In the Shadows: A PJo x KotLC Crossover

Chapter 7

"First off," Tam started. "That's fucking creepy."

The girl, whose name he had recently learned to be Dirya, sighed and put her head in her hands. "I know this looks bad, but- "

"Yes, it does. Also, we just met. I have no idea who you are."

"Well, you know my name .." Dirya argued. She didn't seem like she was trying too hard though.

"And you know mine for some reason. Why is that?" Tam had his suspicions, and rightly so.

You don't just show up in the middle of the woods and tell someone you've been following him and you know his name for some reason.

"Are you deaf or something?" Dirya snapped. "Chiron announced it at dinner, but you were too busy staring at your empty plate to notice."

"He what?"

"He announced it at dinner," Dirya said slowly.

"I heard you!" Tam scowled. "But I would've remembered if he said my name!"

"Nope," she replied. "I saw you. You were just staring."

God, if that was really true ... Tam was losing his touch. He'd been too wrapped up in his own thoughts to even notice.

He couldn't let it happen again, he decided. Tam couldn't let his guard down for even a second.

Look what had just happened: he'd gotten a little sensitive, stormed off, anf he'd been followed!

"You're staring again," Dirya noted.

"Whatever," Tam snapped. "I want to ask, why were you following me?"

"I .. can't answer that here."

"Why not?"

"Listen Tam; it's not private enough here. Anyone could be listening." Dirya looked around like she expected the ground to open up and spit out walking skeletons.

Tam honestly couldn't say he would be surprised anymore.

"Nowhere is more private than here," he argued. They were in the middle of fucking nowhere. If she expected to find somewhere more private than this, she was crazy.

"The gods have eyes everywhere," Dirya whispered.

She sauntered off the way she had come from, flipping her brown hair behind her.

Tam trudged after her. His boots crunched against dead leaves ominously. It was much too silent for his liking. 

"Where are you going?" he shouted. "Hey! Dirya?"

She was gone. And so was his way out.

~°~

Tam sat there for a while just contemplating what to do.

Usually, his surroundings helped him think, but it wasn't like he had much to look at.

Before, he had been able to vaguely make his way around the dense foliage. But now it was nearing midnight and almost pitch black.

Tam couldn't tell which way was right and which was left anymore, let alone appreciate his surroundings.

So he picked at his nails for a while to help him think.

Dirya had said "the gods have eyes everywhere." Tam couldn't understand what she meant. What was a 'god?'

Something else he needed to research.

As well as the fact that Dirya had practically vanished.

Which left him alone stranded in the middle of the woods.

Cold and hungry.

Actually, the last part wasn't true. He still had lots of chow mein left.

But he was definitely freezing.

The Neverseen had only given him plain white t-shirt and pants while he was held captive, afraid his clothes had trackers in them. And they seemed thin enough. Lord knows what happened to his cape.

Tam was starting to feel the effects. And so was the chow mein, as it too was now cold as fuck.

So, he begrudgingly got up to look for a way out.

All around him it was dark and eerie. Tam could barely see, so he opted for feeling around with his hands.

That was, until, he touched something slimy that could apparently move and realised it probably wasn't the best approach.

So his only option was to estimate the way he had come from, hope it was right, and carefully shimmy his way back to camp.

After a while of walking, Tam was starting to think he was going the wrong direction.

He stretched his hands out in front of him to get his bearings and hit a hard, warm, wall. His plate of chow mein fell and smashed on the ground. The contents littered Tam's shirt.

"Shit," he cursed, trying to wipe some of the sauce and noodles off his white shirt. Evidently it would stain and he didn't want to walk back to camp looking like a hoodlum.

Wait ... a warm wall?

Tam felt around infront of him, rubbing on a coarse but soft fabric. Fabric on a wall? Then he realised it was breathing.

And .. growling. Two red eyes illuminated a foaming mouth and dangerously sharp teeth.

Tam lurched backwards as a giant dog made its way towards him.

"Hell.." he muttered. This couldn't be real.
He was going to die; he would never see Linh again, never see the Lost Cities. His friends would never find his body.

His stomach flipped at just the thought and he suddenly didn't know if the chow mein would stay inside.

Tam stumbled backwards, and then fell on his ass. He felt around on the ground for a stick maybe, or someone's dropped sword ... and his hand landed on the carving fork used for serving the chow mein.

It was big, three-pronged and definitely sharp.

His options were pretty limited right now. Tam gladly took it.

"Stay back!" Tam shouted. "I have a fork!"

The dog made a noise of confusement. It tilted its head. Tam had surely deterred it with his intimidating demeanor and scary face.

"That's right," Tam said loudly. "Be afraid!"

Now that he looked, his serving fork seemed pretty small compared to the dog. Was the dog .. getting bigger? No, no. It was coming closer.

Fear overtook Tam's senses. He froze. His palms sweated and even though he wanted nothing more but than to run, his body wouldn't let him.

Tam stayed still as the dog came face to face with him, big canines shoved near his face. Drool dribbled on his shirt and he gagged.

It turned out he had done more than gag. He had thrown up. Tam had thrown up his perfectly good chow mein all over some stupid puppy in the middle of the woods.

The dog yelped and fell back, trying to get his puke out of its eyes. While it was distracted, Tam leaped and stabbed it in the eye.

It yowled, and quite suddenly disintegrated into dust.

Tam caught his breath.

He ran back to camp.