Drew's POV
"Are you coming with us? If you don't, you aren't likely to survive without a weapon." Nico asked Jessica and Megan as we packed up the food we stole from the kitchen.
"I am." Megan said. She looked to Jessica. "I'd rather not die."
"Sure I'll come. But I have a few requests-" she started.
"So do I." Will said.
"First I don't want you guys to be mean to me."
"We're not preschoolers. Our definition of mean is a cyclops trying to hit us in the head with his club. Or Clarrisse." Nico said.
"First, no charmspeak and if you say one more gay joke I will smack you on the head with a sword." I said. "I won't use charmspeak either."
"I don't even know how to use charmspeak." Jessica said.
"Whatever." Megan said. "Where are we going, cause I have school tomorrow."
"Wyoming." Will looked to Nico. "Are you ready for a jump?" He nodded.
I gave Nico my hand and Megan took my other one. Will was next to Nico and Jessica reluctantly took Megan and Will's hands. Then we disappeared.
When I opened my eyes we were on top of some sort of building. About thirty feet high, we stood hands intact. We let go as Nico threw his hand on Will's shoulder. His legs wobbled as he sat on the roof ground. "What. Was. That?" Jessica asked.
"That was awesome! Can we ever do that again?!" Megan said holding her shaky hands to put on her glasses.
"Where are we?" I asked. Will shrugged.
"I'll find a newspaper or something. Maybe a key chain." Will answered.
"I'll check Google maps." Megan said grabbing her phone.
"No!" I said taking the phone and turning it off quickly. "Cell phones attract monsters. You want more of those things from earlier?" Megan shook her head.
"What do we do now then?" Jessica asked.
"Wander around towards Wyoming until Nico recovers, then we shadow travel." I said.
"It could take days to recover. We'll have to keep moving like usual. We have a destination now." Nico said.
"'Wyoming' is not a destination. Wyoming is big," Megan said. "Whoever we're looking for will find us, right?"
"Who we're looking for? No. the things we want to avoid? Yes." I said.
My eyes darkened as I thought of what would happen when we got to camp. Another Aphrodite kid? They would say. I would hate having to spend the rest of my life living with Jessica.
My yearning feeling to mess with Nico and Will surpassed. My only goal was to get the kid and get home. Megan and I walked down to go get a newspaper and see what's going on.
After we got the news paper and came back up with the news that we were Indiana, we found the three having a completely pointless argument. "Are you guys kidding me? You've never shot a gun?" Jessica said.
"Guns aren't necessarily part of the demigod world." Will said.
"Yeah but when a burglar comes in your house you can't exactly slice through him with your black sword." Jessica said.
"Burglars? How can we have house burglars if we don't have a house?" Nico said.
"Can we not talk about this right now?" I interrupted. "We're located in Indiana and like a million miles away from where we're suppose to be."
"I think we should just take a plane... Or a bus... Maybe the subway." Megan said.
"We can't take the bus or the subway all the way to Wyoming." Jessica scoffed.
"Yeah, but we're pretty much on Illinois' border. We can take the subway and or a train to the a main part of Illinois. Would you rather walk all the way to Decatur?"
"Not really." Jessica mumbled.
We walked into the train station. Will looked at a sign hung up on the wall that read 'Decatur, Wyoming. The place where dreams are made.' Well okay. I felt this sudden spark in the back of my brain. So much love was happening in this tiny station. My heart couldn't take it.
"Oh, what is that?!" Megan hurtled herself across the train station staring at the other wall with posters and graffiti placed everywhere. "Hey, Drew, come over here for a second." I obeyed and stepped over.
"Wow." My mouth dropped open as I touched all the missing children signs. At least thirty of them hung in a row due to alphabetical order. It was unbearable to know that all these children were missing. The girl we're finding is probably one of these photos.
"It's okay." Megan said putting a hand on my shoulder. She must've noticed my moment of anguish. "Shall we catch the train?" But before I could answer she held on my wrist and led me to the others.
Nico was the first to get on the train, then Jessica, Will, Megan and me last. I looked out the window as the buildings zoomed past me at lightning speed. It's crazy what technology can do these days, right?
"Are you okay Drew?" Nico asked. "You look kinda dazed."
I smiled.
"I'm fine. But you seem to be a little less uptight then the old Nico."
"Things have changed. Guess my personality was one of them."
I woke up from the trip on the train. Will tapped my shoulders and helped my half asleep body up. "I wanna go home." I whispered to myself.
We actually made it to Iowa. It only took eight hours of bus rides, taking the train, walking and endless conversations on why people should be nicer. Will's hand was placed inside Nico's the whole time, and Megan and I talked about animes and male models. I like her. She's cool.
There was only one problem. We only had about twenty four hours for this kid to live and there were no monsters. No monsters at all.
"Anyone else freaked out because there are no monsters?"
"I've been thinking about that for way to long now." Nico said. "You guys ready for another jump?" Us grabbing each others' hands must've been the yes sign.
The jump is always exciting. It's like leaving your own skin and finding yourself in another place. Apparently it's not much better for Nico though. He ends up lying cold on the ground. "Where are we now?" Jessica asked. But before any of us could answer she pulled her phone out and checked Google maps.
"What are you doing-" Megan started.
"Will you shut up." Her words tugged at me. She used charmspeak.
"Gosh I don't want to hear your stupid voice again."
Megan opened her mouth as if to say something but didn't. I grabbed the phone and threw it on the ground.
"We should've left you to die when we had the chance." I said. "No one cares about you anyway- you're just a spoiled brat who thinks she knows everything and doesn't want to cooperate. At first I thought you were something like me. But you're not. I will never be like you." I turned to Megan who touched two fingers to her throat. "You can speak." I willed my words. "I won't let myself be like you." I finished.
"Let's head out. The kid's waiting for us." Will said. I helped him help Nico up.
"Just in case you wanted to know-" Jessica started, "we're in Wyoming."
A/N: Ohohohoho it's intense! I hope you enjoyed that chapter!
~Katelyn
Hoped you enjoyed that chapter, hope there wasn't any problems.
~Simone
