The Muse Search

Chapter 3
I felt weird on the boat. It wasn’t motion or sea sickness, it felt like the water itself was afraid of me. Actually it felt like everything was afraid of me. I normally just, disregard it and move on. “So what were we supposed do here?” Sakura asked disrupting my thoughts. “I’m not sure; Apollo said this is where we should start.” I said. “Let’s search for a clue or something to help us find the muses.” McKenzie suggested. “Alright, let’s get to work.” I said. So we searched a few blocks until we found a beggar wanting food. “Please give me food!” the beggar pleaded. “Here.” I said as I gave him a piece of jerky from my bag. He scarfed it down, “I need more!” he screamed. “Wow, calm down.” I said. “Sorry, I don’t have anymore.” I lied to get away from the crazy hobo. He grabbed me and shook me saying, “I NEED FOOD!” “Calm down old man and let go of Joshua.” Sakura said, while trying to pull the old man off of me. She managed to do so with the help of McKenzie. When he was off of me the hobo said, “Sorry, but I’m starving and no matter how much I eat, I still feel hungry.” “Wait, is your name Erysichthon?” I asked. “Yes, that’s me.” he said. “Wait isn’t he supposed to be dead from auto-cannibalism?” McKenzie asked. “Yes that’s what happened, but when Gaea revived other spirits, I snuck out with them.” Erysichthon answered. “So you’re trying to escape death.” I said. “No,” he answered, “I’m trying to find a way to break this curse before I leave.” “Guys,” I said while motioning them to huddle up, “I think we should help this guy.” “Why? He’s not important to our quest, besides he deserves to be cursed because of what he did to my mother.” Sakura said. “I got a feeling that he knows something about the Muses. Why else would the gods let him stay on the earth and tell us to start here in our quest here?” I asked. “He does raise a good point.” McKenzie said. “Fine, we’ll help him.” Sakura agreed, still against the idea. “Erysichthon, we’ve decided to help you, if, you can help us on our quest.” I said. “I’ll help you anyway I can, if you can lift this curse.” Erysichthon said. “First, tell us what you know about the muses’ disappearance.” Sakura demanded. “I’ve actually herd about that.” He said, but he cut himself off. “Wait, how am I supposed to trust you that you’ll help me after I tell you?” he asked. “I’ll swear on the River Styx only if you do the same about how true your information is.” I said. “Alright, I swear on the River Styx that I’ll tell you the truth I know about the muses’ disappearance.” Erysichthon swore. “And I swear on the River Styx that we’ll help you with your curse.” I swore. “All right, all I know is that the muses are somewhere south of here and still in the country.” Erysichthon said. “Could you be a little more descriptive?” I asked. “Sorry that’s all I know. I don’t even know when I learned that information.” He answered. “Well thanks.” Sakura said. “Now, you’ll help me with my curse, won’t you?” Erysichthon asked. “Well I’ll have to because if I don’t then I’ll be in big trouble.” I said. “Why?” Sakura asked. “Breaking an oath on the River Styx is bad, and I mean very bad.” McKenzie answered. “Oh.” Sakura said. “So do either of you know how to deal with a curse, Sakura?” I asked. “Why me?” she asked back. “Well, this is your mom’s doing, so I thought you would know how to reverse it.” I answered. “Well I don’t, and I still don’t think we should help him. He tried to chop down all the trees in my mom’s sacred grove.” she exclaimed. “I gave him our word that we would help him, so we have to think of something.” I said. Then, I remembered all the details of Erysichthon’s story. “We have to exercise him.” I said aloud. “What?” both Sakura and McKenzie exclaimed. “He has a part of Limos inside him,” I said, “that’s what’s making him hungry.” “Okay, so how so we get it out of him?” Sakura asked. “Let’s talk to Limos and get her to take it back.” I suggested. “How do you plan to do that?” McKenzie asked me. “I’ll pray to her, I guess.” I said. “But she’s an old and evil goddess, if you can even call her that.” Sakura said. “Well it’s our only real option.” I said. Then, I asked Limo if she could leave the old man and be on her way. Erysichthon began expelling a dark mist from his mouth. When it had stopped, he said he felt better. “That was weird.” Sakura said. “Why?” I asked. “Normally, Limo doesn’t answer prayers.” she answered. “I guess she wants us to find the muses.” I suggested. “I guess.” She agreed. “Well, let’s get going.” McKenzie said. “Let’s head south.” I said

Notes

Thank you to anyone who reads this, it means a lot to me.
Please comment on things I did wrong or could improve on.
If you haven't realized yet I'm uploding a chapter every three days, I have to do that if i want to upload the entire thing before I lose my computer at the end of the school year (I don't have a home computer to work on), I don't know why I typed that, I just wanted you to know, so bye ;)