Thunder and Blood

2

Percy

The next thing I know, I'm standing in the middle of the street, cars rushing past all around me. I look around frantically, but Chiron is nowhere to be seen. I hear a loud honk and I spin around to see a white car speeding towards me, fast. They can't stop in time, and they know it. But they try anyways. Their back tires squeal on the asphalt, skidding but they barely slow down. 

I panic, doing the only thing I can think of. 

I jump.

I land hard on the hood of their car, planting my hand down to hold my balance. They come to a stop ten meters away from where I had been standing. I look at the person driving, her eyes are wide and her knuckles white as she grip the steering wheel tightly. She stares up at me, at the boy who had just defied all laws of the universe. 

I pull my hand off her car, holding them up and apologizing over and over as I slide off the hood. Her window is already open, I say sorry some more, making sure she can hear me. 

"How..." she begins to ask, but she just shakes her head. 

"I'm really sorry miss." I say, she's around my gae so I really shouldn't be calling her "miss."

"It's- it's alright."

"Good to know. But I really have to go, sorry about jumping on you car." I leave her be, making my way off the main road and towards the forest spread out beside it. I need to find water. I need to find a phone. I need to figure out where is am. 

But most of all, I need to call Chiron and ask him what on Olympus he was thinking dropping me in the middle of a major highway. Not even thirty second into my quest and I've almost been killed. 

The sounds of cars drown out behind me as I walk further into the forest. The trees get thicker, and the sun begins to set. Why did I ever agree to this?Soon enough, it's dark out. I'm still walking, sweat dripping down my face in the humidity. Gods, I hate California. 

And then I see some lights. 

As I walk closer I realize I've found a subdivision. The houses are bigger than in New York, the yards are bigger too. Everything is spaced out. And at the end of the road, I see a phonebooth. 

I break into a run, already feeling weak from my walk in the woods. I grab the phone, beginning to punch in Camp Halfblood's number when it beeps, telling me I need to pay. "Dammit." I slam it down. I look around. Is this part of the quest? Finding food? Shelter? "This is stupid." I tell myself. 

I start to walk back down the street, looking up at the stars for navigation. But there aren't any. Light pollution. I frown, at Camp Halfblood, stars could be seen for miles around, despite New York's bright lights. 

I feel my throat tighten at the thought of Camp Halfblood. I wonder what Chrion told my friends? Obviously that I'm at my Mom's, but what was his excuse that I didn't say goodbye? 

I'm in the middle of cursing him out once more when I hear the bushes behind me rustle. 

I slowly reach into my pocket, ready to uncap riptide. I turn, looking back into the forest to see a pair of glowing eyes staring back at me. An animal? I pull the pen from my pocket, ready to kill whatever it is. But then a small black cat hops out from the leaves. 

I relax. 

Chiron really has me paranoid. He made everything here seem so bad. 

Not that I couldn't handle it. 

I crouch down, placing my hand on the cats head and stroking its fur. It's tag jangles as it purrs, I reach down and read it's name. "Mr. Kitty. Huh." I smile. "It's not safe out here, go back home." I look around, there are so many houses, maybe I should just leave him to find his own way. The cat turns towards the bushes it came out of, it fur stands on edge as I pet it. "What's wrong?"I ask, thinking of the creatures Chiron had talked about. 

Even though it's not cold, I feel a shiver run down my spine. 

I pat the cat's head once before standing up, it hurries down the street, running into someone's backyard. I take that as my queue to get the Hell out of here.