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"I've 'ad to try and talk myself out o' a few situations in de past, though usually when it comes to excuses makin people laugh ahr find it amusin'll go a lahng way," he said with a smile and a slight laugh as he followed Niah along towards the front desk area. Definitely seemed like it was a weird excuse to come up with, but most people joke about killing spiders with fire, hence he went towards the hilarious answer to the what happened sort of question before.

They reached the front desk and he wondered if others in the hotel by now had seen the chaos and carnage that had been wrecked upon their hotel room. Though he did see the basilisk now as the front desk worker asked what they needed. Jason just kept his eye on the snake for as long as possible before it seemingly disappeared while Niah asked a few questions about things.

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Mary just nodded her head, giving Andy a smile as Madalyne had at this point turned to look at them and was comforting Andy about the whole situation. "Let's hurry up and move along otherwise we might have more of them following us or something like that..." she agreed, before following after Madalyne and Damon, figuring that they had a better idea of where they were going at the moment then she was.

Seeing the hall with the rooms, she wasn't sure which direction to go, when Andy suggested maybe looking at the map, and she had to stop herself from laughing, having almost forgot that she had that. Pulling out the book and look at the map, she saw that it was leading towards a larger room of some sort. "That map does seem to still work in this area, follow me and keep an eye out," she said towards the others as she followed it along to the room it led to, every so often looking around to look where they were going and for any more monsters.

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Demi turned his attention towards Alexios as he asked his question. ”Never been on a train before mate? Or is the party bus the only way you get around?” He asked with a bit of a chuckle. The laughter felt distant, like he’d wanted to joke around but the worry of where his boyfriend was still clung to every word he said. His eye’s never left the doorway however, even while he spoke to the god he kept his gaze fixated on that spot, watching as the passersby’s made their way across the platform going off towards their own little destinations. Their steps didn’t make waves, not in the world full of Demi-gods. They were trickles, leading lives of bliss while a car full of teenagers worried if their next breath would be their last as they sped their way towards a trap in an attempt to save the world while the rest of the humans simply sat at home or their job fully unaware of the circumstances surrounding their fate. Demi wondered for a moment if there was any equivalent that was happening in the real world. If their own choices were reflected across the mist to give off early signs so that the humans could venture off away from the danger. Either way Alexios and these thoughts were a welcome distraction as worry seeped its way inside his bones.

Cassian followed behind Alexios as he navigated his way through the train car. ”It’s one type of train, yeah. There’s other kinds and even nicer ones for passengers too. I’ve always wanted to ride one of those, they serve food inside the dining cars, have great viewing windows to watch the scenery pass by, and some even still do murder mysteries inside of them. There’s not much partying on those, but they're still fun I hear.” He heard the doors close behind them as they made their way through the car. Figured it was best not to let a god simply wander around all by himself, that and he didn’t exactly want to find company with the others right now. Janelle still seemed heated over what had happened, Demi was too busy being a worry wart, and Kris was with Janelle. The whole while he moved across he didn't see Zeke or Nancy once. He began to wonder what the chances were that they would go on a different car, after all they should be able to travel freely between the cars so they could always check later.

The doors shut, and suddenly the train felt so enclosed. Demi’s chest tightened, he hadn’t seen Zeke get on the train. He quickly got up and began to move through the car, wedging his way past anyone who would get in his way as he attempted to find the pair of missing demi-gods. Each step grew more and more frantic as he came closer to the realization that they were leaving without him and Nancy. Emotions tore him apart until nausea hit hard making him want to vomit. Yet he could hear Kristins voice loud and clear. He shot her a glare, almost as if she was taunting him, like she was glad those two were missing. ”No! Zeke and Nancy aren’t here” Demi spat the words like venom at her before hearing Cassian’s voice in the background talking about gods knew what. His eyes narrowed at his target, the one who’d lied to him and told him that they’d be fine. That they’d be here. ”You! You did this.” It didn’t matter that Zeke and Nancy had missed the train on their own accord. Demi didn’t know, and right now he needed someone to project his feelings of hurt on and Cassian happened to be the most likely target for assuring him earlier they’d be on board.

Cassian heard the growl of Demetris voice coming from behind him, all he could do was turn and look before suddenly his world view had changed. He didn’t know what had gotten into Demetri, but whatever it was wasn’t good. Just as Cass turned to look towards the demigods way, he was met with a rapid strike to his jaw and an immediate sting of pain. He fell down towards the ground, one hand firmly grasping the spot that was just hit before failing to block another blow. Demetri punched him square in the face, causing his head to knock back and hit against the train floor. ”what the hell is your problem man? What did I do?” ”You lied to me. You said he’d be alright, that he’d be here, that he was close by. He’s not here!” Demi’s words were full of anger and pain, tears welling up and dripping down his cheeks and onto Cassian’s face as he reared back another punch. Cassian flinched, unable to use his powers to help the situation for himself. As Demi saw him flinch, he felt guilt wring his heart. He felt like one of the many bullies he’d had to deal with in his own life. The punch stopped, as Demi stood up and made his way to a seat and began to cry.

---

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Harrisburg, Hotel near, Amtrak Train Station:

"Sure thing." The receptionist quickly started to take the keycards from them setting them down into the nearby drawer to keep them there for now. They had already received the call from house keeping to fix it as quickly as possible when Niah asked them about when the train would come and shrugged slightly. "I'm not sure you would have to go to the station and look that information there, trains come and go throughout the station daily so hard to know." They told Niah, the group should check in at the station and see when their train would actually be ready to go for them to continue on their way to New Rome.

Streets of Philadelphia :

There wasn't much of a diner or motel nearby however both Nancy and Zeke would notice what looked like an old abandoned gym that was across the street, the front door to the gym was locked by a chain and padlock. The two of them could use their weapons to simply break the lock and get inside. Or they could try and go back to the Burger King that they had just eaten at and ask one of the employees for a better place to sleep in as well to.

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Kiera started to think what to do now as she looked at her sister who seemed to be getting tired out by the attacks she stared at her father's trident for a moment as she saw bit of electricity sparking from it. Her girlfriend was able to get a few hits in on him as she started to aim the trident at Oceanus. "Get down!" Kiera yelled out to Leda, as she then aimed the trident at the center of Oceanus' chest and fired off a shot at the Titan. The aim was spot on as it just barely went past Leda and slammed into the titan's chest which sent him flying into a pillar within the cave and slammed into the wall which left a nasty looking burn on the titan's chest.

It looked like he was out now which was a good thing then. Then the cave started to now give way as chunks of the ceiling started to fall down, and slammed into the floor the main exit was quickly covered by rubble which only left the side entrance that they had snuck into earlier. The cave ceiling quickly slammed down onto Oceanus' body which quickly covered his body the cave was going to collapse on all of them if they didn't escape in time.

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"Thats good to hear." Madalyne said as she looked over at Mary as she mentioned that the map was still working here which was a good thing then as she followed shortly behind Mary towards the room that she had pointed out. There was a large door as Madalyne slowly opened it she looked around seeing the room and then at the far end of the room was a sword resting in a pedestal of sorts. The room seemed to be ungarded then which Madalyne thought was really weird. "I think this is what we are looking for." Madalyne said as she slowly started to make her way towards it and tried to grab for the sword only for her to get a rather nasty shock from it. Madalyne yelped loudly as she pulled back rather quickly rubbing her hands slightly.

"This is enchanted it'll take me a little bit to try and dispel it." Madalyne said looking over her shoulder at the three of them and quickly started to get to work on it. "Sure thing." Damon said as he started to hear some movement coming from the hallway and quickly made his way towards the door to check it out. He could see the silhouettes of a few monsters and quickly but quietly closed the door behind him looking at Andy and Mary.

"We should try and find a way to barricade the door." Damon said as he looked around seeing a few chairs that looked like they were made of some kind of stone and wood. He quickly grabbed one of them and slowly moved one of them towards the door looking at the two girls. "Mind helping?" He asked them.

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"Well a party bus is the best way to move around actually it's really fun and the best." Alexios said to Cassian and smiled towards him. The train had left the station and they were quickly leaving the city now which was a good thing then he had some private time with Demi. Zeke and Nancy were most likely going to get eaten by some monsters now or something like that he thought. It was their own fault for leaving the group anyway. Then Demi quickly socked Cassian in the face as he flinched slightly, he quickly went over to Demi's side, giving a glance at Cassian giving him a sad look feeling bad that he ended up getting punched for now real reason.

Kristin's attention turned towards Cassian and Demi as she could hear the two speaking she flinched a bit when Demi managed to land two punches on Cassian. "Damnit." Kristin said as she looked at Janelle for a moment. "I'll be right back." Kristin said as she quickly made her way towards Cassian who was now on the dirty floor of the train and helped him back up onto his feet. "Here i'll get you to a seat are you okay?" Kristin asked Cassian as she escorted him back towards where she had been sitting with Janelle. "Just stay here i'm going to see what the hell just happened." Kristin said as she made her way to where Demi was now sitting and crying. "What the hell happened?" Kristin asked staring Demi down Alexios was there gently resting an arm over Demi's shoulder to comfort him.

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Ezekiel shouldered his pack and stood up. ”Well, I don’t particularly like the sound of a diner either. One, we’d have to keep buying something in order to stay in there, but we also look like a pair of runaways. They could call the cops on us. Two, breaking into a school could be just as risky. The schools in the nicer part of town could be alarmed. If we were in a sketchy part of town, I’d say let’s go for it.”
Zeke started to look around himself, not seeing anything immediate, but there was a building that looked run down. The lock in the front told Zeke that security was minimal. Then again, it could be a decoy, but Zeke didn’t want to go back to Burger King, and even though she suggested it, Zeke didn’t want to subject Nancy to a nasty ass motel.
”That building looks good. We can peek inside and see if there are any video cameras. If there aren't, we could break the lock and hide out in there.” Zeke pointed across the street and to the gym.

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Stella was glad that they would be leaving the hotel, as it had been a rough night, and she was eager to get back on their journey to the West Coast again. They were probably behind the other groups on their journeys and she was sure that Niah was eager to get home too. She kept ahold of Arbor's leash, so that he didn't run off at that point. "Thank you again for everything." She smiled to the receptionist before leaving with Jason and Niah, and went to head to the station.

She was hoping that their train was going to be on time, as they had gotten up nice and early, just to make sure. She could tell that once they got on the train, she was probably going to pass out for a while. She would probably cuddle up with her pupper and snuggle in nice and close and nap with him. That sounded good, at least she hoped that nothing would happen to ruin that plan.

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Nancy saw where her brother was pointing to - it almost looked too good to be true. It was perfect, really. A rundown gym with what looked like a padlock on the door. Maybe someone would call the cops on them if they saw them breaking in, but maybe they wouldn't. And they needed to find somewhere to sleep. It was irritating to her how much harder it was to be a teenage runaway in the modern era, at least in her opinion. It had been so much easier in the 80's.

"Rad. That looks like as good as anything we're going to find," Nancy agreed. "Let's check it out then." She didn't say the quiet part - that she was more concerned about it being a monster lair than just being full of video cameras. She had heard about a kid in the Legion who - on his way to finding Lupa - had ended up sleeping in a cyclops nest for a few hours before realizing his tragic mistake.

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They got lucky.

Kiera hit Oceanus hard with Poseidon's trident, the blast slamming into his chest. The titan was sent backwards, ruining even further the structural integrity of the cave. The cave ceiling was coming down around them, gigantic chunks threatening to either skewer or crush them, killing the young demigods. Oceanus was buried alive - Leda would've preferred dead, but incapacitated was enough, at least for now. And in the way only a child of Iris could, Leda could see everything happening in slow motion. She ran quicker than thought.

She scooped up Sera into her arms, before doing the same to Kiera. Her muscles were burning with exertion, but the adrenaline was fueling her, pushing her ever onward. In that moment, Leda could've outrun the gods. She pushed onwards, flying like a rainbow streak of light towards the exit - the exit that was rapidly closing, as more and more rock came down all around them. Leda narrowly missed being crushed at least seven times. Even at her speed, it almost wasn't enough.

Her heart was hammering faster than should've been humanly possible, a vibrating blur in her chest. They had just seconds now. She could see it, a gigantic chunk of ceiling that would hit the ground in just a moment, blocking off their exit and trapping them forever. Her body realized what her head and heart did not; she wasn't going to be fast enough. Without thinking, Leda threw her charges through the exit, praying to the gods that Sera and Kiera would land safely, that they'd go on through...

And then the cave ceiling fell on Leda, crushing the daughter of Iris.

Her last thoughts were of Kiera, and then she was gone, forever. Leda Storm was dead.

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Cassian placed one hand on his jaw where Demi had hit him. Burning pain raging across the length of it in waves as he felt the heat and sting from the hit still. He winced slightly at the touch, still laying on the ground as he simply watched Demi walk away from it all. He hadn’t meant to lie, he only wished to keep them all from missing their train and delaying the quest even further than they already had. As far as he was concerned it made sense for Nancy and Zeke to be back already, for them to have joined them onto the train even if just a few cars away to keep the tensions low. He hadn’t anticipated any of this, but then again that wasn’t his fathers area. They weren’t seers. Alexios had left him, just as quickly as he’d come he was already back on Demetri’s side. Again Cassian felt a bit alone amongst this group, that is until Kristin had come over towards him and lent a helping hand. Picking him up off the ground before helping to escort him over towards a free seat so he could attempt to recover in peace while she went to check out what all had transpired. She seemed just as confused as he was, and he figured Janelle was probably even more confused than the rest as she couldn’t even see what had just happened.

Cassian sat there for a moment, looking towards the direction of Demetri as he watched Kristen make her way towards him. Determination within every step she took. Cass quickly looked away once again, not wanting to spur his ire once more just for looking at his direction. So he focused on the middle ground between his feet. Watching as the lights danced by while the train moved and shadows passed. He began to wonder if every quest was like this, if it was then his mother had left out some very important details when telling him of her exploits from her younger days. Cassian took in a deep breath, closing his eyes as they stayed fixated on the spot between his feet where for a moment peace could exist. He let out the breath and got up, making his way towards where Janelle sat, seeing the spot next to her that Kristin left empty. ”This spot taken?”

Pressure found its way lightly onto Demi’s shoulders as his eyes were closed and tears streamed down his cheeks. It wasn’t hard to tell who’s arm had now found its way wrapped around him. No one else had muscle tones like the god that accompanied them right now. Part of Demetri wanted to curl into it and just cry like he had with his mother. Finding the perfect nook on the chest and pressing his eyes in it as it licked up the tears from his eyes and muffled the sounds of sobs that followed after. But he didn’t do that. He knew it wasn’t Zeke and as attractive as Alexios was, he wasn't the one that Demetri wanted to be vulnerable with. He wanted to remove the arm from his shoulders, to shirk it off and tell him to leave him alone, but he didn’t even have the strength to do that. It wasn’t until he heard Kristin’s voice that he’d finally looked up from his pitiful seat and saw the intense look in her eyes. ”Nothing happened. Just…”

Demi didn’t know what to say. Of his actions, his feelings, what he was thinking, any of it. It was him and Zeke against the world, and then suddenly he was alone again. Was it a mistake to have said yes? To have dated Zeke? Did Demi truly just ruin everything that he touched? His words choked up inside his throat as the tears streamed down in larger drops than before as he looked at Kristin. His chest felt tight and it burned so badly he hadn’t any idea how he was alive. ”He promised me Zeke would be safe. That they’d be on this train. He’s not here…he’s out there with gods’ know what monsters are lying in wait for them and we’re all just here like nothing happened. Like it's just another day with another Demi-god offered up like a sacrifice for the gods' amusement. None of you even care. I bet you were all just waiting for Zeke to leave. I know what you think of him, of me. I just…I wish I had a way to make sure he was ok…” Another tear fell from his face, the light from the window hitting it just right as a rainbow shined through it. The color’s danced across the floor until the movement caused them to be placed within his hands, solidifying into a prism. Demi stared at it for a moment, wondering if a god had taken pity on him and answered his prayers, if this was like Marco’s compact and gave him the ability to speak to Zeke.

Demi was eager to test it out, to see if it held the answers to his wish, but just as he was about to use it…he faltered. What if Zeke didn’t want to talk to him, what if he caught Zeke and Nancy in an emotional moment they didn't want others to pry on? Or what if this was Zeke’s way of saying he didn’t want to be with him anymore? After all, if Zeke wanted to reach out he could always send him an iris message couldn’t he? Demetri’s chest tightened once more as he sat there, clutching the prism in his hands tightly as if it would disappear just as quickly as it had come. If he hadn't heard from Zeke by nightfall…He’d find out just what this prism could do.

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Andy was glad the book still worked here. It would have been frustrating to be so close and have to wander around while monsters hunted them in hopes they stumbled in the right room.

Thankfully they found the sword quickly. But it seemed to be trapped. Andy wanted to ask if she should try to get it since it was lighting that had come from the sword. Also, if she remembered right she had been the one carrying the sword in the vision. They had been running from something.

Damon asked for help trying to block the doors before she could say any of that. Andy glanced around and was able to find a large wooden pole. She stuck it in the handles. That would help prevent the doors from being opened.

"We should also be ready to run, and have a plan of where we need to go to get back out." She suggested to Mary.




"Thanks." Niah said to the receptionist. "We can't trust that we won't miss the train if we get distracted. We gotta go to the station." She shook her head feeling bad for leaving monsters running rampant in the town. Getting to California seemed to be taking forever. She knew logically it had only been a day, but still it felt like ages since they had left Camp Half-Blood.

"Yeah, it was brilliant." Niah complimented Jason. She hurried toward the train station. If they missed it they would have to find a different way across the whole continent. Only Nancy's group had anywhere near as far to go. Niah hoped today would go smoother at least.

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Location: New York City

Skills: Hydrokinsis

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Sera was panicking as the cave was collapsing around them, suddenly feeling an arm grabbing her up off the floor. Speeding through the water in a rainbow light. Leda was going fast but it wasn't enough. The rocks from the ceiling seemed to be falling only just a bit quicker than the daughter of Iris. Then the daughter of Poseidon could no longer feel the arm around her. Being launched out of the exit alongside her sister.

The girl hit the sand then looked back. "....L-Leda....?" She stuttered out, staring at the dust cloud before it finally settled, only to see rocks covering up the entrance. A cold shock ran down her spine. Realizing that Leda had sacrificed herself. Her body felt numb. She barely even knew the girl, but she felt a wave of sorrow wrap around her.

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She wasn't sure how to answer Kristin's question, but based on what she was hearing, Zeke and Nancy hadn't gotten on the train with everyone else, resulting them in being left behind. Though she still wondered if that was a choice on their part rather then a potential accident. Nancy very much had seemed to not want anything to do with the group. Especially Cassian because of what had said with regards to being in a really big rush or whatever to get to the hotel.

Janelle heard the commotion between Demetri and Cassian and then Kristin taking off after them. She just sort of shrugged, expecting this sort of thing in general. Today Kristin seemed to be getting in the way to break up fights and arguments between a lot of people and trying to sort of solve everything herself. All she knew was that she was alone, at least for a little bit, before Cassian came back over asking if he could sit by her, "Go fahr it," she responded with a shrug.

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Jason was kind of hoping that they'd get some sort of idea as to when the trains were leaving, but unfortunately there didn't seem to be any luck on that front. But when the clerk explained the reason as to why they didn't have that information it all made a lot of sense. Of course that also meant that there was a chance that they had already missed the train, which was not exactly something that he wanted to really think about at the moment.

When Niah also seemed to think they needed to go, he nodded along, "Yeah, let's get goin, we dahn't 'ave time to do anythin else, 'opefully de train 'asn't left yet," he said as they started heading back to the station. He wondered a bit what was going on with the others who had gone out on quests, but the thoughts drifted past quickly as he focused more on the fact that they still hadn't even reached their own destination.

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Well turns out the map was handier then she had already thought it was, since without much effort, the map seemed to lead them to the sword that they were looking for. That was nifty to say the least, since they only really had to worry about getting back out of there. That, and apparently whatever magic was wrapped around the sword preventing them from grabbing it and taking it elsewhere. That was a bit annoying, but there had to be some sort of challenge then right?

Hearing Damon's request for help blocking the door while Madalyne messed with the magic around the sword, Mary went over to help move some of the chairs to block the door. She wasn't exactly physically the strongest person around, she still was able to help move some of the stone chairs as well over and in the way to block the door to buy them some time if needed hopefully. "Always be ready to run, or fight, especially when surrounded by monsters," Mary said to her with a shrug, more then ready to pull out her sword if need be.

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Harrisburg, Amtrak Train Station:

The walk back to the train station wasn't all that bad if one of them looked at the departures and arrivals signs throughout the entire station they would see that the train would be leaving in less than ten minutes, and the remainder of the train ride would take three days if they were lucky anyway. When Stella, Jason and Niah made it to the train platform it was already boarding as well to. There weren't any other monsters in the area as well to which was good, and once the train was boarded it started to move once more towards their destination.

Streets of Philadelphia :

From the outside of the abandoned gym it looked like there weren't any active secruity cameras outside of the building really, if either Nancy or Zeke looked in through the window. The inside of the gym looked to be completely abandoned, it was old and dusty looking as well to, and a bunch of broken gym equipment looked to be broken as well to. However there was still quiet a bit of activity out on the streets, they could try and break in through the front door and potentially get caught by the cops. However to the side there was an alleyway that they could try and see if there was another way into the building as well to it was completely up to them.

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Kiera could feel herself suddenly being picked up by her girlfriend as she quickly rushed them out of the exit, however she was thrown along with her sister, Kiera landed on the ground rather hard. She would let out a groan as Kiera slowly started to get up the dust slowly started to settle. "Is everyone alright?" Kiera asked looking over to Sera, hearing her half sister speak, she looked around Kiera didn't hear Leda's voice at all, she wasn't even there. Panic quickly started to sit in as Kiera looked over at the entrance that was now covered in rubble.

"C'mon and help me!" Kiera yelled as she quickly started to move towards the rocks trying her best to slowly move some of the boulders that were now blocking the entrance. Kiera whipped away a few tears as she was worried about her girlfriend she was praying that she was okay and alive. Sera could hear several roars and barking sounds as some of the surviving army were starting they were slowly starting to go through the rubble as well to thanks to the three of them but they weren't alert about the two daughters of Poseidon right now. Kiera managed to slowly uncover Leda's body. "Wake up please.." Kiera said trying to shake her awake but there wasn't a response from her.

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Madalyne closed her eyes as she continued to use her magic to try and dispel whatever magic that was holding the sword down in it's pedestal. Her concentration failed as she could now hear the sounds of the monsters outside banging on the door, eventually a hand of a cyclops managed to punch a hole through a small part of the door. It then stupidly poked it's head through the door letting out a loud roar at the four of them. Damon luckily had his sword on him and quickly took a swing at it managing to decapitate the monster as it's head quickly burst into dust.

Madalyne shook her head and quickly concentrated again using her magic on the sword as she managed to get her hands onto the handle of the sword. They didn't have enough time as she decided to try and pull the sword out while dispelling as she did the sword started to move slowly. However Madalyne was getting a few nasty burns from the sword as she looked at Andy for a moment, she needed some help from her niece. "Andy I need your help." Madalyne said as there were several more banging sounds and eventually their little makeshift barricade broke and the monsters were slowly one by one trickling into the room, one of them managing to take a swing at Mary with a club but narrowly missed her Damon however would get hit by one of the cyclops sending him flying into a nearby wall.

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Alexios remained quiet however he just kept his arm around Demi's shoulder in a comforting way, he wanted to say something but he didn't want to make things worse really. In his opinion Alexios thought it would be best for Nancy and Zeke to find their own way to their destination, the group had been really dysfunctional even before he came into the picture really. Kristin looked at Demi and sighed slightly she could understand what he was feeling as she looked down at the prism that had suddenly appeared in his hand. "Cassian probably thought that they had made it onto the train but on a different car of it. Nancy is strong and has a lot of fighting experience with the Romans, and Zeke has been on two quests before i'm sure that the two of them will be okay." Kristin said as she started to dig through her pockets and pulled out a few of her own drachma and handed it to Demi. "Give him a call when you are feeling better. And then when you are done with the call apologize to Cassian for punching him." Kristin said told him as she headed off further into the train.

Kristin made her way towards the dining car and pulled out some money. "Can I get a bag of ice please?" Kristin asked, as the attendant nodded accepting the money that they were given and started to fill a small baggie with ice. It didn't take to long until Kristin came back and handed Cassian the bag of ice. "It doesn't look bad, normally i'd suggest using nectar or ambrosia but i'd try and save it unless it's an emergency." Kristin said to Cassian as she looked at Janelle. "Sorry again for leaving." Kristin said she was doing her best trying to just keep the group from killing each other it was starting to get to her now since they had just lost Zeke and Nancy now.

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Location: New York City

Skills: Hydrokinsis

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“Ah r-right, I'm coming.” The young girl swam over as quick as she could, moving the rubble away was still difficult but probably easier than it would have been on land. Loud sounds of barking and such made her nervous of course. She looked around at times just to make sure they wouldn’t get ambushed but it seemed no monster was coming at them just yet. Her heart was pounding, body worn down, a dull ache as she moved. She saw Kiera crying, knowing that her half sister was probably in a huge panic to make sure her girlfriend was alive and safe but…. As they cleared the rubble…. Sera was scared, she wanted the demigod to open her eyes, she wanted to know that Leda was okay. “Wake up. Please wake up, Leda.”

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Once Nancy was ready, Ezekiel led the way across the street. He scanned the road, sidewalks, and the building for signs of people and activity. The street was still pretty active with people. The building itself looked blissfully unoccupied, and the security cameras looked to be down or broken, with loose wires hanging out of some of them. He stepped back from the front door and looked around to see there was an alleyway.
”Let’s try the side of the building — fewer eyes,” he said before moving forward. Ezekiel scanned the length of the building before deciding on a window to break. He could boost himself up and help Nancy if she needed it — first things first: the window. Ezekiel pulled around his pack and grabbed the wet shirt he cleaned at Burger King. He wrapped it around his fist and forearm before putting his backpack on once more. Glancing around quickly, Ezekiel smashed his fist through the glass, shielding his face from the spray of glass. Afterwards, he ran the shirt along the window frame to knock any glass loose to prevent him or Nancy from getting cut. He laid his shirt out on the bottom of the windowsill before he boosted himself up and over. He hit the ground inside the building with an echoing thud; pausing a moment, Zeke looked around before moving aside.
”Let me know if you need a hand,” he offered Nancy. Ezekiel waited for Nancy, helping her or not, before he moved away from the window. ”See if you can find anything to cover that,” he suggested to Nancy, nodding to the broken window before he grabbed his shirt. ”I’m going to check the place out. Make sure we are the only ones in here.” His bow appeared, and he notched an arrow before securing the perimeter.
It didn’t take Zeke long. The place had a very open concept. ”All clear,” he announced, rejoining Nancy. ”Everything is pretty much toast in here, but there is lots of room for sparring if you feel up to it.” It would be a good way to pass some time and keep them fighting ready. Plus, if Nancy had any built-up emotion she needed to get out, what better way than to trash a run-down gym?

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Nancy followed her brother around to the side of the building. He broke one of the windows, and offered her a hand for a boost up. "Nah, I've got it - I used to scale the side of my mom's house to sneak back in," Nancy offered. She got herself up and through the window with ease, landing inside of the gym - and thanks to Zeke's careful attention, there weren't any glass shards cutting into her skin or otherwise hurting her. She scanned the room, looking for something that could be used to block the window.

There didn't seem to be much at all. When Zeke came back from sweeping the area, Nancy then looked around as well. No signs of a monster lair. No signs still of anything they could use to block the window. "Lots of room and barely any equipment," Nancy noted. She expected they'd be able to find a mat or something to put up against the window, but nope. Nancy chuckled slightly at Zeke's mention of sparring. Being in a separate environment, with a firm plan, and not talking about anything... It made it a little easier to push it all down.

But there was something that they did need to talk about, something that hadn't even really occurred to Nancy yet.

"What about your boyfriend?" she asked Zeke.

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Stella smiled as she watched the interaction between Niah and Jason. From what she had gathered, it didn't seem that the Roman and Greek demi-gods didn't get along and yet, her travel companions were getting along well. She gently tugged the leash to let Arbor know that it was time to move, and headed towards the hotel entrance and left the building with Niah and Jason. She had made sure that her backpack was snug on her back, and headed across the street to the train station.

It seemed their train would be leaving in ten minutes and that the rest of the ride would take three days if they were lucky. Which, they didn't seem to be at this rate. Lucky would be them not being attacked by monsters for the rest of the ride, but it seemed some force wanted to keep them from getting to New Rome in one piece. The train was boarding, so she smiled and turned to her companions once more. "Looks like we can get on the train!" She went to go board, hoping they still had their private compartment once again.

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Andy was torn. Fight or help her aunt. If she helped her aunt they could get out of there faster. She pointed at the Cyclops that had just downed Damon and hit it with lighting. It turned to dust. That satisfied Andy. At least she had helped there. Then quickly ran over to her aunt.

She pushed out her magic flowing it toward Mads so that whatever spell her aunt was working on could be helped with her own magic. And then gripped the hilt of the sword and helped draw it.

"Got it!" She yelled. "We've got to go." This was it. Aunt Mads would fall to her doom soon. Andy's heart ached but that was behind the knowledge that they needed to move now or they'd be overrun.




Niah was relieved the train hadn't left already. They boarded, and everything seemed to be going smoothly. Niah wasn't going to let down her guard though. She didn't trust that something would come along and mess everything up. They still had three days of travel after all.

"Thank goodness. Wish we would have had time to deal with those snakes though." She shakes her head. Niah felt bad about the damage and leaving the snakes to roam about. She also knew she would have felt bad about killing them while they were still in the cage. All well. Nothing to do about it now. Only press on.

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Demi couldn't bring himself to look Kristin in the eyes. There was a deep shame inside for what he had just done, for who he had become in that moment of weakness. It didn't matter what the reason was, that was never the answer. He sat there quietly, listening to what she had to say to him. It hurt more that she could empathize with him. A part of him wished to get yelled at, berated for what he had done. Instead she viewed both sides and empathized with each equally. It was clear she was a daughter of Athena, every word calculated to the last and each stung more than had she simply tore him a new one. He squeezed the prism in his hands, just in an attempt to feel something in that moment. A tinge of darkness creeping up once more inside of himself that he hadn't felt in some time now.

It was then, in the darkness and silence, as his muscles tensed to grip the foreign object with such intensity as to bare his knuckles white, that he realized the pressure was still on his shoulders. Alexios had been so quiet that Demi had forgotten of his presence entirely. He would've expected an I told you so, or quick witted comment as to why he should leave Zeke and stay with him, but instead there was only silence. He finally looked up just enough to catch a glimpse of Kristin's hand as she offered him some drachmas for the collect calls he could be making to Zeke. This was too public, too early, he needed…no…he wanted to wait until nightfall. To give Zeke a chance to tell him himself. To see if he cared enough to.

Cassian was certain that he wasn't on the list of people Janelle wanted to hang out with right now, but he also didn't think he was fully on her shit list. He sat down next to her, quiet for a moment as he tried not to touch the parts where he'd been hit. His skin stung and he sucked the pain through his teeth for a moment before looking towards Janelle. He didn't know what to say, he wanted to speak to her but it felt like many subjects were off the table at the moment. Between the quest, Demi, Zeke, and now Nancy. He found himself opening his mouth and closing it several times without a single word ever being spoken. That is until Kristin arrived with a bag of ice.

"Thanks." He said softly as he accepted the bag from her hands. The cold cut through what little of l the warmth that was left in his hands as he lifted it to place onto his cheek. It stung, causing him to wince once more as he felt the ongoing battle between the wounds hot sting and the ices sharp cold. It'd take some time for the numbness to kick in and until then he'd need only wait it out. "I'm sorry for all this. I didn't mean to cause a scene or upset anyone. I…I was just trying to help. But it seems I can't even do that right on this quest. Everyone I try and aid only ends up yelling at me or attacking me. I don't think i was as ready as i thought i was for this quest."

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"it's fine, no worries," she responded to Kristin with a shrug, honestly at this rate she was getting used to be left alone or behind or something. It was just sort of what she expected from everyone. Made sense really and with all hell constantly breaking loose she just figured it was a common thing. The only person on the train she currently still had an issue with them flat out existing was Demetri, and as long as he stayed away from her there wouldn't be a problem.

Janelle would have been perfectly fine with the idea of not really talking with Cassian or anything, just sort of being there in silence, except he decided to speak up and start talking. She listened to what he was saying, not entirely sure how to word it. "Trust me, you are far frahm de person ahn dis quest dat is de beggest screw up, any guesses who I dink dat is?" she responded to him.

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Well looked like they had some form of good luck, as when they got to the train station, their train was already starting to board. That made things a bit easier for them, because then they could get out of there and hurry up to their destination. Of course that did result in the downside of not being able to go after the snakes that had been let loose, but not everything could be perfect, and it was better then nothing.

He looked over at the other two as they instantly started heading to board the train. "Yeah, same 'ere, but we dahn't 'ave time sence we need to get movin. I dahn't like it anymahre den you dat those dings are wanderin around, but we can ahnly do so much," he said to Niah, as he also went along to see about boarding the train. That was all they could really do at the moment.

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This was definitely going to be a problem. Their barricade could only do so much especially against monsters that were a lot bigger then they were. So did it surprise her that the monsters decided to break through and attack them? Nope, nope it did not, and they now had to deal with a bunch of monsters trying to attack them as the other two were trying to draw the sword. Not to mention the one being rude enough to take a swing at her but missing badly.

She was however, extremely glad that Andy and Madalyne had managed to get the sword free, since that meant they could get the hell out of there. "I second the motion of getting the hell out of here," Mary agree, before she swung her sword at the closest cyclops. The first swing she did didn't seem to actually do anything, however thankfully her second swing was much better and she killed the monster.

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Harrisburg, Amtrak Train Station:

Luckily for the group their sleeping cabin was still reserved for them as soon as all of the passengers were loaded up onto the train started to head off once more onto the tracks and towards their intended destination just as an announcement came over the train's intercom. "Good morning everyone sorry for the delay yesterday due to an accident. The train is fully loaded, today if you are hungry coach passengers are allowed to eat in the cafe car. Sleeping car passengers you are allowed to dine in the dining car and someone will be in and give you a menu and your choice of meal times, I hope you have a nice day and enjoy the ride. Also if you want to we have a viewing cabin that is always open to everyone as well." The train's conductor said and everything was quiet once more.

Streets of Philadelphia :

The gym was very old and dusty looking, in one of the corners of the gym Nancy and Zeke would be able to spot a rather large looking mat that they could use to sleep on for the night. It however looked really heavy to move as well to, there was also an old looking drink vending machine they could try and break it open and see if there was anything in there. However it did seem that they weren't alone now anymore as loud sound could be heard echoing in the gym. Then Nancy would feel something brushing up against her leg and it was a a long haired cat it would look up at Nancy letting out a meowing sound as it rubbed against her leg once more purring loudly.

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Sadly there wasn't a reply from Leda at all as Kiera held Leda's body, the sounds of the monsters started to become much louder as Kiera looked down at her girlfriend's body letting out a shaky sigh. She knew that Leda was now dead and there wasn't anything that she could even try to do to help her. "We need to get going.." Kiera said as she looked at Sera as she lifted up her girlfriend's body, she would let out a whistle as their hippocampi came over to them. Kiera awkwardly lifted her girlfriend's body letting it lay over the back of the sea creature.

"We should head back to Camp Fish-Blood and let them know what happened.." Kiera said as she handed Sera their father's trident and pulled herself onto her hippocampi and quickly headed out. Sera's hippocampi would gently nudge her side the monster army was still disoriented still. It wouldn't take long for the two of them to get back to Camp Fish-Blood the rest of the merpeople were busy trying to rebuild their defenses when they turned to see the two of them returning and quickly went to them. They gently took Leda's body and carried her off towards the center of camp. "We'll take care of the body for you." One of them said as Kiera nodded slightly whipping away a few more tears.

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Madalyne looked at Andy and smiled towards her niece grateful for her help as she gently took the sword from Andy, they needed to get out of here as soon as possible. She knew that her death would be inevitable now, she ran forward and took a swing at the closest monster as it quickly fell and turned to dust. Damon would let out a slight groan as he started to get back up to his feet, and he ran forward using his body weight on the door and broke through it pretty easily. "Lets keep going." Damon said as he swung his weapon at a harpy that was among the group of monsters.

The main entrance would be what they were expecting as Madalyne thought about how to get out of the area and decided to go the way that they had snuck into and quickly ran through the monsters taking out three more of them as she looked at the others and waited by the exit. [color=7FFFD]"Through the way we came through."[/color] Madalyne said as she handed the sword towards Andy giving her a slight smile. [color=7FFFD]"I'll be right behind you guys."[/color] Madalyne told them as the monsters were still hot on their trail.

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Alexios decided to finally break the silence as he looked at Demi and gently rested a hand on his shoulder and gave him a slight smile. "Hey i'm sure the two Apollo kids were be alright, and i'm sure that there is a reason behind it." Alexios told Demi as he snapped his fingers and a blanket and a pillow would appear next to Demi. "Do you want me to get you anything else?" Alexios asked Demi he was trying to be nice, he still didn't like Zeke really honestly.

Kristin turned her attention towards Cassian and nodded towards him. "No problem." Kristin said as she leaned back in the chair and looked out the window once more as the lights of the city slowly started to fade away as the train left Philly behind. Her attention turned towards Cassian and Janelle, Cassian was still beating himself over what happened.

"No need to beat yourself over what happened, it's a large group and personalities are going to clash." Kristin said as she looked over at Demi as Janelle mentioned and shrugged slightly, she knew what was really bothering Janelle and she didn't blame her either. "I don't blame you at all Janelle." Kristin said quietly to her, but she did feel bad for Demi as well to hopefully it won't cause anymore issues with the rest of their quest though.

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Ezekiel set his pack down and wandered a bit. He wandered over to the vending machine and pushed on the buttons. It was unplugged, so nothing happened. Zeke just had the need to do something. He had already stowed away his bow and arrows for the time. Zeke wandered back over, bending to pick up another item when Nancy popped the question. He froze, hand outstretched to grab the object. He swallowed, clearing his throat and stood back up without the item in hand.
”Um, what about him?” Demetri was in the back of Zeke’s mind, but he was committed to helping his sister out. Besides, Demetri had Alexios. Even though Zeke would love to make the god bleed again, he knew Alexios would watch out for Demetri.
A new sound entered the gym, and Ezekiel stiffened until he saw the cat and heard the purring. He smiled, instantly liking this cat he knew nothing about. Zeke had always tried to make friends with the stray animals around his home. Even when they were less receptive, he still tried to leave some food for them. His mother constantly scolded him for this, but she never stopped him.