WWC- Chapter 2
One nauseous flight experience (caused by a certain king of the gods) later.
We touched down in Seattle and waiting for us at the gate was Charlie.
I ran forward to meet him.
"Hey, Uncle Charlie!"
"Hey, kiddo! Looks like you grew a couple of feet.", he chuckled.
"Hi Charlie", said my mother
" Welcome, Sally. We're so sorry we couldn't help you when you needed it."
"It's alright, Char, thanks for letting us visit anyhow."
We drove past the foggy, gloomy roads of the highway.
As we reached their house, Bella ran out the door, pale as ever.
"Perce!", she half-yelled.
"Hey, Belly."
She poked me in the stomach playfully. "Stop it. You're embarrassing me in front of your girlfriend."
"Oh. Right. Um, Annabeth, this is Bella, Bella, this is Annabeth, my girlfriend.
Annabeth smiled warmly at her. "Hi Bella. Percy's told me a lot about you."
Bella moaned, as she stretched her face out in obvious despair. "You didn't, Percy! Did you just have to tell her about the spaghetti incident!"
I flashed my most devilish grin. "Oh, yes I did."
"Why- Come here, you!" She began chasing after me, both of us in hysterics.
We ran around the yard like that for a while, with Anna until Charlie brought us back inside.
Annabeth looked a little uncomfortable in the house, and she wrinkled her nose, though I couldn't figure why.
That was when the scent hit me.
The sickly sweet, cloying scent hit my nose harder than a sledgehammer. It smelled familiar, yet horrible. Like you had shoved a lozenge down a nostril. The kinds the nurse gives you at school that just makes your throat hurt worse. It was faint, but recent enough to know that something had been in here.
"Empousae. Or a certain gathering of vrykolakas. Most likely empousae.", she snarled under her breath.
My hand drifted to Riptide,which was in my pocket, as I scanned the surroundings for any threat.
Bella, using her uncanny sense of noticing tension said, "How about we go over to my boyfriend's? They had wanted to meet you guys."
"Sure, let's go."