We ran far, since Percy and Annabeth are demigods, they have great stamina, that's why they were barely out of breath when we started running away from the burning bus. In about three minutes or maybe even less, we managed to run about a kilometre away from the bus. Grover ran, matching their pace, having removed his shoes and taken off his pants to run even faster. I was wheezing, only running to catch up behind to keep pace with them, but I was also carrying a backpack and my baseball bat in my hand. They eventually slowed down. Percy and Annabeth were winded, but Grover looked more scared than tired.
I, on the other hand, collapsed to my knees, taking large gulps of air. Sweat dripped down from my forehead, then to my nose, before dripping down to the grass. Annabeth told us to rest for a bit; we should have made enough distance for a three-minute break. We sat, leaning on the trees, while Grover opened my backpack to retrieve a couple of wrapping bandages. I winced when he wrapped the bandage on my burned hand, gently chiding me about my recklessness.
Grover took a deep breath and closed his eyes, putting his hands gently on my hand, until his palms started radiating a faint green aura, with the nice smell of fresh trees and grass, which is similar to my first encounter with Camp Half-Blood. By the time I was finished, I was able to move my fingers, and I barely felt the pain, only feeling the numbness in my palm.
"It should be good, but I suggest you don't do anything reckless for the time being."
I snort. "Reckless, you should be talking to Percy about it."
Percy frowned, getting up and narrowing his sea-green eyes at me. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Listen, I know you were going to interfere because you're Percy Jackson, the reckless kid who doesn't think twice. I was actually hoping for that, but I didn't expect to steer the wheel!"
"Hey, it's the best I can do!"
"Well, you should have snuck up and landed a killing blow, better than nearly killing all of us!" I snapped back.
"Ugh, quiet both of you!" Annabeth shouts, making both of us pipe down and stare at her.
"This isn't ideal, but we just have to deal with it and figure out a way to proceed. You boys trying to argue is just a waste of time."
That made me feel guilty; she was right. Arguing right now is nothing but a waste of time; what happened, happened. I apologized to Percy, and he shook his head.
"No, you're right, that was dumb of me, but enough of that, what's the plan now, Wise Girl?"
Annabeth looks at the grass, puts a hand over her mouth, and brainstorms. I was thinking the same thing, but before anything could happen, we heard a growl. I got back up and grabbed my bat. Percy uncapped his pen as we looked around for the monster. Darn it, I haven't fully recovered after running, and we just got attacked less than an hour ago.
I felt Grover poke me, who was pursuing his lip before pointing at Annabeth, who looked away from us, her ears red.
"I didn't eat lunch, all right?"
I chuckled while Percy and Grover tried their best not to burst out laughing. Grover then loses his smile sadly mentioning all their stuff, and the food is lost on the bus. That brought the mood down. Percy also seemed hungry, too, even though he didn't say anything, and Grover, too. I looked at them before going in, rummaging in my backpack to retrieve three containers and handing them to three of them.
"What's this?" Annabeth asked.
"It's food, genius, eat up. I figured I'd make spare food just in case, but still, I didn't expect we would lose all our food. And before you ask, Grover, there is no meat in the food."
"Sweet!" Grover said, opening up, grabbing a plastic fork and starting to chow down.
His eyes widened, and before eating faster. In all of my containers, I made fried rice, mixed with peas, carrot cubes, and onions. And to the side are apple slices. Annabeth and Percy opened theirs and also started to chow down. Annabeth's grey eyes widened.
"Woah-This is good!" She said,
I smiled as I sat down, watching them eat. I was hungry myself, but the pride I felt seeing them enjoy what I cooked made me ignore the pang in my stomach. Percy stopped eating and noticed me, raising a brow.
"Aren't you going to eat?"
"I didn't make anything more than three."
Grover's eyes widened. "Oh, here then let's share." I shook my head.
"It's fine, you three need to keep up your strength, you guys are the heavy hitters, I'm just...me."
Grover and Annabeth frowned. I smiled at them to let me know I was okay. Internally, though, I was kind of mad at myself. I thought about the intense training I had at Camp Half-Blood. I remembered the feeling of my muscles tearing themselves, Luke's sword training and how I felt getting stronger.
But all that hard work. It didn't even let me be useful. It was Annabeth who killed two furies, and Percy would have probably killed Mrs. Dodds if he had been given the chance. While I swung as hard as I could, I hit them square to the jaw or face and yet all it did was daze them. And even though Grover is more useful than I, he may not be a fighter, but the fact that he could heal us makes him a very valuable member of the team.
My smile turned bitter as I looked at the ground. Percy got up and sat up next to me, stabbing an apple slice and pointing it at my mouth.
"Hey, I said, I'm good."
"I know, I'm going to ignore that, come let's share food."
"Or what?" I challenged, but I really shouldn't know Percy. Challenging him at anything is dumb because he'll take on anything. After all, that's how stubborn he is.
"I dump this for animals to eat," Percy said, tilting the container a little, making a tiny bit of rice spill out.
I sighed, knowing I'll do it. I was embarrassed, but I was grateful. Percy and I shared our lunch; he even made sure my portion was slightly bigger than his. What a show-off. After eating up and recovering our strength, we discussed our next move.
Right now, we are in a vulnerable position; monsters are more active at night and enjoy occasionally taking on a mortal who wanders too far from civilization. So we went in a direction heading west and walked. We were out of food, but we got a couple of drachmas, and I suggested we trade the golden coins for cash so we could get a taxi or another form of transport. Annabeth shot down the idea, because for mortals, they usually see drachma as something worthless. Instead of seeing their golden true form, to mortals, they are like poker chips or monopoly coins.
While we walked, we decided to have a chat.
"You really haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven?" I asked.
"No," she said quickly.
"Only on short supervised trips. My dad..." She hesitated. "It didn't really work out living at home. Camp became my place. My real place."
"At camp, you train nonstop. It's great, but... the outside world is where you find out if any of that training actually matters."
There was a tiny tremor in her voice. Doubt.
"You handled that knife pretty well back there," Percy told her, nudging her shoulder.
"You think so?"
"Are you kidding? Anyone who could grapple like that with a fury of all things is cool in my book."
Annabeth smiled.
"You're not too bad yourself, Seaweed Brain, and you're pretty quick on your feet for a normal human, Clay."
I rub the back of my head, flushing. "Thanks, but I didn't really do anything."
My legs felt like wet noodles by the time we finally stumbled out of those cursed woods. Every twig, root, and invisible tree-gnome had taken turns tripping me. I was ready to file an official complaint with Mother Nature. Percy didn't look any better; he looked ready to summon a tsunami just to end his suffering. Grover and Annabeth are doing better since they are probably used to this kind of setting, but Percy and I, the two city kids, need time getting used to it.
Even spending a week at Camp Half-Blood didn't make us immune to nature. But then, light. A glow pulsed through the trees ahead, neon pink and blue, like a cheap diner sign that refused to die. And with the light came the greatest scent known to mortal man:
Grease. Real, artery-destroying grease.
I'll be honest, I was still quite a bit hungry even if Percy shared his lunch with me. I think we all are. My food made the journey to the woods a whole lot better, but after nearly an hour of working, we were hungry again, fine, but no doubt hungry. I only have twenty dollars cash, but that's barely enough for one person. God, I hate inflation.
I stepped out onto a small, empty road. A rundown gas station sat across the street, pumps covered in cobwebs and rust. Next to it was an ancient billboard advertising a movie that came out before I was even born.
But the real eye-catcher was the only place still open.
A gigantic curio warehouse stretched across the lot, lit by flickering neon. The glowing sign buzzed like it was struggling to stay alive. The place was surrounded—no, infested—with statues. Concrete animals. Stone lawn ornaments. Garden gnomes. Flamingos. Bears. Random weird stuff nobody sane would buy.
"Aw, man..." I sighed. "I was hoping for burgers."
Grover frowned beside me.
"Sorry."
Above the metal gate buzzed a neon sign, bright red cursive. Percy squinted as if the letters were personally insulting him. Annabeth wasn't doing much better. Dyslexia: one, Demigods: zero.
Grover, me? We didn't have that particular curse. So I translated it for them
"Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium," I said, pointing up.
Flanking the entrance were two cement garden gnomes, each about knee-high, both wearing identical fake-friendly smiles and waving like they were frozen mid-'Say cheese!' The whole place gave me the same vibe as a horror movie set moments before everything goes sideways.
But the smell of burgers was dragging me forward like some cartoon character being floated along by a scent trail.
We crossed the street.
Behind me, Grover bleated nervously. "Guys... maybe we won't go in? This place is super weird."
I nodded with him. This place gives me the creeps for some reason. They ignored him, though.
Annabeth shaded her eyes with her hand, peering through the window. "Lights are on. Someone has to be inside."
"Which means," Percy said solemnly, "There might be a snack bar."
"We should listen to Grover." I start to say. "His senses are better than anyone's; we should stay away."
"His nose is still busted from the Furies," Annabeth argued. She sniffed the air again. "All I'm getting is food."
"Look, I'm starving, Clay's food is great, but there wasn't much, we have to keep our strength, right?" Percy said, rubbing his stomach. "Let's just check if the snack bar's open."
The front was a creepy concrete zoo. Statues everywhere, animals, kids, even a cement satyr frozen mid-panpipe performance.
Grover let out an offended bleat. "Oh come on! That literally looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!"
I tried not to stare too long at its terrified expression. It was way too... accurate. And the chills I felt in my spine, this wasn't normal. I looked at Grover with a worried expression. He, too, seemed unsure, but the two demigods are too hungry to listen to reason.
"Do not knock," Grover begged. "Seriously. I'm begging. I can feel my horns trying to crawl back inside my skull."
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "You're overreacting."
"I AM NOT!" Grover squeaked. "These statues are... watching me."
Before I could agree that there is something indeed wrong with this place, the door opened, making me flinch and grip the handle of my bat tightly. A tall woman stood in the doorway, covered head to toe in black clothdress, gloves, veil, everything. Only her eyes showed through the mesh, glinting like she already knew too much about us. Her hands were elegant, steady, grandmotherly... and somehow unnervingly still.
"Children, you should not be wandering alone at this hour. Where are your parents?" she said, voice smooth and old and foreign.
Oh crap. My mind tries to spin stories of our backgrounds. Homeless kids? No, we may look a little rough, but we still look presentable; no way she would fall for that. Not throw any shade at homeless dudes.
Percy cut in. "We, uh... don't have any. Orphans."
I blinked, nodding my head slowly. Using my backstory, huh? Well, at least I don't have to act.
"Y-Yes, sorry, you see we're performers of a circus," I added.
"Yeah, but we lost our group. Do you have any spare food?" Percy says in a fake helpless tone.
"Oh, you poor things..." she murmured.
I nodded innocently. While Grover and Annabeth rolled with it, pretending to look helpless and shivering too, though I noticed from the corner of my eye that Grover seemed genuinely frightened. My mind went into overdrive, giving the woman sad puppy eyes. But internally, I was glaring at her. Is she a monster, too?
I mean, it's established that some monsters can disguise themselves as normal monsters, and we just dealt with three granny's who are monsters from the underworld. And the fact that Grover seemed to be smelling something weird, not to mention those statues from earlier, gave me a bad feeling.
The woman made a soft, sympathetic noise.
"Oh, my dears. Come inside. Please. There is a dining area in the back, and you must eat. Oh, and I am Aunty Em, it's a pleasure to meet you kids."
Annabeth's eyes flicked toward me. Percy's stomach rumbled violently.
Grover looked like he was witnessing all of his worst nightmares happening in order.
I tightened my grip on my baseball bat. Regardless, I have no choice but to follow Aunty Em.