Chapter 33 - Home Depot has a Sale on Tar and Demigods

After another unsuccessful session with Clovis I crashed in my cabin. The sessions left me irritated and I slept fitfully. The next morning, Clarisse and I met in the practice arena where she drilled me with a spear. This was her best weapon and one of my worst. I left the arena battered and bruised and definitely not in the mood for working on the ship. When Leo asked for someone to go into town to pick up some more supplies, I volunteered immediately. I went to grab Blackjack and his friend Guido to help carry the supplies and we flew to a Home Depot. I bought everything on Leo's list and strapped it to the pegasi. As I was doing so, I heard a commotion behind the store.

I looked at the pegasi. "Stay out of trouble." Blackjack whinnied at me. "Yes, I'm pretty sure I'm about to get into trouble." I agreed. Then I ran towards the noises.

I rounded the back of the Home Depot and found the mess. Two cyclopes were trying to catch a young teenage guy who was running around them, trying to find a way out. I sighed and pulled my knife, then ran to join the fight. I stabbed the first Cyclops in back, right where it's kidneys should be. It began to crumble to dust. I turned and gave the second cyclops the same treatment. It, too, exploded to dust with a wail. I turned to give the demigod a hand. He had dark hair and a rather mischievous look to him. Probably another Hermes kid. His eyes widened.

"Who are you?"

"Annabeth. Long story. How much do you know about Greek mythology?"

"Uh -" His eyes widened at something behind me. I whirled around. Sure enough, the monsters were reforming from the dust. Piper and Jason had mentioned that the monsters weren't staying dead for very long. I had been lucky so far - all my kills were staying dead. My luck had just run out. I wasn't sure if Gaea had let me beat those monsters or what the deal was. But I was sure that I had no time to think about that right now. I grabbed the demigod's hand and pulled him around the reforming monsters. We made it to the pegasi before I heard the screams of outrage behind me.

"Get on a pegasus!" I insisted, shoving him aboard Guido.

"What - who - why - how -"The guy stammered, clearly not sure what to do about there being actual pegasi in front of him. I swung onto Blackjack.

"Sorry, old friend. I know you two are weighted down with supplies. But monsters nearby. Get us out of here."

Blackjack whinnied and took off, Guido right behind us. I looked back to see the demigod gripping Guido's mane in a death grip.

"What's your name?" I yelled to him.

"Cecil! Cecil Markowitz." He called back. "Please tell me this is a dream, Annabeth!"

"Wish I could." I yelled to him. "This is your new reality."

"I don't want it."

"I know."

"I don't like it."

"I know."

"I'm riding a freaking flying horse."

"I know."

I heard a sigh behind me.

"Thanks for saving me from those thugs. But did you have to stab them? Won't, like, the police be after you?"

I grinned at the thought. "Probably not. Those were cyclopes."

"Oh, yes, that makes much more sense." Cecil said sarcastically. "What the heck did I take last night to make me hallucinate today?"

I laughed. "Tell me, Cecil. Where were you last night?"

I heard him go quiet.

"I won't tell anyone." I assured him.

He sighed. "I ran away from home. I've been living on the streets. I must've eaten a bad taco from the dumpster or something."

I gave him a small smile as Guido pulled up next to me.

"I wish I could say that was the case. But this is all real. I ran away when I was seven. I lived on the streets. I know how crazy this must all seem."

He looked at me for a long time. "I believe you." He said at last. "And that's terrifying. I'm actually on a freaking flying horse?"

I grinned at him. "Yeah, that's Guido. This is Blackjack."

"Ok. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. Don't freak out."

"You can freak out if you want to. Just don't fall off."

He looked spooked. "Where are we even going?"

"I asked the pegasi to go back to Camp, or as close to it as we can get before they're too tired. They shouldn't typically take this large of a load along with two demigods."

"Demigods? Did you just call us -"

"Yeah. Half mortal, half Greek god. You get to enjoy the craziness of both worlds."

"Oh, well, good for me." He muttered. "So, my dad, the reason he left, he was -"

"Probably a god. Possibly a Titan or elemental."

"Oh. Yippee."

I grinned. I liked this kid.

"So, you mentioned a camp?"

"Camp Half-Blood. It's the -" I almost said the only safe place for demigods, but that wasn't true anymore. "It's a safe place. Where monsters can't get you. You'll train on weapons and stuff. If you want, you can go home during the school year. But if it's not safe at home, well, you're welcome to stay year-round."

There was silence as Cecil thought about that. "I can't pay for it, you know?"

I smiled at him. "It's free. No worries. It's hard work, but you can find friends there. A new family."

I saw the hope, almost hunger in his eyes. I knew how he thought. It could be lonely in the world. The thought of having friends, and a family, well, it was often demigods' biggest desire when they first found Camp.

We landed just outside Bunker 9. I was impressed with Blackjack and Guido managing to get us that far. I assured them both I'd bring them donuts later, much to the confusion of Cecil, and asked him to help me take the supplies inside the bunker.

"Annabeth!" Leo called out from the deck above me. "You couldn't remember if I asked for screws or a new demigod, so you brought both?"

Work stopped around me as the others turned to look at Cecil.

"Um, hi." He said, his arms full of buckets of tar.

I grinned at Leo. "Home Depot was having a sale. Buy some tar and nails, defeat a few cyclopes, and get a free demigod."

Leo grinned at me. "Welcome! I'm supreme overlord Leo -"

Piper came over, gripped his ear, and pulled him away before he could say more to Cecil.

"That's Leo. He got here in December. Head counselor for Hephaestus cabin and he's in charge of building the ship." I explained to Cecil.

"Right." Cecil said, setting down the tar. "And the ship is for -"

"Oh, the Earth Mother is rising and planning to destroy life as we know it, so seven of us demigods are heading off across the Atlantic in the summer to defeat her and save the world."

"Oh, yes. Of course. Why had I not thought of that. That makes complete and total sense. Not confusing or alarming whatsoever."

I grinned at him. "Come on. I'll take you to the Stoll brothers."

"Are they two-headed men?"

"Nah. They're in charge of the Hermes cabin. That's where you stay while we figure out your godly parent. They'll teach you the basics about Camp, but you'll see me around if you need me."

He nodded. As we left Bunker 9, he turned to me. "Annabeth, I'm scared. This is all so new, so crazy -"

I held up a hand. "Trust me, I know. The good news is everyone's been in your exact situation. So don't worry too much, ok?"

He took a deep breath. "Ok. That… makes me feel better, I guess. Everyone has to figure this stuff out."

I nodded. "But we feed you -" I heard his belly growl and grinned. "Come on, I'll take you by the dining pavillion on the way and grab you a bite." I wrapped an arm around his shoulders and led him towards the dining pavilion.

After Cecil was set up, I walked back to Bunker 9. I found most of the demigods standing around outside.

"What happened?"

"Minor explosion." Nyssa said calmly. "No biggie." I looked at the smoke pouring from the door.

"Uh, you sure about that?"

Nyssa grinned at me. "Yeah. Leo took care of it. Said it shouldn't set us back much at all. We just need to wait for the smoke to clear."

I nodded. "At least it was only a 'minor' explosion." Several of the others grinned at me.

Nyssa looked at the others. "Anyone on weapons duty, let's get to the forges. We can still work on those while Leo clears the room."

Leo stumbled out of the bunker at that moment. "Yeah. Ok. No one go in there for a while." He wiped the smoke off his face.

I looked at Piper. "Combat practice?" She groaned but she and Jason followed me to the arena.