Walk With the Shadows [ Percy Jackson OC ]

FOUR | Alex

ALEX HAD STOLEN PLENTY OF THINGS in his life, but a squeaky dog toy shaped like a dolphin was a new one for him. Had he been alone, he would not have done it. But Connor and Travis brought out the worst in him.

Well, debatable, considering he'd spent three years with Luke battling alongside the armies of darkness. But as Alex hid behind a ten foot high pile of unboxed dog food, he tried to ignore those memories. Focus on the here and now.

The here? Petco. The now? Hiding, alone and weaponless, as a pair of yellowish-green scaled dracaenae slithered through the aisles taunting him in poorly enunciated English.

Go gather medical supplies with Travis and Connor, Will had said. It'll be fine, he had said. As much as Alex respected the genius healer kid from Apollo's cabin, and he did, that was the last time he listened to a word he said.

Alex wished he could say it would be the last time he listened to the Stoll brothers, but he knew that would've been a lie. After the better part of a decade of competition, usually friendly but sometimes not, he had every intention of getting back at them when he got out of the Petco alive, in one piece, and by the gods, carrying the damn dolphin chew toy for Percy's hellhound.

Step one: retrieve his weapon. The celestial bronze sword had snagged amidst the dog leashes in aisle two. Alex glanced around. He didn't see much in reach that would be useful against snake women. If he could get two aisles over, he could maybe throw cans of cat food as a distraction. Did dracaenae like cat food?

Alex kicked himself for not learning more about them when he'd served with them. Maybe if he could move vertically along the store towards the door. The rodents all lived there. If they weren't put to sleep by Hecate and Morpheus then maybe if he set them loose the dracaenae would chase those.

"You can't hide forever, dear. We ssssssmell you."

Alex rolled his eyes. If they could easily smell him, they'd have realized where he was already. The saving grace of being stranded in a Petco with monsters was that the whole place probably smelled like a buffet bar.

He closed his eyes. Both slithering women seemed to be to his right, towards both the dog leashes and the rodents. So no sword just yet. Time to improvise.

Peeking out from behind the stacks of dog food, he counted the number of aisles. Fifteen. On the end of the nearest aisles, some sale dog toys had been stacked and hung. Two aisles over held the cat supplies. Slowing his breathing and his pounding heart, Alex began to sneak as quickly but quietly as he could across the store.

Revised step one: improvise a sword. On the sales rack he found a tennis ball launcher for dogs. It reached about a foot and a half and came in green or blue. As he heard the hiss of the snake like dracaenae closing in on his previous hiding spot, he grabbed the blue.

With a makeshift mace in hand, Alex continue into the cat food aisle. He blocked out the slithering, almost comically stereotypical slurred "s" speech of the dracaenae. If only he had duct tape. But he didn't.