Setting: Percy Jackson.
Adam Creed and the American Gods
Chapter 02
What would a teenager do, if he had the powers of a god?
The answer: Learn to control the passive aspects of it, until he is good enough to not be overwhelmed by the utter aliens sensations they cause each time he leaves his home.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, feeling the nice blend of warm morning sunlight and the chilly gust of wind against my skin as I sat on the roof of my house, with one leg dangling lazily over the edge.
On a much, much deeper level, I also felt things no person should be able to; an all you can eat buffed of all emotions and everyday suffering.
From the vibrant love of a couple watching their new baby daughter sleeping on the cradle, the spicy pain a old veteran as he struggled to move out of chair, the charming anticipation of a young boy that was decided that today was the day he'll talk to the girl he like, the dark disgrace of a father as he watches his a-little-too-effeminate son eat his breakfast, the fun mixture of excitement/fear/and a dash of shame of a teenage girl sneaking back to her house after spent all night partying, and the crunchy but slightly bland desolation of a woman as she cooks for her abusive family.
All of that and more, I felt every good thing and every bad thing about the people around my immediate area.
I could sense them, I could see them, I could smell them, I could hear them, I could touch them, I could taste them. I was free to manipulate them in the way I see fit.
A week ago, at the moment my new powers showed up, these new sensations overwhelmed my human mind, and forced out the inhuman stuff hiding beneath. What happened next was pure…
I shake my thought away from that. What is done is done; I did my best to fix it and made sure no one would remember, there is no use thinking about it. The following week was dedicated to making sure that didn't happen again.
And now, I can finally control it. I had dipped my feet in it on the father and son hang out from Friday night; going out in the evening when the city still relatively active, rather than after midnight when there weren't many people around.
The inhuman part of me staid inside the entire time… well, the entire time that didn't involve violence at least, meaning I could finally creep out of my basement and go back living in civilized society.
Which begs the question: what am I going to do now?
I do have an objective: capture a human-like monster and figure out why they are hunting me, but beyond that, nothing. I don't even know what I'll do with that knowledge after I found it; I just wanted to how.
… I suppose that's why I receive those adult memories, without the wisdom they provided I don't know where I'd be. Maybe using my power to bent the world on my knee, maybe anguishing about my new inhuman nature, maybe exploring the pervert aspect of my new powers, which was clearly what I meant to do, giving the presence of The Book.
But I have enough wisdom now that I know that wouldn't bring me satisfaction, or even make me happy. I would just deform the world for no reason, and probably end up bored out of my mind in the long run.
I have a human mind, so I will strive for human satisfaction, and that means dealing with the little things in life as they come, and never forgetting the value of people, and the fantastic chaotic factor that happens when they simply live their lives.
That also means using my new powers in the most entertaining and sexy way possible. Because of course, I would do that, I'm a teenager god with a book full of sex magic. I want to test all of them!
But I must have patience, time is not a problem anymore but what will likely emerge from that fact will most likely be. And while I may be young a lacking perspective, there is nothing stopping me from starting my war against boredom right away.
First, school.
I jumped back to the window of my room to grab my backpack. The house was silent this time in the morning with my father long since gone to his job at a garage workshop in the town. The only ones there should be me and…
"Dog," I called. Feeling the creature materializing from the shadows.
I turn around to see the Archdemon shaped into a large Gold Retriever. Without my father here, it saw no reason to act like an average dog, so it just staid utterly still, waiting for orders.
"Protect the house. Inform me if any monster shows up in the city. And be ready to come to me if I call." The thing nodded and lay down on the floor, apparently fallen asleep.
"Now just…" I spread my senses enough to confirm where Cat was, and I sensed that it was following my dad like usual.
She… I got to remember that, Cat is starting to develop a conscience, unlike Dog who is still an unfeeling machine. Four days ago I'd replace them with new copies, for the thought of unleashing thinking Archdemons into the world unsettled me. But I learned… learned that I shouldn't try to bottle away all the demonic aspects of my new powers, I have to accept it, to indulge in it a little bit, to try to shape it into something acceptable to my morals, otherwise I'd just explode someday.
As I was passing the living room, gazing once again over the various weird decoration my dad and I had to accumulate from years of travel to strange places, I noticed a couple of sticky notes glued to the wall beside the front door.
"Oh right, chores."
Minutes later I was taking out the trash, and because of that, I'm sure dad must be feeling pretty good right. He has done it; he successfully managed to turn a bit more of my life into a cartoon, now I only needed two friends addicted to jawbreakers to complete the package.
I was dropping the larger sack in the disposal with an ease that no thirteen year old should have when the door to my neighbor opened roughly. A sixteen years old, blonde pile of anger and teenager rebellion appeared.
"'Sup." I greeted absentmindedly.
"Fuck off." My neighbor said, encapsulating all there was to say about the people living in this neighborhood, besides a few exceptions.
I ignored his attitude and started to make my way to the bus stop. I say started because my neighbor suddenly halted his steps, turned hundred and eighty degrees, and walked toward me in a wide stride. I sensed all of that with interest, but only turned when he grabbed me by the sleeve of my jacket and spun me around.
"Heeeey, Buddy!" He said, giving me a wide, friendly smile, I got a feeling he doesn't practice that skill too often. "Alan, right?"
"Adam." I corrected, feeling his growing anxiety and anticipation without even trying.
"Yes, yes Adam, listen." He started to lead me by the hold he had on my sleeve, keeping his body close to not alarm outlookers. "You and I have been living close for a while right? We're practically friends by now!"
Seriously? Is he really doing that?
"We only talked for like, six times." And he was an asshole each time, he and his father here A-grade assholes. Not his mother though, she is cool, gives me cookies, could definitely do better.
"Yeah but that all a person needs! We are totally friends." He chirped. "So, as friends, we should help each other, don't you think we should help each other?"
"I guess…" I said slowly, digging deeper into his emotions; anger, as always, anxiety, which showed he wasn't used to what he was trying to do, but the way he controls it told me it isn't his first time, and… fear, quite a lot of fear actually.
Interesting.
"Sooo. You see Adam, I kinda in need of money right now. You know how it is, your grades starting slipping, you get grounded, and your folks cut out your allowance… Anyway, got any money to led to your pal Jacob?"
We are close to where he wants me to be now, let's see if he has the guts.
"Geez Jacob, I don't know. My dad said I shouldn't lend money to anyone without a good reason." I said innocently, watching as his eyes sparkled at the mention I had money on me.
"But you do have a reason!" He announced, leaning down a little and placing his arm over my shoulder "You're going to help your old pal out! What could be a better reason?"
I furrowed my brow and pretended to think. We stopped right where he wanted us, beside the abandoned house at the end of the street.
"… I sorry Jacob, but we haven't been friends for long enough for me to feel comfortable lending you money." I said and was pushed into the wall on the side of the house a moment later.
"Alright kid, here is how this is going to be." He said with a controlled tone and a hard expression. There wasn't a single trace of the early smile, and I felt better for that; He did not have a face made for smiling. "You will give me everything you have right now and keep quiet about this, and I would cut your fucking ears off." To punctuated this he pressed the switchblade blade he suddenly pulled out of nowhere against my right ear.
"W-Wait are you really robbing your neighbor!?" I asked, genuinely surprised, he didn't strike me as a dumb person. "I know where you live!"
His eyes narrowed dangerously at that. "Same goes to me asshat! You think I'm scared of the police? Motherfucker, you call the cops on me, and I fucking kill you before the even show up, got it?" He bared his teeth like an animal. I'm sure that would scare a lot of people. "Got IT?"
Yeah, I got it; he was desperate. For what, or why, exactly I didn't know, but it might be fun to poke around later.
Now, what to do with him?
There was a lot of things I could do to him, the basic being hurting and murdering, but let's leave that as the last options. I know I say I would indulge in my demonic side, but I didn't mean I would jump straight into being a murdering psychopath; I do have some morals after all. Plus, there are others, more fun ways, to satisfy my demonic side.
He started to get irritated by my lack of reaction, and pushed the knife deeper against my skin.
"Are you listening kid!? Do you think I'm kidding!? Money, now!"
Alright, Better buy some time.
"Hey, why don't you back out now Jacob. What you are doing here is really not worth it" Like he wouldn't believe.
I must've been playing a little too actively with my power. Because my voice made the magic veil that covers the world tremble a little.
"Whatever!" He huffed, pulling the switchblade back into his pocket. "You must only have your lunch money anyway, and that ain't worth shit." He started to leave, only to look back when he was about to disappear beside the house. "You better not tell anyone this kid, Or else!"
He let the threat hang in the air for a few moments and then finally he finally left.
…
…What the hell just happened?
He just… What
Was it something that I did? I certainly didn't externalize any of my powers.
So, what was that?
-0-0-0-
School is awesome.
And for that thought, I committed high treason against the holy laws of teenagerhood established in the peak of Mount Rushmore by the council of the eight cliches in the year 1987. But seriously, school is awesome.
Or maybe, no school itself, but the ones filling the place up. If my neighborhood was an all-you-can-each buffer of emotions, then school is a weeklong roman feast complete with a senator fucking a pig.
The typical teenager is a nuclear reactor of lust, insecurities and conflicting emotions; this is what I found out today. There isn't a single person in this entire school who could be considered 'emotionally balanced'… to be fair, adults aren't something I would consider 'emotionally balanced' either, but the teens a much, much worse than them.
In my class alone most of the boys didn't understand why the girls are looking so more appealing lately, or why the English teacher's large butt seen to draw so much or their attention, all except for one, who was immensely confuse to why he's finding his male best friend so lovely to look at. The girls were generally more mature and had a better idea of what was going on, but not by much. Most of them already have pretty developed fantasies about the cutest boys in class, or at least that was what I figured by sensing them sneaking a glare at me and two other and having a peak of lust, and they're already starting to flare their budding sexuality by wearing low cut shirts and pleated skirts a too short for someone of their of their age.
Not going to lie, I'm feeling some dashes of superiority for my new ability to recognize teenager bullshit and rise above it.
Still, there are some cases when their more 'edgy' feeling went a beyond the level of teenager bullshit and were starting to approach a dangerous territory. Like the brown-haired girl sitting in front of me, who has so much stress and anxiety that they were literally smoking out of her like a chimney.
I couldn't see that and not do something, plus the black smoke is blocking my vision.
"I like your new glasses." I suddenly whispered to her, making her flinch and let out a tiny yelp.
"M-Mm?" She looked back with big blue eyes behind half-moon lenses.
"Your new glasses. They look good on you." I repeated, reaching out metaphysically and taking a big bite of her stress.
The girl blushed cutely. I noticed she still had a bit a baby fat on her face, but her skin was good, many of the girls in the class are having to wear makeup to hide their acne; she didn't have that problem. "T-Thank you." She said.
"Most people chose square or round. Why did you pick those?" I asked, still chewing on her dark feeling.
"H-Hum, B-because…" she quickly turned her head forward again, I could feel her embarrassment growing. "…D-Dumbledore." She admitted in a tiny voice.
I felt a genuine smile making it's way to my face. "That's awesome."
She nodded, keeping her head low. She didn't look back to me, but I can imagine the bright blush marking her face right now, it made me chuckle silently.
Emotion wise, she was much better. The anxiety wasn't overwhelming anymore; a lot of her stress was gone. I sensed the rest of her emotions calming down because of this. And watched her visibly relax in front of me.
Damn, she almost melted through the chair I wonder what got her so-
There was a squeaking noise of shoes rasping on the floor outside of the classroom, followed by a clash and a muffled "Crap!"
The class exploded in giggles.
The teacher sighed, slowly rubbing her temples; one didn't need the power to sense pain to know she had a headache.
"We all heard you, mister Yong. Come in." She projected her voice to the boy outside of the classroom.
Slowly, the door opened to reveal a chubby Asian kid wearing an X-men shirt. His face was scrunched like he was bracing for an explosion.
"G-Good morning miss Sharper."
"Late again, aren't we?"
"I'm sorry miss Sharper, it would happen again." He said with his head down, rubbing his untied shoe on his ankle.
I could see our English teacher sighing again, her expression bubbled in the frustration she was feeling, while she tried to keep her growing irritation from the surface.
"Just take your seat mister Yong, and consider this your last warning. There will be consequences if this happens again."
"Yes, miss Sharper. Thank you." The boy said dejectedly and then dragged his feet across the line of sniggering students.
His eyes brightened considerably when he saw me though. I greeted him with a silent gesture as he sat beside me.
Daniel Yong was the closest thing I ever had for a friend in my entire life. That isn't because I was ostracized or bullied or anything, I just moved around so often that I never really formed any connections that lasted more than a few months, so along the way I stopped trying. Even after all but settle down here, I still kept people at a distance out of principle.
Daniel is the sole exemption, I talked to him once, and he latched on to me, and I couldn't shake him out no matter how I tried, eventually, and after I noticed that we were going to stay in this town for a while, I warmed up to him, and even began to like him more than the other acquaintances I had in class.
The difference between them and Daniel is that; they like me because I'm pretty, and Daniel like me because I can do the Haruhi Suzumiya dance.
Not even a second after miss Shaper turned her back. He was already leaning to talk to me.
"Duuuude, You're back." He whispered enthusiastically.
"You betcha the cold was almost the end of me, but I'm back," I whisper back, keeping my cover story up. "What did I miss?"
"Oh man, you won't believe." He made a show of looking to the side before continuing. "You now that body that turned up a week ago-"
"What!" Body? What body? Why haven't I heard about it!?
"Wait, you don't know!" He gasped and leaned closer. "Some guy has been found dead a near the train yard a week ago. He had more than a hundred knife wounds in his body. You really hasn't heard it, dude? The whole city is talking about it."
A week ago…
"Sorry man, I was dying in my bed," I said absentmindedly, still trying to…
No, this must be a coincidence; not everything that happens a week ago is related to that. I can't start panicking over nothing; this might just as well be a coincidence… and besides, if this was related, then the man would still be alive today.
"Oh yeah, sorry about that- Anyway! I was sneaking out to grab a midnight snack yesterday, and I heard my parents talking." He cupped his hand over his mouth. "Dad said they found another one yesterday! In the same conditions too! They think it might be a serial killer!" He finished with an exciting hiccup.
Hum, if I remember correctly, Daniel's dad is a Police Capitan, so what he is saying does have to weight.
A serial killer hm? That's certainly interesting, but may not be related to anything… still, the timing is just-
Wait a second why…
I turned to him. "Why are you so excited about the prospect of a serial killer? I mean is a Serial Killer." I put emphasis in the last two words.
He blinked and seen only to realize now how he sounded. "It's nothing like that! It's just… well, nothing happens here. I'm just happy to see something interesting happening for once, maybe a news crew from the capital will pick up the story, and we could gain some notoriety, I don't know…"
Well, Edenspring isn't exactly a small city, in fact, it's the most populated place I ever moved to, but it definitely felt like one sometimes. I could certainly see what he meant.
A shapely hip covered by a pink pencil skirt got between our conversation. I knew we were caught before I even heard the soft sound of miss Sharper cleaning her throat.
"You see to be determinate to interrupt my class today, Mister Lee. Were you having a good conversation?" She asked with false sweetness on her voice, causing the others to giggle again."
"S-Sorry miss Sharper." He said quickly, cornering from the hard look.
Then, the intense brown eyes turned to me.
I always thought miss Sharper was particularly vicious when dealing with me; now I confirmed that. Her irritation sparked when our eyes met, a little bit of anger and annoyance appeared, together with a significant amount of satisfaction and …
Oh.
Oh, that is interesting.
That's a pretty noticeable amount of lust you have there, sensei. I wonder if it related to your current sexual frustration.
I struggled not to smile at that. It was a valuable discovery, but it would do me no good giving her more ammunition.
"Well well, mister Adonis Creed, I'm happy to see you back with us." Her eyes trailed over my features and traveled down my neck briefly. "And I see you wasted no time in causing disturbance once again."
I decided to give her what she wanted and winced. "Yes, miss Sharper, I'm really sorry about that."
She hummed, cocking her hips to the side. The action attracted my attention briefly. It both increased her satisfaction and irritated her… which told me she was not entirely aware of what she was feeling, or at least was covering that very well.
"Well, I'm not an unforgiving woman, mister Creed, mister Yong. So I will give you one last chance to behave yourselves."
Daniel visible sagged in his chair. With parents like his, I would want to bring some bad news either.
"However, mister Creed." She turned to me with a little smugness in her eyes. "I distinctly remember some detections you have missed due to your sudden sickness. So…"
She was enjoying this.
I pretended to wince again. "So… You will forgive them because you're very nice." I tried, but her face was pure stone.
"… I will see you after classes, mister Creed. Make sure to be there." She announced and then walked back to the board.
The whole time I was watching the globes stretching the pink skirt with a sway that wasn't there before. She definitely enjoyed that.
"Duuude," Daniel whispered again. "What does she have against you?"
"I have no idea," I responded without taking my eyes from the teacher.
Miss Janice Sharper was an older woman; I'd put her age somewhere between thirty, to thirty-five; past her prime but not on decline either. She's still a gorgeous dark-skinned beauty with long, curly black hair and smoldering brown eyes. There were some subtle marks of age in her face but nothing grievous enough to lessen her looks.
I watched was the pink pencil formed an almost perfect mold of the prominent ass, and large, childbearing, hips. I watched the breasts bounced the way bratless breasts do inside the white sweater shirt as she walked, and almost jumped out of it each time she raised her arm to write sometime on the board. I watched all of that and felt something not so human growling inside my chest, something that was stirred by the lust directed at me. Before I knew it, I was licking my lips, and The Book was innocently sitting over my desk.
Oh, I'm going to enjoy this detention.
