Chapter 21:
Markus finished playing his Saints Row marathon and was happily watching the credits roll.
He got into the game when he came unto the game title online while he was surfing the Internet. At first, he didn't think much of it. Now, he was enjoying playing the game while eagerly eating an ice-cream sundae.
He had invested a lot of time in his gaming. He usually played classic games on the Xbox 360, either action-adventure games, hack-and-slash games, or even platform games sometimes. His fascination (not an addiction) was slowly turning him into a typical teenage gamer. If it weren't for the fact that he was a demigod that was training, he would be a classic introvert. Add his reading and watching manga and anime into the mix and he worried that he would never leave his home.
Normally he would be swamped with homework and kendo/taekwondo training, along with magic, but two of those problems were already solved. Firstly, it was the summer, and school was ending. Markus was over the roof with that one. Finally, no more stupid exams and homework where he didn't have to suffer much from his now weakening dyslexia. Plus, he was also glad to be going back to camp, but the end of school was more important.
As for his training classes, Amy was closing the dojo due to her travelling for the holidays. For the final class, she tested each student on their performance so they could move up a belt. She was happy with almost everyone's performance, even Markus'. Sure, he convinced her to teach him more advanced stuff, but still.
He was also happy with his progress in martial arts. While he was no master, he was able to handle himself in a fight just fine now. He knew when to dodge, how to block and deflect attacks properly, how to punch properly, etc. However, what he wasn't happy about was his small progress. Even if he did move up a belt, he received a yellow tag instead. Which indicated that while he was above a white belt, he was also below a yellow belt as well (A.N. - Again, if anyone thinks differently, this was the way I was shown and taught).
All his hard work, and all he had to show for it was a fucking piece of cloth. A fucking strip. Markus was so furious at that one.
At least he was slightly happy with his kendo progress. Yamamoto was a slave driver, but he was a great teacher. He taught Markus' class so much about the art of kendo and techniques that he was thrown for a loop. Thanks to him, Markus was able to implement his Greek sword style with his kendo training. The combination of Western and Eastern sword styles created a devastating combo that Markus was happy about. Yamamoto was so impressed with his skills that he was initially graded as a 1st Kyu, whatever that meant. Then upgraded to a 1st Dan (A.N. - If I got the grading wrong, I'm sorry. I assume that 1st Kyu in kendo is the lowest rank, and then 1st Dan onwards leads to the highest rank. Again, sorry if I made a mistake). Markus' swordplay was even more stronger if he applied kinetic energy also.
That got him to stop thinking on his progress and instead thought about his meeting with Savitr months ago. He took a pen off of the table nearest to him, and looked at it. He concentrated on the new power he had received, thinking of increasing the movement of the environment around him. Then he transferred that energy to the pen, making it vibrate slightly. Markus could feel the molecules of the object vibrate at a high speed, and he threw the pen slightly. However, because of his transferring energy to the pen, it flew sharply, piercing the wall opposite to him and sticking there, creating a hole similar in shape and size to the ones surrounding it on the wall.
His control over kinetic energy and its uses had increased largely as he trained with it. It was similar to water control, only instead of feeling a tug in his gut when he controlled water, he felt his insides moving fast. Like, really fast. It was an uncomfortable feeling for him, but he got used to it. After reading his science textbook, he learned more about energy in general. And then read about kinetic energy. It was basically the energy that allowed objects and people to move. Applying it to real life was a whole new thing. Learning the study of energy and water was pretty much the only thing that Markus was good at in school. Everything else he didn't care about.
While this power was awesome, he still knew there would be drawbacks. Making a deal with Savitr was foolish, and he knew that. Dealing with an unknown god wasn't wise, because he didn't know about his behaviour, his actions, etc. And he knew that the god wanted him for something, otherwise he wouldn't offer the deal. And he refused to play to someone like a puppet. It was why he made Savitr swear that oath in the first place, so that he wouldn't be a pawn to an unknown god.
After his meeting with the god, Markus read up on any Hindu mythology that he could online. From what he had read, Savitr was supposed to be benevolent deity, who watched over the world, monitoring all those that were mobile and stationary. While he maybe was all those things, Markus still didn't believe that after meeting him. Gods tended to be different from the myths that he read, or were exactly as portrayed. The myths said that Ares was honourable. He could tell that was false having met the god.
While his decision was rash and stupid, he couldn't deny the results. He just wished that he wasn't so impulsive. To solve this, Markus insisted on meditating, which was something Yamamoto suggest during classes. While training your body was nice and well, training your mind and spirit was very beneficial. It somewhat helped with his anger problems, which he knew he had, and helped him calm his ADHD. Only a little bit though.
Markus got off from his couch and was about to pack his stuff for Camp Half-Blood. Maybe he could visit Percy and Sally while he was at it.
Before he could do that, though, he heard a ripple like noise come from behind him. Reacting quickly, Markus drew water from a jug of water near him that he kept around for practising or training. He formed it into a spear, turned it into ice in the blink of an eye and then mentally commanded it to shoot towards the intruder. The spear passed harmless through the Iris message that appeared in the middle of his home. Upon seeing who it was contacting him, Markus smiled.
"Chiron," he nodded, greeting the trainer of heroes.
The centaur smiled. "Markus, my boy. It is good to see you again. I didn't know you could control ice. I hear you must've been busy during your break from camp."
"Uh... yeah," Markus nodded. He wondered whether Chiron was talking about his encounter with Khione, or maybe his trip to Spellhaven. He decided not to mention them for now, as well as his ability to control ice. "I have, yeah. Anyway, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"
Here, Chiron's face turned grave. Markus guessed that this was serious. "I must ask a difficult task of you which I know you will not follow through with. But I feel that I must ask anyway."
"What is it?" Markus asked, dread building in his stomach.
"I must ask that you and your brother must stay away from Camp Half-Blood this year."
Markus blinked, and then blinked again. Finally, he responded naturally. "WHAT?!" He didn't know what Chiron was thinking, but he thought that old age was catching up to him.
"I know what you must be thinking but it would be in Percy's best interest and yours to stay away from camp this year. Things have not been right at camp in the last few months and I fear it won't be safe for much longer."
Markus immediately shook his head. "Nope. No way, Chiron. Percy thinks of camp as his own home. I do too. There's no way anything's stopping us from going to camp."
Chiron sighed deeply and ran a hand through his shaggy hair. The look on his face showed he was not surprised that Markus refused. Though the boy had to admit that looking at Chiron now, the old centaur was beginning to look his age.
Markus noticed the bags under his eyes, a few cuts and scrapes could be seen on his arms and overall he just looked exhausted. Markus wondered what was going on at camp that had Chiron look the way he is now.
"I had a feeling you might say that but it was worth a shot. Then all I ask is that you try to keep Percy safe. Be by his side and protect him. Not only that, look after yourself."
"You don't even need to tell me that, Chiron," Markus stated. "I'll protect Percy and I'll manage to look after myself."
"That's all that I ask," Chiron said, smiling a little. It looked as if the confirmation released several loads on his back. Well, horse back.
Then Markus turned serious. "Chiron, what is going on? And don't give me any watered down version. What has happened at camp that got you looking so exhausted?"
Chiron hesitated. Markus immediately knew that he wasn't going to tell him"I can't tell you all the details since it is something that is best told face to face."
The boy scowled. He didn't like details that concerned his well being to be kept from him. Especially if it concerned his brother as well.
"However I will inform you that the magical barriers are not as strong as they were last year and we have had a fair few incidents where monsters have found a way through and into camp. We just stopped a couple of hell hounds from ripping down the Apollo cabin an hour ago."
Markus' eyes widened. The camp's barrier was weakened? That was impossible. Markus knew that the camp's magical barriers were dependent on Thalia's tree. If the barriers were weakened, then...
"Chiron," Markus asked. "What happened to Thalia's tree? What happened to it to make the barriers weak?"
Chiron hesitated again, and Markus' suspicions were confirmed. Something terrible had happened to Thalia's tree, and if it wasn't solved... No, Markus didn't want to think like that.
Now that he thought about it, more monsters had been appearing lately. Usually, Markus had to deal with the occasional hell hound that wandered too close to his home. Now he dealt with several cyclopes, dracanaes and even empousai, which were basically Greek vampires that served under his boss, Hecate. Markus planned to have a chat with the goddess about that one.
"I thought that hell hounds occasionally roamed around the Underworld, bar the one that appeared in camp last summer," Markus said. "Why are so many appearing now?"
"They should be but lately thing have been stirring in the Underworld. Or more precisely Tartarus. Many that dwell in the Underworld have made their way to the surface."
"Were they summoned?" Markus asked wearily. He knew that monsters were usually summoned by other beings. He scowled as he thought of Luke.
Chiron shook his head. "No. While many more monsters are appearing, there are too many to be controlled. If they were, they would attack specific targets or people. But now they are just attacking random demigods."
"And let me guess. Zeus is doing what he does best, aside from chasing women and throwing lightning bolts around, and ignoring the signs of Kronos rising?"
Chiron nodded, though he did appear nervous at Markus' choice of wording, even though it was true. "Yes Zeus is refusing to believe that Kronos is rising. Many of the other gods are trying to reason with him but he will not listen."
Markus rolled his eyes. "Typical," he muttered. "Signs of his father rising again and he acts like a child and chooses to ignore it. What a big baby." The sky boomed with thunder at his words. "Oh shut up, you know it's true. Zap me if you want, you're not making me change my mind or the truth," Markus said, pointing at the sky.
The sky boomed even louder, but Markus didn't flinch.
"Yes well until the gods can convince Zeus that Kronos truly is up to something since Luke has joined his cause, all we can do is act normally and get on with our daily routines."
Markus' eyes narrowed. "Uh, no. What we should be doing is ignoring Zeus and preparing for the worst. We should be making war plans, training our asses off, thinking of over a million contingency plans, anything. We can't just do nothing just because Zeus is blind!"
The sky boomed even louder with thunder. Markus just flipped the sky the bird. "Fuck you, too!"
"Markus, enough," Chiron stated seriously. This got Markus to focus on him again. "While I understand your concerns, and I readily agree with you, without Zeus' orders, we cannot make any preparation plans." Seeing Markus about to retort, he held up his hand. "However, that doesn't mean we will stand idle. I will do all I can to prepare the camp while you meet up with your brother. I anticipated that you would refuse my orders and so I sent someone to pick Percy up. You can rendezvous with her and go to camp together."
Markus nodded. Then picked up on what Chiron said. "Wait, her?" He grinned slightly. "Oh, I think I know who it is. Thanks, Chiron. I'll do that." He saluted the centaur before they bid each other a good bye and the Iris message shimmered and disappeared.
Shaking his head, Markus quickly changed into more suitable clothes, picking up his leather jacket and putting on his rune-enhanced sneakers. The reason that he put runes on his shoes was because he was going to use his powers to zoom to Percy's school. Markus figured out a while ago that he can use kinetic energy to move very quickly. When he tested these powers, he was awed. And slightly hurt, since every time he practiced, he ended up moving so fast that he crashed into a tree. Or a wall. Or even a car. Thank the gods for his water healing.
Anyway, when he finally managed to get the hang of his super speed, he noticed that every time he moved really fast, his shoes would burn up because of the high friction. So, he managed to solve that with runes. Writing 'αντιστέκομαι', meaning 'resist', and 'θερμότητα', meaning 'heat', in Greek together side by side made his shoes almost friction-proof. Which he was immediately thankful for. Though, he noticed that Greek runes weren't really good for conjunctions or more than one word.
What he meant was that runes in Greek were rigid and basic. Using more than one word and activating both at the same time was very hard to do simultaneously. Same with Latin. He would have to use different runes like Norse or Japanese to make it work properly.
But for now, he would make due with what he had. Grabbing a spare water bottle and putting it inside his jacket, along with some goggles, the type sports players use, he was ready to go. Exiting his apartment, he went to the ground floor and exited the building.
Looking around to make sure no one was watching him, he put on his goggles. He concentrated on the power that he received from the motion god, then gathered that energy around his body. And then he moved.
He didn't run. He blitzed. He blurred.
Despite having done this before, he couldn't contain the shout of joy that he had. "Woohooo!"
As he ran, his legs were a blur, working overtime. His cheeks rippled, experiencing the G-force due to moving at fast speeds. His reflexes helped him dodge incoming cars and bikers as he sped forward, towards the destination of Percy's school. He didn't know how fast he was going (A.N. - Right now he's travelling at 40 mph, which is over Usain Bolt's record of 28 mph, using kinetic energy. I think that's the speed of a small go kart, or something).
Moving like this, he felt liberated. Like he could actually fly a little. Which was impossible, since his grouchy uncle would just zap him. But still... the experience was awesome. Markus was beginning to enjoy running almost as much as he did swimming. The wind rushed against his shielded eyes as his goggle protected him. While moving at such speed was dangerous, he was protected by his jacket, which was very durable, as well as his sneakers. However, he couldn't do anything about his jeans or his face. Which was why he brought the water to heal him from any frictional burns.
Markus ignored the small specs that started to beat against his skin as he ran, knowing that they were probably insects. He resisted the urge to wipe his face, knowing that doing so would probably distract him and cause him to skid off on the road painfully.
While Markus was enjoying his run, he suddenly felt bored. Like seriously bored. Sure, he was running really fast. But that didn't mean that his mind was moving at such speeds. Damn, Markus wished that he had brought an MP3 player or something. It would really help with his boredom.
Happy with his current speed, Markus decided to increase his speed even further using kinetic energy. His figure was nothing but a blur as he ran even faster, streaking through the streets of Manhattan and coming to Percy's school quickly, his ADHD helping him discern where he was heading and where to stop.
He braked to a stop as his shoes skidded across the grass outside of the school, heating it slightly and turning it black. Markus breathed out slightly, trying to calm down the ambient buzzing that he felt whenever he used his new powers. He shook his hand to get rid of the buzzing in his arm. Then he quickly brought out the water bottle in his jacket and splashed it on himself, healing himself on any burns on his face and legs as well as cleaning the specs of insects on his face.
He sighed, closing the bottle and looking over himself. He could tell that while his face and legs were healed, his jeans had become slightly ripped from his little run. Honestly, it didn't look that bad. It was kind of cool, actually.
Finished checking over himself, Markus looked around the area, checking to see if anyone had spotted him. But no. He was safe.
Markus was about to move into the school when he saw the air ripple out of the corner of his eye. Markus looked again, but the ripple disappeared.
Trying to sense where the mysterious source was, and to identify if it was a person or a monster, Markus spread out his senses. This wasn't his magical senses or his natural demigod senses. This was what he dubbed his 'water detecting'. It was basically him trying to sense the water in an area using his powers as a son of Poseidon. Not only could he control water, but he could also sense where the largest or smallest body of water was located if he concentrated hard enough. Continued use of this skill, as well as through training, he could sense the water running through a person: through their blood, their sweat, and embarrassing as it was, their piss.
He could use this to tell where a person was if they were hiding. Though he did have to take time to concentrate hard enough, which left him defenceless. Using his water detecting, he could tell where the person was. Looking in that direction, he smirked. "You can come out, Annie. I know where you are."
The air rippled again, followed by a huff of annoyance, and Annabeth Chase appeared out of her invisibility with her New York Yankees cap in her hand. She looked like she grew a little since Markus had last seen her, along with her hair growing out a few more inches. Nevertheless, she still had the same princess curls at the end.
She glared at him, her steely grey eyes making an intimidating image. However, Markus was already used to such a glare, and responded by giving a cheeky smile.
"How many times have I told you not to call me Annie?" she asked with bite in her voice. Markus just kept on smiling.
"Dunno. How many times have I called you Annie up till now, Annie?" he responded cheekily. If possible, her grey eyes narrowed even more. She lashed out with a punch. Using kinetic energy, because he wanted to show off, Markus dodged the punch before it could even come close to him. This made Annabeth blink at seeing him move at such speeds and caused her to trip and fall to the ground from her overextended punch plus her surprise. Markus just ended up laughing at her, making Annabeth scowl.
"Very funny, Squid Head. Now help me up!" Annabeth said angrily. Markus chuckled, helping her up. Annabeth dusted off her jeans, then proceeded to punch the boy in the shoulder. Markus laughed even more at seeing her clutch her hand slightly, since his jacket was harder than normal, as it acted as armour.
"So before you injure yourself even more, let's discuss on why your here," Markus said, turning a little serious. Annabeth nodded, matching his expression. Markus then proceeded to tell Annabeth what he had been told by Chiron. Annabeth nodded, looking as if she wasn't surprised by what she heard.
When he finished, Annabeth took a long breath. "Things aren't looking good, Markus. We don't know how, but someone poisoned the tree."
Markus looked taken aback by the information. "Poisoned? How?"
"We don't know. Chiron tried healing the tree but nothing seems to be working. The poison is old. Very old. We think it might have come from Tartarus." When she said the word 'Tartarus', she shivered slightly, which Markus didn't blame her for.
"Tartarus, huh?" Markus muttered. Wondering on who it was. A few seconds later, Markus came up with an idea on who it could be. More like a fact. "Could it be Luke?" he suggested. He watched Annabeth wince at the name slightly, but still nodded.
"It's a definite possibility. He knows the area but I just can't understand why he would do that. That tree is all we have left of Thalia and Luke cared for her greatly. He would never do something to harm her memory."
"With the way he is, I doubt he's thinking about all the good times he had in the past," Markus said, making Annabeth glare at him slightly, but she couldn't fault him on that.
"But that's not all. Over the past few months a lot of the unclaimed from the Hermes Cabin apparently began disappearing. During the night some of the wood nymphs claimed to see a group of demigods leave the camp with someone leading them. Though they never got a good look at who it was."
Markus thought about it for a moment, then immediately thought of the reason why. "He's using the unclaimed campers' bitterness at how their treated to his advantage. Getting them to join Kronos because of their resentment at being forgotten by their parents or not being seen as important." Annabeth nodded at this. Then she frowned at the situation they were in.
Seeing this, Markus reassured her. "Don't worry. I told Chiron about any problem that we might have, and he's seeing through with it. We're all going to need to get stronger. Me and Percy especially since I can tell Chiron's supposed 'prophecy' is about us." Annabeth nodded to this, but she looked guilty all of a sudden. Why was that?
"Anyway," Annabeth said, changing the subject. "We should probably get to the school and check on Percy." Markus nodded to this and was about to move when he thought of something. "Wait, you were watching Percy before I even got here. Does that mean that Annie is a little stalker?" he said, the last part a little teasingly.
Annabeth's face turned red and she spluttered a little. Markus laughed at this while she tried to swipe at him. "S-shut up!" she growled slightly, causing Markus to laugh at her even more.
"Aw, you look so cute when you're embarrassed," Markus teased. "Like a cute, little kitten. Want me to get some mil- OW!" His teasing was cut short as she kicked his shin. Hard.
Hopping on one foot and holding his shin in one hand, he glared at Annabeth who was still glaring at him. "Still want to make fun of me?" she threatened.
"Well, yes, obviously," Markus remarked. She was about to kick him again when he held up his hand. "However, we have to check up on my baby brother first. So we have to put this lover's quarrel on hold." Before she could retort, he stepped forward quickly, holding onto her, and zoomed to Percy's direction kinetic energy. Annabeth screamed while he held onto her.
XXX
The two demigods watched Percy play dodge ball with a couple of other school kids. Both of them were using their respective items of clothing to go invisible The coach looked very old, and not really interested in On the opposing team, there dumb looking kids that Markus immediately labelled as jocks and bullies. Some of them even had their names stitched onto their T-shirts. How dumb could they be?
On Percy's team there were a couple of wimpy looking kids along with Percy. However, there was one big burly kid that looked more beefy than the dumbasses on the other team.
The kid looked big and stocky, as if he had one too many growth spurts when he was a kid, and this was the result. He had ratty brown hair and blue eyes. Markus' observation was almost finished until he noticed that his image flickered a bit. Markus' eyes widened as he concentrated on his sight, seeing that the boy's image ripple, until all that was left was a big, one-eyed monster that Markus was familiar with.
Markus gasped as Annabeth looked at him, alarmed. "What? What's wrong?"
Markus pointed to the large boy on Percy's group. "That boy is a cyclops."
"What?!" Annabeth exclaimed, alarmed.
Markus nodded. "Yeah. He's covered in Mist, but since I'm a disciple of Hecate, I can see through the Mist better than most demigods can."
"Then we have to take him out!" Annabeth stated, about to leap out and kill the monster until Markus put a hand in her way, stopping her. "What are you doing?!"
"Wait," Markus said. He was obviously alarmed, but managed to remain calm. "I don't think that it's set out to kill anyone."
"How could you say that?! It's a cyclops. Their monsters. They always want to kill!" Annabeth whispered sharply. She probably would've yelled out loud but she didn't want to blow their cover.
"Did you forget that Percy is there?" Markus countered. "He would obviously be able to see through the Mist and know that the cyclops is under a disguise. Have some faith in him."
"I think you're overestimating Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said.
"And I think you're underestimating him," Markus replied. "Sure, he isn't book smart, or smart in general, but I know he'll manage. I mean you can see him clearly now, can't you?"
Turning to the disguised monster, Annabeth squinted her eyes. "Yeah... I can see him somewhat."
"Exactly," Markus said, nodding. "So if you can see him, then Percy obviously can."
"... I feel slightly insulted by that statement?" she asked, slightly irritated.
"Maybe it's because I compared your level of awareness with Percy's?"
Annabeth nodded. "Yeah. That's it."
They were about to continue talking but were interrupted by a loud scream. Both demigods turned to see that the dumb looking kids had grown in size. They were no longer kids. They were eight-foot-tall giants with wild eyes, pointy teeth, and hairy arms tattooed with snakes and hula women and Valentine hearts.
One of the normal looking kids dropped his ball. "Whoa! You're not from Detroit! Who ..."
The other kids on his team started screaming and back-ing toward the exit, but the giant named Marrow Sucker threw a ball with deadly accuracy. It streaked past one wimpy kid just as he was about to leave and hit the door, slamming it shut like magic. The rest of the other kids banged on it desperately but it wouldn't budge.
"Let them go!" Percy yelled at the giants.
The one called Joe Bob growled at him. He had a tattoo on his biceps that said: JB luvs Babycakes. "And lose our tasty morsels? No, Son of the Sea God. We Laistrygonians aren't just playing for your death. We want lunch!"
"... Well, he's boned," Markus muttered after a moment. Annabeth turned to glare at him. "Such faith you have in your brother. It's so touching," she said sarcastically, causing Markus to shrug.
He waved his hand and a new batch of dodgeballs appeared on the center line—but these balls weren't made of red rubber. They were bronze, the size of cannon balls, perforated like wiffle balls with fire bubbling out the holes. They must've been searing hot, but the giants picked them up with their bare hands.
"Why aren't we attacking yet?" Annabeth asked Markus.
"Because it's something called tough love," Markus muttered, crossing his arms.
"And you're content leaving him to fend on his own?" she asked, shocked.
Markus scoffed. "Of course not. But I don't plan to hold his hand for him all the time. He has to learn to fight for himself. I'll step in if things get out of hand, but he needs experience in this case."
Annabeth was about to retort, but was interrupted by a loud bang. Both teens looked over to see one giant named Skull Eater throw his ball. Percy dove aside as the fiery bronze comet sailed past his shoulder. "Corey!" He screamed to his nerd like teammate.
The disguised cyclops pulled him out from behind the exercise mat just as the ball exploded against it, blasting the mat to smoking shreds.
"Run!" Percy told his teammates. "The other exit!"
They ran for the locker room, but with another wave of Joe Bob's hand, that door also slammed shut. "No one leaves unless you're out!" Joe Bob roared. "And you're not out until we eat you!" He launched his own fireball. Percy's teammates scattered as it blasted a crater in the gym floor.
Percy looked like he was reaching for Riptide, which he usually kept in his pocket, but since they were in gym and he was wearing his gym clothes…well he didn't have pockets and that was a bit of a problem.
Another fireball came right for him, but the cyclops pushed Percy out of way, the explosion still blew the water boy head over heels. He found himself sprawled on the gym floor, dazed from smoke, his tie-dyed T-shirt peppered with sizzling holes. Just across the centre line, two hungry giants were glaring down at him.
"Flesh!" they bellowed. "Hero flesh for lunch!" They both took aim.
"Percy needs help!" the cyclops yelled, and he jumped in front of Percy just as they threw their balls.
"Tyson!" Percy screamed, but it was too late.
Both balls slammed into him, wait no ... he'd caught them. Somehow the cyclops named Tyson, had caught two fiery metal balls speeding toward him at a zillion miles an hour. Well it wasn't really surprising to the invisible demigods since they knew that cyclopes were fire-resistant. He sent them hurtling back toward their surprised owners, who screamed, "BAAAAAD!" as the bronze spheres exploded against their chests.
"Huh," Markus said after watching the display. "So the cyclops has a name."
Annabeth turned to him incredulously. "That's what your concern is about?"
"No," Markus responded. "My concern was watching that awesome display! Holy shit, did you see that? That was badass!"
Annabeth looked at him for a moment, then palmed her face. "Boys," she muttered.
The giants disintegrated in twin columns of flame - a sure sign they were monsters, all right.
"My brothers!" Joe Bob the Cannibal wailed. He flexed his muscles and his Babycakes tattoo rippled. "You will pay for their destruction!"
"Tyson!" Percy said. "Look out!"
Another comet hurtled toward them. Tyson just had time to swat it aside. It flew straight over the coach's head and landed in the bleachers with a huge BOOM! Markus looked at the spectacle with a deadpanned expression. "How the hell does he not notice that?"
Kids were running around screaming, trying to avoid the sizzling craters in the floor. Others were banging on the door, calling for help. The main dumb kid stood petrified in the middle of the court, watching in disbelief as balls of death flew around him.
"Victory will be ours!" roared Joe Bob the Cannibal. "We will feast on your bones!" He and his friend all hefted those giant flaming balls and aimed for Percy and Tyson.
Markus watched as Percy told Tyson to move. He was impressed with the boy's dodging skill but he did have a few near misses. Then, when Tyson punched the one called Skull Eater, the giant went down pretty easily, however, another one of those balls came right at the tall kid.
The ball caught Tyson square in the chest. He slid the length of the court and slammed into the back wall, which cracked and partially crumbled on top of him, making a hole right onto Church Street. They couldn't see how Tyson could still be alive, but he only looked dazed. The bronze ball was smoking at his feet. Tyson tried to pick it up, but he fell back, stunned, into a pile of cinder blocks.
"Well!" Joe Bob gloated. "I'm the last one standing! I'll have enough meat to bring Babycakes a doggie bag!"
"You really need to learn how fight properly, baby brother," Markus voice rang out through the gym. He willed himself to turn visible, waving sat his brother and looking at the giant.
"Markus!" Percy called out. "What are you doing here?"
"To save your ass, what else?" Markus responded with a smirk.
"Who the hell are you?" Joe Bob roared.
Markus turned to glare at him. Without any movement, five swords appeared out of thin air, materialised by the Mist. They were immediately launched towards Joe Bob at high speeds, four of the swords piercing his limbs while the fifth one pierced his head, successfully killing him.
Joe Bob didn't even have time to scream. He immediately collapsed into gold dust.
Markus turned to Percy, as if he didn't just kill a monster so quickly. "So... how are things?"
Percy didn't answer, he was too busy gaping at the quick and brutal display. Markus snapped his fingers, getting Percy's attention. "Look, I know that I'm awesome and all, but can we please get back on track?"
Percy nodded shakily. "Y-yeah. Sure."
One of the dumb looking kids who'd been standing there dumbfounded the whole time, finally came to his senses. He blinked at Annabeth and Markus, as if he dimly recognized them. "Why does that guy look like you? ... And that's the girl-"
Annabeth punched him in the nose and knocked him flat. "And you," she told him, "lay off my friend." Markus just laughed at the scene.
The gym was in flames. Kids were still running around screaming. Percy heard sirens wailing and a garbled voice over the intercom. Through the glass windows of the exit doors, they could see one man, probably the headmaster, wrestling with the lock, a crowd of teachers piling up behind him.
"Annabeth, Markus ..." Percy stammered. "How did you ... how long have you ..."
"I got here, like, a couple minutes ago," Markus said. He pointed his thumb at Annabeth. "Dunno about her."
"Pretty much all morning." She sheathed her bronze knife. "I've been trying to find a good time to talk to you, but you were never alone."
Percy nodded, and then the word's Annabeth said caught up to him and his face grew red, "The shadow I saw this morning-that was-oh my gods, you were looking in my bed-room window?"
Markus roared in laughter at that as Annabeth punched his shoulder. Hard. Markus still kept on laughing.
"I didn't know you had a personal stalker, Percy," he said in between laughter. "Careful, hope you don't lose your virginity so soon."
"Shut up!" Annabeth yelled, red in the face. She'd given up on punching him since it didn't work. "There's no time to explain!" she snapped to Percy, though she still looked a little red-faced. "I just didn't want to-"
"There!" a woman screamed. The doors burst open and the adults came pouring in.
"Meet us outside," Annabeth told me. "And him." She pointed to Tyson, who was still sitting dazed against the wall. Annabeth gave him a look of distaste that Percy didn't quite understand. However, he didn't have to worry about Markus because he looked at Tyson with a little interest. "You'd better bring him."
"And I'd love to use the Mist to help you, but, I don't," Markus said cheekily, causing Percy's eyebrow to twitch.
"Hurry!" Annabeth said. With that, Markus grabbed Annabeth by the shoulder, and blurred away, making Percy blink in surprise. "What the hell?..." he muttered, before turning around to deal with the oncoming teachers.
XXX
The duo appeared on Church Street to wait for their fellow demigod and his new friend. Soon, they saw the figure of Percy running to them in his gym clothes and riptide in pen form in his hands, followed by Tyson. "Okay, first off: mind telling me you have that there and he's not attacking or trying to kill you?" Markus asked, pointing to Tyson.
Percy blinked. "Huh?" he accurately answered.
"You know what I mean," Markus said. When Percy continued to look confused, Markus blinked. "Wait, you don't know what he-or it- is?" he asked pointing to Tyson.
"Stop calling him an 'it'," Percy said, frowning. "And what the hell do you mean?"
Markus paused, then face palmed hard. "I-I can't believe it. I had such faith in you and-and you blew it. Fuck."
"I told you so," Annabeth stated with a holier-than-thou voice, smirking. Then she turned to Percy. "Where'd you find him?" Annabeth demanded, pointing at Tyson.
Percy knew he made his peace with the girl last year but glaring at his friend like she was doing was a little harsh. And he was wondering why his brother was calling Tyson an 'it'. "He's my friend," Percy told her.
"Is he homeless?"
"What does that have to do with anything? He can hear you, you know. Why don't you ask him?"
She looked surprised. "He can talk?"
"I talk," Tyson admitted. "You are pretty."
"Well, damn," Markus whistled. "He's practically harmless. Who knew?"
Percy looked confused as Annabeth screamed, "Ah! Gross!", stepping away from him as he tried to touch her hair.
Percy couldn't believe she was being so rude. He examined Tyson's hands, which he was sure must've been badly scorched by the flaming dodge balls, but they looked fine-grimy and scarred, with dirty fingernails the size of potato chips-but they always looked like that. "Tyson," He said in disbelief. "Your hands aren't even burned."
"Of course not," Annabeth muttered. "I'm surprised the Laistrygonians had the guts to attack you with him around." Tyson seemed fascinated by Annabeth's blond hair. He tried to touch it, but she smacked his hand away.
"Laistry-what?" both Markus and Percy asked.
"Laistrygonians. The monsters in the gym. They're a race of giant cannibals who live in the far north. Odysseus ran into them once, but I've never seen them as far south as New York before." she explained.
"Laistry-I can't even say that. What would you call them in English?" asked Percy.
She thought about what to call them for a moment. "Canadians," she decided. "Now come on, we have to get out of here."
"That sounds surprisingly racist," Markus mused. Then he said. "I don't think I can run to camp with all you guys. Especially him." He pointed to Tyson, who was looking at the demigods with wonder. His eyes - well, eye - locked onto Markus and stared at him, making Markus slightly uncomfortable. He didn't have a problem with the now docile cyclops, but he didn't know what he was doing here. And why was he here with Percy?
"Oh, yeah. I forgot to ask: how did you move so fast?" Percy asked, seeing him move quickly from before. Annabeth nodded, equally curious.
Markus shrugged. "Magic," he lied. He didn't want them to know about his blessing from Savitr, much less him having contact with gods that weren't Greek. Markus guessed that there were some rules about other pantheons meeting each other, and if the Greeks found out that he had contact with two different gods from different pantheons, he guessed that he would be in major trouble. So he decided to tell no one.
Annabeth's eyebrows raised in suspicion. "Really?" she asked skeptically. She wasn't a practitioner in magic like the children of Hecate or Markus, but she'd never seen magic being used like that before.
Markus nodded convincingly, ignoring her grey eyes watching him carefully. Damn, were they lie detectors or something? "Yeah. Specifically, speed magic."
Annabeth nodded slowly, as if she could sense that Markus was lying. He had no doubt that she would be curious about it and probably question him. She was just like that.
Percy's reaction was different, however. He had stars in his eyes as he looked at Markus. "Are you serious? That's so freaking cool! So you can move really fast? Like the Flash?"
Markus grinned, seeing that his brother knew his stuff. "Yep. Dunno how fast I can go, though."
Percy pouted. "That's so unfair. So you're basically like Aquaman and the Flash, then?"
Markus put a hand on his brother's shoulder, nodding slowly. "Do not worry, Aqualad. I shall turn you into the next Kid Flash. Then we will see who is the fastest man alive. Well, boy."
Percy scoffed. "No way. I'd be an awesome Reverse Flash."
"That would imply that you're actually a threat. I can kick your ass easily," Markus said, snorting in amusement.
"Oh, yeah? Bring it on, wizard boy. Going to 'Avada Kedavra' me also?"
"Really, a 'Harry Potter' reference? Nice try, Blue Boy. Better watch yourself before I hex you."
"Please, like you can."
"You bet your ass I can!"
"Oh yeah?!"
"Yeah!"
"Bitch, ple-"
"Will the both of you shut up and focus?!" Annabeth yelled, interrupting the brothers in their banter.
Both boys blinked, then looked at each other. Then they both looked back to the blond. "Wow, Annabeth. You want the police, hell, the whole neighbourhood to find us here?" Percy said sarcastically.
"Yeah, Annabeth," Markus nodded in mock agreement. "Lower your voice down. You'll practically deafen at at this point."
Annabeth growled, looking as if she was going to strangle the two boys. Tyson just looked on, clapping his hands eagerly.
"We need to focus on the matter at hand," Annabeth said, after taking a deep breath. "We need to get to camp."
"The police'll be after me." Percy replied after calming down from his amusement.
"That's the least of our problems," she said. "Have you been having dreams?"
"The dreams ... about Grover?" Percy asked.
"Wait, wait," Markus said, holding up his hands. "What's this about Grover?"
"In my dream, I see Grover being chased in Florida by a giant… thing."
"What thing?" Markus asked, worried. "Like an actual giant or a monster or something?"
"I-I don't know," Percy said, unsure. "Wait. What were you dreaming about?" Percy suddenly asked the blond girl.
Her eyes looked stormy, like her mind was racing a million miles an hour. "Camp," she said at last. "Big trouble at camp."
"My mom was saying the same thing! But what kind of trouble?"
"I don't know the full thing. Something's wrong. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing us all the way from Virginia, trying to stop me. Have you had a lot of attacks?"
Percy shook his head. "None all year ... until today."
"Me neither," Markus added.
"None? But how ..." Her eyes drifted to Tyson. "Oh."
"What do you mean, 'oh'?" Percy asked, a bit annoyed at her answer.
"You seriously don't know what we're talking about?" Markus asked, exasperated.
Tyson raised his hand like he was still in class. "Canadians in the gym called Percy something ... Son of the Sea God?" At this, the three demigods exchanged looks.
Percy looked to Markus, who blinked before saying, "Don't look at me! He's your friend!"
"Big guy," Percy said, "You ever hear those old stories about the Greek gods? Like Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Athena-"
"Yes," Tyson said.
"Well ... those gods are still alive. They kind of follow Western Civilization around, living in the strongest countries, so like now they're in the U.S. And sometimes they have kids with mortals. Kids called half-bloods."
"Yes," Tyson said, like he was still waiting for his friend to get to the point.
"Uh, well, Annabeth, Markus, and I are half-bloods," Percy said. "We're like ... heroes-in-training. And whenever monsters pick up our scent, they attack us. That's what those giants were in the gym. Monsters."
"Yes."
"So ... you believe me?" Percy said, a little put off that his tall friend was taking this all calmly and understood everything.
Tyson nodded. "But you are ... Son of the Sea God? Like him?" He pointed to Markus.
"Yeah," Percy admitted. "Our dad is Poseidon. We're brothers."
Tyson frowned. Now he looked confused. "But then ..."
A siren wailed. A police car raced past the alley.
"We don't have time for this," Annabeth said. "We'll talk in the taxi."
"A taxi all the way to camp?" Percy said. "You know how much money-"
"Trust me. Markus can't take all of us to camp. So this is the only way."
Percy hesitated. "What about Tyson?" He imagined escorting his giant friend into Camp Half-Blood. If he freaked out on a regular playground with regular bullies, how would he act at a training camp for demigods? On the other hand, the cops would be looking for us. "We can't just leave him," Percy decided. "He'll be in trouble, too."
Markus sighed, coming to a decision. "Then he can come with us."Annabeth did not look happy, but agreed none the less. Percy idly wondered why Annabeth was not happy about seeing Tyson, but he would worry about it later, right now they had to get out of here.
XXX
"Here." Annabeth stopped us on the corner of Thomas and Trimble. She fished around in her backpack. "I hope I have one left."
"Have what?" Markus asked.
While the two demigods were conversing, Percy took the time to look at them….mostly at Annabeth. She looked even worse than he had realized at first. Her chin was cut. Twigs and grass were tangled in her ponytail, as if she'd slept several nights in the open. The slashes on the hems of her jeans looked suspiciously like claw marks. Markus didn't have any cuts. He suspected that it was because of his healing factor with water. His clothes looked fine, bar some rips in his jeans.
"What are you looking for?" Percy repeated Markus' question. All around them, sirens wailed. Percy figured it wouldn't be long before more cops cruised by, looking for juvenile delinquent gym-bombers. No doubt Matt Sloan had given them a statement by now. He'd probably twisted the story around so that Tyson and Percy were the bloodthirsty cannibals.
"Found one. Thank the gods." Annabeth pulled out a gold coin that they recognized as a drachma, the currency of Mount Olympus. It had Zeus's likeness stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other.
"Annabeth," Percy said, "New York taxi drivers won't take that."
"Stêthi," she shouted in Ancient Greek. "Ô hárma diabolês!"
Markus' eyebrow raised in surprise. "Chariot of Damnation?" he asked, though she didn't answer. She threw her coin into the street, but instead of clattering on the asphalt, the drachma sank right through and disappeared. Where the coin had fallen,the asphalt darkened. It melted into a rectangular pool about the size of a parking space-bubbling red liquid like blood. Then a car erupted from the ooze.
It was a taxi, all right, but unlike every other taxi in New York, it wasn't yellow. It was smoky gray. I mean it looked like it was woven out of smoke, like you could walk right through it. There were words printed on the door-something like GYAR SSIRES-but with their dyslexia made it hard for them to decipher what it said.
The passenger window rolled down, and an old woman stuck her head out. She had a mop of grizzled hair covering her eyes, and she spoke in a weird mumbling way, like she'd just had a shot of Novocain. "Passage? Passage?"
"Four to Camp Half-Blood." Annabeth said. She opened the cab's back door and waved at them to get in, like this was all completely normal.
"Ach!" the old woman screeched. "We don't take his kind!" She pointed a bony finger at Tyson.
"He's coming with us," Markus said firmly, his eyes narrowed. He didn't trust the cyclops but if he protected Percy from any monsters, then he was okay in his book.
"I'll pay you 4 more drachmas on arrival," Annabeth added.
"Done!" the woman screamed. Reluctantly, Percy got in, followed by Tyson, Naruto, and then Annabeth as the last one to get in.
The interior was also smoky gray, but it felt solid enough. The seat was cracked and lumpy, no different than most taxis. There was no Plexiglas screen separating us from the old lady driving ... Wait a minute. There wasn't just one old lady. There were three, all crammed in the front seat, each with stringy hair covering her eyes, bony hands, and a charcoal-colored sackcloth dress.
The one driving said, "Long Island! Out-of-metro fare bonus! Ha!"
"I don't think I'm going to enjoy this," Markus muttered in his squished position between Annabeth and Tyson. At least he was sitting next to a pretty girl.
The old hag floored the accelerator, and my head slammed against the backrest. A prerecorded voice came on over the speaker: Hi, this is Ganymede, cup-bearer to Zeus, and when I'm out buying wine for the Lord of the Skies, I always buckle up!"
The cab sped around the corner of West Broadway, and the grey lady sitting in the middle screeched, "Look out! Go left!"
"Well, if you'd give me the eye, Tempest, I could see that!" the driver complained.
Practically all the demigods were fearing for their safety. Just what the hell did they agree to? The driver swerved to avoid an oncoming delivery truck, ran over the curb with a jaw-rattling thump, and flew into the next block.
"Wasp!" the third lady said to the driver. "Give me the girl's coin! I want to bite it."
"You bit it last time, Anger!" said the driver, whose name must've been Wasp. "It's my turn!"
"Is not!" yelled the one called Anger.
The middle one, Tempest, screamed, "Red light!"
"Brake!" yelled Anger.
Instead, Wasp floored the accelerator and rode up on the curb, screeching around another corner, and knocking over a newspaper box. She left Percy's stomach somewhere back on Broome Street.
Markus held his hand to his mouth, feeling like he was going to puke. "I think I'm going to be sick," he muttered, cheeks bulging.
"Don't get it on me!" Annabeth screeched.
"Excuse me," Percy said to the old hags. "But ... can you see?"
"No!" screamed Wasp from behind the wheel.
"No!" screamed Tempest from the middle.
"Of course!" screamed Anger by the shotgun window.
Turning to Annabeth, who usually had all the answers, seeing Markus was trying not to hurl his lunch. "They're blind?"
"Not completely," Annabeth said. "They have an eye."
"One eye?"
"Yeah."
"Each?"
"No. One eye total."
"Not feel so good!" Tyson moaned out.
"I agree with you!" Markus groaned, hearing the conversation. Why did he agree to this? He'd prefer running with all three passengers on his back than this! If this was what it was like running at high speeds, then he wasn't sure if he wanted to try it.
The three grey ladies were too busy squabbling to pay them any attention. Percy looked over at Annabeth, who was hanging on for dear life, and he gave her a why-did-you-do-this-to-me look.
"Hey," she said, "Gray Sisters Taxi is the fastest way to camp."
"Bullshit!" Markus called out, glaring at Annabeth. "I probably could've ran the whole way easily. And my speed would at least be safer."
"Could you carry all of us at once and run?" Annabeth retorted.
"It'd still be better than going inside this fucking death trap!"
"Why didn't you take it from Virginia, then?" Percy asked Annabeth.
"That's outside their service area," she said, like that should be obvious. "They only serve Greater New York and surrounding communities."
"I would rather fly," Markus muttered at the back, feeling bile rush to his throat quickly.
"We've had famous people in this cab!" Anger exclaimed. "Jason! You remember him?"
"Don't remind me!" Wasp wailed. "And we didn't have a cab back then, you old bat. That was three thousand years ago!"
"Give me the tooth!" Anger tried to grab at Wasp's mouth, but Wasp swatted her hand away.
"Only if Tempest gives me the eye!"
"No!" Tempest screeched. "You had it yesterday!"
"But I'm driving, you old hag!"
"Excuses! Turn! That was your turn!"
"Will you three shut up and try to control this damn thing?!" Markus called from the back, still holding his bile.
"Mmmph. So rude, this one," Anger retorted.
Wasp swerved hard onto Delancey Street, squishing Percy between Tyson and the door. She punched the gas and we shot up the Williamsburg Bridge at seventy miles an hour.
Markus felt slightly nolstagic at his seeing his old camping site briefly. He probably would've felt more happy if he wasn't feeling like spewing his ice-cream sundae from his stomach.
The three sisters were fighting for real now, slapping each other as Anger tried to grab at Wasp's face and Wasp tried to grab at Tempest's. With their hair flying and their mouths open, screaming at each other, Percy and Markus realized that none of the sisters had any teeth except for Wasp, who had one mossy yellow incisor. Instead of eyes, they just had closed, sunken eyelids, except for Anger, who had one bloodshot green eye that stared at everything hungrily, as if it couldn't get enough of anything it saw.
Finally Anger, who had the advantage of sight, managed to yank the tooth out of her sister Wasp's mouth. This made Wasp so mad she swerved toward the edge of the Williamsburg Bridge, yelling, "'Ivit back! 'Ivit back!"
Tyson groaned and clutched his stomach.
"Uh, if anybody's interested," Percy said, "we're going to die!"
"Don't worry," Annabeth told them, sounding pretty worried. "The Gray Sisters know what they're doing. They're really very wise."
"Yes, wise!" Anger grinned in the rear view mirror, showing off her newly acquired tooth. "We know things!"
"Every street in Manhattan!" Wasp bragged, still hitting her sister. "The capital of Nepal!"
"The location you seek!" Tempest added.
Immediately her sisters pummeled her from either side, screaming, "Be quiet! Be quiet! They didn't even ask yet!"
"Are you sure they're wise?" Markus asked Annabeth. "Because, quite frankly, I find them bat shit insane."
"Just trust me!" She replied as the car swerved again and this time two demigods butt heads, screaming out in pain.
"What?" Percy said, asking what the Gray Sister meant. "What location? I'm not seeking any-"
"Nothing!" Tempest said. "You're right, boy. It's nothing!"
"Tell me."
"No!" they all screamed.
"The last time we told, it was horrible!" Tempest said.
"Eye tossed in a lake!" Anger agreed.
"Years to find it again!" Wasp moaned. "And speaking of that-give it back!"
"No!" yelled Anger.
"Eye!" Wasp yelled. "Gimme!"
She whacked her sister Anger on the back. There was a sickening pop and something flew out of Anger's face. Anger fumbled for it, trying to catch it, but she only managed to bat it with the back of her hand. The slimy green orb sailed over her shoulder, into the backseat, and straight into Percy's lap.
Said boy jumped so high at this in fright, that his head hit the ceiling as the eye fell on the floor.
"I can't see!" all three sisters yelled.
"Give me the eye!" Wasp wailed.
"Give her the eye!" Annabeth screamed.
"I don't have it!" Percy said.
"There, by your foot," Annabeth said. "Don't step on it! Get it!"
"I'm not picking that up!"
"Well someone pick it up or we'll crash!" Markus yelled.
The taxi slammed against the guardrail and skidded along with a horrible grinding noise. The whole car shuddered, billowing gray smoke as if it were about to dissolve from the strain.
"Going to be sick!" Tyson warned.
"Don't get it on me!" Markus yelled out.
"Annabeth," Percy yelled, "let Tyson use your backpack!"
"Are you crazy? Get the eye!"
Wasp yanked the wheel, and the taxi swerved away from the rail. We hurtled down the bridge toward Brooklyn, going faster than any human taxi. The Gray Sisters screeched and pummeled each other and cried out for their eye.
Seeing as Percy was too grossed out to pick up the damn eye, Markus decided to. "Screw it!" He reached over Tyson to get the eye ball off the ground.
"Nice boy!" Anger cried, as if she somehow knew he had her missing eye. "Give it back!"
"Not until you explain," Markus told her. "What were you talking about, the location he seeks? I'm curious."
"No time!" Tempest cried. "Accelerating!"
"Well, decelerate if you want your eye back!" he retorted.
The group looked out the window. Sure enough, trees and cars and whole neighborhoods were now zipping by in a grey blur. They were already out of Brooklyn, heading through the middle of Long Island.
"Markus, give them back the eye," Annabeth warned, "They can't find our destination without the eye. We'll just keep accelerating until we break into a million pieces."
"Not until they tell us what we need to know," Markus insisted, making Annabeth pale. "I didn't plan to go on this hellish ride and not get something out of it. Now tell us or my brother will throw out the eye."
"What? Why me?" Percy asked.
"Dunno," Markus shrugged.
"Make Annabeth do it!"
"Don't give that thing to me!" Annabeth shrieked.
"Wait!" the Gray Sisters screamed. "30, 31, 75, 12!" They belted it out like a quarterback calling a play.
"What do you mean?" Percy asked while Markus looked confused. "That makes no sense!"
"30, 31, 75, 12!" Anger wailed. "That's all we can tell you. Now give us the eye! Almost to camp!"
They were off the highway now, zipping through the countryside of northern Long Island. He could see Half-Blood Hill ahead of us, with its giant pine tree at the crest - Thalia's tree.
"Markus!" Annabeth screamed frantically. "Give them the eye now!"
"Ugh, fine," Markus replied, seeing as he wasn't going to get a better answer then that. He tossed the eye at the old hags, which landed in Wasp's lap.
The old lady snatched it up, pushed it into her eye socket like somebody putting in a contact lens, and blinked. "Whoa!"
She slammed on the brakes. The taxi spun four or five times in a cloud of smoke and squealed to a halt in the middle of the farm road at the base of Half-Blood Hill.
Tyson let loose a huge belch. "Better now."
"Thank the gods," Markus muttered thankfully. He didn't want to deal with that mess.
"All right," Percy told the Gray Sisters. "Now tell me what those numbers mean."
"No time!" Annabeth opened her door. "We have to get out now."
Percy looked at Annabeth with a confused looked on his face before he look outside and gasped. Markus looked shocked as he saw the mayhem.
At the crest of the hill was a group of campers. And they were under attack.
"We leave for one minute and this happens," Markus muttered sarcastically. He brought out a water bottle from his jacket, splashing himself with it. His earlier nausea faded away. With that, he jumped out of the cab, zooming down to meet the other campers.
Hello to you all! Another chapter uploaded!
We're finally at the Sea of Monsters book. Thank God. I've been waiting for this. ... Well, not really, but you know what I mean.
So, we met Tyson, saw Markus' new super speed and... yeah, those were pretty much the only exciting things that happened this chapter.
If you guys have any questions about how fast Markus would be able to go, you'll see in the next chapters. I don't know if I'll make it light speed, but we'll see.
And for the one called Guest, who left a review that I found interesting: I like your idea of copying Luffy's Second Gear using blood control and I'll try to integrate it. Sure, it may seem OP, but I don't care. This is my story.
Thanks so much for reading, reviewing, following and favouriting the story! Luv you guys!
Read and Review!