#Eeeee! Next Chapter triggers the fall! :D

[jflashandclash]

Attrition of Peace

Eleven: Ajax

You were Looking for Answers? That’s Hilarious!

                 Normally, when Pax found himself covered in blood, he’d have to take the opportunity to mess with someone. Maybe dramatically lie in a place where his brother would find him, or run into a room shouting, “Zombies! They’re everywhere!” and pretend to zombify… though this might not be the most ideal location to be a zombie. Too many trigger-happy kids with access to Roman weapons and chainsaws.

               Right now though, he was too tired. He just wanted to slink back into the Fifth Cohort’s barracks unnoticed, and either curl up in Kally’s or his brother’s lap. Hades, he’d even go for Calex’s lap, under the condition that he’d make Calex feel absurdly uncomfortable before Calex would punch him in the back of the head.

               When he saw some legionnaires playing poker on the Fifth Cohort’s porch, Pax couldn’t remember any of their names. He was too deliriously exhausted. If they talked to him, he decided he’d just give them a thumbs up and moonwalk into the barracks.

               When they stood up, looking alarmed at his approach, he realized that moonwalking might break whatever character he was playing. Had he morphed into someone else? That would mean he wasn’t covered in blood. But his hair, height, and skinny jeans all felt like him.

               “Oh—uh—Hazel’s not in yet. She’s still out with Frank,” one of them said.

               “We can tell her to meet you by the temple if you want. That’ll give us more time to prepare for evening inspection,” the other said.

               “Augh, evening barracks inspection,” the first groaned.

               Pax jammed his hands into his pockets and shrugged, breezing right past them. “I’ll wait for her in here,” he grumbled.

               Neither tried to stop him. They seemed too scared.

               Pax stumbled into the barracks. As Pax had hoped, most of the Romans weren’t inside. They were likely out at the bathhouses during their tiny bit of free time after dinner.

               Each little chamber had three sets of bunk beds and a section for their armor. When he finally found the empty room that his friends were assigned, he almost collapsed into Kally lap.

               She sat on the floor beside the door, her knees pulled up so she could lean a notebook against them. Her honey hair was damp from a recent bath. The ends hanged against her sweatpants; Hazel probably loaned them to her.

               Merry paced back and forth across the room, humming softly and tapping a cell phone in the crook of her shoulder and ear.

               Euna was curled up in one of the barrack beds, Backbiter resting beside her pillow, like a replacement, homicidal teddy bear.

               Axel and Calex were missing, likely at the Roman bathes, discussing Axel’s hopeful successes and that little surprise gift Pax had left in Axel’s pocket.

               The thought of curling up in Kally’s lap was too much, like chowing down on a stack of Reese’s Sticks. Pax sank to the ground and rested his face against her leg.

               Kally almost screamed, making Merry tap a finger to her lips to call for silence.

               “Nico!” she yelped. “What are you—Pax?!?”

               At her outburst, Merry shook her head to an unheard beat and stepped out of the room.

               Nico? Pax glanced down at his hand to see a silver skull ring. That made enough sense. The Sexy Goth Prince could go anywhere he wanted in Camp Jupiter and New Rome without question. From what Pax had gathered, despite Nico being a hero and a close friend of Reyna’s, people still found the I play with dead things creepy.

               “You’re wising up, Cyclops,” he murmured into her leg, not even caring how she’d identified him.

               Her voice started angry, but he couldn’t blame her. Last time he’d turned into her half-brother’s boyfriend, he’d accidentally kissed her and less accidentally tricked her into swearing on the River Styx. And that was why Pax owed Kally cookies and cuddles for the rest of forever. That and because she was really hot and really cool—an impressive contradiction in the Book of Pax.

               Her tone quickly softened and she could feel her hand slip against his face. “What happened?”

               Pax could tell her what happened. That his little reunion with the traitor to Camp Othrys hadn’t gone as planned.[1] Though Pax hadn’t really planned it. He was more a “jump and check the bungee cord afterwards” kind of guy.

               Instead of giving that riveting exposition, Pax winked his yellow eye at her—or what would have been his yellow eye if he looked like himself and not like a Halloween decoration. “Did you know I can morph into four or six different people a day with the same apple?”

               She didn’t find this nearly as impressive as he did. “They sent people looking for you.” Her green eyes flicked past the entrance, like she was nervous about the Romans seeing them. To be fair, it might be kinda weird to have the Ambassador for Pluto napping in the middle of the barracks on a daughter of Apollo.

               “You were worried about me,” he cheered, wishing he had enough energy to give that the smile it deserved. He also wished he had a full mariachi band on call for times like this.

               “I got lost in New Rome,” he said. This was true. He had gotten lost in New Rome, which sounded like a bad reality TV show: Lost in New Rome: A Centurion’s Heartache.

              After he and Atë parted, he was stuck looking for the jerk-traitor in an area he’d rarely had to spy in when he was the spymaster of Camp Othrys. A shame, since the University was so pretty and had more Greek elements than they were willing to admit.

               When Kally continued to stare at him, he sighed. He’d have to tell her some of what happened.

              “And I released all of the weasels from their weasel enclosure. Did you know Romans stuff weasels into bags with disobedient legionaries and toss them into the River? And they call us barbarians. What if the weasels got hurt?”

              She relaxed. “I thought…” Kally raised her hand, like she wanted to touch her lips, but stopped herself halfway up. She smiled. “You and Axel... I’m surprised he hasn’t brought up faun rights since we got here.”

              “Oh, I’m sure he slipped it in with some sexy banter to Reyna.” Pax rolled onto his back and reached a hand up to touch her chin, mimicking the way he assumed Axel would romance women. “Your eyes remind me of the green of jungle ferns, sparkling with mist just after a soft rain. Also, you should make a career center to decrease faun unemployment.”

              Kally tried to scowl through her blush. “I’m pretty sure Reyna doesn’t have green eyes.”

              “She doesn’t. I’m asking you, Kally, what you think you can do for faun rights.”

              She shoved his hand away from her chin. That was that look she got when she remembered that she’d told Pax they couldn’t date because she couldn’t trust him. A very specific facial expression.

              And, here he was, misdirecting the conversation, like someone she couldn’t trust... But, it was for the good of the team, right? What’s a couple of deals with the enemy for the good of the team? And he couldn’t tell her what happened with the traitor… that could implicate her, and she did not need to get in trouble for assuring weasel justice, among other things…

              “Don’t talk to me like that when you look like Nico,” she snapped. “It’s weird.”

              Normally, Pax might have reminded her that he couldn’t control how long he looked like a person. But Atë told him to try.

              He remembered his half-sister lounging on a stack of gold in the corner after they’d found the pseudonym of the traitor to Mount Othrys. He’d wanted to ask her one last question before he tracked down the jerk: why Eris kept giving him the apples, despite the fact that he was working against her.

              “Maybe you’re more god than human. Maybe you don’t need the apples. But what do I know? I’m just the Goddess of Mischief and Ruin. Remember not to trust anyone, Ajax!” She’d twiddled her fingers at him and poofed.

              To turn into someone, he usually thought of their features and what they were like while biting one of his golden apples. What was the essence of Ajax Pax? He thought about cute and helpless things—like baby seals—and about Reese’s Sticks and weasels—

              “I miss Hunnie and Baller,” Pax whined. He hadn’t been away from them for this long since… since Alabaster and Hecate gifted them to Axel and Pax.

              “Pax!” Kally cried loud enough to make Euna roll in her bunk. “Your hands!”

              There was the blood. The crusty, dried glittery-red was all over his hands, his forearms, and in smear marks across his jeans, where he’d tried to rub it off. But none on his T-shirt. The University of New Rome shirt was freshly… borrowed and clean.

              “Would you look at that,” he said, wishing he wasn’t laying in her lap anymore.

              “What did you do?! Where’d all that blood come from?!” she asked. “Ajax, you can’t just pretend this is nothing.”

              “But you’re always willing to pretend this is nothing,” he whined. It was true. She’d always been willing to overlook things before. “Can’t you grow a backbone tomorrow or something?”

              Before he could see Kally’s reaction, a pillow nailed him hard enough to knock the creepiness out of Zeus.

              “You’re loud,” Euna stated in the same scary way a coroner might state, “Humans die of hypovolemic shock after losing 40% of their circulating blood.”

              “Euna, you should become a baseball pitcher. Or throw grenades for the army. Either way, you’d be fulfilling someone’s dream,” Pax said, shoving the pillow away and sitting up.

              Kally caught his hand, singing softly over the wounds. He hadn’t even realized there were still cuts all over them. With his accelerated healing, he assumed they’d be closed. With each of Kally’s notes about sunshine, a cooling sensation tingled his fingertips. And he started to realize how much they hurt.

              “Ayyyye!” he whined.

              “Pax has been someone else all day,” Euna grumbled. She’d sat up in her bunk, rubbing the sleepiness out of her eyes. “He left with Frank as Hazel this morning.”

              Kally’s eyes widened. Her lips parted in shock and she dropped his hands. “As Hazel… You are what made Frank so flustered this morning?” Her eyes darted to the ground.

              A horrific pang of regret sank Pax’s stomach, a fairly new emotion for him, but Kally was really good at inspiring it. Nothing could beat a consciousness into a person like disappointment.

              His normal instinct for redirecting and evading crumbled at the look on her face. At least she wasn’t asking about the blood anymore. “Wait—I was—I had to steal a stick—a mysteriously important stick—from—”[2]

              Merry waltzed back into the room, humming and nodding her head. “Paxy, I know you’re not saying or doing anything suspicious when we’re a day from getting home. And I know you’re not breaking Kally-Dear’s heart.”

              The dangerous glint in Merry’s brown eyes reminded Pax that her father was the God of Madness. And parties. But he was pretty sure Merry wanted him to remember the madness part at that moment.

              “Home?” he echoed and perked up. “We’re good to go back and terrorize Chiron?”

              Merry nodded, hoping onto the bed beside Euna. Euna gave Merry a lazy glare.

              “Rey-Rey gave us some money for airplane tickets,” Merry said. “I got us five to New York for tomorrow morning. Just in time to help my mom consult a lawyer. Though we’ll have to get a cab to camp from the airport. I can’t get a hold of Chiron or Dad to arrange a proper, fancy chauffeur.”

              “Six tickets,” Kally said. She glanced up at Merry, rubbing the back of her hand across her eyes. With how pale she was, she couldn’t hide how blotchy her skin got when jerks made her tear up. Pax wished he could sic a weasel on himself. He’d never been held accountable for what he did on spy missions but… he guessed making out and fondling another guy might upset the average not-girlfriend.

              “No, five. Reyna is holding Axel as a zesty hostage until they get word we made it back to Camp Half-Blood without any tricks or sneaks. Then he’ll be packaged up and shipped out after.”

              Pax’s panic over Kally came to a seizing halt. “Wait—we’re leaving my brother? Without getting a dowry? I did not agree to that! What if they kill him!? And communications have been down with Camp Half-Blood!”

              Axel was way too awesome to be held hostage. Especially not by people who had more reasons to kill him than politicians had secret agendas. Especially not when he was prone to blurting stupid things around girls he liked, like, “I used to kill your friends,” and “I sing cheesy love ballads when I shower.”

              Merry gave Pax a half-grin. “On the long list of things Reyna wants to do to Mr. Stoic and Mysterious, I think killing him is low in priority.”

              “He’ll be fine,” Euna agreed, “We should be focused on how we’re going to stop and punish Eris, Phobetor, and the others.”

              Kally, Pax, and Merry exchanged a quick, confused glance. Yea, Pax had pulled pranks on gods and titans, Kronos in particular, but punishing?

              “Punishing gods is kind of a godly thing,” Merry explained. “Like when Zeus stripped Apollo and Poseidon of their godly powers and hotness. Or when he hung Hera over the nothingness of Khaos, so she could dance to the music of evisceration. Not really stuff us demigods can do.”

              Euna’s gaze narrowed. Her fingertips danced across Backbiter’s hilt. Pax was glad the blade didn’t start laughing maniacally or attempt a soliloquy about homicidal sword thoughts.

              “Khaos can eviscerate a god?” she asked.

              Merry shrugged. “The gods seem to think so. But Khaos is under Tartarus. Which is under Hades. It’s a lighthearted road trip with lots of musical numbers. Most gods won’t willingly do a ride along there.”

              “Could we bring part of Khaos to them?” Euna asked. “I bet they wouldn’t mess with the camp if we had it.”

              Merry frowned. “Euna…” Her tone was abnormally worried compared to Merry’s normal buoyant voice. “Unless you had Pandora’s Box or something that can capture the ess—”

              Pax raised his hand. “Can we stop theorizing about how to kill my mom? I know she’s negligent and kinda evil, and occasionally kills my friends as collateral damage, but don’t all parents do that?”

              That definitely fit his Dad’s profile. And when Jack decided to play the part of Axel and his surrogate father, and Flynn as their surrogate mother, they were fairly similar. Just with more fun trips to the circus and genuine hugs. So really, Eris could have been worse in the parenting department… right?

              One day, Pax would have a brood of mini Paxes that he would take to the circus, give genuine hugs, not neglect, and not kill their friends on accident. Those might have been high expectations for a Pax, but he at least needed to set the bar.

              At the thought, he glanced back over at Kally. Her eyes were still red-rimmed, but she made eye contact. Normally, he’d love that look of pity. He would have curled into her lap, reminded her they would have beautiful children with his tan complexion and her green eyes, and told her he wouldn’t fondle any more guys without her permission, even if it compromised a mission.

              But right now, he wanted to puff up his chest, look strong like Axel,[3] and laugh like, “I’m fine! What’s a dead brother and a dead father when you can cause chaos in New Rome?”

              “This is all suspiciously easy,” he said to change the subject to something lighter.

              “Easy?” Euna asked. He hadn’t noticed, but her knuckles were white around Backbiter’s hilt and Merry’s hand was delicately placed over hers. For a sickening moment, he could envision a counter in Euna’s head: Two Paxes down! Four to go!

              He really hoped she didn’t have a vendetta against his family. She’d have to get on a wait list.

              “Not like, the last month,” he quickly said. “Just… Mom and the others put us in a Trojan Mario and dropped us off by the Little Tiber with a bunch of gods and people that hate Axel and me. She said she wanted us out of the way right now, so she could do obligatory evil things to Hemera and obligatory evil things with Camp Half-Blood. Yea, we lost a few weeks of time and yea, we were stalled a bit by Reyna and Axel wanting in each other’s military skirts but…”  

              It hurt him to admit this, but Pax inhaled deeply. “If I were an evil villain, that wouldn’t be enough chaos for me. And Mom and I… may have some similar personality traits.”

              An uncomfortable moment passed where Pax almost hoped someone would say, “Na Pax. You’re cool.”

              No one did. They all looked worried and he got the feeling he was right.

              One thing was for sure: there was no way he could leave Axel alone in New Rome. Something else bad was going to happen, and he wasn’t willing to lose his brother as more collateral damage. What Atë said floated through his mind. “Remember not to trust anyone.” He wasn’t planning on it. Especially not the Romans. Especially not after he’d hunted down their spy.

  [1] So, there is actually a chapter missing from this book that should go RIGHT before this chapter. Later, I’m going to make it a chapter-gone-short story, but I can’t put it in now, because it’ll give away the identity of the traitor in Tales from Mount Othrys, book 5. So I didn’t forget that Pax has to have his… confrontation with this person. But you won’t get who this person is until the end of the series. And there is a reason why the Romans aren’t freaking out about a body or an assault. You’ll get all of that in the short story. Assuming I don’t get hit by a bus before then. We’ll see.

[2] I’m 90% sure this is how all my excuses and explanations sound to friends and family -.-

[3] Also known as, “Strong , like ox.”

Ah! Sorry guys, I thought the next chapter was Frank’s chapter, so we had a little more build up during this one. But don’t worry! The book is going to earn its title in the next two chapters XD

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!