Chapter Two: Packing and a Phone Call
Percy was always starving after school; he never really ate during lunchtime, because he was never hungry. But occasionally he would grab something at a street vendor, and today, he got a soda and some fries to snack on. After he paid the man, he walked down to Central Park and found a bench to take a seat on. Percy couldn't stop thinking about camp and, Annabeth. She had been living in San Francisco and going to school there, but the two of them would Iris message each other almost every night. She had told him a few evenings ago that she would be going to camp for the summer, but a few days into the summer term; she didn't want to miss any assignments at school.
As soon as Percy finished his food, he hailed a taxi to take him home. The traffic wasn't half bad, so he got home quickly, and saw that Paul had beat him home, "Hey Percy." Percy tossed his backpack into his room,
"Hey, what's up Paul?" Paul set down his newspaper.
"Nothing much, your mother's still at work, just to let you know." He nodded at his step dad.
"Okay, thanks." Paul nodded back and went back to reading his paper, and Percy stepped into his bedroom, and intentionally fell face-first onto his bed, and drifted to sleep.
Percy woke up to his mom shaking him by the shoulder, "Perce', dinner's ready, I ordered us a pizza. You can pack after you eat, okay?" She said in a comforting tone, while Percy sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.
"Yeah, okay." Sally walked out of the room, and he dug around his closest for his duffle bag, and set it down on his bed when he found it. Just as he was about to walk out of the room, his cell phone went off, yes his cell phone. There was this special type of casing that demigods put on their phones, it was made from monster-you actually, probably don't want to know. But Percy actually had to go on a quest for the stuff, but it was worth it. The monster-you-don't-want-to-know-what-it's-made-of phone would block off the flare-like signal that attracted monsters. Anyway, Percy picked up his phone and looked at the caller I.D. and it read Calling: Annabeth. Percy gasped with excitement and quickly flipped the cell phone open.
"Hey Percy!" it wasn't the voice he expected, but it sounded vaguely familiar, then he quickly remembered his girlfriend's sneaky little step brothers. He tried to remember their names, what were they like, Bob and Mark, no…oh, right- Bobby and Matthew.
"Hey Bobby, what's up Matt?" He could hear them get quiet and whispering back and forth to each other.
"Percy what are you calling me my step-brother's names? I'm breaking up with you!" Percy could hear them giggling and decided to play along.
"What, why? I just called you that because-"He could faintly hear Annabeth In the background over the laughing of Bobby and Matt,
"Hey? What are you two doing with my phone? Who are you talking to? Give it here." He could hear the giggling fading away and the sound of footsteps going into a more quiet room.
"Hello? Who is this?" She said in a questioning tone.
Percy made a Darth Vader breathing noise, "I am your father." He could hear her mutter to herself,
"What in the gods? Seriously who is this?" Percy smiled and stepped out of his window and put his back onto the railing on the fire escape,
"Hey, Annabeth." Percy said, a grin spreading onto his face.
He could hear his mom shouting at him to come to dinner, so he put his phone over the phone, "I'm on the phone, mom!" He removed his hand, "So how's California?"
Annabeth laughed, "You're not going to ask how I am? That's really low of you, Percy." She said sarcastically,
"Fine. How are you doing?"
She giggled, "I'm fine…gods, I can't wait to see you again."
He ran his fingers through his black hair, "Yeah? Me neither. When are you getting into camp?" He didn't get an answer for a while,
"Tonight or tomorrow, sometime, I'm waiting for my plane now." She said, but there was a hint of doubt lingering in her voice.
Percy frowned at her hesitation, "Er, okay, if you say so. There's nothing wrong, is there?" Annabeth was quick to say,
"No, no. Well, I'll see you at camp." Percy could tell she was ready to hang up, but he stopped her, "Hey! I can come pick you up at the airport, how about that? Just call me when you get in, and I'll come get you."
He could tell Annabeth was smiling, "Really? Okay." They both said 'bye' to each other, and hung up.
Percy ducked under the window, back into the apartment, and sat down with his family. Percy inhaled his pizza and soda and put his dishes in the sink, "Thanks, mom!" He ran back into his room,
"Wha-Percy!" He shut his bedroom door, "That boy, I don't know what I'm going to do with him." Sally said, shaking her head.
He tore through his drawers, plopping articles of clothing into the duffle bag. Percy tossed in his camera, sunblock, ray-bans, and a few bottles of nectar. Percy ran out to the living room and grabbed his XBOX controller, Nico was going to force him to play video games one way or another. He also grabbed a few of his own video games, and tossed them into the bag. Two more things he needed, Riptide (which was in his pocket), and his camp necklace. He put the necklace on, and felt like he was where he belonged, Camp Half Blood. That was his true home.
In about a half hour, he was all packed up…he just needed some food to take along with him to snack on in his cabin. He poked his head out the door, "Mom!"
He could hear the pad of his mom's feet exit the kitchen and stop in the hallway, "What, dear?"
He snatched his wallet off his desk, and shoved it into his pocket, "I need to go to the store to get some food, and do you want anything?"
"No thanks, Percy. Just be careful." Sally said, her voice fading a little as she walked back into the kitchen.
Be careful? What could possibly hurt him? He had fought the Minotaur with his bare fists, killed Medusa, took back the Master Bolt, retrieved the Golden Fleece from Polyphemus, and defeated Kronos! He could take on a street gang with his hands tied to his back…blindfolded!
He slid on his Converse and took the stairs down to the streets. After walking a few blocks down from his apartment, he made it to the corner store, which was owned by a shady sort of guy who looked like he belonged in the mob, but since it was New York, it was a possibility that he was. Percy grabbed a few bags of chips, pizza rolls, and two twelve pack cans of soda.
Well…here goes nothing Percy thought to himself as he carried his snacks to the counter.
The shop owner had his grungy sneakers up on the counter, his face blocked off by his Playboy magazine, but you could see smoke coming from behind the inside of it. The owner lowered his magazine, "Whadayya want?" He shifted his cigar to the side of his mouth so he could speak a little more clearly. His head was a mat of grease, lice and salt and pepper hair. His beady eyes were mushed under furrowed eyebrows, and his teeth looked like they had little yellow sweaters on.
"Ugh." Percy said, "I'm buying all of this."
The man shifted and put his feet down on the floor, "Ya sure? I ain't going to waste my time checking all this stuff out fo' nothin'. Show me the monies, eh?"
Percy rolled his eyes and pulled his wallet out of his pocket, and gave the man two tens, "There. Keep the change." The man's grubby hands grabbed the money and began to smear it across his face like it was a million bucks.
"Now get out of here." The man said.
"Aren't you going to pack up my food?" Percy said, raising his eyebrows.
"Nah." There was silence in the store, "Why are you still here?"
This was the last thing Percy wanted to do, but he did it anyway. He uncapped Riptide and he pointed it at the owner. He had it so close to the porker's nose he was going cross eyed.
"Bag up my food…now." Percy hated getting pushed around with characters like this.
The man glowered at Percy, stood up, and shot a grin at Percy. But it wasn't a normal grin, his teeth looked more like fangs and his eyes were darkening into a blood red color, "Well, well…the famous Perseus Jackson. I see your back for another fight, eh?" He abruptly shifted into a massive, spike-tailed, Manticore.
"Doctor Thorn." Percy said as he growled in anger.
Thorn bellowed in laughter, and his huge foot came down on the counter obliterating it, sending glass and cases of tobacco everywhere. Percy shielded his eyes with his forearm, but that hadn't stopped him from getting razor sharp cuts all over the rest of his body. He waited for the Manticore to charge past him, when it did, he lunged for the beast's tail, his primary attack. He stepped on the upper part of it, and tried to hack through the leathery skin, but failed.
"Rrr!" Thorn whirled around, sending Percy flying into an isle in the process. Percy opened his eyes, which were blurred from the forceful strike, and saw the Manticore looming over him, "Heh, heh. This was too easy." Thorn raised his giant foot, like he was going to stomp him.
"Jokes on you, creep." Percy said. Before Thorn could question it, he had a sword up his foot. The Manticore wailed in pain as he dissolved into acid green dust.
"I've gotta get out of here, before he reforms." He said to himself, as quickly dug his food out of the rubble. He limped back home as fast as he could, and clawed his way up the steps. He made it to the apartment door, but began to hear his ears pop, and spots blurred his vision even further, he rolled on to his back, and lost consciousness just before he heard his mom yelling his name.
:'( Poor Percy, huh? Well this chapter took a little while to write, but it was totally worth it. The fight scene wasn't that long, I know. Thank you for the advice bestgyrl, again, I heeded it and gave it a try. I like how much more of a breeze it is to read now. So, thanks.
Please Review, so I know what I can do better, or how much you love it, or hate it for that matter. But NO trolling, I don't like trolls.
I might post another chapter, or maybe two, tonight. Depends, the night is still young, so I might do something else instead.
I just don't know!
LOL, that's dramatic me when I'm torn between choices! ;)
And to any reviewers, thanks. I'll check out some of your stories…if you keep the reviews coming.
Just kidding, but still-review, or I will hunt you down!