'I am hungry.'
'Piper, maybe this is a bad idea.'
'Jay-jay, we are teenagers. We should be able to just get mcdonalds.' Piper laid just a pinch of charm speak into that sentence. Jason clacked his tongue. 'Alright.'
They took a left turn, to the drive-thru. Jason was driving Sally Jacksons' car - he had borrowed it from her, to get to a quest quicker. She had been fine with it. Piper was sitting in the seat next to him. Her shirt was torn from a run-in with a harpy. She had a bandaged wound on her shoulder. Jason had a wound on his right arm.
They reached the speaker. 'What do you want?' Piper tapped her cheek, thinking about that question. Meanwhile, Jason was speaking to an employee over the intercom. 'Welcome to Mcdonalds! What do you want?'
'I want a big mac with a small cola, plus a side of fries. Have you decided yet, Piper?' Piper nodded. 'Yes, I would like a Vegetable deluxe and a coke, please.' Jason sighed.
'Make that a big side of fries.' Piper giggled. She hugged Jason's arm. Jason rolled his eyes, but he still kissed the top of her head. He drove further, to the window. Their was an employee standing next to it. Behind him, people were trying to grab all the food. As soon as Piper and Jason saw the employee, they froze.
'Hey, Jay, does that... employee have a tail and horns or is it just me?' Jason clenched his hands around the steering wheel. 'Oh, he has horns and a tail alright.' He slowly drove further. Rule one: Never let a monster see that you noticed them. Jason put a big, fake smile on his face. 'Um... is our food ready yet?' The look in the eyes of the monster was disheartening. He looked pretty hungry, and a big mac probably would not satisfy that hunger.
'We are working hard on it!' he said. Piper looked out the other window, trying to see if there were more monsters hiding in the bushes. 'There is no one there, young lady,' The 'employee' said. Okay, so there is definitely something in those bushes, Piper thought.
After fifteen minutes, the food was still not done. For some reason, there were no other cars lining up behind them. Jason wondered whether the monster did something about it. 'Let's just go,' Piper whispered. 'We should have done that earlier.' Jason nodded. He did not say anything to the employee - he just drove away.
Bad call. The monster jumped over the counter and landed on the hood of the car. Jason and Piper screamed. Jason hit the pedal. The car went faster, but the thing held on. 'Alright, Alright, We have to...' The back window broke. Jason stopped the car, which caused it to drive into the bushes. Both demigods jumped out, through the door on the drivers side.
Jason and Piper were shaking. They had a few new bruises and wounds. Yet, there was no time - the monster was still somewhere there. They tried to run away, which did not go very well. Piper put a few wobbly steps. 'Auw! I think I hurt my ankle.' Jason bit his lip.
'No, no, no,' He whispered. At that moment, the thing appeared in front of them. It had Wings. Jason took a few steps back, while pulling Piper along. 'You are a... dragon!' he said, mildly hysteric. The dragon laughed. 'Yup. What gave you the hint?' Piper wobbled on her ankles.
'The amazing, strong way you took our order, Sir!' she charmspoke. The dragon slowly nodded his head, like he was in trance. Piper expected that; Dragons were despicably easy to charm. 'Also, how you caught our car! That was so wonderful! I have never seen anything like it!' The dragon grinned, displaying a row of sharp teeth. Piper fluttered her eyelashes. 'Yet, it must be very tiresome, hunting people down to eat them. Why don't you take a nap? You deserve it so much!'
The dragon slowly fell to the ground. His eyes were half closed. 'Wait. I first wanted to eat you...' Piper heard Jason swallow. She got closer to the dragon, hoping his monster-senses could not feel her heart stomping. 'Shh. We'll wait right here. Just take a nap, close your eyes...' She said. Her voice went softer and softer, until it almost sounded like she was singing a lullaby. Jason started to feel drowsy as well. Even the curb seemed soft.
Piper stopped whispering when she was sure the dragon was asleep. She stood up. 'Jason, wake up. We gotta go.'
jason shook his head. 'Uh, yeah. Yet, um... the car is a pretty broken.'
Piper turned around. 'Uh, yeah. There is a bus stop nearby, I saw it when you drove over to the drive thru. That bus should take us... somewhere. We can send Leo to fix up the car or something. You can will the mist to make sure nobody sees the broken car, right?'
Jason did exactly that. Luckily, Piper Always carried money on her, so they could step into the first bus that came by. 'This should take us to some station, which is probably connected to New York central station, because we are in the area,' Piper stated. Jason just nodded. He was still a little mellow from the charmspeak.
Miraculously, they made it to a small trainstation without being attacked. As soon as they stepped out of the bus, Pipers' stomach growled. Jason sighed. 'Maybe they have something vegetarian to eat, and also something for me.'
They cautiously walked over to a small food stand. 'The seller does not look like a monster,' Jason muttered. Piper shrugged. 'Better be careful, though.' She smiled at the employee. 'Hello, ma'am! Can I have a sandwich with egg salad?' Jason looked at the menu.
'I want a sandwich with chicken.' The employee nodded slowly.
'Uh-huh. Alright...' She started to make the sandwiches, but it did not seem like she was focusing on it. Piper looked at Jason, who was studying his fingernails. They were both starting to feel uncomfortable under the employees' stare.
After four minutes of slow sandwich-making and staring, Piper squished Jason's' hand. 'Um, you know what ma'am, we are not hungry. Bye!' Quickly, they darted away. 'What was she staring at?' she asked Jason. Jason looked down at his arms. His gaze wandered to Pipers' ankle, which started to swell. 'Maybe... she does not understand why we are bruised all over.' Piper sighed. 'You know, that might just be it.'
Piper wished she had not tried to run. Her ankle hurt a lot and started to look like a particularly big prune. She put a few steps to a train that (Thank the gods) went to New York city, but it did not go very well. 'Hey, Jason...' Jason did not ask any questions. He picked her up, bridal-style, and carried her to the train. Piper did not even complain. 'New York city, here we come,' she muttered. It sounded very fed up and not at all I-am-a-teenager-who-goes-to-the-city-on-my-own-like.
Their was a small run in with what turned out to be a lost ghost on the train, but there were no other noteworthy happenings. Jason carried Piper of the train. Both of them were tired and hungrier than ever. 'One more try to get lunch?' Piper asked. She pointed at a Subway. Jason nodded. 'Let's do it.'
They stepped into the subway. While they were waiting in line, Jason put Piper to her feet. 'Just a few steps. Otherwise it will look weird,' he whispered. Piper nodded. Her feet hurt like crazy, but she thought she could manage a few steps.
As soon as they got the attention of an employee, he grabbed a Phone. 'Hello, police? I think there might be two criminals in my store!' he shrieked. Piper felt like screaming, because she was hungry, tired, her ankle hurt and now the police was being called on her and Jason.
Jason pulled her out of the store. 'Let's find our way out of here before the police comes. I can fly us to camp...' His voice died. Piper shrugged.
'We could also go to Sally's house.'
'I ruined her car, though.'
'We are going to send Leo to fix it and we have to tell it anyway. Better get it over with.' Jason pursed his lips. '... Alright then.'
With every cop they saw walking through the station, Piper felt a twinge of anxiety. Yet, two kids are not easy to spot in the crowd of New York central station, so they got out. Jason picked Piper up again. They flew to Sally's house, who threw the door open the moment she thought she saw two teenagers flying by.
'I am happy you two are still in one piece,' she told them, as soon as Piper and Jason were done explaining why Pipers' ankle looked like a purple golf ball and why they did not use Sally's car. She had given them a cup of tea and had treated Pipers' ankle, and, thank this goddess, a decent meal. Jason fumbled with his teacup. 'Thanks for everything, misses Jackson,' Jason said out loud. Sally smiled.
'It is alright, dear. Just make sure you bring your own food next time.