The Life of Zander Hamilton

We had a private funeral for Tony that night. I couldn’t help feeling sad, even though I had never met the guy. I had only a little glimpse of him when entered the library. I could tell that he and his sister were really close.

We decided to get away from Buda before we made any contact with civilization. You never know what mortals saw. After hearing a couple stories of other quest like this, the five of us were probably undercover terrorists trying to reduce Americas’ safe feeling. Jill was still grieving the loss of her brother, and Cody refused to make eye contact, look at her, or even be near her. I knew he felt horrible. He didn’t talk to me much either. He always set up his stuff a little farther from us.

I had gotten a couple chances to talk to Markus when he wasn’t trying to cheer up Jill. He was pretty cool. He loved to tinker with things; he showed pictures of the retrieval robot he had built when he was eight years old. I showed him the sword I had built and designs for a couple things that I planned to build when we got back. When she actually talked, Jill seemed nice too. When Grover said she loved nature, it was an understatement. Nature freak is a more accurate term for it. Luckily she was more okay with killing animals to eat as a need for calories and protein than Grover was, he mostly ate bark. But as we walked through the forest she would point out her favorite trees and describe the structure of leaves she found interesting, then she would see something that reminded her of her brother and start crying again. I found out that she was also trying to avoid Cody. She thought that he was responsible for her brothers’ death. I had tried multiple times to explain that he tried his best but it was still a sensitive subject for her.

We had been traveling for a couple days before we decided that it would be safe for us to head into town. We headed for a hotel to get cleaned up; no one would be willing to help five kids who smelled like dirt and monster dust that had been left out in the rain for two weeks.

Of course, Jill wanted her own room. Markus had tried to go with Jill to her room but I knew what he was trying to do.

I reached over and grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back. “Not so fast Romeo. You’re coming with us.” He smiled at me because he knew he’d been caught.
The next morning we decided to take a train back to camp. It still took us a couple days of uncomfortable train benches to get there. We ran into a couple of monsters along the way. Nothing major, a couple smaller dracaenas, a few others I couldn’t name. But it did give the newbies a little bit of hands-on experience.

When we got back to camp, we headed to the big house to tell Chiron how it went. On the way people we passed their hellos and greeted the new guys and asked them questions. Markus and Jill looked around as we walked and asked us questions about everything we passed. I remembered doing that my first day.

In the big house, Chiron asked us about the quest. It kind of sucked for Jill that he could do basic math because as soon as we walked through the doors he asked us something I was hoping he wouldn’t notice until later. “There are only two of them; you said you found three demigods.” Jill instantly started tearing up.

“We lost him on the way, leave it at that… please.” Markus said practically begging. Chiron nodded his understanding. He had probably been through all of this a thousand times before. He asked us a couple other questions like, ‘What happened at the school?’ Or ‘Did the monsters say anything?’ When he asked that, I remembered what the dracaena had said before I killed her. “Actually yes, one of the dracaena mentioned someone named Crius. I have no idea who that would be. Do you?” I asked

“Unfortunately I do. Please, I need time to think. Would you two give them a tour of the camp?” he asked talking to me and Cody. I nodded and walked out.

When we got outside I stopped Cody to talk to him. “Look man, it’s obvious you’re still dealing with the quest so you go do whatever you do when I’m not around and I’ll give them the tour, Okay?”

“Sure, do your thing.” He said before walking to his cabin. We walked around the camp while I explained what everything is. It took about an hour, but I could tell that Jill was a little more comfortable without Cody there. The last place I showed them was the cabins. I introduced them to and warned them about the Stoll brothers, and left them to their care. I told the Stolls to take it easy on her for a while and although they agreed, knowing them, they probably wouldn’t.

After I left them at the cabins I walked around for a while. As I got close to the training arena I heard someone shouting and grunting as if they were being attacked. I drew my sword and ran to the arena. When reached the entrance, I saw Cody attacking a dummy with all he had; now screaming as loud as he could. I walked quietly and stood in front of the dummy behind him and waited for him to turn around. I had my sword ready, when he turned ready to attack the dummy behind me, his sword was met half way by the edge of mine.

“What are you doing Cody?” I asked plainly. I through him back and pointed the tip of my sword a him. It’s what I would do when we trained to start a match.

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m training” he replied in an annoyed tone.

“That was not training, that was hacking wildly at a defenseless dummy.” I said with a hint of a smile.

“So what, I’m not in the mood for a lesson right now Zander. And I thought you said not to sneak up on someone swinging a sword around.” He said walking towards the exit. I ran passed him and closed the doors and locked them.

“That only goes for inexperience fighters. And if you want to leave,” I said, “you have to fight for it.”

“I’m not doing this.” He said.

“Fine by me, I’ve got no problem sleeping and standing here all night.”

“Fine.” He said in an annoyed voice.

We fought for a while; I gave him tips as we fought.

“Don’t guard so high, it leaves you vulnerable to an attack to your legs.” I said smacking him in the leg with the flat of my blade.

“Do we have to do this right now?” He asked.

“You want to get better, right?” I asked back.

“Of course.” He replied.

“Okay, well, the only way to do that is to train. It also helps get you mind off things. I did this after I failed my first quest. Plus you are better skilled so it’s less likely to happen again.” I said.
He thought for second. “That actually makes sense.” he said.

“My head is full of more than welding techniques and metal shavings.”

Notes

Greetings readers.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and hoe that last chapter didn't make you too upset, drama is always involved in a good story. Again, be on the look out for my new story Lost Memories. I will try to post the first chapter sometime today or tomorrow. So to quote the epic youtuber jacksepticeye, "If you like it, punch that like button in the face, LIKE A BOSS! And, high-fives all round, WPSH, WPSH. I will see all you dudes, IN THE NEXT CHAPTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!" Yes I like jacksepticeye, sue me.

Anyway, thanks for the votes. Ratings have been going up, keep the ball rolling.

Bubba Boy