The man keeps on driving, ignoring my sentence. Instead of taking the recent U-turn, he presses a button, on his left. Some gas floats out from the AC vent. The gas is visible: a white, thick foggy gas with a tint of green. I hold my breath, trying not to let the gas into my body. If this gas is poisonous I do not want to have this in my bloodstream.
The man finally speaks, "That won't do anything. This gas is activated when it touches human skin."
"Activates wha-?" I don't have time to finish my sentence. My eyes roll up in my head and then I am unconscious.
I wake up in a large black room with a spotlight over me. Two metal door are on opposite sides of the room. I am strapped down on a chair with a rope. To my right is Percy and my left is Leo who are still not awake. In the front is is a glass cube with an unconscious Annabeth slumped against one of the walls. A medium sized hole is on the top. It is big enough to let air pass but small enough so she can't get out. Her face is deathly pale and her body is skinny. Even though she is unconscious, her face sweats madly.
As I struggle to break the ropes, a metal door opens and in comes in a tall guy covered in black, the same that we hitchhiked with.
"My master will be in here soon." He says. He folds his large arms, watching me.
"Who is your master?" I reply.
"You have already met him at your silly camp." He says back, his voice is mysteriously deep.
Christian, I think. I ball my fists in anger. Till this moment, I have completely ignored the fact that Annabeth is in a glass cube and unconscious.
"What happened to Annabeth?"I say in anger.
"That is for my master to answer."
I hear the metal door knob click and Christian comes in.
"There you are. I see that your companions are still not awake. But I have what I want." Christian smirks. Instead of his brown eyes, they are gold, like when Kronos possessed Luke!
"What are you doing with her." I look at Annabeth to signal who I'm talking about.
"Since you can't stop me, I'll tell you. Everyday that you delay in coming here, we take some oxygen away from the room, suffocating her." Christian mockingly looks at Annabeth.
"But dude, I have got to ask, what is up with your eyes?"
"What is wrong with my eyes?" Christian says, cocking his head sideways. That is when his gold eyes disappear
"Nothing. Really, it's nothing. Nevermind. Pretend I didn't ask."
"Oh my eyes. Yes, I'm afraid it comes with the territory, I presume." Christian paces back and forth with his hands behind his back. "I have chosen to become the host of the giant, Polybotes."
I choke on my saliva. "Who do you think your are trying to become? Didn't you see what happened to Luke when Kronos possessed him? Imagine what is going to happen to you. He's using you, Christian."
"In fact, Luke is the one who told me to do this. When he was actually alive and before he gave his life to save you fools. Back in the Labyrinth, when your brother was there and fighting for his life in the 'arena' I was watching the whole thing from one of the tunnels. Now, your demigod friends will bow down to me, the son of Eris." I choke once again. Eris, that is why he is vengeful. Eris is the goddess of revenge. If Christian feels that way, he will not stop until he avenges someone or something.
He walks towards the metal door and opens it and disappears.
My limbs start to go numb, this chair is not comfortable at all. I remember that Riptide is in my jacket pocket. I painfully bring my hand to my pockets and grab hold. I pull the pocket towards me many times until Riptide pokes out. My fingers grab hold and I pull it free from inside. Clicking the pen, a three foot long celestial bronze blade springs into full length. Leo is awake now.
"Leo, show me your hands," I order him.
"What are you trying to do? Cut my hands off? I am pretty attached to them." Leo says and pulls his hands back.
"No! I'm going to cut them."
"It's not going to work," Leo argues.
"Why? If it isn't then how about you use your fire?"
"First of all, anybody can tell that this ropes are fireproof. Amatuer. And second-"
"Just show me your hands. I might as well try," I say. Leo shows me his hands and I shove Riptide into the hole between the ropes. Just like I hoped it would, the rope breaks.
"That was…. awesome. Can we do it again?" Leo says excitedly.
"Shh. Christian might come back again. Can you do it for me?" I ask. Leo nods his head and I hand him my sword. "Do the same thing I did for you,"
Leo sticks the blade in between the hole of the ropes and I'm free.
"Thanks, how are we going to free Percy? He is still not awake yet."
Leo shrugs, "Just do the same thing you did to me. Duh." I stick my tongue out at him and shake Percy's shoulders. Still he doesn't wake. I shake his shoulders more and his eyes flutter open. "Huh? Wha? With great power comes in great need… to take a nap.!" I stare at him blankly. That was, unnecessary.
"No. Wake up!" I wave my hands in front of his face. This time, Percy doesn't close his eyes. I do the same thing to Percy and we are all free.
"The hard part is getting Annabeth free." I say.
"We could just… take a nap like every other person." Percy mumbles, apparently still half asleep.
"Maybe we can see if we can gap through the hole at the top. It is the only way to get her out." I say, pacing back and forth to one side of the wall and back. "I think I know who we are going to send inside the hole and get Annabeth." I turn towards Leo. "Guess what Leo, you're the lucky guy!"
Percy creates a place to hoist up Leo with his hands. He weaves his hands together to make a strong foot holding for Leo. Leo hops on his hands and reaches the top of the glass cube. Since Leo is only 5'5", shorter than both me and Percy, I decided we should send him up. Also, his skinniness is going to help him fit in the hole.
First he slides his feet in the hole and then his body and he drops inside. He barely fits through. He holds up a thumbs up. With a shake, Annabeth's eyes flutter open.
"Leo? What are you doing here. What am I doing here? Where am I?" Annabeth questions. Even from outside the cube, I can see her expression. Her eyebrows scrunch together and her shoulders raise and drop rapidly like her heart is beating as fast.
"Leo, don't answer her questions. Just try to get her out." I yell so he can hear me. I cup my hands over my mouth to project my voice. Leo follows my order and tells Annabeth something which I cannot hear. Annabeth nods. Leo brings out a hammer from his toolbelt and whacks the heck out of the glass. Every time the metal hits the glass, a small crack appears where he struck it.
Two minutes pass and Leo has made a huge crack in the glass. Percy brings the chair to the glass and smashes the chair into the surface. Chairs make good battering rams because in no time, Percy has made a huge hole in the glass. Leo and Annabeth sneak out.
"We have to leave. Christian might be coming soon because of the sound that we made. Come on!" We open the opposite metal door from what Christian exited from and we are outside in the sun. I have no clue where we are. Looks somewhere in the midwest. The area is deserted and dry. The sun beats down on me. The sky has no clouds. Just blue.
"We might have to use the Gray Sister's Taxi, again." Percy says. He does his best taxicab whistle. Two lights come from the left and descend upon the ground. A rusty old taxi is in front of my eyes. The Chariot of Damnation has arrived. The window scrolls down. Three old hags sit side by side on the weed covered seats.
"No dollars, no credit cards. Drachmas only."
"Exact…"
"Change…"
"Please. Chop, chop! Get in the cab. We just had this cab sanitized for your protection. It wasn't this year, though." They finish each other's sentences.
"Hi! We are seeking transport to Camp Half Blood." I say. This time, I let Leo in first, then Percy, than Annabeth, and finally me. Wasp pushes some buttons and pulls some levers and we zoom off.
"Annabeth, how are you feeling. Are you okay?" Percy comforts her. He wraps an arm around Annabeth. I look over to Leo and make a gagging motion. He smiles back.
"Yeah, I'm fine. How come you didn't know when I disappeared, Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth insists. She takes Percy's arm off of her and folds her hand.
"To be honest. I had a lot of things going on." Percy shrugs and looks away. "When we get back to camp, I'll tell Will to give you medicine. You look like you've seen a ghost."
Twenty minutes go by and we are passing through New Jersey. We made it past Hillsborough, I think, and heading North.
"Um, Annabeth, I think we are running short on drachmas." I whisper into her ear.
"What do you..." The three say in unison. Wasp steps on the breaks and we jerk to a halt. We get shoved out by Anger
"Think we are..."
"Running here? A Charity?"
"Get your cheap butts..."
"Out!" They finish each other's sentence except for the word "out."30 seconds later we are waiting on the side of the road.
"Okayyy, that was weird. At least we got all the way here without paying. Right?" I try to say with a positive tone. "Aren't we around a bank or something?"
"Yeah, why'd ya ask?" Annabeth questions.
"Show me where it is and I will show you something really cool." I say. Annabeth walks past me and down the street
We arrive at a Wells Fargo bank. Leo opens the door and hold it while we file in. Another set of doors block our way to getting in. On the left wall is an ATM.
"Perfect! Does anybody have a credit card?" I ask.
"Oh here, I think I might have one." Percy rummages through his backpack and brings up one. I take it from him and shove the card into the slot.
"Hey, there, valued half-blood account holder! Sign up for our new Aphrodite Express credit card, and you can-" I hit a button and the screen goes blue. It glitches and comes back again. I press some more buttons and add, "Ready for the really cool trick." WIthin my last word, I step back and a swirling blue portal comes into view.
"The portal comes in different colors depending on your godly parent. Since I- Percy is the son of Poseidon, the portal is blue and, the best part is, there are tiny fishies inside. Come on!" I hop in the portal and the rest follow me.
When I open my eyes, I am at the cabins at Camp Half-Blood. Zeus' cabin has been rebuilt through the days we were gone. Many campers walk out from their cabins or go inside.
"Fun, right?" I walk to the open patch by the Strawberry Fields. There Chiron is training sword fighting.
"Chiron, we have gotten Annabeth."
"You have disobeyed me, Alex. I am very ashamed of you. But you still have retrieved Ms. Chase as I can see. For that, I will take you off the hook. Take her to the infirmary." Chiron says, "We are just about to start Capture the Flag."
Normally for capture the flag, we use swords and armor. We don't do the easy version with the people tagging everybody that is not on their team. We are supposed to be heroes, and Capture the Flag helps us in training for what we might have to face next.
Naturally, I'm on the blue team like every other game. Chiron makes me a captain and Percy the other one. Instead of picking one person at a time (that would take forever, mind you), we pick a cabin. Since I am younger, I get to pick first.
"Annabeth, get your cabin mates over here, you're on my team. Wohoo!"
Percy goes next, "I'm gonna regret this but, Ares."
"Hermes." We keep on alternating. After all the cabins are picked my team is Athena, Hermes, Aphrodite, Nike, Demeter, Hecate, Hypnos, and Nico (Hades. He also refused to be on Percy's team.) The rest are on Percy's team.
We have to get the red flag from the other team. Our team huddles in for a plan.
"Okay team, Athena and Hermes cabin, you're on offense with me. Demeter is on defense. Try to grow some plants or something to protect the flag. Nike people you are great at defense so that is what you will be. Hecate, Hypnos and Nico, do whatever you can. Make them go to sleep, use your magic, or raise skeleton warrior. Do anything. Okay, who am I missing? Right, Aphrodite cabin! You can just stand behind the flag."
"Can I be on offense?" A girl from Demeter's Cabin asks.
"Sorry, but I think you will be on defense for today- Um, what's your name again?"
"Meg McCaffrey," says the girl.
Right I totally forgot. Meg is the girl who Percy helped get to camp along with Apollo (he was mortal). Anyway, we choose to place the flag at the top of Zeus' Fist, which is a mountain of boulders at the edge of the south woods.
I hear a loud horn and I know it is time to start. I rush into the woods to the river which marks the middle. Once you get past the river, you will be on the other team's side. I hop in the river and drench myself in it's water. I didn't see that 50 feet down the left of the river is Percy soddening himself with the power that the water gives both of us. I don't want to have to fight Percy, even though we have equal skill. I stop soaking myself and scuttle towards the trees. Leaves rustle behind so I dash deeper into the woods. I turn my shoulder. Percy is running right beside me. His foot comes out and trips me. I fall on the littered ground.
"You're not leaving until our team gets the flag. And besides you're cheating."
"So basically, I'm not leaving and it's not cheating when using the powers that you already have."
"Very funny," Percy stands over me.
"Fight me," I say. I sweep my legs across the ground, making Percy fall.
"Let's do this, Kelp Head." Percy annoys.
I get so angry for calling me that, I feel like I had a dip in River Styx. The power from the water coursed through me and my inner self broke loose. Without thinking, I thrust Riptide towards Percy's gut. Percy blocks my swing, and lifts his sword upwards, creating a dangerous arc. I stagger back, the force of his movement startling me. He swipes the blade across my face. The cut stings crazily. Not knowing what I am doing, I go for Percy's sword arm. Riptide comes down on his shoulder, where his armor is covering it. The impact has shaken his shoulder a bit because Percy falls down to one knee.
I do the most dumbest thing possible, I hop on Percy's back and yell, "How dare you call me Kelp Head, Aquaman!" Percy tries to shake me off, even though I am lighter than him. One of my arms are hooked around his neck for support and the other holds Riptide. I push my body weight forward, forcing Percy to kneel down.
I jump off and rush back into the woods. I don't hear any footsteps, so Percy is not following me. Deeper and deeper into the woods, I realize that the only possible place where they can keep the flag is up in the trees. I looks up and there it is, the red flag gleaming in the sun.
The tree is huge, around forty to fifty feet high. Some branches poke out in the bottom so I use it to climb my way up.
I pull myself to the flag. That was really easy. Out of nowhere, Clarisse jumps down from the higher branch she was probably perched on.
"I don't think so, punk." Clarisse states. She really didn't have to add that last part about the punk. The only way that I can beat Clarisse is to push her off. I know that we are about 20 feet high, but I also know that Clarisse is good at landing. I won't hurt her.
Maybe Clarisse and I had the same plan because as I go to push her off, her hands shove into my stomach. It doesn't knock me off. I clutch my stomach and shove her with my sword hand. My right arm has gotten pretty strong from holding Riptide and fighting with it. Two seconds later, Clarisse is on the ground, her breastplate facing up. I grab the flag.
Victory is ours! The conch horn blows again, the game is over. I climb down a few branches and jump off. I stand over Clarisse.
"I think I just did, Clarisse," I sass.
My fellow blue team mates rush in and lift me on their shoulders.
"Hip, hip, Hooray, hip, hip, hooray, hip, hip, hooray!" Chants the crowd of sweaty demigods.
The finally let me get down from their shoulders. I carry the flag toward the other side and raise it in the air. I notice something on the pole of the flag, a note. I rip the note from the pole and read it out loud.
Dear Alex,
You won't get away from this. I will find you again and destroy your little camp, once and for all.
Christian
Everybody gasps. Chiron trots into the scene. "Who is this, 'Christian'?"
"He's the guy who blew up the cabin and kidnapped Annabeth." I say, moving forward to face him.
"We must make aware of this immediately. Thank you Alex. From now on, we will be on high alert."
"One more thing, he is possessed by Polybotes." More gasps.
"We are not dealing with some minor situation. If this man is like another Luke, we must be prepared." Chiron states.
With that, we are staring at a flash of gray light behind Chiron. A woman dressed in blue floor length dress emerges. Her hair is brown. Her eyes are light gray. Perched on her shoulder is an owl. The goddess Athena has arrived. We bow down to her. We have to respect the gods whenever they arrive (rarely).
"Athena," Chiron bows his head.
"I have come to advise you. The way to stop your enemy is to ask for the alliance from the roman camp. Together you will defeat Christian." Athena says. With a flash of gray light, she is gone.
"Athena is right. We will converge our forces once again." Chiron says proudly. Everybody chants "We will converge our forces!"
I bump my shoulders into Percy's. Instead of bumping mine back, he stares in front as if he is in a trance.
"Percy? Hey buddy? Hello? Are you okay? Do we need to get you your meds again?" I ask. He says nothing back.
I sigh. I know this feeling. It happened to Leo aboard the Argo II. Eidolons possessed him
and made him attack the Romans.
"Chiron, wait up!" I rush beside Chiron. "Percy has been possessed by the eidolons. What should we do?"
"You talk to him. It must've possessed your brother for a reason." Chiron says without any tension.
"Whatever you say…" I catch up to Percy/eidolon.
"What up eidolon. So if you can do me a favor and get out of my brother, the rest of the camp and I would love that." Nothing happens. "Any day now. How about you come and tell me when you are back to becoming Percy, okay? Okay. See ya!" I turn to walk away when Percy grabs my wrist. "You're not going anywhere."
"Surprisingly, not the first time I heard that." For an answer, Percy judo flips me.
"Owwwww! What was that for? Right, you're possessed." I groan as I lie on the ground. Percy charges towards me and kicks me in the side repeatedly. I curl up into a ball to stop him for kicking at me. Instead Percy yanks me up and knees me in the back. I fall back to the ground. I kneel and elbow him in the knee. Not only did it hurt him but it also hurt my elbow. Percy clutches his knee. I stand up and grab Percy's shirt and pull him closer to my face.
"Get out of my brother!" I slap him. A spirit flies out but I don't see it. I slap him again. "The power of Alex compels youuu!"
"Ow, why did you slap me?" Percy asks, his hand clutching his cheek.
"Dude, you were possessed by the eidolons. I slapped you and I guess it worked. You are welcome."
"Yeah thanks for that," Percy says sarcastically. "What do we now?"
"I don't know. I mean Athena did say we need to combine the two camps. We could go to California and tell what happened to Reyna."
"When do we leave?"
"Slow down your role, Percy. We just got back from saving Annabeth. We need rest. We can go in a few days. Plus two quests are not good back to back. We can talk about it later."
"Yeah sure. Okay whatever." Percy sulks and walks away. I'm glad he actually listened to me. Since being the older brother he thinks that I can't tell him what to do and he is old enough to make decisions by himself. Yeah right.
I head straight to my cabin and find that Percy is in there.
"Going to sleep?" Percy asks from the top bunk.
"Yeah, you?"
"Yup!" I head into the bunk and pull the covers over me. I slip into a deep sleep.
I wake up in the morning to the sound of an air horn. Cabin Inspection. Today, Annabeth goes around doing inspection. Next week, it's Percy. A knock on the door vibrates through the room. I sit up straight in my bed. I look around the room and it is a mess. Another knock.
"Coming Annabeth, jeez."
I grab the dirty clothes and shove them into the closet. I clear off the things on the desk and hid them under the covers.
"You can come in now," I say.
Annabeth opens the door slowly and slips in. She looks around the room. I smile at her.
"I know what you're probably thinking, how is your cabin so neat. I wish my cabin was this neat." I joke.
Annabeth glares at me. "Yeah, sure." Annabeth walks to the closet and opens it.
The clothes, which I put in there, fall out. Next, Annabeth goes to my bed and lifts up the blanket. I close my eyes, imagining what she is going to say.
"Two stars." Before Annabeth walks out of the room, she punches Percy on the arm.
"Yeah Annabeth see ya," I say without looking at her as she leaves.
Suddenly the door busts open. It's Annabeth, again. "Mr. D called everybody to the amphitheater."
I tell Percy to wake up and he follows me out the door. When we get to the amphitheater, Mr. D is standing in the middle with the whole camp's eyes on him. I guess we're late. I pick a free seat next to Meg. Mr. D clears his throat and yells, "As you all heard, to beat this Christian guy, we have to combine both Greek and Roman camps. We will send three daring individuals on a mission to California. And I expect them to come back with Camp Jupiter!" He pauses for a moment and then says. "The three demigods will be Percy and Alex Jackson, and our camper that just returned…Annabeth Chase. You will leave tomorrow at sunrise. Everybody is dismissed." At the word "dismissed" everybody cleared out.
Me, Percy and Annabeth meet together at the center of the amphitheater. I stick my hands in the pockets of my jeans and stalk toward them.
"Well… I'm guessing we're going together, again. What is this, like the twentieth time." I guess. I raise my hands for a high five, both of them obliged.
Annabeth narrows her eyes. "Yeah, okay."
"Good! Now let's figure out how to get to Cali… together. We are related after all!" Percy says brightly and then we get onto brainstorming.
We come up on getting to California by train. We still have to get details on the tickets.
"When do we leave?"
"Well, we can't afford to waste more time, so how about right now?"
"I like the way you think." I say, winking at Annabeth. "Go grabs your packs, I'll meet you at Thalia's Tree." I jog to my cabin and grab my backpack from the hook and sprint out to the tree.
Percy and Annabeth are not there yet so I take some time to admire the tree. It's taller than all of the other trees in Camp. The Golden Fleece hangs on a branch guarded by our dragon, Peleus.
As I finish looking around, they come.
"Ready to go?" I ask.
"Yup. So where is the train." Percy replies.
"How dumb are you. We have to go to the train station. I'm pretty sure Annabeth here got us our tickets. Right?"
"Oh, um… yeah. I have it in my backpack somewhere. Ah, here it is." Annabeth pulls out three trains tickets to Virginia. "I printed it out when I went to retrieve my pack."
"Wohooo! We're going to Virginny!"
"Don't say that ever again."
"Yeah, you're right. Doesn't have the same ring as Cali or Acapulco." I say. Annabeth and Percy stare at me like I have a second nose.
Two hours to get to the train station. Once we reached there, we were exhausted. I think walking drains more of my energy that swordfighting. The train station is crowded with people rushing to get to work. We push our way past the mob and get to the platform as quickly as we can.
When we reach the platform, people are already hopping on with briefcases. Percy, Annabeth, and I stepped into the train. I found a seat towards the back of the train and we sat there.
"Now that I think of it, why didn't we just take the train to California?" I ask Annabeth.
"To expensive. It is cheaper if we take multiple trains to California." Annabeth says as she searches through her bag for the tickets. "Uh, we have a problem, I can't find the tickets. Alex, did you take them from me. Percy did you take them."
"No. You had it all along." Percy says in disbelief. The conductor comes by to our seat.
"Tickets?"
"Um no. But we do have some cha ching with us." I stick my hand into my pockets and pull out two drachma's and shove it into his hands.
"Make it three and I will let you go from charges."
"Hey watch it, mister. I'm giving you just two whether you like it or not. Done deal." I fight back.
The conductor scowls at me at and walks down the aisle.
"That was close. Could thinking, little sis." Percy says.
"Yup. If that was you in the situation, you would've been arrested. And by the way, you are older than me by two minutes. Two minutes!" I say. Percy chuckles and even Annabeth has a smile on her face..
Annabeth's smile disappears and her gray eyes are now turned on alert mode."Something about that conductor seemed… off. You know? The way he stared at us was unsettling." Annabeth notices. No one says anything. For a few minutes I looked out the window, the scenery flashes by making it look like a green blur. Then, out of nowhere, the train halts to a sudden stop. I perk my head up when the emergency brake is pulled.
From the other cart, I hear ear piercing screams. I uncap Riptide, and Percy doing the same. Annabeth unsheathes her knife that was strapped to her belt, her long flowing white shirt covering the blade.
I creep towards the other cart and I gasp at what I'm seeing. Two figures are in the aisle, destroying everything. From behind I see snakes dancing on their heads. They were both wearing the same thing. They were wearing a long crop top with fishnets for sleeves. Their green skirt almost matched with their skin. A police belt hangs on their side.
"What is that? Medusa?" I shout over the noise.
"Oh, much worse, that's Delphyne." Annabeth yells into my ear.
"Like Delphyne Gorgon from Incredible Hercules #121. I have it in mint condition." Percy says, his voice trembles.
"Sorta,"
"Which one is Delphyne? There is two of them?" I yell.
"The one that doesn't get hurt by Celestial Bronze."
"Oh so it's immortal? Anybody know how to defeat this thing?" Percy asks.
"No, it can still die if you say, throw a rock over it and smash it like a bug."
"I say we just wing it?" I say, "It works like 46% of the time."
"We need a plan-" Annabeth says, but she pauses after I charge at the monster.
They turn around just before Riptide jams into a arm. A howling shriek from the monster, but it doesn't disintegrate.
"Annabeth, you and Percy take the other monster. I got this one." I swipe my blade upwards a slice a cut on the cheek. The cut on her cheek disappears. "Come at me bro!" I yell. The thing reaches into her belt and pulls out a gun from the waist of her plaid skirt.
"Oh, now she has a gun. Really." She shoots and I duck just in time. Good thing I've watched a lot of James Bond movies to know when someone is going to shoot. I swipe my feet under, but her legs are like stone. I stand up quickly and switch Riptide into a pen. I found the one that doesn't get hurt by demigod weapons. I punch her in the stomach and kick her in the shins. I grab her hand and twist is back into a painful hold. I push her arm down on the back and she is forced to bend.
"What are you doing harming innocent people?"
"Hissssssss," She pulls out three train tickets from belt.
"Youuu!" I gasp. "You took the train tickets. Why, aren't you just as insidious as Mom when she hides the blue cookies on my birthday."
"Hisss!" says Delphyne again. I shove her into the seat and yank her back again. I shove her face into the windows.
"Delphyne meet window. Window meet Delphyne." I say. I pull her back and put all my force to penetrate the train window. It shatters into a million pieces. I hold her head outside the window and push her out.
" Buh bye Delphyne." I say. I dust my hands off and find Percy and Annabeth, they have disintegrated the other one.
"That was..." Percy starts.
"Awesome! I was like 'meet this window, buttercup!'" I finish. Percy nods in agreement. Annabeth glares at me like I was the problem and not the monster and smacks Percy's shoulder. "How many more hours until we get off?"
"About 90 minutes," Annabeth says, not looking up from her watch.
"Ugh!" I groan. "Why couldn't we have a superfast superhero, that may rhyme with The Dash, in this city?"
Percy stares at me, his mouth gaping. "No way sis! You watch The Flash, too? I love that show!" I nod to him with a wide grin. "Sooooo? Want to go back to the seat?" I start heading back to the other cart where our seat is. I seat back down and fish out my rubix cube in my pack. I switch the colors around a few times and hand it to Annabeth. She gasps and tries solving it.
"Percy? Why couldn't we just ask Nico to shadow travel us to California? It would have been much easier." I ask.
"We can't! Nico and Will went somewhere. They wouldn't tell me where they went. It was someplace private I guess."
"Where were they trying to go for their 'honeymoon?'" I ask, shrugging my shoulders.
"Hey, that's not funny. Don't be mean. When you get a boyfriend, you'll find that it's to be taken seriously." Percy says, with his elbows on his knees.
"Sorry. I didn't know." I shrug.
The hours passed on and we finally reached Berkeley, California. Over the hills is a small river. We cross over the bridge over River Tiber. When we cross over to Roman territory, I feel as if some of my powers have dimmed. I know Percy feels the same when he flatters in his steps.
"How about you guys go find Reyna and I will find the others?" I say, and head to the temples. They nod in agreement.
The first temple is dedicated to Jupiter and is called Jupiter Optimus Maximus. It is at least 20 feet tall and a big statue of Jupiter stands inside. A man in purple crouches down on his knees; his blond hair sweeping in the wind.
"Jason!" I rush to him and shock him.
"Yo Alex, so good to see you. What are you doing here?" He stands up and brushes his hands on his jeans.
"We came here for assistance. See, camp is being 'invaded' by this guy names Christian." I say quickly.
"Who is 'we'?"
"Percy, Annabeth, and I. They went to fetch Reyna." Jason nods and starts to walk.
"Actually, Reyna went to visit Hylla. I am the highest rank officer right now. So you want some of us to come to camp to deal with this guy?" I nod.
"Cool. I can't come. I have duties to do. Piper, Hazel, and Frank can come. Maybe Dakota can come too? If you want him."
"No! Not Dakota. I think I will pass on that Kool Aid fanatic. I'll just take the rest. Thanks." I kiss his cheek and see him blush. I run to find them but I stumble backwards. "Where are they?"
"They should be in the forum." I run to the forum and find them. I tap Piper's shoulder and give her a hug. Hazel and Frank were looking at a map. I call them over.
"Hey guys, how's it going'? So I need all of you to come back to Camp, like right now."
"Slow down. Why?" Hazel asks as she rolls up the map.
"Chiron will explain everything when we get there." I say.
"Well, me and Frank never been to your camp so it'll be fun!"
"I agree. Is Jason fine with this?"
"Yes and it's Frank and I." I get a stink eye from Hazel.
"Frank, can you form into a dragon. Percy and Annabeth should've figured out Reyna is not here 'bout now." Percy and Annabeth receive hugs and 'bro shakes'.
We head outside and Frank turns into a massive dragon. I hop on first, the Piper, Hazel, Annabeth, and Percy.
Frank flaps his wings and we soar into the sky.
Riding on a dragon is BORING. You just sit there and feel your eyes tearing up from the wind. Piper and Hazel were talking about girl things; I wouldn't know. Mom basically raised me like she raised Percy. I even grew up thinking I was a boy.
That's my past, peeps.
Franks reptilian back did not add the comfort a dragon should have. His rock hard scales shifted from red to brown as his enormous wings thundered in the sky. The city below looked like tiny ants. That's when it hit me.
"Frank! Don't fly too high!" Frank's head bobs up and down reassuring me that it was okay. Still, Frank's altitude dropped a bit, just in case he was wrong.
It took us a while, but we made it to Camp in about 8 hours. We took rest breaks every two hours.
As Frank lands on Camp, I jump off and kiss the ground, thankful to be on land.
Chiron trots up to us and shakes everyone's hand.
"Hello everyone. Glad you came. As you may or may not know, we are facing a new threat." Everyone nods. "If this man is like the second Luke, we must be prepared." Cheering.
Today had been a long day. I head to my cabin and fall on my bed. It's not as comfortable as the bed at home, but it's Comfort this makes me pass out.
The next day, I wake up at 10 o'clock in the morning. I have free time now in my schedule, so I take a walk outside of camp borders. Technically, this is super dangerous, but I was trained to handle these situations.
I put my hands in my pockets and walk out to the road, which is at least one mile away.
Fog has piled on the forest floor. Occasionally, I trip over tree roots.
Within an hour of walking, I get bored. I start to head back.
Suddenly, a flash of red of red streaks past me. A man wearing a red suit with a lightning bolt appears in front of me. I stare at him, my mouth gaping and my eyes bulging.
"T-the Flash?" I stammer.
"Do you need help? I've been told that there was an emergency here."
"N-no. There is n-no emergency. W-why, may I ask?"
"Yesterday, I'm just running around the country and I came here. I hear the sound of metal clashing. I thought there was something wrong."
"Holy Hera. You are real! Oh my gods!" I say.
"Holy Hera?"
"Sorry, something I say. I'm Alex, by the way." I hold out my hand and he shakes it firmly.
"I can't tell you my name and all, you know? Being a superhero and stuff."
"Your Barry Allen. Your dad is Henry Allen and your mom is Nora Allen. You were adopted by Joe West when your mother was killed by the Reverse-Flash and your father was sent to prison. Your 'stepsister' is Iris West. You work at S.T.A.R Labs with Caitlin, Cisco, Joe, Iris, and Professor Martin Stein. A year ago, a Singularity appeared over your hometown, Central City, and Ronnie Raymond sacrificed himself to stop the Singularity. There are more than one Earth and there is this bad guy from Earth-2 named Zoom. I can keep going on but that would take to long."
"How do you know this?" I am suddenly on the ground with his hands on my throat.
"You're in a tv show. New York is the only state that can watch it." I manage to say with gagging.
"Are you evil? If so, I'm going to have to take you with me. And you won't escape."
"This is going to sound crazy, but I am a hero like you. Not in the way you think, though."
"What do you mean?"
"I can't exactly explain. But I can show you what I mean. Let me show you."
"Where are we going?"
"To my home!"
"In the forest?"
"Yes,"
"Okay, but if you lead me into a trap-"
"I won't. I promise. Now come on."
Barry superspeeds me to Camp. I step through the Barrier and realize that he can't step through.
"My bad. I, Alex Jackson, allow Barry Allen to enter." Barry finally steps in.
"What is this place?" Barry asks, amazed.
"Welcome to Camp Half Blood."
Camp Half Blood? As in the camp in Percy Jackson? It's actually real?" Barry confirms.
"Yes. I thought you believed in the impossible, Barry."
"I do. I just never thought about this place being real. So everything in Percy Jackson is real. Percy is real, Annabeth is real?"
I nod my head.
"So how did you get in?"
"I don't mean to brag, but I am the daughter of Poseidon, twin sister to Percy Jackson."
"That is… awesome. I just never thought this place existed."
"Yeah it is." I say quietly.
"Is there something wrong?"
"Yeah. My home is being destroyed by this guy named Christian. We have no way to defeat him. I wish we could use your help."
"I would love to help. But I will have to take you back to S.T.A.R Labs so that Caitlin and Cisco can approve. I think you and him will get along nicely."
"Thanks, I think. Thanks so much for helping to defeat him."
"Yeah, sure. But what was it like?"
"What was?"
"Being at Olympus, watching Luke die?"
"Oh, I don't like to talk about it. Sorry. You can ask someone else though. I have some memories about that day that I do not wish to say out loud."
"I understand."
"So when can I come? I've been wishing that you were real since like I started watching the show. I'm a fan. And so is my brother."
"I'm glad my struggles please you as a form of entertainment." I can't help but stifle a laugh.
"Well, I better go. I'll pick you up tomorrow same time, okay? Have fun, Alex."
"Yup, you to Barry!" I wave bye and he speeds off.
Mentally, I am screaming inside, I am going to S.T.A.R Labs tomorrow! I am so excited. I have to tell Percy!
I run to the arena where Percy is practicing his sword fighting on a rubber dummy. He see's me come in so he stops and takes a long sip of his water.
"What up, little sis? Came to see that I am better than you in sword fighting?" He wipes his towel across his face taking away the condensation.
"No. I wanted to say that… I just met the Flash!"
"You're kidding me, right? The Flash doesn't exist. It is a tv show."
"No, I'm serious. He said he'll help defeat Christian. I'm going to S.T.A.R Labs tomorrow to talk it out with his 'crew'. Isn't it great!"
"That is good news, Alex. Have fun, tomorrow. Now, we can defeat Christian." I give Percy a hug and step back in disgust.
"Ehh, very sweaty." I wipe my hands on my shirt as Percy chuckles. I skip back to my cabin and watch the blue plant glisten in the sun.