The Lion Boy

The Lion Boy Part 7

Percy POV

My feet kept moving at a steady pace, Thalia Luke and Annabeth were behind me and Dynatos was leading, while Axi was the caboose. I saw a root and leaped over it. The bright lights and thunderous music got louder as we neared the party. We all picked up the speed, and burst into the foray.

"Wow." Luke breathed. We stood still and looked around. The delicious smell of seafood permeated the air.

"It's quite large. Larger than expected actually." I commented as I began to walk again. Venders yelled out their bargains and sales pitches.

"Best gumbo right here!"

"Get your fried shrimp here!" We walked over to a woman selling gumbo. The mortals avoided the lions, and simply sent them annoyed glances. They flashed in and out of their lion image, occasionally looking like little stray cats.

"Hello Lady Hestia." I said with a smile. My companions looked at me like I was crazy, but her eyes flickered with the warm flames of the hearth.

"Hey Percy." She hugged me, and I breathed in her smell. It was like fresh baked gingerbread cookies, mixed with a sort of woodsy, incense smell.

"Hows the orphanage?" I asked once we broke apart. She smiled at me.

"Same old same old. Have some gumbo." She handed me a steaming bowl of the stuff. I raised my spoon for the first bite and closed me eyes as I savored the taste. Take notes Percy, you're going to have to make this for the group soon enough. She chuckled and I opened my eyes.

"Glad you like it." She flicked her wrist, and Annabeth Thalia and Luke now had bowls of the stuff as well. Annabeth's being slightly larger than the other two. She turned back to me.

"Now what have I told you about calling me LADY Hestia. It's just Hestia to you and your friends." She said firmly, but gently. I rolled my eyes at my patron.

"Oh alright." I heard Rheas voice in my head.

'Use your manners. No eye rolling.' I mentally nodded. Hestia patted my shoulder,

"Now go on. They have some bounce houses up the street. Have fun." I nodded, and she waved, then flashed out.

"Come on guys, I believe Mardi Gras goes on for awhile, we have to see everything." We ran down the street, laughing and having a good time. The bounce houses were HUGE. There was at least ten other kids besides us in there. Everybody around me was enjoying themselves to, the happy emotions I was getting was enough to put Zeus in a good mood. Speaking of which I yelled to Thalia between bounces,

"We should take your dad to this next year! Maybe he'll stop being grumpy long enough to come. He could tell some of his satyr jokes from his time as a cupbearer!" She laughed and we continued to jump. Tuckered out we finally dragged ourselves out of thing and carried on down a few blocks. We had each gathered enough plastic necklaces by now for most of the nymphs and naiads in the area. We did actually leave the celebration for a moment to pass some out, and got some splinters from hugs with dryads. We returned and grabbed some masks, then started to pop up behind people and scare the living bejeesus out of them. Dynatos and Axi had sneaked off for the moment to hunt. Everybody had been happy for so long, I immediately noticed when I felt a dark mood. It wasn't a bad person, just a bad feeling coming from somebody. It was a ball of nervousness and apprehensiveness enough to stress out Dionysus. Annabeth noticed my lack in joy, and paused.

"What's wrong Percy? And don't you try to pass it off as nothing.I can see your face." Thalia and Luke had stopped dancing now to, and they were all looking at me expectantly.

"Its somebody's mood. Its stressed in the least high strung environment I've ever been in. I don't like it. As much fun as this is, we need find it. They might be in troub-" I cut off with a gasp. The same direction the mood had just been coming from had just changed drastically. Instead of the stress it had been before, it was now sheer terror. I took off, and could hear them following me. I weaved through the crowd until I got to an empty parking lot, where a runty looking boy was being cornered by a cyclops. The boy was shaking, and his only weapon appeared to be a small set of panpipes he was clutching so hard his knuckles were white. The cyclops grunted and moved closer. I heard a -shink- sound as Luke pulled out a dagger. He chucked it, and it hit the creature's hand.

"Hey ugly!" I yelled and darted to the side as the thing started to run at us. It raced for Annabeth, who was trying to pull the boy out of the way. I climbed up the chicken wire fence nearby and lept off of it, latching my arms around its neck. I drew Riptide and impaled it in its head, at the same time Thalia's lightning hit it, as did another dagger thrown by Luke. The beast didn't stand a chance.

It dissolved to golden dust below me as I rolled to the side sharply, tucking my head under as I did a somersault to get away. I ran to Annabeth.

"You okay?" She nodded and smiled.

"Thanks. I would've been cyclops food by now if it weren't for you guys."

"No problem. Lets get him some food." I said, nodding at the shaking boy. Luke picked him up and we went to the nearby alley, unpacking our blanket we had brought from South Padre. I wrapped the fuzziest one around him and we all collected some sticks. I ran my hand over them and a fire blazed to life. We scooted him a little closer to the inferno. I focused again, and decided some green enchiladas would probably do. I got a plate, and gave him one, which he devoured quickly. Dynatos and Axi came in soon enough. I got a question in my mind.

'Find a monster? -Axi'

'Yes. He had the boy cornered.'

'I trust you killed it? -Dynatos'

'Yes, Thalia and Luke helped. Annabeth was busy trying to get the boy to safety.'

'Good, you need the training. -Dynatos and Axi'

I smiled, and thought back to what Artemis said.

"Guys." I started.

"We should listen to what Artemis said. As much fun as it is to wander around like this, we're endangering mortals. We need to find a satyr." I got three reluctant nods as my answer. The boy was about to say something before I turned to Dynatos and Axi.

"Can you guys find one?" The simply walked over to the boy and layed back down, sending him into another shaking fit.

'Him. -Axi'

"Your a satyr?" I asked the boy. He nodded.

"I'm Grover. And you guys are demigods, but I'm pretty sure you guys already knew that." I nodded.

"I suppose introductions are in order. I'm Percy Jackson, Son of Poseidon. Champion of Lady Hestia and Mother Rhea." We all started introducing ourselves.

"Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena."

"Luke Castellan, Son of Hermes."

"Thalia, Daughter of Zeus."

"Dynatos and Axi." I said motioning to the lions.

"And all adopted children of Poseidon." I finished. Grover looked a little taken back.

"Two biological children of the big three, traveling together, alive together, along with two other demigods. This is new." I nodded.

"We know it's quite a lot to ask of you, but Artemis told us if we ever wanted to settle down, we should find a satyr, and tell him to take us to the Long Island Sound, and that you would understand. Can you?"

"Of course, that's my job." He said, and the matter was settled. We were headed home.

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A/N: I TOLD YOU BIG THINGS WOULD HAPPEN AT MARDI GRAS. Now I have a question for you all, in who's POV do you like the best, and are there any POV'S I haven't done that you would like to see me do? I probably will write from Grover's perspective in one of the upcoming chapters. I had a lot of free time today, so that is how the next chapter got out so quickly. For those of you who were wondering, just because the hunters were hunting a manticore, I will not be bringing in Nico and Bianca quite yet. I do promise you they will be in this book however. This chapter was just over 1.3K words, so a little longer than the last, but still quite average-ly length-ed. Hopefully it's enough to keep you occupied for a bit until I can get another chapter up. Thank you for all of your comments, voting, and support!

Your Favorite Demigod,

Isa Rivers