Walk With the Shadows [ Percy Jackson OC ]

THIRTEEN | Alex

A SANE DEMIGOD WOULD'VE GONE TO BED after dinner that night. Or, if they had too much energy, maybe enjoyed some fellowship at the campfire. But Alex decided to go for a walk. Alone.

He took his sword and a flashlight. Just because they had defeated Kronos's forces in New York didn't mean the woods around Camp Half-Blood were safe. Myrmekes, unusually large rodents, even the occasional angry wind spirit found their way through the trees.

All of these, plus the treacherous landscape and darkness, added up to a NOPE zone for demigods hoping to make it to adulthood. Especially at night.

But Alex had already made eighteen. And if he returned to Cabin 11 he'd never be able to sleep. His chest hurt more now, picking his way through a trail between the trees, than it ever had over the course of the Battle of Manhattan. That physical pain had nothing on the agonizing twisting of fury and despair that had settled over his heart since the funeral pyres.

Between his glowing bronze sword and the flashlight, he could see a good ways around himself. He didn't need more than a few feet. He knew where he was going.

The clearing around Zeus's Fist and Kampê's mound had yet to grow much beyond grass. While the campers had filled in the trenches and holes blown in the earth from the Battle of the Labyrinth, nothing wanted to grow near the rocks. Some campers called the area cursed. Others scoffed at that. But none of them would climb either rocky mound for Capture the Flag.

Alex didn't care.

He needed to see it again.

Careful of twigs and tree roots over the well-worn foot paths, he went as quiet as he could. When Alex put his mind to it, he could sneak past even the best demigods. Or the best myrmekes.

Alex froze when he saw the massive ant monster. He turned off his flashlight. Where one sniffed around, there were probably more. The six armored black insect legs speared through the leaf litter with deadly force. He slowed his breathing.

He'd killed myrmekes before. Didn't mean he wanted to do it again in the middle of a dark forest. If he could stay hidden long enough for the German Shepherd-sized ant to move away, so much the better.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he scanned the trees. Nothing else moved in the shadows. Nothing that he could see anyway. The air smelled musty as he got closer to the ground, trying to hide his glowing blade.

The myrmeke lifted its head up from the leaf litter. Antennae twisted in the air. Alex stopped breathing. His heart pounded against his ribcage so loud, he feared the ant monster would hear it.

Three clicks broke the silence of the night. Alex could barely see the myrmeke's black mandibles rubbing together. Shivers shot down his spine. He tightened his grip around his sword hilt.

Taking a slow, smooth breath, Alex lifted his blade ever so slightly for a better angle. He didn't know how keen a myrmeke's sense of smell was, but with the insect only about twenty feet away, it probably didn't need a particularly strong nose.