Chapter 4- Road Trip
Thank you IwriteForLife for the review. I will try to update chapters consistently. I am busy with school though, so don't get upset if chapters are delayed. It is almost summer which gets me pumped. Enjoy!
"Ouch! Ouch! Stop kicking me!" I shouted. I was asleep, but someone (Thalia) decided to wake me up quite painfully. At least she didn't shock me.
"Sally made some pancakes. Get up." She said. I pulled the blankets off of my head and watched Thalia, still in her clothes from yesterday, walk over to the kitchen. Sure enough, Mom was making blue pancakes. My feet moved on their own from there on out. I was just a body with a mouth and a stomach. And that stomach was hungry hungry hungry. Annabeth would say I'm always hungry…
Anyway, Mom gave Thalia her plate first before going on to make mine. I looked on jealously, to which Thalia stuck her tongue out at me, and kicked me in the shin as she walked past and over onto the table. I slapped the back of her head for revenge. I guess ladies should go first… in a perfect world. I want food now.
"Almost done sweet mother?" I asked.
She looked at me and smiled. "It's kind of weird having you back. You haven't changed. If time passed normally you would be 44."
I grimaced. "I know." She then handed me my plate of blue pancakes. The pancakes took priority over everything. I put some butter on top of the stack and then flooded the plate with syrup, as the gods intended.
As I sat down next to Thalia at the table, Mom followed. Paul was currently in the shower. "I missed having my little boy around. If only you weren't leaving so soon. You keep him out of trouble Thalia, and don't let him disappear for the third time." Thalia must have told her we were going to see Leo this morning before I woke up.
"We can stay longer Mom. Also, don't say I 'disappear.' I was kidnapped. That's the correct terminology." As soon as I finished speaking, a sudden wave of nausea washed over me. A vision flooded my head. I was laying on a bed in a room, the walls were gray, and a god was standing over me. I wasn't looking at the face, but she was wearing a pink dress. It passed as soon as it came though. I was back in Mom's apartment, and I was eating some pancakes. Mom was looking at me worriedly.
"What'd you say?" I asked.
"I just said that you don't have to do that. You should see Leo and Calypso, and meet their kids as well." She said as she patted my hand.
"They have kids?" I whistled.
"Yes, and most of them are vermin. They act like Leo did when he was younger." Thalia said rudely in between bites. I was surprised about the kids, but I was thinking about that vision that came over me. Who was the god? Where was I? Was that a scene from wherever I was kidnapped to? So many questions, with no way to answer them. When I was taken by Hera, I remembered bits of Annabeth. Could this be similar?
I pushed those thoughts to the side and enjoyed time with Mom and Paul (he came out of the shower, the few hairs he had were wet) before I left. They all laughed harder than I had ever heard them laugh, but I still struggled. I was still upset with all that had happened. They were happy to have me back, but I was still coming to terms with all that I had lost.
A little bit before noon, Thalia announced it was time to go. So we gathered at the door to say our goodbyes.
"I bid thee farewell," Paul said and laughed to himself. No one else did. But no one else was also an English teacher. I can't stand reading Shakespeare.
"Have fun in Indiana Percy. Visit us again, please. We still have to make up for the lost time. And you have to see your sister." Mom said.
"You can count on me Mom," I replied and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Thalia waved and walked over to the stairwell. Mom closed the door and I followed her. Thalia was standing at the top of the stairwell, looking at an auburn-haired 12-year-old girl leaning against the railing and inspecting a dagger. Artemis, goddess of the hunt and moon, and a few other things.
Thalia bowed before her, as did I. "You prayed and asked me to visit Thalia?" Artemis spoke.
"Yes, M'Lady. With your permission, I request to go on a road trip with my cousin and go see Leo in Indianapolis."
"That will be fine. As you know, we are having downtime in between hunts. We will pick you up again when you get back."
"Thank you, M'Lady. After Indianapolis, we will make our way to the camp in Oregon." After that, Artemis looked in my direction, nodded, and flashed out.
"I think this has to be the most mundane place a god has ever visited me. A stairway in an apartment complex." I said to Thalia.
"Haha yeah. I expected an IM. Gods don't normally go out of their way to see you. I guess being her lieutenant has some perks."
"If you say so," I said sarcastically.
We took the van all the way back to camp. We had supplies to pack because we were going on a 12-hour drive to Indianapolis, and an even longer drive to Oregon. A trip like that calls for lots of spare pairs of underwear. Medical supplies too because in the greek world, monsters exist, and they want to eat me. Percy meat is just irresistible. If I said that to a girl I could probably get sued for sexual assault. B*tches be doing that for everything nowadays.
Typical of the campers, they either avoided me or shadowed me from a distance aways. Thalia found it weird because she thought of me as a person. That is because she knew me. These campers have walked past a statue of me for their whole time at camp, heard stories about me, and thought of me as some legend like Hercules.
Thalia went to the Artemis cabin and I went to my cabin. I have no possessions besides my clothes and riptide. It has been in my pocket like it always has, which quite honestly was surprising. I bet there's a missing spot in the big house attic where my trusty pen used to be. I dumped all of the clothes Hannah gave me back into the pack that came with them. I can probably snag some deodorant and a toothbrush on our drive. I also changed out of the clothes I slept in. Some white basketball shorts and a green tank top.
Thalia had more stuff, so I went and waited outside of her cabin. I sat down and leaned against it while breathing in summer's last dying breaths. "Loitering outside of my sister's cabin I see." I opened one eye, and there standing not so majestically was Apollo. He was in his mortal body reminiscent of Dionysus. If I hadn't have seen him at Olympus, I would have assumed this was some mortal that had the ability to see through the mists. Demigods don't get that ugly, they have godly blood in them. Rachel once remarked to me saying, "could call this place model camp instead of camp-half blood."
"I'm just waiting for Thalia, Lord Apollo." I had trouble addressing this form as Apollo. He came and sat down in front of me, legs sprawled out.
"I'm sure you're wondering, great god Apollo, why aren't you hot anymore?" He said sarcastically.
"I am."
"To that, I have to say, I'm glad I'm not. After you left, Zeus punished me, and I suffered as a mortal for months. Truly humbling, Percy Jackson. I realized my faults as a god."
As if. "Wow, that's great. So now you're bragging to me about how humble you are?"
That got him. "Err. I realize now how that has come across. Perhaps words aren't the best way, but I will tell you anyway. As the greatest hero of this age Percy Jackson, I apologize for my actions towards demigods."
Perhaps there is some merit to what he is saying. What god would become ugly willingly, and also apologize towards a demigod? "You're apologizing to me? Apologize to your kids who you never interacted with."
"I have. In actions and words. Poems too. Some music, some music lessons. I spend time with them. More than any other god, considering they all don't unless sparingly with a favorite. Don't believe that I have changed? Fine. I just felt that by apologizing to you, I could make up for past mistakes. I have even got your supplies for your trip. There is a truck waiting for you past the border, with everything you will need."
"Wow. Thanks, uh, Apollo. That is much appreciated. And if you have changed truly, that is amazing, and I'm sure your kids are glad to have a father." Then we stood up. I shook hands and smiled at him, to which he returned.
"Have a good life Percy Jackson. Take care of Thalia, she sure is feisty for how old she is." Then he laughed and walked away in the direction of his cabin. Thalia then walked out of the Artemis cabin laughing.
"You heard that?" I said to her.
"Yeah." She responded. She was carrying a large duffel bag. She had also changed and was wearing black leggings and a black sleeveless hoodie.
I whistled. "Surprised you're not shooting him with a bow."
"He is different now. Likable, somehow. Artemis even lets him come to our camp, they're close now." I guess she confirmed what Apollo said. I could see Apollo from here rolling around in the grass with a few of his younger kids. Some campers from other campers were looking on in jealousy. I could understand that, but I'm happier for the kids than resentful.
I picked up my bag and held the strap around my left shoulder. I led Thalia over to the truck Apollo spoke of. It was parked there, along with the camp's vans. It was a massive truck, something you could feel safe in if you got hit. It was red, and it was one of those self-driving cars. Nearly all cars were though. Sitting in the bed of the truck were two decent-sized black bags. One was loaded with cash, which caused the child of Zeus's eyes next to me to go wide. The other had plenty of medical equipment, a toothbrush, and deodorant, and the keys to the truck sitting on top of all of it.
"This will serve us nicely," Thalia said and heaved the bags into the backseat. I hopped up into the passenger seat while she jumped into the 'drivers' seat if people still call it that. Who knows? Not like they're driving.
We took the same route out of the city. We are planning and stopping in Pittsburgh because we don't want to drive for 12 hours straight. As demigods with ADHD that could go poorly, 6 hours is hard as is. Once we get onto interstate 76 it should be smooth sailing though. New York is a pain. It took us an hour to leave the city, which is better than it used to be. Self-driving cars smoothed traffic out a little bit. After the city, the disgusting city that used to be familiar to me, we drove through the New York countryside. It was refreshing. Technology has come far, but there is nothing that will beat fresh air. Thalia agrees. She is a hunter after all.
We got onto I76, and decided it was time for a rest top and to use the bathroom and stretch our legs. Gods know I was getting antsy. So Thalia directed the car to pull into a rest stop, where it completed some wizard magic sh*t and wallah we were parked in a rest stop.
"Jesus... feels like somebody railed me. My legs are sore," Thalia said, slowly getting out of the car. The sun was shining down onto us. Thalia stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the landscape around her. Most people wouldn't describe the state of New York as nice, but I like it.
"You don't know what that feels like Thals." I sniggered. "You have a dirty mind." I eased out of the car as well and promptly stretched my legs. Groans accompanied everything.
"This is how I would imagine it to feel like. Now 'boy'," She said boy sarcastically, "you watch the car while I go to the restroom." Then she stalked off.
"Sureeee I'll just lean up against here and twiddle my thumbs," I grumbled to myself. I looked through the window into the backseat to make sure everything was still there, which it was. "Wish I had a smartphone." I yawned and stared up into the blue sky. It was beautiful outside. Rest stop not included. Would hate if something came up and… went and ruined it.
A bark sounded out over by the women's restroom. A feminine scream went up into the air as well. There were no other cars here besides ours, so from my complex mathematical computations, I can deduce with my boy genius brain that the scream, therefore, was my cousin Thalia. I uncapped Riptide, and then I saw Thalia running toward me. There was a pack of hellhounds chasing her. I stepped up in front of the hood of the truck, sword at the ready. Thalia went into the truck to grab something, probably weapons. I didn't have time to think about it though.
The first hellhound was slimmer than the others but still large. Probably why it got here first. It immediately made a jump at me, to which I rolled out of the way. It landed on top of the car. The next one attempted to distract me while the one behind me made another attempt, but I didn't fall for it. As soon as I heard the hellhound behind me jump of the truck, I turned around and sliced it. It blew up into yellow dust.
The hellhound that tried to distract me growled. More hellhounds gathered next to it. Then one blew up into yellow dust. An arrow had fired into it from behind me. Thalia. I capitalized on the hellhounds being startled and attacked the one at the end of the line to the right. I pierced that hellhound with riptide right through the eye and immediately carried my momentum into the next one, slaying it as well.
Thalia had taken out the first two on the left side of the line, leaving only the three who were in the middle side of the semi-circle. Thalia hopped off the top of the truck and landed next to me. She pulled out two daggers to duel wield, while I kept two hands on Riptide. The hellhounds came at us. The one on the right was massive, and also deceptively fast. It rammed its head right into my hand, knocking the sword out of my hand and all the way under the truck. How convenient.
My hand was in tons of pain now, but to survive I'll have to suffer through it. Not broken, but probably badly bruised. In my anger at the hellhound, I used my other hand to sock it right in the face, to which it yelped and backed off. Now that I am unarmed, it will pounce with its mate. Thalia was occupied with the third one, so she couldn't help me. Unless I took care of hers and allowed her to take out the other two with her daggers. That's a good plan.
Time to use the skills I've learned playing sports. Time to juke out these doggies. I made a quick sudden motion and took three fast steps to the right. Thalia was to my left. The hellhounds, thinking I was trying to escape, ran in that direction. They overcommitted though. I hastily, changed my direction back to the left, in the direction of Thalia and her hellhound. The two hellhounds had their ankles broken.
I ran at the hellhound and tackled it. It released a painful sound. I was on top of it like the dominant alpha male I am, and Thalia tossed me one of her daggers. I slit the squirming hellhound's throat and got up. Thalia took out one of them while I was on the ground. The last hellhound, realizing it was the last, hesitated attacking Thalia. I capitalized on it and threw my dagger at it. The dagger went straight through its head. And there was the end of the pack of hellhounds.
Thalia was gasping for breath. "Lunchtime now?"
I laughed. "I think so." She laughed as well. "Are you hurt?"
"Not badly. As soon as I went under the covered area, they all jumped out at me from behind the walls. One that was close to me scraped my back pretty decently. I ran back here to get my weapons. During the rest of the fight, I only have small wounds. You?"
"Let's get some of Apollo's medical supplies. Ambrosia. I'm good. My hand is just bruised and swollen. Big brute whacked it hard."
She nodded and walked to the back seat of the truck and pulled out the bag with the medical supplies. We each ate some ambrosia and dressed our wounds. She needed help rubbing some stuff on the scratches on her back, which some people might have thought to be awkward. Me and Thals are close though and know when to ignore stuff like that.
It didn't take long until we were back out onto the road. Thalia was head jamming to old green day songs and acting as nothing happened. Just how demigods act. 15 minutes later she turned down the music.
"Wanna see a Pirates baseball game tonight in Pittsburgh?" She asked.
"Why not." Our plans were set. It may be 2037 but I'd be willing to bet the pirates still suck.
For the purpose of this story, Percy never helped Meg and Apollo escape the blemyae (I think that's what they were. I'm not gonna bother looking it up). He had already disappeared. Anyway, please review this chapter, if not that's ok.