Chaos Descends

The Dawn Wasn't So Welcoming

I woke up to someone shaking my arm. I jumped up immediately, ready for a fight. What I found instead was my brother with his hands up backing away from me a bit. "Whoa, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"My turn for watch?" I questioned.

"Actually, we're going." Hazel said appearing next to him as she shouldered her backpack.

"What? Percy did you just let me sleep?" I demanded. He shrugged.

"You needed it."

"Asshole woke me up instead." Axel grumbled behind me.

"Like I said, I wanted the girls to sleep longer. Be a man about it." Hazel and I rolled our eyes.

"Just because were girls doesn't mean we need to sleep more than boys especially when we're on a quest." Hazel pointed out to him.

"Thats what I said." Axel exclaimed throwing his hands up. Hazel and I laughed. There was a bark somewhere in the distance and I turned to find my hellhound chewing on some tree about twenty yards away.

"Nightwing! Stop that!" He whimpered and walked back towards us. I scratched his head and he began wagging his tail. "You ready to go boy? We're still looking for Nico." Nightwing started panting, his tongue lolling. "I think he's all set." I said motioning for him to sit down.

"How is he tracking your boyfriend?" Axel asked as I clambered onto of Nightwing's back. I shrugged a little.

"Must be a shadow travel thing." I looked to Hazel for help on the subject.

"If it is, I don't know how it's done." She said pursing her lips.

"You've only shadow traveled a couple of times now." Percy pointed out. Hazel nodded before sighing.

"Maybe I should do it more often. I would have known where he went then when he first left." I could tell she was blaming herself for not being able to stop him but I know Nico. We know Nico. If he had made up his mind about leaving, he was going to go.

"Well, let's see where he takes us next then." Percy said wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Right. Hang tight everyone." Leaning down, I whispered into Nightwing's ear. He perked up and sat up sniffing around a bit. He turned to the left and started running towards the road and then we melted into the shadows.

--

"Where are we?" Axel asked as we jumped off of Nigwing. He seemed more tired with this jump than he had with the last. He stumbled a little and flopped down onto somebody's lawn and started snoring.

"Not good." I murmured glancing around. The area looked a little familiar but that wasn't saying much. As a foster kid who was moved around a lot, I had been to all 48 states, excluding Alaska and Hawaii. Nobody was going to want a troublesome kid enough to pay for airfare for them to be a part of their family.

"Florida." Hazel said stripping off her jacket.

"How do you know?" Percy questioned. Hazel gestured to a house with a flag that read The Sunshine State.

"Well that would explain the humidity." I murmured tugging at my collar.

"Why is that house so bright?" The three of us turned toward Axel who was about five yards away from us down the street. He was staring at a house whose lights were on and he was right, it was unusually bright. We walked towards him slowly and as we stared at the house, it began to get harder to stare at it. It was like that feeling you get when you try to stare at the sun but can't.

"Is anyone else getting that sensation that they're.."

"Looking at the sun." Percy finished for me.