Blood. That's all I remember seeing, blood on the decks that once belonged in Leo's body. His life force seeped out as thirsty fir drank it up, staining the wood with a reddish tint. Andromeda's hands moved fast, pulling and stitching as fast as she could manage and tuning out the world. Besides her were two vials of combat ambrosia, watered down nectar to keep us going and heal us in short bursts. A demigod could drink 5 of them in a day before getting any adverse effects, but if Andromeda's plan was to heal him fully and quickly she only had three chances left.
"Dammit Leonidas! Is there a part of your body that's not shredded by pencils!" Andromeda shouted out, ripping out more wood.
Leonidas' body jerked slightly as the larger shards of wood were removed, the most worrisome chunk had placed itself near his heart. Andromeda was saving it for last because she feared removing it would tear his heart or lungs on the way out and she would have to administer uncut ambrosia.
"Sara, come here," Andromeda said, removing the last bit of wood from Leonidas.
I walked over, careful not to trip over any broken railing or Leonidas himself. "What do you need?" I knelt down, looking as some of Leonidas' wounds had begun to heal already from all of the ambrosia.
"Leonidas brought pure Ambrosia, just in case we needed it out here. I need you to search his pockets and see if you can find any vials in tact," Andromeda carefully instructed, prepping him for the worst of it.
The wood spike that had placed itself in his chest stuck out like a stake, the visible wood was almost the length of my forearm. I began to search his pockets, carefully inspecting each one until I finally felt my fingertips wrap around a cold glass vial. I pulled out and looked at the glimmering gold liquid swirl around in the crystal ampoule, handing it to Andomeda.
She took the ampoule quickly, looking at Leonidas. Andromeda set it down, bowing her head and mouthing words. I've never known Andromeda to pray, but she was calling all of the power she could to her. She snapped her eyes open and ripped the piece of wood out of Leonidas' chest in a disturbing, wet, ripping sound. Leonidas shouted out and began gasping for air, his chest rising and falling as his eyes widened in fear. Andromeda snapped the top off of the Ambrosia vial, and fed it to Leonidas quickly.
Within moments Leonidas' muscles tensed as his eyes shut, he went still and silent, "Is he? Is he ok?" I asked, lowering my voice as much as I could.
Andromeda watched intently as Leonidas' chest remained still, sinking into itself. "I don't know….the ambrosia might take awhile since the damage to him was extensive."
Leonidas shot up in an upright position, his chest rising and falling fast. He touched every spot the wood had touched, wincing as he did and making sure he was splinter free. He started to slow his breathing down, taking in deeper, more controlled, breaths.
"Everything hurts, and my legs feel violated," Leonidas said, laying back down. "What happened?"
"A boulder struck the helm, the shrapnel almost killed you," I looked over at the boulder shaped hole in the side of the ship.
"And my fleet? I don't feel them anymore," Leonidas tried getting up, but Andromeda kept him down.
"Gone, two boulders struck the Spanish ship and another struck the Ironclad. Jason's trying to get us to safety, I don't know where he's taking us," Andromeda answered, looking up at Jason.
Jason held the ship steady, occasionally barking commands out as men ran about to keep the ship together. Jason watched the mast sway, occasionally flinching if it moved to much. I turned to Andromeda who was helping Leonidas to the back benches on the command deck, sitting next to him. I walked to where Jason was watching the sea that was now calm as glass.
"Where are you taking us?" I asked, watching as the air grew heavy with fog.
"To go see an old friend, hopefully she's changed," Jason sighed out, looking ahead.
As he said that, the fog started to relent allowing me to see past its haze. An island sat in the ring of fog, dense forests and tall mountains shrouded the island but a single castle stood over all. We were nearing Circe's palace, The Daughter of Helios and a powerful witch.
"Remind me how this part of the story ends for you, Jason?" I said, nervously gripping the remainder of the railing.
"Doesn't your school teach this?" He responded, sure of his actions.
"Yes, but I'll be honest Hades' class is boring," I said, thinking about Hades' history class. If he were an actual teacher he would've been fired, he always summoned a dead hero or important person to teach the class for him while he read books in the back.
"It's your heritage, what would your Páter say? Or your Máter?" Jason turned to me as the air grew tense, Andromeda's attention spiked our way as I turned back to the ocean.
"I, um, I don't really know my Máter….." I answered, trying my best to leave my thoughts at that.
My mother wasn't the best subject whenever it came up, she constantly chose my stepdad and my mortal stepbrother over my wellbeing. At first I dealt with it but when I kept getting sick from neglect, I ran away from my own home at 10. I don't even know if my mother bothered to look for me afterwards, I do know that running from LA to San Francisco takes forever and wears on you. When Poseidon found me he didn't make me go back, he allowed me to live in the legion safehouse. That was then, and this is now, I couldn't afford to get distracted by the past.
"Circe gave me and Medea shelter, she abhorred her actions and detested me, but Medea was family. She took us in, cared for us, but when our time was up on the island Circe let us know," Jason answered, letting the previous conversation disappear with the wind.
"So…she might not be happy to see you? Especially with you abandoning Medea," Andromeda asked, kicking her feet on the back benches still.
"Let's hope it doesn't come up, in fact I'll stay on the ship," Jason looked over at the deck in pieces. "I need to work on repairing my ship…..I'll be damned if that mast falls on me."
"Is that how you died?" I asked, looking at the mast swaying more in the wind.
"Yeah…the stories say I died from a beam but it was my mast. The wood in my ship had rotted until the mast fell on me, crushing me under its weight," Jason looked at the sea that was as still as glass. "I must admit that it's nice to see my ship sea worthy once more."
"Well, let's try to keep it that way," I answered, watching the ship slowly pull up to the dock.
On the port there were a multitude of shops, and many people moving about the stalls and stores strolling about. Many eras of history blended into a colorful display of history, from the 1940's with men in flight uniforms to others in what looked like legion uniforms with pink cloth. Some of the men and woman strolling about also wore Greek style togas or pirate wear. These must've been the multitude of men and women who have vanished in these waters over the years, or have been claimed by the Mediterranean's stories. I looked around to find Jack looking through oddities and weapons, and hopefully new clothes.
"Mr. Silver!" I shouted, watching as his head snapped towards me.
Jack mouthed something and walked over, a new coat draped over his arm and a newly polished revolver at his hip. "What are you doing here? You do realize this is Circe's island right?"
"What are you doing here? Last time I saw you was on The Lotus Eaters island," I countered, watching his face drop a bit.
"I killed a few guards and saved some slaves, all a days work. Afterwards a group of pirates sailed me here, a nice fellow named Henry Avery was their captain," Jack smiled a bit, looking around. "Do not know where he went though, you think it'd be easy to find a pirate in a crowd."
"Wait wait wait, Henry Avery? The Henry Avery, the famous pirate that disappeared in 1696 Henry Avery?" Andromeda asked, helping Leonidas to the port.
"I guess, I wasn't big on pirates when I was originally alive," Jack shrugged.
"You're a gunslinger, you were basically the landlocked version of pirates according to my dad," Leonidas chimed in.
Jack recoiled a bit, almost disgusted at the statement. "Son of Ares?"
"Son of Ares," Andromeda and Me said simultaneously.
Leonidas stood up straight, flexing slightly to show off. "I am a Son of Ares, the war god. My name is Leonidas, like The Lion of Sparta from The Agiad Dynasty."
"Gods above, you act just like him. You're just missing the arrogance and armor, and the knives that hold the spirits of dread and panic," Jack said, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"You've met my dad?" Leonidas asked, stepping forward looking down a Jack like he was a tiny god to him.
"I've met every Olympian, kid. Even some Titans and Minor Gods, including her mother," Jack looked back up at Leonidas, pointing at Andromeda. "My friend got me a ride in her chariot, gods you'll never feel more alive."
"Did you get to ride with Ares?" Leonidas smiled, enjoying the company of a true Americana legend.
"Can you get me a ride? I would love to ride with The God of War, he's one of my favorite gods," Jack smiled like a kid who just got handed his first Red Ryder.
"Who is your favorite?" Andromeda chimed in, closing in on Jack like a shark.
"Look kids, I've known enough demigods to not answer that question, now I need to try to secure an audience with Circe," Jack answered, turning to walk away.
"Jack, wait!" I said, running over. "We need an audience with Circe as well, we're trying to get to The Underworld. Y'know, the same way Odysseus did for the same reasons."
Jack thought for a moment, sighing and taking a match from his sleeve. He pulled another lavender cigarette from his hat and struck the match quickly lighting his cigarette, inhaling it deeply and slowly puffing the smoke up in the air. He paused briefly weighing his options, or considering how to get an audience.
"Ok, but this is a strictly non-violent endeavor. Circe has changed thanks to her husband, but when we get out of the trading post and on her land she will be weary. It's been a while since I've seen her, but I know she is past turning people into animals," Jack started walking into the crowd, hand on his hip, towards the end of the trading post.
I looked around at all of the shops, and the occasional restaurant. It was oddly reminiscent of San Francisco's Pier 39, the only thing different was the men in different armors and clothing from every time period possible. I saw members from The Roman Legion in small patrols dressed in legionnaire uniforms, the blood reds of the original cloth clothing replaced with fuchsia pink.
"Why are there so many Romans here?" I asked, hushing my voice.
"You ever hear of The Ninth Legion?" Jack countered, pulling the hammer on his gun back whenever guards stared too long.
I thought back to Hades' history class, I remember passing out during the history of Rome, "Yeah, the legion that vanished up in Britain in 106 AD. How did they get here?"
"They got in a fight in Britain and they retreated, they took the path around Europe to try and get to Italy. On their way back the fleet got caught by Scylla and Charybdis, getting trapped in The Realm of Monsters," Jack Explained.
"What did they run into that made them run away to Italia rather than Hispania where they were posted?" Andromeda kept her hands behind her back, practically gliding at my side.
"A primordial, a woman with hair as dark as night yet as brilliant as blood. Maddened eyes of opal and ruby, a Greek woman of no name. She chased them out and The Romans were told to retreat if they ever saw anyone like her, this was around the time Minerva became really active as well," Jack answered, completely unsure of what The Roman's truly faced.
I've heard references of that woman before reading some of the reports by demigods who fought in the world wars, wherever she was there was chaos close behind. She was considered an omen of bad luck, George Washington reported seeing her before The Battle of New York. Marquis de Lafayette said he saw her at the funeral that killed him, saying she was smiling at him like she knew Thanatos was close. Then once more she was reported to be seen in Russia in 1917, right before the Russian Revolution kicked off. She was never named, but the reports were always the same.
The conversation went silent as we reached the edge of the trading post, two guards stood there with spears ready. Above was the castle of Circe, I could feel eyes on me as we readied to leave. There was only a handful of ways an audience with Circe could end, and very few of the outcomes were in our favor.