I pushed through the crowd enough to reach Andromeda and Leo signing and dancing hand in hand, laughing and cutting up the cords. In the entire time I've known them, I have never seen them this friendly with eachother.
"SARA!" Andromeda screeched pulling me from my thoughts, "Sara, Sara, Sara! You need to try this!" Andromeda practically shoved a coconut into my arms, in it was a glowing liquid I've never seen before.
"Andromeda, we need to go. Who knows how long we've been here! C'mon, grab your weapons and let's find the prophet," I said, trying to hand the drink back to her.
"What? No! C'mon we've been working to hard! We deserve a break!" Leonidas shouted, stumbling over himself. The brightest of smiles on his face, something was wrong.
I looked at the drink again, "ok, give me just a moment." I said stepping into the jungle, walking until the foliage was dense enough to not see the lake.
I looked at the drink in my hand and sniffed it, a sweet honey scent with a slight earthiness hit my nose. I felt myself zoning out, but quickly snapping back. Lotus Flower, we were on the island of the lotus eaters; but where were they? I had forgotten about the deck of cards I had brought with me that now weighed heavily in my pocket, I quickly pulled them out and threw an Ace of Spades on the ground.
In an instant Jack was there, kicking back in a beach chair. He was still in his cowboy clothes, hat on his chest, drinking a Piña Coloda. He turned to me and sighed deeply, putting his hat on and sitting up.
"What are you fucking wearing?" He said pointing at my new gun.
"A revolver?…" I said, confused.
He looked offended, "That barely makes the cut for scrap metal, and the way you're wearing that holster is atrocious. Have you never seen a gunslinger?"
"Sorry, the last one died in the 1890's. Look I need your help-" I started, before he was suddenly infront of me.
"Damn right you do," he took the gun from my holster and inspected it. "Double-action, a confederate model so its badly made." He suddenly threw it away into the jungle.
"That…that wasn't mine," I said, looking up at him.
"Even better," he shrugged, pulling a gun from his pocket.
The new revolver was black with ivory decorations, mainly skulls, along the handle and barrel. It was a double-action as well and smaller than the gun at his hip, but he seemed to be very attached to it. He handed it to me, but the cylinder was empty.
"It's not loaded, Jack," I said, tilting my head.
"It doesn't shoot bullets," he smiled, firing the gun in the air. A sickening scream sounded off from the barrel, like a thousand tormented souls escaped from Tartarus. "It shoots concentrated magic that'll rip through the flesh and soul."
I took the gun and holstered it, watching as thr holster and belt turned pitch black. A silver skull appeared on the holster, complimenting the gun at my hip. Jack still didn't look impressed at my holster, he grabbed his cane and unsheathed a sword from the cane's body.
"Woah! Hey! Watch it with that thing!" I shouted, backing away.
"Calm down, which hand is your dominant hand?" He asked, aiming the tip of his sword at my arms.
I raised my right arm, watching as he walked to my right side and sliced a belt loop at my side. "HEY! I like these shorts bastard!" I shouted, turning to him.
He was smiling brightly, chuckling slightly. "I'm doing you a favor now you look like a real gunslinger! Not some pathetic rancher!"
I often forget that Jack Silver was a gunslinger and bank robber, not your typical man to consider a hero but he was one. He stepped around me, making sure everything was alright, inspecting the gun and holster (which was hanging below my hip now) to make sure I was wearing it to his standards. It was really uncomfortable but I assume it was a sacrifice.
"Is there anyway to make this holster any more practical?" I asked, looking at the gun.
"If you want fast access, no. Cowboys and ranchers and lawmen wear their pistol at the hip for comfort, but gunslingers and bounty hunters wear theirs lower for QuickDraws. I'll show you," he smiled standing at my side.
Jack facing me, staring off at a tree, his gun facing the opposite direction. His left hand rested on his hip, his right hand rested on his gun. I saw his left hand twitch slightly before he spun his whole body and fired a single round into the tree, right at chest level. He spun his revolver twice and slipped it back in the holster with incredible speed.
Jack turned back to me, hands still on his hips. "Your turn," he notioned to the crater in the tree.
"So…so like this?" I asked turning the same way he hand, hand resting on my gun and hip.
"Well if you had a coat it'd work better, c'mon just face your opponent," Jack faced the tree normally, his right leg back a step.
I mirrored his stance, hand on my gun. "So? Like this?" I asked once more.
"Hand off your gun, hover it in this stance," he nodded his head to his hip. His hand was mere inches away from his pistol.
"Ok ok, like this?" I moved my hand a couple of inches away, my hand still at the ready.
"Right! Then draw—" he removed the revolver from his holster at incredible speed, "And fire!" He shot the tree once more, deepening the crater.
"Right, draw-" I moved my hand down and removed the pistol from the holster. "And fire!" I shoot at the tree, hearing the terrible screech emit from the gun barrel, and missed the wood by a whole two feet.
Jack laughed a bit, spinning his revolver and holstering it. "Something like that, you'll be the biggest threat to bystanders and buildings with that aim. Try again, remember that gunslinging is one third speed and one third accuracy."
"What's the other third?" I holstered the pistol, stepping my right leg back.
"Luck," Jack answered.
I took a deep breath, looking at the target. I took Jack's words into consideration, my hand hovering above my gun. I drew the gun again, and fired hitting the tree a little off target. Jack seemed amused and stepped over to the tree, a hand resting on his revolver.
"Maybe some risk will help you learn faster," he got into his previous stance, his gun vanishing from my sight.
I didn't have time to protest, I immediately had my hand over my holster. His hand twitched, but I knew there wasn't a gun there. I still inched closer to my gun, I focused on every noise around me. Suddenly, the noise I was waiting for, I heard him pull the hammer on his gun back. I placed my hand on my gun, ready for him to turn.
Suddenly he turned, and I drew firing a shot before he could. I had originally aimed for his hand, but I instead hit him dead in the chest forcing him back into the tree.
"Oh my gods!" I ran toward him and knelt next to his side,"Jack?!"
Under his hat, he was smiling like an idiot who just won the lottery. "Good shot, little lady," he chuckled, pulling a cigarette from his pocket with a book of matches to follow.
Jack struck the match along his hat, bringing the cigarette to his mouth and lighting it. He flicked his wrist to put the flame out, and I braced for the foul smelling stick that was just lit. Instead I was greeted by, was that, lavender and vanilla?
"Are you smoking lavender, Jack?" I asked.
He sat up and looked at me, "Hm? Oh! Enchanted cigarettes, no negatives and they smell good. Picked them up from a friend way back when, want one?" He opened the box, and a cigarette shot out.
"No thanks, now about my problem," I said holding my hand up.
"I thought I fixed it, I taught you how to gunsling," Jack started to stand. "Not an easy thing to teach in a day."
I followed him to my feet, "Well, no. We're on The Island of The Lotus Eaters, all my friends have been drugged and I have no way of leaving."
"You're a Daughter of Poseidon, swim away," Jack said, bluntly, sitting back on his beach chair and picking up his drink.
"I'm not going to leave my friends behind, would you?" I asked going next to him, as he tipped his hat down.
"You want the truth? I have changed from the man I was, I'm not the hero you want me to be. My friends are all dead because of someone's selfish wish, I wish I could've seen them go," he sighed, looking down.
"Thanks for nothing, Mr.Silver," I wanted to shout at him, but every word would fall on deaf ears.
I began to walk away, I started to realize he was right. Someone had frozen him in time, and they must be gone if his hat and pen ended up in a shop. How many people did he lose because someone couldn't lose him, I sighed deeply and walked off. I would have to figure out a way out of this mess before it was too late. Then, out of nowhere, a hand was placed on my shoulder.
"Hold on, little lady," Jack stepped to my side, cane in hand. "I told you I would help, and I plan to fulfill my word."
Something changed in his facial expression, it was softer and gentle. He still had the cigarette in his mouth, but it seemed to burn idly with the scent of lavender hanging in the air.
"You're scared, aren't you?" I asked, "You have anxiety being here in a time that's not yours."
He smiled, that stupid smile a parent gives their kid when they're trying to understand something they can't quite grasp. He started to lead the way through the jungle without a word said, cane at his side and the trail of smoke left in his wake. I understood what Jack was in that moment, what he truly was. He wasn't a hero, He wasn't a gunslinger, He wasn't an outlaw, He wasn't a bad man, He was human. The gunslinging hero in the books I had read growing up was just a man in a world that wasn't ready for men like him, and the demigod world saw him as a footnote in a history much larger than him.
I jogged to Jack's side, catching up after getting lost in my thoughts, "When this is all over, I'd like a proper lesson. And some books signed!"
He chuckled, "Sure thing, little lady. Sure thing."