Chapter Twenty-Eight

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan, nor do I own Star Holder Commander's character, Walker. I do own all of the other OCs mentioned.

Nico's POV

I really hadn't expected to find the keys to the truck outside, but they had been in one of the locked cabinets of the desk. When I couldn't find that key anywhere, I ended up hacking the hinges off of the cabinet. Then it took some pulling and tugging and wiggling to get the thing off.

Inside there were some dated and yellowed papers, a couple of old cell phones, a wallet, and on top of everything, a dusty key chain with four keys and a car remote attached to it.

Now to see if the thing still worked, or had gas for that matter. I peek over the counter and look at Kyra. She was lying on her back, staring up at the spider-webbed ceiling.

I come out from behind the desk and go over to her. I crouch down and lay a hand on her arm. She moves her head so that she was looking at me. Her green eyes held incredible tiredness, and some pain as well. It made my whole being ache seeing her like this.

"C'mon, I just talked to Percy and he told me how to get out of here. He ah, told me some other things too.."

"What did he say? Is something wrong at home? Are James and Addie okay?"

My breath caught at the mention of them. I hated the fact that they had taken it upon themselves to save us. Why they couldn't have just had someone else do it, I don't know.

"No, nothing like that. As far as I know, he doesn't even know they're gone,"

She breathes a sigh of relief, then lets me help her up and onto her feet. We exit the building, and start across the parking lot. It was slow-going, since I was having to help her walk and she was limping, but we made it eventually.

I didn't expect that the clicker would work to unlock it, no telling how long it had been sitting in that cabinet, so I stuck the key in the lock, and turned it.

It unlocked with ease, and I yanked at the handle. The car door swung open and I pressed the button to unlock the rest of the doors. The passenger door unlocked and Kyra opened her door and heaved herself up and into the seat.

I got in and slammed my door shut, then stuck the key in the ignition. Now was the moment of truth, to see whether this thing was still in working condition or not.

I held my breath as I turned the key, squinting my eyes shut and waiting for nothing to happen. Then, I hear the engine turn over, and the truck roar to life.

Kyra lets out a small gasp next to me and my eyes snap open, staring at the steering wheel in disbelief. The meter was showing that half a tank of gas was left in the thing. That would definitely be enough to last us until we got out of this place.

I quickly shift the thing into drive and pull out of the space, heading right for the road leading away from here.

O

I had been driving for about forty-five minutes or so, Percy had said it would take at least an hour and half to get to the main road, because the welcome center had been in the middle of the park, and there were all these tiny, twisty little roads.

Kyra had flipped to an oldies rock and alternative station on the radio a little while ago and it was turned down low. Nowadays, the "oldies" stuff was music we had listened to when we were teenagers. The station she had it on was playing a Stickup Kid song, 'Lost' I think.

I was humming along quietly and she was dozing on and off in the passenger seat. It felt weird driving after nearly a month of doing absolutely nothing.

My mind was wandering when I saw a flash of black out of my window. I slow down a little and look over into the dense trees. There was nothing there, so I sped back up. My nerves were getting to me.

The song ended, and the radio host was announcing something about a contest, then introducing the next song, but I wasn't paying much attention. I kept seeing flashes of black out the windows, and it was putting me on edge.

My knuckles were white against the steering wheel, and my teeth were clenched tightly. The flashes kept coming back, more and more often every minute.

I felt like I was going to burn all the gas in the truck because I was going so fast, just trying to get to the main road and out of this hell hole.

Before I could react, the black flash skids in front of the truck and I plow over it. The jolt of that combined with me slamming on my brakes woke Kyra up.

"What the—" She looks around sleepily, confused.

I look in my rear-view mirror at the unmistakable figure behind us. It felt like a stone was sitting in my stomach just from the disgusting sight of it. "Cacus." I growl.

A/N:

You didn't think I'd let them get out of there that easily, did you? A working truck with half a tank of gas and just an hour and a half of driving until they got to the main road, are you kidding me? There's gotta be something that slows them down. They are demigods, y'know, and they really have the worst luck ever.

Well, y'know last week I was telling you guys about that guy at my local coffee shop? Turns out he's graduated from college...And has been married for almost a year now...Yea..

I was kinda crestfallen when I found out, via Facebook, (and no, I was not stalking him. He's one of the very few baristas who has his last name on his nametag, and I actually looked at it the other day and was curious to see what his relationship status was, just to see if I could actually pursue this one) because I really liked him. But the more I thought about it, the more totally pissed off I was. I mean, he's fucking married, probably around ten years older than me, and quite unmistakably flirting with me, a fucking sixteen year old, every time I come in. It just doesn't seem right, but then I think about the planet we live on, and how just about everything anyone does is wrong.

But that still doesn't make me any less pissed off about it. Gah! I could scream, I'm so mad. I have wasted literally over two fucking months over this guy, just because I was getting mixed signals from him. I give up on boys, at least for the moment. They're too fucking complicated to understand. And what's sad is that this is the second time this has happened. I'll like a guy, and crush on them for months, then find out they're in a serious relationship that definitely isn't going to end any time soon. And I'm not gonna be an absolutely horrible person and make that beautiful connection crumble apart.

So that's pretty much been my week. And it wasn't all bad. Besides that little incident on Saturday, it had been a pretty normal and low-key week, nothing else much worth mentioning though.

M/A:

"'May your feet serve you well

And the rest be sent to Hell

Where they always have belonged

Cold hearts brew colder songs

Fate will play us out

With a song of pure romance

Stomp your feet and clap your hands'"

Let's Kill Tonight by Panic! At the Disco

XOXO,

Mrs-diAngelo25