Hey! I don't know why, this chapter gave me a some difficulties in not wanting to be written. Thank you bananannabeth, Zahra Woodard, and whalegirl for reviewing! Very appreciated! And chowstaniscool- I appreciate your review too, for some reason the website does not like when I type your name here. Sorry! I have to type it without the dot. Weird.
Disclaimer: I own nada
Piper made her way around to the other customers, suggesting different stores and restaurants to all of them. A couple employees glared, knowing they'd been discovered.
One of them, a teenager in a red beanie, briskly made her way over to Annabeth. "Hi, Miss, I'm very sorry, but I'm gonna have to ask you to step out. You're bothering the customers."
Annabeth's hand rested on her hip, where her dagger was hidden. She widened her eyes in shock. "Me? I've just been looking at this shelf."
The teenager looked uncomfortable. Annabeth noticed a swirl of a tattoo on her collarbone, sticking out from the edge of her shirt. Her eyes were green. An unnatural, bright green. "You're driving the customers away," she hissed. A literal hiss, she showed off sharp fangs and a forked tongue.
Annabeth looked around the store. Clear, except for Piper, who was looking smugly toward the employee. Annabeth put on her best confused face. "What customers?"
The girl growled, and Annabeth pulled her dagger. The middle aged woman behind the counter had disappeared for the meantime, and Annabeth took the opportunity to dispose of the younger worker. Spoils of war: a (now dusty) red beanie and some silver studded bracelets.
Piper sauntered over, dagger in hand. "I could've sworn there were at least three of them."
"Don't jinx… too late." Annabeth watched as the middle aged lady led five other monsters from the back, all wearing Bad Hair Day merchandise, all dracaena.
"Here we go," Piper said cheerfully, but Annabeth noticed how white her knuckles were on the dagger grip, and remembered that Piper hadn't been a fighter as long as she had.
Annabeth decided to take advantage of the fact that there were monsters in front of her, and she needed to know about the increased activity in the city. "Why are you here?" She probably could've been more subtle about it, but having monsters in front of her always flustered her more than she let on. She'd learned to keep most of her nerves from getting to her.
"Demigods," the lady, who seemed to be the leader, hissed. She was slowly growing and scales were beginning to spread around her eyes and hands. They began to advance.
Back at the apartment, the boys were having a conflict of their own.
"What. Is. That?!" Seb yelled, pulling his feet onto the couch. He'd never seen anything like it, and frankly, it was scaring him.
"Monster." Percy grimaced, pulling out a sword. "We have to kill it."
Jason was screaming "Die" over and over from the loveseat. "Killitkillitkillitdon'tletittouchmeplease."
"Wait a second, how'd you get a sword?" Seb asked, backing away as fast as possible.
"It's shooting at me!" Jason screamed again.
Percy attacked, already possessing the knowledge that he could die for his friends here. The monster only took three hits before disappearing. Spoils of war: an arrow.
He breathed heavily. "You guys stressing did not help at all. Seb, you have to make a sword. Cut down a tree and make a pickaxe, then use that to get stone, and there's a crafting table in the house. Jason, seriously? It's like you guys haven't played minecraft before."
Piper stabbed one of the demons through the chest and it screamed, dissolving into dust. Spoils of war: a gold colored bracelet cuff. Hazel would appreciate that. Annabeth leapt over the counter in one fluid motion, kicking the leading lady in the face as she did so. She caught the net of another with her free hand, and while the monster was confused, she stabbed that one too. Spoils of War: flower shaped earrings. Calypso would like those.
Annabeth and Piper disposed of the last two simultaneously, leaving just about the entire store's floor area covered in dust. Spoils of war: a blue beanie and some blonde hair extensions. Percy and Seb could have the beanies, maybe. She smirked as she thought about giving the hair extensions to Jason.
Annabeth walked back behind the counter, placing her boot on the chest of the one she'd kicked down. She leaned toward her face, smelling the monster's putrid breath. She hated dracaena.
"Why are there suddenly more monsters in New York?"
The monster's eyes had been glazed over, but now they came back into focus on Annabeth's face. She growled deep in her throat. "I won't tell a demigod." She said the name like a curse, and spit in Annabeth's face. She stood while Annabeth was off balance, knocking the blonde down. She started to run, which had to be hard to do when your legs are snake trunks.
"Stop," Piper said. She'd been quiet this whole time, but now she was in her element.
The monster froze.
"Turn around, please." Piper hopped up on the counter. Annabeth smirked.
"You should tell us what the monsters are doing here. In New York. I mean, they're always in New York, but you already know that. And I'm willing to bet you also know why there have been more recently. All you have to do is tell us why. Then you're free to go." Piper smiled sweetly, and the charmspeak had affected even Annabeth, to the point that she felt as though she owed Piper an explanation for the very case she was trying to figure out.
"I… won't tell… they're trying to get jobs." The monster glared at Piper, as if she knew she was being forced to speak.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, how do you expect monsters to make a living in the world, so that they can afford to search for demigods? Killing you is our greatest pleasure, but there's a process. Fake IDs, currency. Too much to worry about. And speaking of things to worry about- there's a shift change in thirty seconds." She smiled smugly, as if she had won.
Annabeth finished her off quickly.
"Annabeth, I said I'd let her go if she told us what we wanted." Piper wiped her dagger on a sunhat.
"You did. I didn't say anything." Annabeth picked up the spoils and put them in the messenger bag she'd grabbed what seemed like forever ago. She decided to change the subject when she saw Piper's frown. "But seriously? They're trying to get jobs? I don't know if I buy that."
" She had to tell the truth. Charmspeak, remember?"
"Right, right." Annabeth thought for a minute. Monsters running stores? Why did that sound familiar… She snapped her fingers, and it made Piper jump. "Monster Donut!"
"What? Monster… what?"
"A few years ago, Percy and I came across a chain restaurant, called Monster Donut. Run fully by monsters, for monsters. This could be something similar, only on a bigger scale."
"Heh. Scale," Piper muttered. At Annabeth's questioning look, she shrugged slightly. "Get it? Cause dracaena. Scales."
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "You sound like Percy."
Piper laughed, but turned serious quickly. "We should tell him and Jason. Get their opinions." She looked around the store, selecting a couple hats and some new feathers, and put them in Annabeth's messenger bag. "Is it wrong to steal from monsters?"
"I won't say anything." She glanced toward the back of the store. "We need to leave. Let's grab Amy and run."
Piper nodded her consent, and the two girls left to get their oblivious friend.
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