Running From the Olympians

Chapter 4

Rydia's P.O.V.

We've been walking around Long Island all day, now. Every time we took a turn onto a different street, Jay would mutter something, and turn around. I could make out a few phrases like, "This way?" "No, it was that way." She'd also talk about some guy named Chiron, though Nyla and I didn't know about him.

Ever since I'd met Jay, I'd been wondering if I should've stayed on my own. She thinks I'm a demigod. Yeah, right. Me, the girl that always gets picked on, with a god for a father. Not likely. I'd always been criticized for being "different." What they meant by different, I don't know. I just know that they always had something to criticize me for, and I def I tell hated it. I hope this camp we're going to won't be the same. That'd be pretty terrible.

Nyla snapped in my face. "Hey. Earth to Rydia."

"What? Sorry, I was, uh, thinking about stuff..." I said.

Nyla's eyes narrowed, but she didn't ask what I was thinking about. "Come on. Jay said she knows where she's going now."

"Does she actually know where we're going this time, or are we gonna have to circle around Long Island again?"

"Hey. I've only been to Camp Half-Blood once," Jay protested.

"You said you'd lived there for four years," I said.

"Yeah, but I never left," she said. "Only once, actually."

"So why'd you leave?"

"I kept getting everyone hurt," Jay said. "No more questions. We have to keep moving." She quickly started going back the way we came.

"That's the way we came," Nyla called out.

Jay turned around and quickly walked the other way. "I knew that," she grumbled.

Nyla sighed and started after her. I followed.

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*AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER*

"How much longer?" I groaned.

"Not much longer," Jay said, and turned left onto another abandoned street.

"I'm starving," Nyla said.

"Would you two stop complaining? I know where we're going now," Jay said, irritated.

"You said you knew where we were going hours ago," I muttered.

Jay checked her digital watch. "Only about an hour and a half since I said that. It's weird, though."

"What's weird?" Nyla asked.

"We haven't encountered any monsters. I was sure we'd be constantly running," Jay said, and turned right.

Nyla and I followed. "Why would monsters keep chasing us?" I asked.

"Oh, just simple things, like-"

BOOM. Lightning shot past us, nearly missing Jay's head.

"Great. You jinxed it!" Nyla complained.

I stared in awe at the monster. It was like a storm cloud, but it looked like a person in a way. Electricity coursed through the monster, and it floated.

"Run. Keep running for about a mile. Don't look back. You'll see a pine tree. Keep going once you see it. There will be a big house. Go towards it," Jay ordered.

Jay pressed a button on her bracelet, which I had just noticed, had sparks around it. It transformed into a sword, and she grabbed it.

"We're not leaving you," Nyla said.