TRAGEDY

There was a lion, a zebra, and a cheetah in the back of the van. The animals looked horrible and were stinky. There was a pile of crates, as well. We hit a lot of speed bumps, so sleeping proved to be impossible. Helen was the only exception. She slept using my shoulder as a pillow(you know, the usual.)

Sitting around was boring, but sitting around for hours doing nothing was even more boring. I asked Vittoria about what she said before. I asked about her relationship with Julien and Nathan and their past.

"It was a long time ago. I was only eight years old, and a monster had killed my parents during dinner. Nathan and I were buddies ever since we were babies, and he was there to witness the whole thing. His parents ended up the same as mine, and although we managed to stay alive, we had nowhere to go. We lived in Seattle then, far away from DGH. The two of us eventually ran out of food, and we were scared. What if another monster came? We would have died. But then he showed up."

"He?"

"Julien, your best friend. He saved us from a manticore. Even though he was our age, he acted like our superior, bossing us around. It was annoying."

"What then?" I was genuinely interested. Boredom left me.

"We went from Seattle all the way to DGH on foot. We fought monsters and even gods along the way, almost dying a lot of times. And Julien wouldn't shut up."

"It sounds the three of you had a merry time."

"Yes, we did," Vittoria snorted. "The thing is, Ares is one of the gods we crossed on our way back. Nathan got into a fight with him. Ares was going to kill him until I stepped in. Julien joined in as well, and the coward ran away. That was the easiest victory I've ever experienced."

"Easiest?"

"Yeah. Monsters treated us much more roughly. On our way, we met a six-year-old girl named Anna. She was on the run, just like us." I heard the bitterness in Vittoria's voice, which led me to believe this Anna girl did not have a good ending. "What happened next?"

"A Cyclops's cave was next. Julien got cocky. He thought he could protect all of us and kill the Cyclops on his own. He got wrapped in chains instead. I don't know whether to be amused or angry with him for that. It was the reason Anna died." I wanted to hear more, but I wasn't sure asking for it was a good idea. It was like the situation where someone asked for more than they bargained for, and I did not want to add to that list. The bitterness turned to anger. I saw the sadness in Vittoria's eyes. She might take her rage out on me if I pushed her too much. "I can tell it's a sensitive subject. If you don't want to talk about it-"

"It's ok. Julien's arrogance cost Anna her life. The little girl actually tricked the Cyclops, if you could believe it. But what happened next is what infuriates me. Thanks to Anna, Nathan, and I managed to wound the Cyclops severely. We freed Julien, but the Cyclops wasn't dead. It chased after us, and the cave was huge. We ran for hours in the dark, completely lost. By sheer luck, we saw the outside world again. By the outside world, I meant a cliff. We were cornered, but Julien kept the Cyclops preoccupied. We barely managed to kill it, but it smacked Anna into the air. I grabbed her hand, but I would have fallen with her into the water below if it weren't for Nathan. Julien was busy keeping the Titan occupied, so he couldn't help. Nathan's grip was weakening, and I was only holding Anna by her fingertips. I told Nathan to let go because otherwise, he would fall with us. He staunchly refused, saying he wouldn't let me die." She had the face of a star-struck lover when she said that.

"What's funny, Yiannis?"

"You have a crush on Nathan, don't you?" Vittoria became a bright red apple. She got up, and I thought she would slug me, but she calmed down. "Yeah, I once did. I'm not so sure about now."

"Did something happen between the two of you?"

"I guess you could say a rift formed between us. I don't talk to Nathan much these days. Anyways, Julien kept the Cyclops busy. When he finally killed it, he latched on to Nathan and hurled him backward. It saved my life, but it ended Anna's abruptly. She smashed into the water, and I never saw her again."

"You got mad at Julien then, right?"

"Livid is more accurate. I yelled at Julien for hurling Nathan back instead of just holding on to him. Julien said Anna was a lost cause and that she would have died either way. He 'could' only save Nathan and me. I slapped him and would've done more, but Nathan held me back, gently telling me to stop. 'Anna wouldn't want us arguing. She'd want us to live.' Nathan was right, but I-" A flood of tears came out of her eyes, and she clenched her fists, sniffing on tissues. "Then Julien punched me, saying that I should be grateful he saved me. Nathan slugged him, and the two of them duked it out, and I joined in. After that, Julien went his own separate way, and Nathan and I didn't see him until we arrived at DGH." I was so shocked I didn't know what to do. I wanted to hug her or something, to comfort her, but who was I to do that? We may be friends, but we don't know each other that well. I felt ashamed, asking for such a gut-wrenching tale because of boredom. I made Vittoria retell memories I'm sure she hates. "I'm so sorry, Vittoria. I didn't mean to open old wounds and make you cry."

"Don't be. You're not the one who let Anna die," she stifled. "Here's a piece of advice, Yiannis. Stay away from Julien."

"I understand how you feel, Vittoria. But I think Julien's different now. He never once bragged when we hung out, and he did care about Helen."

"Likely an act. Julien was like that around Nathan and me, too, until we saw his other side. Don't trust him unless you want to lose Helen." Personally, I think Julien was a different person now, but Vittoria knew him a lot longer than I did. I also didn't want to argue with her on a sensitive topic when she was in this state.

"I'll try to keep my guard up around him from now on." Vittoria nodded. "I hope you do. Make sure Helen doesn't end up like Anna, ok?"

"Anna was precious to you, wasn't she?"

"She was like a little sister to me. Me, Nathan, and her were like a family. Too bad it didn't last long."

"Again, I'm sorry."

"I told you already, it's not your fault. I wanted to tell you everything. Just promise you'll keep Helen away from Julien. I won't forgive you if your little sister gets her life thrown away by that bastard, too."

"Got it. I will keep Helen safe." The van jerked to a stop, and Vittoria and I slammed into the wall. The lion had decided to do its potty business in its cage, and the scent of the yucky brown goo was insufferable. But I couldn't worry about that now. I heard the voices of what had to be the drivers and the shaking of a key. Thank god we moved the crates before. I scrammed behind them, and Vittoria and Helen followed suit.

"Hey, Frank, take care of the lion for me, will ya?" One of the drivers said. The one named Frank sounded like he was hitting puberty again. "Do it yourself, Dave," he squeaked. "I'm getting tired of doing all the work here."

"Let's make a deal: if you don't voice crack, I'll do something," Frank cheerfully said.

"Shut up!" Frank laughed. "Shut up!" He did an imitation of Dave's voice. "Ah, well, whatever. By today, we should be dropping these critters along." He came dangerously close to the crates. "Hey, Dave, where these here before?" Dave nodded. "Yeah, they probably moved a bit because you hit a lot of speed bumps."

"Guess I'll put them in their proper place." I stopped time before he could even lay his fingers on one of the boxes. I quickly made a black sword and slashed the metal bars of the animals' cages. Then I hid back behind the box and let time flow again.

The zebra was the first to get out, then the cheetah, and then the lion. Frank and Dave were hysterical. "What the... Don't just stand there! Get them back here, Dave! We'll get fired if we don't! Frank screamed. The two of them chased after the animals. With their attention diverted away from us, it was an ideal time to make our getaway.

The three of us only got a few feet away from the van when three large men walked up to us. They had shiny blue clubs in their hands and scary grins on their faces. They wore a stereotypical Texan hat, and I had a sinking feeling they were up to no good.

"Hey there, little demigods," one of the men said. "We are Periphetes. We will now pleasantly smash your little heads with our diamond clubs."

"Wait a minute, all three of you are named Periphetes?" I asked. All three men nodded. "Must've been confusing at home," I commented.

"Yes, it has," one of the men said. "It was such a hassle every time mother called our names." The two other men agreed. "Very annoying," they both said in unison.

I gazed at the diamond clubs they were holding. Diamond might be the highest-ranked material on the Mohs hardness scale, but it's brittle and shatters easily. Contrary to Minecraft logic, it would be dumb to make a weapon or armor out of diamonds.

I wanted to ask whether their clubs really were made out of diamond, but Vittoria beat me to it. "There's no way your clubs are made out of diamonds."

"Yes, they are!" The men shouted. "See for yourself!" They threw Vittoria the clubs, and she didn't bother to catch them. The clubs dropped to the floor and broke like glass, with sharp pieces lying scattered across her feet. "So they really were made out of diamonds. You guys are idiots," Vittoria concluded. The three men jumped at us, but Helen put an arrow in each of their heads.

Vittoria swiped on her phone. "Thanks, Helen. Alright, the Mississipi River is just up ahead. Charon only pops up at nighttime, so we need to wait another four hours at least. There's a hotel nearby, so we'll be staying there until then."