The New Generation--Chapter 11: The Gray Sisters

      Leia couldn't take it anymore.

     Maybe Silena was right. They had gotten nowhere and she was ready to give up. Everyone, even Bianca, had gotten tired of the shady forest and dusty path. Complaints were heard every few seconds.

     "I'm hungry."

     "When are we going to stop walking?"

     "This is boring."

     "SHUT UP!"

     Leia stood still, breathing hard. Festus, Silena, and Sammy were driving her crazy. Bianca had mostly stayed quiet, but even she had murmured a few querulous questions. Now Leia was fed up with how her friends were taking this.

     "I'm sorry, Leia, but we're not accomplishing anything!" Silena snapped, turning around. Leia sighed and sat down on a rotting tree stump. Festus came over beside her and gave a sheepish smile.

     "I apologize if this annoys you, but do you have any general idea where we're going?"

     Leia thought about the anonymous wren that had perched on her shoulder while she was walking. He had promised to give her directions. "Well, kind of..."

     Sammy shrugged. "The quest sure didn't really say much." Silena nodded in agreement.

     "I need to tell you guys something." Leia took a deep breath and looked into the trees. Scanning the leaves, she searched for the wren. He has to be here somewhere...

     Finally, she saw him. The small brown bird was high up in the branches, eating what looked like a worm. "Hey!" Leia called.

     Bianca came over and looked concernedly into her eyes. "Leia? Why are you--"

     Then the bird fluttered down.

     It landed on top of her head, it's little feet digging into her hair. "Hey, Leia! Why'd you call me?"

     Leia's friends gaped in awe, amazed by the small wren.

     "You can talk!" Silena gasped, coming closer as if to verify that the bird was real. He fluttered his wings, the tips of the feathers brushing Leia's head.

     "Yes, I can. I guess I can't expect anything better from your friends, eh?" the wren said in a loud whisper. Leia smiled thinly and stood up.

     "Guys, this is... well, I don't really know. But he offered me directions to the place where we want to go, and... I guess we need them." She forced her quivering voice higher to make it stronger. She was the leader. She could make these decisions.

     "But how do we know that this wren isn't a monster?" Festus looked ready to unleash his nuclear hammer, but Leia shook her head quickly, almost causing the bird to fall off.

     "I don't think he is. He told me that he probably would've changed into something more menacing then a wren if he were our enemy."

     "Sounds reasonable..." Sammy studied the wren a little bit more, wrinkling his brow in confusion. "Well, if you're going to help us, you might as well get started."

     The wren let out a little laugh, then flew over to Sammy's shoulders. "Ah, you're right. Well, first hint. This place isn't on the earth."

     Leia frowned, trying to make sense of the clue. "Well, wouldn't that mean that it was somewhere out in spac--"

     "By any chance, would it be under the earth?" Bianca asked, looking up at the bird. 

     The bird didn't reply, but Leia could swear that he winked. 

     "I'm not telling you anything, dear--"

     "But didn't you just--"

     "You know what I mean!" The wren cried in exasperation. "Bianca's a very smart young lady is all I'll reveal."

     "You sure aren't very secretive, are you?" Festus said. "I guess this place is in the Underworld."

     "Well, now we know where to look!" Leia tried to be upbeat. "Thanks for your help." 

     The wren dipped its head and, flapping its tiny wings, rose up into the air to rest in the trees. No one spoke as Leia walked to the front of the group and led them on. Now they had to get to the city, according to her father. Apparently, the Underworld was located in DOA Recording Studios in Los Angeles. 

     "We need to get to the city," she said. 

     "Well, where are we right now?" Festus asked. Leia sighed and shrugged. She really didn't know, and she didn't feel like finding out. The best that she could do was lead the group on and hopefully wander out of the forest.

     There were no questions as she started walking again, following the path. Leia looked up at the trees, staring wistfully at the place where the wren had landed. Why couldn't the wren have given them more directions?

     "I think I hear cars."

     Bianca's quiet statement excited Leia as she turned around. "Are you serious? Where? Lead us there, right now." 

     Bianca nodded and took the leading position as Leia fell back beside Silena. They followed her until the sound of rushing cars grew louder. After a few minutes, they were at the edge of the forest and they could clearly see the bumpy highway. Feeling like cheering, Leia hugged Bianca. Finally, some real progress.

     "Now we just have to figure out how to get to Los Angeles." she exclaimed happily. 

     "And we need to find a way down to the highway," Sammy pointed out. They were above the road, and it was about ten feet down. There was a bar separating them from the cars speeding by.

     "Got this!" Silena called. She swung her legs over the bar and held on with both of her hands as she dangled from it. Leia watched in amazement as she kicked out to gain momentum and tumbled onto the grass, rolling to absorb the impact. Standing up, Silena looked up at them and beckoned with her hand. "Come on!"

     "Not all of us can do that, you know!" Festus shouted. But he tried his best to copy Silena as he jumped down from the bar. The only thing he forgot to do was roll. "Oof!"

     Leia stifled a laugh and followed. One by one, her teammates dropped down to the grass and stood up, brushing the dirt of their clothes. "Now, I repeat, where are we?" Festus wondered, looking longingly at a passing bright red Maserati. "I don't suppose we could ask one of those people to give us a--"

     "The Gray Sisters," Leia remembered. 

     For the second time, everyone turned to stare at her. "What?"  she mumbled, feeling very awkward. "My parents once used the Gray Sisters' taxi to get to camp. Why can't we?"

     "I've heard your parents' stories," Silena began, flicking a piece of grass off her pants. "And from their account, the Gray Sisters are pretty much the worst taxi drivers you can find. You'd have to be absolutely insane to use them."

     "Which means we're fine, right?" Festus retorted playfully. "I mean, we fit the guidelines. Demigods? Check. Drachmas? Check. Insane? Double check!"

     "Hard to argue with that last one," laughed Sammy. "Or any of them."

     "So, Gray Sisters it is!" said Leia, trying to ignore Silena's look of protest. "Now, hand me a drachma."

     Silena grudgingly gave her a shiny Greek coin. Leia slipped it into her pocket and led her friends down the road. "We need to get a deserted spot. People might notice a taxi appearing out of nowhere."

     Eventually she found a nice secluded area a few miles down the road, with hardly any cars going by. She took a deep breath and threw the drachma into the middle of the road. "Anakoche," she shouted, trying to make herself be heard. "harma epitribeios!"

     Sammy shifted uncomfortably. "Um, excuse me, but did you just say Stop, chariot of damnation?"

     "Yep," Leia replied. "Now, let's just wait one second..."

     In front of their eyes, a bubbling pool of red liquid--hopefully not blood--formed a long rectangular shape. Before anyone could comment, a smoky grey taxi rose up out of it, its headlights flashing on and off. The sign painted on the side (Leia could barely read it) said:

Gray Sisters Taxi

     Silena gagged. "What did you just do, again?"

     Leia smiled apologetically as the taxi's passenger door swung open. "I summoned the Gray Sisters. They should get us around with minimum pay."

     "Are you sure this is safe?" Sammy asked, gesturing towards the seats. "They don't seem very solid."

     "Pay? Pay?" The window rolled down in the shotgun seat and an old woman stuck her head out. Silena made a choking sound, staring at Leia as if she'd grown an extra head.

     "First, you lead us off to nowhere. Next, you get help from an incognito wren. Now this?" She stomped her foot, her voice full of incredulity. "I don't think I'll ever trust your ideas again."

     "Well, if these Gray Sisters know where they're going..." Festus's voice trailed off, looking uncertainly at Leia. "They do know, right?"

     "As long as we tell them," Leia said confidently. "We'd like a ride to the DOA Recording Studios. Los Angeles."

     The old woman in the front waved her hand impatiently. "Pay?"

     Bianca quietly handed five drachmas, one for each person, to the woman. Then Leia climbed into the taxi, followed by all of her friends. They managed to squeeze themselves into the three seats as the door slammed shut.

     Then the Gray Sisters started up their taxi, and they zoomed off.