For the Better

Chapter 9 ~ The Rental Car

Brooke's Pov
All of the sudden, people were screaming. Not because they saw a monster, which they didn't unless they can see through the mist, but because the three of us were flipping tables and trying to escape. The coffee shop was small, and this weird bat-killer thing had trapped us. Leo hadn't drawn a weapon and he was frantically going through his tool belt. Nico ran in front of me and whispered quickly, "Go get Leo a weapon. I'll take him first. Go!"

I ran to Leo's aid. Something like an Apollo child would do, except this was different. I shuffled through my bag. "Jeez, Leo! Take these daggers for the gods' sake!" He smiled a worries smile. I took the bow and arrow.

I watched carefully as Nico dodged and slashed at this malicious creature. I was about to run towards Nico, but I was stopped. Something grabbed my arm. I turned. Leo had one of my daggers to his throat and another one of those stupid bat things had him! A third had my arm. I kicked the monster off me and quickly shot an arrow. He immediately turned to dust. I aimed towards the one holding Leo.

"Don't shoot unless you want them both dead," one screeched. I turned around again to see the first one holding Nico's stygian iron sword towards his throat. Wonderful, I though. I looked around the room for a way to win. The TVs were loosely hung. There was one above Nico but not Leo.

It's worth a shot, I told myself. I pointed the arrow towards the lines in which held the TV. The creature let go of Nico, and as soon it let go of him, he ran. The bat thing screeched as it turned to dust. I turned around to see A pile of dust next to Leo. I smiled. Nico fixed a table then came back by us. "What was that?" I asked him. "You don't want to know. It's better if I don't tell you anything." Leo laughed. "It's because you aren't sure yourself, isn't it?" Nico frowned and looked at the floor. "Yeah..."

"So about the quest-" I started, but the piles of dust began to swirl. They formed a faint path in the ground. "Yeah about that," Leo said. "I've got an idea. Then again, I think this is showing us too." We looked back and forth between each other. "Okay. So, I guess we walk." Leo, Nico, and I began to follow the path made by the dust of the creepy bat things.

After about three hours of walking I got tired. I think we all were tired. "Do you guys want to rent a car or something? Or get a taxi?" I asked them. "That could be great," Leo said and Nico nodded his head in agreement.

About 15 minutes later, we stumbled past a rental car shop. "I got this," Leo smiled. "Get money, and be ready to get out of here fast." I rolled my eyes, and grabbed my wallet full of mortal money and Olympian money. Nico walked mysteriously towards the door to the garage where all the cars were. I handed Leo some money and walked over by Nico. We waited for Leo to come back with keys.

"$150! We don't have that much, please." Leo looked over to me. I only had a total of $150 left and that was for food, maybe a hotel, and other things we needed. This is still day one! Leo had $50 at the moment. I handed him an extra $35. "Leo, that's all we can afford." He nodded and turned back to the man.

"Please can we take a car for $85?" The man at the counter shook his head. I felt a draft and looked to my right. Nico walked out of the door into the garage. "Nico what are you doing?!" I whispered. "Shh. We are getting a car. That man isn't going to give us one." He grabbed a pair of keys off a high rack, and pressed a button. A pair of lights shown on a car a couple feet away.

"Again I'm sorry, kid, but I can't sell you a car," the man said to Leo. Nico got in the car and signaled me to get Leo. I walked up to the counter. "I'm sorry, sir, but we already have a car to take. I grabbed Leo's arm and we ran out to the car. The man yelled after us as we got into the car.

"So who knows how to drive?" Nico asked. My eyes widened. "Nico switch with me!" I yelled. Nico and I switched seats, and I started the car with shaky hands. The man from the counter just got to the car as I stepped on it. The man ran after us and kept yelling at us. Leo put the extra $85 in my wallet for me as we drove. Carefully, I kept my eyes on the road as we followed the path of dust.

It gradually started to get darker as we drove. "Where are we?" I asked. "I think Cincinnati," Nico answered. "We have to find a place to stay the night," I told him. "Camp out?" He asked. "Sure, why not? Leo?" I quickly looked to the back seats of the car, where Leo sat. "Yeah that's fine," he answered.

We drove for about another 5-10 minutes before coming across a decent size forest. I quietly and quickly drove the car deep into the heart of the forest. We all got out of the car with our supplies. "We should gather materials for the night," Leo said. I nodded as we all went searching for some fire wood.