Book 1 of Sapphire North and the Pantheon of Olympus: The Secret of The Bow and Arrows

Chapter 22

"Hey guys, look what I found!" Melissa said, approaching myself and a still silent James.

She appeared to be pointing at a run-down diner at the opposite side of the woods.

"Congratulations, you found a crummy food shack that is of no relevance to us! You win one million dollars!" I said in my best game-show-host voice.

"No, stupid, its FOOD. I don't know about you but I am starving. What do you say we eat?"

No one argued. We grabbed our few possessions and climbed through the small wood that separated us from the diner.

Casually as possible, we slid into a booth seat, looking over the small menu.

A waitress came up to us and eyed us suspiciously, but was silent. "Can I take your order?" she asked us in an accent that sounded New-Jersian (is that even a word?).

James and I ordered cheeseburgers; Melissa got chicken fingers.

Before the waitress left, I asked her where we were. She cocked an eyebrow at me and replied "Fairmont, West Virginia, obviously."then turned and sashayed towards the kitchen.

"West Virginia!" James' eyes widened "That's still 736 miles from Memphis."

"How did you do it that fast?" I asked in awe.

"Son of Athena, remember?" he said, tapping his forefinger to his temple.

"So we still have like, what, 10 hours from Memphis? And we still have 4 days to get there. What's the rush?" Melissa said as she folded her napkin into a paper plane.

"Well in those four days, anything could happen" James began, just as the food was set on the table. "I mean, come on, our taxi exploded, we were attacked by Stymphalian birds... its almost like Apollo hopes we don't reach Tennessee."

I didn't really think Apollo was the problem but I think I did know what was in the pit, and I hoped that my guess was wrong.

After we had all stuffed ourselves, Melissa realized a small problem. "Um, guys? Unless this place accepts drachmas, we have no form of payment."

James sat up in his seat. "Meaning?"

"Meaning we have no way of paying for dinner. We blew all of our money on the taxi. What are we supposed to do?"

As if overhearing our conversation, the waitress walked over to our table and asked for money. We glanced at each other until a broad, commanding voice spoke from behind her.

"Relax, doll. I got this. And can you bring us another round of fries?"

The waitress nodded and scampered off into the kitchen, as I got my first look at the speaker.

It was a tall, bulcky dude in an orange muscle tee, a leather biker jacket and dark denim jeans. His face was covered with many scars from was most likely centuries of fighting. His eyes where hollow red sockets behnd ray-band sunglasses and his hair was a slick black cut army style. Also. his belt held an assortmant of gernades and other scary trinkets, with a dagger strapped to his thigh. He seemed o be radiating pure hatred because I suddenly got the urge to deck Melissa. So basically, this guy would make any military personal or thug gangs run for mama.

Anyways, he slid in next to James, who seemed slightly annoyed, and began picking his teeth with his dagger. "Who are you and what do you want?" I said before I could stop myself. I didn't like and I felt like his presence here would lead to trouble.

The dude chuckled. "You'll need to control that temper of yours if you want my help."

"How am I supposed to use your 'help' if you won't tell us who you are?" I shot back, losing my temper (did I mention how easily I get angry?).