The Quest for Closure (Camp Half-Blood Fanfic)

Tiffany's POV

I just sat there, hugging Kaitlyn as she sobbed and sobbed. She sobbed so hard that she started coughing. Geez, I haven't seen her cry this hard since Wally died. I felt so bad. I cried a little too. Max was one of the best friends I'd ever had. I felt horrible. But deep down, I knew that Max knew that he was the sacrifice. It was inevitable. I don't think I would ever have the heart to tell Kaitlyn that, though. She sat there, crying while I was hugging her, until I told her and James, "Guys. I think it's time to go. Let's grab our things."

My best friend quickly wiped away the rest of her tears. "You're right, Tiff. We gotta get moving."

My friends gathered their things and started walking away. I did the same, but as I was catching up with them, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye: the scroll that the monsters were talking about. The one that had crucial information about their plan. Max must've left it for us before... you know what happened. I ran back for the scroll and picked it up. Kaitlyn and James looked back at me. "Tiff, you comin'?" Asked James.

"Yeah. Wait up!"

When I caught up with them, I showed them the scroll. They both had hopeful gleams in their eyes. "Max must've left it for us!"

I exclaimed. "Well, we can look at it when we get back to camp," Kaitlyn said, tears starting to form in her eyes again.

By the time we arrived at our makeshift camp, Kaitlyn was a wreck. She was crying her eyes out. James and I looked at each other. I seemed to know what he was saying; he was saying something like, Do something. YOU'Re her best friend!

I glared at him and walked over to where the daughter of Aphrodite was sitting. I sat down next to her and hugged her. "Kaitlyn. It's okay. Max wouldn't want you to fall apart like this. You have to stay strong. For him. I know you can do it."

She took a deep breath and wiped her tears. "You're right. Finishing this quest is what Max would've wanted for me. Thanks, Tiff. Now, let's take a look at this scroll, I guess."

The three of us sat down on our bird feather bed and I pulled out the scroll. There was a bunch of ancient Greek writing on it, but we were able to decipher it since we're Greek demigods. It didn't make much sense. They were random phrases with the words "raise" and "rule" and other words scattered around the paper. I looked at the others and shrugged. "Maybe they're talking about Mr. Red Robes ruling something?"

"Well, maybe, but this isn't very helpful." James examined the paper closely again. "Turn it over. Maybe there's something on the back that can help us."

I turned over the paper and there it was in purple writing: the location of Mr. Red Robes.

A huge grin spread across my face. "Guys! We can finally find Mr. Red Robes and defeat him once and for all!"

The others looked optimistic as well, except for Kaitlyn, who had a fake smile on her face. I looked at the part again. "It says that he's at an apartment in Rio de Janeiro. It's not TOO far away from here. We should be there in about a day. Let's get moving!"

We gathered our things and walked away from the Amazon rainforest. As we were walking, we heard a rumble from not very far away. I turned around and saw a hellhound AND a manticore. Man, we must be hellhound magnets. The manticore spoke. "Demigods! You really thought that you would get to the location of our master that easy?"

James spoke as well. "Well, we were kind of hoping."

I smacked his arm. "Well, that's too bad."

The manticore charged at Kaitlyn. I jumped in front of her and shot it in the chest. It scraped my arm as it disintegrated. I cried out in pain. But, I had to keep the hellhound away from Kaitlyn. She wasn't exactly in the best condition to fight a monster at the moment. She looked drained and a little dizzy. Anyway, I ran over to James, who was fighting the hellhound. I shot it, and it disintegrated immediately. Kaitlyn ran over to where the son of Hephaestus and I were standing. "Well, let's keep moving!"

I felt ready to collapse.

We were walking for miles and miles, and it was getting dark. I didn't think any of us could handle another monster. But we didn't have anywhere to rest either, so we had to depend on the remaining nectar and ambrosia I had left. I gave a square to each of them, and they scarfed it down, as I did with mine. We all started feeling and looking better. It was great that we were in good condition, because we found another monster: a centaur. I shot it as it charged at us, and it disintegrated into dust. Wow. I was getting really good at this. Anyway, we trudged on and on for what felt like forever.

Finally, it was daytime and we started seeing houses and apartment buildings. I took a look at the scroll again to make sure the address we were looking for was correct. I lead my friends to a beige apartment on the bottom floor. The door was white, and looked old and damaged. Surprisingly, it only had one simple lock on it. Wait, I thought. What if we are walking into a trap? Oh well. It's too late to think about that now.

We all exchanged quick glances, fished out a bobby pin, and I unlocked the apartment door.