AJ Hale & The Olympians: Son of Lightning Book 1

Chapter Seven: I Blow Up a Subway

The car ride from Camp felt longer than it was. Dakota had lost Rock-Paper-Scissors and had to sit in the middle seat.

I learned how to play Rock-Paper-Scissors.

Jasper introduced me to the best band on the planet, Sugar Ray. He also put on some weird music I did not like in the slightest, which he called Country. The man driving us didn't say a single word the entire time.

Instead, he watched us with eyes on his neck, the back of his head, and the back of his hands—all blue, by the way. He had swept-back blonde hair and a few peeking eyes. His name was Argus, Dakota told me.

At one point, Dakota thought I was taking up too much room in her seat and pressing into her. She started to slap my leg with hers, and it turned into a fight for territory. Our legs slapped together with increasing power until Dakota cheated and punched my thigh as hard as she could, yelling something about Charlie's horse.

After that, Argus winked at me, I would have thought I had just miss seen it, but when fifty eyes wink at you, it's pretty hard to miss.

The ride took a few hours. When Argus parked the car near a park, it was already past lunchtime. Jasper made it clear to all of us that we were missing lunch.

"I'm starving!" he moaned every ten seconds.

"Shut it, goat boy!" Dakota would yell in response.

"Both of you shut it!" I would yell right after.

I think Argus had enough of us and just pulled over when he could. He got out of the car and pulled our bags out. When I was getting out, Dakota donkey kicked my butt, sending me face-first onto the sideway.

"Keep on your feet, Sky Guy," she mocked, grabbed her bag, and sat on a nearby bench.

Argus helped me up, where I accidentally poked an eye on his hand, "Sorry..."

He nodded, got in the car, popped a few pain relievers, and drove off. After he rubbed his temples before leaving, I didn't think it was for the eye.

"Welp. We are officially in danger," Jasper nodded. I have only one thing to say about that: Raise hell and Praise Dale." He started walking down the sidewalk.

Dakota and I glanced at each other. "Where are you going? The bus station is that way."

"I smell food this way!" Jasper said.

Dakotan and I shared a look. And we had our first mutual understanding.

"Food." We said at the same time.

We had walked a few blocks by the time we caught up with Jasper. His nose was leading us somewhere; Dakota and I couldn't smell. We must have walked a few miles before Jasper got excited and ran ahead again. He disappeared into a building before we could catch up. Dakota looked at the sign and sighed heavily.

"When he brought me to camp, we stopped at a thousand of these places. I never wanted to see another sub sandwich again."

It took a few moments for me to read the sign, "What's... Subway?"

"A fast food restaurant that makes sandwiches," Dakota opened the door, and we filed in.

The Subway was empty, except for a Dad and his daughter eating together. The smell was weird, like I inhaled some herbs and meat.