Hey! Lemme start by being completely stereotypical and saying I love you guys! Buuuuuut... I need reviews! Still don't have my 21, but for those of you that have reviewed, shout out! (If you want to) PM me a name and I'll stick it in as an extra somewhere in the story :). I was going to make you wait, buuuuuut I couldn't do that because I was just too excited. It's a bit of a filler chapter, not much plot developement, but I needed to get the introductions and leaving Egypt done with. Hope you enjoy, though :) And REVIEW! The 21 OC thing still stands: see last chapter for details. Without further Ado, the story-
CHAPTER 8
Annabeth- The Duat to Brooklyn
"Percy!" I screamed when he collapsed. I dragged myself over to him, ignoring Grover's pipes and the PJ guys doing... whatever it was they were doing.
"Seaweed Brain, what-" I let the question hang.
He smiled ruefully, "Not enough water."
For about a millisecond I was confused. There was plenty of water to knock the men off their feet, but- oh, he meant there wasn't enough water for him. I guess it made sense, us being in the middle of the desert and all. "Can you stand?"
"I don't know, thought I'd take a nap or a while, rela- ow!" he protested when I lightly punched his arm.
"No more curse of Achilles equals no more nap every ten minutes."
His forehead crease as he frowned slightly, but he smiled at me and tried to sit up.
"We need to go now. They know where we are. We were lucky this time, but who knows what they'll send next." Jason said.
I stood, dusting of my legs and offering my hand to Percy. The stupid Seaweed Brain almost pulled me over trying to get up.
"No more big tricks in the desert, okay?"
He smiled at me, but I could see a hint of fear in his eyes. He didn't like being away from his father's domain.
I looked around at everyone else, noting a cuts and bruises, three incredulous faces, and a cat- looking lady who still frowned sourly. I didn't know what her problem, but I suspected it had something to do with our ancestral origins.
"Let's go," said the tall, black boy. Under normal circumstances I wouldn't follow someone who I'd just met, but the situation demanded it.
Next to me Percy stumbled. "You okay?" I was concerned. His face was pale and his lips drawn tight. His green eyes, though, were lovely as ever (ack, I sound like an Aphrodite kid), so I tried not to freak too much.
"I'm fine. I just feel like I took a dip in the Styx again, minus the invincibility."
"So, in other words, great?" I teased.
"Yep," he smiled ruefully. "Better than normal."
I raised an eyebrow but said nothing. After a time, the tunnel became darker and soon we couldn't see. I think the Sadie girl was about to do something, but I decided we needed to stay a step ahead power wise since they'd saved us. Strategically speaking, it was the smartest thing to do.
"Leo, can you help us out?"
"Sure. Flame on!" He shouted idiotically, setting his hair on fire.
Sadie jumped back and the girl with short black hair mumbled a surprised 'oh!'. The only one who didn't seem fazed by this turn of events was the boy leading us, who just looked glad for the extra light.
"I- I- I didn't know you could do that!" Sadie frowned.
Silently I giggled to myself as Leo tried to explain about demigod powers.
"Leo, please stop talking," Piper smiled sweetly. I knew that voice. It was her charmspeak voice. That girl is brilliant!
Leo snapped his mouth shut and nodded franticly.
Thank- you, Sadie mouthed at Piper.
We walked a little longer before coming to a door. Unconsciously I grabbed Percy's hand. He squeezed mine and I steeled myself for whatever lay behind that door.
"Ha-di!" shouted Sadie. The wall exploded, making it rain shards of limestone and dust.
"They certainly have a flair for the dramatic," I muttered to Percy.
"Yes, they do."
I sighed. Whatever was on the other side definitely knew we were here now. Whatever she might be, Sadie was not a strategist.
I stepped through the rubble into the lit world outside and nearly chocked. Rather than being in Giza, as I'd presumed, we were in (based on the architecture) Alexandria!
"How-"
"Distances are covered differently in the Duat," Zia replied matter-of-factly.
"The what?" asked Frank.
"Duat. I'll explain later. Right now we need to get to Brooklyn."
"How- oh, never mind," Hazel shook her head. I was inclined to agree with her, but showed none of this on my face.
I assumed what I hoped was a knowing look and motioned for Sadie to continue.
"Right, then," she rubbed her hands together. "Back to the States."
She opened a swirling portal of dust out of a pyramid statue. "Hop in!"
Rachel spoke up for the first time. "Close your mouth," she grumbled.
I took head of her warning and snapped my jaw shut before leaping into the sand.
I landed in a heap on the other side of the portal thing. Percy landed on top of me (not the worst thing in the world), but then a few more landed on him, and I was basically pinned under five people.
"Grr ofo meh!" I said. It was supposed to be get off of me, but that didn't really work out.
I heard some grunting and felt some shifting and then it felt like a three-hundred pound weight was lifted off my chest (which it kind of was). A hand reached out towards me and I took it.
Hauling myself up, I said, "Thanks, Seaweed Brain."
"Anytime," he grinned.
I heard Hazel gasp, "How did you-"
Looking around, I noticed the familiar Manhattan skyline across the East river. I decided that if I wanted to figure out what was going on I'd just wait and listen. I already had my suspicions about the Egyptian gods; this just confirmed them. I didn't know who these kids were, maybe some type of demigod, or maybe something else. One thing I did know: I didn't trust them. not yet anyway.
"Transport through Egyptian artifacts. We can go anywhere, so long as there's a pyramid or obelisk, or something like that," Carter explained.
"I get it!" I exclaimed, finally understanding the transport system.
"You do?" Percy raised an eyebrow. He was cute when he did that, I mused.
"Yes! Certain shapes of figures act as a focal point for the convergence of power, allowing for teleport through the duat. I assume it's the shape that causes this, rather than material, time of creation or place of creation."
"That about sums it up," smiled the black haired girl. "I'm Zia by the way," she stuck out her hand.
I shook it firmly and replied, "Annabeth, and while we're at it, I'll introduce everyone else. You already know Rachel, right?" She nodded. "This is Percy, son of Poseidon, this is-"
"Wait, what? Did you say 'son of Poseidon'? As in son of a god!"
"Yes. We all are. Well except Rachel. She's just the host of the oracle. And Grover."
"Just the host of the Oracle? It's an important job!' Rachel interjected.
"Yeah, okay. Anyway, we're all a son or daughter of a god or goddess along with a mortal parent."
"Leo, son of Hephaestus," said Leo.
"Hazel, daughter of Pluto," smiled Hazel.
"Wait a second," Sadie said. "I thought Pluto was Roman. Aren't Hephaestus and Poseidon Greek?"
"Some of us are Greek, some of us are Roman," Jason clarified.
"Okay. Which are you?" That girl had the tact of a Cyclops.
"Roman. So are Hazel and Frank. Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Leo are Greek. Grover's Greek too, but he's not a demigod."
"Well what's he?" There's that tact again.
"I'm a Satyr, thank you very much."
"A what?"
"Satyr. Half goat."
"Half- what?" Sadie sputtered.
"Goat." Grover kicked off his shoe.
"Holy sh-"
"Language, Sadie," the cat woman said.
"Anyway," I cut in, "I'm Annabeth, daughter of Athena."
"I'm Jason, son of Jupiter."
"Piper, daughter of Aphrodite."
"Frank, son of Mars. Among other things."
"Do I even want to know?"
"Probably not," Frank admitted.
"Now," I said, "Who are you?"
