"This is Los Angeles?" Blake mutters, although his voice is bored and annoyed even, his eyes speak an entirely different language. The wonder and excitement in his eyes reminds Riley of a child on Christmas morning.
"Yeah. It's different from my old town. A lot bigger for one." Riley walks around someone passing and looks back at the others.
Felix is very annoyed and keeps snarling at people, anytime someone comes close he backs away like his life depends on it. Aelius has gotten the most attention out of the entire group.
There's been at least three or four girls who've come up and asked for his number-sometimes something more too.
Aeo and Verace are the more silent of the group, they're both walking in the back by the twins and Oran. Carver disappeared the moment they'd stepped through the gateway.
Riley's gaze still hasn't left Blake's walking frame. His back is well built and fits the flannel well. His stomach and chest are toned like that of a god, with a few scars here and there.
They all blend in with their surroundings quite well. Blake still hasn't told Riley about whatever plan they made with Carver. It doesn't make sense why Carver would willingly make a truce with them. Not if he isn't getting something out of it.
"Where's Carver?" The words come out before she can stop herself. She cringes slightly. Riley sounds like a glorified fangirl.
"He's finishing something up. He'll meet us at the gateway to the Underworld." Aelius mutters and picks up a strange food on a stick. He looks it over, "Your world is so weird Riley." The person at the head of the food stall smiles and offers it to Aelius for free.
FOR FREE.
Man how badly Riley wishes she had looks that could do that. Aelius takes a bite out of it, the stick has meat and some weird vegetables on it. It looks like some other stuff might be there too.
He pauses for a second and then takes another bite of it. "This is pretty good." Aeo leans over his shoulder and looks at the food. He glances back at Aelius before quickly snatching it out of his hands.
"Hey! That's mine!" Aeo grins and bolts off while taking a big bite out of it. "Aeo!" Aelius darts after him and reaches for the stick filled with food.
Riley snickers and looks at Blake. He's still staring at everything around them in awe. "You want one?" He looks back at her and she motions to the stick of food. He looks at the food and smells it.
"What is it?" He brings it up to his face and examines it further.
"Dunno." Riley shrugs and pays the man around ten dollars. She grabs her own stick and a spare one. It looks like chicken but it could be pork too. The vegetables she has no clue about. It looks fried and tasty though.
She holds out the spare to Felix, who hasn't even spared a look at the food in front of him. The man looks at her offering and scoffs. He turns his head away while crossing his arms.
"What are you, too good for some food?" She raises a brow and shoves the stick into his mouth. He whips his head towards her in shock. A small grin spreads across her lips as she takes a bite out of her own food.
It tastes really good. It has some kind of seasoning on it or something. It's got a few crunchy pieces on it along with the meat. The food almost melts on her tongue.
"Gods, it's delicious." She does a small food dance. Blake laughs and takes a bite of his own food. He seems to like it because he goes in for another bite.
"Human food is way too unhealthy." Verace holds up his and examines it way too thoroughly. "Too many things that damage your body." Riley pouts and grabs his food before shoving it in his mouth like she had Felix.
"You'll probably never get to eat Human food again so enjoy it." It doesn't take long before they all finish their food.
"Gosh there's so many different foods I wish I could show you." Riley had just finished explaining what Pizza is. Verace was of course the biggest critic, Aelius was surprisingly excited, the twins showed no reaction and neither did Oran. But Blake and Aeo acted like happy little children when they heard about it.
Blake's mother and father would never have let Blake eat something so unhealthy for his body. And Aeo just really likes making his own father, Poseidon, angry with him.
"I'll have to get Zeus to let me bring you back here once we're done with this whole challenge thing." Riley mutters to herself mainly. After this whole challenge thing is over she's gonna go home.
There won't really be time for something like that. An ache fills her chest at the thought of never seeing her friends again. It's bound to happen some day. Riley has to go home after all.
"We're here." Blake mutters, his excitement gone and replaced with a stern look in his eyes. The gateway is apparently in an alleyway.
There's rats and so much trash and nasty stuff all over the ground. There's a few boxes with animals or even a sleeping man or woman in it.
At the very back of the alleyway is a door. It looks like a normal door leading to the building next to them.
"You sure it's this door?" Aeo asks and looks at the door more closely. Blake pushes Aeo's head away and scoffs.
"Of course it's this door. Look," he points to a small symbol in the top corner of the door. It's the symbol of Asphodel; a white Asphodel flower with the crest of Hades in the center of it.
"Alright. We're breaking the rules now. So everyone here knows there's a chance we could be failed by the gods?" A few nervous nods is all she gets in return. Riley sighs deeply.
"Who cares what those old bags want." The voice sends a wave of tingles and warmth through Riley's chest and stomach. She tries not to look next to her but the urge takes over and she glances over at Carver.
His white hoodie has red blood stains all over it. His cheek is stained as well as his hair. It looks like he's been in a bath house. There's no way he walked around looking like that.
"Do I even wanna ask?" A big grin spreads across his lips.
"Don't worry, Rykers, you'll find out soon enough." A pit drops in Riley's stomach at the mention of her last name.
"What did you do?" Her voice comes out forced and the pit grows larger as her brother's face comes into mind. "Carver." She warns again when he laughs.
"Relax. You don't know who the blood belongs to. Although if you want I could make it your blood instead? I quite like the taste of cute little Demi-gods." He leans closer and licks the blood off his lips.
"No thanks." Blake grabs Carvers hood and pulls him back a few steps. He slams Carver up against the wall and mutters something too quiet for Riley to hear. Whatever it was, it seems to get Carver's attention.
Blake releases him moments later and he wipes off the rest of the blood from his hands and face. "Fine. I guess I'll let this meal go." He walks past Riley with a smile and grabs the handle of the doorway. He pushes it open and what she'd expected was to see the building on the other side.
But instead it opens to..
Yet another forest. Yay.