AJ Hale & The Olympians: Son of Lightning

Chapter Thirteen: Dakota Get's Unclaimed...then Reclaimed

                I was awoken by voices in the plane's cargo hold. Two men were talking to each other while unloading. We had landed without waking up. I gently shook Dakota awake. She had used my shoulder as a pillow, and I chose to ignore the new drool spot on my camp shirt.

Jasper was in a sugar coma, having found a crate of Peanut M&Ms and eaten Dakota's weight in Peanut M&Ms. He was covered in a blanket of yellow wrappers with cartoon M&M mascots.

"Man... I'm tired. I hate coming to New Mexico; it's always so hot here," one man complained.

"Well, duh, it's in the desert," the other man said. "I was more surprised that the boss made us fly in this weather; I for sure thought we'd hit a ton of turbulence. But it was as smooth as glass."

"Hey...Tony... These crates have been opened."

"What?! I can't get blamed for this again. Last time, I did it for sure, but this time, I didn't!"

"All of the crates are opened, and there's a trail of candy wrappers leading deeper in."

Dakota and I glared at Jasper. He smiled nervously. The crate Jasper put to seal our hideout was being moved. Out of panic mostly, I rammed into the crate wall, toppling them over onto the two men. I pulled Dakota out while Jasper climbed out quickly.

"Hey!"

"Ouch... hey you stop!"

Jasper dove onto the conveyor, Dakota right after him. There was a third man, who grabbed my shoulder and ripped off my backpack. My foot swung up, kicking the man in the no-no spot, making him topple to the ground in an instant.

"Sorry!" I shouted as I dove onto the conveyor. Leaving my bag behind on the plane.

I slid down the conveyor and hit the ground in a run. Confused workers stared at me as I sprinted through the new hanger. Dakota was waving at me from an open door, I ran through and Jasper shut the door behind us. Sticking a broken broom handle through the door handle, locking it tight.

"Where's your bag?" Dakota asked me.

"Had to ditch it. Come on over this fence," I pointed to a large chain-link fence, this time it had weird, coiled metal on the top, with sharp-looking prongs.

"Wait!" Dakota stopped me from jumping onto the fence. "That's barbed wire, it will shred your skin!"

"Oh, thanks Kota," I smiled. "See, useful," I winked.

"What do we do now?" Jasper asked.

I looked at the fence, and then Capture the Flag appeared in my head. "I got a plan, stand back."

They took a couple of steps back, and the door to the hanger started to rattle. The workers had come to their senses and decided to chase us. I put both hands on the fence and closed my eyes.

I didn't know how I got it to activate the first time, so I wasn't sure what to do now. I briefly thought about having Dakota try and kill me again, but that plan was snuffed out quickly.

I started thinking of nothing but ice, snow, and coldness. Eventually, I felt a tug in my gut, and a chill ran down my spine and nerves. My eyes opened and the fence was frozen over completely. Jasper threw a rock at the fence, and all the frozen links shattered like brittle glass. Leaving a large hole for us to run through.