AN: Remember five more reviews before the next chapter, give me ideas and critique.
Thalia had "borrowed" a car from a parking lot in front of a Chanticleer (it was a Mercedes) and we were now speeding down the highway. Unfortunately we had already been pulled over by a cop, but Thalia had done this weird snapping thing and the cop left us alone. She said something about the Mist and sped off, weaving in and out of traffic. I was definitely convinced that Thalia's driving was going to get us killed and by the lack of color in Alex's face and her death grip on the door handle I was pretty sure Alex agreed.
"Thalia, could you possibly slow down and not get us killed?" I asked as she pulled into the shoulder to get past another car.
"Do you want to get there or not?" She replied, sharply.
"Yes," I began, "but I would rather get there in one piece to actually kill Ouranos, not have him laughing at my mangled body."
"Fine!" She exclaimed and began to slow down, but the speedometer never dipped under 100. Alex mouthed "Thank You" to me and I grinned at her.
"Who are we meeting anyway?" Alex inquired, talking for the first time since Thalia had gotten on the highway.
"I told you just some old friends," she answered, getting a little pissy.
"Do you not trust us? Is that why you won't tell us?" Alex pulled herself forward and looked at Thalia.
"No that's not it…. It's just..." Thalia tried to come up with the right words.
"It's just what?" Now I was right next to Alex and I was staring intently at Thalia.
"Never mind, we're just going to see Percy and Annabeth Jackson," she explained, finally caving.
"THE Annabeth and Percy Jackson?" Alex asked, excitedly.
"Yes," Thalia sighed.
"I thought that Percy was the son of Poseidon." I interjected.
"He is."
"Then why is he nowhere near the ocean? He's in the middle of Florida!" I exclaimed.
"They're just visiting Annabeth's parents," Thalia explained, "and we need to pick some things up from the townhouse that they're living in, for the time being."
That satisfied our curiosity and we relaxed in the car the rest of the way there, well as much as we could relax. We were about to exit the highway, when two things slithered onto the street. I groaned, inwardly, I had learned to hate snakes above all other mythological animals. We got out and the snakes did the last thing that I expected they whipped out two leathery looking wings, each, and began flapping them.
"Oh crap! They're winged serpents!" Thalia shouted.
"Really? I thought they were Care Bears!" I shot back. Thalia gave me another one of her glares and she pulled out her bow. I did likewise and Alex pulled her sword out.
I started to shoot rapidly at them, as cars whizzed by us, honking and people shouting vulgar things at us (I would tell you them, but they were almost as bad New York traffic language). The serpents easily flew from side to side dodging our arrows and that's when an idea hit me.
"Thalia, you distract the serpents while Alex and I sneak behind them and grab on," I whispered through the sides of my mouth and she nodded.
"Oi buggers!" She shouted in a strange British accent. Alex and I snuck around the side of the road dodging traffic and ignoring even more vulgar obscenities.
The serpents were hissing at her and they paid no attention to us as we slowly crept up behind them. Finally when we were close enough Alex and I both lunged and grabbed on to the two serpents. They let out a shriek and we learned that they were much stronger than they looked. They began to fly higher and higher as Alex and I held on for our lives.
"Don't let go!" Thalia screamed, trying to help.
"That's exactly what I was thinking of doing right now! I mean we're thirty feet up in the air, how much would it hurt?" I yelled back down.
Alex, slowly, started to climb up the serpent and finally she grabbed on to one of its wings. They began to fall like a rock and when they were about ten feet above the ground Alex let go and the serpent slowed them down just in time. Thalia then ran up and impaled the serpent that was being subdued by Alex.
"Do what I did!" Alex shouted up.
I, painstakingly, began to climb up the serpent and it began to writhe. Finally, I reached one of its wings and I pulled it down. Just as Alex and the other serpent had we began to plummet to the ground. I let go at around ten feet up and the serpent slowed us down to the point where I could touch the ground. Alex ran up and impaled the serpent and it let out its last shriek of pain and turned to dust.
"Get back into the car," Thalia ordered, as we heard sirens in the background.
We got back in and Thalia sped off the highway into Orlando, Florida. Orlando was…. Clean. That's pretty much all it was. There were big buildings and everything, but all I could say about was that it was clean. We, finally, slowed down and Alex and I heaved a sigh of relief. Thalia seemed to have been here before because she seemed to know exactly where we were going.
We pulled out in front of a townhouse that was near the center of the town. It was made of red bricks and it had a small perfectly cut lawn with a young girl playing on it. We walked out and the little girl got up and ran towards Thalia. She had jet-black hair and startling gray eyes.
"Aunt Thawia!" the little girl exclaimed and gave a hug to Thalia. I snickered at Aunt "Thawia" and, of course, Thalia glared at me.
"Come on, Allegra, let's go see Mommy and Daddy," Thalia urged and Allegra took her hand leading us up the stairs and inside.
"Mommy! Daddy! Aunt Thawia is here!" the little girl yelled.
"Thalia!" a voice exclaimed, from inside another room. A young woman came out, wiping her hands on a towel. She had bouncy blonde hair that went to her shoulders, startling grey eyes, like Allegra, and she had silver owl earrings.
"Thalia? Is that you?" A man's voice asked. A young man with jet-black hair and sea green eyes walked out of another room.
"Percy, Annabeth! It's so good to see you!" Thalia yelled and she engulfed them both in hugs.
"Come in, let me get some coffee!" Annabeth beckoned and we followed her into the living room. Once we all had coffee they all caught up on what they had been doing and then they finally acknowledged that we existed at all.
"So, who are these two?" Percy asked, looking us over.
"Alex and Jon," Thalia explained, "Jon is the son of Artemis."
"Aaaah, another prophecy-child," Percy mused, "I know how that feels."
"Thalia, I know that you're not here just to catch up," Annabeth interjected.
"I could never fool you could I?" Thalia replied and Annabeth laughed, "We're heading to destroy Ouranos before he is reborn. We need to get those things that I left here the last time I visited."
Percy nodded curtly and he led us to some stairs leading to what I thought would be the basement. When we got to the door Percy stuck a ballpoint pen in a slot and Annabeth put one of her earrings in another slot and they both entered a code. The door let out a hissing sound and Percy opened it up.
"You two must swear on the River Styx that you will never tell anyone about the existence of this vault," he threatened.
"I swear on the River Styx," Alex and I said at the same time and a large rumble was heard from the sky.
"Good, now go in," Thalia urged and we walked in.
AN: Oooo, what's in the vault? Review or you will never find out.