Chapter 17: HP
The bus rolled to a stop outside of the Trenton Transit Center.
"15 minutes for gas and then we're off. Board or leave, but this is the last stop before we head back!" Announced the driver.
We shook Percy awake and payed our fare. He kept looking around, as if something was following us. We got onboard the west-bound train quickly and found seats. Percy was fiddling with his pen. Three other ladies from the bus also got on the train with us. As we were approaching the Delaware river, they stood up together and announced that they needed to use the bathroom.
They walked to the back of the car where we were. Two of them went to the back while one took a seat near us to wait.
The car was relatively empty, except for us and the ladies, it was empty.
They all wore hats, a knitted sweater in pastel colors, and long pants. The hat wasn't unusual outside. The sun was shining down on us and no clouds were in the sky. But on a train with air-conditioning? It should've been the first clue that something was up.
One of the women walked back through the door and asked Percy, "Do you know where the bathrooms are, Perseus Jackson?"
At this he immediately uncapped his pen and it transformed into a gleaming bronze sword. Annabeth quickly drew her dagger and motioned for us to grab our things. Delphi, Rachel, and I grabbed our things along with theirs and made our way to the back of the train. We were the last car on the train. Drawing our wands we opened the door and stunned the lady.
Behind us we could hear the tell-tale ripping of clothes and the hiss of snakes.
Gorgons. They were Gorgons.
I didn't dare look back but I could only hope that Percy and Annabeth would be okay. We unlocked the chains stopping us from exiting the train and jumped.
I landed on the tracks, rolling to a stop. Delphi wasn't as lucky, landing on her feet, the impact looking like it jarred her jaw and shattered both her legs.
Rachel had opted to shimmy down off of the train, she landed on a beam, perfectly balanced.
Inside the train I could still hear the sounds of fighting. Suddenly, Annabeth burst through the door clutching her dagger. She jumped from the train and stumbled to the ground as the train sped away from us.
"Percy." She gasped.
Rachel helped her up while Percy fought the last Gorgon. He knocked her out with the flat of his sword.
A shrill screech warned us that the first Gorgon was waking us. Percy stabbed it in the heart, golden dust sweeping out of the train and onto the tracks.
As he jumped off, Percy shouted, "And it's Percy thank you very much!"
"So," Rachel said after a long pause, "what now?"
"Well, we should probably keep moving." Annabeth said.
"And by the way, I should mention that we have arrived in Pennsylvania? It was such a warm welcome!" Percy comments sarcastically.
By that time, the train was just a small dot in the distance. We started walking along the tracks until we weren't on the bridge anymore.
Annabeth pulled out her cellphone and we all watched it turn into a computer. She punched in some numbers and we finally got to see exactly what our situation was.
It wasn't a great start to our trip.