When the Sea meets the Sun

Chapter Three:

Eliza’s POV


“That’s!” I smile back, then I stop, “Wait a second, anyone can say that what’s something that only Echo would know.”
A classmate beside me hushes me and both Echo and I look at her.
“Sorry sweetheart.” Echo whispers back.


The girl frowns in confusion and quickly returns her attention to the professor.
“Hey,” I whisper quietly, “Who-ever-you-are, we’ll finish this conversation at lunch hour.” and I turn back around and do my best to listen in.


“...Ok!” The teacher says, “The rest of the class you will work on a free verse, 20 word, at least, poem about the life of an object in your bathroom.”


Things and ideas started popping my brain:


First write.


Shampoo? Or Toothbrush? Or maybe Hairbrush, or hairspray! Bandaids? I start with my first idea and begin to write.

Shampoo:

I sit,
alone.
Then you come and hold me in your hands, you squeeze me
and my essence flows out of me and you put me back
and you leave me alone you use me
and leave me until we meet again,

I can’t wait to see you again…

“Kinda sounds sad.” I say to myself.

Maybe I should stick with a toothbrush for a more comical feel.



***


I sit at an outdoor lunch table with my ham sandwich in hand and looking over my world studies textbook. The next few classes were on different world religions and I loved it when I was in junior high, (sophomore level #homeschooled!) so doing it in college is going to be awesome!


“Hey Sweetheart!” I look up from my book and I see Miss Claiming-To-Be-Echo sitting next to me,
“So,” I reply, “Tell me stuff that only Echo would say.”


She thinks for a moment and replies, “You were my first fan and comment on Half-Blood and Half-Chosen and I thought that it was so cool and I clicked on your name and found our story The First Daughter and-”


That was all I need to hear, but I didn’t interrupt Echo it was,


“Hello ladies!”


The jerk that partially read my stories in my favorite punny notebook.
“Hey.” I reply shyly.
“Who is that guy?” Echo whispers to me.


I don’t answer and watch as the dude walks up.
“You have room for one more?”
Echo must have caught on my uneasiness and defends me, “No, we don’t.”
The guy looks down at me and asks, “You going to let her speak for you?”


I blush hard and look down, I seem not to be able to say anything. “You shy?” He asks.
I can feel his stare boring into me, and Echo stands up and I hear a shove, “Leave already!”
I look up and stand too with my books in hand ready, just in case I had to play peacekeeper.


He smiles, “Another one?” He nodds his head as I stand pleasantly confused.
“Good more for my scorecard.”

“You’re sick!” Echo shouts.


He didn’t answer and suddenly he grows in height, and in fear I step back and Echo does the same. I blink and I see a horse’s butt behind him.

“Son of a Bacon Bit!” I yell.


“I am Nessus the Centaur!” He shouts, “Not a tiny piece of pig that’s freeze dried!”


"Nessus?” Echo asks, “Like the guy that-?”

I pull on Echo’s shirt sleeve and shout, “No time or that Echo. RUN!”
I bolt as I pick up my backpack and sling it on my shoulder. I turn my neck and watch as Echo does the same, I look at Nessus the Centaur galops after us.


“Where are we going?!” Echo yells at me. I pull out my key ring out of my pocket, and hold it tight in my hand. I hear Nessus roar behind us, “You will die demigods!”

I roll my eyes, “This is sounding a lot like a pjo fanfic!”

Nessus laughs, “This is real children!”

I steam under my collar as I pant from running: I hate being called a kid, I voted in the last election and I can get my own tattoo if I wanted to: I AM NOT A KID! True I can’t drink alcohol yet but still: I AM NOT A KID!


We have to loose him! But how? I look and turn to cut through a lawn, then through a alleyway lined with rows of buildings. I take a left and Echo joins me. I paste myself to the wall and hold my breath. Echo is smart enough to do the same and I hear hoofbeats and Nessus bolts past us then stops. I hold my breath as my heart beats a million times a second, I can hardly contain myself and close my eyes and swallow.


More hoofbeats slower; he was turning, several times. I hear him grumble and then trot off in a different direction. When I know it’s safe, I open my eyes and both Echo and I sigh in relief and put our hands on our knees and breathe.
“What. The Heck. Was. That!” Echo asked.
I blink hard trying to catch my breath “I have. No idea.” I answered “But I know who can help.”


I pull out my dinosaur of a iphone 3 and fumble to unlock it.
“That’s a long password.” Echo comments.
“Don’t want people to hack it.” I reply with a smile.


9-1-1. Green Button.


I quickly put the phone to my ear, busy signal? I frown and try again,
“What’s wrong?” Echo asks.
“Busy signal.” I quickly decide to call my step-dad, thinking yeah he’s a cop it works right? Nope. Busy signal. “Dang it!” I stomp the ground and put my phone back in my pocket.

I tilt my head and tell Echo to follow me, “I have a car. Let’s get to my house, it’s safe there.” Echo doesn’t say anything and followed me.



***


We enter the parking lot and Echo quickly grabs my collar and pulls me down as we lean up against a car.
“It’s Nessusus.” She whispers to me.

Great, I think. I slowly peek up above the hood of the car and see my 99 navy mazda just a short distance away from Horse Butt. I bend down again and tilt my head telling Echo to follow me and bending over I creep slowly over to my car. I motion to Echo to be quiet and wait. I walk over to the driver side and put the key in the lock and carefully unlock the car. My palms were sweating by the time I lift the door handle, open the door slightly and crawl in and shut the door quietly.


I pause for a second hiding low in the seat.


Waiting…

Waiting…

Now.


I lean over and pop the door open and Echo climbs into the passenger side. “Buckle up.” I whisper, “It’s going to get bumpy.”

I pull myself up straight and Echo does too and we buckle our seatbelts quckly and I shove the key into the ignition and turn it and the engine roars to life. I don’t think about how Nessus is coming, I focus and back out of the parking space quickly. I turn the steering wheel and Nessus is between Echo and I and escape. I question my next choice of action, but it suddenly becomes clear:

I slam on the gas pedal and ram into horse legs and he is tossed aside. I don’t stop and speed out of the parking lot. “My house is not too far from here. I’ll tell my Dad what happened and he’ll take care of it. He’s off today so he should be home.”
“Ok.” Echo replies.


We both stay silent, I know that a million questions are buzzing through both of our minds. Survival is more important right now than answers.


***

My house is just outside the city limits and is hidden by trees but it doesn’t take a genius to notice things moving around the house. I slow down slightly on the dirt road and try to get a better look.

“They look like, harpies.” Echo says.

“And they’ve got the whole house surrounded.” I reply.


I go at normal speed, “Both cars are gone so no one is at home.”
“What are we going to do?” Echo asked.
“There’s a way to get in but we have to go a different way.” I reply.
“Why do we need to get in?” Echo asked. “I have a few things to get.”


I continue past my road and turn left and there was the highway in front of us. I turn left again and follow the highway then make another left and enter a suburb. I make another left and drive off the dead end and park in the grass.


“My house is just beyond these trees,” I explain, “I can slip in through the back door and get a couple of things and get back out. Getting help is apparently out of the question.”
I open the door and instruct Echo to stay. Echo unbuckles, get out of the car and says, “I’m coming with you!”

“No you-” Echo then brings out a knife to silence my argument. “Quietly then.” I reply.
I jog up to the edge of the trees where a vine invested fence and climb over it and Echo follows suit. I carefully navigate through the trees as my house becomes visible. I drop and inch up to my house on a hill. My mother told me that mound dwellers must have hunted here because a known camp of theirs was nearby and we found deer teeth, and other animal bones, buried in the dirt of this hill.

In front was the clearing where my house is perched.
Now I’m thankful for the cover of this hill as a harpie floats past us.

Echo comes next to me and leans over, “Are we going for the giant glass doors?”
I shake my head, “We always keep those locked. But we keep the back door open.”
I motion to the small porch where the lawn mower is parked, there is a dark door that I remember painting. “Come on.” I say, “We have to bolt for it.”


We wait for the first harpie to pass and turn away until I lead the charge to the back door. I try not to move the garbage around the lawn mower as I move to the dirty steps and slowly open the door. I go in and there is no harpies to be seen, but I tiptoe in and Echo follows. I walk forward to check if it’s clear and Echo quietly shuts the door behind me. I hear nothing so I stand straight in the tiny room that we are standing in, I walk forward to the living room and I hear Echo follow behind me.


“Let’s hurry and get to my room.” I hurry down past the middle room, as my family likes to call it, and walk down the hall ad the last door to my right is my room.


In my head I feel it’s time to pack: I drop my messenger bag on my bed and stuff a extra shirt, pants, socks, and underwear as Echo looks around my room. “Nice.” She says.
I lift my bow from my rack and drop it on my bed then attach my hip quiver to my belt loop.


“Yeah.” I say, “Now I have a feeling we won’t be able to go home for a while so go ahead and pick up a extra pair of my clothes. I have a feeling that they are going to be big on you but it’ll work.”

I carefully pick up my violin case and sling it over as Echo picks out a plain black t-shirt and my navy skinny jeans from my mess couch. She hands them to me and I stuff it into my bag. Then I attach two pillows to the side and using the roll of duct tape I wrap them to the bag. I open my closet door and pull out my arm guard and three fingered glove.


I look around my room as Echo waits for me to do something. I then look at my bookshelf to my right and grab my knitted gray beanie and slide it on my head and then snatched my thick wallet and stuff it in my bag.


“Now we are going to go out of the sliding glass windows.” I say opening my door and reaching over my bed and grab my bow and walk across the hall to my parents room.


I pull back the brown curtains slightly and look out for the harpie guard. I turn the lock as I watch for it and pull down the door handle, “We’re going to have to jump and make a break for the car ok?”
Echo nods, “Just keep running. Got it.”


I nod back and swing open the door and I jump out with Echo behind me and we make a run for it. It’s not long until we hear screeching and we are in the trees. I climb the fence again and the car isn’t too far away. I pull out my key again and unlock the trunk I toss the messenger bag in then slam the trunk door. I open the back door and put in my violin case and then shut the door.


I hear Echo yell and I look up and she’s fighting off two Harpies with a knife as she’s running for the car. I quickly pull out a arrow and shoot one of them down and Echo hacks off the other one. Echo didn’t miss a beat and runs over to the car and I start the car, and again, we speed off. Once we are on the highway with no harpies on our tail, we both sigh in relief again.


“Where to now?” Echo asks. My head goes through a list of people that I could turn to but then one name come to mind.
“I have a best friend that lives not too terribly far from here. I think we’ll be safe there.”
“You thought we’d be safe at your house.” Echo replies.
“They shouldn’t know where he lives.”


“It’s a guy?” Echo says with a smile.
I turn my head and frown slightly, “He’s my best friend and I can trust him with anything.”

Notes