Life is a Canvas- Chapter 7

The next morning dawned dull and wet, a light drizzle and low clouds covering everything. Except Camp of course. I never knew why they did that, kept out the rain. They let in the snow over the winter, what was so bad about rain? Rain was good, and it was a nice change from the steady stream of sunny days we seemed to have.

Of course today, my opinion was different. I wanted to stay in my little sunny paradise. But that wasn't going to happen.

I got dressed, trying to keep the gloomy weather in mind. Here in Camp it was already warm with the typical summer sunshine. Despite it I dressed in jeans and my hiking boots, wearing a light blue shirt and grabbing a jacket. My hair was slightly yellow at the ends from my nervousness of leaving. It looked so happy against the blue shirt I actually snorted out loud in amusement. Butch grunted in his bed and I flushed a bit, grabbing my bag and hurrying from the cabin before I could wake anyone with my badly timed random noises.

I came up short only just outside. Jaw slack, eyes wide, the whole stupid looking picture… Charlie was exercising shirtless, what do you expect? He's not a big bulky guy…more like a swimmer in build. He's got muscle but he's very well shaped. Hey, I'm artist, I look at things like that. And I'm a girl, so obviously I drooled a little.

Alright not really, but you get the picture.

He spotted me and grinned, jogging over and grabbing his shirt from a bench as he did so. I was a little disappointed that he'd put the thing back on, I'll admit. But in the end it was for the best. After all…now I could think straight.

"Ready to go?" he asked as he joined me on my walk to the Big House.

"No. Well…yes, but no."

He chuckled softly and tugged a lock of my hair. It turned an incredibly bright blue from the touch, but he thankfully didn't seem to notice. "I know what you mean."

"You do?"

"Sure I do. This is my first quest…and it's a really important one. I don't want to mess it up."

He grinned at me and I blushed a bit. It was important because it was my dad who'd been taken. He hadn't said the words but I knew that's what he meant. It was important because of me. The thought made me far more than happy and I actually grinned a bit, pulling my eyes from his before I could do something foolish like trip over nothing. Which is a legitimate worry, I do that a lot.

I pulled the second strap of my backpack over my shoulder as we neared the Big House. Nia was sitting on the railing of the wrap around front porch, level with Chiron's face. They were talking about something bad…it had to be bad for Nia to look so Grim. I had a feeling she wasn't happy about this trip any more than I was.

Chiron looked over as Charlie and I walked up, giving us a nod when he saw we had our things. "You're both all ready to go?"

I nodded. My voice seemed to have disappeared again. It happened a lot around Chiron. He was so old and wise and strong and powerful…not to mention intimidating. I tend to clam up around people like that.

Chiron looked towards the hill hiding us from the outside world. "It's cold this morning, have your jackets ready."

"What's the plan?" Charlie asked, crossing his arms. "We have to go up and around the Mississippi…but beyond that?"

"You will indeed head North. Niagara falls is the perfect place for it, full of tourists and right on the border. After that I would suggest you stay in Canada to the mountains. Then head south to Colorado."

"Sounds easy enough." Charlie sad with a nod. Nia bit her lip.

"It won't be." She said softly. "Heather is Twice Blessed."

"Oh…right. Well, it still won't be all that bad. I'll take care of everything."

Chiron stepped towards the young man, resting his hands on the young man's shoulders. "I believe you will, Charles. But you must not be overconfident. You will face more than just the occasional monsters that find their way into our camp. I trust your ability, but must remember, Charlie… Be careful. Don't be reckless."

I think it was the use of his nickname that drove the message home. Chiron never called him Charlie. Not ever.

"I'll be careful." Charlie nodded

"Heather's life is in your hands. Don't forget it."

"I won't."

The centaur nodded and moved away, looking at Nia who hopped down to the grass. She looked surprisingly normal today. Before we'd come here she would wear flowery skirts and brightly colored shirts most of the time. Her jeans and dark green t-shirt looked almost boring. Not that she didn't still look beyond amazing. The girl could make a garbage bag look sexy.

"We should go. We have a long way to travel and not a lot of time to get there." She said, grabbing her own bag and swinging it onto her shoulders.

Chiron walked us to the hill and waved as we hiked down it. For now, we'd walk to the gas station down the road. A taxi would be waiting there to take us into the city where we'd catch a bus.

Charlie had been right, the plan was very simple. But I was already afraid. There was a reason I'd moved to camp year round. Between being a half-blood and having my own muse, I attracted monsters left and right. You couldn't feel the barrier when you went through it, but the moment we were going down that hill, I felt vulnerable.

And it was a good deal colder. I pulled on my jacket as we walked, but it was a foggy morning and the cold seemed to go right through it. The taxi wasn't any warmer, either. But it wasn't bad since I was wedged in the middle between Nia and Charlie. I must have ended dup dozing a bit, because Nia was waking me up and we were piling out of the taxi and onto a bus. We went to the very back seat so we could stretch out a bit. One on each side by the window, while I took the middle with my feet out in the aisle.

We were out of the city before any of us spoke. It started with Nia humming a song Charlie hadn't heard, moving on to favorite music, movies, books…the usual stuff. Sad thing was, it was stuff we'd all talked about before. We were just trying to fill the awkward silence. And eventually we ran out of things to talk about.

So we went back to sitting in silence. We dozed on and off for ages, watching the other people on the bus – a mother and her son and a funny little man wearing a top hat – or the scenery rolling by outside.

In most stories, this would be the part where something happens. Monsters attack or something equally epic. And when nothing happens the heroine would usually feel uneasy or restless… Not me. Like I've said, I'm no hero. I was glad nothing was happening. I'd rather be bored than scared out of my wits.

But I have to admit, the long silences were getting painful.

It was Charlie who broke it. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" I asked, confused and forcing myself to focus. I'd been dozing long enough that that man in the top had blurred in my vision.

"For being glad of this."

"What do you mean?" Nia asked, turning to sit sideways in her seat, her knees pulled up to her chest.

Charlie made a face and looked out the window for a long moment before he turned back to us. "Last night I couldn't sleep. But it wasn't because of what happened. I was excited."

"Well you've been hoping for a quest." I reminded him with a shrug.

"Yeah, but not one like this. I didn't want your dad to be involved. I didn't want something bad to happen."

For some reason, I found myself chuckling. "Well what did you think a quest was?" The look he gave me only set me off further. "Quests aren't like sports or practice, Charlie. They're not a glory trip. A quest isn't a camper being sent out in the world to defeat random monsters and come home with a trophy. It's because something bad happens. Something only we can fix."

Charlie didn't speak again, his eyes locked on what I'm pretty sure was a stain of blue paint on my left knee. I found myself wondering if he'd really never thought about it before. He was a son of Nike, his eye was always on the prize. On victory. But I don't think he ever really wondered about what had to come before that. Before the fighting, before the glory.

"I'm scared." I confessed. They probably already knew, I wasn't exactly hiding it very well. But…it was never something I'd ever admitted out loud before.

Surprised? You shouldn't be. Just because I'm practically baring my heart and soul onto these lovingly doodled pages doesn't mean I'm this open with everyone.

"I know you are." Nia whispered.

I shook my head. "I don't think you do." My voice was the slightest whisper. I was trembling even thinking about what we were trying to do. "I…I didn't ever want this. I never wanted to leave…I didn't want to be in danger or for anyone else to be in danger…"

Nia scooted over a seat to sit by me, taking my hand with a soft smile. "Me neither." She admitted with a soft smile. "I've been around a very long time…for thousands of years I've watched you humans. Watched you live and die, go on adventures and stay home watching television. I've done this myself though. Going on an adventure. In all my years, I've never really had to do anything myself."

Moons above, I've forgotten…but her eyes right then looked deeper than ever. Like they could hold entire galaxies they were so full of stars. It's so easy to forget that she's not just a kid like the rest of us. She's not even like the satyrs and dryads and such who just age a bit slower. She's so much older…impossibly so.

Think of it this way…she's pretty and perfect, looks to be your own age. But she was like this when you were born. When your grandparents were born. When Hitler was born. When Leonardo da Vinci was born. She lived through the Great Depression and Columbus finding North America and the building of the Great Wall of China. This is a girl who looks like a cheerleader, but she probably knows the truth of the Bermuda Triangle. If Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster are real. She could explain the mysteries of the universe if you had the to listen.

"I've inspired hundreds of you." She whispered. "You know Galileo had a crush me?" She giggled slightly. "And Jane Austen had a surprisingly good sense of humor. We were best friends…she taught me to dance."

To say my eyes were wide would have been an understatement. Nia…my Nia had been the muse who inspired Galileo and Jane Austen?

She giggled. "I love doing that, you people get the most hilarious expressions." She said fondly, resting her other hand on the back of mine, trapping it between her own. "But Heather…I choose the best. I really do. And if you weren't the best, I wouldn't be here."

How exactly does one respond to that? Yeah, I didn't know either. I think I just stared until she started giggling again, her voice impossibly lovely. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the man in the top hat turn and looked back at us.

"Thanks…I think. But Nia-"

"You're going to make a difference with your art." Nia interrupted. "I don't know how, but I know you will. Trust me, Heather. I didn't pick you randomly."

Charlie was grinning behind me, I knew it before I even turned to look at him. I think I might have glared at him. "What's that look for?"

"Nothin'." he said with an amused smile and a shrug. "Always knew there was something special about you."

"Oh you did?"

"Yup."

For some reason, their responses were really pissing me off. I didn't want to be special or make a difference! I just wanted to be lazy for the rest of my life. Drawing and painting and watching tv shows…I didn't want to go on quests, I couldn't! I wasn't the person they wanted me to be!

"You're wrong." I whispered. "You're both wrong, now stop it."

I yanked my hand from Nia's, seeing the almost regretful look in her eyes. She still wanted me to be famous or something…I could see it. She still believed in me. I looked the other way to see the same confidence in Charlie's eyes.

Before I could even open my mouth to at least change the subject, something hit us. And my world disappeared in an explosion of glass, pain, and darkness.