Signs of a Storm

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter 39: Our Best Friend Returns

"Is everyone ready to go? We need to get moving!" Percy shouted at us, making sure we were all ready for the scout trip.

I paced around, waiting for someone to give us the go. I really wanted to explore and look around. Not just for the quest, but also for my uncle. "Percy, you've asked all of us that more than ten times. Let's just start going." I mumbled.

"I agree." Leo said, since he was, in fact, healed and ready for the small trip around the city, and possibly to Mount Tam.

I crossed my arms and walked away from him, and over closer to Hazel. She was really the only one I could stand to be around. Leo made my blood boil, Nico made my insides get so twisted up with a feeling I didn't know about, or like, and Percy was too anxious. He literally would not stop walking in place so much, I told him to run five laps.

"Okay. I think we can go." Percy said, stating the obvious.

We all sighed, "No dip, Sherlock." I seethed.

"Does that make you Watson?" Nico came over and asked me. I gave him a glare, meaning for him not to mess with me, but he ignored it and continued talking from his ass. "Because I can totally see you as the sidekick." He snickered.

Ever since the night before, Nico was paying more attention to me, but I didn't appreciate it. The whole morning he'd teased me. I was starting to think that the weird feeling in my stomach was anger. But when it came by, it felt more like things flying around. Not like waves angrily crashing and toppling over each other. I decided to ignore it.

"Just go find someone else to piss off." I sneered, "There's a total of five of us. Go find someone else to mess around with."

Hazel noticed for the first time that I was ready to punch her brother, and she shooed him away. The exit from New Rome was in front of us. Percy got it, and we all entered through. Back to the real world, and it wasn't fun.

The soft dew in the air and the intoxicating smell of sulfur and gases came back to me once again. We walked out and into the sunlight. In the distance, I saw the Golden Gate bridge. The town stretched out before it, and I knew that somewhere down there, my uncle Dillon was waiting for me to come. I wondered if I could get away...

"So, what will we be doing when we get down to the town?" Leo asked, breaking me from my thoughts. I could plan later.

"Scope around. Look for suspicious activity. Anything at all that you think might have to do with the monsters." Percy answered.

I nodded, and began walking towards the town that beheld my destiny.

All five of us stood in the middle of a shopping plaza. Unsure of what to do, we didn't want to stick together. It'd appear too suspicious. So, we split into groups. I was with Hazel, and the boys stuck together to go do whatever boys do. "Remember, we're not here to play. We need to find out where in Hades they came from." I told everyone. "Got it?" I looked around at everybody's faces, making sure they understood.

Hazel and I went left, in the direction of the Golden Gate Bridge. Percy had said he'd wanted to try and find someone who could possibly give him answers. When I asked anyone in particular and if I should keep an eye out for him, he had shrugged, and said, "You'll know him when you smell him." I didn't want to know what he meant.

"Hey look!" Hazel exclaimed.

She pointed to a tour trolley that was loading up. I gave her a look of excitement as we walked up to it. I sighed when I saw that the fee was high. "Don't worry about it, check it out." Hazel stepped up to the tour man and waved her hands.