Hi, Innoverse here! Here's chapter five. It's around 1.8k words, so it's pretty good sized—at least, I hope. I'm trying to get the story on track some, I mean, I don't want it to be twenty chapters before the story even starts really happening. I don't want to bore everyone.

Also, I did realize that I left out Robert and Aaron's ages in the last chapter. Oops! This chapter addresses that, though. All of their backgrounds will be revealed through the course of the story, though.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own PJATO.


- CHAPTER V: SORE FEET AND WHITE VANS -


I woke up on the hard pavement, Kenny tucked under my arm, and a thin blanket spread over my shoulders. I was on my side and using my backpack for a pillow, nearly killing my back and left arm in the process. I gently unwrapped myself from my little brother and sat up stiffly, squinting in the daylight. I was in an unfamiliar alley, with three teenagers I didn't know... what the heck was going on?

I looked down at the bandage on my left bicep, and last night's events started trickling into my brain. The Keledones... running into the teenagers, the daughter of Zephyrus, and... that really weird green circle I hadn't had the energy to ask about last night. Something about protection spells?

Emma and Aaron were still asleep, wrapped up under one of the blankets. I supposed they were probably a couple, even if they hadn't really shown it last night. In the middle—with his back turned to me—was Robert, kneeling next to the strange circle. He was wiping the symbols with what looked like a dirty rag, and writing different ones with his finger. The green light appeared wherever his finger had touched, almost like writing on one of the tablets in the stores. It was kind of interesting to watch, but I had no idea what he was doing.

A son of Hecate? Maybe he was using magic to make protection spells... but since he said he hadn't been trained, they didn't work. I gave a mental shrug. Only one way to find out.

"Um... what are you doing?"

He jumped, startled, even though my voice had hardly been a whisper as not to wake my brother and the other two. He turned around and looked at me, glancing down at the circle. He sighed softly, and sat against the opposite wall—still ending up close enough that he'd only have to whisper. The buildings weren't even far enough apart to lay down between.

"Trying to fix my protection magic," he muttered. "The lines are supposed to serve as a barrier to monsters, but—as you saw last night—it only slows them down as of now."

"That could still be useful," I pointed out. "It would give you time to attack them before they could get to you."

"Yeah," he said. "But it doesn't exactly help you sleep at night. We figured if I could ever find out how to perfect it, then we wouldn't need to have watches anymore."

"But then you'd wake up with a bunch of monsters outside the barrier," I said. "Wouldn't that be kind of disturbing?"

"It would be a lot less disturbing than having to worry about being eaten in the middle of the night," he replied.

"Point..."

We sat in silence for a little bit, and his eyes drifted down to my bandage. He looked a little awkward, like he was curious, but he didn't want to ask for the sake of being polite. He seemed kind of shy to me, but then again, I'd only talked to the guy for a grand total of maybe ten minutes.

"Gun-shot wound," I informed him. "A bullet grazed my arm."

He blinked. "Someone was shooting at you?"

I shrugged. "Well, yeah... it was a mortal, and I didn't have a weapon."

"Um... okay," he mumbled, and I swear I could have heard him add under his breath, 'and people get shot at all the time...' I just rubbed the bandage and looked back down at Kenny, brushing his hair out of his face. He wrinkled his nose in his sleep, and curled up tighter. I pulled the blanket up over his shoulders, unable to stop the small smile that slipped over my lips.

"Is he your only family?" Robert asked, watching me. I briefly thought of Uncle Mark, and how I'd left him with the gamblers, but I decided he deserved it. I might not have had the bullet wound if he hadn't decided to bet me in a game of poker.

I eventually decided on, "Yeah." I looked up at him, meeting his eyes. They seemed to be a bit brighter blue in the sunlight. "How long have you guys been traveling?"

He scratched his head. "Well, I've been with them a few weeks, but as for Aaron and Emma... I have no clue. Could be years for all I know."

I chewed my lip. "How old are you?"

"Same age as you," he said. "Sixteen. So is Aaron, but sometimes I swear he's two... I honestly don't see how Emma puts up with him."

"So they're a couple?" I asked.

He nodded. "I'm pretty much the third wheel. The 'Magic Boy.'"

"Magic Boy, huh?" I said. "How does all that stuff work, anyways?"

His eyes glinted a little. "I dunno. It's magic."

I chuckled. "That's a terrible pun."

"Maybe it was," he said. "But you laughed anyways."

Before we could elaborate any further on that, Aaron woke from his slumber, and Emma and Kenny followed soon after. After we'd finished packing up our things, we all started talking about our strategy to find the demigod camp since we now had cash.

"I say we just board a bus to Montauk and wing it from there," Aaron suggested.

"No," Emma and I said at the same time. "That would leave a lot to question, Aaron," I added. "These are rumors. Therefor, they might not be true. So, we've got to find some evidence the camp actually exists before just blowing all of our money."

Emma nodded. "That's right."

"But... how are we supposed to find a camp in the mortal world that should be hidden from mortals?" Robert asked.

"Well, for starters, we're not mortals," I said. "Secondly, we need to look for something strange."

"This is New York," Aaron complained. "Everything is strange!"

"But not the demigod level of strange," I said, grinning. "Trust me, if this camp exists, then they would have to make a way for us to find it. Otherwise, what would be the purpose?"

"Yeah," Emma agreed. "There's probably clues around for demigods who are smart enough to find them."

"So Aaron's not going to be much help," Robert said.

Aaron glared at him. "So we're just wandering around, looking for strange things."

"Pretty much," I said. "Come on! We're probably not going to find much in an abandoned alley..."


Wandering around New York with virtual strangers turned out to be a lot worse than you might have expected. Mostly because one of those virtual strangers happened to be Aaron.

We'd been walking all day, trying to find signs of anything remotely demigod related. The only thing we'd found had been a hellhound, and unfortunately that wasn't much help to any of us. Emma was now walking with a slight limp, Robert was slumped over, exhausted, and I'd had to start carrying Kenny a long time ago because he'd gotten tired. Not to mention that Aaron didn't shut up the entire walk. He wouldn't stop complaining about the heat, his sore feet, his heavy backpack, his sore feet, his sword scabbard rubbing his hip, and did I mention his sore feet?

"Can we take a break?" he asked for the fiftieth time. "My feet—"

"Are sore," Robert interrupted. "Yeah, we get it."

"For a sixteen year-old," I muttered, "you sure do complain a lot."

"I do not!" he said. "Right, Emma?"

He looked at her hopefully. She sighed and rubbed her face. "I love you, Aaron, but you do complain a lot. It's not one of your finer points."

He folded his arms and grumbled, "Some girlfriend..."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Nat, I don't think your plan is working."

"It is!" I protested. "We just haven't stumbled across the right thing yet..."

"At this pace," Robert added, "we're going to be crawling, not stumbling."

"And here I thought you were on my side," I said, glancing at him. "Some stranger," I huffed, imitating Aaron. Robert and Emma cracked a smile, while Aaron just folded his arms and pouted. Kenny frowned at him over my shoulder.

"Even the five year-old disapproves of your whining," I said.

"It's stupid," Kenny agreed.

Robert snorted. "I like this kid. But... seriously, Nat. Emma has a point. This isn't getting us anywhere."

I sighed. "Well, do you have a better plan?"

He blushed. "Um... no? I was hoping you had... like, a plan B?"

"I'm not made of plans, Robert," I said.

"Really?" Aaron said sarcastically. "I thought you had your entire life planned out."

I laughed bitterly. "Riiiiight. I planned all of this years in advance. You're all part of my elaborate schemes to achieve greatness."

Emma rubbed her shoulders. "I think I'm going to take a page from Aaron and recommend we take a break. My shoulders are killing me."

I nodded. "My arms are sore."

"Sorry," Kenny murmured. I ruffled his hair, and the five of us collapsed on a bench near the sidewalk. Just your average day—four ratty teenagers and toddler sitting on a bench overlooking an intersection.

"So, Nat," Aaron said casually, stretching his feet, "got any more brilliant plans?"

"Oh, haha, Aaron. That's so funny I—"

"Sissy!" My sarcastic remark was cut off by my brother, tugging my sleeve and pointing out into the intersection.

I frowned, following his finger and not seeing anything. "What is it, Kenny?"

"The van," he said, waggling his finger. I looked where he was pointing, and spotted a white van. It was idling in the intersection, waiting for the light to turn green. It was just an ordinary white van with a company name on the side, so I didn't see why Kenny was interested in it—at least, until I looked at the driver.

"Oh dear gods!" I said, jumping a little. The man driving was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed husky surfer dude, except instead of having two blue eyes... he had them all over his body. Everyone else stared at the van as well.

"I think that qualifies as strange," Aaron pointed out dumbly.

"You think?" I muttered. I craned my neck, trying to get a look at the company name on the side. I was finally able to make out what looked like a strawberry, and then the words 'DELPHI STRAWBERRY SERVICE' as the van pulled away.

"Delphi Strawberry Service..." I muttered to myself as the van pulled away. Then, I slapped my hand to my forehead. Delphi Strawberry Service. Delphi. The Oracle of Delphi. Delphi, Greece. "That's the cover-up for the camp!"

Emma glanced at me. "Are you sure?"

"It has to be!" I said. "I mean... what other kind of company would have a guy with a hundred eyes driving a van with the name 'Delphi' on the side?"

Robert nodded. "She's probably right. Good eye, Kenny."

Kenny beamed, and gave Robert a high-five.

"So," Emma started, "we find the address of Delphi Strawberry Service, and we find the camp?"

"Yup," I said. "They should be in the same place."

"So," Aaron said, "anyone have a phone book?"


Aaron will become a better character in later chapters—I promise. He's just kind of irritating now because she's just met him. Canon characters will also appear later, too. It's not just OC's...

Also, just a notice; I made a tumblr for fanfiction! Since I can't post everyday because of school, I'll be updating the blog to let everyone know that I am, in fact, alive and working on things. I'll have other stuff on there too, like, what's going on with me, story spotlights, posts about stuff Rick has on his blog, Q & A, story snippets, etc. It'll be a whole lot of fangirling, and just plain awesomeness. So, if you like my stories, and you like tumblr, then feel free to follow it. My username is sallyjacksoning, and the blog is titled 'finding my way home.' There's a direct link to the blog on my profile page on here.

Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter. Reviews are appreciated! :)