(With Annabeth)
Annabeth had woken up to a comfortable feeling, she remembered meeting the fox last night maybe he left her. She woke up and looked around nervously, she couldn't see him anywhere, she felt sad, her friend had left her alone again. She sat up and pulled her blanket off, she then reached up for the scarf around her neck, wait… she didn't have a scarf. She reached up around her neck and found something very soft clinging to her, she grabbed it and pulled it off her, she heard it make a small bark in disagreement but soon found herself looking at the eyes of the small fox.
"Hello, thank you for helping me yesterday." Annabeth said, "do you have a name?"
The fox looked at her, then tilted his head slightly, she giggled at that and then set him down.
"No, I guess you need a name now." Annabeth pondered it for a minute. The fox sat in her lap and eyed her curiously, it then reached up at her and licked her nose, "stop it." She giggled. "What should I call you?"
The fox then looked up at her and opened its mouth, it then shocked Annabeth's young mind, "Ann-anna…" It began, "Annnnnabe…" It was struggling but had nearly made it, "Annnnabeet" It said proudly, "Annabet" It then scrunched up its face a little bit, "Annabet?" It asked inquisitively.
"Annabeth." Annabeth corrected, shocked that the fox could speak, "you can speak?" She asked amazed.
"Annabethhhh." The fox struggled, "Annabeth." It finally managed, she smiled at him and he grinned back before saying "Annabeth," repeatedly. She smiled at that and petted him affectionately on the head.
"Can you say anything else?" Annabeth asked, they fox looked confused for a minute.
"Annabeth?" He tried, it didn't work.
"Well, how about I teach you to speak better?" Annabeth asked, "it's the least I can do, you saved me after all."
The fox clearly didn't know what she was saying but agreed with a positive, "Annabeth." He gave a swift nod to highlight this more.
Annabeth giggled at the fox, "ok, try saying yes, Y-E-S." She spoke clearly.
"Yeash." The fox tried, tilting his head to the side.
"Yes." Annabeth corrected.
"Yeas." The fox tried then frowned slightly, "yess" he smiled a bit more before trying once more, "yes." He then smiled cutely at the young child.
"Well done." Annabeth praised and patted him on the head lightly, "come on, I think we had better get a move on." Annabeth said, nervously glancing around the trees.
"Yes." The fox replied.
"As for a name, I think I'll call you… Foxy?" Annabeth asked, the fox shook a negative, "silver?" another negative, "how about… Whiskers?" The fox contemplated this one and eventually agreed. "Well then Whiskers, let's go." Annabeth said and they went off, further into the woods.
They eventually came to a river and both stopped to get a drink, Annabeth had taught her new companion how to speak and he was taking to it relatively quickly. He had learned the basics and could understand some of what Annabeth was saying, she mostly just pointed things out to him and said what they were, he then attempted to say them until he got it right. They made it to a small town, the sign said something like Administrate, but her dyslexia might have been acting up. For some reason though no one passing them seemed to care that the fox was talking which seemed weird to Annabeth.
They were now going through a park in one of the small towns, Annabeth wanted to play on the swings and since her vulpine companion didn't seem to disagree, they went there. Annabeth sat on one swing while Whiskers struggled to stay on the other, he seemed happy though, he got off the swing and decided to try to push Annabeth. He jumped and pushed on the swing, the seven-year-old giggled at the height she got from the swing and he kept jumping to push the swing. Eventually, he got tired and lay down on the ground beside the swings, Annabeth got tired and decided it was time to leave, it was getting dark now and monsters would be coming out soon.
She shivered at the thought of the monsters that had been chasing her, she ran away because her dad and step-mom were always mean to her. She didn't like her step-brothers either, they never played with her, but now she had Whiskers, he would play with her now. She remembered what her dad said, it was all her mom's fault, before she left he told her what she was, after that the monsters started attacking more often. Her dad and step-mom would get angry at her and blame her, and they didn't believe her most of the time, especially about the spiders.
Spiders always scared her, they would always sneak in when she was asleep and bite her, she hated it, and her dad would never believe her. She looked at Whiskers and smiled when he looked up at her, he then yawned widely and she felt tired as well, maybe they could find a safe place to sleep. She soon found a bench to lie on and sat down on it, and then went into her bag and pulled out her blanket which she then wrapped around herself. Whiskers hopped to her shoulder and curled his tail around her protectively, he licked her face and then wrapped his tail around her. It seemed to grow longer than a tail like that had any right to be, but he put it behind her head like a pillow, he then sat beside her and fell asleep.
She woke up in the middle of the night to the feeling she always hated, the spiders had found her again. One of them was now on her leg and had bit her, she jumped up in fear and swatted at the beast, she woke up her startled friend when she jumped. He looked at her curiously and then growled when he saw the spiders, there were only a few now. He jumped up and swiped at them, they seemed to be scared of him and fled in terror of being squashed by the creature.
Whiskers then went over to Annabeth and licked her face, she stopped looking so scared and smiled at the fox. "Thank you," she said, "I don't like spiders." She said.
"Sp-spidrs… bad." Whiskers agreed,
"Yeah, spiders are bad." Annabeth said.
Whiskers looked up, he saw the moon shining down and smiled at it, "Annabeth… what that?" Naruto asked, she had taught him that question so he could say when he didn't know things.
Annabeth looked up at the moon and smiled, "that's the moon." She said, "it looks like your fur." She commented.
"Like… moon." Whiskers said happily.
"Yeah, me too." Annabeth said.
"Annabeth… sleep?" Whiskers asked her.
"Yeah, let's go back to sleep." They then went back to the bench and went back under the blanket, now though, Annabeth wrapped her arm around whiskers back and held him to her face.
The next morning the two of them awoke to the sound of the birds chirping, they looked around the park and decided to get a move on. Annabeth was hungry now and decided to try to get some food, she didn't have much money left though so she went to the nearest shop and tried to buy something for her and Whiskers to eat. She managed to get some sandwiches but only had a few dollars left, she gave one of the sandwiches to Whiskers who happily ate away while she ate hers slowly. She sighed when her stomach growled and Whiskers seemed to notice how hungry she was, though she tried to hide it from her friend.
"Annabeth… need… food." Whiskers said, finding it hard to put all the words together right.
"No, I'm fine, we may need this money for later." Annabeth replied.
"Mon-nay?" Whiskers asked, he was getting better at finding the words, "need… money?"
"Yeah, we're running out of it." Annabeth said sadly.
"Where… money?" Whiskers asked.
"People have it, it looks like this, I don't suppose you have any?" She asked jokingly.
"No… but… people, have it?" Whiskers said with a grin.
"Yeah…" Annabeth didn't understand.
"I… back… quick." Whiskers said and then left Annabeth alone, a few minutes later the fox reappeared with something in his mouth. "People… money." He said with a grin and dumped a small purse down at Annabeth's feet.
"Where did you get this?" Annabeth asked, confused for a minute it before it clicked, "you stole it?" She asked shocked.
"Stool?" Whiskers asked confused.
"Stole, it means you took it off someone." Annabeth said.
"Yes… stole." Whiskers said happily.
"You can't steal things!" Annabeth exclaimed, the fox looked confused.
"Why… Annabeth… not… happy?" Whiskers asked confused.
"You can't steal it's wrong." Annabeth said.
"Why? People have… Annabeth not." Whiskers said.
"Because it's wrong." Annabeth said, "how would you feel if someone stole from us?"
"Us… have… none." Whiskers said sadly, "people… have."
"But it isn't right, please don't steal." Annabeth asked.
"…Yes… Whiskers… no steal… Annabeth happy?" Whiskers asked.
"Thank you, though I think we should keep this… now that we have it there's no use giving it away." Annabeth said, Whiskers looked confused.
"Annabeth… stole?" He asked.
"No, I'm just… keeping it." Annabeth finished.
"Annabeth… happy?" He asked again.
"Yeah, I'm happy." Annabeth said and Whiskers grinned, so long as she was happy.
"Annabeth… need… food." The fox said and Annabeth's stomach grumbled in agreement.
"Fine." She went back to the shop and grabbed two more sandwiches, apparently the person Whiskers got the purse from was rich. Annabeth started on her sandwich and handed the other two Whiskers, he shook his head in a negative fashion.
"Whiskers… no hungry… Annabeth hungry… Annabeth food." Whiskers said.
"But you need to eat too." Annabeth said.
"Whiskers… umm." He couldn't find the word in his rather small vocabulary, he tried to mime out small with his tail and front paws.
"Small?" Annabeth guessed.
"Small… Annabeth… not small… Annabeth need food." Whiskers said.
"…Fine." Annabeth finally conceded.
She then ate both sandwiches and they left the area, they were travelling all day, Annabeth teaching Whiskers new words as they went on. They soon found their way to another small forest and made a camp when they noticed the sun setting, Annabeth started shivering and Whiskers put the blanket around her. He then crawled in and sat in her lap, Annabeth snuggled into him and found him to be very warm, he felt like a hot water bottle and they eventually fell asleep.
(Next morning)
Annabeth awoke to find that she felt warmer and more comfortable than she had since she left her home. She looked down to find her companion was still asleep, he kept her warm all night and no spiders bothered her, she was happy with that. She was so glad she met her new friend, she didn't know what would have happened if he wasn't here, she would be starving for certain anyway.
Her companion followed her in waking up, yawning and stretching in her lap, she just smiled at the cute creature waking up.
"Morning." Annabeth said happily.
"Morning." Whiskers replied, now much better at speaking the new language.
"Where do we go now?" Annabeth asked, hoping her friend could find somewhere safe for them.
"Where?" The fox replied.
"I don't suppose you would know anywhere safe, would you?" Annabeth asked.
"Say-f?" The fox questioned.
"Yeah, it means somewhere where no one will try to hurt us." Annabeth said.
"Annabeth… safe… Whiskers... make safe." The fox tried.
"Thank you, but we need a new home, somewhere to stay." Annabeth tried.
"Whiskers… stay… Annabeth." Whiskers said fearfully, he thought the young child was leaving him.
"You're coming with me." Annabeth said, "we need somewhere for both of us to be safe."
"Whiskers… safe… Annabeth… Whiskers… umm… word?" Whiskers asked.
"Protect." Annabeth said, smiling at the young fox.
"Whiskers… pro-tect… Annabeth." Whiskers said with a grin.
"Thanks, well, let's go find somewhere we can get food." Annabeth said.
"Annabeth… food… Whiskers… find food… Annabeth… money… food… Whiskers… umm?" Whiskers tried.
"You want to get your own food?" Annabeth asked, where would the fox find food her naive mind questioned.
"Yes… Whiskers… no money." Whiskers said.
"Fine, for now I'll go put all the stuff away, you go find your own food." Annabeth said, still wondering where he would find food. The fox left her quickly and she set to work putting all her stuff away, she then counted how much money she had, one hundred and fifty dollars and ten cents. She looked up when she heard her friend return but was shocked by the sight in front of her, Whiskers had a brown rabbit held by the throat in his jaws.
Whiskers dropped the rabbit and it fell limply, "Whiskers… hunt." Whiskers remembered that word, one of the few he knew as bad, unless he did it. "Big… food." He seemed to grin, there was a little blood on his mouth and he looked ferocious, his teeth seemed much bigger.
"Whiskers…" Annabeth was horrified, she was seven sure she had been on the run but she hadn't ever seen anything die except for the monster Whiskers saved her from, "w-why did you k-k-kill the bunny?" She asked.
"Bunny… tasty..." Whiskers admired his kill, he then looked up at Annabeth, "Annabeth... want… food?"
Annabeth felt green at that, sure she knew he was a fox but she didn't think he would kill anything, when she was in school one of her teachers had said that some animals eat other. She didn't particularly understand that then. "No thanks." She finally managed to get out. Whiskers shrugged and then bit into the rabbit, eating it raw he happily finished the rabbit and Annabeth watched in morbid fascination.
"I'm going to go find some f-food for me to eat." Annabeth said.
Whiskers had finished his meal and looked up at her, he then smiled slightly, "Whiskers… come." They then began their track, Annabeth hungry and Whiskers happily walking besides her, they soon came out of the forest and into a small town. They found a shop and Annabeth grabbed some sandwiches, enough to last the next few day, and put them in her bag. They then set off again, Annabeth, nibbling on a sandwich, sent her companion wary looks, she was still freaked out from seeing him eat that rabbit like that.
They decided, with a little coaxing from Annabeth that they needed to find a safer place to live in, maybe an abandoned house or something. They were 'discussing' this, with Annabeth saying ideas and Whiskers trying to understand the words, when they came across a factory, that looked abandoned. Annabeth tried to read the sign but it was something she had great difficulty doing as she was dyslexic, but eventually worked the name out to be 'Richmond Ironworks'. She decided that they could stay here, at least until they came up with a better plan.
They moved the materials and tools that were abandoned there and managed to make a semi-comfortable bed for Annabeth using some corrugated iron. She looked outside and saw that it was getting dark out, she decided to teach her friend a bit more about the language. They sat there with Annabeth teaching him more new words in English and him practicing them and what he already knew. Eventually the moon was out and they guessed it was time for Annabeth to go to sleep, Whiskers got her to lay on her new bed and she looked exhausted.
"Whiskers… hungry… hunt… back soon." Whiskers said, causing Annabeth to panic a little bit.
"Please don't go." Annabeth pleaded.
"Back soon." Whiskers tried to placate her, "Annabeth… wait here… not scared."
"Fine," she said nervously, "but please, hurry and be back soon." Whiskers nodded and left quickly.
Annabeth was again alone, she looked around the room nervously, she palmed the hammer that she had been using before Whiskers came. She sat there listening for any noise at all. Eventually she heard her companion coming back, she saw him carrying a small squirrel by the scruff of its neck. He set it down and offered some to her once again, again she denied, slightly disgusted and he began to eat. Once he was done Annabeth offered him some water which he awkwardly took from the bottle that she used to give him, he then hopped up beside her and curled up against her. They soon drifted off into a comfortable sleep, both happy with their partner.
(Next morning)
Whiskers woke up and stretched slightly he looked at his new friend and smiled, she was still asleep, he licked her nose and she woke up giggling. She looked at her companion and smiled, Annabeth got one of the sandwiches she still had out from her bag and Whiskers went out to hunt for breakfast. He returned with a rabbit again, this time Annabeth just looked away as he devoured the poor innocent creature.
Today they decided to plan what their next move would be, the factory kept the worst of the weather off them. So far though, they had got nowhere, neither of them had any idea what to do so in the end Annabeth just continued teaching Naruto how to speak better. He now had a larger vocabulary, and could, say clearer sentences, he had been happy with this improvement and Annabeth was happy to see the fox happy.
They spent the next week like this, Whiskers hunting in the morning and Annabeth going to the nearest shop to get her food. Unfortunately they were running out of money surprisingly quickly, in the past week they were nearly fifty dollars down, Whiskers had helped her though. He somehow knew how to make a fire and began to cook his kills to give some of it to Annabeth, she didn't particularly want it but knew that she would eventually have to do it to save their money.
She, surprisingly, enjoyed the taste of rabbit and Whiskers had put more effort into hunting that creature. Unfortunately more monsters started showing up, Annabeth had managed to kill a few of the smaller ones but in the end Whiskers kept saving her. She wanted to be stronger, but Whiskers always protected her, he made sure that she didn't face any of the tougher monsters and she only fought when they overran her friend.
(With Thalia and Luke)
Thalia had stayed in the cabin that night with her new companion, the next morning they went out looking for Luke, well Thalia did, the fox just followed. Along the way Thalia decided to name her new friend Parrot, all he did was repeat everything she said, which she found oddly endearing. They had eventually found Luke who, after being introduced, seemed to hit it off with their new 'mascot' as he called him.
The next few days had been a blur, they fought monsters, resupplied, ran into some more monsters and found out their new companion preferred his food to be fresh. Occasionally still twitching.
For the past three days though all of them were following a goat. Maybe there should be a bit more context to that, they were following a magical goat. That still sounds weird. They were following a magic goat that glowed, nursed gods and had an ice dispenser. There's no way I can make this sound natural.
The goat, Amaltheia, had nursed Zeus and had guided Thalia before, having been the reason she and Luke had met. She explained this as they hid from the teleporting goat.
"When Amaltheia appears, something important is about to happen… something dangerous. She comes as like a warning, or a guide." Thalia explained.
"Eat Amatea?" Parrot asked.
Thalia became very pale, "no!" She yelped, "we aren't going to eat her."
Parrot looked thoughtful, "I eat Amatea?"
"No, no one is going to eat Amaltheia." Thalia said firmly.
"Why?" Thalia regretted teaching him that word.
"We just can't." She said, glancing at the goat as if to see if she had overheard them. She then seemed to realise something, "she's not disappearing. Maybe we're close."
Looking at the goat it was clear that it wasn't normal, she had the horns of a ram but the udders of a female goat. Her fur was glowing grey, Luke took a moment and turned back to look at their own animal companion, who also sometimes looked like he was glowing, specifically at night.
"Hey, Parrot," he said gaining the attention of his companions, "are you related to her?"
The fox looked surprised before narrowing his eyes, "no, not goat, am Parrot." Luke was about to point out that he was actually a fox but Thalia grabbed his wrist and gave him a look that said shut up.
"Come on, let's go talk to her." She said.
"Wait, aren't we hiding from her?" Luke asked and was quickly ignored and dragged away, Parrot followed and they were standing in front of a goat who ignored them in favour of eating the grass. They were standing beneath the monument to Robert E. Lee, staring at a glowing goat, a strange situation for anyone be they mortal, demigod or god.
Thalia knelt down next to the goat and softly spoke, "Amaltheia?" The goat turned its sad amber eyes to Thalia, showing off her bronze collar that softly glowed with her fur, must be celestial bronze. Her udders were strange, each had a Greek word tattooed to it, reading a strange variety of flavours: Nectar, milk, water, Pepsi, diet mountain dew and apparently an ice dispenser. Parrot was apparently in the mood for milk as his nose slowly darted towards that teat, apparently unnoticed by the goat with the glowing coat. Thalia however did notice and flicked him on the nose before he could get a drink.
He tried using his big eyes to get his way, which would have normally worked, even Thalia gave into those big blue eyes. Unfortunately now she managed to supress the urge to let him do what he wanted and then hug him as tightly as possible, as she glared at him for a second and he just looked down sadly, looking like a kicked puppy. She then turned back to the glowing goat who just watched with no reaction, "Amaltheia, what do you want? Did my father send you?"
The goat looked at Luke, like she was annoyed by his presence, he took a step back and looked ready to reach for his deadly golf club. "Thalia," Luke said, "are you sure this goat is from your dad?"
"She's immortal," Thalia said, "when Zeus was a baby, his mom, Rhea hid him in a cave-"
"Because Kronos wanted to eat him?" Luke asked.
She nodded, "so this goat, Amaltheia, looked after baby Zeus in his cradle, she nursed him."
"On diet mountain dew?"
"What?" Thalia asked with a frown.
"Read the udders, the goat has five flavours plus an ice dispenser."
The goat bleated in annoyance and Thalia patted her head, "it's okay, he didn't mean to insult you. Why have you led us here, Amaltheia? Where do you want me to go?"
The goat head butted the base of the statue and the general moved his right arm, causing the demi-gods to panic, fortunately it just pointed to a rather haunted looking house, overgrown with ivy and a charcoal coloured door.
"It wants us to go in there?" Luke asked
The goat nodded with a bleat and Thalia touched the horns, "thank you, Amaltheia. I-I trust you." Suddenly the goat was covered in a mini storm cloud, lightning flickered and when the cloud vanished, the goat had too.
Parrot moaned, "want milk." He muttered under his breath, Thalia and Luke ignored him.
"Are you sure about this?" Luke asked.
"Amaltheia leads me to good things. The last time she appeared, she led me to you." She said and Luke grinned like a loon.
"Led to me?" Parrot asked, Thalia looked thoughtful before she replied.
"No, an owl led me to you." Parrot looked chuffed.
With that they made their way to the creepy mansion. As they approached the door they noticed the brass door knocker was shaped like Medusa, the porch creaked under the weight of even the small fox's footsteps and the windows were grimy.
Thalia knocked. No answer, so she jiggled the handle. Locked. She looked at Luke expectantly and asked, "can you do your thing?"
"I hate doing my thing." He muttered but put his hand to the door, after a few seconds it clicked open and he swung the door open.
The interior was about as creepy as you would think, a chandelier made of what looked like recycled celestial bronze weapons. Two hallways led off to either side and the back wall held a staircase. The floor was smeared with grime and other… unsettling stains, the chairs were splinters and the one couch had its insides introduced to the outside world. At the base of the stairs a pile of random debris was lying there, cans, bottles and bones, human bones.
Luke started speaking but the door slammed shut behind them, Luke turned and tried everything to open it, but it wouldn't budge, not even to his son of Hermes tricks. "Some kind of magic," Luke said, "we're trapped."
Thalia ran to a window, Parrot on her heels and tried to pull the drapes, but the fabric wrapped around her hands. "Luke!" she screamed as the curtains became sheets of oily sludge, like tongues oozing up her arms and covering her spear. Parrot grabbed a piece of what used to be a chair and threw it at the drapes, hard enough for them to hear the window on the other side smash. The drapes recoiled and Thalia was free, but dropped her spear in shock, it landed on the floor and smoke came from it, like it had been dipped in acid.
Parrot growled at the drape and they looked at Thalia's blistering arms, she started to go into shock but Luke poured the last of their nectar onto Thalia's hands, healing them. Luke comforted her but Parrot looked around the room, Thalia began panicking, but Parrot spoke up.
"I find way out. You stay." He then made his way to the corridor on the right, he then backed up, after seeing a pair of glowing red eyes, "not that way." He scrambled to the left but found another pair, they lunged at him with a clacking sound.
"Parrot!" Thalia yelped, going to lift up the fox. "Up the stairs!" She yelled to Luke.
A man's voice suddenly called out to them "Yes, take the stairs." He sounded sad. "hurry." To the right the creature seemed to echo the same voice, "hurry." Then from the left echoed, they bolted for the stairs, no other options showing themselves. As they ran Parrot jumped from Thalia's arms and sat on her head facing backwards. Ahead the voice told them to take the last door on the left, the creatures echoing his voice, they were right behind them, they wouldn't make it, so Parrot decided to do something stupid. Just before the monsters caught up, he jumped from Thalia's head and lunged at the monsters.
Thalia and Luke fell into the room as the door opened for them, and shut immediately after their entrance, locking Parrot on the other side. Thalia registered this first and shot up reaching for the door trying desperately to open it, ignoring the strange old man residing in the room.
"Parrot!" She yelled at the door resorting to banging on it with her fists, outside the sounds of the creatures and the unmistakable yips of the fox continued. There was a crash and the sound of the clacking of hooves the creatures seemed to make, then there was silence. Thalia turned her horrified gaze back into the room and stared at the man who introduced himself as Hal.
(Outside the room)
Parrot had landed on the head of one of the creatures, or at least he assumed so, it looked like a mix between a horse and a wolf but had no teeth. Instead it had what looked like two horse-shoes in its mouth, making the clacking noise every time it snapped its teeth.
Parrot was acting on instinct as he kicked off the creature's head just in time to avoid the other one bite down on his friend's nose. It didn't do much damage but it did force the creature to stop glaring at Parrot, he vaguely heard Thalia calling out his name and the door she fell through banging but he was a bit preoccupied living. He had seconds to think up a plan, so he tried to learn everything about this situation and analyse it.
He stared down the two enormous (to him) creatures and glanced around the corridor, the only things other than the creatures were a few piles of bones. Ignoring them he looked around to see if any of the doors were open. Nope. All of them were closed. It seemed like the creatures had finally stopped being distracted and lunged for him once more, he moved to the right as the jaws snapped closed where he was moments ago. He then tried something strange. He jumped straight up.
Normally, a fox his size could maybe jump a foot, two feet was pushing it. He seemed to go against all laws of physics and jumped straight to the ceiling. He then broke several more laws of physics, because why not? And stuck to the ceiling.
The creatures tried to jump for him but missed, they then seemed to try to copy him and tried to climb up the walls, they weren't that bright. In the other room, he heard shouting and decided to try to find another way in there. He walked on the ceiling and the creatures followed him, clacking along. Eventually they seemed to lose interest in him and walked away, he decided to follow them and they eventually came to a room that opened, right beside the room Thalia went into, the door way was tall enough that they could reach him if they jumped.
He didn't follow them, in case it was a trap choosing to look around the mansion instead, he found nothing but empty depressing rooms and bones. Eventually he heard the hooves of three of them as they left the room and watched them, they seemed to have forgotten about him as they didn't even bother looking for him.
He waited for about half an hour to be sure that they weren't tricking him into going into the room just for them to corner him. He then entered the room, finding it as run down as the rest of the house, the only difference being a metal panel that seemed to lead into the room beside. The room Thalia and Luke were in! Forgetting discretion, fear filled him, what if they had been cornered in there. He fell to the ground and pushed on the panel, opening it and entering into a cage. Bones, the remains of armour and weapons littered the floor, he saw that through the bars was another room.
He saw Luke and an old man chatting in a corner, Thalia was holding a jar in her hands, her eyeliner had run down her face, for some reason and image of an old man with red tear tracks like that. Her face was scrunched up in a scowl and she glared at the jar in her hands with intense concentration.
"Thalia!" He called out to her and she closed her eyes avoiding the cage. Luke and the old mad looked up in shock at the sight of him.
"Damn leucrota." She yelled, "stop copying his voice!"
"Am Parrot, not leocrate." Parrot said, confusion in his voice.
Thalia's eyes widened and she turned to the cage, shock on her face, that turned to happiness as she ran to the bars of the cage. "Parrot! You're alive! How?"
"Horse-wolf stupid." Parrot said, "I stand on ceiling, they leave. You okay?" Thalia's face broke from happiness to anger.
"We thought you were dead! What the hell were you thinking?!" Thalia yelled.
"Sorry," Parrot said, his tail and ears drooping, his eyes seemed to double in size and became watery, he looked up at her and she just couldn't stay angry.
She reached in and brought the fox close through the bars hugging him as best she could with the bars in the way, "I'm just glad you're okay." Then Luke came over and began to explain the situation. Thalia was holding onto some electrical wiring with an intense look of concentration on her face, which to Parrot it seemed she ate at the weird taco place again.
Apparently, those bars would open at sunset and the leucrota would come in and eat them, Hal had been trapped here by the gods after saving a young girl with his gift of prophecy and the gods loved their ironic punishments. Now his words, instead of saving lives would take them, Luke told him about opening the safe and the bracelet. Then he said about the plan with the Greek fire, he then explained about how Hal was going to lure them to the bathroom while they escaped.
"Okay, go lightning!" Parrot cheered for Thalia, Parrot watched from the cage as she finally managed to call forth lightning, casting the room in brilliant blue glow. At the thunder, Parrot couldn't help himself and howled in agony, the sound was terrifyingly loud with his enhanced hearing.
Thalia turned to him and then her face paled, "Parrot, get out of there." Luke and Hal had equally pale faces. The leucrota all entered the cage, now there wasn't much room for him to move about in, so ignoring the shocked shouts of Luke and the terrified cries of Thalia Parrot leapt to the roof of the cage.
The three demi-gods watched in awe as he just stood there, "see, walk on ceiling, wolf-horse not reach."
Luke being the practical one asked, "can you fit through the bars?"
Parrot tried, but found they were just too wide, if only he was smaller, as if by magic his body began to shrink, de-aging to the point he looked like a new-born. He felt slightly weaker but managed to go through the bars. He jumped into Thalia's arms and she grabbed him, his smaller form fitting into one hand easily, fortunately he landed in the hand not holding the deadly explosive Greek fire.
The leucrota clacked their mouths in frustration, one look at the clock showed it to be seven on the dot. Hal tried to tell the monsters to leave but they didn't listen, it was too close to dinner time, they needed to trick the monsters into going into the bathroom while Thalia and Luke hid in the cupboard. Unfortunately since they were watching them, they wouldn't be tricked that way.
Parrot suddenly had an idea, "do plan quick, I distract." Then without any more warning he jumped out of Thalia's hand and jumped to the ceiling, slipping through the bars again.
"No, Parrot!" Thalia yelled in fear but he already had their attention.
"Go, I not get hurt." One of them started to lose focus on the fox so he jumped onto its snout, startling it, reluctantly they went along with Hal's plan and the old man said his final goodbyes.
Finally, the bars disappeared and Parrot jumped to the ceiling again, after about twenty minutes they got bored of him and looked for their other prey. Hal suddenly started insulting them, using their own mouths to talk, forcing them to insult themselves and, after a tense silence only broken by Hals voice.
Finally Luke and Thalia moved out of the wardrobe and ran for the panel the monsters came through, they almost made it, but one leucrota ran out of the bathroom and lunged for Luke. It was then that Parrot came up with the brilliant idea. If he could shrink, why could he not grow? So, he lunged for the monster from the ceiling at the size of a new-born, and landed, the size of an Irish wolfhound. He felt a wave of nausea over take him as he landed on the creature, knocking it away from Luke. He tried to stand but felt exhausted, he then felt his body shrink again and found himself the size of a new-born again. He felt weak, but the nausea was gone, he stood and ran to Luke and Thalia who watched in shock, Luke lifted him like a football and they made their escape.
Halcyon Green made his final battle cry, finally with his own voice, "for Apollo!" The mansion shook, like an earthquake hit. They made it to the hallway, just in time to see the flames everywhere, fire flooded out of Hal's door like water, anything that got in its way vanished in the flames. Smoke was everywhere but they were at the stairs, they made their way through the dark cloud and were about to make it to the door when one of the leucrota lunged for Luke, knocking him on his back and forcing him to drop Parrot who rolled away.
The creature wasn't looking too good, it's fur was singed its ears were aflame and one eye wouldn't open. Thalia screamed out Luke's name and grabbed her spear from the floor where she had dropped it, she jabbed it right in the monster's stomach but it shrugged off the injury. It snapped its jaws at her, Luke looked like he'd pop if the monster put any more pressure on his chest.
Parrot suddenly lunged at the leucrota he made himself bigger, this time he managed to hold this state. He knocked the creature off Luke and bite down on its throat, the creature wailed in the voices of its victims but managed to kick Parrot off it. He went flying and hit Luke, who caught him, he was the size of a kit again, he was hopefully unconscious, but the smoke wasn't helping his condition.
Luke gained a look of recognition and glanced at Thalia's new bracelet, "Thalia, what was Zeus' shield called?"
"What shield?" Thalia asked eyeing the unconscious fox with fear, before turning an angry gaze to the final leucrota.
"Aegis. Thalia, the bracelet has a code word!" He yelled frantically.
Thalia tapped the bracelet and yelled, "Aegis!" The bracelet expanded, becoming a bronze disk with the head of a gorgon on its face, not just any gorgon though. Medusa's head was pressed into the centre, it had a mouth of fangs, snakes for hair and eyes that scared Luke into turning away.
The leucrota took one look and jumped back, yelping like a frightened puppy, it ran straight into the drapes, which came to life and gripped the monster. The creature screamed, begging for help using voices of its previous kills as it disintegrated into the black folds of the deadly drapes.
Thalia grabbed Luke with one hand and cradled Parrot in the other, yelling "hurry" as she half dragged the son of Hermes to the door. Just as they reached the door, the fire reached them and the entire building exploded.
The two demi-gods were suddenly sprawled in front of the statue of Robert E. Lee, Luke groaned as he turned to face Thalia only to come face to face with Medusa. He let out a very manly scream and ran until he was behind the statue. Thalia didn't move to stand, instead she was transfixed by the small bundle in her hands, Luke finally got the courage to run to her and found that the bundle was a small fox kit.
Parrot was unmoving, he lay there, so small, so defenceless in Thalia's hands, his fur was covered in soot making it lose its silver gleam. He looked lifeless. Thalia was silent, tears fell from her face landing on the ground. Luke took her free hand and squeezed it gently, they both sat there, staring at their unmoving companion.
Suddenly the small fox coughed, shocking the two of them out of their depression. He opened his eyes and looked up at Thalia, her eyes shone with happiness and she gently brought the fox in close.
Thalia then gently placed her companion on her shoulder, where he curled around her neck protectively. Thalia then looked to the burning building sadly.
"Why did he save us? Why did he sacrifice himself?" She asked Luke, he had no reply, he was lost in thought, only broken out of it by the sounds of sirens.
"Come on." He said, starting to run, not stopping until they came to a park. There they cleaned out a restroom and stayed there until it was fully dark out. By the time they did so, their vulpine companion was fully awake and had grown himself until he was the same size as before they began their trip through Hal's mansion.
They then made their way through the residential area, no goat to guide them anymore, they eventually came to the industrial area of Richmond. The three of them were exhausted and had no idea where they were going so they just drifted past the warehouses, they were lucky to not run into any monsters.
Eventually they decided to stop at an old abandoned warehouse by the name of 'Richmond Iron Works' a name that took Luke exactly three minutes to decipher thanks to the dyslexia. They huddled together in a clear area on the floor, Thalia began shivering, the broken windows let in the cold breeze. Parrot comforted her, wrapping his tail around her neck and giving her warmth.
"We could go to our old camp." Thalia said, "on the James River, we've got supplies there."
Luke nodded, but he wasn't really listening, his attention focused on Halcyon Green message to him, he opened his bag and removed a ham sandwich. He split it between the three of them, Parrot ate like it was his last meal, scoffing the sandwich in seconds.
Suddenly Parrot sat up straight, his ears perking up and twitching, the others heard it too, the soft ping of something hitting metal. Parrot started sniffing, searching for the stench of monster, something they learned he could find quite well if he concentrated.
"Not monster." He said.
"But it's not a regular mortal." Luke said, causing the others to look at him in confusion.
(With Annabeth)
Whiskers and Annabeth had been staying in the abandoned iron factory for a few days, Whiskers hunting for the two of them. Annabeth's money had run dry recently so this was the only way for them to get food, Whiskers always managed to find enough for the two of them. Sometimes he even managed to find fruit, how he did that when they were in the city Annabeth didn't know, but he swore he didn't steal it from shops. Annabeth was seriously considering stealing at this point, even if she knew it was wrong she didn't have anything but Whiskers.
She had been waiting for Whiskers to return for a while now, he had been gone for a few hours and Annabeth was getting anxious. What if something bad happened to him? She was just about to go search for him when she heard a noise from outside the factory, footsteps. Her first thought was monster. She panicked, she didn't know what to do, all she had was a hammer, so she hid. She fled the warehouse and hid in the alley behind it, she dared not go further, what if Whiskers came back and got ambushed by monsters?
So, she sat and waited, eventually after what felt like forever she made a move, she was going to see what the monsters were. Maybe she could beat them, no, not maybe, if she got the drop on them she would definitely beat them, she had seen Whiskers fight the monsters plenty of times so she could definitely do it.
Unfortunately when she moved she nudged some sheet metal, and the screws that were lying precariously on it fell off. Ping. The screws hit the floor and she froze, maybe they didn't hear her, that line of thought disappeared when she heard them moving her way. So, she hid. She hid under a sheet of corrugated iron, maybe they wouldn't notice her and at the last moment she would jump out and get them.
So, she waited, she heard them get closer, her heart thumped in her chest, trying to escape her ribcage. They were getting closer, she was terrified, suddenly she twitched and the sheet moved, knocking against the ground with a clang. Annabeth's heart somehow sped up, they knew where she was, sweat dripped down her and she couldn't move.
Suddenly the sheet was moved away and she reacted instantly, instinct told her to jump out and hit the monster with her hammer. She missed, how could she miss? Something grabbed her hand and she dropped the hammer, it skidded to the side, too far for her to reach. Annabeth panicked and started to struggle, kicking, hitting, doing whatever she could to escape the monster, but it didn't work.
"No! No more monsters!" She yelled, terror gripping her, she didn't want to die. "Go away!"
The monsters started talking to her but she didn't listen her attention focused on something terrifying, a monster. It had snakes for hair and sharp teeth, it's eyes bore into her, looking into her soul. She knew what it was, a gorgon, Medusa. She struggled harder.
She closed her eyes and kicked more, she wouldn't get away. Suddenly the monster spoke, "Hey little girl," she spoke in a calm reassuring voice but Annabeth still fought. "It's alright. We're not going to hurt you, I'm Thalia, this is Luke and this is Parrot."
Annabeth kicked one last time and screamed, "monsters!"
One of them spoke again, "no, but we know about monsters. We fight them too." Annabeth finally stopped kicking, she looked up at the boy, not a monster.
"You're like me?" Suspicion was layered in her question but a flicker of hope rested in her eyes.
"Yeah," Luke said, "we're…" he stopped, "well it's hard to explain, but we fight the monsters." He paused, "where's your family?"
Annabeth felt angry and bitter at that, "my family hates me. They didn't want me so I ran away."
The other one, Thalia crouched down next to her and put a hand on Annabeth's shoulder, "what's your name, kiddo?"
"Annabeth," The young demi-god said.
"Nice name," Luke said, smiling at her, "I tell you what, Annabeth. You're pretty fierce. We could use a fighter like you."
Annabeth's eyes widened, "you could?"
"Oh yeah," Luke said, he then pulled out a dagger from his belt, Hal's dagger, he stared at it for a moment before speaking again. "How'd you like a real monster-slaying weapon? This is Celestial bronze. Works a lot better than a hammer." He handed the dagger to the seven-year-old, maybe not the best idea, but she was a demi-god. "Knives are only for the bravest and quickest fighters." He stopped for a moment, "they don't have the reach or power of a sword, but they're easy to conceal and they can find weak spots in an enemy's armour. It takes a clever warrior to use a knife. I have a feeling you're pretty clever."
Annabeth smiled up at him and said, "I'm clever!"
Suddenly, Parrot spoke up, he hadn't spoken in a while, "you smell of me." He said, a frown somehow appeared on his muzzle.
Annabeth suddenly looked surprised at the fox in front of her, "Whiskers! Do you know these people?" Parrot suddenly looked confused.
"Am Parrot." He said.
"Whiskers you're a fox." Annabeth replied, she looked confused, "where did you go?"
"I here with Thalia. I not know you. I am Parrot." Parrot said.
"Annabeth," Thalia suddenly broke in, "Parrot is his name, he's my," she looked at Luke, "…our fox."
"No, he's Whiskers, he's been with me for weeks! I taught him to talk." Annabeth said, tears pricked her eyes, "stop joking like this Whiskers."
"Not joke. Am Parrot." Parrot said defensively, "I not know you." Suddenly Parrot's head shot up and he growled at the end of the ally, the others turned expecting to see a monster but instead saw a fox. One who looked identical to Parrot.
"Whiskers?" Annabeth asked.
"Parrot?" Thalia asked looking between the two foxes in confusion. Luke simply looked confused.
The other fox started growling and he glared at Parrot, they snarled and Parrot jumped down from Thalia. The other fox started walking towards them, they both kept growling, Annabeth suddenly ran to the other fox and stood in front of him.
"Whiskers." She called to the fox, he turned his gaze to her, his eyes softened.
"Annabeth." He then looked back down to the other fox and growled, "move." He told the girl.
"What? Why?" Annabeth asked.
"Other Whiskers. Other me." Whiskers said, "Annabeth, move."
"Thalia. Luke. Not good Parrot." Parrot said to his group.
"Whiskers hunt other Whiskers." Whiskers said.
"Hunt." Parrot growled out.
"No, Whiskers! Don't fight. There are friends." Annabeth said.
Thalia was suddenly beside Annabeth staring at Parrot, "what are you doing? Why would you fight him?"
"Hungry?" Parrot tried, Thalia glared at him, he then looked back at the other fox, "other Parrot smell strange."
"Not Parrot, me Whiskers." Whiskers growled out, as menacingly as possible, which is hard when you are a fox going by the name of Whiskers.
"Calm down Whiskers." Annabeth pleaded, "don't hurt anyone." She asked and Whiskers looked back at her.
"…Whiskers don't like Annabeth not happy." Whiskers said and backed away to Annabeth's side.
"Parrot, back down." Thalia said, "they are friendly." Parrot reluctantly backed down Thalia then went over and picked him up, keeping him in her arms, even as he growled at the other fox.
The atmosphere was tense for a moment before Thalia spoke up, "let's get going." She turned to the fox in her hands, "you are not to fight with this fox, understand." He growled but nodded, she then turned to Annabeth, "we've got a safe-house on the James river, we've got supplies there."
Annabeth looked at Whiskers and then picked him up, "before we go." She said, looking down at Whiskers, "you… you won't take me back to my family?"
Luke walked over to her and knelt down at eye level, "you are part of our family now," he said smiling softly, "And I promise you, I'm not going to fail you like our families did us. Deal?"
"Deal." Annabeth said happily.
(With Zoe)
Zoe had been traveling for a while, she had nowhere to look, the prophecy had been very vague, all she knew was that she was to search for nine… somethings. What they did she didn't know, they would also be with nine different future heroes, that narrows it down a bit but demi-gods, especially unclaimed, unknowing ones are harder to find. She sighed, she then looked up at the moon, hidden by the clouds, her lady was trying to avoid her, no wonder, she had killed her son.
The full weight of what she had done had struck her a while ago, the child of her lady, male or not, was someone she should have come to care for. Yet she had struck him down, he may not be dead but he certainly wasn't going to be happy with her, she had a slim chance to find him. But she would, she would live up to her mistakes.
She heard a noise to the right, something that was becoming increasingly rare, it seems her curse had led even the animals to leave her presence. She turned to the source of the noise and found a small fox sitting there looking at her. She blinked behind her mask, normally an animal would have left by know, the fox was silver, maybe a message from her mistress. The fox just looked at her, it then blinked and seemed to smile, it then padded over to her and sat at her feet expectantly.
"Why hast thou come to me?" Zoe asked. The fox yipped at her, "I guess thou can't understand me." Zoe said with a sigh, maybe her lady didn't send this fox and it was just a coincidence.
"Understand." The fox said, Zoe froze and looked at the young creature.
"Thou doth understand?" Zoe asked in joy.
"Understand?" The fox asked with a tilted head.
"Thou doth not comprehend what I am saying?" Zoe asked with a sigh.
"Understand." The fox nodded sagely.
"Fine, mine lady doth mock me." Zoe muttered.
"Hunter?" The fox asked.
"Yes, mine lady is Artemis, I was banished, for killing her child." Zoe said.
"Artemis?!" The fox sounded terrified, Zoe guessed he must have been running from the hunt, or something, a pelt like his would be a grand prize after all.
"If thou would like, thou may join me in mine own hunt." Zoe said.
The fox looked slightly scared.
"I'm sorry if thou art fearful, thou shalt be safe as my own companion. Hunters shalt not search for thou in my company." The fox seemed to relax at her calm tone as she spoke.
"Well, thou shalt need a name," Zoe said, "Hmm, if my lady hath deemed it thou plan to send thou to me, thou may help me in mine quest. It is her interests to get the child as soon as possible. Will thou accompany me?" The fox tilted his head and looked confused. "I'll take that as a yes, now, thou need a name. I shall name thee after thine quest. Naruto."
The now named Naruto looked up, "Naruto." He agreed.
"Shallt we be off then?" Zoe asked.