The God's Reign: Book one, The Knowing

Ch. 21- I get distracted by a hot guy to write a good chapter title.. wait what?

Before I joined the others, I had Hillary come with me to get Lucifer down from the roof. When we got there, he was already in cat form, sound asleep, his leg still swollen from his wound. He won't be able to travel for a while, I concluded. We'll have to find another way of transportation around the continent. I held in my arms for the rest of the way.

We ran back the group and we started walking down the street again, led by Daniel. It was now sunset in Philadelphia, vibrant colors such as blue, pink, and yellow shadowing over the sidewalks as if chalk had been smeared on every inch of it. But we had to move, for we wanted to get there  by dark- wherever there was.

Along the way, Caleb and Dan talked to each other, laughing about references to Blink- 182 songs and jokes that steamed with dark humor. They seemed to get along- so well that I caught Caleb blush at Dan's comments about being gay as well. Caleb wasn't starting to like him... was he?

Dan led us through the corner of the sidewalk, which had a battered up wooden fence taking up the space between two apartment complexes. Dan climbed over the fence and on the other end, he lifted up one of the boards. "C'mon," he ushered us through.

Behind the fence was an area that seemed to be inhabited; aluminum trashcans and clothes littered every place you stepped, random supplies and food boxes piled up against the wall. A gray tarp hung by metal cables attached to the surrounding buildings, making a roof over the mess. In the center of the space, a kindling fire lay on what appeared to be a sheet of golden metal.

A guy my age, maybe a year older, sat on one of the trash cans like a barstool. He tore red fabric apart from a dirty shirt. He lifted up his jeans and applied the fabric to a healing cut on his ankle. He winced as he tied it up. Looking up, the guy met our eyes- then mainly stared at me. A smile started to grow on his mouth. My cheeks suddenly felt hot.

"What do we got here, ole Danny-boy?" He approached Dan.

"Clem, you're not going to believe this!" Dan clapped his friend on the back, making the guy, Clem, lurch forward out of breath.

"I always have trouble believing in anything you say so it shouldn't be hard." Clem huffed sarcastically.

Dan ignored his partner's retort. "Okay, so you know those demigods you see in your dreams sometimes- the ones who're recruiting others to rebuild Olympus- The Secondary Olympians?"

Clem wrinkled his nose in suspicion. "Yeah... so?"

Dan gestured to the five of us with huge exagerated jazz hands. "Ta-da! I ran into them today battling a centaur-" Dan paused. "Wait.. wasn't there another bloke with ya- short, pudgy cheeks, curly hair, sweaty, looked like a chipmunk?"

"Yeah, but Miles had to split... parental issues," I explained.

"Good riddance," Ethan snapped under his breath. I shot him another look and elbowed his ribs.

Dan nodded in consideration. But Clem didn't say anything. Still astonished by the fact that we were the Secondary Olympians, as Dan called us which was a pretty clever name, Clem looked us over curiously one by one, as if testing if we were the real thing. "Is what Dan said true?" He asked.

"Damn skippy," Hannah rejoiced. 

Clem blinked. He started to ponder. "Which one of you is the leader- of the quest, I mean?"

Without hesitation, Hillary, Ethan, Hannah, and Caleb scooted to the side, gesturing to me. "It's your time to shine, Sierra." Hillary patted me on the back. I laughed out of awkwardness. Clem pulled up a trashcan next to him and patted on the top of the lid. He wanted me to sit down.