Chapter 14
MEG POV
(A/N Percy Jackson is gonna be on Disney+! Woohoo! You know the guy who announced it? Rick Riordan? Yeah, that's not me. I'd be pouring all my efforts into keeping it faithful to the book if it was. Srsly, anyone who wants to talk about it, PM me. If you go onto my profile, should be next to the Bio option, which I should probably write at some point.
Meg ran after the boy, who was clearly fit, but after four years at Camp, Meg was fitter. She soon caught up to him and grabbed his shoulder. "Hey, hey, calm down, we're not trying to abduct you. You run off again, those things might come back to finish you off. Do you want that?" He shook Meg's hand off his shoulder.
"No, but I don't want any part of this either." He turned down a side alleyway. Meg cursed and raised her hand. Vines started erupting out of the ground in front of the boy.
"Stop. Let us talk to you. I swear on the River Styx that I won't try to hurt you." Thunder rumbled overhead, even though it was a clear day. "And there's my binding oath for the day." She muttered under her breath. The kid turned to her with wild, frightened eyes.
"What do you want from me?" He screamed, tears running down his face. I'm asleep, aren't I! This is all just a dream, just a dream…" He sank to his knees, sobbing. Meg's heart went out to the boy. She sat down in front of him, and took his shoulders gently.
"This isn't a dream, and we won't try to abduct you. You're one of us-a demigod." His head shot up.
"Like from greek myths? Demigods? Monsters?" Meg nodded encouragingly. "Oh god, I'm going insane. I'm actually going crazy." Meg took his shoulders again.
"You're not insane. You're as sane as the rest of us-which is admittedly not a high bar, considering what we deal with 24/7- but still. You are either a demigod, or a mortal who can see through the Mist. If you come with us, I promise we can take you somewhere safe. Just take my hand, and come with me." She extended a hand to him. After a moments hesitation, he took it and gave a shaky smile.
"Thank you." Meg saw the gratitude in his eyes, which were a nice colour, hazel with a smouldering brown behind them.
"No problem. Now let's get you back, and we can explain what happened."
—
CLARISSE POV
Clarisse saw Meg come back to their part of the alley, holding the boy's hand. "So, the newbie returns. Not gonna run off again, are you?" His cheeks coloured, and Chris gave her a reproachful smile. She cracked a grin at the kid, and flicked his shoulder. "Nah, it's all good. You're not the first demigod to act like that, and you won't be the last." He shook his head in amazement.
"So it's true. My dad was… a god?" Chris grinned.
"Yup, our parents were too. Chris Rodriguez, Son of Hebe." He held out the back of his hand, which still had a small scrape from the fight. As everyone watched, it disappeared and became indistinguishable from the rest of his light brown skin. "My girlfriend, Clarisse La Rue, Daughter of Ares." She waved a hand. The kid looked nervously at it.
"You're not gonna do some weird hand thing, right?" She barked a laugh.
"Nah, I get enhanced combat prowess. Also a cool spear." Clarisse changed her chain into its spear form and pointed it a dumpster about a hundred metres down the alley. Immediately a bolt of lightning lanced out and pierced it, shattering the metal. The new guy turned to Meg.
"That plant stuff… That was you?" Meg shot him with finger guns.
"Bingo. Meg McCaffrey, Daughter of Demeter, at your service. Plant stuff, as you put it." He turned back to Chris.
"And I'm… who? Who's my parent?" Chris's smile turned serious.
"We don't know. To get you claimed, we'd need to get you to Camp, and there's no easy way to get to Long Island from here. I doubt the Grey Sisters Taxi would come out this far again." His smile fell, then brightened again.
"So I'll come with you! Better experience actually doing the demigod stuff than trekking across states for days, right? Field experience." He looked pleased at himself, until Clarisse shut him down.
"No. You've barely known about our world for ten minutes, and you want to come on a quest? First thing we need to do, is get you back to your house and talk to your mom. Hopefully she knows what's going on. Also, you never told us your name." He hesitated, then stuck his hand out.
"Robin. Robin Clifton."
"Well, Clifton, lead us to your place. We got a lot of talking to d-" Clarisse was cut off by a shriek from the entrance into the alley. One of the Gryphons had returned, and was stalking them like a cat, it's beak glinting menacingly. Quick to react, Meg drew her hands up and a wall of shrubbery erupted from the concrete, enveloping the monster in leaves. Meg ushered them upwards.
"Climb, climb!" Chris moved forward and gripped the vines, Clarisse following suit. Looking down, she saw Robin stood there in shock.
"C'mon, newbie. There'll be more coming! You want to be monster chow?" (A/N Insert the last verse of 'The Day I Got Expelled') He shook himself out of his daze and ran for the plants. Chris reached the top of the building and pulled Clarisse up. The two other demigods got to the top of the building and stood in a circle, scanning the sky. "Alright kid, which way to home?" Robin turned and pointed.
"That way, west down Nottingham street." As he spoke, two dark dots flying in from that direction grew bigger until they became more Gryphons, landing on the rooftop across from them. Clarisse put away her spear and drew two daggers from her belt. Running at them, she let out a yell and leaped the gap, rolling on impact and throwing her blades. They found their mark in the necks of the monsters. Well, that wasn't too bad, Clarisse thought to herself as she looked over at her companions.
"Come on!" Chris immediately ran and jumped, stumbling to a stop. Meg looked at the plants until they stretched out, becoming a bridge across the gap that she and Robin crossed. "Show off." Clarisse mumbled. "Where too now, Clifton?" He moved to the side and pointed at a normal looking brick two-storey, a few hundred feet down the road.
"There. My bedroom is the top left window." She nodded and ran some calculations in her head, figuring out a path to the ground.
"Alright, we need to get down to there. She pointed to a flat block a few floors short of the one they stood on top of. Meg, can you do some more plant stuff?" The younger girl glared at her playfully.
"You know, the proper term is Chloro-kinesis.'
"Fine, can you do some Chloro-kinesis then. It's such a mouthful, just say plant stuff."
"As an answer to your question, yes I can." Meg put her hand into the bag of seeds at her hip and drew some out. "Tomato. Sturdy enough to grow spontaneously, and I can use it as an offence." Meg threw them onto the roof and stretched her hands out. Leafy green stalks shot up and created a new roof garden, dotted with juicy red fruit. "Let's go." The Daughter of Demeter jumped off and was seemingly caught by the plants.
"Is she crazy?" The statement came from Robin, who was looking at them as if they had dropped out of an alien mothership. Chris winced at his phrasing, and Clarisse glared at him.
"Watch the words, kid." She followed Meg, with Chris behind her. Soon it was just Robin on top. Meg waved encouragingly.
"Don't worry, the plants will catch you. You'll be fine." Clarisse saw Robin back off, then take a flying leap. As he fell, the leaves folded up around his form, then deposited him safely on the roof.
"You guys do this all the time?" He rolled over onto his back, gasping for breath. Clarisse shrugged.
"Pretty much. Come on." She looked over the side of the building and spotted a drainpipe running to the ground. "Bingo." Clarisse started shimmying down. Robin started after her, muttering.
"At least this is some thing I understand." Once they had all gotten to the ground, Clarisse poked her head around the side of the alley to the road.
"All clear. Let's get to the house."
"What, before something else attacks us?" Robin had a bemused expression on his face. "It's just a short walk down the street, nothing's going to happen." Everyone glared at him. Meg grumbled.
"Thanks, genius, you just broke the first law of being a demigod. Never say anything along the lines of "At least we're not being followed." As Meg finished speaking, two ants as big as cars appeared two blocks down from them. "Myrmekes, brilliant. Get running."
