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Leda briefly got an image of Kristin and Zeke going on to fight whoever stole Calliope, while she took a nap in Houston completely unaware. She doubted they would do that, just abandon her - but she also wasn't totally certain that they wouldn't. They were making good time at least, so they probably would have a chance to get a full night's rest before going to save Calliope from Marysas. She couldn't help but wonder what Apollo would do to Marysas after all of this was said and done... Would he flay him alive? "Maybe Zeke can dance or sing for some cash," Leda suggested.

She was only half joking.

She pulled out of the parking lot and merged back onto the road, heading in the direction of the highway. From there, she'd be able to take them to Atlanta. That was one of the nice things about long drives like these - she pretty much just had to stay in one lane on the highway, changing every now and then as the road needed. There were no stop lights to worry about, no pedestrians in the way, just (sometimes) open road. "If either of you wanna IM Chiron and update him, lemme know. Once we're on the highway I can probably drive one handed and make a rainbow with the other."

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Ezekiel settled into the backseat, putting in one headphone and smirked at Leda's comment. "I don't sing and I left my guitar back at camp," he said and switched notebooks as they headed out onto the highway. With drives like these he tended to be on edge a bit. You never knew what you would come across and so he liked to keep his hands and mind busy. He started going over the poem he had started yesterday, already making some changes and tweaks to it while Leda drove.
"You could, or one of us could text Rosie just as easily and that allows you not be distracted driving," Ezekiel noted. Ezekiel didn't have a cell phone, which proved difficult in times like these and he wasn't around an internet connection so he couldn't message Rosie that way or he would with his iPod. He glanced at the girls while Leda drove and shook his head a little before resuming his work. What a trio they made. They knew each other, as one pretty much knows everyone at camp but they weren't friends but they knew enough about each other to harass the other. Ezekiel wondered if that was why the three of them were picked. They annoyed each other enough to keep the other on their toes and alert.

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Kristin started to look at the little map that she had found in the trucks glove compartment from yesterday when they initially found it at the cyclopes hideout. She looked towards Leda for a moment if they should message Chiron and give him a heads up on how their quest was going together. "I think we can send him an Iris Message whenever we have to take a stop next, but if you want to I don't mind sending the message now if you'd like?" Kristin offered looking at Leda, she didn't have a cellphone either on her so it would be a little bit hard and most demigods couldn't use cellphones which attracted monsters quiet often to their current location.

Kristin rolled down the window slightly letting her hair blow around in the wind while they drove, and gave Leda's compass their next location to Atlanta Georgia. She looked back at Zeke for a moment and started to smirk ever so slightly wondering how Zeke sounded whenever he did sing. "What if Marysas challenges you to a singing contest or some kind of dance off?" She asked teasingly, and Marysas most likely did hate any child of Apollo whenever they did cross paths the satyr would probably be really pissed off to see Zeke there to.

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Leda shook her head at Zeke's idea of using a cell phone. "No bloody way. Using one of those things is like giving all the monsters in the area a homing device - honestly, I don't get why anyone uses them," she snapped. Part of it was because in her opinion, Iris Messaging was the way for the modern demigod to communicate. But the rest of it was because each time one of them used a phone, it was like setting out a flare for all the monsters to see. It was too dangerous for demigods to use cell phones. While Leda owned an iPod, she didn't use any messaging apps and left it at camp - which wasn't that difficult as she was a year round camper.

She put her left hand firmly on the wheel of the car. They were on the highway which made it easy for her to go one handed. Her main job as a driver was to watch for cars merging lanes. Her right hand she rested on the wheel at a ninety degree angle, her palm facing Kristin. Leda concentrated and a fine rainbow emerged, the light harmlessly flowing from her hands. She was careful not to make it too intense, since that might end up burning the daughter of Athena by mistake. "There ya go. You got a drachma for Mum?"

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"Then we're dead," Ezekiel said seriously. Just because he couldn't sing, didn't mean he wasn't musically inclined. Besides, there were better art forms than just making music with your voice. He looked at the window, watching the rainbow form before he fished in his pack for a couple drachma and handed them over. "Let him know where we are headed as well, just encase," Ezekiel said.
He didn't like to think things would go badly but if they did, he knew his mother would at least appreciate having his body brought back home if at all possible. Ezekiel always found it annoying that technology outside of camp was a death sentence. They had a bloody tech tent in camp for crying out loud. Seemed a bit redundant but Ezekiel still kept with his iPod outside of camp. It wasn't connected to the internet to it didn't exactly let out a frequency of any kind.

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Kristin watched as Leda started to create a rainbow, it always was pretty cool to watch, and it was a lot easier than having to find a fine mist to create a rainbow that way. "Thanks Leda." Kristin was about to dig into her pack to grab her own drachma but Zeke beat her to it and looked at. "Thanks i'll pay you back once we are back at camp." Kristin said, as she grabbed one from Zeke's hand and then tossed it into the rainbow that Leda was making, she closed her eyes and concentrated before saying. "Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering." Kristin said imagining The Big House back at Camp Half-Blood.

A few seconds later Chiron appeared while sitting on the deck of the Big House, with Rosie not to far from him busy just drawing away at her notepad. When Chiron noticed the three of them and smiled towards them, while Rosie turned her attention over to the Iris Message as well and smiled. "Hi guys." Rosie said, before Chiron addressed the two of them. "Leda, Kristin and Zeke how are the three of you doing?" He asked them, Kristin looked at the two of them before speaking first. "Its going pretty well, we are on our way to Houston Texas where Marsyas is holding Calliope." Kristin said, when Chiron noticed that Leda was driving and looked at her. "You shouldn't be Iris Messaging and driving Leda." Chiron said, there could be a chance that they ended up getting into an accident.

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Leda was keeping the rainbow going, doing her best to focus on the road. Unfortunately, being a teenage demigod didn't make her a master of multitasking. She kept on looking over at Chiron and Rosie at Camp Half-blood, feeling nostalgic for the strawberry fields. She also couldn't help but smile slightly, thinking about her mother. While Iris hadn't said anything to her or shown herself, just the Iris Message going through meant that her mother was there, carrying the message. "Sorry Chiron, can't talk, driving," Leda told him playfully.

The car in front of them slowed down suddenly, about to merge into the exit ramp of the highway. Leda's reaction time was ironically too slow. The truck rear ended the car in front of them as Leda slammed the breaks, the airbags failing to deploy. The front of the car was pretty banged up, and while Leda and Zeke were lucky, the sudden change in momentum caused Kristin to bang her head pretty badly on the dashboard. The rainbow Leda had been projecting was gone and her face was burning up bright red as she pulled the car over to the shoulder, her hands shaking and her eyes were welling up in tears. "Kristin? Zeke? You g-guys okay? I'm so so sorry..." She wished she could have rewound time and not made the rainbow for the Iris Message. They'd have to deal with whatever mortal she had rear ended - maybe even the police - and it would just slow them down even more. "Th-the idiot should've known you don't slow down until you get onto the exit ramp," she complained, trying to find a way to make the accident not her fault at all.

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Ezekiel smirked and winked at Rosie once she acknowledged the Iris Message. He liked to give her a hard time every once in awhile, as he did with everyone. "Going well? We already had two run ins with monsters," Ezekiel told Chiron. Ya, they handled it and were fine but lets not sugar coat things here. Ezekiel looked away from the rainbow and seeing camp to look back at his notebook when there was a sudden stop and the unmistakable crunch of metal and plastic.
Ezekiel was jolted forward but suffered no damage other than the sudden change of momentum. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts and groaned. "This is why we can't have nice things," he noted. He then heard crying and instantly went into healer mode. He leaned over the front console and looked at the girls. He saw it was Leda crying but he couldn't see any damage to her.
"Leda, Leda. It's okay. Breathe with me, okay? In through the nose, hold, out through the mouth. One more time," Ezekiel said, breathing with her a couple of times before he encouraged her to keep going and looked at Kristin. He could see a nasty gash on her head from where she hit but it was a clean bleed at least. "Here, don't move." Ezekiel placed his hand on her forehead and shut his eyes while his power coursed through him and into her wound. There was a bit of light from the work as well as a warming sensation as her wound cleaned and stitched itself back up. "If you have any nectar or ambrosia, have some of that if there's a headache," he said.
He looked back at Leda a moment and smiled before squeezing her shoulder and jumped out of the back of the truck to go and confront the driver they had just ran into. Maybe if the driver saw that they were kids, they wouldn't be as upset and may drive them to the nearest gas station or something. That is, if the truck was no longer road worthy and they couldn't do it themselves. Still, they wouldn't be able to go all the way to Texas with it. A smashed in front in would probably be a red flag to any passing highway cop.

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One moment she was talking to Chiron over Iris Message, then the next thing she knew she blacked out a little bit, her head was spinning badly and her ears were ringing as well. Kristin let out a slight groan as she rubbed a hand over her forehead, and could feel something wet on her hand. She looked down to see that it was actually blood, groaning loudly as Zeke went over to tend to her head wound feeling the wound closing up now. Kristin looked over towards Zeke and nodded towards him, though she wasn't going to use the nectar or ambrosia she had on her for a simple headache right now.

Kristin reached out and gently held Leda's hand, seeing the girl was starting to cry and panic getting in the wreck, anyone would after witnessing it. "Hey, it's alright Leda.." Kristin said, and went over and gave her a hug, though they weren't really friends she trusted her anyway while on the quest as well. "Is everyone else right?" Kristin asked looking at the two of them, and saw the front was pretty banged up and white smoke was coming from the hood of the car now. The driver that they rear ended came out of the car, looking rather angry and pissed off seeing the back of his car was wrecked as well.

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Somehow, it made it worse that Zeke was being nice to her. She really didn't want to cry in front of him and Kristin, but she felt so ashamed. Right when Chiron had been chiding her for Iris Messaging and driving, they had gotten into an accident. It had been a stupid one too. She wanted to blame it on the fact that everyone drove on the wrong side of the road in America, but she had learned to drive here, not England. She couldn't help but keep on bawling as Zeke gave her breathing exercises to do, trying her best to catch her breath. Her face was still bright red from embarrassment, matching the hue of her pendant. Zeke managed to heal Kristin and she expected the daughter of Athena to give her a proper scolding. But it didn't happen.

The front of their car was smoking. There was no way they'd be able to drive it all the way to Texas. She got out, her hands numb as she went to confront the angry driver. She didn't know what she'd tell them. It wasn't like they had insurance - and they had stolen the truck. Yet as soon as she looked at the driver, her blood went cold. Another cyclops. "You bloody idiot wanker, you can't even drive a lorry proper!" Leda screamed, yanking down on her pendant and it transformed into her sword, Ultraviolet. She was still crying as she swung, trying to decapitate the monster, but she missed. On her second strike, she managed to hit the cyclops in the shoulder. The beast took a swing at her and missed.

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Ezekiel walked up to the gentleman, hoping he would calm a little bit when he saw it was just a bunch of kids. He looked pretty angry already but Ezekiel just help up his hands. "You okay? We got a first aid kit if you need it," Ezekiel offered. Behind him he heard Leda start to swear, her accent coming out strong and Ezekiel turned to see her coming at him with her sword. He dropped down and ducked out of the way. "The hell Leda?!" He watched her stab the man in his shoulder then miss an attack from him.
That was when he realized that they had crashed into a monster. Well of course, why the hell not. Ezekiel took a step back, ready to jump in if he needed to but he had a feeling Leda wanted to take this one on her own and get some of her anger out. "Just let me know if you need to tap out," Ezekiel said and just stood and watched this. If only they had a video camera.

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Kristin stumbled out of the truck her head was still pounding a little bit from the sudden hit, but the healing was better. Kristin watched Leda rushing forward, and then heard the cyclopes roaring in rage. And attempted to swing at Leda again, only to miss though she was really gratful for Zeke's healing he was just watching Leda attack the monster and not helping at all. "She'll need some help Zeke." Kristin said as she drew out her bracelet which turned into her spear and rushed forward at the cyclopes driver.

She didn't feel bad anymore that they were basically fighting against a monster either. "Hey ugly!" Kristin said, as she thrusted her spear at the cyclopes' leg causing it to drop down to its knee before getting back up again and tried to swing at Kristin now only to miss. She looked towards Leda for a moment, knowing that she was probably embarrassed from crashing.

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Leda almost wished that the cyclops would land a hit on her. She certainly felt like she deserved it, being relatively unscathed from the crash whereas Kristin, the annoying daughter of Athena, had gotten hurt. She didn't want others to pay for her actions. That wasn't fair. Her sword, Ultraviolet, continued to glow a faint shade of red. Kristin had managed to wound the cyclops in the knee and Zeke seemed to just be watching what was going on - and that was fine by her. She and Kristin had taken care of the cylopses in the old house while he was outside.

"You fucking bloody old git, just die already!!!" she screamed at the cyclops, bringing her sword down in an attempt to chop its head off, but she missed. The cyclops tried to hit her again, only to fail. Leda swung again, this time blinding it in the eye. "Urgh, you're such a piece of shit monster!" Leda raged.

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Ezekiel looked at Kristin and frowned when she charged forward. "You know Kristin, sometimes people don't want help. Sometimes they want to figure it out on their own. Don't speak for Leda, let her speak for herself," he said annoyed at Kristin. It wasn't just Kristin he was annoyed with though. He was annoyed with the crash, the delay and yet another monster battle. They. Were. Running. Out. Of. Time. And his father was counting on him, the camp was counting on him. Who knew what the hell would happen and what Apollo's wrath would be if they didn't finish the mission. Gods weren't known to be nice.
He shifted his hand, pulling on the light surrounding them and concentrated it on the Cyclopes. He burst into flames but the bastard didn't die but he was pissed. Well, so was Ezekiel. "Anyone what to skewer the fool now?" His hand slipped into his pocket and held the sun medallion in his hand encase he needed to take the shot.

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The cyclopes roared in rage as Leda managed to blind it, and then was set on fire by the fire that Zeke had lit him on fire, Kristin then swung her spear again missing miserably again. "Really?" She said and then turned to look over her shoulder at Zeke giving him a little bit of a glare and gave him the finger. When the cyclopes finally burst into dust after the fire had hurt it to much, Kristin closed her eyes for a moment letting out a slight sigh as her spear turned back into her bracelet again. Looking over at the two of them and then over at Leda. "Are you okay?" She asked.

Kristin looked at their truck seeing the front end didn't look like it was in good shape and smoke coming out of the hood also wasn't a good thing at all either. She made her way towards the car that the cyclopes was driving and then looked into the window seeing that the keys were still in the ignition. "At least we have a new set of wheels." Kristin said as she opened up the passenger side door and got in the cyclopes wouldn't be needing it anymore.

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Leda didn't know whether or not to be irritated by Zeke or Kristin. On one hand, she loved shouting at people to let others think and speak for themselves. She resonated very strongly with that. On the other hand, she preferred Kristin to Zeke. Zeke liked to trip her at super speed. Kristin didn't. Falling at super speed was very painful. She was still crying slightly, but the tears turned to laughter as Zeke burned the cyclops alive, killing it. She took a few steadying breaths, drying her eyes as best as she could. "I fucked up. I'm really sorry about that - I'm not exactly chuffed with myself..." she admitted, trying to calm down.

"No more Iris Messaging and driving," she promised, getting into the car. She was going to wait until her hands were steady before she tried to drive. She didn't want to get into another accident. The car wasn't in too bad shape, sure the back end was dented but it wasn't enough for them to be pulled over. Leda started to adjust the mirror when she froze, seeing what was in the back seat. "...Guys... Erm... There's a babe - a baby cyclops..." she gulped. "We can't kill it... Should we take it to the nearest beach or something, offer it to Poseidon? Maybe he'll take in Heracles into the Forges..."

She may or may not have already named it. Baby Heracles was super cute.

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Ezekiel smirked at the middle finger Kristin gave him and watched the Cyclopes burn alive. "Hmm, perhaps I am my father's son," he mused. With that taken care of, he walked back to the truck and fished out his pack and headed to the knew vehicle. Apparently that one was still drive-able. He didn't bother to comment on Leda's apology. Things happen and things always happen to demi-gods, it was literally apart of their life. "At least we live to fight another day," he said.
He opened up the back door and noticed the baby just as Leda commented on it. Ezekiel groaned. "I agree with the beach idea, even if it will prolong our journey more. I did not sign up for babysitting duty. No way, no how," Ezekiel shut the door and walked around to the other side to the free seat. Of course he was stuck in the back with a Cyclopes baby. "Leda, don't name it. That's how you get attached," Ezekiel said after he got into the vehicle.

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Kristin turned her head to look over her shoulder seeing the baby cyclops in the back seat staring at the three of them, it couldn't have been more than a few months old, maybe a year at best, but it was oddly really cute. It's one eye blinking at them, looking a bit confused, Kristin felt bad that they had just killed it's parent. "Awww he's actually really cute.." Kristin said she shook her head slightly at Zeke's comment. "Well we cant just call it a baby or an it." She said shaking her head slightly pulling out Leda's compass and then thought about the closest beach that she knew of.

"It's a bit out of the way, but before I became a full time camper my family always rented out a beach house in Myrtle Beach South Carolina." Kristin suggested, Heracles would then reach down under its baby car seat pulling out one of those inflatable toy clubs and threw it at Zeke's head and it started to laugh loudly. "Yeah I dont think Heracles likes it when you talk about him like that." Kristin said she was actually pretty happy she didn't get to sit in the backseat now, she looked down at the floor in the backseat seeing that it was really filthy with empty fast food bags and containers.

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"I figured if we named it, no one would be tempted to just yeet the kid out of the window," Leda admitted. She was against killing baby monsters, but it wasn't exactly a subject that people went over at Camp Half-blood. No one went up and asked those sort of moral questions. She was relieved though to hear that both Zeke and Kristin did seem to agree with her - that they couldn't just kill a baby. Sure, monsters would reform eventually but she just couldn't kill an innocent because it might grow up to be, well, a monster.

The idea of going out of their way to South Carolina made Leda feel antsy though. "I don't think we can afford to backtrack... We're running out of time to save Calliope. I really don't think Apollo will be chuffed with us exactly if we fail... But my compass, it doesn't just give directions to a place... If you ask it a question, it'll point towards where we should go. So if you ask the compass where a good beach is to take this baby cyclops on our way, it'll hopefully figure it out."

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Ezekiel frowned at the kid when he threw his toy at his head but he didn't retaliate. The last thing he needed was an upset baby screaming in his ear. "And I don't like it when you talk at all Kristin and yet, here we are," he said smiling sweetly before putting in his headphones. He reached down and grabbed the inflatable club and handed it back to the kid. At the very least, it didn't hurt.
Ezekiel was a bit relieved when Leda mentioned they were short on time and explained another helpful thing her compass could do. It made sense in a way. Perhaps the child would be needed elsewhere. He just hoped they wouldn't have to take it all the way back to Camp Half-Blood because he knew how that would go. The girls would give him the responsibility of looking after the kid because they would think it 'humorous'. Ezekiel shifted in the backseat, already annoyed at something that had happened yet and kicked some of the junk out of his way. He held his pack securely on his lap.