Chapter 4: We play fetch with demonic strays
The car ride took too long. Especially with Sabrina and Glen arguing every five minutes. The first time Glen tried to adjust his seat and ended up squashing Sabrina. Sabrina then pushed the seat back up and the first argument started. Later on, Sabrina decided to roll down her window to get some fresh air. The wind and noise caused Glen to get annoyed and he threatened to throw Sabrina out the window. Sabrina of course retaliated and threatened Glen back. The last time they got into an argument we started talking about which is the best mode of transportation to travel on the Road to Athens. Glen suggested finding some sort of Ismenian dragon that was his dads, while Sabrina suggested a chariot ride.
When they started arguing I was tired and told them to cut it out. I even tried to pull the, this is my quest, listen to me. But it seemed like I was back at Juliet High school and no one would listen to me. Thankfully, Argus pulled the car over. He didn't say anything but he looked mad at the two and they both gave a shameful "Sorry Argus". Argus looked at me. Well he looked at everything around him, with the one hundred eyes and all. The look he gave me seemed like a pitiful good luck man.
We were eventually dropped off somewhere in Manhattan. The city seemed huge compared to the small town of Juliet. Massive buildings all over, people constantly walking down the street and constant noise from all over. We continued north trying to find the addresses Nico gave us.
"Hey, do you guys know how to get here?" I asked. Glen rolled his eyes while Sabrina just shrugged. We kept on walking, I ended up asking- or I should say tried to ask five people where the address was. I heard New Yorkers were not the friendliest, I didn't actually think it was that accurate. Eventually an older man dressed like a hippy was nice enough to give three teenagers directions. He told us it was about five minutes away so we were close.
We were only a minute in when I heard someone call to me, "Hey". It was loud like it was in my head. I turned and looked around but didn't see anyone, "Did you say something?" I asked Sabrina.
"No, maybe it was Glen breathing through his mouth again."
"Shut it." was all Glen said. I kept on walking but heard "Hey". I scanned around, nobody. We passed an alley while getting close to the apartment. I looked down the pathway. On a fire escape were two birds while further down was a pack of three dogs. The pack of dogs were too busy eating garbage on the ground. The two birds looked at me and crooked their heads. Glen looked down too then grabbed my shoulder. "Keep on walking," he gave me a little push but I decided peace was the best option. I looked at him and he shook his head. "Did you hear it?" I asked him.
" I didn't hear anything," he had a nasty attitude in his voice. A couple more blocks down and we were at the apartment building. I knocked on the door. I'm pretty sure I heard one of the two smack their forehead. Sabrina then took the paper and buzzed in an intercom on the side of the door. After a couple seconds a man's voice came out the speaker with, "Hello?".
I pushed the speaker button, "Uh hi, um were looking for a Percy Jackson"? I heard another smack behind me before Glen chimed in. "Don't just say that we don't know who that is!"
"I don't know what to say, its my first quest!"
"This quest has nothing to do with mannerism, you have to introduce yourself first!" Sabrina chimed in. I looked back and realized my finger was still on the button. I waited a couple seconds for the person to respond but there was silence.
I decided to introduce myself, "Hi my names Adin Peterson and me and my-". I hesitated to say friends, especially with Glen. "- My accomplices and I are looking for Percy Jackson". After a few more seconds the door buzzed and it unlocked. The three of us made our way up to the fifth floor of the building and knocked on the numbered door that was on the address.
A man who seemed to be about forty wearing a button up shirt and cargo pants slowly opened the door and inspected us. He looked at Sabrina's camp shirt and gave a sigh of relief. "Come on in," he fully opened the door. I looked at Sabrina and Glen."Oh well," Glen mumbled under his breath. The inside of the apartment seemed pretty normal. A couch, flat screen tv, a kitchen and hallways which probably led to the bedrooms.
"Take a seat," The man motioned to the couch before entering the hallways. Glen kept an eye on him before returning a moment later. He was cradling a baby wearing a blue shirt before laying her down in a cradle that said 'Estelle'. The man pulled up a chair and finally introduced himself. "Sorry about that, I just got her to take a nap."
"She's cute!" Sabrina said.
"Thank you, Sally should be home soo-"
Glen grunted and interrupted Sabrina. "Didn't you hear us earlier? We're looking for Percy Jackson, have you heard of him!" Glen snapped.
The man readjusted himself. "Well if you'd let me finish. Sally, Percy Jacksons mom should be home soon," Glen looked down almost apologetically. "Im Paul, Percy's step-dad."
I introduced ourselves to Paul, I also explained the quest we were sent on. Paul didn't seem too fazed by it all, he seemed to understand completely. During the end of my explanation I heard keys dangle from outside the door and a woman entered with a bag of groceries in hand. She looked at us and her face suddenly looked worried. Paul got up from his seat and rushed to her. "Everythings fine honey, their just looking for Percy." She gave a sigh of relief while Paul took the bag from her while she sat down.
Paul went to pick up Estelle and brought her to Sally to hold. "So you three were sent to look for Percy?" She finally said. I nodded and she continued speaking. "Well Percy has gone missing before, this wouldn't be the first, or second. What about Annabeth?"
"She's missing too," Sabrina said. Estelle started to groan and Sally held her baby tighter.
"Both of them are strong and clever. There's been times where Percy's gone radio silent for longer. To be honest i'm not that worried, I know they've both been through a lot and won't separate from each other." Surprisingly Glen said something that didn't make him seem like a jerk.
"Sorry for showing up without notice. You probably thought we were notifying you of his casualty." Sabrina looked at him shocked, I was shocked he said that too. Sally gave him a faint smile. "Yes, I was a little worried but if you're on a quest to find him then he should be fine."
"Do you know where he could be? Or where he was when you last talked to him?" I asked.
"Percys had a hard life, even if he won't admit it. He recently found out that he had to complete three quests just to go to college at New Rome University". Three quests just to go to college? Yea being a forbidden child must have sucked.
"New Rome University? I've never heard of that college before."
Glen shook his head "It's because it's not a university for mortals. It's a college for demigods or legacies of New Rome at Camp Jupiter." He said. I've heard a couple of people mention Camp Jupiter. Apparently it was a sister camp to our demigod filled summer camp located in California. Except it's for the Roman aspects of the gods.
Sally nodded her head "Percy told me a couple weeks ago he had to go fill out some paperwork. Even though he still had quests to complete to get accepted". I thought about everything Sally was saying alongside the prophecy.
"Ok so we'll take the road to Athens and head to Camp Jupiter. Does that sound good with you two?" I asked Sabrina and Glen. Sabrina smiled, "Yea sounds like a plan". I looked at Glen, he crossed his arms and slowly nodded. "We never decided how we're going to travel on the road," He said. Sabrina's smile faded like the mood was just killed but didn't say anything back to Glen.
"Let me take you to the bus station. You can buy tickets for an out of state trip. First i'll pack you some sandwiches," Sally got up and placed her baby back in the cradle before going into the kitchen.
While Sally was making sandwiches Sabrina went to the restroom. Then Glen went to look outside the window, he started tapping his feet impatiently. He kept on glancing back and forth between me and whatever was outside. Glen started to open his mouth right before Sabrina returned to the living room. He hesitated to say anything. "Hey Adin, can I talk to you outside for a second?" I also hesitated to agree.
We stepped outside and Glen put his finger over the looking eye glass on the door. I wanted to trust Glen, really I do but this whole time on the trip he's been acting differently. This whole time I've been suspicious so I grabbed my sword. " There's something following us," He told me.
I stopped reaching for my sword. I looked at him very confused. "So what is it?" He scrunched his face and hesitated to respond.
"I don't know-"
"You don't know?" I held back from screaming that, which made it sound like I was yelling and whispering. I was expecting him to snap at me but he just shook his head.
"It's hard to tell, I did see something earlier. Its weird, I can see the mist actively trying to hide something walking up and down the sidewalk. Its kind of like a glitch," It took me a moment to imagine what he was saying. The mist actively hiding then revealing some sort of monster just casually walking down the street. I tried to remember what I saw when Backfisch, the cyclops at my former school transformed. I remembered his eyes forming into one and then I imagined an error screen popping up over it.
"Ok well lets go get Sabrina and then wel-"
"No Sabrina should stay here to watch Sally, and the rest of the family of course. Do you really want to lose our ride if they find out we brought monsters to their apartment?" As much as Glen got on my nerves, he did have a good point. I agreed with him and we quickly made our way to the ground floor.
"So what gives, you changed your attitude when you talked to Sally," I asked Glen. He straight up apologized for us showing up and sounded sincere. That was something I don't think Glen has ever done. To my surprise Glen didn't punch me in the gut for bringing it up. Instead he gave me a side eye.
"She just reminds me of my mom ok?" I didn't push it anymore than that. Sally also reminded me of how sweet my mom could be at times. I understood how a mothers influence can change someone. The love of a parent is very important to anyone. Maybe Glen did have a soft side after all.
We made our way out the exit and Glen took the lead glancing around the corner. He started going left and I followed "This way, I think I saw them go down this alley". As we turned down the alley we saw two stray dogs eating something near a dead end fence. I looked closer to see if they were monsters but saw no change. "You did say the mist was 'glitching', maybe it was nothing?" Glen started to shake his head in disbelief.
"No, I swear on the river Styxs I saw something!" He yelled. Just then some sort of thick liquid dropped on his head followed by a loud growling. I looked up and behind him stood a massive black dog. Now this dog could have easily chomped Glen's head off. Instead it swatted its massive paw at the both of us and sent us flying in the middle of the alley. We got up and I heard growling from behind us. I turned around and saw the strays from before turn into more viscous versions of themselves.
"Hellhounds," Glen stated as he grabbed his spear.
I grabbed my sword as Glen stood to my back. I couldn't see him behind me. Judging by the grunts however I guessed he was at a standoff with the giant dog. I also got into a stand off with my two fluffy friends. Whenever one got close I would swing my sword back and forth which made them step back.
I tried to think of a plan of attack but nothing came to mind. The only thing I could think of is when Sydney and I had to hide from a coyote that was running loose around the neighborhood. We spotted it and called the police while walking home from school one day. It was foaming from the mouth like it had rabies so we hid in some stranger's backyard.
When I focused back on the dogs I could see the hounds change form. They went from violent demon dogs, to beautiful award winning show dogs. I kind of admired their beautiful form as they were following my swinging sword. Then an idea popped in my head. I started hitting the ground with my sword and the dogs got more excited. I then decided to disarm myself by throwing my sword over the fence. It worked and their canine instinct kicked in and went to fetch the sword and jumped over the fence.
I turned around and saw Glen poking at the massive Hellhound. "Throw your spear over the fence. It just wants to play !" Glen looked focused. "No, I doubt it!" The dog was starting to close us in. I wanted to grab his spear and do it myself. However I remembered the last time I grabbed his spear it melted. I would rather us have some kind of weapon than a melted one.
"Trust me, Clifford just wants to fetch the stick," I pleaded with him. It seemed to work cause he twitched before throwing it and it impaling the fence. The Hellhound I named after the big red dog ran straight to the blocked off fence. Its speed was too great and in an enclosed space like the alley couldn't move to slow down. It burst through the fence and as Glen's spear touched the beast it melted. The beast then tumbled into the next street and ran over the two smaller hellhounds.
Finally it smacked into a passing by white truck and seemed to stay down. The driver got out of the vehicle. "What iz dis?" He yelled in a heavy accent. He looked frustrated and pushed his Bluetooth earpiece, then started to yell in an foreign language. Behind us I heard the cars of a tire screech. I turned around to see Sabrina get out of a car Sally was driving. Sabrina ran up to us.
"What are you guys doing!" She asked, glancing all over the alley before looking toward the monsters. Glen started to run to grab his melted spear. This time however instead of forming into a long pointed weapon, it formed into two short swords. Glen inspected the new weapons but didn't question it.
I saw my sword on the ground near the Hellhounds. Except it seemed they were able to tear up the celestial bronze sword into scraps. "Sorry Sabrina, Glen saw monsters but we dealt with it."
"So! You should have told me where you're going. Especially if you're alone with Glen!" The child of Ares heard the last part as he glanced toward us but didn't say anything. Instead he went over to the three beasts that were laying on the ground. When the truck driver wasn't looking, Glen landed the finishing blows to all of the beast. The hellhounds turned to dust as Glen walked back to us.
"You didn't need to kill them!" Sabrina snapped at Glen.
"Do you really want them following us? Or worse, terrorizing Percys family!"
As much as I don't like Glen he did make a good point. "Come on guys we can't argue, let's just get out of here," I tried to be the voice of reason. I motioned for them to get going. I didn't want to be out in the open anymore. Especially since I no longer have a weapon. We got into the car. I was worried I made a mistake when I got into the passenger seat, leaving Glen and Sabrina in the back. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw them looking out their respective windows.
Sally started the car without saying a word, she seemed unfazed by the monsters. Glen was right, the mist did glitch around the Hellhounds. It was strong enough so that we couldn't even tell that the dogs were monsters. I started to think about if a god was tampering with our quest. I couldn't think of any gods who would have it out for us. Although I had heard that the gods work in 'mysterious ways' from Chiron and other campers.
By the time we made it to the bus station it was late into the afternoon. The whole ride both Sabrina and Glen were actually quiet. Sally gave us the sandwiches and snacks she packed."Don't worry about me," She said. "I've dealt with worse, just please find Percy and Annabeth." She sounded calm yet her words sounded encouraging.
By the time we entered the station Sally and her car were already out of view. We then checked out the next available bus rides and where they would be stopping. "We should take the bus to Cleveland," Sabrina suggested. " It says the next ride is in a half hour and it's an overnight route. We can rest as we travel." That sounded like a good idea.
"Look at the prices! That will take up all of our money!" Glen said.
Sabrina didn't respond to him but looked at me "My dad has a temple there, we can get help there".
I looked at Glen "That does sound like a good idea," Glen frowned before getting out our group fund Chiron gave us. He approached the lady at the ticket stand. Either Glen was too intimidating or the lady just didn't care about three teenagers getting tickets for an overnight bus out of state.
We ended up waiting for over a half hour for the bus to start loading passengers. Then an extra twenty minutes for any extra passengers. The bus was decently big for extra stretching room. It was also nice since there were only about fifteen other passengers. When we were seated Sabrina and I sat near the back. Glen however decided to "discreetly" inspect everyone to make sure they weren't monsters. He walked up and down the aisle glancing at anyone he passed by. Everyone started to notice him, enough for the bus driver to say something.
"Dude you want to sit down? You're kinda creeping everyone out,"said the bus driver. The bus driver seemed to be a mid twenties adult with stubble on his chin he was scratching. Glen then shuffled into a seat a few rows ahead of me and Sabrina. He got dirty glances from everyone on the bus. I got out the sandwiches Sally packed for us and went up to give him one. He snatched it out of my hand and started eating it right away. I offered Sabrina one but she declined. I however dove into the sandwich as well. Let me tell you, Percy Jackson is blessed to have a mom who can make a turkey sandwich this good.
A couple hours into the bus ride I started feeling tired. The bus had a TV that came down from the ceiling and played 'Drive' starring Ryan Gosling. I would occasionally watch the movie before getting distracted from something outside.
Eventually my mind wandered to the prophecy again. I thought of how we were trying to prevent a war we would lose. A war with our own parents. Maybe some of them would side with us? I continued thinking of the possibilities and looked down the aisle where Glen was sitting. I remembered how we were at the Big House earlier today and Chiron lied in front of Glen, not telling him about the gods. Instead he told everyone that Zeus issued the deadline.
It didn't feel right not including him then. He pulled through when we were being followed earlier. I had no reason not to trust him. So I decided to finally ask Sabrina the question. "So, should we tell Glen our secret about the gods"?