Chapter 7: I ask for help and get two troublemakers.

I ran to the window and watched him fall, but he became too small to see when he hit the water. I still heard the growling and turned to see the creature staring at me. "Sonny, what's this?" the snake lady said and looked at me closely. She opened her mouth to speak, but I hit my chest with my hand and grew my bow. I shot her son right as he opened his mouth to spit fire.

He disappeared and she glared at me. "My son! You killed him! I'll destroy you!" her voice was shrill, but I notched an arrow and pointed at her. "Go to hell." I shot and she wasn't quick enough to dodge it. It hit her directly in her scaly throat and she disappeared into dust. I sighed and remembered the family. I turned and saw they were staring at me, but I ran into a cart and hit the button.

When I arrived at the bottom, everyone swarmed at me, but I dodged them by the people screaming still at the top. I saw Percy climbing out of the water and the others running over to him. Good, he was still alive and alright. I started toward them, still hiding from the people now searching for me.

I saw the woman on a stretcher and she was being rolled past Percy. "That's the boy! Then this girl with a silver weapon saved us! I'm not crazy!" I saw Percy disappear into the crowd again and someone grabbed my arm. I turned and saw Poseidon dressed like a mortal, smiling at me.

He led me away from the monument and we stood on a bridge. "What now? I did as you asked!" I pouted and looked at the water. "My love, are you angry with me?" I snorted and tried to move away from him, but the bridge was too small. "No, I just love being kissed and dumped into the middle of a forest. I decided to help your son and his friends for you!"

His smile faded and he looked down at the water. "It has become worse; the water barely has any beauty to it here." I sighed and looked down as well, he was right; it was dirty and full of litter. "You have done well to protect him, please continue to do so. I fear that there in much more for him before he reaches his destination." He turned to me with those eyes and I shook my head.

"I don't think I can do this alone." "Are you asking me for help?" he asked, shaking his head. "You know I cannot." "I know, but will you do something with me before you leave?" "Anything my love." He whispered, coming up behind me and holding me against him. "Come with me then." I took his hand and we walked along the streets until we came across a deserted park.

"A little help." I said and he nodded, making water burst from the sprinklers, creating an arch. I tossed in a Greek coin and said, "Chiron, Camp Half-blood." After a moment, he appeared. "Ah I see you made it safely away from the camp." "With some help, yes." "Poseidon, you know your brother will have something to say about this." "I'll speak with him when I return." "Of course, now what do you need from me?"

I sighed and looked at Poseidon, he nodded and I turned back to Chiron. "I need you to send me some help. I have my own quest whether you gave it to me or not, I have promised and that is like swearing on the river Styx." I explained and he sighed. "How many? And what cabin?" I looked at Poseidon, not sure who I would need. "Send some Hermes campers, they have plenty of useful traits, they will be fine. As for how many, just a couple will be fine; she needs to not draw attention to herself."

He nodded and we said goodbye. I turned to Poseidon; he was smiling sadly at me. "My love, I know you must leave me, your brother is already angry with us both." I said and he took my waist and pulled me close to him. "You will always be with me. I shall return to you soon. Travel slowly, so that the campers can catch up with you, but you must not lose Percy and his friends."

I nodded and he kissed me, I pulled away and saw some people watching us. We probably looked strange, a teenager kissing a middle-age man. We followed after Percy, where we kept our distance and said our goodbyes to each other. "I might not be able to come so soon next time, so please be careful and wait for the campers." I nodded and he walked away, off to deal with Zeus.

I sent another message to Chiron, asking to let the campers fly some horses and to send Nightshade with them, she would led them to me. He said he was sending them now and that I should stay put since we could fly the rest of the way instead of traveling like mortals. I agreed and found a hotel and checked into a room.

I ordered a pizza and got settled on the couch, who knew how long these campers would. I flipped through the channels, but found nothing worth watching. I sighed and got up, but the door bell rang and I opened it to see the pizza guy. "$12.36 please." He said and I nodded and handed him a twenty before closing the door. "Thank you." I sat down and opened the box, grabbed a piece of pizza and started eating quickly.

I decided to go for a run after eating instead of just sitting around. I hurried and ate another slice of pizza, but there was a knock on the door. I opened it, thinking the guy had come back with change, but two guys were standing in front of me. "Erika?" one asked and I nodded.

They let themselves in, which was no surprise of the sons of Hermes. They were both tall and skinny, with brown hair that hung in their eyes. They both looked like a normal Hermes' kid, upturned eyebrows, sarcastic smiles and that trickster gleam in their eyes. They noticed the pizza and each of them grabbed a slice. "You got sauce on your face." The other said and I grabbed a napkin and wiped my mouth.

"Your names are?" I asked and they stood up straight, they were taller than I was, probably older too. "Connor and Travis Stoll." They said together. I looked between them and blinked a couple times, trying to figure out which was which. "Twins?" "Nah, just close to it." it was difficult to tell them apart, so I shrugged and they plopped onto the couch and started fighting over the remote.

"What do you think you are doing?" I asked and they both looked at me, their mouths stuffed with the pizza. "Watching TV, why?" one said once he swallowed his food. "Did Chiron tell you the reason you were sent?" "Something about helping you. We don't really bother with details if it meant getting away from camp." they were so calm and easy-going when this quest could get them killed.

"Well the details are important in this quest." "Are you like a kid of Athena, 'cause you sound like Annabeth." One said yawning and stretching out. I pushed their feet off the table and put my hands on my hips. "Get up, make sure you're stuff is prepared, because we are leaving in ten minutes."

"Leaving, we just flew all the way from camp." "Yes, you did nothing, the Pegasi flew here." "Yeah, so they need to rest." "Plus that beast wouldn't let us near her and ours were wearing them out just barely keeping up with her." I smirked and sighed. "Where are they?" "I think they took off to rest on top of a tall building where people couldn't see or something."