All I can say about this chapter is...dang. This chapter may be a little gruesome for some people, nothing extremely gory, well I guess it depends on what you consider gory. And again sorry it's been taking me so long to update.
Disclaimer, I do not own Percy Jackson all rights belong to Rick Riordan
Percy rubbed his arms as he tried to keep his heat. He didn't have a good experience the last time he had been in the city, the teen didn't know if this time would be too much different. Both Annabeth and Grover stuck closely to his side like body guards. Despite insisting that she come on the quest, the daughter of Athena seemed weary of every mortal that passed them. Grover was even worse, tensing and jumping each time a stranger walked a little too close.
"We have to be careful." Annabeth explained. "While this quest if very important, Chiron wasn't lying when he said you were more valuable. You could very well be the deciding factor of the war between the titans and the gods."
Percy scowled at the wet sidewalk beneath their feet, "And I still don't understand why."
"Because you are you, man." Grover chimed in nervously. "You could, well, it's kind of hard to explain without telling you the prop-"
Annabeth reached over and clamped her hand over Grover's mouth. The shake of her head was enough to make the goat boy shut up. It also made Percy annoyed to no end, he wanted to understand why everyone was walking on eggshells around him. Something told Percy that whatever everyone was trying to avoid telling him also had to do with the pact that Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades had made all those years ago. Percy tried to bite back a growl of frustration, he knew if Annabeth wasn't willing to give up the information right away, she wouldn't yet.
"I'm not special." Percy told his friends. "I'm just me...so what ever you guys are trying to hide, probably has nothing to do with me at all."
The daughter of Athena grabbed his sleeve and gave it a tug, "Come on, I know a quicker way to get out of the city, if we're not gone by morning they'll send people out to get us."
All three friends went into a nearby ally and gathered around a puddle. Grover's lip quivered, almost as if he already knew what Annabeth was planning. The blond dug into her pocket for a small golden coin, a Drachma, and tossed it into the shallow, murky water. After giving a short statement in ancient Greek the whole ally started to fill up with fog, Percy could hear the honking of a taxi horn. At first he thought an accident was happening, but when Annabeth yanked him backwards he just narrowly avoided being hit by a grey, ghostly version of a taxi.
"Do we really have to get a ride with the sisters, Annabeth?" Grover whimpered and quietly added, "They're creepy."
Annabeth gave a slight scowl, "Come on, they're not that bad."
The car door opened soundlessly, fresh fog came tumbling out, it smelled like death. Grover gave another whine of protest before Annabeth shoved the two boys into the cabin of the car. Percy realized despite it's supernatural appearance, it wasn't any less like an actual taxi cab on the inside. He stepped on wrappers and bones that had been carelessly thrown onto the floor. The son of Poseidon was unfortunate to have been caught in the middle seat, he had to crouch to avoid getting gum in his hair. Some board passenger must have spent their time pressing their chewed up Trident gum onto the roof for kicks.
"So where are you three young ones going?" One of the three women up front asked.
The driver cackled, "And so late at night?"
"Come now Anger, Wasp." The sister by the passenger door drew on. "Drachmas are Drachmas. Lets not question our guest. Where to godlings?"
Percy blinked, the prophecy hadn't been specific, it had just told him to 'go west to the god who is lost'. West was a direction, but not a specific location. Annabeth looked at the son of Poseidon as if she expected him to come up with some kind of answer. The three women waited patiently for his response, Percy just gave them a helpless shrug and meekly said something about going west. Wasp, the driver, gave a laugh and slammed her foot onto the gas petal, sending all of the passengers reeling back from the force.
Grover yelped, Annabeth grasped tightly onto Percy's arm, and Percy nearly hit the ceiling. If he got out of the cab by the end of their trip without getting having to shave his head after would be a miracle. The sisters started arguing not too long after taking off, Percy was too afraid for his life to really pay attention to what they were saying. He and his friends screamed when they nearly ran into one of the many windows of store buildings. Were their any mythological traffic police?
"Where are we going?" Annabeth shouted. "Where exactally are you taking us? 'West' isn't a location?"
"We're taking you where you need to be. California, it's a pretty expensive trip, I hope you have enough Drachmas." Anger answered.
Their sister, who Percy was assuming was Tempest, looked back at the son of Poseidon with one glossy eye. Percy felt his skin craw as he resisted the urge to look away from her. There was something in her glance that he didn't really like. It was cold and calculating, kind of like Gabe when he was trying to add up a rough estimate of the money Percy had in his pocket. Annabeth seemed to pick up on his feelings because she gave his arm a gentle squeeze.
"Were are we anyway?" Percy noticed that the windows were no longer filled with the scenery of a city.
"Out of New York, already starting to get to Ohio, we've never driven this slow before, but, eh." The sister in the middle shrugged. "So how about we collect the Drachmas from you right now? It will be roughly, one, two, five, six- seven hundred gold Drachmas for our services."
Tempest's grey lips twitched, "Sisters, isn't this the boy who has a large bounty on his head?"
"Give me the eye!" Anger shot her hand out and stole the eyeball right from her sister's head. Percy winced at the wet sound it gave when she shoved it into her own socket. After blinking a few times she looked at him. "I believe so, but why does it matter? We don't work for Kronos."
Wasp also spoke up, "Besides, we're taking the boy and his friends west."
"For a measly seven hundred in Drachmas?" Tempest argued. "We could make far more, thousands, hundreds of thousands of Drachmas for turning him over to the titan of time."
Annabeth stiffened next to him and reached for the blade sheathed at her hip. A fight was about to break out in the cab if the sisters continued this line of thought. Percy didn't think they had any advantage on the ghostly sisters considering they were going a hundred miles past possible. It didn't take the greedy three to come to the conclusion that they were going to take the son of Poseidon captive. Anger leapt forward and grabbed the front of Percy's shirt as if to pull him into the front seat. His friends grabbed the back of his jacket and tried to bring him back to them.
"Sorry children, this is your stop." Wasp told them, "But your friend here is coming with us."
The back doors of the car swung open. Percy could feel the wind trying to yank Grover and Annabeth from the car, if that happened then he wouldn't stand a chance of getting away from the three cab drivers. He looked up at the eye that was bobbing lazily in Anger's head. A sick thought came to his mind, he could feel a sour taste filling his mouth as he reached forward and wacked the grey woman on the head hard enough to knock the eyeball from her skull. She let out a cry of shock and released him to clasp her now empty socket.
"The eye! The eye!" She called out. "He knocked the eye out!"
"Find it!" Tempest yelled. "Close the doors, the child must not escape."
Upon her orders the cab doors slammed shut. Percy could only think of one way to get them to let him and his friends go, the only thing they seemed to care about more than money, he had to...ugh...hold their eye hostage. It was too dark in the car to see where exactally it was. The son of Poseidon sucked in a deep readying breath as he ran his fingers along the sticky carpet floor of the taxi. He found himself bumping into a few, unpleasant, surprises and then suddenly his hand tapped against something that seemed to be writhing. The eye.
After summoning his courage, and shutting off his gag reflex, Percy grasped the eye in his hand, "Are you looking for this?"
The three sisters gave a cry of joy, "Yes, be a good boy and return it."
"Let us out, now, or I crush it." As if to prove his point Percy tighten his grasp on the eye, the action made his stomach flip-flop.
"FINE, fine just don't hurt the eye." Wasp agreed and slammed on the breaks. Once the car was halted the doors opened and Percy eagerly got out of the car with his friends. "The eye please."
Wasp was reaching out of the car window for their possession. Percy didn't want to just hand it to her, she could end up yanking him inside and taking him with them anyway. Instead Percy smiled wickedly and tossed it into the back seat of the cab before slamming the door shut. That would teach them a lesson and keep them busy for hours. The three sisters gave cries of indignation and called him a liar.
"It's in the car, you can look for it once you get the heck out of here and far away from us." He told them. "Go, before I decide to crush it for real."
The taxi gave an angry revving sound before speeding off with the three sisters and their eyeball rolling around in the back. Was it evil of him? Maybe, but they were trying to kidnap him, so they got off easy. Grover plopped over in relief and nervously began to chew on his coat sleeve, Annabeth was also expressing her relief by throwing rocks in the direction that the ghost taxi had gone off in. Percy could tell she was saying some pretty nasty stuff in ancient Greek that he would be slapped for if he had repeated it to anyone else.
"Ugh, that is the last time I ever call on them for a ride!" Annabeth shouted and threw yet another stone.
Grover spoke through a mouth full of cloth, "I told you that they were creepy. If it hadn't been for Percy's quick thinking I don't know what would have happened."
"Right." The daughter of Athena looked down at her feet. "This was a...Percy I'm sorry. I should have figured...I should have known."
He could tell the admission of being wrong was hard for Annabeth, "You couldn't have predicted it, it's not your fault, Wise girl."
Annabeth didn't say anything as she rubbed her arms nervously. Their quest didn't have the best start, right out of the gate things had started to go wrong. Percy let out a sigh and searched their surroundings, he wasn't sure where they were, but he could tell it was a forest because of the lack of houses. Trees surrounded them like giant pillars, he could just barely see the moon peaking through the blanket of leaves over head. How did the sisters even maneuver through all of them?
"So, this is the great child of the prophesy." A feminine voice growled from the darkness. "I see, this pup has a lot to learn before he is ready to save the world."
Percy reached for Riptide, "Whose there?"
"A natural fight instinct." The voice continued to appraise him. "That's good, now let's see what you do with it. Prepare yourself!"
The son of Poseidon could see many luminous golden eyes appearing in the shadows. Low canine growls seemed to surround them, Percy's first instinct was to protect his friends. All three of them gathered in a circle, Grover seemed to be quaking too much to stand, but he pulled out a empty pop can and prepared to throw it at anything that moved. Wolves, many of them rushed from the dark and began to attack the trio. The largest one and her flocking pack members, their focus soul on the sea prince. Percy stood his ground, fully prepared to do whatever it took to protect his friends.
Well, I hope this chapter is kind of awesome enough to make up for my writers block and lack of updating in a while. I'm really sorry it took so long, but I think that last chapter was a point that took me a bit to get over, any way please tell me what you think! I want to know!