The team made their way through the town, careful not to bump into anyone. They didn't know if the people actually knew they were there, but no one wanted to test the theory.
Everywhere they went they found an odd approximation of human life; When a family of four wandered into a bakery, as one they announced "We are buying bread!", when they passed a park, with a pair of dads pushing a pair of girls on the swings, they rose and fell in perfect unison and let out the exact same soft "Weeee", and everywhere those same smiles.
"This place gives me the creeps!" Jazz shuddered. Rose could only whimper in response.
"I think...these guys might just be mortals." Alexa said in a low tone.
"Y-yeah" Rose agreed shakily. "There aren't really that many demigods. At least not enough to populate a town like this."
Jazz's head bobbed thoughtfully "But what I don't get is Aphrodite said there'd be monsters here too...how come we haven't been-" Before she could finish Rose's hand shot out and she yanked the pair into a side street.
"Rose, what the-!" Jazz began to complain, but Rose quickly hushed her and pointed. Alexa peeked around the corner and saw something extremely odd; A group of people had stopped in front of a sandwich shop, pausing so that a patron could exit. Out of the shop, holding a plastic bag with a few wrapped subs inside between it's teeth, came a horse. It was a dark chestnut color, it's mane black. Around it's neck was another bronze collar, this one thicker and more knotted than the ones around the mortals.
The horse turned it's head back towards the sandwich shop and let out an irritated snort. This was answered by a chorus of angry squawks. Another plastic bag emerged from the door, held between seven pigeons. Bringing up the rear, holding a bag with two bottles of water in it's beak, was a flamingo. All of the animals wore the same knotted bronze collars as the horse.
The horse snorted and took off down the street at a brisk trot, followed by the flamingo. The pigeons took flight after them, struggling to keep up with their load. The trio was silent for a long while. Jazz was the first to speak.
"Did the cyclops put anything...funny in that soup?" She asked quietly.
"Not that I saw…" Rose said with a shake of her head.
"Pretty sure that has something to do with all this then." Jazz growled, plucking one of the charms off her bracelet. Immediately it sprouted into the eight foot long, bronze tipped spear that Alexa had made her. Alexa followed suit, unclipping her own sword, and Rose took a pair of daggers from her boots.
The three hurried after the animals, keeping to alleys and side streets as much as possible to avoid being seen. The animals led them further and further north. They weaved through the monotonous crowd, and, at times, caused it to part around them.
The flamingo nearly caught them several times, it's big black beak swiveling in their direction every time the animals stopped.
The trio stalked the creatures right out of town, and followed them down a long and winding road. As they turned one particular bend however, they lost them.
"Shit!" Alexa swore under her breath.
"Language!" Jazz complained.
"English!" Alexa shot back.
"Hush" Rose said gently, pointing up the lane. In the distance, up the winding road was a series of buildings, a house easily the size of Camp Half-blood's Big House the largest among them. Cautiously the three crept forward, the collection of buildings resolving themselves into one large house, a stable, some chicken coops, a few dog houses, a shed and what looked to be a small warehouse.
Animals of all shapes and sizes covered the property from dogs and cats to cattle and horses. Alexa even spotted a few wild cats mixed in with the more domestic assortment. All of them wore the same knotted collars as the animals they had followed.
Jazz chewed her lip and motioned with her head, silently asking "What now?"
Had it been up to Alexa, she probably would've gone in guns blazing, sword held high and would've subsequently been mauled. Rose had other ideas. She nodded at the shed. It wasn't the closest building, but they could probably get to it around the outskirts of the property without being seen. Her two companions nodded their assent and, as silently as possible, they began to move.
It wasn't easy to sneak through the brush and high grass to the shed. They likely wouldn't have made it if not for Rose. Through some use of her power, the girls found themselves camouflaged in the vegetation, so long as they stayed perfectly still. It took Rose stopping her several times before Alexa caught on to this fact.
Finally they reached the shed. Slowly, Jazz undid the latch on it's door and the three slipped inside.
"Woah." Alexa breathed as she entered. They appeared to be in a workshop of sorts. A work table had been set up with several bands of bronze wires and tools laid out, a cauldron bubbled next to it, a bookshelf full of scrolls and old dusty books was pressed against a wall, but what drew the eye was all the medals. There were three gold medals set prominently above the work table in a velvet lined case, all three seemed to have recently been polished. One, Alexa read, was for the peewee track and field competition for some school district in Ohio, the other two were first place for the super spellers association state and regional championships.
Around these, however, were tons and tons of silver medals, red ribbons, second place trophies and even a few tests with B+ and a good job sticker on them. Everything had been roughed up in some manner; the trophies had dings, the ribbons were ripped and torn, the tests had been scribbled on so badly Alexa couldn't even make out what subject they were for.
Jazz shook her head. There wasn't anything that any of them really needed to say.
"Looks like her name is Carol." Rose said, squinting hard at one of the test papers.
"Think that's our witch?" Asked Alexa.
"Gotta be." Jazz answered "I doubt she'd go through so much effort just to vandalize someone else's achievements."
"Well...at least we know her name now." Rose muttered.
"Yeah, and that she's a total nut!" Jazz added "I mean talk about a sore loser! Let's just find Jeff and get out of here!"
"We can't just let her kidnap more people!" Rose gasped. "We have to put a stop to this, then free Jeff!"
Jazz looked about ready to speak, when a noise from the door interrupted their conversation.
"Honk?" They all whipped around to find a goose. It's bright blue eye stood out sharply against it's gray feathers, it's orange beak hung open as if in surprise, so low the bottom nearly brushed the knotted cords of bronze that encircled it's neck. The three girls and the waterfowl stared at one another for one long, seemingly endless second. Then the goose sprang into action.
"Honk honk honk!" It began to honk loudly, urgently, as it turned away from them and half waddled, half flapped towards the door. Both Rose and Jazz leaped at it to try to grab it before it escaped but both missed. Alexa pointed the tip of her sword at it but she couldn't get a clear shot with both of her friends in the way. In desperation Rose reached into her pocket and threw a bunch of seeds at the goose. The goose's gray feathers were quickly consumed with a green fuzz, making it look like a Chia pet, but it was far too late.
All around them, animals were converging on the shed. All three girls readied their weapons when a familiar male voice spoke up over the growls of the beasts.
"Stop!" They all froze, even the three girls, the voice, all too familiar to them, had given them no choice. Alexa raised her eyes to see two people walking forward, coming from the house. One was Jeff, looking older and more worn down than the last time they had seen him, his hair stylishly messy and his clothes hanging off his thin frame. Leading him by a black leather collar and a leash (a sight that made both of the older girls' cheeks turn red) was a young woman, a year or two older than Jazz and Rose. Immediately, Alexa was struck by just how beautiful she was, blonde hair, striking blue eyes, perfect skin, a radiant smile. The only thing that marred it was the cold hunger in her eyes, an almost savage glee at seeing them stuck there like that.
"Well, well, well…" Cooed the witch as she stepped forward, dragging Jeff along by his short leash. "Three more demigods, how wonderful!"
She turned and ran her fingers through Jeff's hair, her smile only growing wider. "That's another step closer to your reward, pet. Aren't you excited?"
"Y-yes ma'am…" Jeff said, his eyes flicking towards the three.
"Yes ma'am" The witch repeated, tickling Jeff's chin. "Now then...if you'd be so kind."
"To the loading ramp!" Jeff ordered. All three girls began to walk in lock step, although they could all feel some difference between Jeff's normal charmspeak and what they were used to. For one, they were actually aware that he was using charmspeak on them, for another, although they weren't able to fully break his hold they were able to somewhat resist his control.
"Why are you doing this?" Rose asked.
"We're here to rescue you, you backstabbing son of-!"
"Shut up!" Jeff snapped, and both of them fell silent.
"My little pet has some big dreams!" The witch cooed as they walked. "And he knows I'm the only one capable of giving him what he wants. So I'm making him work for it!"
She let out a little cackle, none of them could really look back at her but Alexa had the distinctive feeling that she was rubbing her hands together manically.
"You have no idea how much live stock goes for nowadays, let alone a trained animal! Once you get one of my collars on you, you retain your brains but you become completely obedient. Demigods are a double blessing; longer lasting, fetch a much higher price, especially to my clientele. I have no doubt you'll all be sold in no time!" They had reached the warehouse. The witch clapped her hands and three cages were brought out, ready to be put to use.
"I don't know who sent you here, girls, but whoever did must've really hated you! No one wins against me!" Three knotted collars were produced from a backroom, held between three pairs of pigeons. Two of them dived down, and snapped the collar around Jazz's neck.
Jazz gasped, her hands going up to clutch at her throat as the collar constricted. It glowed bright white for a second, blinding the other two girls, but when the light faded what stood in Jazz's place was a wild boar, dark red and bristly, with two massive tusks and a pink dripping nose.
The second pair dropped, and Rose found herself yelping as it too closed around her throat. When the flash of light faded, Alexa found herself staring down at the biggest snake she had ever seen in her life, a coiled mound of green and brown scales, easily 20 feet long with a massive blunted triangle for a head and sad looking brown eyes.
"Ooooh, we don't get many snakes like her! She'll fetch a good price for sure! Lets see what we can make of you, my dear! Better hope it's nothing too tasty!" The witch chuckled. The pigeons swooped low again. Alexa found her life flashing in front of her eyes, every moment Jazz had helped her, every time they had talked, or laughed, or fought, or cried together. That girl had helped yank her, kicking and screaming, out of a depression that might've lasted forever, how could she let this happen!
In equal measure, rage and love burned in her heart! It was that burning emotion, and perhaps Jeff's own lack of heart in his task, that allowed Alexa to pull away at exactly the right time. She threw herself backwards just as the pigeons flew overhead. Her left foot struck out, knocking the collar from their grasp, and sending it flying back over the heads of many of the animals. As Alexa's back slammed into the ground, she heard a cry from behind her.
"No- HONK!" She managed to look back. There, now wearing two collars, the black leather one still connected to the witch's leash and the twisted and knotted bronze one, was a large and grumpy looking swan.
Alexa wasted no time. She quickly got to her feet, glanced around, and ran. She'd have to try to divert some of the innocent animals away from Carol's side in order to get a clear shot at her. Just as she'd hoped she heard a scream from behind her as she ran through the warehouse and out a backdoor.
"Get her!" The race was on!