Jay Evermist and The Olympians
Book One: The Battle Begins
Chapter 4: We Land on a Monument
(I have writers block so please don't complain oh and yeah my computers working. Probably knows what's best for it!)
I was blinded by the sun for a second before taking in my surroundings. We were standing in a field of grass. There were buildings around so my first thought was that we were in Central Park. I knew we weren't because I don't remember there being giant circles of grass in Central Park, but it's good to get hopes up.
"Guys," Jacob tapped both of our shoulders so we turned around to see what he was facing "Is that what I think it is?" About a half a mile away was a white thing sticking up from the ground.
"That isn't the Washington Monument is it?" I asked desperately. I knew it was but I wanted hope.
"Yeah, it is." Miki said from behind us. I looked at her face and it looked like all color had drained from it. It was then that I noticed she had a small scar on her right cheek.
"Have you been here before?" Jacob asked her.
"She was still staring at the monument. "Yeah," she replied dryly. "Let's look for a cab."
"Wait, that's it?" I asked in shock. "We have come this far to Washington D.C. and now we are just going to go back to camp like nothing happened.
"Well, I guess we could go and see some sights." A smile crept along Jacob's face.
"Guys, Chiron is probably looking for us everywhere! I don't want to worry him." Miki protested. She seemed to despise this place.
"Oh come on, I'm the oldest, I say we go and explore. We leave by tonight though." Jacob said as he walked towards the road. We followed as I dragged Miki along reluctantly.
"Well, does anyone know how long it takes to get to New York from here?" I asked. "I mean, we have to plan our time out."
I heard Miki say something under her breath and asked her what she said. "It takes 4 hours and 10 minutes to get New York from here. 50 minutes if there is traffic."
I was shocked she knew that but knew some things where best left untouched. We walked up to the monument and found a tourist table with information packets and maps. Jacob took one of both and began looking through them. I interrupted his reading with a slight cough.
"Um," He looked up at me. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
He thought about it for a second and then looked down to realize we were all still dressed in our gladiator armor. "Oh, follow me."
We found the nearest restroom and took our armor off and left them in the bushes. "If we ever come back, we'll know where to find them." Jacob said as going back to his pamphlet occasionally looking up to see where things were.
Miki and I sat down on the benches will he walked in circles in front of us. I noticed he was wearing his camp shirt and just plain jeans. I liked guys like that; they didn't try to stand out just to be comfortable. Not that I like him, I like Connor. But at least Jacob knows me.
Miki however was wearing her shirt but not just that. She had skinny jeans that reached down to her black, worn out looking blue Nikes. Over her shirt she wore a yellow sweatshirt and a bunch of bracelets.
She was about my body type but less muscular, shorter, and paler. Okay so we were almost completely different, especially our sense of style. Unlike her colorful sense I wore black ripped jeans, my camp shirt, black converse, and a nose ring. The only colorful thing in my outfit was the orange shirt but I was forced to wear that. You would have thought she was the daughter of the rainbow goddess.
"Okay, so we could go to the museums, which are a couple yard that way." He pointed to a group of fancy Greek looking buildings in the distance. "Or we could go to the Washington Monument gift shop."
"At the top of the monument? I don't think so." Miki said folding her arms.
"Well, you can just stay down here and be all alone with a bunch of strangers then." Jacob and I got up and walked back over to the tourist table to buy tickets for the long elevator ride.
Miki got up and jogged over to where we were. I handed her, her ticket. "I thought you would join us."
We got in line for the monument behind a couple that looked like they were in their forties. I checked my watch again.
"Jacob, we have to be quick if we want to leave tonight." I complained.
"We have to. I mean we will." Miki answered. She looked back to the ground and fiddled with a sun pendant on her necklace. It was weird, I had never seen her so jumpy and quiet.
Then again, I didn't like being away from camp either. But at the same time, it was awesome, no one to tell you what to do and no schedule.
We finally got into the elevator with the couple and a tour guide. She began to explain safety rules and what not as the doors closed. Miki grabbed my arm and I looked down to see she was really green and sickly looking.
"What's wrong?" I asked with sympathy.
"Nothing," she drew back her arm and began fiddling with her necklace again.
I turned my attention back to the tour guide. The elevator was big, well, bigger than the ones you see at malls but still it was cozy. She explained how there was an observation tower and a set of emergency stairs in cause of an emergency.
"Wow, must take forever to walk down those stairs." I whispered to Jacob as he chuckled along.
The elevator dinged signaling the ride was done. We stepped out into a room that must have been the size of a cabin back at camp. It wasn't that much bigger than the elevator. The walls were covered in windows along with a observation deck which extended with a floor of glass.
"Now, don't be afraid." The guide began. "These windows are 3 feet thick, even the strongest wind or heaviest person can't break them." She smiled. "Now if anyone has any questions about buildings or the history just feel free to ask." She moved to the corner of the room and pulled out her cell phone.
Miki was standing in front of the elevator still with her hands behind her back and her eyes looking at her feet.
Jacob and I came over and I placed a hand on her shoulder. "Is everything alright?" Jacob asked looking scared.
She shook her head fast and quick. "Heights," she muttered. "I don't like heights. Something tells me this is wrong." She looked at her feet again as her eyes began to water.
"Oh it's all right." I said while hugging her. "Jacob will go ask the nice guide if we can just go down the steps."
He went and asked but came back with a bad response. "She says no one's aloud alone in any part of the monument without a guide or official." He kicked a piece of stone that was on the ground. I looked at it and then picked it up.
"Hey, what's a stone like this doing up here?" I asked out loud.
Just then I heard a whisper from the couple and saw out of Jacob's glasses them sniff the air. I could hear what they said and it chilled me to the bone. "Honey, do you spell demigod?"