In a way, it's nice to know there are Greek gods out there because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong.
For instance, when you're walking away from a bus that's just been attacked by monster hags and blown up by lightning, and it's raining on top of everything else, most people might think that's just really bad luck; when you're a half-blood, you understand that some divine force really is trying to mess up your day.
So there we were, Annabeth, Alumi and Grover, and I, walking through the woods along the New Jersey Riverbank, the glow of New York City making the night sky yellow behind us and the smell of the Hudson reeking in our noses.
Grover was shivering and braying, his big goat eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror, "Three Kindly Ones, all three at once," He muttered as he spoke from deep-rooted PTSD.
Alumi turned to me, "Did you manage to save our stuff," She asked me as I could still hear the explosion of the bus windows in my ears.
"Well, maybe he might have if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight —" Annabeth said before I cut her off.
"Yea," I said as we rushed away from the bus then I looked over to Annabeth, "What did you want me to do, let you get killed," I asked her.
We stopped running thou the dark forest as Annabeth turned to me, "You didn't need to protect me, Percy," She said as I could hear the forced confidence in her voice, "I would 've been fine," She told me as I rolled my eyes at her.
"Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover put in, "But fine," He added.
"Well, with fire whips, it would be toast but—," Alumi said, but Annabeth turned to them.
I think.
"Shut up, you two," said Annabeth.
Grover brayed mournfully, "Tin cans...a perfectly good bag of tin cans."
"Alumi, some light," I asked my fellow shaman, who formed blue flames in her hand as it lit up the area around us, and my shadow stretched out.
I then used the same hand seals from when I was on the bus but backwards as our back started to rise out of my shadow.
We all picked our bags up, with Grover a little happier, and we sloshed across mushy ground through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry.
After a few minutes, Annabeth fell into line next to me, "Look, I..." She started, but her voice faltered, "I appreciate you coming back for us; it was really brave," She told me, but I gained a light smile.
"It's alright, we're a team, right," I asked as I looked over to her, "And this the first time out of camp for you," I asked her as she nodded.
"Yea, I hadn't left Camp Half-blood since I was seven when I ran away from my father," She told me as Alumi looked over from leading the way with the light.
"You joined camp when you were seven," Alumi asked her as Annabeth nodded, "What about your father," Alumi asked as Annabeth scoffed.
"His loves are for his job being a history professor and his wife," Annabeth said as I could hear the hurt in her voice, "Isn't it like that with your family," She asked Alumi as I winced.
Alumi turned away as she walked on with Grover going to talk with her, "What did I say," Annabeth asked me.
The thunderstorm had finally let up.
The city glow faded behind us, leaving us in almost total darkness.
"Alumi's father was killed in the most recent shaman tournament after being brainwashed by their tribe to side with someone who wanted to rid the world of most humans," I told Annabeth as I summoned my own blue fire as Annabeth.
I walked to catch up with Alumi, "Her mother died in childbirth, so when Silva died, the Patch Tribe tried to get to into a marriage arrangement Alumi ran away from them and went to Mom and me and ever since then, she's been living me us," I told her as Annabeth had guilt over her face.
"So she has no one but you and your mother," She asked me as I nodded.
"Yea, and for years Patch Tribe members have been coming to New York to try and have Alumi return, but Alumi has told them in no uncertain words that if they push once more, she will break their most sacred rule for their shaman practices," I told her.
"And what is that," Annabeth asked me as we could up with Alumi and Grover.
"For me to integrate with the soul of a Human-class spirit," Alumi told her as Annabeth looked at her, "And with how they keep trying to push the marriage, I just might murder the one that arrives to I can integrate with them right then and there so that I can be free to do what I want," Alumi said.
"I'm sor—," Annabeth said before Alumi waved her off.
"It's fine, your, not the one to be the reason my Dad's dead," Alumi said as I sighed.
"Alumi, we can't do anything about him as he is the current shaman king so we can't do anything," I told her as she looked at me, "You know that I would join you on a raid to fight him, but right now, he has the Great Spirit as his guardian ghost so we can't do anything," I told her.
Alumi let out a large sigh as she knew I was right and, as I was going to say something, was interrupted by a shrill toot-toot-toot, like the sound of an owl being tortured.
"Hey, my reed pipes still work," Grover cried as Alumi looked at him with a deadpan look.
"When we serve this mess, I going to put you thou music training by some of the world's greatest musicians," Alumi told him as Grover gained a sad look, "What are you trying to do anyway," She asked him.
"I trying to remember a 'find path' song, so that we could get out of these woods," He told Alumi before he puffed out a few notes, but the tune still sounded suspiciously like Hilary Duff.
Come on, McFly would be a better choice for a tune.
But that's not how it works.
I don't think anyway.
We continued walking through the forest as Grover tied again and again to find the right song, but I could see that Alumi was getting more irritated by the second every time a note was poorly played.
After tripping and cursing and generally feeling miserable for another mile or so, I started to see light up ahead: the colors of a neon sign.
I could smell food.
Fried, greasy, excellent food.
This boy needed a double cheeseburger.
We kept walking until I saw a deserted two-lane road through the trees.
On the other side were a closed-down gas station, a tattered billboard for a 1990s movie and one open business, which was the source of the neon light and the good smell.
It wasn't a fast-food restaurant like I'd hoped.
It was one of those weird roadside curio shops that sell lawn flamingoes and wooden Indians and cement grizzly bears and stuff like that.
The main building was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by acres of statuary.
The neon sign above the gate was impossible for to read, because if there's anything worse for my dyslexia than regular English, it's red cursive neon English.
To me, it looked like: ATNYU MES GDERAN GOMEN MEPROUIM.
"What the heck does that say," I asked Annabeth next to me.
"I don't know," She replayed, shocking me.
But then I thought about it.
I realized that it shouldn't.
She's a Greek demigod like me, and with how I always see her reading when at camp, I forgot that she was dyslexic, too.
At the same time, we turned to Alumi and Grover, hoping one of them could read it.
Grover translated: "Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium."
Flanking the entrance, as advertised, were two cement garden gnomes, ugly bearded little runts, smiling and waving as if they were about to get their picture taken.
I crossed the street, following the smell of the hamburgers.
"Hey...," Grover warned.
"The lights are on inside," Annabeth said. "Maybe it's open."
"Snack bar," I said wistfully.
"Snack bar," Both girls agreed.
"Are you two crazy?" Grover said, as the good smell pulsed through my nose, "This place is weird," He added as a part of me wanted to listen to him.
But.
We ignored him.
The front lot was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the pipes, which gave Grover the creeps.
And set me on edge as I could feel something from within each statue.
"Blas-ha-ha," He bleated as he looked at the satyr, "Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand," He said as I winced for some reason.
We stopped at the warehouse door.
"Don't knock; I smell monsters," Grover pleaded.
I got ready to leave, but the smell became stronger for me, "Your nose is clogged up from the Furies," Annabeth told him as Alumi nodded.
"All I smell is burgers," Alumi added as she turned to Grover, "Aren't you hungry," She asked him.
"Meat," He said scornfully at us for even thinking about eating something like that, "I'm a vegetarian," He told us as I looked at him.
"You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans," I reminded him.
"Those are vegetables," Grover tried as I looked at him.
"They are not; one is a form of deary," I said as he looked sheepish.
Or would that be goatish.
"And the other is a metal," Annabeth added as Grover looked between us and then looked to Alumi but saw her side with the two of us.
"Come on; let's leave," Grover tried once more as a part of my brain wanted to agree with him, "These statues are...looking at me," And when he said that, I knew something was up, but the smell of good food was taking over my knows, and my hunger was being the one in control.
Then the door creaked open, and standing in front of us was a tall Middle Eastern woman — at least, I assumed she was Middle Eastern because she wore a long black gown that covered everything, but her hands, and her head was completely veiled.
Her eyes glinted behind a curtain of black gauze, but that was all I could make out.
Her coffee-coloured hands looked old but well-manicured and elegant, so I imagined she was a grandmother who had once been a beautiful lady.
Her accent sounded vaguely Nuddke Esterbm too.
"Childeren, it is too late to be out all alone," She said to us as I looked at her, "Where are your parents," She asked us.
"They're...um..." Annabeth started to say.
"We're orphans," I said.
"Orphans?" the woman said as if the word sounded alien in her mouth. "But, my dears, surely not," She asked us.
"We got separated from our circus caravan," I said told her as the old lie formed in my brain, "I'm a shallow diver; she's a fortune teller," I said as I pointed at Alumi, who pulled out a deck of tarot cards.
"She a contortionist, and he's a rolling globe," I explained to her as she nodded along, "The ringmaster told us to meet him at the gas station if we got lost, but he may have forgotten, or maybe he meant a different gas station," I explained to her.
The old days were it would work on the police when we tried to stop demons attacking New York.
"Anyway, we're lost, and does that happen to be food I smell," Alumi asked as she shuffled her cards.
"Oh, my dears," the woman said as she lamented about the story I weaved, "You must come in, poor children; you can call me Aunty Em," She told us as she pointed in.
"Go straight through to the back of the warehouse, please," She told us as Grover did not look happy, "There is a dining area," She told us as she led us inside, and we thanked her and went inside.
Annabeth muttered to me, "Circus caravan," She asked me.
"Always have a strategy, right," I asked her as her left eyebrow twitched.
"Your heads are full of kelp," She told me as I could not keep the smile off my face.
The warehouse was filled with more statues — people in all different poses, wearing different outfits and with different expressions on their faces.
As I passed each one, I felt something different from each statue, but while they were all different, they had something similar to them.
It felt like a form of life.
But people do normally put souls in something after so long of caring for it, like a car or a house.
Go ahead, call me an idiot for walking into a strange lady's shop like that just because I was hungry, but I do impulsive stuff sometimes.
Plus, you've never smelled Aunty Em's burgers.
The aroma was like laughing gas in the dentist's chair — it made everything else go away.
I barely noticed Grover's nervous whimpers or the way the statues' eyes seemed to follow me, or the fact that Aunty Em had locked the door behind us.
All I cared about was finding the dining area.
And, sure enough, there it was at the back of the warehouse, a fast-food counter with a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater and a nacho cheese dispenser.
Everything you could want, plus a few steel picnic tables out front.
"Please, sit down," Aunty Em said to us.
"Awesome," I said as I sat down, dragging Grover over as he knew we could not get out of this.
"How much," Alumi asked her as she moved her bag and reached in to pull out some money.
"Oh no, you don't have to pay today as it is a special case, yes," She told us gently; I think, "It is my treat for such nice circus orphans," Aunty Em told us.
"Thank you, ma'am," Annabeth said.
Aunty Em stiffened as if Annabeth had done something wrong, but then the old woman relaxed just as quickly, so I figured it must've been my imagination.
"Quite all right, Annabeth," She said to her, but I heard something else in Aunty Em's voice, "You have such beautiful gray eyes, child," She added.
Only later did I wonder how she knew Annabeth's name, even though we had never introduced ourselves.
Our hostess disappeared behind the snack counter and started cooking.
Before we knew it, she'd brought us plastic trays heaped with double cheeseburgers, vanilla shakes, and XXL servings of French fries.
I was halfway through my burger before I remembered to breathe.
Annabeth slurped her shake. Grover picked at the fries and eyed the tray's waxed paper liner as if he might go for that, but he still looked too nervous to eat.
"What's that hissing noise," He asked as I looked over to him.
"It's possibly Rod," I told him as Annabeth and Alumi nodded.
Silver Rod, Alumi's snake spirit, formed on her arm and tried to get Alumi to stop eating for some reason.
But we kept eating, "Or it could be from the deep-fryer oil," Aunty Em told him as she looked over to him, "You must have really good ears, Grover," Aunty Em told him.
"I take vitamins for my ears," Grover said to her.
I knew it was a lie, but I was surprised by how well it worked.
Aunty Em ate nothing, and she hadn't taken off her head-dress, even to cook and watched us eat.
It was a little unsettling, having someone stare at me when I couldn't see her face, but I was feeling satisfied after the burger and a little sleepy, and I figured that the least I could do was try to make small talk with our hostess.
Alumi beat me to it.
"So you sell gnomes," She asked her, sounding interested.
Aunty Em turned to her, "Oh yes, Alumi, I make statues of people and animals; well, anything for the garden, really," She told her as Alumi nodded, "A lot of custom orders, statuary is very popular, you know," She told us all.
"A lot of business on this road," I asked her, but she shook her head.
"Not so much, no; since the highway was built...most cars, they do not go this way now," She told us as I nodded along, "I must cherish every customer I get," Aunty Em added as I could get were she was coming from.
My neck tingled as if somebody else was looking at me.
I turned, but it was just a statue of a young girl holding an Easter basket.
The detail was incredible, much better than you see in most garden statues.
But something was wrong with her face.
It looked as if she was startled or even terrified
"Ah, you've noticed some of my creations do not turn out well," Aunty Em said sadly, "They are marred; they do not sell; it's the face say you see it's the hardest to get right, always the face," She muttered.
"You make these statues yourself," I asked her as she nodded.
"Oh, yes, but once upon a time, I had two sisters that would help me in the business, but they passed on," Aunty Em said as Alumi stopped eating and for some reason, her eyes looked slightly clouded but were becoming fine, "But now it's only Aunty Em, and I have my statues; this is why I make them you see, they are my company," She told us as Grover was looking more nervous, but I could hear the sadness in her voice, and it sounded like it came from a deep place.
And oh so real that I couldn't help but feel sorry for her.
Annabeth stopped eating this time as she sat forward, "Two Sisters," She asked as her clouded eyes also became clear.
"It's a terrible story," Aunty Em said as she looked over to her, "Not one for children, really; You see, Annabeth, a bad woman was jealous of me long ago when I was young, you see, I had a...a boyfriend, you know, and this bad woman was determined to break us apart," Aunty Em told us before I felt the Blue Flames stirring beneath my skin before my senses took hold and seeming blasted something away.
Stone statues with fear all over their faces.
The hissing that Grover mentioned.
The feeling that I was getting from each statue as I passed them.
And her name is Aunty Em.
Em.
"Medusa," I growled as the woman smiled at me.
"So you figured me out," Medusa said as she lifted her hand to her veil, but we all bolted out into the statue garden, "I will have you all," I heard her called out to us as we ran in.
"Maia," Grover called out as he flew off.
Annabeth and I hid behind a few statues while Alumi integrated Fang and into the garden hiding amongst the statues.
"How did you know," Annabeth asked me as I looked over to her, and I saw her finch at the pissed look I had on my face.
"That fucking bitch has the audacity to say that my father was her boyfriend when she drugged him," I growled as the ground beneath us shook, "I'll take her fucking head that that," I said as Undine formed next to me.
"It seems that the Blue Flames were burning away at the magic and drug she used to hold you," Undine told me as I nodded.
I held out my hand as Undine turned into her spirit ball before uncapping Riptide and pushing Undine into it and forming O.S. Sword of Fathoms AS and got ready to stand up, but Annabeth stopped me, "What do you think you're doing," Annabeth told me as I looked at her.
"I'm gonna go kill that bitch," I told her.
"You can't look at her," She told me as she then looked around before looking at a statue, "Do they still have their souls inside," Annabeth asked me as I looked at her.
"What," I asked her as Medusa walked into the garden.
She then got clotheslined by a flying Grover with a tree branch.
"Do the statues still have the soul within them," Annabeth asked me as I looked to where she was looking and found a bat statue.
I narrowed my eyes at it before nodding at her, "They do," I told her as Annabeth picked up the statue.
"Then use this spirit to help you see," Annabeth said as she threw the statue onto the ground, and a small albino bat spirit formed and looked around.
"Can you help me," I asked it as it squeaked at me before flying over, "Alright then, Spirit Ball," I called out as it turned into its spirit ball with two cartoony bat wings on either side of the ball.
"Spirit Intergreat," I called out as I pushed the spirit ball into me.
I closed my eyes as Grover started to wack Medusa with his tree truck of a sick.
"That's for Uncle Ferdinand," Grover yelled as his voice rebounded off some of the other statues around, forming a pitcher.
I walked out as Grover hit her again, his shoes buzzing, sounding out sound reverberations.
I 'saw' Alumi run past some statues on all fours with her knife in her hand.
"Grover, move," I called out as I think he turned from me before he flew away.
I pointed my Over Soul at Medusa, "Palirroïkí Ýdra," I called out, and in case you're wondering, it means tidal hydra.
I felt water shoot out of the barnacles and fly towards Medusa, and I moulded the water spouts to gain dragon heads.
I hoped I did anyway.
I did not know what was happening as the water hit Medusa repeatedly, allowing me to see Alumi run past her at a great speed cutting at Medusa's arm.
"You bra-ahvbjaj," Medusa was saying before getting a mouth full of water.
"Spásimo Kraken," I said as I pulled the Over Soul back.
The spouts turned into tentacles.
I hope.
Oh, it means breaking Kraken.
And I think I got it right as Medusa was being dragged thou the air at us the next moment.
"This is for my father, you drugging bitch," I told her; as with all the noise around us, I could 'see' her coming towards me, and so I aimed for her neck and cut her head right off as the sound of a monster disintegrating appeared was happening behind me and the sound of a head dropping to the floor.
I cancelled the integration and the Over Soul as Undine and the bat spirit formed next to me, "Thank you," I told them as the bat squeaked at me.
"So that's two of the greatest monsters of the Greek pantheon you have beaten now," Alumi told me as she made sure not to look at the head that had just cut off.
"Yea, but the Minotaur was with the help of Hyōrinmaru and without Swoop here, I would not have beaten Medusa," I told her as I indicated to the bat spirit, who squeaked happily.
"What do we do now," Grover asked as he flew over.
"Well, Red Barron, the first thing that I and Alumi are going to do is set the souls around here free," I told them as Alumi nodded before hissing caught my attention, "But first, we have to put Medusa's head somewhere," I said as they nodded.
We found Medusa's office, and in there, we saw boxes, along with a safe and some other things that would be in the office; we looked around.
Annabeth and Alumi went over to the safe to try and break into it as me, and Grover looked over her desk.
I found her account book and saw that her last six most recent sales were to the underworld to decorate Aunt Persephone's garden.
The billing address was DOA Recording Studios, West Hollywood, California.
I folded up the billing and put it in my pocket.
Grover walked over to the register and found twenty dollars, a few golden drachmas and some packing slips for Hermes Overnight Express, each with a little leather bag attached for coins.
Then an idea formed in my mind as I turned to Grover, "Can you get Medusa's head," I asked him as he looked at me, worried that I was going to do something stupid.
And I was.
When he returned, we put the head in a box that hit the head nicely, and I put a nice written note inside.
It read like this:
Dear, Zeus
This is Percy Jackson, the Son of Posiden, and I would like to ask if you would kindly fucking stop with the lightning or you will not get your stupid fucking bolt back, you little bitch as it would have been a lot easier if I was summoned to Olympus with Lord Apollo there for he would bring the fucking truth to light.
Yours insincerely
Percy Jackson
I then closed the box up, attached the packing slip and filled it out:
The Gods
Mount Olympus
600th Floor,
Empire State Building
New York, NY
With best wishes,
PERCY JACKSON
"They're not going to like that," Grover warned.
"They'll think you're impertinent," Annabeth said as she saw what I was doing.
"He is impertinent," Alumi said as I poured some golden drachmas into the pouch.
As soon as I closed it, there was a sound like a cash register.
The package floated off the desk and disappeared with a pop.
"I am impertinent," I told them as I looked at Annabeth, daring her to criticize.
She didn't.
She seemed resigned to the fact that I had a major talent for ticking off the gods.
She and Alumi returned to opening the safe before a click sounded; the safe opened, and they found it was filled with money.
They started to sort it between us as I found a hammer and chisel and started to free the souls trapped in stone.
After a few minutes, Annabeth handed me my shear of the money, "Come on," she muttered. "We need a new plan," I nodded.
"But after we do this," I said as Annabeth nodded, found her hammer and chisel, and did the same as I did.
Soon Grover and Alumi joined us, and we were close to freeing all the spirits from the stone, and I gained some new spirits.
The first was a snake spirit that looked like it was once a milksnake, then there was a bear spirit, an owl spirit, a hedgehog spirit and the last one swallow spirit.
After we were done, we decided to camp in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties.
The ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers.
When we left Medusa's lair, we took some blankets and food as we got ready to light a fire.
Alumi held her hand out at the gathered pile of sticks, "Hadō #31. Shakkahō," She said as a ball of a crimson ball of fire formed and shot at a bundle of sticks that we gathered.
We decided to sleep in shifts.
I volunteered to take the first watch.
Annabeth curled up on the blankets and was snoring as soon as her head hit the ground.
Grover fluttered with his flying shoes to the lowest bough of a tree, put his back to the trunk, and stared at the night sky, "Go ahead and sleep," I told him as I saw his sad look, "I'll wake you if there's trouble," I added as he looked over to me.
"Alright," Grover muttered as he nodded but still didn't close his eyes.
"You know to sleep, you have to close your eyes," Alumi said as she settled down.
"It makes me sad," Grover said as Alumi and I shared a look before we turned back to Grover.
"What does," Alumi asked him as he sat up and spread his arms wide.
"THIS makes me sad," He said as he pointed at all the garbage on the ground.
Both of us nodded as we both felt the state of spirits around us, and they felt ill, "We know," Alumi said as Grover looked down at us, "The patch tribe and three shaman companies are trying to find a way to save the environment," She told him as I nodded.
"It's taking a while cleaning New York's rivers with the help of water spirits," I told him as he looked over at me.
He nodded slowly, "I've seen both of you do your bit, but most of your species is clogging up the world so fast...at the rate, things are going, I'll never find Pan," Grover told us as I closed my eyes.
"The lord of the wild," I said as I heard him sigh.
"The the same," He told me as I opened my eyes again and saw that Alumi was out like a light.
"Is that what you need your search license for," I asked him as he nodded.
A strange breeze rustled through the clearing, temporarily overpowering the stink of trash and muck.
It smelled of berries, wildflowers, and clean rainwater, which might've been in their woods.
Suddenly I was nostalgic for something I'd never known.
I shot up from where I was standing and started to look around as Grover looked down at me, "What is it," He asked me as the smell disappeared.
"I don't know," I said as I looked around.
I sat back down as Grover looked down at me, "Do you really think that your Uncle in the underworld has nothing to do with the theft of the bolt," He asked me as I nodded.
"I do," I told him as I looked at the sky, "I think that it has something to do with one of my godly cousins," I told him as he looked shocked.
"What," He asked me as I looked up at him.
"I said I think I could be wrong, but I know that it is not my uncle," I told him as Grover fell asleep in the tree.
I kept an eye on the fire, ensuring it was constantly fed.
I sat back down and saw a woman sitting on a log by the fire; she had warm brown eyes and lustrous black hair and wore a dress that shimmered with colours and flower patterns which changed and bloomed - roses, tulips, and honeysuckle.
I started reaching for Riptide before she opened her mouth, "Thank you for believing in my husband's nephew," She told me as I stopped reaching for Riptide.
"Aunt Persephone," I asked her as she looked up at me.
I saw a smile form on her face, "Yes, and I will send word to my husband that you do not have his helm," She told me as I opened my mouth, "But I do not know who stole it as my mother was keeping me away from the meeting with your stepmother," Persephone told me as I nodded.
"May I ask why you are here," I asked her as she looked at me before holding her hand.
"Alecto is going to need her whip for her job, but I can give you something else in return," Persephone told me as I handed over the whip.
It turned into flowers before it popped away, and then it was gone, "When you head to the underworld, you shall be given a gift from one of our greatest blacksmiths," Persephone told me before she teleported away, leaving the smell of freshly cut grass and roses.
After a couple of hours, I woke, Alumi up and went to sleep, and I had the dream.
In my dream, I stood in a dark cavern before a gaping pit.
Gray mist creatures churned all around me, whispering rags of smoke that I somehow knew were the spirits of the dead.
They tugged at my clothes, trying to pull me back, but I felt compelled to walk forward to the very edge of the chasm.
Looking down made me dizzy.
The pit yawned so wide and was so completely black I knew it must be bottomless.
Yet I had a feeling that something was trying to rise from the abyss, something huge and evil.
"The little hero," An amused voice echoed far down in the darkness, "Too weak, too young, but perhaps you will do," It added.
The voice felt ancient — cold and heavy.
It wrapped around me like sheets of lead.
"They have misled you, boy," It said as I struggled to move, "Barter with me; I shall give you the answer you want," It told me.
Cold laughter echoed from the chasm.
An invisible force pulled me forward.
It would drag me into the pit unless I stood firm.
"Help me rise, boy," The voice became hungrier, and the voice was giving me a hint about who this was, "Bring me the bolt. Strike a blow against the treacherous god," It told me.
The spirits of the dead whispered around me, "No, Wake," They yelled at me.
The thing in the pit tightened its unseen grip around me.
I realized it wasn't interested in pulling me in.
It was using me to pull itself out.
"Good," It murmured as I felt that it was getting closer to me, "Good," It repeated.
"Wake," The dead whispered to me, trying to wake up me up, "Wake," They yelled this time as I shot awake.
I shot upright as Grover stumbled back.
It looked like he was trying to wake me up.
I felt drenched in sweat and could still feel the grip of the chasm monster around my chest.
"You okay," Alumi asked me as I looked over to her.
Seeing the look on her face and the look that was on Annabeth's face, along with Grover's, I took a deep breath to calm down my heart.
I then told them about my dream.
Annabeth looked frightened as Grover and Alumi were no better, "That pit cout it be," Alumi asked Grover, who nodded.
"Are you sure that it's not Hades," Annabeth asked me, and I could hear the hope in her voice.
"Yes, as last night I was visited by the Queen of the below," I told them as their eyes shot wide, "And she was both relieved that I know that my Uncle is not the thief and to know that I did not have the helm," I told them as Grover looked over to me.
"So you were right; a second symbol was taken," He told me as I nodded.
"Who is braze enough to steam from Hades and Zeus," Annabeth asked as she started going thou a mental list of people.
"And it could be possible that the person is working for the voice in the pit," Alumi said as Annabeth nodded.
"That is true," She said before we all let out a collective sigh, "Okay, here is the game plan; we get a train and go as far as we can and then work it out from there," Annabeth said as we nodded.
We all stood up as Alumi pulled a leaf off a tree and started to whisper into it before s Kooni formed and flew off, "Who did you message," I asked her as Grover and Annabeth looked over.
"Chiron, and tell him everything that you told us so that he can be kept in the loop," Alumi said as I nodded as that made sense.
We made our way to the train station, where we found a dog.
It was a poodle that was pure pink.
"Hello," Grover said to the dog as Alumi and Annabeth did the same.
It took both Annabeth and Alumi elbowing me in the ribs to say hello to the poodle.
"So what are you doing here," Grover asked the poodle, who barked, "So Gladiola, what are you doing in the woods," He asked.
Gladiola barked at Grover as my head swived back and forth between the two of them, "I see; do you know where your family is so that we can return you," Grover asked the poodle, who nodded, and Grover picked it up before he walked away.
We followed him as he returned the dog to his home and got the money for him before we made our way to the train station.
We managed to get tickets that could get us to as far west as possible.
We travelled through hills, over rivers and past amber waves of grains.
For the rest of the day, I looked out the window.
Once, I spotted a family of centaurs galloping across a wheat field, bows at the ready, as they hunted lunch.
The little boy centaur, who was the size of a second-grader on a pony, caught my eye and waved.
I looked around the passenger car, but nobody else had noticed.
The adult riders had their faces buried in laptops or magazines while their children were playing Gameboys or had their faces buried in a magazine.
Another time, toward evening, I saw something enormous moving through the woods.
I could've sworn it was a lion, except that lions don't live wild in America, and this thing was the size of a Hummer.
Its fur glinted gold in the evening light.
Then it leapt through the trees and was gone.
I just saw the Nimien Lion; how about that.
But something that drew my attention was a spirit.
It was a girl with flowing rock-gray hair and eyes as green as the hills; she wore clothes that looked like they came from a jester but were green and a light brownish gray.
"Gnome," I muttered as I felt Undine appear next to me in her spirit ball and looked out the window as Gnome sank into the ground.
"It seems my sister is as shy as ever," Undine said; as it sounded life, she sighed.
"Who is Gnome," Grover asked me as I turned to him.
"Gnome is one of the four elemental spirits that were created alongside the five great spirits," I told him as he nodded, "Gnome is known as the mother of all earth spirits, while Undine is the mother to water spirits," I explained as Alumi nodded.
"The five spirits are Spirit of Fire, Spirit of Rain, Spirit of Wind, Spirit of Earth and Spirit of Thunder," Alumi explained as Grover nodded and Annabeth slept.
"The Great Spirit, the being that all shaman look to, created them and four other spirits," I told him as he bobbed his head.
"Undine and Gnome are two of them," He asked as I nodded, "Then who are the other two," He asked me.
"Sylphy, the mother of the wind spirits and Salamander father to the fire spirits," I explained as Undine's spirit ball nodded.
When I fell asleep, I tried not to drool in my sleep since Annabeth was sitting right next to me.
Grover kept snoring and bleating and waking me up.
Once, he shuffled around, and his fake foot fell off; Alumi, sitting next to him, stuck it back on before people noticed.
"So, apparently, I mist some information about some spirits," Annbeht asked as we filled her in on what we told Grover; she looked surprised.
"What is the Great Spirit," Annabeth asked as Alumi, and I shared a look before we looked at her.
"What we tell you must remain a secret even to your mother," I told her as she opened her mouth, "This has to be kept secret as I only know it because of Alumi being a part of the Patch Tribe, and then it was not something is be spread around," I told her as she looked in my eyes and I could see that she need some more convincing.
"Annabeth, you know this, and people start finding out you have been telling people the shaman will move as one to take out the one who is spreading it," I told her as her eyes shot wide with fear.
"The sacred is that great," Annabeth asked me as I nodded as Alumi nodded.
"It is, and even more than that," I told her as she looked at both of us.
"I, Annabeth Chase, hereby swear on the river Styx that I shall not reveal this information to anyone, not even my mother," Annabeth said as the ground beath us shook slightly.
"The Great Spirit is the creator of all things, he who comes first, she who is void," I told her as Annabeth gasped as she looked at us, hoping for a joke.
But saw nothing like that.
"The Great Spirit that you worship is Chaos," Annabeth asked quietly as possible as we looked around and sighed as no one seemed to have heard her, and Grover was out like a light, "But why can't that be spread around," She asked us as an anger bubble up from the core of my being.
"The Shaman Tournament is why," I said as Alumi nodded.
"You said something like that yesterday with how the most reason winner has the Great Spirit as their-" Annabeth trailed off as her eyes shot wide.
"You got it in one," I told her with a nod, "Every five hundred years, a new shaman tournament happens, and the winner gains the Great Spirit as their guardian ghost," I informed her.
"And with it, they can shape the world to their liking," Alumi added.
"They would have the powers of creation and destruction for five hundred years," Annabeth said as she started to shake.
"Yep, and the Patch Tribe obeys them like fanatics," Alumi scoffed.
"Is that how," Annabeth asked her as she nodded.
"Dad, as well as me, are descendants of a madman by the name of Haō Patch, who is a reincarnation of Haō Asakura, the current Shaman King," Alumi explained as Annabeth was drawn into the story.
"How can he be both a reincarnation and the current," Annabeth asked us.
I shrugged as I could not wrap my head around it.
"Haō mastered the Shaman the ability Onmyōdō allowing him to manipulate the five elements of nature, fire, water, earth, wind and metal," Alumi explained before she looked out the window, "While doing that, he found a way to obtain a way to return into a body of a descendant whenever the Shaman Tournament in within that generation's lifetime," She added before she cut off.
"Haō, when he was Haō Patch, stole the Spirit of Fire where each time he would reincarnate into a new life, the Spirit of Fire would go to him," I told her as Annabeth turned to me this time, "And during the tournament, this time around he won with the goal to have the world with only shaman in it," I told her as she looked at me.
"So he had a change of heart," Annabeth asked.
I nodded.
"Yeah, I mean, your still around, and the rest of these people," I said as she looked around, "No one was told why he did; the only thing we were told was that he fought his twin brother, the heir to the Tao family and three others," I told her as she looked confused.
"So no one but these six knows," Annabeth asked me as I nodded.
"Yep," I told her with a nod.
We did not speak about that for the rest of the train journey, but we stopped off at Denver on the second day of travel.
Annabeth craned her neck to see the Gateway Arch, which looked to me like a huge shopping bag handle stuck in the city.
"I want to do that," she sighed as I looked over to her.
"What," I asked.
"Build something like that," Annabeth told me as she pointed up at the arch, "You ever see the Parthenon, Percy," She asked me.
"Only in pictures," I informed her as she nodded.
"Someday, I'm going to see it in person," Annabeth told me as Alumi turned to her, "I'm going to build the greatest monument gods ever," She added with a smile.
"Realy," Alumi asked her as she nodded.
"Yeah, I want to build something that will last a thousand years or more," She said with a smile as I could not help but think she looked cute.
"So you dream of being an architect," I asked her as she looked at me, "I think that you would do great," I told her as she gained a slight blush.
"You really think so," She asked me as I nodded.
"Oh yeah, and not because you are a daughter of Athena," I told her as she looked at me with shock, "It's because you show a genuine interest in architecture," I told her as she looked shocked.
She looked shocked as her blush overtook her face, "But how do you think like that," She asked me as she looked away, "Don't you think that your father, with his earthquakes destroying them," Annabeth asked me before she looked shocked by what she had said.
"I get why you say that, and I have gained my father's earthquake ability," I told her with a nod, "But you have to know that an earthquake is needed to target the ones who displease the gods," I told her as she nodded.
Annabeth seemed to think about what I had just said with a nod, "I get what you mean," She told me with a nod, "So shall we go up," Annabeth asked as she pointed up to the arch.
"You want a son of Posidein high in the sky," Alumi asked Annabeth, whose blush became a whole body and looked over to me.
"Sorry, if you want-," Annabeth said, but I held a hand up to stop her.
"Don't worry; I'll have a look around, and Alumi can send me a Kooni for when you want to meet back up," I told them as Annabeth nodded as Grover looked over to me.
"I'll go with Percy," He said as I looked at him as he rubbed the back of his head, "It would smell like the underground, and the underground smell's like monsters," Grover said as Annabeth winced at him.
"You two enjoy while me and Grover will have a walk around," I told them as they nodded.
Alumi and Annabeth walked into the arch as Grover, and I walked around with me, going to an antique store.
I started to look around in the store for something that looked to be made out of either snakeskin or with an owl feather or something that would work for my sparrow spirit.
Grover had a look around with me to see if there were anything that he liked to buy.
I found a bracelet made out of snakeskin that I now wore on my right wrist.
Grover managed to pick up some sheet music.
As we walked back to the arch, Grover and I passed by the same fast-food restaurant and bought the two of us a drink.
But I could not shake the fact that I was being watched, and every time I turned around, I saw nothing.
But I knew I was being watched, so I kept a hold of Riptide.
The both of us kept talking around before I saw it.
It was a fat woman dressed in a jean jacket along with her chihuahua.
I kept her in the corner of my eye as we walked around, "Grover," I said as she turned to me.
"What," He asked me.
I gestured to the woman as Grover looked over to her before his eyes shot wide, "Oh no," He muttered as he looked at her.
"How bad," I asked him.
"Oh no," Grover repeated as I nodded.
"That bad," I asked him.
"Oh no."
"Who is it," I asked him as he looked at me with pure fear.
"Echidna, the mother of Monsters," Grover told me as I nodded.
I swore under my breath as I looked around before spotting a dark alley, "There, we'll trap her," I told him as I pointed to the alley.
He was shaking slightly as we led her over with her dog, "Is the dog a monster as well," I asked him as he nodded.
"Great," I thought as I started to make a plan in my brain about how to deal with both of them.
But before we could walk in, a Kooni floated over to me, and I looked at Grover, who did not look happy but nodded, so we walked back to the arch.
And all the while, the fat woman and her dog followed us.
We reached the girls Alumi looked over to us before she spotted the woman following us and whispered something to Annabeth, who looked pale, and then started to look around as we joined them.
"How long has she been following you," Annabeth asked me.
"A good few minutes," I told her as she nodded.
Alumi started to mutter under her breath.
After hearing some of the words that Alumi was muttering, I shook my head at Annabeth, who was trying to get the other's attention, "She's about to get rid of them," I told her as Annabeth looked at me.
"What do you mean," Annabeth asked me.
Alumi then clasped her hands together as the woman and her dog gained a purple light around them, "Alumi's about to banish them," I told her as Annabeth looked amazed and shocked.
"She can do that," Grover asked me as I nodded, "Can you," He asked me.
"No, well, not yet," I corrected myself as he looked at me, "It takes time to do that, and you have to have time to chant, and with how mortals surround us, she would not do anything," I said before a pop was heard.
When I turned around, the woman and her dog were no longer there and possibly on their way back to the underworld.
"We should go," Grover said as I had a look at the time.
"He's right, as the train is going to pull out soon," I said as Annabeth nodded, and the four of us walked back to the train station and boarded the train once more, but before it would set off, a voice came over, the Tanoi.
"The next stop will be the last of the day as of works on the tracks that are needed," The voice said as I narrowed my eyes, and we set off to the last stop.