Okay, here's the next chapter y'all. I'll try and stop waiting a long time to post until a major cliffhanger happens because y'all know I'm going to pull a Riordan if I can :)

Chapter Quote:
"Trusting is hard. Knowing who to trust, even harder."
~Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
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Chapter 32: We Trust a Titan

Luke

Panic floored through Luke when he lost sight of Bryn. Fury tore through him when he saw her lying on the ground, seemingly immobilized and surrounded by arai about to go in for the kill. He nocked an arrow and sent it flying at one of the monsters which vaporized instantly. The two remaining arai hovering over Bryn turned their attention on him. Luke led the arai away from Silena who was screaming for help, and Derek, who had fallen to the ground in a heap, writhing in pain and clutching his shoulder.

"You want a fight?! Come and get me!" Luke shouted in rage. He slashed his sword at the hags but they jumped out of reach. They started dive-bombing him but leaping away from his sword at the last second. He quickly figured out they were purposefully trying to tire him out, to make it easier for them to go for the kill.

And it was working. He felt his blows becoming slower and weaker. It frustrated him because no matter how hard he tried, his body refused to use all of its strength. Finally, one of the arai bit him on the leg. Luke stabbed it in the neck before falling to the ground. He heard their mocking laughter, their insults and their words. They wanted to tear him down physically and mentally before they killed him. They fed off his pain. He hated this feeling. He hated feeling like he was going to die a coward. He hated knowing he was going to die on his knees, not even fighting. This wasn't how he wanted to go. This wasn't how he was going to go. Luke was going to make sure of it. A red haze descended over his vision.

If only he had a river nearby, one that wouldn't kill him. The River Phlegethon, while it was a river, it was made of fire. It wasn't liquid. Luke wouldn't be able to control it. What else was liquid around him then? His mind worked a mile a minute until he saw the blood seeping through his clothes. Blood was a liquid right? Luke remembered reading somewhere that the human body was mostly water. Was it possible? He knew Poseidon wasn't god of all liquids, just water, but most liquids were mostly water right? It was worth a shot and if it meant saving his friends, then it was worth everything.

Luke imagined the blood running through the arai's veins, giving them life, allowing them to continue torturing Luke and his friends.

"Wha-what is he doing?!" an arai shrieked, clawing at her chest. "I can't- breathe!"

"No! Son of Poseidon! No!" another one cried.

"You're as cruel as the gods!" one choked out.

"Well at least I know where I get it from," Luke spat, only focusing harder on his task. He felt something inside him break, as if glass shattered within him. But then, the arai, whose faces had been pale and white were now beet red. None of them could breathe. One by one, they exploded. One by one, their curses fell onto Luke. He didn't care though. He staggered up, helping Derek and Silena up before running over to Bryn. Silent tears fell from her eyes. She was crying but no sound was coming out. She looked up at Luke in terror.

"Are you okay? Where did they hurt you?" Luke asked. Bryn only mouthed a few words.

"What's wrong with Bryn?" Silena queried, coming up next to her brother, clinging onto Derek who had led them over.

"She can't speak and I think- I think she's paralyzed," Luke replied. "We need help. We need-"

A drop of blood fell onto her face. And another one. Luke touched his face, feeling blood coming out of his nose.

"If someone placed a curse on me for a bloody nose..." Luke began until he tasted blood in his mouth. What was happening to him?

"Help. We need help, somebody..." Luke trailed off, feeling weak. He collapsed next to Bryn.

Suddenly a massive shadow loomed over Derek and Silena. Luke had no time to warn them of the silvery giant before it laid its hands on their heads.

"Owie," the giant said.

"What the- I can hear again!" Derek exclaimed. He turned around and stumbled back from the giant.

"Bryn! Luke! Oh my gods!" Silena cried. She knelt down next to them before realizing something had saved her vision. She faced the giant, paling at the sight of him. "Who-who are you?"

"Iapetus, but you can call me Bob!" The giant said cheerfully. A skeleton kitten crawled onto his shoulder. "And this is Small Bob!"

"Hi. Um, look, you were ever so kind to help me and my boyfriend with our curses. Could you... maybe help them as well?" Silena motioned to her motionless friends.

"Yes, yes. Bob will help them!" The silver giant placed his hand on Luke's head first. He made a face and said, "Too many curses on this one. I cannot heal him from all of them but I can slow the poison in him. But I know someone who can heal him fully! I will take you there!"

Luke felt his body be lifted him and gently tossed over Bob's shoulder. Bryn hung limply over the other one. Luke reached out for her hand but he felt a numbness in his body. He could still feel heat and the motions of everything, and knew his muscles still had the ability to move, but he just couldn't move them. Whether it was from the venom running through him or whether it was from a different curse, he had no idea. All he cared about was getting Bryn, Silena, and Derek to safety, and hoping that trusting this Titan to lead them to that safety place was not a bad idea.
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Hallie

Travelling by flying boat was a mode of transportation Hallie quickly realized she hated. Not only was she getting motion sickness, but she hated being in the air, in Zeus's territory, especially since she was a child of Hades. Just because she'd helped push the daughter of Tartarus back to where she belonged did not mean Zeus had given Hallie permission to travel in his territory. Holding hands with Bradley helped a little bit. He had this effect that subdued her motion sickness for a bit. Maybe it's because he was a child of Zeus. Hallie remembered Bryn telling her how Luke could stop her seasickness by holding her hand. Maybe Bradley could do the same thing as Luke just with motion sickness instead...

"Hey, we're going to be stopping at my house for supplies in a few moments. I thought you might want to get off the boat," Bradley said. Hallie hadn't even heard her boyfriend come in her room. She'd been too busy focusing on trying not to think about the rocking of the air boat. All she could do was nod as he helped her up and out of her room. Brady was waiting for them at the ladder hanging above his and Bradley's house.

"Ladies first," Brady said.

"I think I might fly her down. Motion-sickness is getting to her," Bradley told his brother.

"Sure it's not because you want to hold her close to you?" he joked. His goofy grin quickly disappeared when Hallie shot him a death glare. Her boyfriend smirked before jumping off the boat with his girlfriend held tightly in his arms. She shut her eyes on the way down, only opening them when she felt her feet hit solid ground. Bradley helped Hallie indoors where she promptly collapsed onto the sofa. The world was still moving, it still felt like the world was rocking beneath her feet. Bradley knelt down in front of her, asking, "Can I get you anything?"

"Water? I think I can stomach it now. Maybe..." Hallie mumbled. Giving her a kiss on the head, her boyfriend disappeared in the house to grab what she'd requested. She took the time to glance around the room, partially out of curiosity and partially to find a way to ignore her still raging motion-sickness. The wall to the right had a beautiful stone fireplace. The mantle above it had trophies from the twins' activities and a vase of gorgeous flowers in the middle of it all. On the rest of the wall was pictures of Mr. Drew and Mrs. Winchester, the twins, and even some of Bryn when she was a little girl. The wall to her left was relatively plain with just a television in the middle and a picture on either side of it. The wall with the doorway had built-in book shelves on each side of the door. There was no space on either book shelf. Hallie saw everything from classics such as Pride and Prejudice and War and Peace to current young adult novels like The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices to informational books, a lot of them being those ones that had 'For Dummies' in the title. Hallie even saw one that said Mythology for Dummies. It was amusing that demigods would own a book like that since they actually knew some ancient Greeks, and in particular the gods.

"Here you go," Bradley said, handing her a glass of water and sitting down next to her. She gratefully grabbed it and took a sip. Brady, Nico, Will, Leo, and Calypso could be heard conversing in the kitchen. They were arguing about Festus or something. Hallie couldn't quite understand what was going on.

"So why do you have the Mythology for Dummies book?" Hallie inquired, taking another sip of her water. Bradley laughed.

"That was a gift one of my mom's coworkers gave us for Christmas when he found out that Brady and I were all into the Greek and Roman gods. Mom, dad, Brady, and I took it upon ourselves to read it as a family and make notes, a.k.a. corrections in the book to make it more accurate, mostly when they were talking about the gods and stuff. Hera got mad at one of the notes we wrote about her and had a pile of cow dung sent to our house and it kept appearing in our shoes for a month. That was not fun. But still totally worth it."

"Why did she stop putting manure in your shoes?"

"Zeus told her to stop. I don't see father often and he's definitely not perfect, but it is helpful that he's the leader of the gods."

Hallie smiled, glancing over at the picture wall. There was one of the twins in matching suits that caught her attention. "When was that?"

"That was the day we went and met the Queen. Did you know she's related to Athena far down the line?"

"Really?"

"Yeah! Isn't that cool?"

"Does she know that she is?"

"Yes, and she figured out Brady and I were kids of Zeus when we accidentally shocked her when we shook her hand because we were nervous. Can I saw awkward?"

"What about that picture? Is that Bryn?" Hallie asked, pointing at the one at the top middle of the wall.

"Yeah, that was the day before she was kidnapped by the Cyclops. She went with mom and dad to the London Eye. That's her on one of the carriages. The one next to it is her at her first birthday party. I know she probably doesn't remember that but when we get her back, Brady and I intend on showing her all of this, so she knows how much she was loved and missed here. Brady and I always wanted to meet her. We'd come down here at night and make up stories about our big sister, what she was like and what she was interested in."

"What did you think when you met her?"

"At first she was the complete opposite of what we imagined her to be. I mean from the pictures you see this sweet, innocent girl who looks like she couldn't hurt a fly. Brady and I imagined her to be like that, but still strong. We imagined her as a lover, not a fighter, and we thought that she would be more outgoing, friendly to strangers. When we met her the first time, she tried killing us, albeit we did kind of kidnap her from her room. We didn't know she was our sister at the time... but when we did realize who she was, we were kind of stunned. I mean Bryn was reserved, calculating, and looked like she'd kill you if you even looked at her the wrong way. Funny thing is, even though she's like that, she's also how Brady and I always imagined she'd be. She's still outgoing at times, especially around people she knows. She was always kind to strangers unless they gave her a reason not to be. And she's actually more of a lover, she just didn't have many people to really love while she was at camp. I mean she loved the campers and I know she'd die to protect them but I mean like truly loved someone as family or like the way she loves Luke. Bryn fights for what she loves."

"Well when we get her back, I know she can't wait to see her home again. Who knows, maybe she'll come live here again," Hallie said.

"You think? Even though Luke, Derek, and Silena are back over there?"

"She'll probably split up her time in both places," Hallie remarked. "I mean she has two different families now: her real one and her adopted one, both of which hold huge places in her heart. Bryn's good at figuring things out though so she'll find a way to maximize her time with both of her families. Maybe she'll be like Persephone, six months here and six months over there. Besides, she has me and Derek to shadow-travel her anywhere she needs to go."

"For a daughter of Hades, you're very optimistic," Bradley chuckled.

"I must've gotten that from my mom because I know I didn't get it from my dad! Come on, I think I hear the others getting ready to leave and I have this insane courage right now to get back on that dreadful boat so let's get on there now before that courage disappears."

"My boat is not dreadful!" Leo shouted from the kitchen.

"Honey, she gets motion-sickness terribly. I don't think she means the actual boat itself is dreadful, just what it causes her," Calypso consoled. Leo muttered something that Hallie couldn't hear but she was grinning. Leo Valdez, even though he was probably only in his late thirties or early forties, still acted like a teenager, a very fun, very loud, very sassy teenager.

"My lady," Bradley said, bowing with his hand outstretched for her. She gladly took it before he escorted her back to the ship, flying her up to the deck so she didn't have to climb the ladder.

"Hallie, if you ever need a reprieve of that motion-sickness, let me know, I think I might be able to help," Will offered kindly.

"Thank you Mr. Di Angelo. I appreciate it. I think I'm going to go back downstairs to my room and get some sleep. That seems to help."

After Bradley escorted her down to her room, he said, "I'll see you later. Brady wanted to talk to me about something."

Giving Hallie a kiss on the cheek, the Winchester disappeared and the daughter of Hades collapsed onto the bed, determined to fall asleep before the boat started moving.
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Poor Hallie with her air-sickness. Hope you liked it and sorry for the late posting! Reviews please :)