed, to just relax and not get up. But there were things to be done, places to go, and gods to placate, so once again, the universe was against him.

"You sleep okay?" Bryn asked.

"Yeah, once I fell asleep. Which was about four hours ago."

"Nightmares?"

"No, just thinking about the quest. It's fine, don't worry."

"I'll go make you some coffee with a lot of caffeine and sugar. I'll see you soon."

"Thank you," he said, giving her a grateful smile. She kissed on the head and left the room. He sat up in bed, trying to rub the tiredness out of his eyes, but that wasn't working so well so he forced himself to actually stand and get dressed. Once that was done, he made his way up to the main deck where he found everyone eating omelets and bacon. He took a seat between Bryn and Hallie where he started chowing down on his meal, not wanting to hold everyone up from the mission since most of them were either done or almost done.

"So how are we going to find the weapon, whichever one is up there?" Brady asked.

"I say we start with the most obvious and most easily accessible place, the lighthouse," Silena said. "Bryn, Brady, and Bradley can fly us up to the place and then we can avoid any pleasantries with snakes."

"With how hot and humid it is out there, we won't be able to fly for long without tiring ourselves out a lot, so we'll have to be quick," Bryn stated.

"Yeah, we can't be tiring you guys out. We need you."

"Things tend to attack modes of transportation when they want to stop you and if you don't want to lose anything, take everything with you before you leave," Derek warned.

"All right, once you're done, meet at the bow of the ship. Once we're all there, the twins and I will take us up there," Bryn said. "I'm going to go get my stuff. I'll see you all soon."

Luke shoved the last piece of omelet in his mouth before going to do the same. When he arrived, Bryn was packing things into her backpack.

"I hope this is going to be an easy trip," Luke remarked casually, unceremoniously stuffing things into his backpack.

"Is anything ever easy for us?" Bryn chuckled.

"Come to mention it, no, but we can always hope."

"Since when did you become such an optimist?" she inquired, giving him a confused smile.

"Since I achieved the impossible: dating you." He kissed her on the head as a cheeky grin spread across his face. "You ready?"

Bryn nodded. The two of them walked up to the bow of the ship where the twins were already waiting. They were way too excited about disembarking which Luke couldn't really blame them about after seeing what seasickness had done to Bryn a few years ago (although the twins seemed to handle it much better than their sister had...).

A few moments later, Silena, Derek, and Hallie showed up. That was the Winchesters' cue to grab onto everyone. It was always a weird sensation to Luke when he was flying with Bryn or the twins because he felt the wind supporting him but it was extremely disconcerting to have nothing under your feet. Even when you were in the ocean, if you stopped swimming upwards, you'd either float to the top of the water, stay where you are, or slowly sink to the bottom depending on the density of the water you were in. In the air, if the Winchesters stopped flying everyone up and stopped controlling the wind, they would literally just plummet with no resistance until they hit the ground. It was very disturbing to Luke.

In about two minutes, the Winchesters had travelled the entire group from the boat to the entrance to the lighthouse where they landed rather roughly. The twins stumbled but Silena and Hallie stopped them from falling over. Bryn placed her hand on Luke's shoulder to steady herself as she was swaying rather severely in place. Luke wrapped his arm around her waist to help.

"Take a moment to get your wits about you again," Derek said gently. "Hallie and I can scout ahead."

"Are you sure it's a good idea to split up?" Bryn asked, looking up at him.

"Yeah, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Do not ever say that," Silena replied, shaking her head. "With us, it can always get worse."

"I'm agreeing with her on this point. Look, these three are out of commission for a few minutes. I'll make sure no snakes come near them while you and Hallie and Silena go scout ahead. We're better in numbers," Luke suggested.

"You sure you can keep an eye on all three of them?"

"Positive. We have some nectar and ambrosia. They can have a bit of that and I'm sure they'll be fine soon. When they are, we'll come find you."

"Deal. See you soon."
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Hallie

Upon entering the lighthouse, one thing was made crystal clear: someone had recently been inside. And had decided to redecorate. Hallie couldn't blame them for it but why someone would want to live on a snake-infested island was questionable. Of course, she realized that it probably wasn't a someone but a something.

"This is freaky," Silena muttered, checking under things with her sword.

"Be quiet when you talk. Someone's obviously lived here and is probably still living here. We don't want to alert them to our presence," Hallie warned.

"See any snakes?" Derek asked.

"None so far but I see a lot of shed snake skins. Whoever lives here apparently has no problems with it," Silena answered.

"Let's clear this room and if we don't find anything, let's head up the Stairs of Death."

"Do you have to call them that?"

"What else are you going to call the stairs that may possibly lead to the first divine weapon and some terrible thing to protect it?"

"Oh I don't know, how about just stairs?"

"Okay you two, explore now, bicker later," Hallie intervened. For the next five minutes, the trio investigated every inch of the ground floor. Finally, deeming it safe, they started going up the stairs.

"Do you hear that?" Silena whispered, stopping about halfway up.

"Someone's downstairs, and it's not Bryn or Luke. They wouldn't be that loud," Derek observed.

"Deariesssss!" A voice hissed sweetly from below. "Pleassssse come join your friendsssss."

"Damn it," Hallie groaned.

"I guess it's a Stairway to Hell and not a highway," Derek said. Silena and Hallie both hit him in the arm. This was no time to be joking around. Reluctantly, they went back downstairs where they found Bryn cradling an unconscious Luke in her arms, with two Golden Lancehead Vipers sitting around them, ready to strike if she tried anything.

Hallie began to ask where the twins were but a slight shake of the head from Bryn shut her up. They must've had a plan. At least she hoped they did...

"Come, join ussssssss," the voice encouraged. It was then that Hallie noticed the snake woman with a snake for a torso. She had two heads, but on opposite ends of her snake body. It was one of the strangest things the daughter of Hades had ever seen, and she'd seen quite a bit.

"Who in gods' name are you?" Derek blurted out.

"Her name is Amphisbaena. I just read about her in one of my books. Don't let her spit get on you. It's poisonous," Bryn informed.

"Great... so what do you want from us?" Derek queried of the weird snake woman.

"Nothing, nothing, sssit with your friendssssss. Let me make you sssssomething to eat," Amphisbaena insisted. Hallie wanted to ask how she was going to make something when she had no hands but Hallie didn't want to offend a monster that was acting friendly towards them. Then two arms sprouted about a foot below each of the heads which ended up answering her question.

"It'ssss ssssso rare that I have guessstsss," the woman noted.

"Can I ask what happened to my brother?" Silena inquired, walking over to Bryn.

"He tried to attack me ssssso I knocked him out. I'm rather friendly if you haven't noticcccced. He ssssshould wake up in a few minutes. And don't mind my friendsssss, they're jussssst following me around."

Hallie stared suspiciously at the snakes who looked angrily up at her. She had a feeling they were mad they couldn't attack the demigods because they probably looked tasty.

"You know, if you didn't live on Ilha da Queimada Grande, you might have more visitors," Silena told Amphisbaena.

"Yessss, I've thought about moving but I love my sssnakesssss here sssssssso much. I can't leave them. Well, I did have a vissssitor a couple weeksss ago, but I didn't get to ssssee their faccce. They wore a massk."

"What did they want?"

"To drop off sssssome weapon that they wanted me to protect."

"What's the weapon, if you don't mind me asking?" Bryn prodded kindly. Hallie could feel the Charmspeak. It was subtle but enough to work on someone like Amphisbaena who seemed eager to please her visitors.

"Ssssome helmet type thing. I've placcced it upssssstairsss with intruder alarmssss ssso if anyone ssstepsss foot in there, I'll know. I don't want to kill anyone. So many ccccenturiesssss of being alone, I want friendssss."

Hallie glanced over at Bryn who was staring carefully at the snake woman, but it was obvious to Hallie that her friend was sending a message to her brothers about where the weapon was. For the next few minutes, the snake woman continued making... whatever she was making.

"What happened?" Luke moaned.

"Hey," Bryn said softly. "Take it easy. Everything's okay."

"There was a two-headed snake woman. Where did-"

"She's here. She's friendly."

"Your friend wake up? Good. I musssst've hit him harder than I thought," Amphisbaena said.

"Not appreciated," Luke muttered under his breath. He sat up, rubbing his head ruefully.

"All right, it'ssss almossst ready my- oh no," Amphisbaena said, looking up.

"What?" Hallie inquired.

"It appearssss ssssomeone hasss crossssed the thressshold upsssstairsss. I'll be back." The snake woman slithered up the stairs,. The head in the back waved at us and held up her finger as if to say they'd just be a minute.

"Is anyone else wigged out by this?" Luke inquired.

"Yes, but calm is the best way to go about this. I know who's up there," Bryn said.

"I was wondering where those two were. What happened?"

"When you went to go get rid of the viper, we saw her slither out after you. They flew up to the top while I went to go and help you. Unfortunately she got to you sooner than I thought she would. Sorry..."

"You're probably the reason I'm still alive. Thank you for that."

"What should we do now?"

"Hope the twins' plan works."
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Bradley

The twins flew through the windows on the top floor but made sure they didn't touch the ground. That snake woman had sensed all of them outside, but she hadn't been able to sense how many which had worked in their favor. If she could sense when someone was on her territory, they'd be in trouble.

"Found the helm," Brady said softly.

"How about we use those electrical arrows? Form a trap and lure her up here. Then that way she can't escape for a while, we escape with the helm. Easy," Bradley replied.

"Nothing is ever easy. Don't ever say anything is ever easy. When has anything ever been easy for us?"

"Point made. Ready?"

"Yeah. Fire." The twins pulled out their bows and shot two arrows each into the ground, forming a square. Then they waited for the inevitable entrance of Amphisbaena. Sure enough, it barely took two minutes for her to appear. And for once, luck was on their side. Amphisbaena slithered right into their trap.

"Hey there," Brady greeted.

"What'sssss thissss?" she asked.

"We couldn't have you cramping our space... or in your case, constricting," Brady said.

"Seriously?" Brady retorted.

"What?"

"You're really making jokes right now?"

"She's trapped. It's not like she can do anything."

"Well she can spit poison."

"Oh now you tell me."

"Bryn just warned me."

"Why didn't she warn me?"

"Because you're too busy making snake puns."

"What do you want?" Amphisbaena interrupted.

"The helm," Brady replied. "So if you don't mind, we're just going to ahead and take that."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," she warned.

"Why not? You can't slither out of this situation," Bradley said. His brother let out a groan. "See those arrows? Try and leave that square, you're going to be more than a little rattled."

"If you take that, I will be killed," Amphisbaena said. "I cannot risssk that and leave my friendssss here."

"You mean all the snakes here?" Brady answered.

"Yessss. They accccept me for who I am. Do you know what that feelsss like?"

"Being a demigod, yes. Because pretty much only demigods accept me for who I am. Humans would lose their minds if they knew what we could do."

"You don't have two headsssss," Amphisbaena countered.

"Look, our job is to protect people and... friendly monsters. We get this to the gods, we stop whoever is doing this, and we save you and everyone else. You just have to trust us. We're here as friends."

"I can't let you do thisssss." Amphisbaena attempted to leave the arrows but immediately she was shocked until she backed into the perimeter again. "What have you done?!"

"Protecting ourselves. We really are sorry about this but we can't have you killing us or our sister and friends," Brady informed.

"If I can't kill them, then my friendssss will."

"How exactly are you going to do that while you're trapped up here?" Bradley questioned, more than slightly amused. The snake woman by letting out an ear-piercing scream. Seconds later, Bryn's voice shouted in his and Brady's head: The snakes are trying to attack us! We're coming up!

Brady looked at his brother, giving him an I'm-one-hundred-percent-done-with-you look before saying, "You had to ask."

"Shut up and grab the helm," Bradley snapped. "I'll distract her."
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Bryn

The moment she heard the snake woman's scream, Bryn knew they were in danger. She ordered her friends to run, but not before zapping the two Lancehead Vipers with lightning to get them away from the demigods. It stunned the snakes briefly but as they all scrambled towards the stairs, the snakes regained their wits and began following them, looking even angrier than they had earlier. Not only that, but the door somehow opened, allowing dozens of the deadly yellow snakes to pour in. Bryn was in the lead with Luke behind her. Hallie had taken the middle. Derek and Silena took up the rear. The demigods were frantically trying to outrun the yellow menaces but the snakes were faster than any of them realized.

Silena let out a sudden yelp, causing all of them to stop. Derek sliced the head off a snake which had latched onto his girlfriend's ankle. The Jackson daughter was obviously trying not to panic but her fear was getting the better of her.

"Derek, do you think you can get Silena back to camp?" Bryn asked hurriedly.

"I don't know if I have that much power."

"Listen to me," Hallie said, grabbing him by the shoulders while Bryn struck lightning bolts in the ranks of snakes. "Focus on what's driving you to get there. Let that emotion fuel your power because trust me Derek, you have it in you. I know you do. Now go save your girlfriend. We'll see you soon."

Derek kissed his sister on the cheek before scooping Silena in his arms who was already beginning to show signs of envenomation. Within a few seconds, Derek flashed out of existence with his girlfriend. Bryn grabbed onto Luke and Hallie's hands, flying them up to the top of the lighthouse. Entering the room, they found Amphisbaena spitting poison at the twins who were doing pretty well at dodging it.

"Nice of you to join us!" Brady called out.

"We encountered a serious problem. I'll get the helm!" Bryn answered. She shot into the air, snatching the helmet from its pedestal.

"Nooooooo," Amphisbaena wailed. "You will die!"

"Don't you dare touch her!" Luke snarled, pulling out his sword.

"They'll kill me if I let you take it!" she protested.

"You kill my girlfriend, you'll wish that whoever it is you're working for got ahold of you instead of me!" he spat back.

"Hallie, get the twins out of here. Get them as close as you can to our next destination. Luke and I will go to the boat and meet you wherever you end up," Bryn ordered. The twins landed next to the daughter of Hades who grabbed onto their hands and shadow-travelled them out of there. Bryn prayed Hallie had enough strength to at least get them to Europe...

"Come on!" Bryn exclaimed, grabbing her boyfriend's hand. She flew them out the window, using all her strength to get them to the boat. Unfortunately, they had another problem. Bryn landed on the rocks, pulling Luke behind one.

"What is it?" He asked. "We have a psychotic snake lady and her little yellow minions after us."

"Brazilian Military found our boat. Luke, how much does that boat mean to your parents?" Bryn inquired.

"Uh, it's going to be replaced soon and that one's going to be refurbished. Why?"

"Unless your parents want trouble with the Brazilian government, I'm going to need to blow it up."

"My dad's used to exploding ships. Besides, last time we used one of his boats, it ended up in the bottom of the Atlantic. Honestly, I don't think he's expecting it to come back if he let us use it. Here, use Greek fire. It'll incinerate it." Luke pulled out a jar of Greek fire, handing it to Bryn.

"Before I use it, where's the engine on that thing?" she asked, notching an arrow.

"In the bottom near the back. Why?"

"Because if I make a hole for the Greek fire arrow to go through, the explosion will be that much more effective." She let loose an arrow, hitting where Luke had told her to. A small explosion rocked the boat, not enough to blow it up but enough to make a hole in it. Bryn hurriedly lit a regular arrow with Greek fire and shot it at the hole in the boat before the water blocked it for her. A couple seconds passed before an explosion, twenty times bigger than the last one, went off on the boat. Tiny fragments from the boat went everywhere.

"So how are we going to get to our next destination now?" Luke questioned. Bryn glanced down at the Helm of Darkness in her hand. As if sensing her train of thought, he added, "Aren't we supposed to give that to Hades now?"

"My dad said he didn't want Poseidon or Hades getting their weapons back before he got his so why not use it while we have it?" she responded.

"Do you know how to use it?"

She shrugged. "Let's find out."
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