Hello, my little sushi rolls! I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a while! I will try to post more often. We have finished another chapter so I might post another tomorrow. Hope you enjoy the chapter!
Jasmine looked around at where they had emerged into the world and cringed, placing a hand on the silver and celestial bronze switchblade in her pocket. She had brought them into Manhattan, all right, but not exactly the safest part of it.
"Well, I guess it worked." Allison shrugged.
Jasmine was about to say "At least there aren't spiders" but decided against bringing Saya's attention back to arachnids. She pointed to some graffiti of rude words on a crumbling wall. "That, my friends, is art. What's the first bid? Ten thousand? Twenty?" She tried to talk fast, like an auctioneer but ended up rapping Hamilton instead because it was the only fast talking she could do.
Shady looking mortals started eyeing them, seeing if they would be good targets for a mugging. On the one hand, the demigods were only twelve and seemingly unarmed, but there were three. As much as Jasmine hated her brother, she felt like he would be good in this type of situation.
"So, we've ended up in the dark and hidden part of Manhattan, with people giving us strange looks, where's the exit?" Saya whispered.
Jasmine's eyes searched the area for a way to escape the more dangerous part of Manhattan.
"Look there," Allison nodded at a spot of sunshine where they could see a flower that looked brown, not because it was wilted, but because someone had stepped on it.
"How cruel," Jasmine murmured sarcastically.
"I'm not talking about the flower, I'm saying that's a way out of this place."
"How about we smudge our faces with dirt, hunch over, and pull our hoodies over our heads so we look as shady as them, eh?" Saya thought out loud.
"I don't have a hood though," Jasmine protested, "What should I do then?"
"I have an idea," Allison brightened as much as a Hades kid could. "We could stick mud in your hair and make it gross and then throw dust on it to make you look worse," Allison crouched down and dug in the dirt. She picked it up and started towards Jasmine, laughing. Jasmine clutched her carefully braided dusty blonde hair and backed up dramatically. It had taken a while to make her thick hair into anything not resembling a rat's nest.
"Just kidding. We can make your head look worse later."
"First, we have to make our faces look like we've been in a few fights recently. Jasmine? Can you mist on some minor cuts on our faces so we look more scraggly?"
"Sure, let me recover from what just happened first," Jasmine stuck out her tongue at Allison.
"Hey, it was just an idea," Allison defended. "And we can do it later."
"Ugh fine. Let's get some dirt on our faces so I can make the cuts," Jasmine kneeled and tucked her glasses into her backpack pocket. She then scooped up some dirt, some of it gathering under her fingernails. With her eyes closed, she threw the dirt onto her face, only some of it attaching onto it. Jasmine opened her eyes. She instinctively moved to wipe her face, then stopped, remembering that she couldn't. Jasmine reached for her dark blue glasses and put them on.
"You guys ready for the Mist?" Jasmine said enthusiastically.
"Yup, all set!" Saya replied just as enthusiastically as Jasmine.
"I can't see anything," Allison was still crouched on the ground, reaching around for her glasses. Jasmine spotted them and picked them up. She then misted glasses identical to them and hid the true pair.
"I got them!" Jasmine tapped Allison. "Here." Jasmine held out the misted glasses to Allison, who tried to take them, but her hand falling through the illusion.
"Now we're even," Jasmine said smugly, laughing at the confused and slightly annoyed look on Allison's face.
"Okay, let's get on with this. We have to get out of this part of the city, and we don't have much time. Jasmine gave Allison her glasses back, the real ones, and Mist up some cuts." Saya brought their thoughts back to the plan.
Jasmine waved her hands as a magician would, even though there was no need to, and small cuts and bruises appeared on Saya and Allison's faces. They painfully reminded her that if Allison hadn't saved her from the eidolons, the cuts on their faces would be very real, and much worse.
Jasmine hated hurting people, especially innocents. A year and a half before, at an adventure summer camp, she had accidentally pushed this smol bean into a tent. Nobody told the counselors, and he forgave her, but she still felt guilty even though she was probably the only one in her cabin who remembered after so long. If she had hurt Allison or Saya, her best friends, it would have been a hundred times worse.
Allison and Saya pulled their hoods over their head, and Jasmine unwillingly took out her braid and used her now wavy hair to cover her face. She didn't want to put dust and dirt in her hair, but she couldn't keep up the scrapes as long if she misted her hair a different color or made it like she hadn't washed her hair in days.
Jasmine once again scooped up some dirt and massaged it into her hair.
"Let's go," Saya led the group through the gross city streets, with every bit of the side of the road covered with trash that people were too lazy to keep until they found a trash can. As they were walking, Allison had strayed just enough from the group that a strange man had come up to her and nudged her slightly. From the way that he was walking, it seemed as if he was drunk.
"Hey, kid," the man burped, "Watch where you're goin', you're gonna bump into some people," Out of nowhere, his personality changed. "KID, GIMME ALL YO' MONEY OR I'LL-"
"Shut up or I'll slit your throat." Saya winked at Jasmine, who took it as a signal to run up behind the guy and hit the top of his head with the butt of her switchblade.
"Lit," Jasmine laughed, but really, she was terrified. What if she had permanently damaged his brain? She could have ruined a life for their convenience. She sped up walking, blinking back tears as she remembered the looks full of blatant hate that the kids at the summer camp she went to had given her. It was one thing to be hated wrongly, it was quite another to be hated for a perfectly good reason.
"Jasmine. You didn't permanently damage his brain. You didn't hit him hard enough to do that. The worst that could do is give him a concussion." Saya assured.
"How did you know I was thinking that?" Jasmine asked defensively.
"Athena kids are good at reading expressions."
"Great." What else does she know? Jasmine wondered fearfully.
"I can't read your mind, I can only interpret based on your facial expression. Just so you know, I know you liked Aspen Dale. " She laughed.
"Moral of the story, keep a poker face when an Athena kid is around," Allison interjected. "Also, isn't Dale the gay one?"
"Um, yeah." She forced a smile. "I've got some choice words to throw in Cupid's face." Jasmine searched for a way to change the subject. "Look, it's a Coostco."
"McDonald's is better," Allison pointed out.
Jasmine scanned the parking lot for any cars that they could steal. She found a nondescript beige car that would be perfect. "So, let's be fast. Split up once we get into the Costco. Allison, Saya, find some permanent markers-black preferably, but dark blue will work. I'll look for anything else useful." Jasmine was careful not to make Saya wander the store alone so soon after her anxiety attack, even though they would cover more ground in three groups instead of two.
Jasmine approached the entrance, but Allison stopped her. "Who said you were the one to lie to the mortal?" she challenged.
"I'm very trustworthy."
"What, because you're white?"
Jasmine was genuinely offended. "No, because I'm the daughter of Hecate. I'm a minority in this quest group, remember?"
Saya smiled. "She's just messing with you. Chill out, Jasmine. It's not like I want to talk to a complete stranger. Go ahead."
"Where are your parents?" The lady at the door asked Jasmine.
She laughed, though it felt hollow. "My mom's in the car. She just sent us to pick up the cake for my friend's birthday. She told me to show you her membership card." Jasmine Misted a Coostco Membership card and showed it to the lady. She smiled and let them through.
"It must be cool to be able to do that," Saya said.
"Yeah, being able to fake my way into Coostco is so useful," Jasmine said sarcastically.
"No, to be able to lie so easily," Saya corrected.
"That sure helped against eidolons." Jasmine grimaced, remembering how easy it was to allow the eidolon control of her, then adopted an exaggerated rich-white-girl accent (she may have been a relatively wealthy Caucasian girl, but she usually had her own strange accent). "Let's go SHOPPING!"
Goodbye, my little sushi rolls! Please review and let us know what you think!