This Fire Burns - Chapter 16

[July 5, 2007]

We were thirty minutes into our cab ride to Biscayne Bay.

After killing the giant turtle, we had a few loose ends to tie up. First, the boat full of mortals. I used the Mist to give them all an urge to take a very long nap, making sure they’d forget the entire day when they woke up.

Once they were all snoozing, I gently tapped Captain Ron on the nose to wake him up, and politely asked him to dock the boat on the other side of the lake for the mortals. He did so without complaint. What a nice guy.

Then we had a nice, productive conversation with absolutely zero violence. I learned his real name was Sciron—never heard of him, didn’t have time to look him up either, so I guess that would remain a mystery. I told him that I was willing to forgive his pushy attitude in exchange for appropriate compensation, that being all the money he collected doing his ferry rides. He eagerly accepted, handing me two grand in cash. He truly was a professional entrepreneur, considering that was all from a single day’s work.

While I was counting the money, a lightning bolt from the perfectly clear sky struck Sciron. Weird how the world works sometimes.

Anyway, with our new funds, I made the executive decision to speed up our quest. That meant flying back across the lake under our own power and heading straight for the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. 

The Mist came in clutch again, allowing us to deal with the usual problems. Two business cards suddenly looked like valid driver’s licenses to the TSA agents. 

The flight itself was nice. About five hundred for the both of us and only two hours in the air. Way better than another twenty hours on a bus.

We landed in Miami a while after sunset, hopped in a cab, and now here we were.

Jason nudged me once the car rolled to a stop. “We’ve arrived at the bay.” 

I paid the driver, then we stepped out into the humid air of a coastal city. My shirt was instantly sticking to my back.

“Ugh. You think you can do something about the humidity?” I asked Jason, fanning myself dramatically as we walked along a waterside promenade. “You know, part the air or whatever.”

He raised a hand slightly, causing the suffocating stickiness to immediately lift.

“Damn, what a convenient power to have.”

He side-eyed me. “I’ve seen how you can completely ignore even the coldest winter days. And when we were in Arizona yesterday, the heat wasn’t a problem either.”

Right. Everyone in the cohort would huddle around the fireplace I created in the common room when it was cold. And Arizona was a desert, so it wasn’t really a problem even if it was over a hundred Fahrenheit.

“Ehh, I guess the humidity can still get to me.” 

“Perks of being the son of Jupiter, I guess.”

I grinned back. “Yeah, yeah. Rub it in, weather boy.”

“Anyway,” I said, getting back to the quest, “the prophecy said we have to actually go out to sea. I guess we can find a marina and rent a boat for a few days.”

Jason looked out at the black water. “I don’t like the idea of going in blind. That’s a huge search area. We could be out there for days and never find them. It would be better to do some research and narrow down the possibilities first.”

“Yeah, no prob. What do you think about asking around for any signs? The Mist would cover up their actions, but there might be rumors of a new ‘gang’ causing trouble in the area.”

Before he could answer, the surface of the bay rippled.

Then a woman rose from the water. She had long, flowing black hair, sea-green eyes, and a translucent white dress that billowed around her as if she were still underwater. A Nereid, an ocean spirit. They weren’t usually hostile to demigods.

She drifted closer, her feet gliding on top of the water. “You two are looking for the pirates?” she asked, her voice like the gentle lapping of waves against the shore.

“Yeah,” I said. “Are they around here?”

Her beautiful face tightened. “They are a blight upon these waters. They litter the ocean with their whiskey bottles and trash, their noises drive away the marine life, their anchors tear up the coral reefs.” Her voice cracked, then rose. “And now… now they use explosives! Blasting away at sections of the reefs to get to the seabed below! They are killing me!”

Well, looks like the search is over before it could even begin.

“The two of us will deal with it for you,” I promised, smiling at her.

She took a deep breath. “They are docked in an alcove deep within the mangrove forests, a place only accessible at high tide.”

“Then that’s where we’re going. Lead the way.”

“Of course, young Heroes.”

The Nereid put two fingers to her lips and whistled a melodic note that echoed across the water.

About a hundred yards out to sea, two white lines cut through the surface of the ocean like blades, moving fast. As they reached us, the surf burst apart and the heads of two white stallions reared out of the waves.

Hippocampi.

Their front halves were horses, but from the belly back, their bodies were those of silvery fish, with glistening scales and rainbow tail fins.

“Hell yeah!” I exclaimed, mounting onto the back of the nearest one. “Now this is a real ride for demigods on a divine quest!” 

I looked back to see Jason standing stiffly, staring at the other Hippocampus like it was a trap.

“Bro, come on,” I called out, my voice softening. “It’s just a horse-fish. It’ll be fine. We’re in this together.”

He took a breath, then cautiously mounted the other one, holding onto its mane tightly. “Right. You like to say we’re the strongest.”

“You bet we are! Now let’s go!”

The hippocampi surged forward, racing over the water at the speed of Jet Skis, leaving the lights of Miami far behind.

------------------------------

[Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano]

The expensive wood was scarred with knife marks, and silk cushions were stained with rum and things Reyna didn’t want to identify.

If anyone entered the captain’s cabin, she doubted they would ever guess the place had once been a luxury yacht. Blackbeard had hijacked it after his flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, was stolen by a pair of demigods. He even renamed the new vessel “The Vengeance,” as if anyone needed a reminder of his violence.

On the floor, she and her sister polished various pieces of Blackbeard’s loot, much of it stolen from the spa. Hylla’s jaw was clenched tight as she worked, her polishing strokes so violent she risked wearing down the silver. She had positioned herself closer to the open cabin door.

Reyna’s own movements were numb and mechanical. Polish. Wipe. Move to the next piece. Repeat. 

“Reyna. Look at me,” her sister hissed.

She didn’t look up. “I’m working.”

“Gods, I hate this! We’re not the same little girls anymore!”

“It’s just another room to clean,” Reyna murmured distantly.

“It shouldn’t be us cleaning it,” Hylla insisted. “Remember what Circle taught us? Power can only be taken. We just have to wait for the right moment.”

“Sure.” Reyna said, though she didn’t really mean it. She just couldn’t care enough to argue anymore.

This is what I deserve.

Her thoughts drifted back to San Juan, to the constant fear of her father’s rage. She would sneak out with Hylla to avoid his attention, wandering the streets until they thought he’d fallen asleep. But sometimes he waited for them. Those days they were greeted with shouting and furniture thrown at them.

Three years ago, when she was ten, he’d gone further than ever. She didn’t remember what caused his anger that time, but it was overwhelming that his skin began to glow. She’d later learn he transformed into a Mania, a spirit personifying insanity, madness, and crazed frenzy. He tore up the floor tiles and hurled a chair. It caught Hylla, sending her crumpling to the floor, unconscious.

At that moment, Reyna believed her sister was dead and something inside her broke.

She grabbed the family heirloom from the wall, the golden saber of the pirate Roberto Cofresi, and with a strength she didn’t know she possessed, she charged. She had run him through. The monster, her father, had dissolved into a shower of golden dust.

Then came the whispers. Shadows seeped out from the walls of their hacienda curled around her, taunting her with words that burned.

She could hear them even now.

Patricide!

You killed your own father.

Traitor to your blood.

Murderer!

You can never flee from your crime.

When Hylla woke up, they ran. They ran until they couldn’t run anymore, their journey eventually leading them to C.C’s Spa and Resort. It felt like a paradise. Circe treated them well, giving them pet leopards and a sense of purpose. Hylla managed the front desk, while Reyna did hair and makeup for the guests. Together, they helped turn cruel men into harmless guinea pigs. It had felt like justice, finally being on the side that held power. They were safe and in control for the first time in their lives.

That safety ended just a few weeks ago when two new demigods washed ashore. If it were two girls, then maybe there would be other workers, but it was a boy and a girl. Reyna had done her usual routine: brushing the girl’s hair, helping with her makeover, keeping her distracted while Miss C.C transformed the boy into a guinea pig. It should have worked. It always worked.

But the girl had somehow turned him back, freeing all the other guinea pigs in the process, including Blackbeard and his crew. The two demigods escaped, but she and Hylla had been captured. They had been forced to watch as the pirates burned their paradise to the ground.

An uproar snapped Reyna from her thoughts. 

She and her older sister moved cautiously to the cabin door, peering out onto the main deck.

Two boys on white horses circled the yacht. The pirates fired at them, but their attacks were useless. The blond boy deflected the bullets with a golden sword, while the brown-haired boy caught a cannonball and threw it right back, smashing the cannon into splinters.

The boy with the sword pointed it to the sky, causing a bolt of lightning to strike a cluster of pirates, sending them sprawling. The other boy raised his hand, and a fireball shot out from his palm, setting another group of pirates on fire. They immediately jumped off the boat.

The rest of the crew started to run away until Israel Hands, Blackbeard’s first mate, shot one of them in the leg. “The next one who runs gets one in the back of his head. Now turn around and kill them.”

The pirates recovered their nerve and charged. The fire-wielding boy met them head-on, grabbing Israel by the arm, swinging him around at the others. As he spun, his intense red eyes locked with Reyna’s for a split second. He said something to the other boy and ran over to them.

He looked them up and down, then smiled at her. “Guess you two are prisoners, huh? You don’t have to worry anymore, because I’m gonna get the two of you out of here. I promise you’ll be safe. Just stay back here and give me a few minutes.”

He turned, ducking under a swing from another pirate, and drove a flaming fist into the man’s gut.

As he walked away, Reyna could only stare at his back, stunned by the absolute confidence that everything would be alright.

------------------------------

There was something in that girl’s eyes that made me pause. It was a look I’d seen before, in the faces of the hungry kids at the Wolf House, in the slump of the Fifth Cohort’s shoulders when I first arrived. The look of someone who had given up, who had their spirit completely crushed. And seeing it here pissed me off more than any monster ever could.

Storming back onto the main deck, I found a mob of about ten pirates swarming Jason. Not that it was doing them much good. One of the pirates broke from the group, raising his cutlass as he tried to flank Jason. Before he could swing, I grabbed his arm and a hard punch to the side of his head knocked him unconscious.

That brief intervention gave Jason a second of breathing room.

“Jason, I’m going after the captain,” I told him. “There are prisoners, two girls, in the main cabin. Let’s end this quickly. Oh, and be careful with your lightning!”

“Sure, I’ll keep the crew busy.” He glanced back at me with a smirk. “And are you really the person to tell me to be careful with my powers?”

I grinned, then sprinted toward the steering station. I kicked the door so hard it broke off its hinge.

The open bottles of rum and curled-up yellow maps looked out of place among the modern equipment. Sitting in the captain’s chair was a large man watching the chaos below. As I approached, he suddenly spun around in his chair, smoke actually billowing from his massive braided beard.

“Aye, a lad o’ yer mettle be wastin’ his time on this fool’s errand. Ye fight with the Devil’s own fury, like me own father! I can respect a bit o’ that. Heave to, boy, and walk away. I’ll even part with a chest o’ Spanish doubloons for yer trouble. That be a kindness the great Captain Blackbeard’s offered to no man before ye.”

Damn, this loser’s really committed to the bit. He’s even speaking like what a pirate from the 18th century would.

Seeing as I had no reply, the cosplayer tried another offer. “Ah, I see the wind in yer sails now. You’ve got the look of a young bull with an itch only a wench can scratch. Those two little things in me cabin… ripe for the pluckin’, they are. Got proper whore's bodies on ’em, with full bottoms meant for a man to anchor in. I’ll tell ye what. Take the younger one, the quiet lass. She’ll give ye no trouble. I’ll keep the feisty one. I do so love to break a wild mare. A fair trade, would ye—”

“God, just shut the fuck up already. I’m saving both of them.”

Blackbeard scoffed and drew his sword, a surprisingly elegant thing for someone so filthy. He opened his mouth, but I wasn’t in the mood to hear anything else he had to say, so I thrust my hand forward and sent a stream of fire at him. He dove to the right, scrambling to get out of the way, but my flames seemed to have a mind of their own, changing course to follow him. He raised his sword in a last-ditch effort to block.

For a second, I thought I subconsciously controlled the flames, but they were sucked into the blade.

Blackbeard looked even more surprised than me, then his ugly grin came right back. “Hah! A gift from that island witch, and I never even knew its true worth! Without yer fire, boy, ye be nothin’!” He thrust the sword toward me, and my own fire came roaring back as a focused beam.

I threw myself to the side, but the beam still caught my shoulder. Luckily, I didn’t feel any pain from it. It seemed that even though his sword was able to absorb my flames, he couldn’t counterattack with them. They were still my flames at the end of the day. 

He came to the same realization as me and charged, swinging the blade. I sidestepped and entered his guard, then landed a series of hard punches to his ribs, feeling them crack each time.

If I used another fireball, he’d just absorb that again, so I’d have to continue fighting in close range. 

Concentrating my fire into my fist, I drove it forward to put a hole in the bastard. He barely got the sword up in time. The flat part of the blade stopped my fist, instantly absorbing the energy, but I wasn’t done. I continued forcing more and more power into my fists, and the blade glowed brighter as it kept absorbing. 

Blackbeard screamed and dropped the now red sword.

When I picked it up, I found that it wasn’t even that bad. “What’s the matter, you little bitch?” I taunted. “It’s just a little warm. Shouldn’t you have a bit more tolerance for this kinda shit? You’re a pirate.”

Then I thrust it forward and released all the energy it had absorbed, the beam at least twice as big as the one aimed at me earlier. The force sent him flying backward through the wall of the steering station.

Glancing at his collapsed body, I saw that his coat had been blasted into charred tatters. The skin underneath was a blistering mess, and his braided beard was reduced to a few smoking stumps.

With the fight over, I took a good look at the sword in my hand. A symbol of a sun was embossed where the blade met the golden crossguard. The blade itself was pure white. Out of curiosity, I channeled a small stream of fire from my palm directly into the hilt. It drank the flames without any resistance, making a faint orange start to glow at the base of the blade and slowly spread up the metal.

It looked just like one of those ‘1000 Degree Knife’ videos. I hadn’t checked the internet in a while, but YouTube should already be getting popular even in 2007. Maybe I can make a video like that. An additional hobby to bring to everyone at camp.

I decided right then I was keeping this sword. It was practically made for my powers.

“ARRGH! MAY THE DEVIL TAKE YER SOUL!”

Turning around, I saw Blackbeard chugging a vial of green liquid.

Woops. Can’t believe I made such a rookie mistake. What’s next, I throw a monster off a cliff and they return a day later to bite me in the ass?

“Y’know if you played dead for another few minutes, I might’ve even forgotten to finish you. You really are a dumbass.”

He started laughing. Then screaming. His skin twisted, the parts I burned bubbling as it sealed itself back together. Then he let out a guttural roar and charged at me again.

How nice of him to give me another chance to make a donut after my earlier attempt failed. I met him halfway, driving a flaming fist straight through his stomach. After I brought my fist back out, he howled in agony, the hole in his torso already starting to close.

No more games. I needed to kill him instantly.

Using my new sword as a conduit, I began channeling fire through it. I continued to charge it up, running around the raging pirate, then delivering a kick to the back of his knees, bringing him down. As he struggled to get back up, I plunged the blade into his skull and released every ounce of energy.

The white beam completely engulfed him, and when it faded, his body was nothing but a pile of fine gray ash.

With my job done, I walked back out onto the main deck. Jason stood amidst the groaning forms of the pirate crew, his gladius resting on his shoulder. 

He looked over as I approached. “I take it you took care of the captain. Did you find what he stole?”

I twirled my new blade, watching the moonlight reflect on its surface. “Maybe. I found this. It can absorb and redirect fire. Pretty cool, right? Finally got a magic sword of my own, and it’s way better than your Ivlivs. This one can actually do something other than shapeshift!” I couldn’t help but grin. “I think I’ll call it Sol Aeternus. The Eternal Sun.”

“Can you even keep it if that’s what they stole? Wouldn’t the goddess want it back?”

“I don’t think this is it,” I said, turning toward the main cabin. “I’m confident those girls in there are demigods. They’re the ‘stolen item.’ The goddess sent us to rescue her kids. If I’m wrong, I’ll give the sword back. Easy as that.”

“It does fit,” he conceded. “‘A goddess’s hope, you must not fail.’ If they’re her daughters, they're her hope. And if we failed... well, no need to talk about that.”

I gripped the hilt of my new sword. “And the fifth line, ‘A captain’s greed will mark your final trial.’ The scumbag stole a bunch of magical items, and fighting him was my final trial. It was actually kinda close, ’cause this sword made my firepower useless for a bit. But I pulled through anyway.” I looked over the defeated pirates scattered across the deck. “So, what’s the call? Do we finish them off? I already killed the captain.”

Jason nodded. “They clearly aren’t normal mortals. Letting them get arrested won’t be enough. They’ll just break out and start this all over again.”

The only problem was that I didn’t want to do it when we had their victims watching. It could give them catharsis, or it could fuck things up and make it harder for them to trust us. It should be fine if someone else did it though.

“Yo, Nereid who led us here!” I called out over the railing. “You mind doing us a favor since we took down the pirates?”

For a moment, nothing happened. Then the sea stirred.

Tendrils of water curled up over the railing, latching onto the pirates. They began to scream and struggle, but they were all out of strength. The watery limbs dragged them one by one over the side and down into the depths, their cries abruptly silenced.

“Huh, I can see why you’re scared of the water. Anyway, let's get the girls now.”

I led him to the main cabin and knocked gently on the door.

It creaked open a moment later. The younger girl was standing there, her eyes wide. “You’re back!”

I gave her my best reassuring smile. “I promised, didn’t I? Let’s get you and your sister out of here. I know a place where you’ll both be safe.”