A/N: I'm on vacation right now so I'm not sure when the next time I'll be able to update will be. Reviews are always appreciated!
Disclaimer: I only own this story.
CHAPTER TWO
Katie never thought she would see the day where Travis Stoll willingly helped her. (The one time he helped her make a cake only to have it explode in her face did not count.)
But, she watched in awe as he hacked his sword at wolfish creatures that had encountered them on their way to a middle school. One of the creatures had swiped at Katie first, and she hadn't gotten her dagger out in time, so she was curled up in a ball against the wall of a building, useless.
Katie despised feeling useless. Being a daughter of Demeter, most demigods thought they were only good for planting around the camp. So every single year, Katie strived to go above and beyond, excelling in all the classes and being the nicest head counselor possible—except when it came to the Stoll brothers, that is.
"You okay?" Nico asked, breathing hard. He had had to shadow travel to California, since the Pegasus that Travis and Katie had ridden on could only fit two people, and the other Pegasus were still injured from the battle.
"Y-yeah," Katie stammered, but her left arm was killing her. The pain was worse than that one time Travis had accidentally it over with a scooter.
"I don't have any ambrosia on me," Nico continued. They both looked at Travis, who was still busy fighting two creatures. He glanced over at them for a minute before shouting, "I could use a little help here!"
Katie gripped her dagger in her right hand and stood up. A wave of nausea hit her, but it wasn't too terrible. She ran toward one of the creatures and swiped at it. It ducked, and Katie reached behind it and stabbed its back. Gold dust was an immediate replacement.
Travis kicked the last creature against the wall and stabbed it. With a howl of pain, it also disintegrated.
"What were those?" Travis asked, gasping for breath.
"Telkhines," Nico answered, running a hand through his dark hair. "I thought all of them had been in the battle, but I guess they reformed really quickly." He looked troubled, which made Katie uncomfortable.
"Travis," Katie said slowly, "do you by chance have any ambrosia?"
Travis looked at her for a moment. Then he broke into a huge grin and began pointing at Katie.
"Oh my gods!" he exclaimed. "Is Katherine Gardner asking me for help? This is a historic event. Nico, write this down." He slung an arm around Katie's shoulders, but his hand hit her left arm, and she winced in pain.
"Ow, you idiot," she groaned, pushing him off of her. "That's where it got me."
Travis recoiled, actually looking apologetic. He rummaged through his backpack for a minute, then stood up straight, looking sheepish. "Um, I don't have any ambrosia, but I do have some pens, whipped cream, seventy dollars, and a bag of Doritos."
Nico rolled his eyes. "We can find some mortal medicine later. Our first school is only two blocks from here. A satyr had been scoping out two sons of Apollo before the battle," he said to Katie.
She nodded and put on her backpack. As they began walking, she began to discuss with Nico ways that they could get the demigods back to Camp Half-Blood safely without having to go with them, so they could stay on the West Coast and find more demigods.
"Well, if their dad is Apollo, we could just wait until tomorrow morning and get him to fly them to Camp in his chariot," Travis suggested. It was annoying him that Nico and Katie were ignoring him. After all, who had just saved their butts from big ugly wolves? That's right, Travis Stoll!
"That's a good idea," Nico agreed, nodding. "I mean, Apollo's ego might slightly terrify them, but he'll make sure they get back safely. If he's driving."
"You talk like you've ridden with him before," Katie noted. Nico's expression darkened and he didn't answer.
Katie and Travis shared a look. Neither of them knew the son of Hades too well, and they'd both heard from Percy that the thirteen-year-old tended to have very serious (not to mention scary) moments.
When they reached the designated middle school, Travis internally groaned. Although he'd been at Camp Half-Blood for eight years (pretty much half his life), he still had a vague memory of mortal school. Uptight teachers, stupid classmates, disgusting food, and cheap playground toys were not things he wanted to remember.
"Ugh, school," he complained as they entered the big brick building. Katie shushed him.
"So do we just go to the office and tell them we need to pick up two of their students?" Nico mused. "I know how to use the Mist."
"We don't know the kids' names," Katie pointed out. "We're going to have to check each of the classrooms."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Travis interrupted, holding up his hands. "I'm actually going into the classrooms? Chiron said this thing would be easy!"
"It is easy," Katie argued, rolling her eyes. "Just walk in holding your sword. If a kid can see through the Mist, get them alone, ask about their parents, and if something's off, take them with you. Let's meet back here in an hour."
"Okay," Nico agreed.
RING! The three demigods looked around as students burst out of classrooms, chattering loudly. Teachers hurried after them, calling out for kids to walk. It reminded Katie of Camp Half-Blood when it was time for—
"Lunch," Travis muttered. "Great. How are we going to find them now?" His eyes darted around, noticing that many of the younger students who were in sixth grade were waving candy bars around like loot as they were herded into the cafeteria. "Never mind! Let's go."
Ω
Finding the two sons of Apollo wasn't hard at all. Many blunt preteens asked Nico why he was holding an iron, or why Katie was gripping a flower in her hand. Nico was slightly offended. Out of all the things the Mist could make his Stygian iron sword, it had to be…a regular old iron.
"Guys!" Travis exclaimed. Katie and Nico were waiting back in front of the office after no luck finding the two demigods. "I found them!"
Even though the halls were still bustling with students going back to class, Katie felt the need to shush Travis. He ignored her and pushed two brothers, looking about eleven years old, toward them. They were obviously identical twins, with dirty blonde hair and light brown eyes.
Katie smiled warmly at the two brothers, who looked slightly scared of Travis, who was grinning like a maniac and holding their shoulders. Nico wasn't helping either; he was all but glaring at the two brothers, who were clinging onto each other. Katie recalled that when Nico had first come to Camp Half-Blood, he had an older sister; she figured this probably brought up some bad memories for him.
"Hi, guys," she greeted them. "I'm Katie, this is Travis, and that's Nico. I know you're probably a little scared, but—"
"Well, duh," one of the brothers interrupted flatly. "You guys are carrying swords and daggers. Are you going to kill us? Our mom said that when we got older, people would be trying to kill us."
"No, we're the good guys," Travis offered. "We're like you; one of our parents is mortal, and the other is a Greek god. We got some information that your dad is—"
"Apollo," the other brother cut in, looking bored. "Our mom told us everything she thought we needed to know last year. You're going to take us to Chiron at Camp Half-Blood, right?"
"That's right," Nico answered, his voice steely calm. It made Katie more than a little uncomfortable. "And we'd really appreciate it if you stopped interrupting us…"
"Eddie," the first brother offered. "That's my brother, Allan."
The five of them snuck out of the school quickly. Katie thanked Zeus that no one caught them. She suggested that they Iris-message Chiron to let him know they had found two half-bloods who would be on their way to Camp.
When the Iris-message cleared, Katie gasped. The centaur looked very old and tired, and there was yelling going on in the background. It sounded like Annabeth was…crying?
"Chiron!" she exclaimed. "What's going on?"
The centaur smiled, but he looked the complete opposite of happy. "Hello, Katie. Travis. Nico. We're going to need you to do more than just a search for unknown demigods."
"What?" Nico asked. "What do you mean?"
"I fear the Great Prophecy has begun," Chiron answered, making them freeze. "And you need to look for someone. Percy Jackson is missing."
