"Thalia, wake up, it's time for you to take me to school."
I woke with that statement, and a five year-old shoving me. I opened my eyes to see him hovering over me, his eyes lit up when he saw me open mine. I shielded my eyes from the early morning sun.
"What time is it?" I asked. I saw Annabeth check her watch.
"Six-thirty." She grumbled.
"Hurry up!" Cried Troy. "School starts soon!"
"Troy," I said, sitting up "You're not going to school today."
His eyes lost their gleam. "I'm not?" He asked sadly. What kid likes school?
"Nope. Not tommorow or the next day either." I told him. Annabeth ellbowed me.
"Ouch!" I yelled. "What, it's better than him waking us up at six-thirty every morning."
I looked at Troy. Poor kid. We found a nice and cozy little alley to sleep in last night. He still doesn't know why we're running and what we're running from. I just hope he doesn't have a panic-attack when we get to the Underworld. If he even makes it that far.
His clothes were already dirty. He was wearing light blue-jeans and a gray shirt that read "Been there, wrecked that!"
"I'm hungry." annouced Troy.
"That's nice." I remarked sarcastically, then remembered he was only a kid.
"What are we going to do for his breakfast?" Asked Annabeth. "We can go hungry, we're used to it, but he's only five."
"How much cash have you got on you?" I asked her. She stuck her hands in her pocket and pulled out a coin.
"A dime." She said.
"You're a big help." I told her snidely. She smiled. I remembered that smile from when she was seven. When it was just me, her and Luke. One thought of Luke and my eyes filled with tears, which I held back. Why did he have to leave. Why did I kill him? I could have saved him or...
No! It was the right thing to do.
"I'll treat everyone to breakfast." I annouced. I had an emergancy fifty dollar bill that Artemis gives every hunter. Just in case. I love that goddess.
"Hey Troy," I said. "Where do you want to go for breakfast?" I picked him up. He thought for a second. I could almost see the little gears grinding.
"Waffle House!" He said excidedly.
"Waffle House it is." I told him. Annabeth smiled.
"What?" I asked. "I've never had a sibling. I should get a chance to spoil him." She laughed.
Turns out, we were in a town called Bancroft, in Idaho. We walked three blocks to get to Waffle House, but my brother wanted waffles and he was going to get them even if I died in the process. It was blazing hot, and on top of that, I was carrying Troy. To you, it would seem that I'm babying him, but hey, he's a Demigod, he needs someone to baby him before he finds out his true identity.
We walked through the door and heard the "Ding" of the bell. A young waitress was at the door.
"May I help you all?" She asked as she popped her gum.
"Yes-" I started, but was cut off.
"Well hey there, Troy!" the woman said, bending down and giving him a high-five.
"Hi, Ms. Shiela." He said bashfully.
"And who are these youg ladies you have with you this morning?" She asked, looking over me and Annabeth.
"This is my sister, Thalia, and her friend Anniebeth." He replied.
Anniebeth?
"That's Annabeth, Troy." I explained.
"That's what I said." He told me. The waitress laughed.
"Sister?" She asked.
"Half-sister." I explained. She nodded.
"And where's your lovely mama this morning?" She asked him.
"She left me." He said, eyeing another customers pancakes hungrily. The waitress looked at me with a look of shock.
"No she didn't." I added quickly. I turned to her. "He means she left him with us."
"Ahh." She said. "Why don't you guys find a table and I'll be with you in a minute."
"Thanks." Said Annabeth. We walked quickly to a booth in the back. Troy was ahead of us and leading us to the booth he and his Mom ate at when they came here. We piled in after him into the red-and-black striped booth. We sat there in silence for a few minutes until Troy broke the silence, of course.
"I need to go back to my house." He annouced. Annabeth and I exchanged glances.
"Why?" She asked him.
"I wanna' go back and get my Superman action-figure." He told us.
"I don't think we'll have enough time." I told him.
"Pleeeaaase!" He begged. I remained quiet.
"Anniebeth?" He asked, trying to get her on his side. She looked at him for a few moments.
"Alright, we'll go after breakfast." She said. My jaw dropped.
"Push over." I grumbled.
"You try saying no to something like 'Anniebeth'." She said. As she finished that statement, the waitress walked up to our table and pulled out a small notepad.
"What can I get for you all today?" She asked.
"You know what I want, Ms. Shiela!" He said happily, with a smile.
"I sure do sweet pea." She said as she scribbled down something in her notepad.
Annabeth and I ordered. After I was sure the coast was clear I started talking again.
"Okay," I said "Your Mom said that we needed someone to give them your thread who can keep them from cutting it. Who would that be?"
I put my hand on the box that contained Annabeth's string, which was in my lap.
"Isn't it obvious?" She asked.
"Apprently not." I replied.
"What does 'apparently' mean?" Asked Troy.
"Nico Di Angelo." Annabeth said. "And 'apparently' means...something like, obviously."
"Of course!" I said "Why didn't I think of Nico?"
"What does 'obviously' mean?" asked Troy.
"It means something is plainly clear." Said Annabeth knowingly.
"Oh." Troy said, even though he probably still didn't get it.
The waitress came with our food and set it down.
"I'll see you later Troy." She said.
"Bye Ms. Shiela." He said, then took a sip of his orange juice. Nothing else was said over breakfast. We were too busy devouring it like a pack of starving wolves.
"I have too go to the bathroom." Troy said after we were done eating.
"Okay." I said cherrfully as I began to get scared. I didn't want to let him out of my sight, but I wasn't about to go into the boys bathroom. He slid out of the booth and walked around the corner.
"Annabeth," I said in a low voice "Wait outside the door, and if anything happens let me know. Otherwise I'm going to pay the bill."
Which was only twenty-six dollars by the way. She nodded and slipped out of the booth and around the corner. I slipped the fifty dollar bill into the check folder and no sooner than I did, Annabeth got my attention.
"Thalia!" She called. I sild out of the booth and ran over to her in lightining speed. I looked in the direction she was lookin and saw Troy, giving his knife to a fat lady.
"Echinada!" I cried. Before I could think, I whipped out my Shapie and uncapped it. No sooner did I have Aegis shield on my arm. Luckily, she didn't have any of her children with her. She didn't have a weapon with her either. At the site of me charging in his direction, Troy yelped and ran to Annabeth. He immediately began crying. This was going to be an unfair fight. Just the way I like em'.
I charged, knocking her over with my shield. I swung my sword through her body and it passed through her clean, as if she were made of water. She instanly dissolved into dust. I began running the other direction. I grabbed Troy hand and kept running, Annabeth followed. We continued to run out the door and around the corner until I figured we were safe.
I wanted to slap myself realizing that I had left the waitress a thirty-four dollar tip.
A/N That has to be the lamest fight I ever wrote about.