Mortal Power: A Percy Jackson Fanfiction

Chapter 17

We travel the same for the next few days; we rent rooms, Drake and Orca deal with the people, and I keep my head down. I think I'll boil over soon, I just can't continue like this.

"We could go into the wilderness," I suggest one day.

Drake wrinkles his nose. "It won't be nearly as nice."

"And it will attract monsters," agrees Orca. "I'm sorry, Audin. This shouldn't be for much longer."

See, we were supposed to catch a plane up to LA, but we didn't have enough money to get back. I'd probably get spotted at the airport anyway. "And," Drake pointed out, "you might be the kid of a god Zeus rivals with, so he'd blast you out of the sky."

"Great," I muttered.

So I'm stuck in the shadows until we get to LA.

______

"Audin, why don't you talk to us?"

I look up at Orca. "What do you mean?" I ask innocently.

"We're not dumb, you know." I give her a look. "Well, maybe Drake is," she amends with a smile. "But it's important that you share what's on your mind, or you'll blow up."

I sigh. "I'm just..." Lost. "...confused as to what I should do when it's time I leave camp. I can't live on the run forever."

Orca smiles. "That's okay! Mr D could manipulate the Mist, or..." She perks up. "Or someone could adopt you!"

I raise an eyebrow. "Adopt me?" I say in a disbelieving tone. "I'm sorry, but I don't want some random from camp to be my daddy just because I need to get away." I chuckle bitterly. "And Miss Take will probably press charges or something."

Orca sighs too. "Just think about it, okay? We're your friends and we want to help you. We love you." She smirks. "Drake especially."

My head snaps up. "What?! He told you he loves me?" My heart is thumping.

She laughs. "Nah, but he may as well have."

I fall back onto the bed I'm sitting on. "Phew," I slip in quickly.

I can't see her, but I can basically hear her smirk. "Whatever. You guys are meant for each other."

I don't answer her and close my eyes.

The door bangs open, and Drake swaggers (come on, I know I can't see him, but we all know it's happening) into the motel room. "Food! The amazing child of Athena brings food!"

I fall asleep with a smile on my face.

______

"You let them get away?" I shiver. The female voice is so low and menacing.

"I-I did my best," says a cowering man.

That was the wrong thing to say. "You let them get away again?!"

She lashes out at the man, and he falls onto the ground next to a lump. I recognise him as the man who attacked us.

"He helped them! The gods are helping them!"

She considers this. "Strange. They must be desperate if they're interfering this much..." She looks down at the man with distaste. "As for you, a great punishment will suffice... For now. If you continue to be a failure, you may end up like the eagle."

The man gulps and looks at the lump next to him, which I recognise now as the eagle that saved us. But dead.

The girl turns to her comrades, who have been standing in the shadows. "Who volunteers? Who is strong enough to bring us one step closer to freedom?"

The dream begins fading away as a man steps forward, but I'm waking up and can't see him...

"Audin!"

My eyes snap open, and there I am, back in my bed in the motel room. Drake and Orca are looking over me. While Orca looks concerned, Drake is in a sweat. "You were tossing and turning," he babbles, "and you were moaning-"

"I'm fine," I interrupt, warmed by his deep concern. "But there's someone else coming after us."

Orca frowns, Drake still looking pale. "Who?"

I shake my head. "I didn't see him. But the guy that failed to get us twice is being punished, so the people that want me are coming themselves..." I frown at the floor, my mind turning. "We need to get to LA quicker. We can't keep doing this."

Drake nods. "We need to make quicker progress. Just because we don't have a deadline doesn't mean we can mess around." He turns to me again. "You're right, Audin. It's time to go more into the bush and cut across without being seen."

Orca grimaces. "What about the monsters?"

I sit straighter. "We're trained half bloods, we can do this."

Orca bites her lip. "And we'll be saving money. I can sort the food out."

Drake contributes a final nod. "Its settled. Enjoy this motel while you can." He jumps onto the couch and pulls his cap over his head.

"We should probably sleep too," suggests Orca.

"I'm not tired," I reply quickly.

She face palms. "I'm dumb! Of course you don't want another dream." My face starts going a little red. "It's not cowardly," she assures me. "The dreams suck."

She brightens and pulls something from Drake's bag: a book.

"Drake passed a bookstore and saw this. He thought you'd like it."

She passed it to me and I read the title aloud. "Greek Mythology Encyclopaedia. This is great!"

"You can catch up on your history while we sleep." She starts setting out her pillows before turning back to me.

"You don't have dyslexia, do you?" I shake my head. "ADD?" I repeat the action. "Hm," she says, then lies down and closes her eyes.

I curl up and open the book, ready to learn more about my ancestors' history and try to forget how much of an alien I am.

I lie there for hours, drinking up knowledge, stories and history. I ache when I recognise the stories Drake told me, what feels like a million years ago on the cabin 11 porch.

Soon, the words seem to be leaking on the pages, and no matter how much I avoid it, sleep over takes me.

Thank the gods; no dreams.

______

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