"T-this is just great," Drew grumbled through chattering teeth. "We have no boat and now we're stuck on land."
"Thanks for the recap, Drew," I said. "I completely forgot what happened an hour ago."
"Oh, shut up you little—"
A chill breezed through and shut Drew up.
The three of us trudged forward in the woods. I was in the middle, acting as a barrier between the two. The rain came down harder every minute, preventing Drew and Clarisse from getting dry. My bag, which miraculously, or magically (miramagically?), stayed on my back during the octopus fiasco and was still dry. I guessed that that was Lou Ellen's doing, or anything touching me works just remain dry by proximity. I never really understood the extent of my amazing staying dry abilities.
Another cold gust hit us, making me wish I'd brought a jacket. Drew and Clarisse shivered in unison.
Every owl hoot and twig snap made me jump. My hand never strayed too far from my sword at my hip. A lot of nasty monsters could be lurking in the woods, prowling around for a midnight snack.
I tried to think of things to cheer myself up to distract myself from the freezing rain, and the bones in my legs that were transforming into jelly, and the miserable feeling that suffocated me: Pepperoni pizza with extra cheese. Ancient cartoons of the nineteen seventies. Leo's laughter.
Drew's moping wasn't helping the mood. "Ug. My hair is completely ruined now," she whined.
"The true tragedy of our situation," I muttered.
Drew scowled at me. "Some of us actually care about our appearance. Excuse me for not wanting my hair to look like seaweed."
I opened my mouth to say something really slick about her possible hair extensions when Clarisse said, "Are we gonna walk all night or do you know where you're going, Tanaka?"
"Well..." Drew frowned and glanced around the woods, biting her lip. "We need to find a place to rest."
"And where should we do that? The middle of the woods?"
"No! I meant... we should…ugh!" she stomped her foot and huffed in frustration. "I can't think."
"I'm just shocked," I said.
Clarisse scoffed. "Ridiculous. From now on, I'm leading this quest."
"What?" Drew stomped around me to face Clarisse. "This is my quest. You can't just take it from me!"
"You don't know what you're doing! Following you is going to get us killed."
"And you'd know all about getting someone killed, wouldn't you Clarisse?"
Clarisse glared at Drew so harshly I swear I saw fire in her eyes. "What was that, you little punk?"
She took a step forward, preparing to draw her spear. Drew stood her down, completely unfazed, like she was ready to take Clarisse on.
I don't know who was the most insane: Drew, Clarisse, or me as I stepped back in between the two of them. "Come on, guys! Knock it off."
I didn't know what was going on between those two or why they obviously hated each other, even before today. I definitely did not want to be in the middle of them if they started going at each other. Drew was admittedly a pretty good archer, and I've seen Clarisse in action with her spear. I didn't really want to become a Kai kabob.
"Look," I said." We're all tired and cold. Let's just find a town with a motel or something. I brought some mortal money we can use."
The two of them looked at me like I was their new target. I gulped. Then they both turned their backs to each other.
Drew crossed her arms. "Fine."
"Whatever," Clarisse mumbled.
We walked along in silence.
Eventually, the woods dwindled and opened up to a small town. This town couldn't possibly have more than a few hundred living residents. Even at the mouth of the town, with most of it shrouded in mist (of the non-magical variety), I could tell how small the town was.
A single road divided the town in half. Small-scaled, colonial style house sat on either side of the road, giving way to larger, fancier mansions. Deeper into the town, we reached a few businesses, shops, and restaurants. The mist was so thick that I could cut it with my sword.
The streets were completely dead. No pedestrians, vagrants, or rodents going through the trash. No talking, shouting, or laughter. No music. The only sign of life in this town was the occasional light left on in a house. The only sound was the pitter-patter of rain on asphalt.
Even at the dead of night, there were always people, sound, and light in New York. This place was so un-New Yorkish that it made my skin crawl like I was covered in hundred of tiny Myrmekes.
I rubbed my arms and sighed. My breath turned to mist in the chilled air. "Oh, boy. We made it to Silent Hill."
Drew rolled her eyes, muttering something about me being a loser under her breath.
Clarisse stopped dead in her tracks and I nearly ran into her. "Look," she said.
She pointed at a dilapidated looking building at the end of the town. A gate surrounded the premises. A vacant pole sat tilted on a yellowing yard.
"A school," I said, unimpressed.
"A place where we can sleep tonight," she corrected me. "It's abandoned. No one will care if we spend the night."
Not that anyone lives here to be bothered, I thought.
Drew sighed. "Beats sleeping in the streets."
As we approached the rundown building, I spotted a sign that had fallen down. It's probably been down there for years with how faded it looked, but I managed to make out what it said after a while: Northsouth middle school.
Up close, the school looked more like a prison than a school—which was quite fitting, if you ask me—with a faded brick exterior and bars on the windows. The wooden planks used to board the school were so rotted and brittle that breaking them was a snap.
Clarisse and I hopped the fence easily. Drew climbed the gate with all the gracefulness of a camel and landed on her butt. Clarisse didn't even need to pick the lock of the large black doors; the doors just swung open.
"Wait, so it wasn't even locked?" Drew asked incredulously.
"Who'd want to break into a school?" I asked as I headed in, the other two behind me.
The school was obviously closed for a while now. I couldn't see much in the dark, but everything smelled of mold, dust, and dying dreams. Everything was covered in an inch of dust. Drew walked right into a cobweb and screamed bloody murder, but I was too exhausted to laugh.
Once my eyes adjusted, I noticed flags from different countries were hanging from the ceiling above us. I was able to point out a couple; Germany, Japan, Egypt, and a few others.
The front door of the school opened up to a long corridor that ended at another set of doors. To the right, passed a set of rotting lockers, there was a spiral staircase that led to a second floor. The second floor hovered over us like a balcony, and I morosely wondered if anyone had ever jumped off.
To the left were empty trophy cases and blank walls with the words "Teacher of the Month" painted above where pictures once hung.
An uncomfortable shiver ran down my spine. This building felt wrong. I got the feeling that we shouldn't be here.
I was never a fan of schools, but this place put me on edge. I could easily imagine myself attending this school; meeting up with friends, getting lost on my first day of school, getting written up for running in the halls. There was this sad aura of days gone by that struck a chord with me, and reminded me of my old life in the mortal world. Longing made my chest ache.
To the left, there was a cafeteria with large windows facing the hall. We decided that's where we'd stay the night. The cafeteria was about the size of the dining pavilion back home. Some of the tables were left looked as if they were smashed apart by a giant fist. Maybe they tried to remove the tables but eventually decided to give up for whatever reason.
"Perfect," Clarisse declared. "Fischer, hack up the broken tables for firewood."
I did, although hesitantly. I couldn't help but remember the last time I had started a fire at school, but that's a different story.
We gathered the scraps into the middle of the floor and Clarisse zapped them aflame with a blast from her spear and got a nice warm fire going.
I stared at the flames and I started to relax. I felt a twinge of pain, thinking about camp. Everyone would be asleep in their warm bed, except Leo, who would be scribbling down ideas on how to make the Argo II better.
And except me, who'd sneak out of her cabin to help him out, but after how she'd complained that he needed more sleep.
Clarisse and Drew laid their wet clothes on a table to dry as I told them Annabeth's idea of contacting the party ponies to help us fight the giant's army.
Clarisse smirked like she really liked the idea. "Not a bad idea. What better way to defeat an army than with an army of our own?"
Drew pursed her lips and she tried drying her hair with a stash of napkins she found. After a while, she said, "I'll have the best chance convincing them to fight with us. We can I.M. them in the morning when there's more light."
After a moment, Clarisse opted to check the kitchen to see if any food was left. In about five minutes, she came back with a handful of goods.
"Oh, joy," Drew said dryly as Clarisse plopped the food into a pile. "Dried rations and knock off Poptarts that'll kill us. Yum."
"Sorry, Princess," Clarisse said. "But that's all we could find."
Honestly, I wasn't too happy about the find, either. "You think that stuff is safe to eat?"
"I'm sure. I checked the expiration dates." She tore open a bag of beef jerky. "No one's been in this school for ages, but some of the utilities still work, and the food seems pretty fresh. Kids in the town must come here to hang out."
It made sense, so I didn't question it.
We all sat silently around our bonfire. Drew, finally sick of our presence, scooted as far as she could without going too far from the fire and closed her eyes.
Through a mouthful of jerky, Clarisse offered to take first watch.
I, however, couldn't sleep. It was silly, but I felt like I couldn't turn my back on this place. I laid on my side and stared at the crackling fire for what felt like hours. Suddenly, I got up. "I'm gonna go find something to keep the fire going. Maybe there're some old books left here."
Drew opened an eye and looked at me. "Book burning? Seriously?"
"Hey, if they wanted their books they would've taken them by now. But if it makes you feel better, I'll try to find some with nice photos of current president Millard Fillmore."
Drew scoffed and went back to sleep.
I left the cafeteria and went exploring. I didn't have to roam long, though, because there was a library right across the hall. Thankfully, the door was missing.
Walking through the library, I couldn't help but think about when I used to go to school and how I actually missed it from time to time. I missed passing notes in class, goofing off with my friends when we should've been studying, and drawing inappropriate things on the smart boards behind the teachers' backs.
These feelings weren't anything new to me. I've always missed parts of my old normal mortal life when everything was simple, I didn't have to worry about being killed by monsters, and Hayden was…was still alive.
But whenever these feelings started to creep up, I managed to push them back down. That's how I dealt with my bitter feelings towards being a demigod, and it had always worked, but it was harder to do every time.
I passed a clock that still worked that read three o'clock.
Were we really traveling that long? We left around eight or nine at night and only sailed for what felt like about an hour or so. The clock probably wasn't adjusted for daylights savings, but still, having ADHD will muck up your perception of time big time.
I found a box with a few books towards the back. There were some old magazines dated sometime around the early 2000's—I guess that's around the time this school closed down— and a few books that I was forced to read for school and gathered them right up. Oh, how fun these will be to burn.
CRASH!
I froze. There was a terrible screamed that sounded like Drew followed by Clarisse yelling swears and the zapping of electricity. I dropped the stack and ran back towards the cafeteria.
What I saw made my stomach dropped.
Clarisse was up against a balding Cyclops that was at least fifteen feet tall. She was doing a pretty good job dodging his attacks for someone who was wet and exhausted at.
Drew wasn't so lucky. She lay motionless off to the side.
I snuck in while his back was turned and went to check on Drew. She wasn't dead, thank the gods, just bruised and dazed. I dragged her to a corner of the room so she'd hopefully be out of the line of danger.
Our stuff was scattered, our fire squashed. I spotted my shield across the room past Clarisse and the monster. I made a mad dash for it.
In my peripheral, I caught Clarisse roll under the Cyclops's foot and shoot him in the rear with an arc of electricity. He lurched forward.
"GAH! He snarled.
"Want some more, Lardo?" she taunted. "Bring it!"
The Cyclops growled and swatted at Clarisse again. She jumped. I grabbed my shield just as the Cyclops got a lucky hit in and sent Clarisse flying towards the wall. She crumbled to a heap on the floor. The Cyclops laughed gleefully.
"Hey!" I whipped my shield at him and it hit him in the back of the head with a satisfying THWACK. The monster snapped his head towards me, his bloodshot eye glaring at me with utmost hate.
I made an undignified noise. "Hi."
"Your projectiles are no match for me!" he roared and charged for me.
"Nope." I darted out of the cafeteria. I skidded to a stop in front of the staircase and sprinted up, my footsteps synchronized with my galloping heart beat.
I heard the smashing of glass below me and stupidly looked down. The Cyclops had burst through the glass walls and was bounding up the stairs.
On the second floor were a row of busted lockers, two entrances into the hall, and a water fountain at both ends of the hall. Nowhere for me to go. I could run, but I couldn't go as fast as tired as I felt. Hiding was pointless because even if I succeeded, the Cyclops would just eat Drew and Clarisse. I couldn't let him hurt them. I had to end it as soon as possible.
I was ready to draw my sword and stand my ground when I spotted a fire extinguisher on the floor.
The monster appeared down the hall, crouching slightly so his head wouldn't hit the ceiling. I got my first good look at him. His face looked liked it was smashed in so he looked like Quasimodo, but instead of adorably ugly he was just ugly ugly. Several arrows stuck out of his shoulders and stomach.
He wore grungy, ripped jeans and multiple eye-gougingly hideous flannel shirts layered on top of each other. At least he wasn't sporting a neon windbreaker and jinco jeans. Horrible times, those nineties.
Oh, gods. A few hours near Drew and I was starting to sound like her.
The monster glowered at me. He snapped an arrow in his shoulder and raced towards me.
I snatched the fire extinguisher and faced the monster. "Hey, ugly!"
The Cyclops stopped in his tracks ten feet away. He looked genuinely hurt. "Me?"
"Uh, yeah you. Eat this!" I aimed the nozzle at the monster, prayed that it worked, and throttled the handle. Nothing.
The Cyclops bellowed and stalked towards me. "Stupid girl! What—"
I swore and pulled the safety pin in the handle. I clenched the handle and shot the foam right into the Cyclops's massive eye.
He screamed in pain and reeled back, rubbing his eye. I drew my blade and ran at him, my sword point aimed right at his gut.
I was an inch away when, at the last second, the monster dodged my attack. My sword managed to slice into the side of his thigh, causing him to jerk. He punted me in the back and send me sailing across the hall. My sword flew out of my hand and clatter somewhere out of my site.
The filthy floor greeted me with a thud as I slid into the lockers. My arm ached. My head throbbed. My vision blurred so it looked like three Cyclopes were barreling at me.
I scrambled up. I dove towards my sword, trying to slip between the monster's legs, but I was too slow. He scooped me up like a slow kickball and dangled me by the legs. He glared at me with a bloodshot eye.
"Finally!" He cried. He breath hit me like the smell of rotten eggs caught in a hot summer breeze. "Finally, I caught one."
"That's great, buddy," I said. "Now put me down and let's start over. I'll even let you count to ten."
He nodded enthusiastically and bent to put me down before the realization dawned on him and he snapped back up. "Nice try!" He shook me and tightened his fist. "No take backs. That mean girl took my snacks and I'm hungry. Besides, that goes against the job."
I froze, afraid that if I struggled anymore, the Cyclops would crush my legs. My backpack, which I had almost forgotten about, was slipping down my back and arms, threatening to fall. "What job?"
"My job from Gaea," he said proudly. "She lets me stay here to devour puny humans."
I doubted that was Gaea's real motivation. He's probably one of the dozens of monsters benefitting from Gaia's control of the doors of death. He would've eaten me regardless But I decided to play along and buy myself some time.
"Really now?" I said, trying my hardest to sound impressed. "Direct orders straight from Gaea herself? She must think highly of you."
He grinned. "I'm the biggest and baddest of all Northsouth Cyclopes."
"Clearly. Must be a lot of responsibility. Probably gets very tiring."
He shifted on his feet."Well... a little."
"Don't you think you deserve a break?"
"Maybe." He rubbed his greasy chin with his free hand, deep in thought. I was beginning to feel hopeful that maybe I had a way out of this when he frowned and shook his head. "No. This is good. Besides, I don't have it nearly as bad those monsters on that island."
I blinked. "An island of monsters? What kind? Do you know where it is?"
"Uh huh. It's—" he shook his head and laughed. "Ohoho. Naughty girl, trying to learn my secrets. I think I'll eat you know."
I went into a panic as the Cyclops unhinged his jaw to eat me. I was all out of options. No sword, no shield. My backpack wasn't gonna do me any good in this position.
Wait.
My backpack.
I shimmied and wiggled around, trying to lower my backpack enough to grab it.
Just a little more.
The Cyclops chuckled. "No use in squirming, little girl. I—"
Got it!
I gripped the handles of my backpack and swung as hard as I could at his eye. He howled in pain and held his eye, dropping me in the process.
I rose and sprinted towards my sword. Once my hand was wrapped around the familiar handle, I leapt towards the monster, slashing him across the legs and stabbing him in the back.
Normally, that would've taken a monster out. But almost as quickly as I made the wounds, they began to heal.
He turned to towards me, rage glowing in his damaged eye. He swung his meaty fist right at me. I jumped back and ran, the Cyclops's footsteps pounding behind me.
I had no game plan. I couldn't kill the monster fast enough, and sooner or later he was going to catch up to me again, and I doubt that he'd be nearly as chatty this time.
I was about ten feet away from the stairs when I spotted the fountain at the end of the hall. I rushed towards it and chopped it off of the wall. Water trickled down the new wound in the wall.
Pleasepleaseplease.
I shot my arm out at the Cyclops, willing the water to mimic my movement. Smelly water shot out of the pipes like a rocket, hitting the monster in the face and chest with enough force to make him stagger back and towards the edge of the balcony.
Suddenly, he convulsed violently. Bolts of electricity pulsed around him. I risked a glanced to the first floor. Clarisse was sending bolts of lightning the Cyclops's way, looking incredibly pissed.
"No!" The Cyclops wailed in pain. "Mean half-bloods."
My supply of water was slowing down. I needed to end this now. I readied my sword and charged at the monster, primed to strike. I ran my sword clean through the monster's gut. He pitched backwards, his weight sending him over the balcony, and me with him.
The half second drop felt ten times as long. I yanked my sword from the Cyclops's belly just as he grabbed at me, a last-ditch effort to inflict some damaged.
As soon as we hit the floor, the body of the monster exploded into dust from the impact. The force from the explosion helped cushioned my landing. I rolled to the side and stood on shaky legs.
I spat monster dust out of my mouth. "Aw, gross!"
Clarisse grinned and clapped me on the back. "Quite impressive there, girl."
"I don't feel impressive," I said, wiping yellow dust from my shirt.
"No fair!" A gargled voice said beneath us. The sand that was once the monster were gradually collecting together. The Cyclops's face was lumpy and deformed (not much different than before, actually). It grew and reshaped itself, like a sandcastle falling in reverse. "No fair! Two against one—"
Clarisse combat boot dropped on to the monster's half-formed face, breaking his essence apart. "How the heck are we supposed to keep him from reforming."
I stared down at the monster dust distastefully. "I have a gross idea."
Clarisse and I hunted around the school until we found the janitor's closet. We grabbed the vacuum, collected all the monster sand, and proceeded to empty his remains in the nearby toilet, which thankfully still worked.
When we returned to the cafeteria, Drew was sitting up. She looked a little stunned but was otherwise okay.
I went to grab Drew's bow while Clarisse handed her a piece of ambrosia. Even though Clarisse hated Drew, she wasn't the type to neglect her teammates in need.
I never saw Drew's bow up close before. It was golden like the bows the Apollo kids had. Up close, I noticed the intricate swirling sun patterns that decorated the upper and lower limbs of the bow. "Property of Lee Fletcher" was carved elegantly on the inside. The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it.
"Are you okay?" I asked, handing her the bow.
She smiled without an ounce of humor. "Yeah. I'm on a stupid quest getting attacked by stupid monsters. I'm just peachy."
"Glad to see that nothing gets you down."
She snatched her bow from me a little too quickly. She sighed as it morphed back into one of her bangles. "Thanks, or whatever."
I shrugged, surprised to even get a halfhearted thanks out of her.
I half-heartily wondered why she seemed so defensive about her bow. Most campers had hand-me-down weapons so I didn't think it was a big deal, but Drew acted like she was embarrassed of it.
Drew took her knapsack, curled up away from the two of us, and went back to sleep.
Clarisse and I spent about ten minutes rebuilding the fire and straightening up the mess the Cyclops made.
I yawned. "I'll take watch."
"Oh no, girl," Clarisse said. She steered me down into a sitting position, which was pretty easy since my leg bones were the consistency of cooked noodles. "You just took down a Cyclops. I'll take first watch."
"You killed a giant octopus." I pointed out. "And were thrown into a wall."
Clarisse waved her hand like it was no big deal. "I slept already. You look like the dead."
"I look awesome."
"Sleep. Now."
I yawned again and decided to obey. I curled up on the floor, my backpack under my head, and was out almost instantly.
