Ah, and chapter two. Not really much for me to say here, I guess. This chapter may be a bit shorter than the last one. Believe me, it's longer than it originally was. Hope you enjoy.
Dawn: Troy and I Kidnap Mary-Ann
Walking home from school was not something pleasant or easy; Mary-Ann and Troy were both really slow. At least we weren't attacked. It was a full two hours spent in silent power-walking before we made it to our apartment complex. I turned to Troy as we were approaching his building. "Do you have anything we'll need or want?" I asked.
"Um, no, not really," he said, still a little jittery. He was confused, as was Mary-Ann. I felt really bad to be springing this on her, but I guess deep down, I always knew that I'd have to tell her eventually. Better me than a stranger like Troy.
I had been battling monsters for years. My mother had done so since she was about ten and she began to teach me as soon as I was old enough to hold a knife. I was pretty darn good, if I had to judge.
My mother, named for her father, was Hermione Westbrook. She's a demigod daughter of Hermes. And I am similarly a demigod, daughter of a Half-Blood and a god. I'm not sure which god. I knew it wasn't Hermes, but it was an Olympian. That narrowed it down to Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Dionysus, Ares, or Hephaestus. It's kind of awkward to think that my mother technically did it with either an uncle or her grandfather; in fact, it really weirds me out.
We started at Mary-Ann's home. She was packing a bag, which had taken a little convincing in the first place, before she abruptly stopped and turned to face me. "What are we doing, Dawn?"
I sighed. "You know the Greek myths about gods and creatures, and stuff?"
She nodded. "We learned all about them last year, I remember. It was my favorite subject. And we did those projects; you got to do your report on Demeter and I was stuck with Dionysus."
"Well, they're not actually myths," I said slowly. "They're true." I paused for a moment before adding, "And the Gods still live today."
She stared at me like I was crazy. "What do you mean?"
"What I mean is that your father is actually a god, MA," I said. "As is my dad."
Troy was looking at me funny. "How do you know this all?" he asked. "I mean, your mother could have told you some of it, I guess, but how do you know how to fight? And about Long Island. You've never been to Camp Half-Blood, have you?"
"Nope," I answered. "But my mother spent a few summers there when she was a kid. Before she was a wanted criminal."
"Wait," Troy was slowly catching on. "You're last name is Westbrook... as in Hermione Westbrook?"
"And we have a winner," I said.
"Your mother is a Half-Blood," Troy said. "And your father is a god? Like a real full-fledged god?"
I nodded. "I don't know which one, but I've narrowed it down to six."
"But, that makes you, like..."
"Three-fourths god," I said. "I know. Which is why I always seem to attract more monsters than anyone else I've ever met."
"So, wait," Mary-Ann said. "Those monsters are actually after you?"
"Not necessarily," Dawn said. "But, I hate to say it, I probably attracted them. And once they found me, they then caught your scent. Ms. Whisk probably figured you were easy prey."
"So this is your fault," Mary-Ann accused. "And what do you mean easy prey? Are you saying I'm weak?"
I stopped. I admit, I anger easily sometimes. "Well, sorry for saving your life," I yelled.
"Only because you're the reason I was ever in danger."
"They would have eventually found you. And if it hadn't been for me, you'd probably be dead right about now, by whisk or Johnson-"
"Who you killed." Mary-Ann was entering panic mode again. "You killed a teacher."
"A monster," I replied. I was still angry, barely keeping below a yell at this point. "And no one will remember him because of the Mist."
"Um, girls," Troy tried.
"I have to start getting ready anyway," I yelled, and stomped out. At this point, I didn't really care if she came with me to Long Island or not. I just knew that I wanted out of this boring suburban life. I'd been still for too long. For ten years, I lived day to day with my mother all across the country. She taught me to think quickly and to take challenges head on. She left me with my grandmother mostly because she sensed what Mary-Ann was after a chance encounter when visiting her mom, and wanted me to act as a sort of protector. Training here was a bit more difficult, but I managed, using the hall in the apartment as a shooting range and keeping fit with a neighbor's exercise equipment. I told her that my dream was to be an Olympian, and she just assumed I meant the sports Olympics.
I opened the curtains of my room, which luckily faced west and had the sun shining in. I grabbed a gold coin out of a bowl on my desk. I was running low on gold drachmas, I noticed. I turned on a fountain that had just enough mist to cause a rainbow. I prayed my mother wasn't in the middle of a job as I tossed the coin in and prayed quickly. "Oh, goddess Iris, please take this offering." I waited a moment, then said, "Show me my mother, Hermione Westbrook."
And there she appeared, in a nice hotel room, reading a dime store paperback novel. "Mom," I said, and she jolted to the upright position. Her dark, curly hair was shorter than last time I saw her, and it looked nice, just below her chin.
"Dawn, baby?" She finally spotted me. "What's the call about?"
"Any way you could come by and take me to Long Island?" I asked. I knew she could at least take refuge at the camp, safe from the mortal police after her. It would give us some time together without having to worry about anything.
"Why would you want to go?" she asked. Granted, I knew her happiest memories were definitely not from her camp days. But now would be different. "I thought you were happy with Gran? And what about your friend Mary-Jane?"
"Mary-Ann," I corrected her. "And I don't think I can protect her any longer. She just got attacked by a harpy at school, and I couldn't even help her. She escaped somehow, but now we need to go to Camp Half-Blood. We have a satyr with us too."
"And he can't help you there?"
"I don't trust him like I do you," I said. "And you could stay there with me."
"What am I going to do at a camp, Dawn?"
"Not get caught by the law," I said. "Or the monsters that are after you. You could be a counselor or something."
My mother just sighed and I could tell we were going to have the 'free spirit' speech again soon, but not right then.
"You could help train people," I said. "I mean, you trained me."
"You're my daughter," my mother reasoned. "The trainers at camp will be so much better at anything than I am."
I sighed and sat down on my bed. "Are you sure? You've got years of real experience on your side."
"Completely, darling," she said. "And they have years of real experience too, believe me. Anyway, I can do more out here than I can holed up in a summer camp."
"But you will escort us, right?" I asked.
"You know I will," she said. "Tonight at dusk, be at the train station. Look for a boy about your age, or a year older, I think. I'm currently escorting him back after an attack in Montana."
"You're in Montana?" I asked.
"Minnesota," my mother said. "Leisurely returning to Long Island, but with you and your friend added, we'll attract too much attention."
"So it'll be a quick trip," I said a little slowly, slightly disappointed. I rarely got extended visits with my mother since she decided I should live with Gran. The law after her and all.
"As quick as we can make it," she said. "But I guess I better get out of this hotel and find that boy so that we won't be late." She winked at me.
"Bye," I said. My mother just smiled at me and waved her hand through the picture on her end, breaking the connection.
Instead, I started to pack. I started with a spare set of clothes for myself and then a sweater, replacing the books in my backpack. I threw in summer camp needs, such as sun-screen lotion, a hat, shades, and good hiking shoes. I then headed to the bathroom and started collecting all my needs in there. I threw all that into a real suitcase, which I then filled with more clothes. And then I opened the trunk at the foot of my bed, and loaded my weapons as well, including my long bow (which went into my suitcase), a few celestial bronze daggers, and a celestial bronze whip all into my backpack.
As soon as I was finished with the packing, I sighed. Mary-Ann and Troy had still not come over. I hefted my bag over my shoulder and dragged the suitcase to the front room. I then quickly wrote a note for Gran. She'd be upset, but then again, she knew it would be safest for me. She had, after all, sent my mother there a few years before my mother decided to take up a life of crime.
I walked back to Mary-Ann's building and found that she and Troy were arguing.
"I'm not going!" Mary-Ann yelled at him. "Why should I believe a thing you say?"
"You were attacked," Troy tried to explain to her without yelling... it wasn't working very well.
"I probably was going delusional," Mary-Ann said. "I already have ADHD and dyslexia. What's to say that I don't have delusions as well?"
"They're not," I said, walking in. I turned to Troy. "Show her your feet."
"What?" They both asked, though in very different tones. Mary-Ann was just plain confused and Troy was hesitant.
"I'm sorry, hooves," I said. I saw what she had packed, and then continued to throw more stuff into her bag.
"Dawn, stop that," Mary-Ann said.
"Look," I pointed to Troy, who had lifted up one of his pant legs and pulled his hoof out of the fake foot that kept his shoes on.
"That's a hoof," Mary-Ann said slowly. I pushed down some of his hair to reveal a small horn. "And that's not normal."
"He's a Satyr," I explained, going back to packing her stuff.
"There are no such things as Satyrs!" Mary-Ann yelled. "And stop packing my bag!"
"Well, if you want to go without anything," I said.
"I'm not going," Mary-Ann snapped.
"Yes you are," I said. "Because the other option is to leave you here where you will be killed by monsters and I don't want that over my head."
Mary-Ann shook her head. She was crying hysterically. I didn't blame her. I had a feeling that she would react that way. It seemed what normal people would do. I, however, never had the chance to be normal enough to think that having a god for a parent or monsters were odd. A few years ago, I would have been confused by Mary-Ann's reaction. Now, I knew it was normal, but I really didn't understand it. I mean, these myths persisted for thousands of years, and inspired art even to today. I figured, how could the gods not be real?
"My mom would never let me go," Mary-Ann said.
"Which is why we're not asking your mom for permission," I told her. "Anything else you'd like to take?"
She shook her head, so I zipped her bag closed. "Let's go," I said, handing her bag to Troy. "We have to get to the train station by twilight and we have to do it without attracting any more monsters."
Walking to the train station was not an easy trek. Much worse than the trek from school. It was kind of miraculous that we made the first journey without being attacked. Now, we had luggage and Mary-Ann kept trying to turn around.
"Don't make me hand-cuff you to Troy," I said at one point. "I so will."
"We shouldn't be doing this," Mary-Ann said, trembling. "We should be telling the police about what happened... you shot a teacher, Dawn."
"Monster," I reminded her, trying to keep my cool. I was starting to think that it would have been a better idea to wait for Gran to get home and ask her to drive, but she sometimes didn't come home until after twilight, and I needed to catch the train my mom would be on.
I patted my pocket, where I had less than twenty dollars and just a few drachmas. I knew Mary-Ann also had some money in her backpack, which I insisted she bring. In it she had sneakers, an extra set of clothes, and one of my daggers. I wasn't taking a chance of having nothing if we somehow lost our luggage. The backpacks wouldn't come off.
Of course, Troy had nothing but the clothes on his back and the drachmas in his pocket. His biggest complaint was that we had no food, which wasn't a concern for me at all. Food would not be an issue if we were killed on our way to the train station. My mother would have food; she always had something to eat on hand. Even if it is as small as a Ho-Ho. But with three demigods and a satyr, I was certain my mother would have enough to go around.
We somehow made it to the train station without incident. Troy and I only had to pick Mary-Ann up by her arms and spin her around or carry her three times. We arrived just a few minutes early, which was good. If we were there too early, someone would eventually approach us and ask what we were up to. If we arrived late, well, we'd miss the train. So, we found a place to stand, apart enough from the crowds to be easily spotted, but close enough that we didn't stick out too much. And then we just had to wait.
Edit date: 3/27/18
11:44 pm