Twins of the Hunt - Book 1: The Golden Hind ✔️

Chapter 9: Joan Of Arc Tries Her Best To Kill Me

1544 words

"Get up," Dad said, shaking me harder than the time I ran into the goddess Melinoe in that haunted house in Vegas (Don't ask). "It's time to go. Grab your backpacks. We're leaving in 5 minutes."

"We were already awake," Aidan said, trying and failing to smooth down his tousled hair. "Where are all the Hunters?"

"I told them to leave," Dad said, grinning. "They don't like Aidan much, considering he's a boy, and they swear off romance."

"Well," I said. "If they can put up with you, they can put up with Aidan."

"Hey!" Aidan and Dad said together.

I shrugged. "I'm telling the truth."

Dad chuckled. "You definitely get that from your mother. C'mon, let's go to the Big House. Chiron has some stuff to give us."

Aidan looked at me.

You got any ideas? He said into my mind.

I shrugged. None.

We walked up to the Big House. The atmosphere was the calm before a storm. The air crackled with electricity, the ocean crashed into the shore, and the plants grew and whacked people with their vines at random.

Already, there were about 14 people nursing burns and small injuries. Chiron sat in his wheelchair, gazing at the horizon. His gaze looked worried, tired, and stressed, as though he and Dad had stayed up all night talking about adult stuff, which they had.

"It's too earlyyy," Raiden complained, yawning and stretching. She had a scythe strapped to her back. It was made of finely carved cedar wood, the blade was made out of some black metal, and it had a leather grip near the bottom.

"Ah," Chiron said as we approached. "Here."

He handed us small yellow squares in a baggy, 2 bottles with some golden liquid, changes of clothes for each of us, 100 dollars in money, and some weird gold coins.

"What's this?" Aidan asked, holding the plastic bag and scowling. "Why do you use plastic? It's very damaging to nature!"

"The gold liquid is nectar, and the yellow squares are ambrosia," Dad said. "Food of the gods. It can help heal demigods if eaten in small amounts. If too much is eaten, the demigod will get a fever and then be incinerated. Same thing happens with humans if they eat it, just without the fever. They'll just burn up immediately."

"What about the weird gold coins?" I asked, picking one up and looking at it.

It had a picture of some god on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. They were as big as Girl Scout Cookies.

"Those are called drachmas," Dad said. "Currency of the gods. Used to send an Iris Message, send things along the Hermes Express, pay the Gray Sisters, or to bribe your way into the Underworld. Made of pure gold mined from Olympus. The gods won't use anything other than pure gold."

"Of course, they won't," Aidan muttered, glaring up at the sky. "Ugh, they're so stuck up!"

"The what Express?" I said looking at Dad like he was crazy. "And did you say to pay the Gray Sisters?! The crazy ladies who share one eye and one tooth?!"

"Yes," Dad said. "I did say the Gray Sisters. They drive a taxi and can take anyone anywhere as long as it's their service area. And the Hermes Express is basically like the gods' version of Amazon. It's run by Hermes, obviously. God of trade and travel. Not that there isn't an Amazon run by the actual Amazons. But the gods normally use the Hermes Express. Well, the Olympians anyway. Most of the demigods and minor gods use the Amazons' delivery system. But they're just slow. Three weeks to get the new book I wanted. Three! Hermes got it there within two days! Talk about bad service!"