I'm really sorry, you guys. I've been so dang busy it isn't even funny. School starts in twenty days and I will say that I'm not to pleased about losing my freedom.
And... you guys are going to get really mad at me, but this isn't even the climaxing chapter. It's got action and I thought about stopping it a couple times before, but kept going. But now this thing is over seven pages long and I just had to stop it. So... it's got action, but I doubt it's the action you want. NEXT CHAPTER THINGS WILL BE RESOLVED... sort of. Um... yeah. I promise I'll update sooner than I did this time... this weekend, probably. The next chapter is a Frank chapter... I think.
Quiz Question of the Update: Wow, I was so distracted last time, I forgot to even do a quiz question. So sue me.
Enjoy! I really like this one... MWA HA HA HA!
XVIII
Piper
Piper's day was getting progressively worse by the minute.
It hadn't started out bad. When Leo had announced that they had landed in France, Piper immediately felt in her element. She was a natural speaker, and although Annabeth, Frank, and Hazel could speak a little bit of the language, for once Piper wasn't just a pretty face and a sweet voice. Kind of nice, for once.
They all decided to make the most of their little break. Annabeth dragged Percy off to do some sightseeing. Leo wandered off to Zeus knows where. Frank and Jason, being the responsible ship members, went to go restock supplies. Hazel and Piper decided to do some shopping and be normal teenage girls for a while... well, as normal as you could get when you were heavily armed and on constant lookout for threats to your life.
The two of them strolled down the streets. The air was nice and cool for a summer's day. They bought some chocolate eclairs at a small shop in the town square and munched on their breakfast as they window shopped.
It wasn't long before Annabeth and Percy rejoined them, Annabeth looking disappointed. Percy was grinning.
"Bird Brain here didn't realize that we were nowhere near any of those places she was talking about. The best we could find was a water fountain." He leaned in towards Hazel and Piper. "Lucky for me too. When you've been stopped in running for your life to go look at some building it kind of takes the excitement out of it," he whispered, grinning, before stealing the rest of Hazel's pastry and shoving it in his mouth.
"Hey!" Hazel pretended to be angry.
"Sowwy," Percy said with his mouth full. "M hunry."
"When aren't you?" Hazel replied. He shrugged and swallowed the rest of Hazel's breakfast. She watched it go mournfully.
Annabeth was muttering grumpily under her breath, but Percy was smiling away, per usual. "What are you guys doing?"
"Nothing much," Piper said. "Shopping, eating, trying not to die."
"Shopping?" Annabeth looked a little perkier. "What kind of shopping?"
"Eating?" Percy's smile grew even wider. "What is there?"
Hazel laughed. "We're kind of just shopping for whatever catches our fancy."
"My treat," Piper said, holding up a wad of cash. When the others protested, she held up a hand. "Look guys, this is my money. And this might be the last time I can spend it. Besides, girls needs to indulge sometimes. It's fine."
"There's no food left, is there?" Percy asked hopefully.
Annabeth laughed and rolled her eyes. "Come on, Seaweed Brain. I promise you won't die of starvation."
"Hey, you never know!" Percy said as they made their way down the street. "I could suddenly drop dead because you didn't feed me in the last twenty seconds!"
Thirty minutes later, the girls came out of a shop, followed by a very disgruntled Percy, who had just been forced to sit outside a changing room while Annabeth, Hazel, and Piper "indulged."
Surprisingly, Annabeth was really good with clothes. She could tell just by looking whether something would look good on you or not. Piper suspected it was because of her math brain. Hazel was amazing with the colors. Anything she picked out would somehow flatter your skin tone, or complexion, or eyes. And Percy was good at wolf whistling whenever he thought something looked hot. He whistled a lot when Annabeth came out, but even that wasn't very stimulating.
The four of them continued through the town, soon becoming laden with bags. More often than not, one of the three girls would spot something insanely cute and squeal, alerting the others, who would in turn throw their bags at Percy, who was starting to look like a walking mall advertisement.
After about an hour and a half of strolling, squealing, and splurging, Percy collapsed onto a bench, parcels scattering around him.
"I'm exhausted," he muttered. "Can we do something else now?"
Annabeth ignored him, instead going over to another window and peering in. "It's empty... or looks empty," she said, walking over to the door. "But the sign says it's open."
"Well, yippee," Percy grumbled. "Maybe they're selling air. Get over it."
"Percy, it's strange-"
"So strange because there is an abandoned shop and someone put a sign that says 'Open' on it for a prank? You're getting paranoid, Annabeth."
"I am not paranoid! I just think it's weird."
"Yeah, sure, and soon you'll start seeing spiders everywhere."
"Percy... I'm trying really hard not to lose my temper here."
"Why? Because you're afraid that the sign will get scared and switched to 'Closed' because it doesn't want some paranoid murderess coming inside of it?"
"I AM NOT PARANOID!"
Piper and Hazel chose to ignore the bickering pair and instead made a slow lap around the corner. The end of the small street met a river. Piper and Hazel went down to it and sat on the bank, their feet dangling near the water in silence.
Suddenly, Hazel spoke. "Hey, Piper, you know stuff about boys, right?"
"Well, I am the daughter of the Goddess of Love." Piper looked at the younger girl curiously. "Why?"
Hazel sighed. "I'm just... really confused right now." She stopped, glancing over at Piper to see if she was listening. "I like one guy, but then I just met another guy who I might have liked in the past, if it was the same guy and-" She stopped. "It's too confusing. Never mind."
"No, I know exactly what you're talking about," Piper said, slightly enjoying Hazel's look of disbelief. "You like Frank, but you think that Leo might be some guy you liked from your past, but he's supposed to be called Sammy and possibly supposed to be dead."
Hazel's mouth dropped open. "How... how did you... I... um..."
Piper laughed inwardly. "I'd say it was all part of my mystic powers to see into other's love affairs, but actually..." She glanced around and leaned in mysteriously. "...Frank asked me for advice about the same thing."
Hazel managed a small smile. "Oh."
Piper tapped her chin, thinking. "If I had to give you one piece of advice, I'd say... follow your heart. And I know, that sounds really cliche, but you're heart is in the right place, Hazel. And it's going to lead you to the right answer. That probably wasn't really helpful, was it?" she asked, seeing the faint look of disappointment on Hazel's face.
"Not really," Hazel said.
"Well, if you ever need someone to talk to... you know, about this kind of stuff, I'm here, okay?"
Hazel smiled at her. "Okay. Thanks, Piper."
"No problem."
They dwelled in the sunlight silently a little more, before Percy plopped down beside Hazel.
"Hi," he said. His hair was rumpled and he had a red mark on his face, like he had been slapped. "Remind me never to call Annabeth paranoid again."
Hazel rolled her eyes. "I doubt that will stop you."
Percy grinned. "You know me. Always the rebel."
Annabeth appeared by Piper. "What have you guys been up to?"
Hazel and Piper looked at each other. "Nothing."
Percy stood up again and cocked his head. "I think I can hear Jason and Frank calling us. Must be time to leave."
Hazel and Piper got to their feet and turned to leave. They walked down the street before Annabeth's voice stopped them.
"Hey guys," she said, still standing by the river and looking in cautiously. "Why is the water bubbling?"
"What?" Percy raced back the the back, followed by Piper and Hazel, and leaned in too. "What the heck is that?" He knelt at the edge and made to stick his hand in, as if to test the temperature.
And that's when they were attacked by the giant worms.
Worms are usually not deadly creatures... unless you get frightened to death when you see them. And after the giant worm attack, Piper wasn't sure that she'd ever be able to look at a worm again without shuddering.
As Percy stuck his hand in, the water suddenly erupted into a blast of white foam, throwing them all backwards and fogging up their vision. Piper could hear Percy yelling and Annabeth calling back to him, but their words were mashed together in a whirl of sound, making it impossible for Piper to tell what they were saying.
As fast as the water came spurting up, it suddenly cleared, rushing back into a wall of water in front of the river, blocking whatever had attacked. Piper brushed her sopping hair back from her face.
They were all completely soaked, except for Percy. He was holding up one hand, keeping the water back. His other arm was cradled to his chest, bleeding from a wound in his forearm.
"What the Hades was that?" Hazel asked shakily, getting to her feet.
Annabeth looked shocked. "I have no clue. Percy?"
Percy was sifting the water around, trying to find something. "There's something in here guys... I'm not sure what it is. All I saw was that it was large... and white... and WHAT THE HADES IS THAT?"
At that moment, something large and white flew from Percy's water wall and launched itself at him. Percy ducked and the thing flew over his head, landing in the sopping grass behind them.
They all whirled around. Lying on the grass was an large, blobby, enormously fat white worm.
"We're being attacked by a WORM?" Percy said. "I'm not sure whether to laugh or be insulted."
"Percy, that's an Indos Worm!" Annabeth told him. "They're carnivorous. And it should be living in the River Indos. That's in India."
"Well, obviously it migrated," Percy grumbled. The worm started wriggling towards them. "Did you say it was carnivorous."
"Yes," Annabeth said, eyeing his bleeding arm. "That's what bit you."
"Yeah, kind of figured that," Percy muttered, trying to keep his eyes both on his wall of water and on the worm that was slowly coming towards them.
"Well, why don't we just run away. It's not moving that fast anyway," Piper suggested.
"Yeah, about that..." Percy said. "To do that I'll have to drop the barricade and I'm pretty sure there are some more worms inside of it. They'll all come rushing at us."
The worm was getting steadily closer. Piper moved her foot away from it's mouth.
"Who has a shield?" Annabeth asked.
No one raised their hands.
Annabeth sighed. "Alright. The only way out of this that I can see is up. We have to climb up to the roof. Then Percy can let the worms go. We'll leave them out here to dry, or find Leo and have him burn them. Let's go."
Hazel and Piper started climbing up. Luckily, the climbing wall at camp had left Piper perfectly capable of scaling a brick wall.
"Come on!" Hazel called down to Percy and Annabeth.
Annabeth nodded and clambered up. But Percy stayed on the ground, watching his wall.
"What are you waiting for, Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth yelled down at him. "Come on!"
"I can't!" Percy called back desperately. "If I break my concentration, the wall is going to come down!"
"You better get up here right this minute or I swear I'll kill you."
"I'm sorry, Annabeth," Percy said. He turned back to the water and dropped the wall. Immediately, a mass of wriggling, squirming white worms fell and shot towards him.
With speed Piper didn't know they had, Annabeth and Hazel shrieked, flopped down on their stomachs and yanked Percy up to the roof, only a second before the Indos reached his shoes. They collapsed backwards, panting.
"Ow," Percy said. "I think you yanked my arms out of my sockets."
"If you do that again, Perseus Jackson," Annabeth growled. "I will make sure that you have a lot more to worry about than that."
"Okay," Percy squeaked.
Hazel stood and brushed herself off. "We'd better go find the others."
It didn't take long.
Almost as soon as the four of them had clambered off the roof and ran a few blocks away from the field of carnivorous worms, Frank and Jason had rushed up to them.
"Are you guys okay?" Frank said. "We've been looking everywhere for you."
"What happened?" Jason asked, catching sight of Percy's arm.
"Nothing," Percy said. "I almost dropped dead from being forced to carry a bunch of girls clothes around and then almost got eaten by a worm."
"WHAT?" both Jason and Frank exclaimed.
"We'll explain later," Hazel said. "Where's Leo?"
Jason shrugged. "I don't know. Haven't seen him since we split up."
"He's probably back at the ship," Annabeth said. "Come on."
They started back for the ship quietly, not really wanting to attract any more monsters. Unfortunately, before they had the ship in their sights, they ran into a sheep.
"A sheep?" Percy asked, confused. "What the Hades is a sheep doing in the middle of the road?"
"I'm getting worried..." Annabeth muttered. "No people, giant man-eating worms, and now a random sheep. Something isn't right."
"Yeah," Jason agreed. "I've had the same feeling. We need to get back to the boat. Now."
Just then, the sheep lunged. It latched itself onto Jason's leg. He fell to the ground and with amazing speed, the sheep dragged him into the abandoned shop Annabeth had been looking at earlier.
"Jason!" Piper yelled. She heard him shout once as the sheep dragged him through the door, then nothing. She turned to the others. "We have to rescue him!"
"From a sheep?" Percy said like he still couldn't believe it.
"Actually, saving Jason from a sheep is looking pretty good right now," Hazel said, pointing down the street. "Guys! The worms are back!"
Indeed they were. Fat white lumps with teeth were inching their way down the street.
"Let's go," Percy said and they all ducked into the abandoned shop.
"Oh, yuck," Piper said. "Take a whiff of this place."
For a shop that had obviously been abandoned for years, it stank of sweat, wet wool, and smoke. Not exactly the things you'd expect to smell in an abandoned shop.
It was so dark, Piper couldn't see anything. "Jason?" She called softly into the darkness. He groaned.
Frank morphed into an owl and peered around the shop for a second before returning to his human form. "He's over there," he said, pointing to a corner.
Piper and the others rushed over. Jason was lying on the dusty floor, his leg bent at a weird angle, obviously broken. He was pale and his eyes were wide in fear.
"Piper..." he whispered.
"Shh, it's okay. You'll be okay. Anyone have some nectar or ambrosia?" Piper asked the others. Annabeth started digging in her pockets.
"Piper..." Jason said a little more urgently.
"We'll get you out of here, don't worry," Piper told him. "Can you walk."
He tried and moaned in pain.
"I'll take that as a no," Percy said. He slid his uninjured arm underneath Jason's. Frank took the other side and they helped Jason to his feet. Annabeth dug out a small square of ambrosia and handed it to Piper, who tried to give it to Jason.
"It's... it's... it's a... get out." He pushed her away. "Run. Go. Run. Now... it's a trap! He's behind you!" Jason pointed a trembling hand behind them.
Slowly, Piper turned... and gasped.
Standing so high that his head was almost brushing the ceiling was a giant. He was stroking a sheep in his palm and held a large club that was lit on fire at the end. He was wearing dirty, bloodstained rags with smoking holes burned through them. A broken smile creased his face, giving him a sinister look in the flickering torchlight.
"Demigods," he said in a voice that sounded like it hadn't been used in quite a few centuries. "It has been a long time since I have met any demigods. I have waited patiently to break you. Now my time has come. I shall have my revenge. And Gaea will reward me!" He glared at them. "Who's first?"
MWA HA HA HA HA! CLIFFHANGER!
Well, that was a nice long chapter. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I liked writing it... and I enjoyed writing it a lot.
I PROMISE I WILL UPDATE! And if I don't you are free to chase me with pitchforks, Daleks, Orcs, Inferi, Dragons, Monsters, Evil Pink Teddy Bears, and any other means of punishment to get me to update sooner.
School starts in twenty days. Not looking forward to it. : (
QUIZ QUESTION OF THE UPDATE: What is this quote referring to?
"I hoped it met the boar of it's dreams down in Tartarus." ~Percy Jackson
IF YOU NAME THE BOOK THAT IT'S IN, YOU GET BONUS POINTS!
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. And although I wish I owned a man-eating worm, that's not happening any time soon.
WISH ME LUCK, MY FRIENDS! FOR I AM GOING TO TEACH YOUNG CHILDREN (mostly boys) THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THEATER! I MAY NOT RETURN FROM THE DEPTHS OF THIS TORTURE!
I leave my story to... whoever wants it should I not return. But I will.
Probably...
I really need the man-eating worm now.
Me: No, I don't know how your children mysteriously disappeared... it wasn't my worm Fluffy or anything... he he he... NO! FLUFFY! PUT THE CHILD DOWN! Oops. Too late... ANGRY MOB! AAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!
Yeah...
REVIEW!