A/N Thanks a lot for the reviews guys, literally started writing the day after I published chapter 4 cause I was so happy with the positive feedback, I wrote some really shitty lines so I rewrote like half the chapter however I did make it slightly longer so I hope you enjoy. Would've published yesterday but I was at anime expo on Saturday, and jesus so many people there lol.
Here's the chapter.
Later that night in Percy's dream
Percy opened his eyes to discover that only darkness was around him. He blinked multiple times to see if everything around him was really pitch black until he noticed a small light coming from a few feet in front of him. He walked toward the small light and noticed it was the light coming from the other side of a door, as the light was coming through a keyhole. He groped around the middle of the door looking for the knob, before turning and hearing the door click open.
"How convenient." Percy thought to himself as he pushed the door open.
He blinked rapidly as the light from the other end rushed toward his eyes as he took a step back. He focused his eyes on the other side of the door and saw one of those tunnels you see in aquariums. He began walking through the tunnel looking around as he saw dozens of distinct species: sharks, goldfish, pufferfish, and more swimming around. He saw a great white curiously stop swimming to look at him as he gazed up at the ceiling. It looked so realistic that Percy stuck out his hand expecting to touch glass but was surprised to see his hand pass through as he felt the coolness of the water. The shark nuzzled into his palm before swimming around until he was at eye level with Percy.
"Hello young master, Lord Neptune has been waiting for you." the great white stated in his mind.
"Neptune? My father?" Percy asked.
"Well he's my father too, I think. Anyways just keep going down the tunnel."
Percy laughed at the shark as he turned his gaze toward the end of the tunnel where he saw a figure sitting on a bench facing away from him. Percy waved at the shark as he continued walking looking straight ahead at the figure.
Finally, Percy reached the end noticing the figure stand up, to turn around and face him.
Lord Neptune was a handsome man a few inches taller than Percy. He wore black and sea green tourist garbs with a fishing hat on his head with the symbol of a trident on it. Around his neck he had a camera and in his right hand he held his trident. He smiled at Percy motioning to the open seat next to him on the bench as he sat back down.
Percy took the seat next to his father not knowing what to say for a few seconds.
"Percy, it is good to finally see you." Neptune said shooting Percy a friendly smile.
Neptune's smile was contagious as Percy soon cracked a grin giving his father a hug. "Thanks dad, but there are some things I need to say to you." Percy began.
Neptune held up his hand in response motioning that he was going to speak first. "I know everything that has happened Percy. The memories, the prophecy, the quest, it's why I came to speak to you tonight."
"I know you have no memory of meeting me prior to right now. But you still recognize me and treat me like a father. Do you know why you feel this way?" Neptune posed.
Percy's eyes widened slightly at Neptune's words. He was right. Why does he treat Neptune like his father when having no recollection of ever meeting him prior? Percy racked his brain for a response, but could only come up with a simple comparison.
"Is it the same with Mars? The way I treated him when he came to talk to us after the prophecy was revealed… is that like this?" Percy said slowly.
Neptune nodded his head shifting his trident a bit. "Your memories specifically, do you know why you have lost them?"
Percy shook his head instantly reminded of the incident with Juno. "Juno said that it had something to do with Minerva and how her meddling interfered with Juno's own plans. Whatever her plans are I don't know."
Neptune was silent for a moment as he gripped his trident tighter before speaking once more. "Yes, yesterday I spoke to Minerva and Juno about this situation and they revealed that it was Minerva who had her hand involved in this. I asked her why and the answer she gave me was very evasive."
"She said that this was the best course of action for the prophecy of the seven. That doing things this way would improve our chance for success against Terra."
Percy nodded his head at Neptune's words but grew a little angry at Minerva's doing behind his back.
"So, she kept this hidden even from some of the gods?" Percy asked.
"She did, it was not until the prophecy was revealed that everything came full circle, but I still feel that Minerva is keeping things hidden even from me." Neptune suspected.
"The ancient laws prevent me from directly dealing with mortal affairs, but they never said anything about not helping you prepare in any way possible."
"Thank you, father but why go to such lengths to help me?"
"It is because you are my son, Perseus. I know you will succeed even without my help, but there are some things that even I am wary of. While Terra may be on the rise, I fear that many others may come out of hiding because this would be the best chance to be rid of the Olympians." Neptune pointed out.
"Others? Are you saying that other primordials could potentially be involved?" Percy questioned.
"Other primordials are definitely a possibility, but I know for sure that other titans may side with Terra because they see that this is the best chance to overthrow Olympus." Neptune answered.
"Be careful Percy, the titans themselves are strong as well. Oceanus for example, may not currently control the seas like I do, but his power rivals my own. I know he is out there like many others waiting for the right moment to strike."
Percy nodded his head at Neptune's words. "Are you really not stronger than Oceanus? Somebody like Jupiter would never concede he is weaker than somebody, especially when they are of the same domain as him."
Neptune gave Percy a familiar grin. "Jupiter is arrogant Perseus. My brother would never admit that he is weaker than somebody, especially any of the titans. However, Oceanus controlled the seas before I was born since he inherited it from Pontus himself. I respect his power and he is still out there I know it. His name is where the 'ocean' comes from after all."
Neptune's face soon turned serious as he stared into Percy's eyes, sea green meeting sea green. "Be careful Percy, Oceanus is not somebody you can challenge in the sea, do not be so naive to think you can beat a titan in his element if he reveals himself on your quest."
"Will do dad." Percy said punching his arm making Neptune crack a grin, but he took his warning to heart.
Neptune stood up walking in front of Percy crossing his arms to say his final words. "Time runs short Percy, I will keep a vigilant watch on the seas to make sure your quest goes as smooth as possible, but be warned Terra is the primordial of the earth. The earth is not your friend until she is defeated."
The aquarium faded to black as Percy's last sight was his father tipping his fisherman's hat toward him.
5th Cohort Barracks 6:00 AM
Percy opened his eyes feeling better about the quest sitting up in his bed and stretching his arms. He noticed Frank was still asleep and decided to let him slumber for another half an hour before he decided to wake him up. Percy exited the barracks feeling the cool air as he watched the sun began to rise as Apollo began to make his journey across the sky.
"Never expected you to be up so early Perce." Dakota said coming out of the barracks in greeting.
"Morning Dakota." Percy greeted as he watched the sky.
"Thinking about the quest?" Dakota asked leaning against the barracks.
Percy nodded his head thinking about the prophecy.
"Yesterday when we were discussing with Reyna about the prophecy we mentioned Jason again. I felt it is time I tell you about him."
"He was praetor, wasn't he?" Percy guessed.
"He was and a damn good one. Now as a substitute we have Octavian because he is the augur, but back when Jason was here it was him and Reyna. We couldn't have asked for better leaders." Dakota said in nostalgia.
"Before you arrived he went missing but it really is a coincidence. Your both children of the big three. You of Neptune and him of Jupiter. And what's even crazier is that you were both so strong, but I would say Jason is a bit stronger. No offense Percy. Back then Jason had to face Crius on Mount Othrys and he was able to defeat him."
"He defeated a titan all on his own?" Percy asked impressed.
"He did, and as a son of Jupiter he inherited Jupiter's strength and abilities, but not his arrogance. He was the perfect Roman, the perfect leader."
"I see." Percy said simply, surprised at Jason's influence on the legion.
"But now he is gone, nobody knows where he went or where he disappeared to. But now we have Octavian and trust me even you can see nobody really likes him. At most the other centurions tolerate him."
"Why keep him as praetor then? Is there no way to veto his position?"
Dakota said nothing for a few seconds before responding. "I wish, but the rules state that if a current praetor dies or goes missing the augur is deemed praetor until another one is elected. Right now, there's not really anybody who had what Jason had."
"Did Jason have a girlfriend here at the legion?" Percy asked curious.
"Haha, I made him sound like a god, didn't I?" Dakota joked before continuing, "It's a rumor between the centurions that Reyna had a crush on Jason, but she either never told him or it was just a rumor."
"Really? Reyna have a crush on somebody?" Percy said incredulously imagining for a moment of Reyna blushing like a schoolgirl over a guy.
Dakota nodded his head grinning a little. "It wasn't like that but people could tell that Reyna liked him. It was just Jason that didn't notice. Nothing ever happened between the two of them but you could see it. Reyna probably let go of her feelings because she is the sole praetor now."
"Dakota… did Sofia always act the way she does even when she first came to the legion?" Percy asked curious about his quest partner.
Dakota shifted his feet before responding. "I hardly talked to her because she wasn't in my cohort but when she was just a legionnaire she was very quiet. She probably changed because centurion is a more of a leadership role. I'd guess that the only person that knows about her past is Reyna. I've tried to ask her a few times about it throughout the years, but she is really apprehensive about that topic."
"Her smarts were definitely there when she first arrived. But her fighting prowess didn't come until she developed her skills later. She knew the weakness of her blood. That Minerva was not a war goddess. So, she became proficient in battle, to the point that she could probably hold her own against the legions strongest. But when she combines her brain and her combat ability, she's like a daughter of Mars with a brain."
"I think I'm glad she's on our side then." Percy stated considering Dakota's words.
"It's getting time to go Percy, it was good talking to you before you left." Dakota said sticking out his hand.
Percy shook it thanking Dakota for the information as he made his way into the barracks. Percy was just about to wake Frank when he noticed on his bunk was a ring with a symbol of a trident engraved on the front along with a piece of paper next to it.
Percy,
I took the liberty of having one of my top smiths modify your gladius. I made it so it could transform into a ring merely by twisting it, and I blessed it with my power making it virtually indestructible and able to work in tandem with some of your abilities. You will have to figure out those secrets on your own later. I wish you luck on your quest.
~Neptune
Percy finished reading the note with a smile on his face as he put the ring on his ring finger on his right hand and gave it a twist. The sword overall looked the same, with it being a bit longer and a hilt having been added to better protect his hand. He twisted it back as he noticed Frank beginning to stir.
"Morning Percy, have a good night's sleep?".
"For the most part yeah, my dad came to talk to me in my dream." Percy said.
"Really what did he say?" Frank asked curious.
"He warned me about the land, and yeah Terra might be on the rise right now, but others could easily join up with her like other titans or even worse other primordials." Percy revealed.
"Jeez and you'd think there was enough going on now." Frank said surprised by Percy's words.
"Go on ahead I'll get Hazel and meet you at the Caldecott Tunnel."
Percy nodded and after packing some supplies into a backpack began to make his way toward the tunnel.
It was still rather early around 6:20 AM, so Reyna wouldn't be here for another ten or so minutes.
"You're here rather early son of Neptune." Sofia stated coming into view.
She like Percy chose to wear casual clothes on the warmer side to blend in better with mortals, and because they would be traveling north. She wore black combat boots with jeans and instead of wearing her purple SPQR shirt she wore a black top with a hoodie that would keep her warm in colder temperatures, but allowed enough flex to fight in.
"Not really, just couldn't sleep much. I've been thinking about the quest so its been on my mind a lot." Percy confessed.
"That's understandable, we did just get revealed the prophecy yesterday." Sofia agreed.
"I know, but the decision for us four to leave was so sudden. Maybe we are rushing into things." Percy replied.
Sofia shrugged. "It's the Roman way. We all agreed, we can't just think of 'what if we are wrong'. Whatever happens now we can't back down, with or without help from the gods."
"Do you have some kind of grudge against the gods?"
"I don't have a good relationship with my mother. I am the sole daughter of Minerva after all." Sofia said coldly, clearly not wanting to talk about it.
"My father visited me last night in my dream." Percy started garnering Sofia's attention.
"He warned me about other potential threats that can interfere on our way to Thanatos. Not just monsters, but potentially other titans and even primordials could be making moves of their own."
For once, at least in front of Percy he saw Sofia be genuinely surprised. "That is a surprise. I knew that there would be enemies, but titans and possibly primordials?"
"Can we even win if we face enemies of that caliber?" Sofia asked.
Percy said nothing, as much as he wanted to believe that they would be successful in their quest, if they faced multiple titans and primordials it would result in death without help from the gods.
"We probably won't be able to win against multiple opponents, but if it is just one I think we can manage." Percy remarked.
Sofia nodded at his words as Frank, Hazel, and Reyna showed up. Reyna waited as the four demigods lined up to face her awaiting her words.
"Sofia, Percy, Frank, Hazel I will not lie to you Rome relies on you to complete this quest. It sounds simple, go north and free Thanatos wherever he is being chained, this is the only way that Terra's army can be dwindled. The only thing that I can do is wish you luck on your quest. Bring honor to Rome! Senatus Populusque Romanus!
The four demigods echoed her words raising their arms in the air. Percy felt a surge of pride at this gesture, never feeling anything like it. The pride and honor to serve your home as their hopes relied on you was something he relished in.
"Sofia I'd like to have some words before you go." Reyna said directing her voice at Sofia.
"The rest of you wait on the other side of the tunnel until Sofia comes, I'll make it short."
Hazel, Frank, and Percy left with Percy taking one last glance at the two of them before closing the door to the maintenance tunnel.
"What is it Reyna? Something about Percy?" Sofia asked crossing her arms.
"I know he's new so you probably don't trust him all too much, but try your best to cooperate with him." Reyna said giving her friend a serious glance.
"He's a bit arrogant don't you think? I saw the way he treated Mars when he talked about the prophecy, and I've seen he's not too respectful of Lady Lupa." Sofia analyzed.
"I know it seems that way now, but I talked to him and he said he's been experiencing amnesia, he's probably having conflicting feelings with everything you know? I've never had it personally, but I know it can be hard to tell true from false when you don't remember everything." Reyna reasoned.
Sofia narrowed her eyes at Reyna's words. "I didn't realize he had amnesia while still dealing with being a member of the seven along with this quest. You understand though that I am the leader of this quest, right? I will do everything I can to make it succeed."
Reyna looked at Sofia expectedly waiting for her to finish. She sighed before continuing.
"And yes Reyna, I will cooperate with Percy, along with Frank and Hazel. Jeez did you think I could free Thanatos all on my own?"
"Hmmm probably not, but you would find a way." Reyna pointed out.
Sofia rolled her eyes at her words as she began heading toward the tunnel. "We will be successful Reyna. I swear it on my life as a Roman."
"Good luck, Sofia." Reyna thought as she watched her close the door to the maintenance tunnel before flying back to the principia on Scipio.
With Percy, Frank, and Hazel
The three stood outside the exit to the maintenance tunnel waiting for Sofia to finish her conversation with Reyna.
"What do you guys think she's talking to Reyna about?" Percy asked.
"Dunno, probably some last-minute information but I'm sure she'll be here shortly she is a centurion after all." Frank stated.
"That you are correct about, Frank." echoed Sofia's voice as she ran down the tunnel.
She approached the other three demigods with a calm and collected manner, as she brushed her hair out of her eyes quickly tying it into a ponytail.
"The initial plan is very simple. The Caldecott tunnel where we are currently at, is located very close to the docks in San Francisco. About seven miles, which is ground that we can easily cover. Once we reach the docks we will "commandeer" a boat that we will use to reach Alaska. Since we have a son of Neptune that part of the journey which will be the longest will also be the easiest." she stated glancing at Percy.
He nodded his head at her words. It was a very sound plan, but he could see the flaw in it. As Percy was about to speak Sofia held up her hand signaling she wasn't done.
"The trip from the docks to Alaska won't be that much of a problem, however from here to the docks will be the most dangerous. Currently we know that Terra is rising, but we don't know if she is aware of this quest and is watching us. Which is why we need to make as much haste as possible."
With Percy's question answered everybody else nodded their heads at her words as they began moving out. It was morning still so while there was an abundance of cars on the freeway, it was foggy which was good for concealing the four teens who were trekking in the forest alongside the highway.
"You think we will encounter any monsters on the way to the docks?" Hazel asked posing her question toward Percy.
"Maybe, this is a weird location for monsters to be lurking. Especially since Camp Jupiter is concealed, there would rarely be demigod scents in this area…" Percy answered until something popped up in his mind.
"Those empousa that we killed when I first came here… Were the doors of death open when we killed them? That's impossible though I saw them turn into dust when Frank shot them." Percy thought to himself.
The four-kept moving for a couple miles until Sofia, who took point held up her hand in a closed fist. Signaling that she heard something in the forest and that the group should be in high alert.
Since this quest involved covering a lot of ground, everybody only had their main hand weapon with their casual clothes for maximum maneuverability along with an extra layer to combat the coldness of Alaska. Sofia instinctively kept her hand on the hilt of her gladius as they kept moving, going at a slower pace to decrease the noise they made. Percy looked behind him and saw Hazel drawing out her spatha and Frank with his bow in a ready position. Percy touched his ring making sure it was still there as they continued forward.
And then it happened. A few minutes of careful trekking later, Frank yelled suddenly as he was knocked to the ground being tackled by a hellhound from the flank. It gnawed at his arm which thankfully wasn't fatal as his jacket reduced the deepness of the bite as he flung it off before standing back up.
"From the forest! They are coming from the forest!" Hazel yelled as she checked to make sure Frank was alright. Percy twisted his ring, expanding into his new gladius as he looked to where Sofia was. His eyes narrowed as he saw four empousa, the very same ones that they killed when he first came to camp emerge from behind the trees. Two empousa appeared on his left coming from within the forest, and behind him where Frank and Hazel were he counted two more empousa from the flank along with two hellhounds at their side.
Percy took a step back, turning his head to speak to Frank and Hazel.
"Shit, the eight empousa we killed are here along with some friends they brought along. The doors are definitely open now if they weren't already before." Percy stated as one of the empousa in front of Sofia stepped forward, Sofia clenching her gladius in her left hand as the empousa began speaking.
"Well, well, well if it isn't our old friend Percy Jackson. So kind if you to bring friends along, the more the merrier they say." she hissed.
Sofia who was the closest to the enemies, tried to take advantage of the standstill quickly stepping forward and stabbing her gladius at the empousa speaking, but was quickly parried by her enemy's scimitar who was expecting such an attack.
"Such a rude girl… Did those gods never teach you to let somebody finish speaking if you are being spoken too?" the empousa jabbed.
"Go to Hades." Sofia snarled as she slashed at her head. The empousa jumped backwards out of her range as the other three empousa began enclosing on Sofia.
"I can't girl, I've already been there, but I just keep coming back." the empousa cackled. "Kill them all except Jackson. Terra wants him for herself."
The moment she finished her words the rest of the monsters began advancing on the four demigods, their goal clear. Percy knew that he had the least number of monsters near him, so the best course of action would be to kill the two next to him quickly, and then pray they don't reform right away and help the others.
However, the empousa were much smarter this time, as they engaged Percy from the front and the back, forcing him to turn 180 degrees to parry both of their strikes. Percy knew the moment that he would go in for a strike the other empousa would strike at his blind side, and so using the extended reach of his new gladius he cut left running toward the nearest tree forcing the two empousa to follow. He sprinted vaulting off the tree diagonally toward the left decapitating one of the empousa and leaving himself far enough from the other that they couldn't capitalize on him being in the air. With it now being a one on one he quickly aimed a cut at his opponent's wrist, causing the empousa to shriek in pain as she dropped her scimitar, leaving herself open to a stab through the heart.
Both monsters exploded into dust as Percy killed them, but he watched as the dust already beginning to move signaling they would reform soon. He began looking to see if Frank and Hazel were alright as he saw they had managed to kill off one hellhound and two of the empousa. He saw them fighting with their backs to each other so he knew they would manage, he looked to where Sofia was and saw she was in trouble.
The four empousa who engaged Sofia, were smart enough to surround her on all four sides, and unlike Percy leave her no room to maneuver like he did as she was forced to constantly deflect and parry scimitar strikes. He saw Sofia kill one leaving three, but he could see that she a slash on her leg and a few cuts on her face which probably impaired her movement as she was moving around slower than when he fought her.
"Sofia! Duck!" Percy yelled as he cocked his arm back. Sofia kept deflecting slashes at her body, saying nothing to acknowledge Percy's words.
Percy threw his gladius like a frisbee, it made a distinguishable noise in the air as it approached Sofia and the empousa. The empousa turned their heads as they heard Percy yell. The weird noise in the air gave Sofia time to crouch as Percy's gladius embedded itself in one of the empousa making her fall to the ground as it screeched in pain. Sofia after hearing the squelch of flesh being pierced decided to add her own noise to the fray as she kicked one of the empousa's donkey legs close to her forcing them to lean slightly as she slashed her gladius on its exposed neck. With only one opponent remaining Sofia made quick work of the final empousa, cutting off its arm wielding the scimitar and finishing it off with a thrust to the heart.
Percy sprinted to the downed empousa with his gladius inside it as Sofia stepped on its back forcing it to the ground and wrenching out Percy's sword before handing it to him. Sofia was breathing hard next to Percy as he took a closer look at the gash on her leg, which wasn't that deep but he could tell that if they didn't patch it up it could be easily infected.
"How did you know we were going to be crossing this way? This was an ambush, there was no other way you could have surrounded us without us hearing you. Who sent you here?" Sofia interrogated using her good leg to press harder on the empousa.
Suddenly, a loud roar was heard from deep within the forest which caused the empousa to go from hissing in pain to cackling like an insane woman. The empousa managed to pull out a dagger from her clothing as she turned her head to say her last words to Sofia.
"Foolish girl, you already know who sent us. Even if I die we know the location of your legion now." she hissed as she slit her own throat and turned into golden dust.
"Percy! Behind you!" Sofia yelled as she began running for cover behind some trees and bushes.
From within the forest came another loud roar as Percy widened his eyes seeing the minotaur seemingly come out of nowhere as it began sprinting directly toward him. He saw which direction Sofia ran, and ran in the opposite direction knowing that with her leg like that she would be far less dexterous in a fight.
"Shit!" he cursed as the minotaur gave another roar and began gaining on him.
Frank and Hazel who had just finished killing the last couple empousa and hell hound turned their heads to see Percy running toward them with the minotaur on his heels.
Frank began firing arrows at the minotaur one after the other as they embedded themselves into the minotaur but it did little to slow him down as he kept chasing the son of Neptune.
"Frank! What do we do? We need to keep the minotaur still for Percy to kill it."
"I know! But he isn't being slowed down by my arrows!" Frank yelled in frustration.
Percy continued running focusing only on trying to lose the minotaur by weaving through trees, but to no avail as the minotaur continued to cover ground running through trees and was now only a few feet behind the son of Neptune.
"Frank, I have a plan, but I'm not sure if it will work 100 percent." Hazel said quickly.
"I'll take any ideas right now Hazel." Frank grunted as he began aiming for the minotaur's eyes to try and blind him so Percy could get away.
"I'm going to try and shadow travel Percy out of the minotaur's line of sight, but I'm going to have to be right next to him to do so." Hazel stated.
"What? Are you crazy Hazel? Didn't you say you still needed more practice with it to use it in a fight?" Frank said loudly looking at Hazel.
"Frank, you have to trust me on this okay? You saw Sofia get injured, we can't depend on her to do all the decision making. And besides make no mistake I will be able to do it." Hazel reassured
Before Frank could protest anymore Hazel took off in a dead sprint, running diagonally toward Percy's expected location as he kept running from the minotaur.
"Damn, why is this thing only chasing me? Does it have a grudge against me or something?" Percy thought to himself.
"Percy! Run this way!" Hazel yelled as Percy saw her with the corner of his eye.
Instead of questioning her actions, Percy decided to roll with it and kept running straight as the minotaur was now a foot away from him. As Hazel and Percy crossed paths, Hazel grabbed Percy's left arm and closed her eyes feeling the tug in her gut as she used a nearby shadow to get her and Percy out of the minotaur's line of sight.
However, while Percy managed to appear far enough from the minotaur he noticed Hazel was not near him. He widened his eyes as he turned around and saw that Hazel had unfortunately shadow traveled behind the minotaur. She opened her eyes as she saw the hulking figure of the minotaur in front of her and cursed silently as she began backtracking as quietly as possible.
The minotaur turned around at the lost sight of Percy and immediately snapped his yellow eyes to the daughter of Pluto that was trying to sneak away. Hazel desperately looked around for another shadow to travel through as the minotaur roared once more raising its axe as it prepared to charge Hazel.
"HEY!" Frank screamed at the minotaur causing it to turn its head.
Percy looked to see Frank sprinting toward the minotaur without a weapon in his hand, bewildered Percy glanced around wondering where Sofia went as he ran toward the minotaur.
"Frank are you insane?" Percy yelled, drawing his gladius once more.
What happened next surprised the other three members of the quest. Percy saw Frank one moment and then a second later he transformed into a grizzly bear the size of the minotaur. Percy was so surprised that he stopped his run for a second, his eyes widening.
The minotaur although surprised at Frank's transformation swung his axe at the bear. Frank dodged to the right and used his claws to sink into the minotaur's arms. Doing so held the minotaur in place and further deepened some of the arrows that were embedded in its body as it gave a roar of defiance.
This moment was all was needed as Percy from the minotaur's right, Sofia from the bushes behind the minotaur and Hazel from behind Frank all slashed with their weapons at the same time. The minotaur gave one more roar as it exploded into golden dust and there was a silence for a few seconds as the group stared at the grizzly bear who reverted into Frank. Frank collapsed onto the ground rubbing his arm which was bleeding slightly with a bite mark as Hazel came to his side.
"I guess I should explain myself huh?" Frank said sheepishly as the three other group members gave him a look.
Linebreak
The four members of the quest did not talk much in the forest after the minotaur was defeated. Hazel was livid at first as she was prepared to bombard Frank with questions until police sirens were heard from the nearby highway. Using some of their supplies they managed to patch up Sofia's leg and wrap up the bite on Frank's arm, as the cops began searching the forest probably due to the irregular amount of loud roars and knocked down trees. Using some mist manipulation and sneaking around Sofia managed to commandeer a car nearby on the highway as the four agreed that reaching the pier on foot was too dangerous.
Sofia who was driving, spoke first ending the silence as Percy was in the passenger seat and Frank and Hazel in the back.
"So Frank care to explain what happened back there?"
Hazel who was searching the back for extra supplies gave her own two cents.
"You turned into a bear. A grizzly bear." she deadpanned wanting answers.
"Well in my opinion it was really cool. You should've seen my reaction I was running to help you because you ran at that thing with no weapon and boom." Percy joked.
Sofia gave him a look that literally said, "really a joke at this time?" as Frank began talking.
"Well you guys know how I am a son of Mars right?"
"Well yeah, isn't that a given?" Hazel asked rhetorically.
"A while back my grandma explained everything to me before she died. She said I was a legacy of Neptune and that because of that I was born with the ability to shapeshift." Frank said shyly.
"Into anything?" Sofia asked.
"Anything within my imagination. I haven't practiced with it much, because I didn't want people at the legion to know. But it's easier with animals I know very well." Frank answered.
"So you're saying you're familiar with a grizzly bear?" Percy questioned.
"No, I'm not. It's just in that moment I didn't know what to do. Sofia was injured and out of sight, Hazel got caught, my arrows weren't working so I just thought of an animal and the grizzly came to my mind. Luckily the transformation worked out."
"Wow that's neat." Hazel said sarcastically.
Frank looked at her his face turning serious. "And what the hell do you think you were doing? Shadow traveling Percy out of the minotaur's line of sight? That's such a stupid plan, you could've easily gotten killed Hazel."
"Excuse me?" Hazel started, "It's better than whatever you were doing. Did you see the minotaur? It was gaining on Percy, when it's running at that speed facing it head on would be suicide."
"What if your shadow travel failed huh? I know you haven't been practicing it much, but seriously Hazel? Trying to shadow travel two people when you can't even properly do yourself?" Frank accused.
"Well I'm sorry Frank for trying to save our fellow quest members. It would've been nice to tell us beforehand if you could you know… transform into any animal?" Hazel insinuated raising her voice.
"Shut up." Sofia yelled sharply jerking the car to the right almost rear ending somebody.
"Yelling at each other won't fix what already happened. Yes, Hazel made a risky move, and yes Frank didn't tell us that he could transform beforehand, but that doesn't mean you need to blame each other for what didn't happen." Sofia said her voice returning to its normal tone.
"We should be glad that we are alive."
Percy in the passenger seat was abnormally quiet during Sofia's talking. He was honestly surprised at Sofia's actions. She kept a level head when they were ambushed and wasn't afraid to tell her subordinates when they were in the wrong. Back at camp she really did seem like the loner type, even though she was a centurion. But now, she seemed completely different.
Frank sighed as he rubbed the bandage on his arm.
"Sorry Haze, I was just worried about you. We are lucky that none of us were severely injured after that ambush."
"Yeah, sorry I did something so risky, you think they knew where camp is located now?" Hazel asked.
"I'm sure they do, the empousa me and Percy interrogated briefly sounded like she did. I'll warn Reyna when we are in a safer location." Sofia said.
Percy noticed Sofia shift slightly in the driver's seat, probably irritated by the gash on her leg.
"Why not eat some ambrosia Sofia?" Percy asked her.
"It's not worth it. I know we have enough now, but my injury isn't that bad, we're going to need it later if we encounter more monsters." Sofia replied looking straight ahead.
Luckily nothing out of the ordinary happened as the group of four made it to the docks with minimal trouble. With it being still quite early in the morning, the docks were not that crowded as Sofia parked the car and the four made their way onto the pier.
"Look for something that can be easily stolen. We don't need to worry about speed because we have Percy, but we have to get out of the docks without causing a commotion." Sofia instructed.
"Can't you just manipulate the mist like you did earlier when we took the car?" Frank asked.
Sofia shook her head. "It's not that easy to manipulate the mist. I have some control over it, and it was easy because there was only one mortal driving the car. Multiple targets make it much harder to fool, and there's too many variables when the dock is out in the open."
The group took her answer to heart as they began looking around for a boat they could steal. Percy felt much calmer as he walked on the docks. Finally, being near the ocean gave him a sense of serenity in this chaotic day as he spotted a medium sized cabin boat that could easily fit four with nobody on it.
Percy walked toward it, but as he got closer he noticed that the reason the owner wasn't using the boat was because of the number of hobos that were sleeping in front of the boat and on the dock.
"You again?" one of the hobo's said looking directly at Percy.
While he looked fat and had a white beard like the other hobos his facial expression was what marked him as different. He had a focused expression his eyes pinpointed onto Percy's face.
"Who me?" Percy responded.
"You aren't going to catch me this time ya demigod bastard. I'll take you down with me to the bottom of the ocean if I have to." the hobo threatened putting up his hands in a fisticuffs manner.
"You're a bit loony aren't you?" Percy asked the hobo not impressed at his actions.
However, within a second the hobo stepped within Percy's guard managed to smack him in the right cheek with a left jab. Percy stumbled back surprised at the hobo's speed as he clutched his cheek staring at the hobo intently.
"Haha! Did you not remember who I was kid?" the hobo taunted bouncing on the balls of his feet.
The other hobos began noticing the commotion around them as they began waking up and watching the engagement.
"Argh, this early and ol Nate is getting in a fight." one of the hobos complained irritably rubbing his dirty eyes.
"Shut up! Don't you recognize this kid from before?" Nate said yelling at the other hobos.
"Oh ye! He's that youngin that assaulted you a few years back." one of the hobos recognized.
"It is! He came back to finish ol Nate off this time call the cops!" another one exclaimed.
"Shit! So much for not causing a commotion. Sofia is going to be pissed if I don't do something." Percy thought as he put his arms up in surrender.
"Whoa, whoa calm down. I didn't even attack him! He attacked me first, I don't want any trouble." Percy pleaded trying to get everyone to calm down.
"Tch, our morning was disrupted for something like this? C'mon let's get outta this place." one of the hobos urged.
"Ye it's too early for this shit."
The hobos quickly picked up their things and left the docks leaving Percy and Nate alone.
"Watch yourself kid, you may act ignorant but I know everything." Nate warned ominously as he followed the other hobos.
"Whew, that was close." Percy thought as Frank and Hazel showed up after circling the other parts of the docks.
"Percy, you find a boat?" Hazel asked looking around for any witnesses.
"Yeah this one right here." Percy said pointing at the cabin boat closest to them.
"Where'd Sofia go I thought she was with you guys?"
"Right here, sorry I was telling Reyna about the monsters near the Caldecott Tunnel. The Legion will tighten up their defenses in case of an attack just in case." Sofia informed them as she came into view.
The four boarded the boat quickly entering the cabin where Percy took hold of the wheel as the others gathered around him.
"So, we don't need a key to start the boat right?" Frank questioned looking at Percy.
"Nope! Just sit back and relax." Percy commanded enthusiastically as the boat suddenly lurched forward and the four were off toward Alaska.
A/N Yay this where I start to divulge from canon if I didn't already. And omg there's actual plot! Hope you liked it.
Review, follow, favorite if you feel like it. Enjoy your fourth of July.