Sophia glanced up from her coloring book and to the window of the speeding car. Her eyes could barely keep up with the blurs of green and the occasional, lonely houses. Her parents had told her that the family was taking a vacation to a place called Montauk, which was a beach up in Road Island. Sophia was naturally curious to see what this place looked like, and what happy memories it held for her father. You see, whenever he talked about this place, she could just see happiness dance in his eyes as he recalled memories and retold stories at the dinner table. It put a smile on her face. Hopefully, this place could bring her just as much contentment.
She returned to the coloring book, giving the Parthenon the final touches of color. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Chase playing with his action figures, as usual, with all of the sound effects a boy could ever want. Sophia ignored him this time; she learned her lesson a month ago, with their pool exploding and all.
She put her chunky crayon back into the can and closed the book, scanning the car elsewhere. Her restless father was driving, his head looking straight out onto the highway, his fingers lightly tapping to the beat of the soft music on the steering wheel. And her loving mother was reading yet another book; Sophia swore she had already finished it a couple of weeks ago, she saw it in her "finished" pile of books on her drawing table, didn't she? It didn't matter; all was well in the Jackson car, until she saw a ferocious beast heading towards their car. Her eyes widened in alarm.
"Mother!" She cried, almost jumping out of her car seat. "Look!" Her tiny finger pointed to the blur of black outside of the window. Her mother's eyes widened also and she dropped her book, her head snapping towards her husband.
"Percy! A hellhound is coming this way!" Percy's head looked in the same direction, making him almost swerve into the barrier of the lanes.
"Di immortales," He cursed and nimbly switched to the other lane, parking on the side of the road in a hurry, making a cloud of dusty rock rise into the air. Chase looked up at his parents, an agitated and annoyed look on his face, his superheroes resting in his lap.
"Mommy, what's going on?" Annabeth was already out of the car, her shimmering knife in hand, studying her surroundings. Sophia could see that she was already making plans with that decisive look upon her face. It was sort of like the look when she would be deciding whether or not to add a column or a window to a blueprint while sketching out buildings, except this look was more urgent, more vital.
"Not right now, Chase. Mommy's a little busy." Sophia saw her father eagerly climb out of the car, uncapping what looked like a regular pen, in which turned into a full-fledged sword. Chase must have seen this because he gasped and cried, "That was totally wicked!" He then punched his arm in the air. "Go daddy!" Percy cracked a thankful grin at his supportive son and together, Percy and Annabeth ran towards the beast. Chase unlocked himself out of the car seat and joined Sophia by her window, both impatiently watching the fight that was ensuing.
Sophia was in awe of her mother's agile and poised combat moves, and her father's ability to wield a sword with such power. In no time, the two had the monster defeated into a pile of yellow dust. Sophia thought that was weird because nowhere in any books has she read that monsters turned into sulfur-like substance after they were vanquished. But she kept her bookworm mouth shut because what her parents did was way too cool for any story books.
Chase leapt out of the car as he saw his parents approaching and scurried over to them as fast as his legs could take him. Percy had his arm around Annabeth's waist, his cocky, victorious smile perched on his lips and Riptide rested on his right shoulder. Chase was a little out of breath as he spoke.
"That was so cool, you guys! You need to teach me some of those moves!" Sophia smiled a bemused smile as she watched her foolish brother try to imitate her parent's moves. He ended up falling on his butt in the summer-burnt grass. Percy and Annabeth let out a chuckle as she helped her son up.
"All right, Chase. I know what you just saw was very awesome, but we need to continue on our way to Montauk. Traffic is horrible at this time of day." Then, collectedly, her parents made their way back to the car. Sophia couldn't believe this, after all of that, they worry about traffic? Who knows if there could be more monsters lurking around on future highways! Besides, they had a lot of explaining to do. Sophia stomped after them, catching up with her mother. She tugged on the trim of her mother's white shirt.
"What is it, Soph?" She responded to the touch.
"You have a lot of explaining to do!" She said with a pout and crossing of her arms. "I mean, no ordinary parents could do all of that!" Sophia gestured to the faraway pile of dust, a stern look on her face. Annabeth laughed and picked up her concerned daughter, resting her on a hip. Her grey eyes met her daughter's.
"As you will soon find out, your father and I are nowhere near ordinary." And with that simple statement, she put Sophia back in her car seat, making Sophia's thoughts race for the rest of the car trip.