Second star to the right and straight on til morning (AKA Escape)

Jack stepped off the bus and breathed in that Florida air. It reminded him of his childhood. Of a simpler time where he wasn't falling off horses and getting into fights. Well, ok, that last part wasn't so true. He often came home every night with a black eye or two, but fights here were never so... Deadly. Jack shuddered at the thought of what his grandmother would say when he would tell her about shooting Alice with an arrow. He decided against it. The less she knew about his life at camp, the more freedom he could have.

He unwrapped the bandages on his hands. Some of the nectar from Helena's necklace has spilled on his hands, healing them. Jack looked up at the bright sky, the golden sun shining down upon the two campers who had escaped. Jack could hear people shouting in delight and the hotels and buildings in which serious business men worked. He would never be one of them, stuck at a desk all day, having the life sucked out of him by boringness. He'd decided he would want a life of adventure, of risk. Of destiny. After all, he was a demigod, adventure was waiting around the corner.

"I love this place. I know you'll love it too, Helena. We can go to Disneyland and the beach and then maybe see a concert." Jack rambled on. "Oh wait. First my grandmother will want to see you. Don't worry, she won't bite... I don't think. Just don't tell her about our fights with the other campers." And with that, Jack was out to see his Grandmother once again.

(OOC: Love the title!)

The bus trip hadn't gone too badly, considering two monster magnets passengers were riding it. In fact the ride from New York to Orlando, despite it's length, had been fun for Helena. She got to see parts of America, a Country she had never explored before and never really thought she would take the time to see. She had been so focused on getting back to France that America had always been after thought.

But the country shone with it's own beauty and definitely in it's friendly, kind people who she had been able to observe.

Of course, the trip would have been nothing if Jack wasn't the one with her and running away from Camp seemed more like a vacation than actually breaking rules. If they ever did go back, she would have to be Chiron not to lock her in the Apollo Cabin forever. In fact, she wasn't so much worried about how mad the Centaur might be but more at how disappointed he would be in what she had done.

That was all an after thought though...

And as they stepped off the bus into the Orlando sun, Helena let out a relaxed exhale and then a slightly giddy laugh. She was excited to be somewhere new without campers breathing down their necks or muttering greek curses.

"This is beautiful." Helena said, looking around. it was only a bus terminal but the sun felt warm and the sky was sunny. "We will have so much fun! America is a very nice country, I am very glad that I am able to see it." She said, following alongside Jack who knew where to go. She would have to keep close to him or get hopelessly lost, which wasn't a good idea for a demigod alone in a strange city.

"I will not breathe a word of anything to your grandmother. It will just be a very nice visit and then we can go to this...Disneyworld that you keep talking about! We have one in France but you know, I have never been there..." Cheerfully, Helena straightened the bag on her shoulder and smiled at Jack.

Jack passed many buildings, each with its own memory. The grocery store where he got lost and set the pineapples on fire. Then the apartment where his mother lived. The hospital where he broke his arm for the first time and had to get a cast. The park where he played basketball and preformed music.

Orlando held so many memories for Jack that he wished to have his childhood back. One where he didn't know who his father was. One where he could do whatever he wanted when whenever he wanted to do it without worrying about the safety of others.

He stopped at a middle class set of apartments. The bricks were faded and overgrown with ivy. And some of the windows were grimy from lack of cleaning.

"Here we are," Jack said, holding the door open for Helena. "Home sweet home. Or lobby sweet lobby, since we technically are not in my house yet." They walked up the creaky stairs. The cleaning ladies were certainly ignoring their jobs once again. Sometimes it got so bad that grandmother sometimes made him clean the apartment.

Harsh but loving. That was grandmother in a nutshell.

The bright lit hall way was seemingly normal. They continued down it with Jack having a pleasant smile on his face all the while. Suddenly Jack stopped abruptly. The beige door to their apartment, their sanctuary, their home, was torn up. Splinters scattered the floor. The door was hanging on one hinge.

"Grandmother?" Asked Jack, walking into their apartment. What he saw was a horrific sight. "GRANDMOTHER!" He screamed, rushing into the kitchen. She laid there, not breathing, a dark red stain where her heart should be. Her green eyes- the same shade as Jack's- were open wide in shock. Her silver hair which was usually in a neat bun with no stray hairs, was flowing down her back in waves.

Jack took her pulse, but there was none.

Grandmother was dead.

All of the buildings, places and people that they passed captivated Helena. Orlando was so entirely different than France or Camp Half-Blood that she found nearly a thousand things to stare at on their short walk. The town seemed a bit rough around the edges compared to what Helena was used to but that just added to the intrigue.

But as they went in the apartment building, Helena felt a sort of cold unease that made her spine shiver. It wasn't that she was anticipating anything wrong happening but there was still a sense of horrible trepidation that was confirmed when a splintered door was all that greeted Jack and Helena.

Her heart nearly stopped at the scene beyond the door; but just as quickly as it froze, the girl's heart started to race. Whatever had done this wasn't long gone, in fact Helena was sure that she could hear shifting and rustling noises coming from further back in the apartment. Reaching to her back, Helena pulled her bow forward and watched sharply around. Swallowing hard, Helena looked at Jack.

"...J-Jack...I am so sorry..." She murmmered sadly. She would have said more, so much more, but in the second after that all of Helena's muscles tightened and as if on instinct the girl sent an arrow flying so fast that she didn't even realize it until the deadly point had connected with a ferocious monster. It had the neck and head of a lion, the middle of a goat with a goat's head rising out of it and a sake for a tail. As soon as the arrow struck the goat middle, all three heads looked at Helena like she were their next meal.

"Not good! So not good!!" Helena shouted, waving for Jack to get out of the way before she nocked another arrow and aimed to let it fly.

"No!" Yelled Jack, shielding his grandmothers body from further harm. "No, I won't leave her! Not like this." His body racked with sobs. She still smelt of green apples. Jack's hands were soaked with blood- his grandmothers blood- that thing murdered her in cold blood.

Jack's sadness quickly turned into anger. Fiery red anger at the monster who killed his only family. He stood up and grabbed a knife from the kitchen. He was going to avenge her death by killing this monster himself. With adrenaline coursing through his veins, he jumped as high as the moon and onto the lions head. A sound of zinging and a flash of silver came next. Then the lion's head fell to the floor, blood splattering the oak boards. The Chimera roared in anger and threw Jack off their back.

He smashed into the wall, which made plaster come out and a big dent appear. It was Jack's turn to yell his lungs out. His vision was blurry with tears and from being thrown off the monsters back. But yet Jack still prevailed and stood up, ducking the Chimera's ferocious blows and slid under its belly. He quickly chopped off the snake's head and worked his way to the goat's. A fair amount of golden sand and blood covered floor.

You never piss off Jack Cyrus Byrne and get away with it, that much was sure. The goat pierced Jack's leather jacker and he cried out in pain. One look at his dead grandmother, and more tears came. But he ignored them and ignored the pain.

"Don't mess with me!" And with that, the goat's head was gone. Jack stood there, his chest was rising and falling rapidly.

Jack tore from the room and into his grandmothers room. Why? Why did everything bad happen to the people who least deserve it? He smashed every photo in that room and messed up the bed. In short, he ransacked the room for no reason.

He stepped outside into the balcony and chucked rocks and discarded shards of stuff. "All my fault! She didn't deserve that! I could've been there! I could have saved her! I HATE BEING A DEMIGOD!" Jack screamed to the heavens.

Jack's battle versus the Chimera was beyond anything Helena could have imagined. Jack was like a force of nature in a way that the girl had never seen before. Every breath she tried to take got hitched in Helena's throat and the whole experince was dizzying and frightening. She wanted to help but only felt like she would get in Jack's way and yet Helena ached to do something, anything more than standing there with her bow and arrow ready.

She kept her weapon that way until Jack had finished and only once the monster had completely vanished she lower the bow and arrow, her whole body shaking and in a cold sweat. Slowly, Helena went to approach Jack, but he ran. The sound of him rampaging cut into Helena's heart just as much as anything and finally tears started to fall down her cheeks. Shakily putting away her bow and arrow, Helena ran to catch Jack as he headed for the balcony. Stopping behind him, she reached for his shoulders and held the firmly and comfortingly.

"...It is not your fault..." Helena soothed, resting her chin on Jack's shoulder and speaking softly, trying to calm him down. "You cannot blame yourself. It was not because of you this happened. There was nothing you could do to stop it...it is not your fault that you were born a demi-god...it is neither of our faults." Pausing, Helena's whole body ached as she thought about her mother. Biting her lip she tried to banish the thoughts that pervaded her mind.

"We will go, we will have to do something about this...but for now, you need to be calm. We can go somewhere to sit down and you can breath and have something soothing to drink..." Mint tea always calmed Helena down, but she could imagine that all the mint tea in the world couldn't help Jack right now.

"I don't know what to do, Helena." Whispered Jack. He hadn't ever cried before. Not when he broke his arm, not when his pet lizard, Bill, died. A piece of his heart was shattered and would never heal, he knew that. "If I wasn't a demigod, none of this would have happened."

He leaned his head down on his arms, letting out a mournful sigh. It hurt, hurt to think of his grandmother, who loved and supported him no matter what he did.

"Alright lets go. But we need to bury her before we do. I don't ever want to come back to Orlando."

Jack would never get over this, he knew that. But maybe other happy memories could fill the cold empty ones he felt right now. All he knew was, he'd never be the same again.