~Annabeth POV~
Argus drove them as far as the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side, which officially left behind the warmer breezes and dry hills of Camp Half-Blood. Outside, shriller winter winds blew snowflakes through the air, and the bus rode along the icy, frozen road leading up to the station. With all the fuss that she's been through the last few days, Annabeth almost forgot that the outside world was still in a winter slumber.
They drove smoothly into the parking lot, after which Argus got out briefly to retrieve their measly bags from the back of the van, as some sort of kind gesture for their journey to come. He offered a hearty thumbs up as they readjusted their coats and shouldered their backpacks. The cold was already beginning to seep through the folds of Annabeth's slim winter coat, and judging by the grimaces from Piper, she'd say her comrade was feeling it too. Nico didn't look as uncomfortable, but Annabeth figured that's what happened when one spent most of their time in the Underworld. But, at least one member of the team was faring well. They bid Argus a quick good-bye and shimmied over to the quaint building standing soundly nearby.
Before she got too far though, Argus grabbed Annabeth's wrist and pulled her back slightly, eyes softening almost apologetically when she turned back to him in question. But there was something else in his eyes, a wide, almost earning look that had Annabeth gesturing to Nico and Piper to get the tickets without her. They shrugged, told her to hurry, and moved on quickly.
Watching them go, Argus sighed and let go of Annabeth's wrist, shoulders dropping. His many eyes found Annabeth's, which was intimidating in its own odd way, despite his look being far from aggressive. His eyes were wide and sad in a way that Annabeth wasn't used to. She was even more surprised, however, when he gingerly pulled her into a small hug. Annabeth tried to staunch her shock by softly hugging back. Now, this definitely wasn't a usual occurrence. Argus tended to avoid contact like the plague due to his eye condition, and a poked eye of his magnitude was nothing to sneeze at. Yet, when he pulled back he was smiling. He gently rustled her hair with his fingers, and despite not being able to talk because of the eye on his tongue, with stiff movement from his jaw he mouthed: Good luck.
For whatever reason, Annabeth really appreciated that. Argus, while silent and mysterious, has always been there for her and the camp throughout the years, whether it was guarding Camp Half-Blood, shipping out strawberries, defending and nourishing injured demigods, or driving them out on quests. In a way, he was kind of like the silent, protective big brother to them all, Annabeth wondered if any of them had ever stopped to give him the time of day. Maybe it was time to makes amends for that.
"Thank you, Argus," she tells him, trying to convey her appreciation by squeezing his shoulders, soft enough to avoid hurting him. "For everything."
He nodded, and Annabeth thinks he understands, and he shoos her to the ticket booth, gesturing to his wrist where a clock would usually tick. Swinging her backpack over her shoulders, Annabeth offered a final wave and ran over to join Piper and Nico at the station. By the time they're handing Annabeth her ticket, the van is already disappearing up the road.
"What was that about?" Piper asked, glancing at the retreating vehicle as she dropped the bag of money into her bag. Roughly $100 in cash and several drachmas from Chiron to aid them on their quest.
"Just wishing us luck is all," Annabeth answered, watching as the van rose and fell behind the hill. A pang of want hits her chest, coming on so unexpectedly that Annabeth has to distract herself by looking over the bus ticket. It seemed like she was just got to Camp and now she was already leaving. A quest wasn't what she imagined she'd be doing on her winter vacation.
"Well, considering this is a quest, we're probably gonna need all the luck we can get," Nico comments, glaring at the rickety looking bus that wobbled up to the station. "Jeez, that's our ride."
Annabeth gave it a quick once-over and understood Nico's criticism. That bus looked like it should be on its death-bed. She glanced at the fading numbers above the windshield, and pursed her lips, looking back at the bus number on her ticket. "Yeah, looks like it. Di immortals, is that the same one Percy and I rode on our first quest? Yikes."
"Great," Nico grumbled, shouldering his backpack. "Fine, let's go. The longer we wait, the longer we have to actually be on it." They walked toward the dying vehicle together, merging in seamlessly with the small crowd hitching a ride with them.,
"Wow, I never thought Will had the power to make you an optimist," Piper deadpans.
"For you're information," Nico drawls after her, handing his ticket to the bus driver, "I've always been an optimist. Just a realistic optimist."
"Hold up," Annabeth griped playfully, "That's my job."
They found an empty seat toward the back, close enough to the emergency exit that they had a quick escape if it came down to that. Annabeth climbed in first, claiming the window, Piper the middle, and Nico at the end. Piper settled her backpack on the floor and took her water out, smacking her lips dryly. It was a fancy plastic water bottle with the words: T. McLean written in gold cursive on the side, which completely destroyed and annihilated Annabeth's eyes when she tried to decipher it. Piper sipped the top, unaware of the anguish her bottle did to Annabeth's brain, and eyed Nico with a teasing smile.
"Sooo," she said, innocently swishing the water around inside, "if rickety old buses aren't the type of thing for children of the Underworld, then what is?"
Nico rolled his eyes, though he didn't look offended, and tilted his head in thought. Curious, Annabeth blinked the spaghetti-like remnants of mortal cursive from her eyes. She hasn't talked much to Nico since going to college. This seemed like as good an opportunity as any to get some conversation in. After a moment of deep thinking, a soft, almost sheepish look crossed Nico's face and he rubbed his neck, suddenly bashful.
"Well, um...I - my- my chauffer usually drives me around in the limousine," he admits, biting his lip as if revealing that he had a limousine somehow made him incompetent.
Piper nearly spit up her water. "You have a chauffeur and a limousine?" she parrots, sprouting a grin. "Dude, me too."
Nico blinks, before scoffing like he should've known, and smiles back, almost relieved. "Oh yeah, should've guessed. What's you're chauffeur like? Mines an old British military artillery driver from 1818. You'd think he'd have stories to share, but he's terrible at conversation," a haunting look crossed his face, "Whenever he does talk he sounds like he's going to tell me to drop down and give him twenty."
Piper stares, jaw-slacking a tad. "Oh - oh, cool...my driver's name is Roger."
Oh, rich folk, Annabeth laughs to herself, hiding her smile in the window. Despite being unable to relate, she's glad they found something in common to talk about. Aphrodite and Hades were about as opposite as it could get, so she was happy things weren't starting out awkward. She, personally, has never been one to really initiate conversation, and whenever she tried it usually came out boring and lecture-y. At least that's what Malcolm told her when she asked him to give it to her straight, after noticing how glazy-eyed and tired people get around her. Honestly, Percy was the one who normally started conversation. He also happened to be the one who kept it running. There were times when he could talk for hours and hours about his marine biology classes without any promptings from Annabeth. It was cute and endearing, and brainy-Percy has become the source of her entertainment on trips and long, tedious study nights.
"So, Annabeth," Piper turns to her this time. She sips at her water, eyes narrowed as if trying to pry into her brain. But Annabeth can tell its all fun and games when Piper hides her smile in the lid of her bottle. "How about you?"
Annabeth blinks, confused about the question for half a second. "Oh, what do I ride in? Uh..." she gestured belittlingly toward the vehicle they resided in, "rickety old buses for this girl, I guess. I mean, what's a little tetanus, right."
Nico chuckles and mutters "Oh, I know a few tetanus deaths that would disagree," and Piper laughs before taking a final sip from her water, and puts it back in her backpack.
"So, do you really think the prophecy is talking about Olympus, as in the Empire State Building Olympus?" Piper inquires, leaning back in the seat.
"I think so. Or, well, I hope so. Poseidon specifically said to find Hestia on Olympus, so what else could it be. Besides, I definitely don't want to take another trip to Greece any time soon." Annabeth said.
Piper and Nico echoed in agreement.
"I guess we'll just have to see what Hestia has to offer," Annabeth continued. Her gaze slipped and stared down at her bag, fingers tingling unpleasantly. The prize harbored inside seemed to tease her beckoningly, and after a moment's hesitation, she unzipped it and bringing out Poseidon's royal dagger. Taking it from its smoothed coral sheath, she turned its pearl blade over in her hand and ran her fingers down the aqueous hilt that shimmered like sun rays caught on a water's surface. She wondered if there was real water inside. The jewels decorating its curvy handles sparkled in the little rays peaking behind snow clouds, sending opalescent dots of light onto her palm.
Nico was watching it too, though his face was pinched and wary. "I don't even know how you can hold that," he says, scooting away.
Annabeth looks up from its sparkling brilliance. "What do you mean?"
"Can you not feel that?" Nico demanded, and his eyebrows scrunch at the confused look she shoots him.
"That thing is practically radiating energy," he answered, enunciating it as if that would make her understand, "Like, a lot. It feels weird," he stared at it again and added, "...and unsettling. I feel like its gonna attack me."
Annabeth looks back down at it, trying to find malice in the milky gleam of its blade. She couldn't even find a drop. "Really? I don't feel anything," she rolled it around in her hand a few times, as if the problem was in the angle. But there was no difference. It felt like any other dagger she's held.
Piper hummed, though her fingers were nervous in her lap, "I can feel it too. Nico's right, I feel like it's gonna walk over and gut," she paused, blinked, and scooted away as if the thought just occurred to her. "Maybe you can't feel it because Poseidon gave it to you."
That's not far-fetched. This was Poseidon's royal family dagger they were talking about. Meant to be passed down through the oceans royal family. Maybe it just wasn't meant to go beyond the ocean. It's pearl blade and aqueous gems certainly didn't look like they belonged in a place above the water. More like it should be in a sunken ship at the bottom of the sea, locked away in a pirate chest.
Or maybe the fact that Poseidon gave it to her protected her from its warding energy.
All these explanations scrambled through her head, but Annabeth ended on a shrug and resheathed the dagger. "I think you're right. But if it's giving off as much energy as Nico says, then it wouldn't be smart to have it out." She returned it to the pocket on her bag. Nico and Piper instantly relaxed.
Piper licked her lips again and reached for her bottle. "Gosh," she muttered, opening the cap. "I didn't even know it was possible to get dehydrated in the winter?" She took another swig, and her eyes went wide. The water sprayed from her mouth as she clamped over it in shock.
"Gah," she gagged, words muffled by her hand, glaring down at the bottle in betrayal, "why the Hades is this thing so hot?"
Annabeth froze, eyes narrowing. She took the bottle from Piper's hand and gingerly trickled a few drops on her palm. It was hot. Well, not boiling hot, but warm enough to spark a little shock. Which was weird. Annabeth's seen these types of bottles before, a few times in her dad's workspace even. They were designed to keep water cold for long amounts of time, like a small, portable cooler.
"Maybe you put it on something hot?" Nico asked, watching Annabeth's eyes pinched in thought. Which was a possible explanation, but it still didn't explain why the water in a fancy bottle like this tasted as if it'd been left out in the hot sun for hours. If Piper did place it on something hot, then the bottle itself would've been warmed, not the liquid inside. In fact, Annabeth ran her fingers along the bottom and sides of the bottle, the bottle itself was barely warm.
"I don't think I did," Piper disagreed, looking between her feet for a possible culprit. When none fit the bill, she huffed and pulled her backpack up on her lap as if that would save it from any other crime. "Whatever, it's just water. Maybe this one was just defective. My dad has a ton of these bottles, I'll just get another one."
Annabeth eyed the bottle but gave it back. "I don't know Pipes," there's been a lot of strange things happening with water lately. Besides, it's the middle of winter and they weren't near one of the buses heaters. There was nothing odd about the bottle. No cracks, no dents. It looked perfectly normal, which didn't sit right with her. She's already been caught off guard by Percy's illness, and she wasn't about to make the same mistake twice.
Or, an unhelpful thought suggested, maybe I'm was just needlessly obsessing over a piece of junk.
Or maybe there was something else going on.
Before she could dive into any further speculation, the bus jolted and the driver up front cursed. "Just a few hiccups, folks," he assured his passengers as the engine coughed, "I'm sure it's nothing." As if to prove him wrong, black smoke started leaking under the bus.
Yeah right, Annabeth though, reaching slightly for the small blanket she had wrapped her sword and sheath in. She didn't bring it out just yet though. Mortals tended to freak out when demigods pulled out weapons, whether it looks like a gun, a bat, or a slightly used golf-club. The Mist was weird that way. What it disguised their weapons as though, she couldn't start a panic now. Not when she didn't know who the enemy was.
Piper and Nico must've been on the same page, as their fingers inched toward their own blankets and bags, but didn't grab their weapons.
"Get ready," Annabeth whispered, searching for a culprit among their fellow passengers.
The bus veered to the side of the road, coming to a long, sputtering stop. The driver cursed again, then apologized, and asked for everyone to get off. People murmured, but they all obeyed and quickly filed onto the roadside. Out of all of them, Annabeth and her crew were the only ones who seemed more than mildly on edge. They got up and followed the group out anyway.
Annabeth was surprised though when nothing happened. They joined the meandering crowd with no hitches, taking root near the edge, and stayed that way as the driver hobbled down the steps to take a look at the bus's gears. Surveying the crowd again, nothing seemed out of place still.
"Nico, do you sense anything," Annabeth asked quietly, because coincidences didn't just happen to demigods.
Nico paused, as if deep in thought, then a peculiar look crossed his face. Annabeth was positive she already didn't like the news he was about to give.
"Something seems...off. But I'm not sure what it is" He said, fingers inching toward the hilt barely peeping out of the blanket he clutched. If whatever it was could set Nico on edge, then it had to be dangerous.
She surveyed the crowd again. Nothing stood out. There was a couple standing side by side, worriedly holding hands, an elderly woman sifting through her bag, a few gangster looking guys drawing on themselves with a marker, but no legitimate threats.
"I don't see an-" Annabeth started, but her words fell flat as a darkly clothed figure came into view. Now he definitely hadn't been there a second ago. A moist wind swept over the group, carrying with it the wet scent of algae. The figure parallel to her stayed put under her gaze. It was a guy if the body figure was anything to go by. His hands were stuffed in the pocket of his hoodie - a hoodie that was soaked clear through and sagging on his limbs, dripping half-frozen droplets of water into the snow. Beneath the hood dangling over his face, Annabeth could see a white-toothed grin.
"Guys-" No sooner had she gotten that out, did Piper yelp and jump back, throwing her water bottle on the ground. The snow around it hissed and it melted as steam rose out from the opened top. Piper hissed, a mixture of irritation and pain, holding her burned hand in surprise. Annabeth looked back, and the black-hooded man was gone.
It was at that moment that all her alarms bells started ringing full-force. She reached into the blanket and pulled out her sword, provoking the same from Nico and Piper, catching the surprised of the couple nearby.
"What happened?" Nico asked, turning so they were in a back-to-back triangle. Gliding snowflakes danced around his obsidian blade, but never touched, as if the sword was a magnet repelling something so pure away.
Piper flexed her red fingers a few times, but muttered, "I don't know. I was just holding my water bottle and it got really hot."
"There was a person in the crowd," Annabeth informed them, searching for him again, "watching us. Black hoodie, soaked in water. He-" she frowned, feeling the niggle of a thought, "he seemed kind of familiar."
"Well, where ever he is we can't see him now," Nico said, shoulders tensed and legs boxed. The couple near them backed away, looking puzzled, and Annabeth wondered what they were seeing right now. The Mist could get creative.
The wind blew again, and Annabeth caught the algae scent again. "He's not gone," she warned, and not a second later, Piper screamed as she was suddenly thrown into the crowd, landing on the small group of wannabe gangsters. The rest of the crowd gasped and screamed, stumbling away. Annabeth whirled around, poising her blade at the figure behind her. Nico stood opposite of her, doing the same.
The hoodied-guy didn't even flinch. He grinned under the hood, chin pale, slimy-looking, and bloated, but silent. The smell of algae was stronger now, almost overwhelming.
Annabeth didn't wait for him to introduce himself as she swung her sword at his chest, and Nico followed suit aiming for his head. The guy jumped back with a gurgling laugh, falling out of range of Annabeth's blade and dodging Nico's by a hair. Swinging smoothly into the dodge, Nico whirled around and lunged forward, only to slip with a startled yelp as the snow under his feet melted into a large, muddy puddle. His body hit the water, and just as quickly, it began to steam and boil. Scrambling out with a scream, Nico jumped out and collapsed into the cooler snow, cradling his hands and arms where the skin was already blistered and red. When his grimace met Annabeth's, she noticed red spots on his face and neck too.
She felt herself sink slighly and jumped aside just as the snow melted under her feet. Piper was back up, after having pushed the gangster-wannabes away, and was clutching her dagger with murderous intent. Her abandoned water bottle was spouting more steam now. All the water inside slivered out and crept across the ground, adding melting snow to its legion as it angled its direction for Piper.
"No, look out!" Annabeth grabbed Piper by her sleeve just as the daughter of Aphrodite ran past her, and flung them both out of the way as the water propelled past them in a deadly arc. The couple shrieked as stray droplets sizzled on their skin.
Annabeth felt the snow they were under already beginning to melt, and quickly pulled Piper up with her. The guy was walking forward, grinning wider than ever, and bubbling with an eager laugh. Annabeth looked around, but snow occupied most of the ground. They couldn't beat him out here in the open like this, not when he had so much ammunition at his disposal.
"Nico," she yelled, "can you get us out of here?"
He winced, still holding his burned arms, but nodded. He gestured to the shadow cast over the snow from the bus and made a hobbling run for it. He must've gotten his legs burned too, Annabeth realized with a wince.
"Piper, let's go," they took off in a run toward the bus. Around them, the snow hissed and melted, and Annabeth nearly slipped into bubbling puddles too many time to be comfortable with
"Grab onto me," Nico ordered, and they obliged, each grabbing a shoulder. The crump of feet on snow grew loud behind them, and Annabeth barely felt a finger brush her neck as they shot into the shadows and disappeared.
(Line)_(Breakage)
They emerged from a wall and landed in a pile of trash bags harbored in an abandoned alleyway.
For several moments they lay among the garbage, taking the precious minutes to catch their breath and their wits. Then, with a heavy groan, Piper sat, spitting up a stray coffee filter that had fallen on her face with a gag. Nico groaned in response, only he rolled off the piles of bags and plopped on the ground, barely missing a murky pile of water infected with unknown juices leaking from an open garbage bag. Annabeth propped herself up on her elbows, took one glance around the alleyway, then got to her feet kicking away cold cans and frozen trash.
Her shoulder throbbed from where she had landed on it wrong, which was stained with a slimy piece of food that she didn't even want to look at. "Roll call," she called, rolling her shoulder to adjust to the ache.
"There are only three of us," Nico pointed out unhappily, as he timidly picking himself up from the ground to study the burns on his skin. He winced, shifting the pants around his thigh uncomfortable where burns had, no doubt, set up home too. Annabeth hoped the burns didn't stray farther up. She didn't need to be a guy to know that'd be extremely painful. "That's hardly worth a roll call."
"Humor me," Annabeth said, brushing fruit peels off her own pants while reaching for her backpack, which she located half-under the over-flowing dumpster. "I wanna hear how alive you all feel."
"Nico," Nico grumbled, poking lightly at the skin on her wrist, "Is here. As for the alive bit, I'm still debating."
"Piper is here," Piper said, rubbing her ankle. "And alive, for the time being."
Annabeth nodded, rummaging through her backpack for her prize. "Good to know we're all faring," she said, bringing out the ziplock baggie of ambrosia, breaking off a square and handing each half to her comrades. Once their burns and aches started to disappear, she walked toward the mouth of the alleyway where cars drove sleepily on the road, and the thick crowds moved along like half frozen sludge over the sidewalk. No one had noticed the three achy and burned up teenagers who had emerged from the wall.
"Where are we, Nico?"
Nico got to his feet, movements much more fluid, and peered out past the alleyway too. "New York," he said, "Or we should be. I was kind of rushed back there, but I'm pretty sure we're here."
"Let's hope you're right," Annabeth said, craning her neck out to look for street signs. "We just gotta figure out where we are, and get to the Empire State Building as quick as the Fates will allow."
Nico stared out by the road, and Annabeth figured he was looking for landmarks too, until he said, "So, any ideas who that guy was?"
Annabeth was trying hard not to think of that creepy smile, but now her thoughts were consumed by it. She looked back toward the mingling crowds, doing her best to push her unwarranted unease aside, and shrugged. "I want to say I've never seen him before, but there was something familiar about him,"
But when could that have happened? She already knew her mind was anything but helpful since arriving in New York, with whatever magic tampering that's been done to it, but she knew that they'd met somewhere before. The way he grinned at her like they were sharing a secret. His laugh was an echo in her ear, mocking her as it waited for her to figure it out.
She glared at the people, wishing one would turn around and give her a straight answer, but none, it seemed, had gotten the memo. Piper was the one to snap her out of her hopeless wish by clapping a hand on her shoulder. Her burns were gone too.
"I'm sure you'll figure it out," she said, which only made Annabeth feel worse for not knowing. "But I'd rather be anywhere but here if that guy shows up again. Where are we for real."
Nico craned his neck to look up at the building, nonchalantly brushing off a bit of black sludge from his jacket. His gaze dropped up and down, before it snapped. "Oh," his shoulders relaxed, "I know where we are. We're actually not that far from the Empire State Building. Just a couple blocks away, actually."
"Then let's get going," It was brushing past noon, and Annabeth didn't want to waste any more time dawdling. "Nico, think you can show us the way."
He shrugged, "Yeah, sure,"
They retrieved their bags from the alleyway, pausing only to flick off rotten sludge, and regrouped at the entrance of the alleyway like a wild, unhygienic pack of teenagers. Nico unfurled the blanket sprawled next to his bag, and strapped the sheath within to his lean waist, finishing it all off with his sword tucked securely inside. Annabeth followed his example, hoping that the Mist made their weapons look harmless, like a bookbag or a fanny-pack. She could stomach the stigma of humiliation against a fanny-pack if it didn't draw unwanted attention. They were barely an hour into their quest, and already everything was going to cahoots. She hated being caught to unprepared. It made stomach squirm and her gut twist, and the unease alone made her want to barf. What's the point of being the one with the plan, if she didn't even know what to expect next? She's been on countless quests, saved the world more than once, survived Tartarus for goodness sake. Why was the prospect of leading this quest so intimidating?
But she also didn't have time to dwell on any of that. Philosophical ponderings aside, Annabeth swallowed her nerves down as she, Nico, and Piper filed out of the alleyway in a line, trying to look as innocent as possible. For having just fought a water-logged guy in a hood and fallen into heaps of garbage, she thought they did okay. Or, at least, the crowds didn't seem to care about them, or their newly acquired smell, which was another thing Annabeth could appreciate about New York. She could probably go prancing around in a bright orange onesie, and no one would bat an eye.
But Annabeth switched her thoughts from impersonating a street-cone, to wondering why exactly Nico shadow traveled them here in the first place. There was nothing really special about this particular street. Dull grey buildings, wet jackets, reflective glass showing off the cloudy sky, and window stores putting their sumptuous products on display. Just another street in New York. She turned slightly to Nico, prompting to ask when a red and yellow flashing from the building caging their hideout alleyway caught her eye and it all made sense.
"So, that McDonald's wouldn't have anything to do with why we shadow-traveled here, would it?" Annabeth inquired, looking over her shoulder anyway to watch Nico's face go red.
"Well - well, that could've been - maybe it was just -" he coughed into his fist and quickened his stride, "Come on, we're wasting time."
"Alright," Annabeth said, deciding to drop it despite the tickling urge to tease. She's heard from Percy that Nico often sacrifices the Kids Meal to summon souls of the dead, but she also wondered how much of it actually went to summoning souls. Not like she could really poke fun at him though. She, herself, was feeling the pit-falls of hunger, and fries seemed like absolute Elysium at this point.
But her musings for food were swatted away as soon as they rounded the corner, and the smell of algae hit her harder than the garbage back of rotten fruit.
"He's back," Annabeth announced, drawing her sword, only this time, the guy wasn't wasting time. He came barraging out of the alleyway, running at them full force, sending wet droplets flying behind him. Piper and Nico jumped apart before he could ram into them, bringing out their weapons with the smooth shink of metal on leather.
The guy turned, smile as wide as ever. His feet squared, arms coming up to his sides like he was about to draw guns, but the only type of weapon he had was the water dripping from his sleeves. The mortals crowding the street had backed up, giving them a wide girth that trapped them in as much as it gave them a bit of fighting room. The guy rounded on them slowly, provoking the teens to mirror his actions so they circled each other.
"We don't have time for this," Annabeth stage-whispered to her comrades, and the guy cocked his head to the side. "We need to lose this guy,"
Nico's grip on his sword tightened, "I - I can try to shadow-travel again," he offered, but looked far from enthused. "But I'm still a little wiped out from the last one though, I'm not sure how far I can get us."
But that probably wasn't a good idea. Immense powers like Nico's usually came with a major exhaust-shortages. Years of being with Percy distilled that fact in Annabeth's brain. She should've ordered Nico something at the McDonalds when they had the chance to help him build his energy quicker. But, then again, this guy might've found them just as quickly anyway, and being trapped in a fast-food restaurant would've been far worse.
"We'll have to make a run for it," instructs Annabeth, "Don't shadow-travel unless it's a last resort," Nico was probably at, around, 75% strength right now, and it'd be a mistake to have him deplete his energy while they were being hounded. This guy found them as quick as it was, and if a member of the group was down, it'd be hard to fend him off and protect Nico while he recuperating. They were going to have to chance it on the streets.
Nico, fortunately, didn't look the least bit upset with her decision. She caught they're eye and nodded, and without a seconds hesitation, they whirled around together and shoved their way out of the surprised crowd. Their pursuer was after them in an instant, pushing spectators away more roughly. Nico, despite his exhaustion, managed to keep up and directed them across the street. Thankfully, the crosswalk was open from the traffic, and they ran blindly, dodging as many people as possible and knocking those done who didn't move fast enough.
They whipped around the next corner, but something wet and gooshy slammed into Annabeth. Or she slammed into it. It was hard to tell when she went careening into the concrete. When she looked up, it was the guy standing over her, chuckling hysterically as a white, slimy hand curled into her shirt and lifted her up. She didn't have time to wonder how the Hades he got in front of her, or how he moved so fast, as she gave a furious yell and rammed the butt of her sword into the guys chin hard enough that it rattled his jaw. He dropped her.
Gripping her sword, she kicked his kneecap, revolted by the way they squished under her boot, then rolled to her feet and took off again. She glanced over her shoulder, just as another soaked-hoodie guy rounded the corner, grinning wide enough that it made her stomach curdle. Annabeth almost tripped over her feet. There were two of them now. The one on the ground got to his feet roughly, staggering a little as he wiggled the dented cap of his knee until it popped, before joining his doppelganger in their combined pursuit.
"Di immortals," Annabeth whispered, looking back as she approached Nico and Piper who had slowed once they realized Annabeth was gone. "What are you guys doing? Don't stop! RUN!" They looked over her shoulder, noticed how their pursuers had multiplied and took off running again, eyes wide as saucers.
Their efforts to dodge civilians was lost somewhere around the corner as they shoved people out of their way with no regret. It was getting harder to ignore the pounding of feet behind them and the wet splat of water hitting the pavement. Somewhere in the distance, Annabeth saw the mighty spire of the Empire State Building rise above its inferior buildings. Just a few more blocks to go.
But just as hope was inflating Annabeth's chest, she felt a tight grip on her backpack. She was thrown back before she even knew what was going on, hitting the sidewalk, rolling a few feet, before coming to a violent stop against a building wall, startling the pedestrian just coming out of the store. Up ahead, Nico and Piper skittered to a stop, but Annabeth waved them on.
"Keep going, I'll catch up!"
They shared an uneasy look, but Annabeth forced them on with an even harder look, and they kept running. One of the guys stopped by Annabeth, grabbing her by the loops of her backpack tightly, while the other continued after Piper and Nico.
He pulled her up, grin twisting into a sneer. The smell of algae was so overwhelming, Annabeth could almost taste it on her tongue. The smell heightened when the guy laughed, "So, this must be the girlfriend," His voice was gargled and watery, in a way that Annabeth could only imagine a drowned person would sound if they could still talk. His jaw, or his skin in general, was white, swollen, and glistening as if wet. Closer up, Annabeth noticed splotches of green crawling up his neck and jaw. Algae, she realized. Looks like that was the source of their stench.
Annabeth grabbed his wrists, an attempt at wrenching his fingers away, but her fingers slid along his skin like a watered down slip n' slide. His hands looked the same as the rest of him, swollen and completely soaked through. Slimy. The water of his hood soaked into the bare patches of her skin, and with a wince, she felt the water on her hands beginning to freeze. A biting cold feeling that should've come with only the winter winds as the perpetrators. It was the kind of cold that belonged in the Antartic waters, the kind that gave frost-bite so bad that amputation was the only solution.
"Oh look," Annabeth growled back at him, wiggling her leg free with a desperate vigor, "It's a pretentious asshole," she kicked up with her knee, right into the guys'' crotch, and if the anatomy was no different it was still a sucker-shot. The guy grunted, a far less painful sound than she was expecting, but his grip loosened. Grabbing the front of his hoodie, Annabeth swung him to the side and lept to her feet. She dashed across the road, ignoring the screeching protests of cars hitting their breaks and the foul-mouthed curses that followed her every step.
Her backpacked jumped on her shoulders, and if not for Poseidon's royal dagger inside, she would've thrown it to lose the extra baggage by now. Her lone pursuer was back on his feet and running at a more determined speed. He was still grinning.
The Empire State was just ahead. Nico and Piper were already rooted by the revolving doors, urging her own with panicky hand gestures. The second guy was nowhere to be seen. No sooner had the thought crossed her, was Annabeth grabbed by the hair. This is getting old, she cursed and whirled around, but her intended strike was anticipated and blocked with a tight grip to her wrist, bending the sword in her palm at an awkward angle.
"Heeheehee," he giggled in her face, tightening his grip on her ponytail, "We're not done yet."
Annabeth swung out with her other hand, but it was caught by the 2nd hooded guy coming at her other side. With strength that seemed impossible for such a soft, gushy hand, the guy twisted her arm and pinned her wrist to her back, a sliver away from snapping. The 1st guy forced her to drop her sword and held it to her throat.
"Child of Athena," one of them giggled close to her ear, "Now why, oh why, would he go for an offspring from that hag?"
"Times are changing," the other answered for Annabeth, with a slip of hysteric delight, "We've been gone for so long. How will we ever keep up," the edge of the blade brushed against her throat, close enough to carve a thin line into her skin, just shy of producing blood.
"Get off me!" Annabeth growled, but her efforts of twisting free were foiled as the angle of her wrist heightened, and she winced.
"Now, now," one of them tsked, "We've been nice. All we want is that little trinket in you're backpack." It was harder to distinguish who was talking now. The likeness of their garbled voices was too similar, their tones almost the same.
Annabeth felt the zipper of her backpack slid open as a hand rummaged through its contents. She tried to move again, but the edge of her sword dug a fraction deeper into her neck. A satisfied hum came a moment later as the nacreous blade was pulled out, barely coming into view from the corner of her eye. A seizing of panic twisted her gut, and Annabeth tried to kick, but a water-soaked pant-leg crossed her leg, prohibiting that movement too. She was helpless. Motionless. Planless. They couldn't take that dagger. That was her key to getting information from Hestia. Annabeth needed it.
They laughed, almost as if picking up on her thoughts. The edge of her sword dug farther into her skin, and a ribbon of blood rolled down her neck.
"Now, do we really need her?"
"No," she could hear the delight in the other's voice, "we don't."
Before the blade had a chance to dig deeper, Piper's voice carried past the cars and crowds. "Let. Her. GO!"
Charmspeak fell over Annabeth, and for half a second, she wanted to let someone go. In fact, she was disappointed when she couldn't. The guys holding her, on the other hand, weren't prone to the same disappointment. Their hands dropped away from Annabeth instantly.
Annabeth blinked, trying to understand why there was no one she was supposed to let go, before her mind pop back into focus. She twisted around, kicking one of the guys away while wrenching the dagger out of the other's grasp. Yanking her sword back too, she sprinted for the Empire State Building, sending every other thought to the wind. There was a curse from behind, a growl of annoyance, and the pounding of feet on the pavement. The water on Annabeth's skin stung as it burned, while in other places it was beginning to freeze, but she let it fuel her into going faster. She crossed the street's, barely avoiding head-on collisions from surprised cars, and finally reached the doors of the Empire State Building. She rammed into Piper and Nico, unable to quench her speed when it got to that point, but they stabilized each other enough to keep from falling.
Panting, Annabeth looked back across the street, where the guys had stopped, now standing on the curb, staring. They still smiled, but this time it was sharp, like the edge of a hunting blade. Instead of coming for round 4 though, they stuffed their hands into their hoodies pockets, turned, and walked down the street.
Authors Notes (please read):
What da heck is up with those creeps? O.o How did they even get in here?
You guys probably noticed how these chapters keep switching tenses. Is it past-tense? Present-tense? Is the author tense? T.T (just roll with it.)
But hey, good news! I decided to start an updating schedule! YAY!
Bad(ish) news: It's a joint updating schedule for this account and my other wattpad account!
Explanation: I will update every week, (Sunday night at the earliest and Tuesday at the latest - generally posting on Monday altogether), but I will be switching the updates between my accounts. So, this week, I updated one of my PJO stories, next week I'll update a story from my other account, the week after I'll update another one of my PJO stories, and it will continue like that. I know that technically means I'll be updating once every two weeks for this account (vice versa for the other one), but I'm going to give you guys the name of my other account in case you want to follow that one and get the update-every-week schtick.
Now, here's the thing. I LOVE the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, and my other account is literally stories ONLY for USM. So, if you guys like Ultimate Spider-Man (it's okay if you don't), you can go check out that profile and get those weekly updates. If you don't, that's fine, you can stick to this account. No biggie. :D
My other account is: OfficialUSMWriter (Real subtle, I know)
Anywho, hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter, it's out a little earlier than I expected :P Tell me what you think in the comments, I love hearing your thoughts and theories!
-BFA signing out! ;)