LXVII

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You

Waking up with a blaring headache wasn't pleasant.

"Glad to see you're awake. We all thought you would miss the battle," Kinzie hovered over me from where it seemed I was riding in the back of a chariot.

The road was bumpy as we moved, clearly not helping my headache. I shook my head, trying to dispel some of the fog before snapping up and looking around.

"Woah, don't get too ahead of yourself. You've been out for a couple of hours."

I stood up, gripping onto the chariot as we moved through familiar California hills. I seemed to be on one of the only chariots pulled by a pair of brilliant white horses. Most of the other Amazons had opted to go with what looked like heavily fortified forklifts.

"How far did I make it?"

A few of the other amazons around Kinzie noticed my presence and stared in awe. Kinzie grinned. "Practically to the California border in Oregon. We stopped just outside of Winchuck River. Cut our trip more than in half."

More than in half? That had to have been more than 500 miles. I impressed even myself, but I definitely felt it. Bile rose from my stomach, and I threw up over the end of the chariot. I felt hot and dizzy, but I had brought the Amazon's far enough to join the battle, and that was all that mattered.

I gripped onto the edge of the chariot, my knuckles turning white as Kinzie gave me a look of concern.

"You don't look so good. Are you sure you didn't push yourself too far?"

I took a shaky breath. It felt like my insides were on fire and not in a good way. "I'll be fine. I just need a moment." I grimaced. Clearly, more than a moment. All I knew was that I wouldn't be taking in that much power for a long time.

Kinzie motioned for one of the Amazon's to come over to the chariot. A large battle forklift pulled up right behind the chariot, and an Amazon with light, golden hair, and brilliant blue eyes hopped off and into the small space of my chariot.

She bowed lightly. "Queen Y/n, I here for your assistance. What do you need?"

I let go of the rail enough to look at the young Amazon. "What's your name?"

"My name is Eleanor, daughter of Hecate. It is my honour," She said, bowing again. "I grew up on Circe's island with Hylla and her sister Reyna. I respected Hylla, and I respect her choice, now."

I tried to smile, but it was more of a grimace than anything. "The honour is all mine."

"Here, I can help. I learned a bit about healing with magic in my time. The headache and pain should go away on their own, but this should speed it up."

She looked at me for consent as she raised her hands to my head. I nodded, allowing her to touch lightly to my temples.

I shuddered as a cold chill went through me, and I flashed back to the similar feeling I'd felt for months.

"You tried to run again, did you?" Khione's dark eyes seemed to bare into my soul as she played with a bit of ice power in her hands.

I gritted my teeth, staring at her with pure rage. This was the person who had taken everything from me. My parents, my friends, my life. If it wasn't for the ice spear pointed at my heart, I would have lunged at her right then and there.

"You took everything from me." I growled, my hands clenched in fists. They were hot with the promise of fire, but the room was too cold.

She grinned with evil delight. "It's only what a spineless mutt like you deserves. Our patron still thinks you could be of use to us, so consider yourself lucky I don't kill you now."

Cold pressed into the back if my neck and arms by what seemed like a thousand pin-sized needles. I gasped, fighting the urge to move.

"You need to learn that actions have consequences. And I'm going to make sure you feel it."

"Stop." I shuddered, the cooling magic bringing back the memory of worse pain. "Stop, please." I didn't even realize there were tears in my eyes.

Eleanor drew back sharply, somewhat confused. "Is something wrong?"

"No." Yes. I took a deep breath, atleast the headache was gone. I still felt that burning sensation, but I couldn't tell if it was a memory of pain or was actually there. "Thank you," I said.

She tilted her head in confusion before smiling lightly. "You're welcome? Well, if you need any more help with anything, I'm your girl. I'll be staying behind the fighting to help the injured during the battle."

"Your skills are very beneficial. I'm sure there will be lots for you to do today now that thanatos has been freed."

"But how do you know that? None of us has died yet."

Kinzie seemed to be giving me that same skeptical look. She must be wondering how I would know that, but I'll let her stay skeptical.

"There are just some things I know. I'd rather not give a demonstration to see if anyone dies if we kill them, anyways."

"Thank goodness for that," Kinzie said, chiming into the conversation.

Eleanor hopped off the chariot and back into one of the battle forklifts. The Amazon driving the thing gave me a nod in respect before driving off to move back into formation.

Some pieces of silver armour were placed at the bottom of the chariot. I picked them up, examining them.

"Those are for you. They used to be Hylla's. But now that she's gone, we thought it was right to give it to you. They used to be black, but we stripped off the colour in case you wanted to customize them yourself."

The armour was beautiful. Small designs were etched into the breastplate and across the arm guards.

"I think silver suits me," I said. Taking the clasp off my necklace and watching as it transformed into my long silver blade.

"So how much further are we from Camp Jupiter?" I asked.

Kinzie pointed ahead. "We're already here."

I could hear the clang of metal, the shouts, and crashes as two armies battled against each other. By the sounds of the battle, at least we weren't too late. We had made it in time, and that meant the camp hadn't completely fallen. I'd make sure it wouldn't.

I slipped on the pieces of armour, marveling at how perfectly it fit and how lightweight it was. I was half afraid it would slow me down in battle.

"Let's give them something else to fight."

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