They trekked on foot beside the river for hours. The Doctor insisted on following the river down. The long journey made everyones feet and legs feel like mush. As well as dripping beads of sweat off the ends of their hair. Despite their exhaustion Clara still had energy to scold the Doctor.
"How could you forget your keys! You never forget anything!"
"Thats not entirely true. What about the time I..." He couldnt finish his sentence. Clara nodded in triumph.
Meanwhile Annabeth and Percy lingered in the back of the group, listening in on their conversation while the Doctor led the way.
"Furthermore, where are we even going. I'm sweating more than a construction worker in summer."
"It is summer. Why do you think its so hot," the Doctor said. Clara scowled.
"Can you stop giving evasive answeres, for one minute. And explain."
The Doctor gave her a solemn look. "You just have to trust me."
She sighed. "I'm sorry, I do. Your just, not really being youself. And now there are such thing as monsters and demigods. Right now, you just seem way off your game. I'm worried."
"Nothing to worry about, just a little setback. It will all be fine." He reassured her.
After that everyone went quiet. The sun beat down on them harshly. Periodically they took short brakes to sit and rest under any shade they could find. For water they sparingly drank the water from canteens Percy and Annabeth had taken with them. None of them wanted to take any chances with the riverwater. They continued their journey for a little while longer until they came across a city in the background of the landscape. Naturally, they opted for the air conditioned buildings and food. It was a reletively short walk to the nearest gas station. Once inside they soaked in the cool air and rested their painfully miserable legs. They would have preffered to sit in a chair, however their was none. It was a gas station, what did they expect. Everyone except the Doctor collapsed, and sat on the floor, using the wall as a back rest. They gulped the last of the water, and just sat there. The Doctor meanwhile, still stood beside them, examining the device again.
After resting for a while in silence, Annebeth spoke up. "You wouldnt happen to have any money for food, would you Clara." She gave a quick sigh. "Yes, I have a credit card with me. I can get us some snacks."
She forced herself up, and looked around the gas station. "Lets not eat here. Gas stations only have candy and soda. We should go to an actual restaurant." She pulled out her phone and Googled 'restaurants near me.' There were many options, even a McDonalds nearby. Of all the places to eat, she chose McDonalds. Mostly because it seems like what the doctor likes now for some reason. It did seem odd, but the Doctor was always an odd person.
"Ok so, there is a McDonalds here if you two like that."
"We dont know what we like. We dont usually have fast food. Its usually too dangerous," said Percy.
"This will be fine then. Come on, get up." They then forced themselves up as well. Their legs still felt weak and tired, but not so much that they couldnt walk anymore. They began to walk out of the gas station, then stopped dead in their tracks, realizing someone was being left behind.
"Doctor, are you coming?" Called out Annabeth. His back was turned. He seemed to be distracted with the device, fiddling with it.
"Doctor lets go!" Yelled out Percy. That seemed to break his concentration. He shot around in a spin looking for them until they were spotted.
"Ah, yes. Lets, do the thing you were talking about."
"You mean dinner? You were the one who asked for it," said Clara.
"Its a little early for dinner, how about brunch."
"Its the same thing. Food."
"Can we just go now." The Doctor once again took the lead and walked out the store. Clara gave Percy amd Annabeth a confused look.
"Dont look at me, he's your crazy friend," said Percy.
"Except he's not usually this crazy. He's always been weird, eccentric, sometimes even bad ass. But this seems too odd, even for him."
"We should catch up before he walks off," Annabeth interjected.
Everyone turned and ran to catch up with the Doctor. He was speed walking down the sidewalk, seemingly unaware of where he's going. Clara noticed he seemed nervous. He was swively his head left and right aggresively, as if they were being followed and he just coundnt find the stalkers.
"Whats wrong Doctor." Clara said worryingly. "Did you pick up something on the device?"
He didnt answere, and continued walking. He wasnt walking in the direction of any restaurant, just going out on the empty sidewalk. The only noise came from the sounds of car engines on the road next to him.
"Doctor, wait!" She ran in front of him and stopped. "You need to tell us the problem right now. We can help."
He stared at her blankly. "There is no problem," he said plainly. he walked around her without any second thought, and continued to walk away, leaving them in the distance. Everyone, ran to catch up again. This time when Clara ran in front of him she thrusted out her arm in a 'stop' gesture as you would see crossing guards do to signal cars. He finally stopped.
"I'm sorry Doctor but I've had enough. I know to hide certain things from me to protect me, but this, this is too far. I am your friend and I will help you no matter what, so please stop making helping you so difficult."
He gave a sigh, but still seemed nervous, as if he had urgent bussiness to attend to. He took a quick inhale ready to explain. The device seuddenly sounded an alarm that you would hear from your smart phone from his pocket. His hand rushed to his pocket and fumbled with the device to bring it up to his face to read it. He appeared shocked and more worried.
"This way, run!" He took off. All everyone else could do was follow him. They chased him every which way he went, staying close to him. It wasnt hard. Time lord or not, he's still an old man. He turned down an alley way and stopped., they joined him. Everyone was panting from the long sprint. They just hoped that they lost whatever they were running from. Seconds after stopping to rest a strange figure emerged from the shadows at the other end of the alley.
The figure was short and had no identifiable features, just an inky human shape in the darkness, barely illuminated by the street lights by the corner. The alley itself had brick walls, cracked pavement, and litter such as plastic bags and pieces of cardboard on the floor. Everyone was frightened but stood still as the figure did, nobody daring to make the first move.
Seconds after the appearence of the figure it finally moved. Percy and Annabeth readied their weapons and prepared for the worst. However, all it did put its hands up and walked slowly to them. The closer it got, the more features were revealed about the mysterious figure. It looked like a girl, with long dark hair, dressed in black ninja like clothing with a black bandana wrapped around her face. She even wore dark black gloves. The only skin showing was her forehead, and it was nearly pale white. Whoever she was, she clearly embraced the darkness of the night.
Slowly she continued her path towards them with her hands still up. "I just want to talk, please, " she said.
"You can talk from there," Percy said. He pointed his sword at her. "Dont take another step." She was still at least twenty feet from them. A threat like that from someone who has a sword wasnt a good threat. Regardless, for their confort and sense of safety she complied and halted.
"Is this who we're running from Doctor?," asked Clara. He took a quick glance at the device before nodding. "We should keep running," he said.
"No," said Annabeth. "Whoever this is, she wont stop chasing us. We should take her down now before she causes any damage, or harm."
"I wont harm you," said the girl. "Im here to help."
Though still skeptical Percy and Annabeth began lowering their weapons. What if she was a demigod in need? What if she knew something they didnt? What if the real threat is nearby? The Doctor meanwhile was ready to flee anymoment with Clara. The problem was, not even Clara seemed as scared as he did. She stood alongside them while the Doctor was inching closer to the curb. She noticed this and was confused and grew suspicious.
"Lets hear her out," Percy said. Annabeth nodded. Before they could ask any questions they heard a loud SCRATCH, CLANK sound. They looked behind them to see another, more transparent shadow figure out the the darkest part of the alley. They could barely see it. If it werent for its glowing red eyes it would a been virtually invisible. On the ground next to the Doctor was a spear. The Doctor was also on the ground, he had jumped to the side of the alley to avoid being impailed by the spear, which could only have been thrown by this other figure. He was picking himself up while everyone else stood there, trying to proccess what just happened. The figure immedietly dissipated. Turning back to the mysterious girl, she had taken on a more threatening demeanor. She no longer had her hands up, they were clenched in fists. She was now glarining at them. She seemed like she was ready to attack, Percy was moments away from charging. Before he did she suddenly lost her threatening demeanor, sighed and facepalmed.
"You know, I promise I really did try to end this quickly and peacfully. I also promise you will thank me soon after this."
With that said, two more shadow figures materialized on either side of her, their red glowing eyes stared,fiixated on them. Whatever those things were she had complete control over them. She even seemed to be generating them.
"Attack," she said in a eerily cold and calm voice. The shadows charged them, their footsteps completely silent. The shadows were unarmed, frankly they half expected it to run through them like a ghost. They were so transparent it didnt seem like they are able to come in contact with the physical world. They were wrong. Once one was close enough to Percy he tried to thrust his sword at its chest, only to be stopped when it used to palms of it hands to catch the sword by the flat faces of the sword. It then tightened its grip, twisted, pulled, and kicked Percy, ripping the sword from his grasp and landing him on the ground. Annabeth had her dagger, though it was of little use. A similar incident played through with Annabeth as well. She also lost her weapon and was on the ground.
"Stay down if you know whats good for you," she said in her calm cold voice. The shadows ignored them after taking them down. It was clear she had no intention of killing anyone. Except the Doctor apperantly. Percy and Annabeth looked back to see the Doctor and Clara had already fled. They had mixed feelings of relief and anger. How could they leave them when they could have helped? Percy started to get up again despite the warning. He clenched his chest in pain. He only made it to his knees before being kicked down again, hard. Annabeth could have sworn she heard his back pop too, rather violently. He was now rolling in pain on the cold dirty ground. Annabeth did the wise thing and stayed down as intructed.
She walked down to the end of the alley where the spear was dropped, and picked it up.
"I knew I should have done it myself," she muttered to herself. Her words echoed off the walls. She took one last quick look at them, and said.
"I truly am sorry. Stay put, I'll be back, and everything will be sorted out soon." With that she left running down the street. The shadow figures soon dissipated as she got too far away to sustain them. All they could hear now were the echoes of her footsteps down the street. They also heard her yell something about...'Nico', 'I need', and 'here, as she ran. This caught Annabeths attention. Nico? The only Nico they knew was their friend. There could easily be other Nicos, but somehow Annabeth didnt think that was the case.
After she was sure she was gone, Annabeth got up to ensure Percy was ok. She herself also had the pain of being kicked in the stomach. Regardless she forced herself up, took a nibble of ambrosia and fed some to Percy. Within moments he was able to get up with Annabeth, most of the pain subsiding.
"Come on," said Annabeth. "Lets show her what happens when you mess with us," she said angrily.
They Picked up their weapons and charged down the street she ran down in an effort to catch up. To protect the Doctor, and stop her, or kill her if neccesary.