The Blood of Three

Chapter 9

When I walked into the kitchen the next morning, Dylan had already made pancakes. "Good morning," he greeted. He looked nothing like he had the night before. A smile was plastered across his face and his eyes were their original, bright sapphire-blue.

"Good morning."

"After lunch with Aidan, I was thinking he could come with us into town," he informed me. "If that's all right with you."

I nodded and sat down on the couch. "Yeah. I don't see a problem with it."

He brought me a plate that held a pancake saturated in syrup and a fork. He sat beside me and we ate in silence. When we were both finished, we walked down to Terran's and tried to get him to let us leave Safe Haven for a little while.

He didn't like the idea.

#

"It's only to get Riley some clothes. We'll be back in two hours," Dylan assured him.

"I'm not letting two demigods leave Safe Haven alone at a time like this. Especially you two!" Terran raised his voice.

Dylan scratched the back of his head. "Actually three," he muttered under his breath.

Terran crossed his arms, one of his eyebrows raising. "And who will that be?"

"Aidan..."

"I'm not letting you three leave without me, especially not until we figure out who Riley's father is," Terran said sternly.

"You let me go into town by myself a few days ago," Dylan reminded him, crossing his arms to imitate the man.

"Even then, you were only supposed to be gone an hour, which turned into two hours because you were running from monsters," Terran argued.

"Please..." Dylan and I pleaded in unison.

Terran stared at us and contemplated for a long moment. "Okay, but for no more than two hours," he gave in and uncrossed his arms. "Tell me when you're about to leave and check in as soon as you get back," he added.

A bright smile stretched Dylan's cheeks. We didn't bother pushing the conversation any further, fearing Terran would change his mind. By this time, it was time to meet Aidan, so we made our way to Dylan's hill.

When we got to the top, Aidan was already there waiting for us. He stood by the house door, holding a bag with a smile across his face. A long bow was strapped onto his back, along with a quiver full of arrows.

"Did you persuade Terran?" Aidan asked.

Dylan grinned mischievously. "It took some convincing, but he's giving us two hours in town."

"What's in the bag?" I asked Aidan, gesturing to the sack in his hand.

"Our lunch."

I followed them to the edge of the hill where we sat down. I overlooked Safe Haven while Aidan pulled items out of his sack. "I brought turkey sandwiches, chips and sodas." He divided the food among us and handed out sodas. "So, Riley, tell me about yourself," Aidan said as we began eating. "I know absolutely nothing about you, with the exception of your name."

I looked up at him and shrugged. "There's not much to tell. I haven't seen my father since I was eight, my mother died when I was nine and I've lived with my aunt Meg ever since. Two days ago, after getting rescued from a group of griffons by Dylan, I found Meg dead in our house." I looked at Dylan. "Then, someone decided to crash my car in a lake, almost killing the two of us after being chased by the Nemean lion." Dylan rolled his eyes at me.