Chapter 4

So there the three of them were 45 minutes later by the service road of the camp, Annabeth sat by the base of a large tree, she could feel Percy's aqua eyes on her and after a couple of minutes she turned to face him, not liking the feeling of his eyes boring into the back of her head, but just as she was about to speak there was an loud engine roar.

All three turned as a jet black pick-up truck came bouncing into view, it skidded to a halt, creating a dust cloud with Markos sat behind the wheel, his arm resting on the door. Grover's jaw dropped at the sight of the beast of a vehicle,

Markos just rolled his eyes "Are you waiting for an invitation?" he asked impatiently

The three clambered into the spacious pick-up, Percy's eyes scanned the inside from the front passenger seat, pale leather covered the interior, large sound system with a built in screen in the centre console, a map set up showing their current location.

"Where did you get this?" Grover asked, running his hand over the leather

"I bought it" and with that he pulled away, launching into a high speed as they bounced over the dirt track, they rode in silence for a while, an uncomfortable silence filling the air, Markos didn't say a word as he focused on the road ahead of them

Once they hit the main road Markos turned west and kept at least 20 miles faster than the speed limit, over taking almost every car on the freeway.

Grover in the rear seat was still enthralled by the expensive vehicle he was in. Percy just gazed out the window, but Annabeth was watching Markos's eyes in the rear view mirror, she had a feeling in the pit of her stomach, she couldn't place it. She had heard stories about Markos and had seen a little of his anger before, she didn't want to see it again any time soon

"So where are we going?" Annabeth questioned still watching him, Markos's eyes flickered to her.

"Enyo likes to live in solitude somewhere away from mortal eyes, we have to travel to the Rocky Mountains near to the Colorado/Wyoming boarder" he checked the Sat Nav "Take us about 28 hours to drive, but then we have a long hike to the entrance to her residence" he watched her in the mirror, catching her eye, she was the first to break the gaze, but Annabeth still questioned him.

"Will she give you the Harpe?"

Markos felt the eyes of everyone in the car on him, his grip tightened on the wheel as he attempted to take a calming breath

"Well I don't know Daughter of Athena, she is allies with my father but I've never met her, we shall have to wait and see, won't we" Silence fell in the car once more.

"So who is this Tityus?" Percy asked turning back to face Annabeth, who shared a look with Grover who shifted a little in his seat.

"Tityus is a giant, Son of Zeus born of the Earth, Gaia. He… um, he" Annabeth fiddled with her fingers unsure of how to continue, the topic making her feel a uncomfortable

"He tried to rape Leto, Daughter of Coeus and lover of Zeus" Markos answered keeping his eyes fixed on the road,

Percy watched as Annabeth picked at a thread on her jacket, she hated discussing this side of the Gods, She would not meet his gaze so Percy just turned back to face the road ahead.

They travelled for a few hours and were in mid Pennsylvania when Markos pulled into a large shopping complex.

"We need to grab a few things for the journey ahead" Markos said, cutting off the engine

Annabeth nudged Grover to wake the sleeping Satyr, who grabbed his crutches and hopped out the vehicle. They entered a camping goods store, Markos went straight to the climbing gear and took ropes and chain links, he continued to move around picking up what appeared to be random pieces of camping equipment, Grover had wandered off to the grocery store across the lot with the promise of bringing back food for everyone which just left Percy and Annabeth outside the camping store. Annabeth hadn't said a word since their earlier conversation about Tityus, she just watched the faces of passers-by, keeping a look out for any monsters lurking nearby

"Annabeth…" Percy reached out to touch her arm, the contact making her jump slightly, Percy tried to ignore it when her other hand went to her concealed dagger "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine" she answered too quickly, turning to watch Markos as he moved his way to the cashier with arms full.

Percy lowered his voice "You can tell me Annabeth"

"I'm fine Percy" she forced a smile "I just want to keep an eye on our new companion"

"You don't trust him?" Percy asked eyeing the taller Demi-God as he smiled at the young female cashier

"I have heard stories and … well, let's just say children of Ares can be unintentionally traitorous, caring more about the fight than what they are fighting for"

At Markos's approach they silenced their speculation, he had a large rucksack tossed over his shoulder, he looked at Annabeth for a slight moment before glancing around

"Where's the Satyr?" he asked

"His name is Grover" Annabeth retorted, the taller Demi-God looked down at her, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Where is he?" he asked slowly, to make the point he didn't care about Grover's name,

Annabeth squared off to him a little and just as Percy was about to step between them they heard Grover calling.

"YO! Percy" he came into view, two bags of shopping hanging from his crutches as he hopped along, he had some sort of food hanging half out of his mouth.

"It's nice to know you guys can keep a low profile" Markos grumbled after Percy moved to help Grover with the bags, they reached the truck shortly after this time Percy rode in the back with Grover as they searched through the grocery bag, stuffing their faces with all sorts of food

Annabeth rode shotgun her eyes faced the road but her mind was on the quiet Demi-God next to her, the blonde's hand remained close to the dagger at her waist.

The sudden voice of Markos made her jump slightly. "So say we get the sword what happens then Son of Poseidon?"

Percy shifted at the question "Well I guess we take it to camp so Hades can't use it to release Tityus and things go back to the what they were before"

Markos snorted a cold smile reaching his lips "Are you really that naïve? Do you truly believe that Hades, God of the Underworld, will stop because a teenager took the thing he wants for world domination?" he glanced back at Percy, who's cheeks redden slightly "Great , so basically you have no plan, how have you survived this long Jackson?"

Annabeth scowled at him "Do you have a better idea?"

This only made Markos's grip on the wheel tighten

"I thought that was why we had Athena's daughter, Goddess of wisdom and battle strategy" he emphasised the last part through gritted teeth, the truck went silent, the only sound was the engine as they sped along the freeway.