Warning: I'm not Rick Riordan, so I don't own any of the characters made by that author. My own characters I do own, but I won't get profit from them :(. This series of chapters (possibly books) will not take place in cannon with the regular series. This is just I think is awesome, and that's what counts the most. If you like, please leave a review along with any suggestions that you think can help. Anyways, enjoy my first step into the realm of the fanfic!
Chapter 1: Percy
Well, we finally did it. We beat Gaea into a pulp and have reunited the Greeks and Romans into one. Me, personally, I'm glad Annabeth is safe and sound and I hope to the gods that she doesn't be far away from me ever again. After the battle, Leo put the ship on autopilot back to Camp Half-Blood and we all decided to take a good, long nap. However, the gods still thought I owed them one, since not 1 hour later we're all back on our feet and running around like ants trying to keep the ship afloat. We didn't know what caused it, but we did know it was about to crash into a big stretch of a desert. We also saw the navigation system say we were currently in Egypt, but last time we checked we were over the Mediterranean at a good speed.
"Hey! Leo!" I yelled. "Why are we in Egypt? Did Fetus malfunction? Or did the system break?"
"I don't know!" Leo cried back. "I was up a few minutes ago and we were just fine!"
"Well, do something then! I don't want to be a Percy stain in the desert!"
"Do you know how to navigate while in a crash? I want to see you try to do this!"
"Both of you try to get this problem solved and get Jason! And stop yelling at Leo, Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth yelled loudly from her cabin.
"Sorry, Wise Girl!" Percy yelled back.
Then, as Leo finally got the ship under some control, the ship descended into the sandy dunes. The ship slid for a few more miles and then lurched to a complete stop. The whole entire crew of the ship woke up and got out to survey the damage. A plan was then made to split up and try to find more resources for the ship. Hazel, Piper and Annabeth would go to see if there were any friendly gods and/or demigods anywhere to bargain with for celestial bronze and other mythical supplies while Percy, Frank and Jason would try to find mortal supplies. Leo would stay with Coach Hedge and try to fix/defend the ship from enemy attacks.
"Where's the end of this stupid desert?" I complained loudly.
"Quit complaining, Percy. You aren't the only one with being burned alive" Jason shot back.
Frank was flying above us as a vulture, making sure there was no trouble heading towards us. We continued for another hour (in that time Frank turned back into a human to conserve energy and to cool off a bit, or so he said) before we saw a young kid walk towards them. We all thought it was a hallucination, brought on by the desert. But, we were in for a shock, as the boy, who now could be seen clearly as our own age roughly, started talking with us in a strange way.
"Who in the name of Ma'at are you three? And why are you in the middle of a desert?" The guy asked.
"In the name of what?" replied Jason and I, confused at such a saying.
"Never you mind. You'll all come with me. I can clearly see you are not mortals. Let's go visit the pharaoh and he'll decide your fate."
We were too tired from the desert and numb from shock went along, only after asking one question, which was who was he and what pharaoh.
"The pharaoh is named Carter, while my name is Walt. Now, move along" Walt demanded.
As I said before, we were in no shape to argue or try to fight him. I personally hoped we would soon be in a building, preferably with air conditioning. Finally, we reached a strange building that we assumed this pharaoh would be in. When he brought us there, two guards replaced Walt, if I remembered correctly (Seriously, he's named for something light bulbs have?), and he disappeared without another word. We saw the guards with these strange swords and boomerangs, for some reason. As they took us closer to this supposed pharaoh, we saw strange trinkets on sales, like talismans and staffs. After a while, they brought us through this strange hallway, in which beforehand they told us not to look at for too long, and for an admittedly good reason, after which we finally got to meet this pharaoh. When he finally came out of some room, I was genuinely surprised at who he was. He looked to be about 16 years old, was African-American, had another strange sword, and had two interesting and deadly looking weapons in a belt. I looked around and saw nothing of real importance, except for the architecture, which I knew Annabeth would thoroughly enjoy. Then the kid started to talk.
"Welcome to the First Nome, trespassers. To what is your purpose of being here?" this 'pharaoh' inquired.
"Wait, what?" I replied, maybe a bit stupidly. "Did you say 'gnome'? Who names a building after one of those things?"
"Are you really that dense?" He shot back. "I said GNOME, G-N-O-M-E."
"Sorry for not noticing the distinct difference between the two" I replied sarcastically.
He was about to start an insult war with me, (not one of the smartest ideas to introduce myself with) but then a woman came into the room and started to yell at him.
"Honestly Carter, I leave the room for one bloody second, and you start to insult our guests. Have you no sense of dignity. Apologize at once!" She rattled out.
After he apologized, (not enthusiastically I might add) I got to have a closer look at this woman who yelled at him. She was very white, a crossed blond and black hair, (with green highlights, for some reason), had on leather boots, and when she yelled at him, I heard a distinct accent, which I placed in some European country (which I later found out was British). She looked the complete opposite of this man, but yet I could tell they were related in some way, I just didn't know how.
"Right" she said after apologies were made. "Now, what brings you 3 young chaps to this place?"
"Ummm…" I replied back, looking at Jason for an answer that wouldn't reveal ourselves as any kind of enemy.
Surprisingly, it was Frank said to them "We just were trying to find the nearest city and we foolishly forgot our supplies."
It looked like to me they didn't buy the story at all and I knew they wanted answers to questions that were impossible for us to reply to.
"Why don't you tell us the real story?" Carter said, in a threatening way. "We also managed to find three girls running around in the desert and I believe they were with you. One had golden eyes, another gray, and one with the strangely chopped hair with a feather in it. You are either the strangest mortals I came across or your something much more. As I can see a golden sword from one of you guys, I'm inclined to believe the second theory. Plus, I looked into the Duat and saw very strange auras coming from you three. So please, explain."
I was confused at these turn of events. First off, they captured Annabeth, Piper, and Hazel all at the same time? They must be very powerful to overcome if we decided to take them on. Second of all, what in Hades was a "doo-at"? That sounded a bit like magic, which either meant they were Hecate's minions or one of the last few forces of Gaea still roaming. Thirdly, what would he do to those girls if we didn't comply? I didn't want to find out first hand. And all of this was rolling through my mind as we tried to come up with a solution to this predicament.
After a couple of minutes, Jason replied with the same threatening voice "We want to find out if you harmed them, in any way. Once we see them in a fine condition, we will tell you who we are and why we're here. This is the only way for us to comply."
Carter looked like he was about to say something else, but a sharp look from the woman made him change his mind. He agreed with the conditions and brought us to them. It looked like to me they were all fine, if a bit tired looking and a look of confusion on their faces. We ran to our girlfriend and made sure they were alright. Annabeth was a bit scared until I enveloped her in a big hug. She hugged me back with enough crushing power to almost crush my ribs. Out of the little vision I had, I saw Piper and Hazel doing the same thing to their respective boyfriends.
"Alright, now that you've checked to see if they were alright, it's time to uphold your end of the bargain. If it will make you more comfortable, we will tell you my and Sadie's story backstory so that it's not too awkward. I think this was a bit of a misunderstanding, but I can't tell until you also say why you were here" Carter said with a hint of awkwardness in his voice.