Chapter Twenty-Nine
Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan, nor do I own Star Holder Commander's character, Walker. I do own all of the other OCs mentioned.
Adrienne's POV
I felt like I was going to be sick in the backseat of the flying SUV. It also didn't help that the heat was flaring up in the back like a volcano was about to erupt from the vents.
James was seated in the front passenger seat while Apollo was driving this thing. Tristan and Keegan were in the bucket seats behind them, and Jade and I had been crammed into the very back bench seat.
She didn't look much better than I felt, but I had a suspicion that she was probably faring better than I, considering her mom was Iris and I had been claimed as Hades's granddaughter. She should have been fine with flying, whereas I much prefer the solid ground. I had a feeling she just got car sick, and with heat blowing in your face, that makes it ten times worse.
I hear Apollo say something about "going down," then my stomach drops. It felt like we were a meteor plummeting to the Earth's surface, and I'll tell you, I did not like feeling like space rock. I half expected the car to burst into flames.
The car felt like it was going faster every second, and the ground was approaching rapidly, too rapidly for my liking. Then, everything slowed down, and we gently landed in a grassy field.
I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. Tristan opens his door and I quickly climb over him, being the first one out. I dizzily stumble until I'm about thirty feet away from everyone else, and fall to my knees behind a boulder.
I felt lightheaded, and the world was spinning in my eyes. There was a terrible ringing in my ears and I couldn't make anything out. I could hear someone shouting, and it was coming closer. I fall to my hands and retch in the grass. I was never riding in Apollo's flying car again, ever.
I flop over onto my side and cover my eyes with a hand, groaning. Someone grabs my shoulder and shakes me. They were saying something, but my ears were still ringing a little.
Taking my hand away, I squint open my eyes to see the blurry outline of James. In seconds, my vision started clearing up and I could see the worry lines in his forehead. One day they were going to be permanently etched there because of how often he made that face.
"Addie, are you alright? Talk to me," he was saying.
I groan and sit up, with difficulty. I clutch my head and stare at him. "Please tell me we're here and we didn't just stop for a pit-stop?"
He grins and straightens up, offering me a hand. "Nah, we're here. Flying didn't agree with you I take it?"
I glare at him and he flinches away a little. I take his hand and he pulls me up, then we head back over to the others. Tristan and Jade were standing right next to the car, probably talking strategy, and Apollo and Keegan were a little ways away, deep in conversation. Gods knew what they were talking about...I guess, technically, they did, since Apollo is a god.
I take in our surroundings, observing them a little better since my head was clear now. The grassy field we were in was surrounded by dense forestry, pines and oaks scattered all about. There were patches of wildflowers bursting in colorful life near some of the boulders; most of which looked as if they had been thrown about by a cyclops.
We reach Tristan and Jade and they stop talking, both looking at me immediately. Tristan looked a little concerned, whereas Jade had a look of humor dancing across her face.
"You feeling better?" Tristan asks.
"Yea, I'm fine,"
We had lost Jade's attention, she was completely focused on Keegan and Apollo now. "What do you think they're talking about?" she wonders aloud.
We all turn to look at them. They had stopped walking and were now just standing, overlooking a river that was down the hill behind us. I could see Keegan nodding his head every now and again, as if agreeing or saying he understood something Apollo was saying.
Then Apollo pats him on the back a couple of times, looking at him fondly. He turns around, leaving Keegan standing there with his shoulders slumped and his hands in his jeans pockets.
We all quickly turn around, trying to look as if we hadn't just been spying on them. Apollo comes over to us and grins. His teeth nearly blinded me, they were so incredibly white.
"Well kiddos, I've gotta jet," he leans in to James and I and whispers, "And take care of Keegan, will ya? Makeāmake sure he sees your mom."
Pulling back, he mumbled something else that sounded like, "He's gotta make things right." He smiles at us again, and turns around to go to the drivers side of the car. The four of us turn around and walk a little ways away. No sooner were we fifteen feet away, did I see a bright flash and felt a blistering hotness on my back.
I turn around to see that Apollo and his sun car was gone, the grass around where it had been a little withered, but not scorched surprisingly. Just as we start heading over to where Keegan was still standing, I feel the ground shake a little. I stop walking and listen, poised and ready for battle if need be.
The earth shakes again, this time more so, and the others notice it as well. It felt like it was coming towards where Keegan was standing. I burst into a sprint and quickly make my way over to him, the others close behind me.
I stop short right next to Keegan and see he was looking down towards the river. A large, dark shape had emerged from the water and was making its way up to us. It was trampling bushes and small trees in its wake, which only twisted my stomach into more knots.
I hear Jade sigh beside me and the unsheathing of swords. James had his bow in hand and a quiver full of arrows slung behind his back. I pull out my four throwing stars, wishing more than ever that I hadn't lost my dagger a few days ago.
A/N:
I started to panic a little a few minutes ago because FanFiction wouldn't load, so I thought that maybe I'd have to upload tomorrow after I get off work, and let me tell you, I really don't like doing things after I get off work because I'm exhausted. But, it finally loaded up, so here's the chapter!
I had to start building up the tension again. I mean, we already have Nico and a very ill Kyra on their way out of the park, and being confronted by Cacus. And now he have the four and Keegan entering the park and having to face whatever that blob coming out of the river was.
Well, the simple task of cleaning out my bookshelf and deciding what books to donate to the library and which ones to keep turned into cleaning and rearranging my whole room. If I didn't do it tonight, I would of had to do it tomorrow after work, and as you read above, that would not have flown very well with me.
The reason being why I had to rearrange my room: we're getting new windows in my whole house on Wednesday, and how my room had been set up, my bed was right in front of my double windows, and there can't be anything blocking them when the window guys come to change them out.
So when I finished going through my books, I took a break and ate dinner, then I came back to it and started moving stuff around. I really like how it turned out, I have a lot more space now, and it just really opened everything up. It'll be sooo nice finally being able to open my windows and let the breeze flow in and ruffle my curtains. The windows we have in our house right now are the original ones that were installed when our house was built in the late fifties. They're those crappy, single panel, aluminum plated kind, and they suck because:
A) Most of them don't have screens, so if we open them, a trillion bugs fly in...Once we actually had a bird fly in...That was fun getting it out.
B) If they do have screens, there's a huge gap at the top between the window and the screen, because they're storm windows so they have like three other slots to slide in other panes or screens.
and C) A lot of them have spider cracks in the top pane, so you're terrified to open them anyway.
M/A:
"'Motion gives up on you in the end.
I'll try my best to be home by then.
You'll see the grace we had,
She'll never have,
You'll never have.'"
The Great Golden Baby by Circa Survive.
XOXO,
Mrs-diAngelo25
