I Am Not Your Sidekick

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

So the week went by. I barely saw Kaldur anymore and pretty soon I didn't see him at all. The time for me to go to the surface finally came.

I packed my things into a big bag and got ready to leave my home.

My dad was sad to see me go. He gave me American dollars in case I needed cash. I could tell that he didn't want me to go away. It would get lonely for him without an awesome son to make him laugh, but I knew that this would always be my home, so... I guess that's enough for me.

Dad brought me as close yo the surface as he could go without letting anybody see him, but then it was my turm to walk alone.

I have to say, Miami beach is beautiful. The sand sparkled gold in the sunlight. There were beautiful girls on their multicoloured towels and children and parents playing in the sand under blue, red and yellow umbrellas. The sun shined brightly and it was a clowdless day.

I watched it from afar with only my head sticking out of the water. Fishes were swimming around me and occasionally, sharks too.

But this wasn't close enough. So I began swimming to the shore.

Every once in a while a wave would tumble on me, but I knew that was just my dad messing with me.

I ducked my head underwater again and swam all the way to the shore, where I stood up and walked out of the waves.

Girls gaped at me. I wasn't wearing a shirt, just green shorts that I found comfortable.

I brushed my black hair out of my face and grinned. One thing I loved about being the son of Poseidon: I was never wet unless I wanted to be. And I didn't want to be wet now, so I wasn't.

I walked all the way to the parking lot and found a taxi waiting for me.

I knocked on the front window. It rolled down, revealing a woman with two blone ponytails, the ends coloured red and black.

"Hi, sugar. Where you headed?" Her voice was squeaky and it sounded like six year old girls giggles. I didn't find it amusing when she called me 'sugar' either.

"Uhmm, I was hoping you could take me to midtown to the train station." I said, uncertainly.

"Sure thing, sugar. Get in. " I put my bag next to me in the back seat and closed the door.

Big mistake.

As soon as the doors closed, the woman behind the wheel sped of, making me clutch my seatbelt. She rushed over stop signs and almost got into a car wreck, but she seemed so calm while I was holding on for dear life.

"So what's your name, sweetie?" She asked.

"Perceus. " I stuttered.

"Cool name. I'm gonna call you Percy. My name is Harley."

"Yeah, my friends call me Percy. Well, except for Kaldur'ahm sometimes, but he's annoying, so..." I let the sentence hang in the air.

"Kaldur'ahm? What? That fish guy's sidekick?" She asked, sounding very interested.

"He'd be really mad if he heard you calling his king ' that fish guy' and he would be even angrier if he heard you calling him a 'sidekick'. " I said, thinking about my friend.

"So, percy, where do you come from?" She asked after a while.

"Uhh, it's kinda hard to explain. I don't really want to talk about it." I said looking out the window, just to see us passing the train station.

"Um, Harley, you just passed the train station. " I said, getting a panicking feeling in my gut. It screamed, " GET OUT OF THERE!"

"Oh, my mistake. I forgit to tell you that I'm not taking you to the train station. Sorry 'bout that." She shrugged it off and giggled.

"Uhm.... where are we going then?"

"It's kinda hard to explain. So I'm not gonna. Let's just say that my boyfriend told me that some hero's friend is coming today and I need to act like I'm a taxi driver and pick you up. Then bring you to him."

"So, what? You're kidnapping me?" I asked, half as a joke.

"It's nothing personal. It's just business." She said rolling up the screen that separated the driver and the passenger. The doors locked and I was no longer able to keep calm.

I banged on tne doors and tried kicking the windows out. Nothing worked. And I was way to panicky to even try to make the water in the engin go to the battery and explode the car.

"Hey! Keep quiet back there!" She yelled as I kept on banging on the windows.

Next thing I knew, a sweet and sour odour burned my nostrils. I suddenly felt really calm and up in the clouds.

Dark spots were covering my sight and I slowly let the darkness take over........