Hi guys! sorry for the delay. The things at college are crazy hahaha
I hope you like the chapter
Enjoy
...
Even before being almost beheaded, Percy Jackson's night was not going well.
As soon as they started to move away from the building where Poseidon's son lived, a medium-sized apartment complex on 139st with the Adam Clayton Blvd, he realized that it was all a bad (or rather, horrible) idea.
Of course, not that anything in his life had ever been the fruit of a good idea. But, seriously, a pair of demigods invading a place full of monsters to retrieve an artifact stolen from the god of the underworld? Even though he had done much more stupid things, he felt as if that particular thing was testing the limits of his stupidity.
Okay, he thought, looking for calm, we know how to control our powers. We are trained. Strong. We will survive this.
Nothing can go wrong.
In Percy Jackson's life, of course, everything could go wrong.
Nico was right; about five blocks away was the restaurant structure. It was not such an impressive place, especially between the Uptown Slices and an ordinary grocery store. Even the blue laundry facade on the other side looked more striking. The name was complicated for a dyslexic guy like Percy, but he still managed to read:
Abyssinia
Ethiopian restaurant
It was either that or the place was called By Ssinaia Hiopeiant Stranauret. He decided to take the first option.
"I need to move…", murmured.
"Well, I would recommend the same thing", Nico replied. The boy had good ears.
But Percy didn't really mean it. He had established peaceful coexistence with his neighbours, mostly composed of people over forty. Between routine chats in the hallways and barbecues on the terrace, Percy made more than just friends - he made a new family. The nice number of iron nailed to the old wooden door and the corridors with the horrible wine carpet of the last century would always wait for him there, quietly, hoping for his return. The monotony was a good thing.
But now he and Nico were standing across the street, next to a black EcoSport, while facing their destination. At that moment, "monotony" seemed just a distant dream to Percy.
"How do we get in?", He asked, finally looking at the boy. Even after years, it was strange to see how Nico di Angelo mixed himself with the shadows as if he were part of them. Jackson hardly saw him.
A short silence.
"Well ... I think we need to go through the front door."
"This is crazy", Percy frowned. "They'll catch us in seconds."
"Hey", Nico seemed to try to suppress a smile ",we've done worse things. And we don't have much of a choice, by the way. I said: I looked around before. I know there is only one entry."
Percy pondered for a few seconds.
"Are you sure you don't have, uh, a hidden service entrance or something?"
Nico shook his head for a moment.
"We could try to go around and look again for an alternative entrance, but I doubt it. At most the little windows in the bathroom. I could pass, but you...", He evaluated Percy from head to toe. "Definitely not."
Percy didn't know if he should be offended or flattered. He preferred to opt for the second option.
"Um ... all right", He agreed grudgingly. "Even so, we still have to go through the iron doors. They are closed, none of us have the keys (like, obviously) and I think that causing an explosion or something like that would not be very clever. It's still early" He looked around. Although the street was not so crowded, there were people walking around. It was only eight o'clock at night, and New York had no nap time anyway.
"That I can solve…", Nico replied with some mystery. A long hand went into his jeans pocket and pulled something small out of it. Percy couldn't see what it was, so he expected some sort of explanation. However, all the son of Hades said next was: "Shall we go?"
And he left across the street.
How di Angelo would break into Abyssinia without any mortals noticing, Jackson had no idea. He ran after the demigod, waiting for the plan (not that he had much of a choice).
Nico bent down to stand at the height of the latch.
The scheme already seemed to be going downhill when a middle-aged man turned the corner of One Stop Finest a few seconds after they started breaking into it. As he got closer to the boys, his expression became increasingly suspicious. He wore a polo shirt and jeans, with white hair neatly combed back. Everything about him screamed exemplary citizen. Certainly, two suspicious-looking young men shouldn't be trying to break into that establishment. It went against the rules of good neighborliness. He raised his right hand and pointed his finger at the demigods.
"Hey, you damn kids, what do you think you are..."
Percy was already going to puff up his chest to give an extremely clever excuse like hey, wrong restaurant! Hahaha, when, without even looking away from what he was doing, Nico snapped his fingers. Percy felt as if a breath of air passed through the block along with the high-pitched sound. The man blinked his blue eyes as if he were in a trance. Nico said:
"Go back to doing what you were doing. You haven't seen us here."
"Yeah, I didn't see it", The exemplary citizen mumbled.
"You're leaving."
"Leaving..." The man echoed.
And he was walking away.
Nico continued to fiddle with the lock as if nothing had happened. Percy was now able to observe what the boy had in his hands: a black hairpin. He would praise the young man for using that technique that he had only seen in action movies if he wasn't a little irritated.
He went down to Nico's height, just behind him.
"What did you do?"
Di Angelo made a strange sound, which sounded both a small laugh and disbelief.
"What? Manipulate the mist?"
"Did you manipulate the mist? How?"
Another sound. This time it was definitely an ironic giggle.
"Didn't Chiron teach you?"
Click.
Nico had done it. He opened the iron door. Now their murder process had been reduced from two doors to just one! Yeah!
But Percy was unable to be impressed. He was more concerned with his complaint. It was not the first time he had heard that phrase: he remembered Thalia Grace saying the same thing when Percy, by chance, tried to rescue Hades' son (who was actually in front of him) from that military school.
"Chiron not what?"
"Mist, you know? M-i-s-t", - Nico repeated as if Percy was retarded. "Hazel taught me how to control, but Chiron can also help. I thought he had shown it to you at least a little. It's not that difficult, especially with stupid mortals like that guy."
Then Percy started to have a slight nervous twitch. Come on, he was on his right.
"But ... he ... Hazel, she ... nor the centaur son of a ... Grr!"
"Can you give me a hand here, drama queen?", The boy interrupted Jackson and pointed to the roll-up door, whose padlock rested on the floor. "Get up, like, two inches."
Percy snorted.
"I'll show you the drama queen, your son of a...", He muttered as he bent down to help with what Nico asked.
Nico lay down and leaned his face on the sidewalk to look inside the restaurant (by the way, what kinds of horrors could have touched that concrete that Nico lay on so calmly? Spit. Dog poop. Remains of Hawaiian pizza. The leather of a shoe of a stock exchange investor. Like, yuck. Not that Percy had never crawled on that asphalt — by the way, he had done it a lot more times than common sense would tell. It was just an unreasonable thought that occurred him).
After a few moments, di Angelo seemed satisfied, rising again.
"Well, that's worrying…", Said the young man while wiping his hands.
"What?", Percy asked.
"There's nobody in there."
Silence.
"What do you mean by nobody?"
"Nobody like... nobody. Perhaps they know that we are here and are waiting to attack?'
He shook his head vaguely.
"Probable. Someone must show up and take us on an excruciating death tour or something. Normal stuff", said Percy.
Nico shrugged.
"Okay, then. Raise up to half. I'll open the glass one."
A lady passed them. Nico waved, then went on to the second break-in.
"Do you know her?"
"Um, no. But she was staring."
Percy decided not to ask.
A minute or two passed before another click was heard. Jackson was sure the monsters were sitting there, waiting to kill them both. Also, normal. Would the repertoire never change? He sighed.
Nico stared at him for a few seconds. He had a look of amusement (at least as much as that dark boy could have), his right eyebrow raised. He made a flourish with his hand.
- The elders first?
…
Percy expected many things.
Maybe, when he crossed the entrance, a sword would come against his chest, ready to impale him. Perhaps the moment he put his feet inside the Abyssinia, arrows would be shot at him. Five monsters would attack him at once. A bucket of poison would fall on his head. A man in a suit would try to put him in a pyramid scheme. The possibilities of suffering were endless. However, nothing prepared Percy Jackson for ...
The complete silence.
If the riptide spoke, it would surely make a sound of complete dismay.
"Nothing?", Whispered Nico appearing behind him, sounding as disappointed as Jackson's non-speaking sword. He also held the Stygian blade firmly.
The floor was made of waxed parquet, and the wall was finished in wood. Several tables with white tablecloths lined up. The comfortable benches were well aligned in front of the marble and wood counter. The plants in the large stone pots seemed to need a good deal of water and light for a while. Only an embedded ceiling lamp was on, which gave the place a caramel lighting. The most amazing thing in the room was the smell of ginger.
Except for the slight hum of the vertical refrigerator, they were alone.
"Something's wrong," Percy said in a whisper, turning to Di Angelo. It seemed right to speak as low as possible. "You said you smelled like a monster. I was sure they were here. Where could they have gone?"
"I don't know, I…", Suddenly Nico interrupted his own speech as if he was listening to something very carefully. Then he whispered in exasperation: "Hide!"
Percy was thrown by the boy behind the counter, surprised by the sudden force coming from the skinny arms. When they hit the wooden floor, Di Angelo already had his right hand over his mouth and his left index finger over his own lips, in a universal gesture of silence. The message was clear: be quiet if you like to have your throat in place. Jackson, wide-eyed at the sudden start, looked away. There was a support with several bottles of wine, the bottom of which was a large mirror.
He watched two monsters come out ... from inside the vertical refrigerator?
It looked like a scene from Scooby-doo: The refrigerator opened like a classic bookshelf hiding place, revealing a secret entrance The monsters talked.
"…to do with that, sssssir?", Asked the woman, who was obviously a dracaenae.
The man (who could only be a monster) was tall, stiff like a military man, and wore a black pinstripe suit. His long, fierce face held a pair of bi-coloured eyes, which looked irritably at the dracaenae beside him.
Jackson was sure he knew that guy.
"Damn it, Sssssamantha, we've talked about this before!", he had a strong accent, maybe French or Spanish. Percy frowned and, looking quickly at the floor, began to think. Come on, stupid brain! The eyes, the face, the accent, the stiffness... Where had I seen that set before?
His mind, however, only brought him unfocused memories, like a memory that faded little by little. Who was he?
Di Angelo seemed to have the same feeling since the black eyes met his for a few seconds before returning to the mirror with some fear. The man continued: "We will... Wait, who left the entrance open?"
Oh, fuck.
The open entrance.
Of course, how could they have overlooked that detail? Now the destination was right: a simple search through the restaurant and they would be found. Easy. They exchanged glances once more, and Nico was certainly thinking the same thing. Percy's mind stopped working with the possibilities of the man in the suit's identity, focusing only on the fight that would follow, his fingers firm around the Anaklusmos leather handle. He tried not to breathe too loudly. He tried not to exist too loudly.
Until the day was saved by Sssssamantha.
"It wasss Milli, my sssssir."
He seemed to try to remember.
"Who is Milli? That busty empousa?"
"Yesss, ssssir."
"Why would she leave the fucking door open?"
Sssssamantha seemed to sigh as if she was trying to explain to the Sir for the fifth time just that day why this Milli was such a complete idiot.
"You, ssssir, asssked her to go and call ssssome friendssss to take better care of the artifact, sssssir."
He frowned.
"Ah yes. Remind me to kill her when she gets back. It's not p'errsonal, you know, but leaving the door open? I don't even have words to describe."
"Certainly, sssssir", Sssssamanta replied, looking super bored with the perspective of the nightly murder. Then the dracaenae went to close the doors. The man's reflection disappeared, and a sound of wood against wood was heard. He had sat at one of the tables. The sound of a continuous tec tec implied that the sir was using a cell phone.
About two minutes passed, but it felt like hours. Neither Percy nor Nico dared to move or say anything. The plan for both seemed to be the same: to stand still until the two monsters magically disappeared from there and they could safely take the notebook.
Ah, wait: frustrated plan.
"Ssssssamanta, please?" Came the accent-laden voice.
"Yes, Sssir?"
"Get me some of those bottles of wine. You can choose the ones you want. Then we go to the kitchen, to prepare some snacks. Terry and Perry will come later! We need to celebrate."
Percy thought of something very clever again, like shit, wines! He looked at Nico, hoping he would say something to appease her dread, like oh yes, Terry and Perry! We are saved! I've known these guys for years, you know..., but all he managed to do was see his despair reflected in the black irises.
Sssssamanta was going to pick up the wines. Shit.
Percy looked at Nico again and signed without much choice: three? Di Angelo slowly shook his head. He said without sound: wait. But wait for what? That the still unknown man and Sssssamanta kill them and serve as an Ethiopian snack for Terry and Perry?
"Certainly, ssssir."
The dracaenae started to crawl its tails, heading towards the wine rack. Jackson was sweating. He needed to attack. Ten seconds. Six. Two. He prepared the sword and tensed his legs. When Sssssamanta was going to turn into monster dust, Nico threw himself at Percy. Again, it is worth mentioning.
The skinny hips sat on his stomach, forcing him down. The long hand covered his mouth. A snap of fingers resounded in the room.
Sssssamanta stopped beside them. If Percy moved a finger, she would touch the greenish scales.
She didn't seem to notice them.
"Sssssamanta, what was that noise?"
She looked at the floor with disregard, showing no signs of seeing two terrified youths lying there.
"Sssorry, sssir. One of my tailssss dropped a wooden board."
Silence.
"Hm. Okay."
Percy looked at Nico. The boy on top of him trembled, looking wide-eyed at the snake woman. She carefully observed the varieties of wine, choosing four bottles. Finally, looking satisfied, she crawled away.
"Ecs-celant!" Said the man, already walking (finally) in a direction opposite to the boys. "Do you know how to prepare yebeg alecha?"
"Well, sssir..."
And they disappeared through the kitchen door.
Nico removed his hand from Percy's lips and blew out a breath. His forehead was wet; whether it was from dread or the use of magic, the eldest could not say.
"All right?", Percy whispered worriedly.
"I'm sorry about that," Nico replied, deliberately ignoring Jackson's question and next leaving the boy's chest, "but it's just that attacking them would be a bad idea."
This is all a bad idea, Percy wanted to answer. I've philosophized a lot about it today.
"Why?", He decided to ask.
"Because where these two came from, there is certainly more. And the man... it wouldn't be wise to fight him if we can avoid it."
None of this is wise, Nico. Duh.
"And you know him, don't you?", Percy chose to ask.
"Yes, and you too."
"Who he is?"
"Dr. Thorn."
The name hovered for a few seconds.
"We're fucked."
"Well, yes. But if we get in there, take what we must get, and get out of here, maybe we can reduce the damage."
"Maybe?"
"We need to find out how that thing works. Come", Nico interrupted the conversation in quick whispers, ignoring Percy again. Carefully, he got up and went to the front of the machine. Percy, without many options, went after him.
"How do you think it works?", Grunted the boy. "We're running out of time."
Duh, again wanted to answer Jackson.
"Uh, I don't know. Maybe it has a button or a lever?", Percy suggested.
"Like Scooby-Doo? Hm, okay, but what would be a lever here? There are only drinks. Shit. If we had a son of Hephaestus..."
A short silence, where they waited to see if a son of Hephaestus would magically fall from the ceiling (it didn't).
"What if we try something that nobody asks for?" Then said Nico.
"Like what? Diet Coke? Only Mr. D drinks that."
"Hm, I don't think so. I mean, we are in an Ethiopian restaurant, full of foods that we don't know very well. What would you ask for?"
Percy made a vague motion with his hands.
"Uh ... Diet Coke?"
Nico rolled his eyes as if he were forgetting how slow Percy could be.
"Usually, we go to these places to ask for something different from our custom. So: what's the most boring thing about this refrigerator?"
"Is that a rhetorical question?"
"No. I really don't know."
Percy took a closer look at the refrigerator. There were a variety of Ethiopian beers and other drinks he had never heard of, along with cans of Coke, water, sparkling water, and...
"Lipton tea?"
"… Sure?"
"I do not know? I think so. When we were on the floor I saw a fallen menu and read that they have imported teas. So, like, who would order bottled tea?"
Nico raised an eyebrow as if he was surprised.
"Okay."
Percy felt a little stupid as he carefully opened the refrigerator and pulled out a Lipton tea. At first, nothing happened (which made him feel even more stupid).
Until suddenly ... well, nothing really happened.
Poseidon's son felt extremely stupid (yes, much more than before). To disguise it, he lifted all the cans of tea as quickly as he could.
"Fuck ..." he murmured. Nico, who seemed to have entered a small outbreak of despair, began to lift each package of drinks out of the refrigerator.
"Quick, move everything you can. We must get out of here before they get back, come on!", He said in the lowest and most hurried tone he could, looking over his shoulder as if he feared that a giant thorn would open a hole in his head (which was not impossible, under the circumstances).
They hit every corner, ran their hands over each inside and outside wall of the refrigerator, looking for levers or buttons that could open the damn passageway. Percy also began to fall into that despair, so that his arms moved on their own: forcibly, he pushed the refrigerator aside.
Percy realized, already thanking whatever god of grease and WD-40 was, that the refrigerator was slowly shifting to the side and freeing access. Nico started to help him and, a few seconds later, they had already opened a space of about 11 inches. They squeezed through the passage without thinking too much.
As they were two extremely lucky guys, the passage closed on its own (and neither of them had the remotest idea of how that thing opened. In fact, why didn't that thing open itself all at once? It would be a great way to save time for potential invaders!).
Well, in short, they were stuck.
Or rather: completely fucked up. Yes, that better sums up the situation of both at that moment.
Percy was starting to get very tired of the same old talk. Hey, look, you're stuck somewhere waiting for something to come and try to kill you! Hahaha, how original! This script I bet you've never seen!
But he had already seen it. It is obvious that he had already seen it.
Percy sighed. He needed to kill some monsters to calm himself.
Satyagraha – Act II: Confrontation and Rescue
Christopher Keene – Glass: Satyagraha