THE HOUSE OF MEMORIES [J. GRACE]

TWENTY-EIGHT

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ THE HOUSE OF MEMORIES ༉‧₊˚.[THE HEROES OF OLYMPUS]

C H A N D L E R
chapter twenty-eight: we trespassed & now we must pay in gold. pay in gol—get it? alright, anyways

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IT TOOK all four of them to hold back the satyr.

"whoa, coach!" jason shot up form the sofa, fully ready to intervene, and stop the goat if absolutely necessary. "bring it down a few notches."

a younger man charged into the room. chandler guessed he must be lit, the old guy's son. he was dressed in pajama pants with a sleeveless t-shirt that said cornhuskers, and he held a sword that looked like it could husk a lot of things besides corn. his ripped arms were covered in scars, and his face, framed by curly dark hair, would've been handsome if it wasn't also sliced up. anyway, lit immediately zeroed in on jason, like he was the biggest threat, and stalked toward him, swinging his sword overhead. chandler didn't mean to, but her instincts moved before she should think. her battle ax materialized in her hand upon a light tugging in her gut, and she moved into close to block his attack flawlessly. her body was in front of jason, and the others, wordlessly expressing that she would take out their threat if he tried anything.

lit froze, out of shock she assumed, so chandler dropped her weapon a fraction, and stepped back some. it didn't take the man's son very long to get out of his state as a small, ruthless smirk tugged at the corner of his lips, and he stepped forward, intending to accept the silent challenge chandler had issued. she lifted her chin, not at all afraid of a fight.

"hold on!" piper stepped forward quickly, trying to soothe the situation before chandler started hacking off limbs. the aphrodite girl's voice came out alluring, and soothing, like lavender, and oat milk. "this is just a misunderstanding. everything is fine."

at the magic in her words, lit stopped in his tracks. it wasn't strong enough that his guard completely vanished, especially the way he kept eyeing chandler, and her defensive position, he looked wary. it surely didn't help that coach hedge kept yelling, "i'll get them, don't worry."

"coach," jason said, his blue eyes narrowed at the saytr, "they may be friendly." chandler noted the way the honey blonde pointedly said 'may' especially throwing a glance toward lit, who charged them without a second thought. jason continued, a false tone of calamity, and lightheartedness to make the strangers feel a bit less threatened with hedge screaming about killing them, "besides, we're trespassing in their house."

"thank you!" the old man shouted in agreement, readjusting his bathrobe with a bit of an attitude. chandler understood, she didn't like being awoken from her sleep, either, in fact, she was in a bit of a sour mood as hedge had woken her up, too. the old man looked to them each individual, before focusing on jason, most likely electing him as a diplomat as he'd managed to calm hedge mildly, "now, who are you? and why are you here?"

"how about we all put our weapons down?" piper said, her tone sounded thick, and sweet as honey to the strangers, but chandler, and the other questers knew it was hiding some apparent anger underneath. she shot a look to hedge, and chandler alike, which the hephaestus girl did not enjoy. "chandler, coach, you first." the curly haired girl pinned piper with a look that wasn't easy to decipher, but she made her ax vanish. she had enough experience to note that they wouldn't be leaving the mansion without fighting especially as the enemy had armed themselves first, even if they seemed nice. chandler was right about medusa, and circe, this would be no different.