The Lion Boy

The Lion Boy Part 19

Percy POV

I ended up falling asleep on the ground, and being woken up by Annabeth and Luke, who had packed up and headed out in search of me. Then there was the camel. It nearly dripped spit onto my eyes, its head looming over me, as if to inspect me. Luckily, I was awake enough to will the slimy liquid away.
"You guys got a camel?" I croaked, my voice not quite responding as it should after I had just woken up. Annabeth grinned at me.
"Just temporarily. She wandered into camp, so we figured she'd be useful until we got to, uh, wherever we're going. Easier than walking, at least."
"Does she have a name?" Luke grinned.
"Bessy." I rolled my eyes and sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I ran a hand through my hair and picked out a few twigs.
"Bessy seems to have run away," I noted, taking in the saddle. Luke shrugged.
"Let's be going then." I took a step closer, sending the spit the camel sent our way the other direction. "Who wants to drive first?" I asked. I got no response, as they both stared back at me. "How about I do it?" Annabeth smiled.
"Great idea Percy!" She said sarcastically, but in a playful way. I punched her lightly on the shoulder. Now, how did one get a camel to kneel so that we could get on top of her? I went for the obvious.
" أسفل." This meant down. It worked. She lowered herself to the ground, and folded her legs under her. "Alright, well, I've never ridden a camel before. Let's see how this works. Luke, can you take the back seat, Annabeth and I are going to have to share the front. We should be okay, seeing as we're both small." I clambered on, and motioned for Annabeth to get on behind me. She did, and wrapped her arms around my torso. I liked that. I waited for Luke then reached for the reins. Maybe if down had worked...
"فوق." Up, I told her in arabic. She did as I said, thankfully. I didn't quite know what I was doing here so this was all guessing. I had ridden the pegasi at camp, and knew the signals to get them to go faster. I gently dug my foot into her side, she started. I tapped her side twice, and she went into a brisk jog. Annabeth, evidently was tired, and she fell asleep. Her head was resting on my shoulder, and her arms tightened around my waist. I blushed faintly, but continued to drive, occasionally brushing some of her blonde curls out of my face. Albeit they were very pretty, almost princess like, but still there. Luke and I made small talk, until he asked me a question that led to a more serious topic.
"Why did you end up falling asleep outside of camp?"
"I had dream." I admitted, not facing him, eyes latching onto the horizon, where we were coming upon a village.
"What? Why didn't you tell us?"
"I don't have the slightest idea about what it means." I deadpanned.
"At least tell me, maybe I can help work it out." I felt Annabeth stirring, and I knew they had me cornered.
"What's this I hear about a dream?" She asked groggily. I sighed.
"It's kind of morbid, guys." Annabeth poked me.
"Explain." She demanded. I did, conveniently leaving about the part about Melinoe. That felt too personal, and gave me the chills to think about. I had a faint speculation about what she needed me to do for her, and a certain line of the prophecy, which connected together meant something bad. By the time I was done, we had pulled into town. This was quite a bit bigger than the last one we stopped in, but we drew a lot more curious eyes as well. We dismounted, and I led Bessy over to where a few other camels were tied up and drinking water. I put a more intricate knot at the end of the reins, and let her be. It was now time to find out where we were, and where Thalia was.
We went into the nearest store, which apparently sold food. Inside I went up to the cashier.
"This is a really nice store, in a really nice country." I started awkwardly. "Uh- speaking of that whole country business. I don't suppose you know which one we're in?" His eyes narrowed at me. In all fairness I was probably quite a sight, ridiculously tanned from walking around in the heat, (We had sunscreen in our packs.) covered in camel hair, sweaty, a child, and speaking fluent arabic when I very obviously wasn't from around here. Anybody could tell that with one glance at my eyes.
"You're in Jordan." He responded stiffly. I nodded, thanking him before walking out. Upon exit, I noticed somebody had just drove into town, and was shouting something about vigilanti children. I listened for a moment, and found the messenger was talking about our escapade back in, well, wherever that was. He then continued to say that- oh crap. This was bad. This was really bad. I grabbed Annabeth and Luke's arms and dragged them back to Bessy. I managed to snatch a newspaper on the way, which I stuffed in Annabeth's hands.
"Percy! What's the matter?" Luke yelled as we ran.
"I'll explain later, in the meantime, we need to go!" We got back quickly, though somebody was attempting to steal her. I quickly made the water in the trough drench him, and after saying a few colorful words, he went off. I began untying the knot as fast as I could. In the next two minutes we were out, Bessy in a run as we headed out. Once we were a few miles away I allowed myself to breathe. Annabeth placed a hand on my arm.
"What was that about? We hardly learned anything!" She complained.
"That's why we have the newspaper." I retorted shortly, then cursed myself for snappin at her.
"Sorry. That was rude. But it was sort of a compromising situation." I turned back to look at them.
"You know the men we chased out of the village?" They nodded.
"Apparently, they're a gang around here, and they've set a price on our capture. Dead or alive. We humiliated them, and their leader doesn't appreciate it."
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A/N: Hey guys! Nice to see you. And you. And all of you. Hope you enjoy the chapter, it's a little over one thousand words. I hope you guys don't mind me involving mortal problems, but seriously they're going to run into trouble running around the Middle East. Nobody got the meaning of the dream yet, so you can still win that contest. (Check last chapter A/N for details.) I've put a Percico / Pernico one shot up, it's called Meeting my Demons, and I hope you guys like it. School is starting next week for me, but I don't think it will interfere with updates. I've decided Demigods in the TARDIS is most likely going to be a one-shot, but hear me out on why. Every episode of Doctor Who has a very intricate and extravagant plot, that I don't think I can do consecutively. Just so you guys know, it will be with Rose and Ten, because that was my favorite time in the series, as Rose is my favorite companion. Thanks for your guy's continued support, with all of the comments, votes, and views! This story wouldn't be where it is without every one of you, and I'm so grateful. It still kind of amazes me that this story has gotten so far and it's so long. It's actually 41 computer pages long. It started out as a sort of unique, but vague idea I had and now it's developed to this. Thank you!
Your Favorite Demigod,
Isa Rivers