Chapter 7, Acid rain
Two days later
I was rubbing my golden coin in an anxious way. I was never what people call patient and all this waiting without any constant entertainment was causing me to become bored rapidly. The lance that I took from Jason was apparently enhanced or something because it could morph into a coin. I was fooling around with it last time and flipped the coin, But I dropped it and it landed on the table near Luke. There was both good news and bad news to me flipping.
The good news is that I figured out how to change it back into a lance. The bad news is that I almost impaled Luke. So long story short, I will never flip that coin if I'm not using it in combat. When we raided Jason and Bobby's cabin for their stuff we did find some interesting stuff. Bobby apparently is the little writer, journalist.
he kept a journal that described all the way from when he joined Camp Jupiter to when he found out I was the suspected Abomination. His in-depth writing makes small moments like someones birthday seem exciting. He also had a black jean jacket which looked incredibly bad ass, and I couldn't help but take it. Fortunately, Bobby is only slightly bigger than me so the jacket fit fine. It was getting close to summer, and it only gets warmer the closer we get to California.
I figured that if I was ever cold it would be a good thing to wear. Luke was rummaging through Jason's bag, and the first thing he found was a picture of a girl with a cold stone look on her face. She had piercing obsidian eyes and shiny dark hair that made into a braid. She was very pretty despite her cold and otherwise blank look on her face. "Well it looks like Jason has a girl back home", Luke said holding the picture up.
"Well, he'll have to wait to see her for a little while longer." "I don't really see what he see's in her, she looks likes she's ready to wring someones neck." " hey man, If you want to see hate in people's eyes you should check out the huntresses of Artemis." "Did you really talk to them?" "Yep, and I did even better.
I went toe to toe with the man hating goddess herself." "You fought Artemis and lived?" "Better yet, I fought her and came out on top." His jaw dropped down to Hades and his eyes became as big as the moon. "How did you do it?"
Thunder roared in the sky as black clouds formed and rain came pouring down. "I just gave her a bit of lightning treatment."
"When I first met saw them they started to shoot me. I had barely made eye contact for three-second before they began to shoot at me. I have no idea what Artemis does to them to make them hate men so much. But they seem to have shoot first, ask questions never, mindset"
"This is just a theory I came up with, but I think the reason Artemis hates men and finds comfort in a group of female hunters is because." I had stopped my sentence mid-way to build up the tension. "Artemis is….ga-" "Artemis is gay", Luke said. "Dammit! You took my idea."
"You made it fairly obvious when you said that she finds comfort in her huntresses, but it does make sense though. Her lack of sexual attraction to men could begin to stimulate anger inside of her." "It's like she's saying because I'm not attracted to you there's something wrong with you not different with me. I think she should just look in the mirror, Stare at herself dead in the eye, and say being gay is okay." Both me and Luke ended up laughing at our bantering.
I also found a canteen filled with a bronze liquid. It looked a lot like honey but I wondered if it tasted like honey. I put the drink to my mouth and took a sip. It didn't taste like honey, it tasted like chocolate cake made by farmland. Farmland was a small bakery near my house that made incredible foods.
The man who owned it was a short Italian man who in reality felt more like family then my dad did. At least he was around, and I was planning on working there when I reached fourteen. Unfortunately I had destroyed his bakery and killed him along mom. I felt the lump in my heart beginning to form back up again, but I shoved it down and tried not to think about it. Luke noticed the canteen.
"I'm just going on a limb here, but is that nectar? "What's nectar." "The drink of the gods that heals demigods but burns them to ashes if they drink too much. Since you can heal fast I think I'll take this."
I passed the bottle filled with the golden liquid. The rest of their items consisted of clothes and nothing of value came back up. So we had waited for two days just watching pastures of cow move by. Everything looked the goddamn same, and I swear we passed by the same herd of cattle twelve times. Fortunately, we were getting close to our stop and finally back unto real was reading the diary I had taken from Bobby's so there was nothing else for me to do.
My thoughts began to wander to Bobby. I had electrified Bobby pretty bad to the point where his skin looked his skin had third degree burns. I remember seeing him breathing, but considering that he did sustain heavy injuries and that me and Luke left him stranded out in the middle of nowhere. Albeit there was a town near them, but the town was pretty rural, and insignificant so I doubt he would receive any immediate medical treatment. If Bobby didn't pull through that just means that another person's blood will intently be on my hands.
I probably was up to about 700,000 by now. The idea of Bobby dying didn't make me sad though. I did like him, he was pretty comical and funny at times and he was also pretty upbeat. I didn't know why the thought of Bobby dying didn't make me sad. There was another emotion that I was feeling though.
It was regret, I knew I could have killed Bobby if I shocked him for only a couple of seconds, but I didn't care though. I should have held back because in reality Bobby probably wasn't going to pull through if Jason didn't give him immediate medical treatment. I also realized that I left Jason in a horrible condition as well. It seemed like he was so close to passing out and was barely able to speak. If both Jason and Bobby are out of commission there chances of survival seemed nil.
Now some of you may say that I was feeling sadness for them in the feeling of regret, but I would disagree because in reality I felt disappointed in myself for not having proper control over my powers. I honestly didn't care about them dying, but the problem was that I wanted to care about their deaths. I just couldn't bring myself to, no matter how hard I tried. To be perfectly honest, my lack of human empathy was scaring me. Luke looked up from his book and saw me contemplating the predicament.
"What's wrong Sirius." I hesitated to answer his question, but I eventually spilled the info. "I'm just thinking if Bobby and Jason are gonna make it. Luke's face showed relation. "You should of held back Sirius. They might be dead now", Luke said in a harsh tone.
"I know that Luke, I should have held back." Despite me being chewed out by Luke I still didn't care about the idea of them dying.
"To be fair, I didn't object when you disconnected their cart. I should have spoken up and told you not to."
"Yeah, but it's still all my fault."
"Well, it's done, you just need to avoid doing it again."
"Yeah, you're right I guess." The train's mono phone began to go off as the captain began to speak.
"Attention passengers, we will arrive at our destination shortly so prepare to leave the train." I almost screamed in joy, the fact we were getting off this god forsaken train was possibly the greatest thing I had ever heard. Luke and I went to our room to get are stuff which we had packed before hand. When I grabbed my bag I noticed the picture of that girl on my bed. I didn't know why but for some reason I felt like I needed to take that picture.
It may have held some sentimental value to Jason and if it did he probably would want it back. The amount of people waiting near the exit made it seem like they were as anxious to get off as Luke and I. When they opened the door to the train it felt like a tidal wave had come as people stumbled to get off the were greeted by a brilliant light when Luke and I finally got off the train we by a blazing light that blinded me and tremendous heat immediately caused me to wipe the sweat from my brow. I had been to California before when I was six, but I was still used to the cool air of washington and the drastic heat change surprised me. Hanford, that was the city's name.
It was an above average looking city with nice architectural design and emerald-green parks. Palm tree's leaves swayed in the breeze. "Alright, I think we should restock on food and supplies then head back on the road."
I opened my mouth to ask a question that had been on my mind ever since I first talked to Luke.
"Luke, why are you running away?" In my ignorance, I had figured that Luke would be able to answer this question easily considering that I had shared my story so it would be easy for him to share his. Luke seemed to cringe as I asked my question. "You're not the only one running away from a past."
"What do you mean? What happened to you?"
Luke gave off anger as he pondered whether he would tell me or not.
"My mom was a clear-sighted mortal. That was how she attracted my father and they had me. My mother wanted to host the spirit of the Oracle of Delphi despite my father's warnings. She failed and as a result of failing she lost her sanity.
It wasn't a complete failure though. She gained the power to predict my future at times. She said that I would be there when the abomination slayed the gods. She kept saying how I would have a relationship with it. She said I considered it a friend."
Luke revealing his past made me about as sad as the thought of Jason and Bobby dying which is not much. Though there was this small feeling of sorrow I felt towards Luke.
"It's alright Luke, you'll be okay." Those words sounded more petty and generic than they actually were but Luke seemed to cheer up a bit.
"Yeah, lets just get going."
Luke and I walked into the marker and quickly loaded up on non-perishable food items. Luke also bought a small pot for cooking and a lighter though I could light the fire perfectly fine. We mostly bought food items but as we were checking out our items I took about a dozen candy bars from the checkout counter. "You're going to get diabetes."
"Luke, Broken and mangled parts of my body regenerate in a couple of seconds so I probably will able to eat these and be fine."
"You'll still probably end up fat if you eat that many."
"Eat a Cyclop's dick Luke." After that little tangent, the woman at the counter threatened to kick us out if we didn't pay for our items. Luke still had 8,000 dollars so money wasn't much of a problem. The sun was already rolling down by the time that we had purchased our items. "Well time to get back on the road", Luke stated as we walked out of the store.
"What do you mean? It's already night."
"Well, since both you and me are enemies of the gods we should probably begin moving. It will be better than staying in one place for too long, and monsters won't will have a harder time finding us. "How long have you been doing this again?"
"About two years give or take a few days." "Wow, I've only been at this for about six days."
"Yeah, you pick up a thing or two when you're out all alone." Line break We had walked on a highway for at least two hours and sleep was beginning to wear me out. Luke had said that we were going to stop somewhere soon, but it had been at least forty-five minutes after he said that. "How much longer Luke?"
"We just need to find a spot that has some forests.
"We can't sleep here out in the open." He was right, the land was too flat.
We probably could be seen from a mile away.
"Besides if you want to get to a forest faster you could pick me up and fly." "I can't carry someone as fat as you," I said sarcastically.
"We way about the same."
"No we don't."
Luke didn't respond and just shook his head muttering stupid stupid boy.
"I've found you two." Both me and Luke turned around to see a man with a white t-shirt and jeans.
"Who are you", Luke stated as he drew his sword. "The Olympians are going to be pleased when I bring you to them."
Electricity began to surge through me as I heard the man mention the Olympians.
"Sorry, Olympians is my trigger word", I said in a cool tone. man smiled and began to shake uncontrollably like he was having a seizure.
The man skin began to morph and tear apart. Pieces of flesh began to fall off in clump causing the air to have the stench of blood and raw meat. The man's bone's were now becoming visible. Despite losing a lot of flesh the man was getting bigger. The man's body now looked like a ball and had grown to eight feet.
The ball then burst open revealing a large reptile. The reptile in fact looked more like a dragon without wings. The monster's eight heads each with rows of jagged teeth was the most interesting part about it. There heads were about a foot long and half a foot wide. The beast's neck were only about four inches and it seemed like the monster was putting in a lot of effort just to keep it's head up.
Despite the heads coming from the same body each of the heads had different traits that made each of the heads stick out. One of the monsters was missing an eye while another monster had a mouth that looked like it had been burnt along with it's teeth. Despite having different appearance the heads were all equally ugly. I couldn't tell which head I wanted to cut off first . The monster's heads let out a roar that rivaled the sound levels of a mine going off.
I went for my pocket and pulled out the golden coin and flipped it. As I caught the coin I felt the weight and length change in my hand. It changed into a short sword instead of the lance I had earlier.
"OK, I can work with that." I charged at the monster as it hissed in approval.
"Wait", I heard Luke say. I ignored him and kept charging at the monster. One of beast's head lunged at me clumsy as if it was mocking me. I took the opportunity and cut off one of the beast's heads. It fell to the ground with a thud before disappearing into dust.
The head's neck began spewing a green liquid. When it came into contact with the pavement, it began to deteriorate into a small hole an inch long. The top of the monster's neck began to break open like there was something trying to come out. The top of the monster's neck broke open revealing two new heads. "You idiot!
When you cut off a hydra's head it grows two back", Luke screamed at me as he began to fight one of the heads. The hydra snarled as acid began to spew from its mouth in a broad way. I ran from the acid but felt small drops hit my skin. Electricity began to dance through my arms again as if it was sensing that I was hurt and was asking for me to use it. I turned my sword back to a coin and aimed my hands at the hydra.
"Ok, lets see how you like this." Electricity arced through my hands to the hydra in Hydra's heads tensed up to the sky as the electricity vaulted through its body. A blood curdling scream was heard from the hydra as two of it's heads began to spew acid to the sky. It came down like a rain as it landed on me. I stopped the electricity as I attempted to wipe the acid off me I was only putting it more acid on my hands so that method proved futile.
I fell to the ground and curled into a ball trying to cover myself from the acid .The hydra was still stunned but it wouldn't remain like that for long. Acid was still raining down on me as I struggled to not fall to the ground. I looked at my body to see what a bulging mess it would be now. But despite being showered with acid my body looked relatively normal despite the countless sparks of electricity on me.
My hair was still the same because it grew back to it's original state every time it was hit with acid. The pain was still real though and it hurt with every single drop. It appeared my body was playing mind over matter with my body feeling pain but not taking any real damage. I began to get up from my feet as electricity arced through my hands.
I then shot out a stream of lightning at the hydra. It released another blood curdling scream as more acid shot out of those two heads. The pain was mind shattering bad. I felt like my entire body was going to disintegrate into dust, but I just kept telling myself it wasn't damaging me.
The hydra's acid began to stop and for a second I though it ran out of juice. Four new heads released a scream as fire began to come out of its mouth. The Hydra forced it's heads to look down instead of up and aimed the fire directly at the pavement. It caused a circle of flames to come between us causing me to close my eyes because of the heat. Some of the flames had hit my hands causing me to panic and quickly stop the electrical blast.
The hydra had moved away when I stopped electrocuting it. The flames had left a good deal off smoke around me blocking my vision. I no longer new the hydra's location but there was a good chance it new mine. I heard a snarl from in front of me. I fixed my gaze towards the snarl and saw the hydra snap at me.
It bite into my stomach and began to lift me up. Have you ever had your stomach ripped open? Probably not because if you did it would be over quick and you wouldn't have the displeasure of sitting through the agonizing pain of having you guts ripped out only for them to regenerate again. For any of you who can guess it is absolute agony. Imagine someone taking a knife, opening your stomach, and proceeding to eat your organs while you're still alive. I shot massive bolts of electricity at the hydra causing it to lose some of it's grip.
It still hurt like a bitch though. The other heads began to come closer as if they were going to began to feast on the other parts of my body. But the hydra head's that were coming near turned around and hissed at another foe. The figure began to chop the other heads off mercilessly and when they grew back he just continued to chop them off. The figures weapon was illuminating a bronze light from it. It didn't take me long to see Luke's face as he fended off the other heads.
"What the hell are you waiting for! Call a storm!" Snapping out of my trance, I lifted my hands in the air
"Jump off!" I screamed at Luke. Listing to my command, Luke jumped off the hydra. I slammed my hands back to where my hips would be if the hydra wasn't tearing them apart. Bolts of black lightning hit the hydra in a red light. With each bolt the hydra was slowly losing its grip on me. With one last strike of lightning the beast disappeared into a brilliant golden light.
I fell on the hard pavement, blood still spilling from me like a milk carton. But the blood slowly began to stop until the hydra's bite marks were no longer visible. My vision was blurry and I felt like I was going to pass out from the amount of energy it took to regenerate my wounds. I tried to get up but felt a sharp pain echo through my body. Despite my vision being blurry I saw Luke come up and shove a drink down my throat.
It tasted like chocolate cake from farmland. My vision began to clear until I saw the crystal clear image of Luke
"You realize you owe me because if I didn't help you would be that hydra's dinner", Luke said laughing.
"Lets consider ourselves even because without me you would be that cyclop's dinner", I said laughing back. He held his hand out. I took it and pulled myself up. The smoke had finally cleared and the stars were clear in the sky.
"Up there", Luke said as he pointed towards a star.
"What."
"Thats the star Sirius. I wonder where you're name came from", Luke said sarcastically. It then hit me that I had lied to Luke about my name. All this time he was calling me by the name I took from my cousin. "Actually, my real name is Percy Jackson.
I had giving you a false name if you knew that was the suspected abomination's name. Luke looked at me strangely for a second before turning back to the sky.
"I'm still gonna call you Sirius anyway," he looked at me, "It suits you better." That question alone made me doubt whether I was the same person I was before. I didn't look Like Percy Jackson and I didn't really act like him either. I wonder what mom would think if she could see me now.
"Well, time to get going to those forests right?"
"Yeah, I'm getting tired." On that note we went back to walking and searching for forests.
Author's Notes: Sorry it took so long to get this one out and sorry it was shorter than usually. I just couldn't find a lot off substance in this chapter and I had to stretch it out a little. Anyway despite being short I liked this chapter and if you disagree then please do a review just don't be a dick. I'm probably going to focus on Jason and Bobby in a couple of chapters later through the Journal Luke and Percy took. The main purpose of it will just be to develop their characters because I have a plan for both of , did you think they were only there to show how op Percy is? No, I'm trying to make Percy not a Gary stu by giving him traits that make him less perfect and make him need help from Luke from time to time. Some off you are probably wondering why Reyna is in this so early. That's because I want to add her into the story in a bit. Don't worry there will be a reason why she's there so early .If you saw off being used instead of that's because my keyboard changes of into off so sorry about that. If you find any spelling or grammar mistakes make sure to correct me. Crona234 out.