Meeting the Demigods

•33• Cody P2

My legs stopped working about twenty minutes ago. Well, what I mean is that they are still moving, but I am so not in control anymore.

"Please, stop!" I finally say and Clarisse slows to a stop.

"What?" She demands, I can tell she exhausted to, maybe not as much as I am though.

"I need... a break, or something! Where is this camp half-blood place, anyway? We've been... running... for over an hour without... stopping, I can't... even... control... my legs anymore!" I manage to get out, I'm panting heavily and it's hard to speak. My throat feels likes its layered with sand or sawdust or something! My first guess is that she will yell at me or tell me to keep running, or even give me thirty seconds and then go without me. But instead she sighs and puts her hands on her knees, also panting now. I offer her the remains if my smoothie which she gratefully finishes. Then she answered my questions, and at first I'm confused because I forgot that I had asked them in the first place!

"It's not that far away from Montauk, only a few miles... So that's about what, twenty kilometres away from East Hamptons. You do live there, right?" She asks and I nod, not trusting myself to speak without making some weird sound. If I could actually talk, and if Clarisse didn't intimidate me so much... I would probably be cussing right now. Maybe even directly at her, but I don't know how she'd react to that so maybe it's better to just condemn her for dragging me along, and condemn myself for following her, in my head.

After a few more minutes of just standing there, we hear a faint roar in the distance. Clarisse cusses under her breath. "They've picked up our scent, I'm going to have to call Leo."

She then brings a phone with some kind of weird symbol on the back out of her pocket. She furiously dials a number and presses the phone against her ear. I can easily hear what the guy on the other end is saying.

"Hello?"

"Valdez! I need you to come pick us up, I got a new demigod with me!"

"Hold on, where are you?"

"We're walking from East Hamptons. Right now we're maybe close to twelve or thirteen miles away. Its hard to tell!"

"Okay then just keep walking, I'll take Festus, he's the fastest air transportation we have."

"Fine." Clarisse says, I don't think I've ever seen someone more serious in my entire life! "But hurry! Something big picked up our scent and it can't be more than a few kilometres away."

Clarisse hangs up and turns to face me. "My friend is coming to pick us up." She says and I respond with "I know."

She looks at me, eyebrows raised. "You have better senses than a normal demigod, but you don't have ADHD?" She asks and I nod.

"Must be something from your godly parent." She concludes and I nod again and we continue to walk down the highway. After about five minutes, I see a figure in the sky. At first I think it's a plane but then it's starts to descend and it's flying straight towards us. And then I realize, It's a dragon... A metal dragon! It swoops down and before I know what happening, it has picked me up in one of its claws, Clarisse in the other. Then Festus' feet rotate and lift us up over the sides of his metal frame. I climb on first and Clarisse behind me. Festus starts to fly higher again and I start to slide backwards. I've never been a fan of heights.

"Uh, Leo?" I ask, a blush slowly creeping up to my cheeks. Fortunately he seems to know what I'm asking and nods.

"You can hold on to me if you don't feel comfortable, I'm used to it!" He yells over the wind, and I gratefully wrap my arms around his waist. Something about Leo is so... calming. I wouldn't date him- well I would. But I seriously doubt that he's single. But he seems like a great person, I hope that we can be good friends eventually. I smile at the thought, I wonder what it will feel like to have friends... But if all of the people at this "camp" are like me, if they like weapons and the rush you get when you do something absolutely thrilling... Then I'm sure we'll get along just fine. Maybe I'll actually have some real friends and a new family here. Without really noticing, I rest my head on Leo's shoulder. And with the feel of warm metal underneath me, and the gentle breeze as we fly through the air, I somehow fall asleep. And for once, my sleep is dreamless.