Son of the Moon
Chapter 34
-Percy-
Pulling into a parking spot he sighed and cut the engine of the 1974 silver Camaro that Hephaestus and Apollo had given him for his birthday, Hermes having provided a driver's license that gave off a miniature mist field so that no cop would question him being old enough to drive without an adult or if he was speeding. Walking to the other side of the car he opened the door and let out Bianca as she laced her hands with his once the doors were locked before they both turned to face their greatest challenge to date…high school. It was technically just an orientation but Chiron and Dionysus were sending out as many search groups as possible to find more demigods, both to bolster their own numbers and to keep the numbers of the enemy to continue to grow. He was with Bianca at Goode High School while his friends were at different schools. Nico and Amanda were at a place called 'Yancy Academy', Nyssa and Will were paired up but he couldn't remember where, he knew that Beckendorf and Silena were at a college looking for demigods, and Clarisse was on some sort of quest for Chiron.
"So," Bianca asked him as they walked inside the school, "do you think that Chiron chose each of the groups to go to different schools as couples on purpose?".
"Probably." He said with a shrug as he wrapped an arm around her waist and held her close, their relationship having grown stronger by the day ever since they had been reunited "It gives them a reason to be close to each other that would make sense to mortals and if they disappear to get rid of a monster then people will just assume they snuck off somewhere to be alone.".
"I'm just glad that Nico and Amanda finally admitted that they liked each other." Bianca said with a small smile that held a clear memory of sadness as they remembered what had happened shortly after Annabeth had been dragged away to get the arrow wound in her shoulder treated the previous summer. Amanda had quickly pulled Nico aside so she could fully reassure herself that the son of Hades was truly back and safe as the daughter of Hermes had all but broken down in Nico's arms, sobbing and begging him not to leave her again as Nico had embraced the girl, promising to never leave her again if he could help it. When the two had kissed after the promise the camp had celebrated, his demigod brothers and sisters looking for any reason for merriment, for some way to push away the cloud of despair that had been hanging around the camp.
Nyssa and Will were some of the first to congratulate the new couple, the son of Apollo having asked the daughter of Hephaestus to be his girlfriend shortly after the group had left on the quest, not wanting to wait and risk losing Nyssa to another man or, worse, to the underworld. Beckendorf had thought the same and had gone and asked out the daughter of Aphrodite Silena Beauregard. Something interesting that he had learned was that the moment the daughter of Aphrodite had learned of Luke Castellan's death she had gone to Chiron and admitted to being a spy for Luke, how the bastard had threatened to murdered Beckendorf if she didn't pass him information but with the traitor son of Hermes dead she felt safe enough to confess and face her punishment.
The gods had decided to put her on a 'parole' of sorts with Beckendorf as her parole officer to keep an eye on her but not many held it against her, having understood why she had done what she did with the threat hanging over the head of the one she loved. The only one who was angry at the confession of the daughter of Aphrodite was Annabeth who insisted that Castellan wouldn't have made such a threat. Pushing those thoughts out of his head he walked inside the school, arm in arm with Bianca, neither of them noticing the wide eyed stare of a frizzy haired girl with marker stained jeans.
Soon they joined the crowd of four hundred odd fourteen and fifteen year olds walking into the gymnasium, crowded into the bleachers as a marching band played an out of tune fighting song that sounded like somebody hitting a bag of cats with a metal bat. A few older students, likely student council members, stood at the front near a podium, modelling the school uniform and trying to look cool in front of the freshmen as the teachers milled about and shook hands with the new students. Finally though a man in a pinstripe suit, probably the principal, stepped up to the podium and began a long and admittedly boring speech about student success which he tuned out as he stared at the various students, looking for any that gave off feelings of godly energy or had any other telltale signs of Olympian blood.
Partway through the speech though he felt a hand grip his shoulder as he glanced behind to see a girl who, after a moment, he placed as the red head from Hoover Dam. "What are you doing here?" she asked him wide eyed as Bianca turned to look between him and the girl in confusion before the daughter of Hades gained a look of understanding, him having told her about his quest and, subsequently, the meeting of the clear sighted red haired mortal.
"Orientation." He said with a shrug as Bianca snickered at his answer while the red head gave him a look that showed she wasn't amused by his answer and, much to his chagrin, a budding crush blossoming in her eyes as she stared at him. Making a mental note to try and nip her crush in the bud in case it turned into a Thalia complex he tried to think of a way to redirect the 'conversation' when he saw the girl's eyes widen drastically as she stared in horror at the stage.
Turning around he saw a pair of cheerleaders waving at the crowd, winking at several boys who wolf whistled. "Run," the red head hissed wide eyed "now!". Sharing a look with Bianca they both decided to go with what the clear sighted mortal suggested as the mist could even fool demigods if it was strong enough but no amount of the ancient magic could trick a clear sighted mortal.
Using a little mist of their own to make it so others wouldn't notice them leaving they crept down from the bleachers and out the door, finding the red head in the band room a few minutes later where she was hiding behind a bass drum. "Get over here!" the red head girl said in a panic "And keep your heads down!".
"There's no point in hiding like that," he said with a shrug "if there truly are any creatures like the ones you saw at the dam then they can track people like me and Bianca by smell.".
"They can what?!" the girl asked aghast as he sighed and turned to Bianca.
"You wanna take this one?" he asked, hoping both that his girlfriend could calm down the girl and, hopefully, stop the birth of another fan girl.
"Okay Percy." Bianca said with a nod as she kissed his cheek, both of them noting the flash of jealousy in the red head's eyes as Bianca realized the second reason he asked her to handle the situation. "Hi," Bianca said walking over to the girl "I'm Bianca Di Angelo. And you are?".
"Rachel Elizabeth Dare." The now named 'Rachel' said somewhat stiffly but shook the proffered hand, "And can you explain what the hell is actually going on? The last time I met him he just gave me an old quote before running away dramatically.".
"Long story short Greek gods and goddesses exist as do monsters. They hide from the world of mortals through the use of a power called 'the Mist' which makes people see things in a way they can understand but you're one of the few mortals born with the power to see through the Mist.".
"The Greek gods and goddesses?" Rachel asked in shock "Like Zeus, Hera, Artemis? Those gods and goddesses?".
"In a nutshell," he said with a shrug "and they still have demigod kids frequently. Unfortunately the monsters of the world see the flesh of mortals as tasty but the flesh of demigods as a delicacy that should be eaten at any opportunity. What did you see on the stage though?".
"V-vampires." Rachel stuttered with a shudder at "With the legs of a goat and a robot.".
"Empousai." He and Bianca said in tandem, both of them sneering in disgust.
"They were the basis of the vampire legend," he explained to Rachel "they're servants of Hecate and were created through the use of dark magic, bronze scraps, animal parts, and ghosts. Several of them left the service of the goddess of magic and now exist to feed only on the blood of young men and have hypnotic based powers to lull their prey into a vulnerable state.".
"You sound very knowledgeable." A new voice said as he and Bianca spun around, Bianca drawing her divine silver knives as he readied Riptide, the sword of his sister having a deeper meaning to him than ever after Zoe's death. Standing in the doorway were the two cheerleaders, one had blonde hair in a ponytail and icy blue eyes while the other was an African-American girl with dark curly hair.
"Now is that sword really necessary?" the blonde Empousai asked, stalking towards him, the female monster purposefully swaying her hips as he could smell a strange scent of roses while he fought off the hypnotic magics "How about a kiss instead.".
At that question he fully snapped out of it and gave a disgusted snort, "Sorry but I'm taken." He said as he pulled Bianca against his side "And even if I wasn't…I'm not really into necrophilia.".
"Why you little!" the blonde Empousai hissed before lunging at him only to explode into gold dust with a wail when Bianca threw her knife between the monster's eyes.
"You killed my trainee!" the remaining vampire yelled angrily "I think you need a lesson in school spirit half-blood! I am a Senior Empousai, no hero has been able to best me for a thousand years!".
"What is it with monsters and going native?" he asked with an exasperated sigh to Bianca before he turned towards the shifting Empousai, who had turned into her full monstrous form and he saw the hair made of fire which signaled a rather powerful monster of her line.
"Well since you've had to time to your own little spiel I might as well say who I am so you can tell Tartarus who killed you." He said as he readied his sword, "The name's Perseus Jackson, son of Artemis.".
"S-son of Artemis." The Empousai asked wide eyed as he smirked and shot forward, lightning arcing along his sword as he slashed at the Empousai who leapt back with a loud scream which, by the sound of running footsteps, drew attention that they didn't need.
Growling he quickly ripped his keys out of his pocket and tossed them to Bianca "Bring the car around!" he ordered as the two girls nodded before ducking a tuba that was thrown by the monster and using the new convenient hole in the window to start running.
"Time to greet our visitors!" the Empousai said cheerfully as she ran at the door, her hair beginning to flicker and shift as he recognized what was about to happen and leapt out the window, hitting the ground as he heard the doors open and Kelli scream before exploding in a blast of flames. Getting out of the alley he saw Bianca pull to a screeching halt in the Camaro as he ripped open a door and dove inside before they peeled away down the road.