Hey, here's chapter four of five, enjoy.
Rick Riordan owns the rights to PJO and HoO, and unfortunately, I'm not him.
When everyone returned to the throne room there was not a sound to be heard. Everyone was quiet and not really sure what to say.
"I guess I'll read." Artemis says, then picks up the book and opens it to the right page.
"I Ruin a Perfectly Good Bus," Artemis reads.
"Already?" Aphrodite asks, shocked that someone could already have trouble just after starting the quest.
It didn't take me long to pack. I decided to leave the Minotaur horn in my cabin, which left me only an extra change of clothes and a toothbrush to stuff in a backpack Grover had found for me.
The camp store loaned me one hundred dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas. These coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other.
"Girl Scout cookies," Apollo's mouth waters.
"We just had dinner." Artemis says exasperated.
The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chiron told us, but Olympians never used less than pure gold. Chiron said the coins might come in handy for non-mortal transactions—whatever that meant. He gave Annabeth and me each a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies, if we were seriously hurt.
"Hopefully that isn't the case," Poseidon grimaces.
Athena nods. "For once I agree with him."
It was god food, Chiron reminded us. It would cure us of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half-blood very, very feverish. An overdose would burn us up, literally.
Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which she told me, had been a twelfth-birthday present from her mom.
Athena smiles down at her daughter.
"Whoa, what does it do?" Leo asks stupidly.
Annabeth just rolls her eyes and puts on the cap, turning herself invisible. When she takes the cap off the three new demigods' eyes were bulging out of their eye sockets. Annabeth laughs at their faces then stuffs the cap back in her pocket.
She carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored, and a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve.
I was sure the knife would get us busted the first time we went through a metal detector.
"Idiot." Annabeth mutters and shakes her head.
Grover wore his fake feet and his pants to pass as human. He wore a green rasta-style cap, because when it rained his curly hair flattened and you could just see the tips of his horns. His bright orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his daddy goat had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 12 and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday," both of which sounded pretty bad on reed pipes.
Annabeth snorts and Dionysus looks grieved. "You mean he doesn't get any better?" He asks and Annabeth shakes her head. Dionysus groans and slinks back into his throne.
We waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, then hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus.
Jason flinches when he hears that and looks confused all over again. How did Thalia become human again?
Chiron was waiting for us in his wheelchair. Next to him stood the surfer dude I'd seen when I was recovering in the sick room. According to Grover, the guy was the camp's head of security. He supposedly had eyes all over his body so he could never be surprised. Today, though, he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, so I could only see extra peepers on his hands, face and neck.
"Must suck to play hide and seek with him," Leo mutters earning a few chuckles.
"This is Argus," Chiron told me. "He will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things."
"Bad pun, Chiron. Bad pun." Hermes says shaking his head.
I heard footsteps behind us.
Luke came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes.
Annabeth's face darkens at the mention of the shoes and everyone looked at her quizzically.
"Hey!" he panted. "Glad I caught you."
Annabeth blushed, the way she always did when Luke was around.
"Did not." Annabeth huffs.
"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told me. "And I thought ... um, maybe you could use these."
He handed me the sneakers, which looked pretty normal. They even smelled kind of normal.
"How do shoes smell normal?" Piper asks, but she doesn't get a response.
Luke said, "Maia!"
At hearing the 'magic word' Hermes shoes sprout wings and fly him out of his throne.
"Maia." Hermes says, and he returns to his throne.
White bird's wings sprouted out of the heels, startling me so much, I dropped them. The shoes flapped around on the ground until the wings folded up and disappeared.
"Awesome!" Grover said.
"You bet." Leo says excitedly.
Luke smiled. "Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from Dad. Of course, I don't use them much these days..." His expression turned sad.
I didn't know what to say. It was cool enough that Luke had come to say good-bye. I'd been afraid he might resent me for getting so much attention the last few days. But here he was giving me a magic gift... It made me blush almost as much as Annabeth.
"I was not blushing." Growled Annabeth.
"Hey, man," I said. "Thanks."
"Listen, Percy ..." Luke looked uncomfortable. "A lot of hopes are riding on you. So just ... kill some monsters for me, okay?"
"Sure, that's what he wanted." Annabeth mutters under her breath and nobody hears her.
We shook hands. Luke patted Grover's head between his horns, then gave a good-bye hug to Annabeth, who looked like she might pass out.
"Did not." Annabeth says heatedly, as if she were ready to argue with anyone who challenged her.
After Luke was gone, I told her, "You're hyperventilating."
"Was not."
"Am not."
"You don't change much, do you?" Leo says only to be hit on the back of the head by Annabeth.
"You let him capture the flag instead of you, didn't you?"
"Oh ... why do I want to go anywhere with you, Percy?"
"Yes, why do you." Athena says pointedly at her daughter who ignores her.
She stomped down the other side of the hill, where a white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road. Argus followed, jingling his car keys.
I picked up the flying shoes and had a sudden bad feeling. I looked at Chiron. "I won't be able to use these, will I?"
"Smart boy," Zeus smiles. "He knows his limits."
"Please, you're just a mean uncle," Hera smacks him. "I'm sure your children have swam before." She said children with lots of distaste.
Hera looks over at Jason.
"I can barely swim," Jason admits. "So why test it right?"
Zeus smiled at Hera but Poseidon speaks up.
"Don't be scared, have fun in the water," He says encouragingly. "I won't do anything."
Piper leans over to Jason.
"I could teach you…to swim," She whispers. "If you'd like?"
Jason nods and smiles.
Piper leans back in her seat and Jason grabs her hand. She looks at him and smiles.
He shook his head. "Luke meant well, Percy. But taking to the air ... that would not be wise for you."
I nodded, disappointed, but then I got an idea. "Hey, Grover. You want a magic item?"
His eyes lit up. "Me?"
Pretty soon we'd laced the sneakers over his fake feet, and the world's first flying goat boy was ready for launch.
"There is a reason that satyrs don't fly…" Dionysus warns.
"Maia!" he shouted.
Hermes floats out of his throne once again.
"Maia." He says agitatedly.
He got off the ground okay, but then fell over sideways so his backpack dragged through the grass. The winged shoes kept bucking up and down like tiny broncos.
"Practice," Chiron called after him. "You just need practice!"
"Aaaaa!" Grover went flying sideways down the hill like a possessed lawn mower, heading toward the van.
Before I could follow, Chiron caught my arm. "I should have trained you better, Percy," he said. "If only I had more time. Hercules, Jason—they all got more training."
"What is he talking about? Jason" Leo says gesturing to Jason. "Only had about a day at camp before his quest."
"Well technically I think I had around twelve or thirteen, judging by what Thalia said." Jason replies
Piper shakes her head. "You two are both idiots he meant the Original Jason!"
"Oh…" The boys chorus, not looking at anybody while Piper groans and puts her head in her hands.
"That's okay. I just wish—"
I stopped myself because I was about to sound like a brat.
I was wishing my dad had given me a cool magic item to help on the quest, something as good as Luke's flying shoes, or Annabeth's invisible cap.
"I do have a gift for him, why isn't Chiron giving it to him?" Wondered Poseidon.
"What am I thinking?" Chiron cried. "I can't let you get away without this."
He pulled a pen from his coat pocket and handed it to me. It was an ordinary disposable ballpoint, black ink, removable cap. Probably cost thirty cents.
"That's…awesome?" Leo offers. He catches the weird glances from Piper and Jason and sighs. "Sorry bad lie…that blows!"
"Gee," I said. "Thanks."
"Percy, that's a gift from your father. I've kept it for years, not knowing you were who I was waiting for. But the prophecy is clear to me now. You are the one."
Apollo, Hermes and Leo all snort. How cheesy can you get.
I remembered the field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, when I'd vaporized Mrs. Dodds. Chiron had thrown me a pen that turned into a sword. Could this be ... ?
I took off the cap, and the pen grew longer and heavier in my hand. In half a second, I held a shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade, a leather-wrapped grip, and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs. It was the first weapon that actually felt balanced in my hand.
"How strange is it that it's the only weapon that feels right in his hands?" Jason points out. "It's like it was made for him.
"The sword has a long and tragic history that we need not go into," Chiron told me.
Artemis thoughts turn to Zoe and she feels her blood boil at the thought of Hercules.
"Its name is Anaklusmos."
"'Riptide,'" I translated, surprised the Ancient Greek came so easily.
"Use it only for emergencies," Chiron said, "and only against monsters. No hero should harm mortals unless absolutely necessary, of course, but this sword wouldn't harm them in any case."
"Good thing too." Annabeth snorts remembering the time that Percy told her that he had met Rachel by swinging a sword at her.
I looked at the wickedly sharp blade. "What do you mean it wouldn't harm mortals?" How could it not?"
Almost everyone rolled their eyes at that.
"The sword is celestial bronze. Forged by the Cyclopes, tempered in the heart of Mount Etna, cooled in the River Lethe. It's deadly to monsters, to any creature from the Underworld, provided they don't kill you first. But the blade will pass through mortals like an illusion. They simply are not important enough for the blade to kill.
"I'm so telling Rachel that." Annabeth laughs and Piper joins in.
"Remind us to be nowhere near her when you do." Jason says pointing to himself and Leo. That just made the girls laugh harder.
And I should warn you: as a demigod, you can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons. You are twice as vulnerable."
"Good to know."
"I know right" Leo says. "It sucks."
"Now recap the pen."
I touched the pen cap to the sword tip and instantly Riptide shrank to a ballpoint pen again. I tucked it in my pocket, a little nervous, because I was famous for losing pens at school.
"Implant a GPS, "Hephaestus offers.
"You can't," Chiron said.
"Can't what?"
"Lose the pen," he said.
"Already installed?" Hephaestus looks at Annabeth.
"No, no GPS."
"It is enchanted. It will always reappear in your pocket. Try it."
The three new demigods look at Annabeth expecting her to deny it, but she doesn't.
"Seriously?" Leo asks. Annabeth just nods. "That's freaking crazy; cooler than your coin Jason."
"Hey," Jason protests, but quickly closes his mouth. He also thinks that it's pretty cool. "Yeah, that is cool."
I was wary, but I threw the pen as far as I could down the hill and watched it disappear in the grass.
"It may take a few moments," Chiron told me. "Now check your pocket."
Sure enough, the pen was there.
"Awesome." Leo breathes.
"Okay, that's extremely cool," I admitted. "But what if a mortal sees me pulling out a sword?"
Chiron smiled. "Mist is a powerful thing, Percy."
"Mist?"
Piper groans. She didn't really like the mist. Jason grabs her hand and squeezes it.
"Yes. Read The Iliad. It's full of references to the stuff. Whenever divine or monstrous elements mix with the mortal world, they generate Mist, which obscures the vision of humans.
You will see things just as they are, being a half-blood, but humans will interpret things quite differently. Remarkable, really, the lengths to which humans will go to fit things into their version of reality."
"Don't forget to mention that Chiron called her blunt." Piper tells Annabeth and the two of them start laughing again.
I put Riptide back in my pocket.
For the first time, the quest felt real. I was actually leaving Half-Blood Hill.
I was heading west with no adult supervision, no backup plan, not even a cell phone. (Chiron said cell phones were traceable by monsters; if we used one, it would be worse than sending up a flare.) I had no weapon stronger than a sword to fight off monsters and reach the Land of the Dead.
"And I thought finding Hera was hard." Leo groans and Piper and Jason nod.
"Chiron ..." I said. "When you say the gods are immortal... I mean, there was a time before them, right?"
"Four ages before them, actually. The Time of the Titans was the Fourth Age, sometimes called the Golden Age,
"Time of the Titans," Hades growls. "Time of disasters is more like it."
"Even I agree with the lunatic," Demeter says.
which is definitely a misnomer. This, the time of Western civilization and the rule of Zeus, is the Fifth Age."
"So what was it like ... before the gods?"
"Not good hero," Hestia grimaces.
Chiron pursed his lips. "Even I am not old enough to remember that, child, but I know it was a time of darkness and savagery for mortals. Kronos, the lord of the Titans, called his reign the Golden Age because men lived innocent and free of all knowledge. But that was mere propaganda. The Titan king cared nothing for your kind except as appetizers or a source of cheap entertainment.
Annabeth sighs, remembering all of the friends she lost trying to prevent that from happening again.
It was only in the early reign of Lord Zeus, when Prometheus the good Titan brought fire to mankind, that your species began to progress, and even then Prometheus was branded a radical thinker. Zeus punished him severely, as you may recall. Of course, eventually the gods warmed to humans, and Western civilization was born."
"But the gods can't die now, right? I mean, as long as Western civilization is alive, they're alive. So ... even if I failed, nothing could happen so bad it would mess up everything, right?"
Chiron gave me a melancholy smile. "No one knows how long the Age of the West will last, Percy. The gods are immortal, yes. But then, so were the Titans. They still exist, locked away in their various prisons, forced to endure end less pain and punishment, reduced in power, but still very much alive. May the Fates forbid that the gods should ever suffer such a doom, or that we should ever return to the darkness and chaos of the past. All we can do, child, is follow our destiny."
"Percy's destiny sucks." Annabeth says bluntly.
"Our destiny ... assuming we know what that is."
"Relax," Chiron told me. "Keep a clear head. And remember, you may be about to prevent the biggest war in human history."
"Relax," I said. "I'm very relaxed."
"I wouldn't be," Leo comments. "He has to prevent a war, sounds like a lot of pressure."
"That's nothing," Annabeth adds. "Some of the choices he has to make are ridiculously hard. That is like choosing an ice-cream flavour compared to some others."
Poseidon looks frightened after Annabeth's revelation.
When I got to the bottom of the hill, I looked back. Under the pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus, Chiron was now standing in full horse-man form, holding his bow high in salute. Just your typical summer-camp send-off by your typical centaur.
"But of course," Hermes says smiling.
Argus drove us out of the countryside and into western Long Island. It felt weird to be on a highway again, Annabeth and Grover sitting next to me as if we were normal carpoolers. After two weeks at Half-Blood Hill, the real world seemed like a fantasy. I found myself staring at every McDonald's, every kid in the back of his parents' car, every billboard and shopping mall.
"So far so good," I told Annabeth. "Ten miles and not a single monster."
"Idiot." Piper mutters.
She gave me an irritated look. "It's bad luck to talk that way, seaweed brain."
"Remind me again—why do you hate me so much?"
"I don't hate you."
"Could've fooled me."
"He has a point," Jason points out. Annabeth looks down, ignoring everyone's glances.
She folded her cap of invisibility. "Look ... we're just not supposed to get along, okay? Our parents are rivals."
"Why?"
She sighed. "How many reasons do you want? One time my mom caught Poseidon with his girlfriend in Athena's temple, which is hugely disrespectful.
"You bet it is." Athena growls at Poseidon.
Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be the patron god for the city of Athens. Your dad created some stupid saltwater spring for his gift. My mom created the olive tree. The people saw that her gift was better, so they named the city after her."
"They must really like olives."
All of the guys snort.
"Oh, forget it."
"Now, if she'd invented pizza—that I could understand."
"I agree." Apollo nods.
"I said, forget it!"
In the front seat, Argus smiled. He didn't say anything, but one blue eye on the back of his neck winked at me.
Traffic slowed us down in Queens. By the time we got into Manhattan it was sunset and starting to rain.
Argus dropped us at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side, not far from my mom and Gabe's apartment. Taped to a mailbox was a soggy flyer with my picture on it: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BOY?
"He has no luck." Hestia says grimly.
I ripped it down before Annabeth and Grover could notice.
"We both noticed." Annabeth said.
Argus unloaded our bags, made sure we got our bus tickets, then drove away, the eye on the back of his hand opening to watch us as he pulled out of the parking lot.
"Creepy." Leo shivers.
I thought about how close I was to my old apartment. On a normal day, my mom would be home from the candy store by now. Smelly Gabe was probably up there right now, playing poker, not even missing her.
"Jerk." Everyone in the throne room growls
Grover shouldered his backpack. He gazed down the street in the direction I was looking. "You want to know why she married him, Percy?"
I stared at him. "Were you reading my mind or something?"
"Just your emotions." He shrugged.
"No big deal." Apollo says waving his hand down sarcastically.
"Guess I forgot to tell you satyrs can do that. You were thinking about your mom and your stepdad, right?"
I nodded, wondering what else Grover might've forgotten to tell me.
"That's about it." Dionysus says.
"Your mom married Gabe for you," Grover told me. "You call him 'Smelly,' but you've got no idea. The guy has this aura…. Yuck. I can smell him from here. I can smell traces of him on you, and you haven't been near him for a week."
"That's disgusting," Most say.
"Thanks," I said. "Where's the nearest shower?"
"You should be grateful, Percy. Your stepfather smells so repulsively human he could mask the presence of any demigod. As soon as I took a whiff inside his Camaro, I knew: Gabe has been covering your scent for years. If you hadn't lived with him every summer, you probably would've been found by monsters a long time ago. Your mom stayed with him to protect you.
She was a smart lady. She must've loved you a lot to put up with that guy—if that makes you feel any better."
"If anything, it'll make him feel worse." Annabeth sighs.
It didn't, but I forced myself not to show it.
I'll see her again, I thought. She isn't gone.
I wondered if Grover could still read my emotions, mixed up as they were. I was glad he and Annabeth were with me, but I felt guilty that I hadn't been straight with them. I hadn't told them the real reason I'd said yes to this crazy quest.
The truth was, I didn't care about retrieving Zeus's lightning bolt, or saving the world, or even helping my father out of trouble.
Everyone except Annabeth looks shocked at that. Annabeth just smiles.
The more I thought about it, I resented Poseidon for never visiting me, never helping my mom, never even sending a lousy child-support check. He'd only claimed me because he needed a job done.
Poseidon looks down ashamed.
All I cared about was my mom. Hades had taken her unfairly, and Hades was going to give her back.
"You've got to admit," Hades says. "The kid has guts.
You will be betrayed by one who calls you a friend, the Oracle whispered in my mind. You will fail to save what matters most in the end.
"Got to hate prophecies," Leo says and Apollo frowns.
Shut up, I told it.
The rain kept coming down.
We got restless waiting for the bus and decided to play some Hacky Sack with one of Grover's apples. Annabeth was unbelievable.
"Really." Aphrodite says and giggles. Annabeth blushes beat red.
She could bounce the apple off her knee, her elbow, her shoulder, whatever. I wasn't too bad myself.
The game ended when I tossed the apple toward Grover and it got too close to his mouth. In one mega goat bite, our Hacky Sack disappeared—core, stem, and all.
At this everyone bursts out laughing.
Grover blushed. He tried to apologize, but Annabeth and I were too busy cracking up.
Finally the bus came. As we stood in line to board, Grover started looking around, sniffing the air like he smelled his favorite school cafeteria delicacy—enchiladas.
There are a couple chuckles, but the air had grown intense.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I don't know," he said tensely. "Maybe it's nothing."
But I could tell it wasn't nothing. I started looking over my shoulder, too.
"Wise decision." Athena mutters.
I was relieved when we finally got on board and found seats together in the back of the bus. We stowed our back packs. Annabeth kept slapping her Yankees cap nervously against her thigh.
As the last passengers got on, Annabeth clamped her hand onto my knee.
Aphrodite giggles and Annabeth goes redder. "Not like that." She squeaks.
"Percy."
An old lady had just boarded the bus. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. When she tilted her head up, her black eyes glittered, and my heart skipped a beat.
"Huh?" Almost everybody asks confused. Annabeth is the only one not confused.
It was Mrs. Dodds. Older, more withered, but definitely the same evil face.
I scrunched down in my seat.
Behind her came two more old ladies: one in a green hat, one in a purple hat. Otherwise they looked exactly like Mrs. Dodds—same gnarled hands, paisley handbags, wrinkled velvet dresses. Triplet demon grandmothers.
"Three Furies!" Poseidon roars. "Give them a break."
"Yes I agree," Athena glares at Hades. "Not only is the boy there, but so is my daughter, and the satyr. And I don't appreciate you trying to kill my daughter!"
"Shhhh" Ares says. "I'm trying to listen, I think a fights going to happen." He says the last bit like a giddy little girl who's about to get her very own pony.
Just then about 50 KL of freezing cold water was dumped on him and 10 owls were sent to peck his eyes out.
They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two on the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway, making an X. It was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.
"Great," Athena mumbles. She looks at her daughter, scared for her life.
She's here, she's fine. Thinks Athena.
The bus pulled out of the station, and we headed through the slick streets of Manhattan. "She didn't stay dead long," I said, trying to keep my voice from quivering. "I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime."
"I said if you're lucky," Annabeth said. "You're obviously not."
"Understatement of the lifetime." Annabeth mutters.
"All three of them," Grover whimpered. "Di immortales!"
"It's okay," Annabeth said, obviously thinking hard. "The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows."
"They don't open," Grover moaned.
"What kind of design is that?" Hephaestus asks. "Every bus window should be able to open, in case of emergencies."
"A back exit?" she suggested.
There wasn't one. Even if there had been, it wouldn't have helped. By that time, we were on Ninth Avenue, heading for the Lincoln Tunnel.
"Oh great." Mutters Poseidon, looking pale.
"They won't attack us with witnesses around," I said. "Will they?"
"Mortals don't have good eyes," Annabeth reminded me. "Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist."
"They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?"
"Maybe, but they'll still attack." Hades says earning some glares.
She thought about it. "Hard to say. But we can't count on mortals for help. Maybe an emergency exit in the roof ... ?"
We hit the Lincoln Tunnel, and the bus went dark except for the running lights down the aisle. It was eerily quiet without the sound of the rain.
Mrs. Dodds got up. In a flat voice, as if she'd rehearsed it, she announced to the whole bus: "I need to use the rest-room."
"I didn't need to know that." Leo groans and Piper hits him on the head.
"So do I," said the second sister.
"So do I," said the third sister.
"Gross." Apollo says only to be hit on the back of the head by Artemis.
They all started coming down the aisle.
"I've got it," Annabeth said. "Percy, take my hat."
"What?"
"What?"
"Whoa, weird." Hermes mutters.
"You're the one they want. Turn invisible and go up the aisle. Let them pass you. Maybe you can get to the front and get away."
"But you guys—"
"There's an outside chance they might not notice us," Annabeth said. "You're a son of one of the Big Three. Your smell might be overpowering."
"I can't just leave you."
"Good friend," Leo points out.
"Amazing friend," Annabeth corrects.
"Don't worry about us," Grover said. "Go!"
My hands trembled. I felt like a coward, but I took the Yankees cap and put it on.
When I looked down, my body wasn't there anymore.
"No duh, it's an invisibility hat." Hermes says.
I started creeping up the aisle. I managed to get up ten rows, then duck into an empty seat just as the Furies walked past.
Mrs. Dodds stopped, sniffing, and looked straight at me. My heart was pounding.
Apparently she didn't see anything. She and her sisters kept going.
Everyone let out a breath they didn't know they were holding.
I was free. I made it to the front of the bus. We were almost through the Lincoln Tunnel now. I was about to press the emergency stop button when I heard hideous wailing from the back row.
The old ladies were not old ladies anymore. Their faces were still the same—I guess those couldn't get any uglier—but their bodies had shriveled into leathery brown hag bodies with bat's wings and hands and feet like gargoyle claws. Their handbags had turned into fiery whips.
The Furies surrounded Grover and Annabeth, lashing their whips, hissing: "Where is it? Where?"
It. Was Athena's thoughts. He, where is he. Right?
The other people on the bus were screaming, cowering in their seats. They saw something, all right.
"Ya'll be careful out there," Leo says pretending to be an old man. "There be crazy, demonic, triplet grandmothers out there that will eat your flesh." When he finishes Piper applauds him before slapping him on the back of the head.
"He's not here!" Annabeth yelled. "He's gone!"
The Furies raised their whips.
Everyone holds their breath, wondering what will happen.
Annabeth drew her bronze knife. Grover grabbed a tin can from his snack bag and prepared to throw it.
What I did next was so impulsive and dangerous I should've been named ADHD poster child of the year.
"Nope, sorry but Leo was born ADHD poster child." Piper says pointing to Leo, who was momentarily busy playing with a screw driver, some pipe cleaners, and an elastic band.
The bus driver was distracted, trying to see what was going on in his rearview mirror.
Still invisible, I grabbed the wheel from him and jerked it to the left. Everybody howled as they were thrown to the right, and I heard what I hoped was the sound of three Furies smashing against the windows.
"Awesome," Hermes and Apollo shout.
"Hey!" the driver yelled. "Hey—whoa!"
We wrestled for the wheel. The bus slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal, throwing sparks a mile behind us.
"Oh just great, now they're all going to die." Athena says glaring at Poseidon, then looks at her daughter making sure she was okay.
We careened out of the Lincoln Tunnel and back into the rainstorm, people and monsters tossed around the bus, cars plowed aside like bowling pins.
"Just like when I ride my bike."
Somehow the driver found an exit. We shot off the highway, through half a dozen traffic lights, and ended up barreling down one of those New Jersey rural roads where you can't believe there's so much nothing right across the river from New York. There were woods to our left, the Hudson River to our right, and the driver seemed to be veering toward the river.
Another great idea: I hit the emergency brake.
"This is going to end badly," Athena grimaces.
"Who cares," Ares smiles. "Actions picking up."
The bus wailed, spun a full circle on the wet asphalt, and crashed into the trees. The emergency lights came on. The door flew open. The bus driver was the first one out, the passengers yelling as they stampeded after him. I stepped into the driver's seat and let them pass.
The Furies regained their balance. They lashed their whips at Annabeth while she waved her knife and yelled in Ancient Greek, telling them to back off. Grover threw tin cans.
"He really needs to learn how to use a weapon." Ares says exasperatedly.
"I think you'll find that reed pipes are a weapon, at least when you use the melodies in a certain way." Annabeth says remembering Hyperion and Kronos.
I looked at the open doorway. I was free to go, but I couldn't leave my friends. I took off the invisible cap. "Hey!"
"Idiot," Annabeth smiles.
This does not go unnoticed by Aphrodite, who looks confused. Annabeth had said that they were just good friends. That must have been it; otherwise it must mean that… Aphrodite resists the urge to squeal. Maybe she was right and they were together. Or maybe she was wrong, and they were just good friends. All this confusion was giving her a headache.
The Furies turned, baring their yellow fangs at me, and the exit suddenly seemed like an excellent idea. Mrs. Dodds stalked up the aisle, just as she used to do in class, about to deliver my F- math test. Every time she flicked her whip, red flames danced along the barbed leather.
Her two ugly sisters hopped on top of the seats on either side of her and crawled toward me like huge nasty lizards.
"Perseus Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said, in an accent that was definitely from somewhere farther south than Georgia. "You have offended the gods. You shall die."
"He always offends the gods," Annabeth sighs. "Get used to it."
Poseidon pales considerably at that.
"I liked you better as a math teacher," I told her.
She growled.
"Who wouldn't?" Hermes asks.
Annabeth and Grover moved up behind the Furies cautiously, looking for an opening.
I took the ballpoint pen out of my pocket and uncapped it. Riptide elongated into a shimmering double-edged sword.
The Furies hesitated.
Mrs. Dodds had felt Riptide's blade before. She obviously didn't like seeing it again.
"You think." Piper says in a 'duh!' way.
"Submit now," she hissed. "And you will not suffer eternal torment."
"Nice try," I told her.
"Percy, look out!" Annabeth cried.
Mrs. Dodds lashed her whip around my sword hand while the Furies on the either side lunged at me.
Gasps were heard all over the room, wondering what was going to happen.
My hand felt like it was wrapped in molten lead, but I managed not to drop Riptide. I stuck the Fury on the left with its hilt, sending her toppling backward into a seat. I turned and sliced the Fury on the right. As soon as the blade connected with her neck, she screamed and exploded into dust. Annabeth got Mrs. Dodds in a wrestler's hold and yanked her backward while Grover ripped the whip out of her hands.
"Ow!" he yelled. "Ow! Hot! Hot!"
Annabeth rolls her eyes. "There was just flames going up it and you didn't think that it'd be hot!"
The Fury I'd hilt-slammed came at me again, talons ready, but I swung Riptide and she broke open like a piñata.
"Oooh! Was there candy?" Leo asks, getting bored of his little project.
"Don't mind him, he's an idiot." Piper says putting a little too much emotion into her voice.
"I'M AN IDIOT!" Leo shouts and starts running around the room. Everyone bursts out laughing at that.
"Sorry Leo." Piper whispers when he sat back down and everyone quieted down.
Mrs. Dodds was trying to get Annabeth off her back. She kicked, clawed, hissed and bit, but Annabeth held on while Grover got Mrs. Dodds's legs tied up in her own whip. Finally they both shoved her backward into the aisle. Mrs. Dodds tried to get up, but she didn't have room to flap her bat wings, so she kept falling down.
Snorts are heard all around the room.
"Zeus will destroy you!" she promised. "Hades will have your soul!"
"Braccas meas vescimini!" I yelled.
Jason laughs at the Latin, earning some strange looks from almost everyone else.
I wasn't sure where the Latin came from.
I think it meant "Eat my pants!"
At this all of the guys burst out laughing while all of the girls (Except for Artemis who just smiled and muttered how idiotic boys were) tried to hold in their laughter, but in some cases it came out.
Thunder shook the bus. The hair rose on the back of my neck.
"Get out!" Annabeth yelled at me. "Now!" I didn't need any encouragement.
We rushed outside and found the other passengers wandering around in a daze, arguing with the driver, or running around in circles yelling, "We're going to die!" A Hawaiian-shirted tourist with a camera snapped my photograph before I could recap my sword.
"Stalker." Apollo and Hermes sing.
"Our bags!" Grover realized. "We left our—"
BOOOOOM!
The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof, but an angry wail from inside told me Mrs. Dodds was not yet dead.
"Dad!" Jason says, but Zeus just stares at the floor.
"Run!" Annabeth said. "She's calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!"
"You speak Fury?" Leo asks
"No." Annabeth sighs. "I was using common sense.
We plunged into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind us, and nothing but darkness ahead.
"So that's it." Artemis says closing the book. "Who wants to go next?"
"I will." Demeter says taking the book off of Artemis and opening it to the right page.
"We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium," Demeter read.
I hope you all liked this. I'll have the last chapter I'm posting today up soon.