²Olden Crown, heroes of olympus

003.

OLDEN CROWN
━━ chapter three

━━ ELISA HAD ALWAYS figured she had long since past the point of madness. She was a daughter of Dionysus, after all. He was the God of Madness. It was in her DNA, in the very fiber of her being. It was natural to her. They were one in the same.

               However, the past three days have tested her mind in ways she never thought possible.

               She hadn't thought it possible for her mind to be tested after all she had lived through in sixteen short years. She had been attacked by a pack of empousai at age twelve, witnessed her apartment burn to the ground, be hunted by an empousa, traveled across the country to find a camp for people like her, got stranded in Bar Harbor, Maine, traveled across the country a second time to save Artemis and Annabeth Chase, delve into the maze of madness, the labyrinth, and then fought Kronos and his forces.

               She thought she had seen it all, lived through it all, and had escaped with her life and a sliver of sanity left to tell the tales. But with her boyfriend missing for three days had Elisa in a mess of emotions. All she wanted to do was cry and rip everything she got her hands on apart ( and curse every god's name in existence, but she knew that would get her killed ).

               Before she could delve into another crying fit, Elisa shook her head and focused her attention back on the four demigods behind her. The one who looked like an elf was talking excitedly, yelling over the winds to be heard. The girl with a bird's nest for hair was trying to tune everything out, a brooding expression on her face. The blond guy with only one shoe ( Elisa couldn't help but scowl at the exposed foot that looked like a lump of charcoal—That was supposed to be her answer? ) kept his eyes trained on the stormy skyline ahead of them.

               Sure, their names were Leo, Piper, and Jason but, she already had new names for them; Elf Boy, Bird's Nest, and Lump of Coal.

               And then there was Claret Ulmer who was ... not responding to Claret. Not only was that confusing ( who doesn't respond to their name, right? ), but she was also supposed to be dead. She had died! Elisa was sure of it. Claret Ulmer had been one of the unclaimed demigods still left at Camp Half-Blood during the quest for the Daedalus. Claret had died in the Battle of the Labyrinth, and Elisa remembered her pure white shroud burning.

               But there Claret Ulmer was. In the flesh. Looking very alive. And avoiding Elisa, the name Claret, and her three companions' questions about the name mix-up like the plague.

               Just thinking about it made Elisa's brain hurt. She already had enough problems, she didn't need Claret Ulmer's ... issues, too.

               The four they had rescued from Wilderness School stood in the back, clinging on. Elisa stood up front with Butch, who was handling the reins. The daughter of Dionysus fiddled with the bronze navigation device nailed to the front. They rose over the Grand Canyon and headed east, icy winds ripping straight through her clothes and into her skin. Behind them, more and more storm clouds were gathering. Elisa kept looking over her shoulder nervously. She could feel the ... insanity in the air. The anemoi thuellai weren't done yet.

               The chariot lurched and bumped as they flew onward. Elisa was grateful for her brothers for being such pains in the ass. If they hadn't insisted on Elisa learning how to ride chariots, she would've flown off long ago.