Chapter 9

The walk was exactly as one might expect it to be. More of a slog. Jess wasn't wrong - because of their semi-divine blood, they were capable of pushing seven miles an hour. That didn't make it comfortable.

They were following a major road, (Caleb couldn't remember which one) but they were barely within sight of it, so as not to be arrested for hitch-hiking. That meant they were often walking through fields and patches of trees that probably separated one person's crops from the next. All four of them were trying not to be the first one to complain their feet hurt or to suggest they take a short break.

The first day of it had been..well not awful. If anything, boring. It got repetitive and dulled the senses after a few hours. Caleb had really tried to keep paying attention to any monstrous attacks that might be appearing on the horizon. But it was so boring. His mind flickered from just taking the sights and sounds around him without actually processing them, to completely oblivious and internalizing stupid things he'd done years ago.

Every hour or so, they rotated positions. None of them had a watch, and they weren't allowed to bring phones because they attracted monsters or something. But Jo, being the daughter of the sun god, could judge the hour from where Apollo was in the sky. They had one person a few meters ahead scouting, and one person behind sweeping for anyone who might be trying to follow the two who traveled together. Caleb was sweeping for the time being, which meant he actually did have to be paying attention.

He stopped for a few seconds to scan the area behind him, searching the clearings before snapping his eyes back to catch a monster who might have moved slightly thinking he had passed over their hiding spot. Satisfied there wasn't anyone following, he moved on, keeping Ian and Jess just within eyesight.

The rest of the hour passed in the same way, as he fought to stay alert after over eight hours of doing the same thing. At one point, he lost sight of the others, and almost panicked before they reappeared from a dip in the terrain. When he lost them again, it was because they had ducked out of sight and into a tight patch of trees. He checked on more time to see that he wasn't being stalked before joining them. Jo was there too, having stopped to inform them it was time to switch. They took a few minutes to drink some water before Ian stepped out and continued walking towards Oklahoma. Once he was far enough away, Caleb and Jess struck out.

They were silent for a while, before Jess said something about the weather in an attempt to break the silence.

There was a pause.

"Yeah, I guess." Caleb replied. "It's too bad that the person who keeps it from raining on us left. She was something, wasn't she?"

"Is something. We're not going to fail this quest because she made a stupid decision. We're getting her back." Jess said.

"I didn't think you liked her very much." Cale said, tentatively.

Jess rolled her eyes. "Can't stand her. But I'll go to Hades before I let her dumb choices affect what I do."

There was another pause. Jess brushed a stray bit of hair that had escaped her ponytail out of her face. Both kept an eye out for anything on the horizon. Ian was still walking resolutely forward, pausing from time to time before continuing.

The trees opened up into yet another field. The crops weren't extremely tall yet, but enough that they weren't completely in the open. Still, they made him nervous.

Apparently Jess thought the same thing, because she muttered, "I don't like it. We're to exposed whenever we have to travel through this stupid corn."

"Same. Wait, how do you know it's corn?"

"Minnesota girl...I've seen crop fields galore whenever my dad and I go visit my grandma in Iowa."

"Oh, cool. My grandma lives pretty close to us actually." Gods, that was a stupid thing to say. Yeah, real smooth, Caleb. He scolded himself. Let's bring up aunt Céline now too, why don't you?

"Jo told me about her. She's French, right?"

"Oh, yeah. I didn't know she told you." He forced a laugh. "Maybe that's why my mom liked my dad. Miss Annabeth said she mostly hangs out in French-Canada." Gods, just stop bringing up your family, this isn't helping. Just say something normal. "Anyway, we don't need to talk about that, I-"

"What?"

"Shhh….the wind stopped."

"Yeah, so?"

"So why is the corn still moving?"

"It isn't….well, that can't be good."

They both pulled out their respective weapons, not sure what was happening, but both instinctively knowing they would need them. They moved to stand with their backs facing each other, ready to protect the other's six o'clock.

"Caleb, I can't see Jo behind us."

"Ian's gone too. Something's very wrong here." Something - or someone - caught his attention hiding in the stalks.

"Stay away from us." He warned. It disappeared, but now that he'd seen one, he started noticing them all around. They were green and yellow. Pudgy and almost like baby angels if they angels could grow stale and sour. "I'm warning you."

"You see them too?" Jess muttered.

"If you mean the green little angels, then yes." he whispered back

"And the fact that they have Ian and Jo tied up?"

"Didn't know that one. Any idea what they are?"

"None. They need to do something before I can get any clear ideas on weaknesses, but I think they're connected to the fields here."

"And we're standing right in the middle of them."

"Exactly."

"I have an idea."

"I'm open to anything right now."

Caleb gripped his staff tightly and wrapped the Nemean Lion's skin a little closer around him. He slammed it into the ground, freezing everything crop within three meters of him, and killing them with the sudden and extreme temperature change.

There was a flurry of shrieking as dozens of the ugly cherubim scattered to find living corn.

"Whoever you are, let our friends go, or I'll do worse." He threatened. It wasn't an empty threat - he could do more - but not nearly as much as he insinuated he could. They didn't need to know that.

Jess slashed at the frozen cash crop around her, felling the stalks so they could see and fight easier. "We'll do it." she grabbed a lighter from the pocket of her bag and clicked it. A flame sputtered to life. "Ice and fire. Will our field survive that?"

A few of them came forward. Their eyes were watery with a greenish hue, and rolls of baby fat covered their bodies. They wore only loin clothes that were stained with dirt and things Cale didn't want to guess at. When they grimaced, their yellowed teeth were displayed to be pointed.

"Heroes." the lead one sneered. "We know heroes. You won't do it. You feel bad for the mortals who work this land. Hate them. They make us grow in rows like the stupid grain goddess. We can find a new field. They can't. You'll listen to what we say. We have your friends."

Caleb and Jess glanced at each other. Right now, they had a small circle in which the grain spirits didn't have the advantage, and that was surrounded by quite a lot of agriculture that they needed to get through.

"Why not?" Caleb muttered. "Let's parley."

Author's Note:

I put a notice in my profile that this chapter would be a day late, but I'll say here too, I'm sorry I didn't tell you last week this would be late, I forgot to say so.

Shout-out time!

There's no one to shout out, lol. Moving on.

Once again, I direct you towards Fic-mas which will be starting on December first. I'll be posting a one-shot every single day from then until December 24, so leave your suggestions on Percy Jackson One-Shots (my other fic)

That's all I got for you.

Have a lovely day!
justapercyjacksonfan