Heart of the Universe: Discovery

CHAPTER THREE: UNVEILING

Percy sat up, his nostrils burning. The smelling salts were disgusting. He paused only a moment to dwell on that, because he had a prickly, uncomfortable feeling that he was being watched. He turned to look at the back corner of the room and glared right at it, where the sense was coming from. Percy tried to look as unpleasant as possible; once an enemy of his named Kelli had scared a dreamer away from her, maybe Percy could do the same. A moment or two more, and then the presence was gone, so he turned to look around the room. Percy's breath caught in his throat mid-inhale. It was beautiful. It was a cave filled with luminous crystals that covered the room instead of stalactites and stalagmites(Or was it stalagtites and stalacmites? Annabeth usually covered that department.). 

He was on a large stone table surrounded by medical tools including tweezers, an odd tool Percy had never seen before, and (yuck) smelling salts. What he saw next made Percy jump. It really should have been the first thing he noticed, and Percy didn't really see it as much as hear  it as it said loudly, suddenly, and very enthusiastically," Hello, young human!" Percy nearly jumped out of his seat.The creature was Percy's height, with short legs, a huge chest that produced not two but four arms, and a large head with horns, an odd, orange nose, and a little bit of blue, fur-like hair that ringed the back of his head right under his horns.

 Percy grabbed Anaklusmos and uncapped it, in a hurry to get out of this strange place with all its weird teenagers and stone monsters."Welcome! I am sorry this place is messy, but my friends quite enjoy tossing around my books rather than reading them." They seemed friendly enough to Percy, but so had Luke, Procrustes, Circe, Quintus, and countless others. He hesitantly uncapped Riptide, unleashing a three-foot xiphus(average greek sword) made of Celestial bronze. It had worked its blade against many, including the trollhunter himself, but Percy didn't know that yet. "Ooh, that is quite an interesting relic you have!" The four-armed creature exclaimed, sounding not at all jealous or nervous, simply curious."Did you acquire it at Rotgut's?" "What- what are you?"Percy asked. The strange monstes reminded him of Sop and that random river troll, but they looked completely different.

"Do all people in New Jersey smell like the sea? Because you have a very strong odor of sea salt."It continued, oblivious to Percy's question."I suppose you are are just a changeling, so you would try to blend in to your surroundings, so, yes, all New Jersans  must smell that way. Or is it New Jerseyans? It is so confusing being in such a new place!"It droned on, answering itself, seemingly unaware to Percy's attempts to get his attention.  "Is he always this dense?"He muttered to himself."Oh my gods,  are you ever going to listen to me?" Percy grumbled under his breath. "My dear boy, are you always this cantankerous?  It  is  quite  rude  to-"Blinky cut off mid-lecture."Did you- did you just say oh my gods?" He whispered, one ear tentatively reaching out. Percy silently cursed himself. If it didn't know about the gods, then as a general rule, he should not tell it about them. He wished Annabeth were here. She would know what to do. Percy decided to go with his gut, which was and had been screaming,"RUN!" at the top of its nonexistent lungs ever since Percy first saw the stone-skinned creatures. He ran right out the cave entrance and barely had enough time to register the purple shadow portal opening up in front of him until he was hurtling feet-first through blackness and colliding into Claire.

                                                            💠     💠     💠

Claire was feeling horrible. Her first human friend since she left Arcadia and he turned out to be a changeling. It had been odd to see him in a swordsman's  stance when they met, but it had been insane when he had murdered Sop. Which reminded her, she couldn't slip up like that again with that gasp. She was lucky he hadn't investigated.They called Nomura up to investigate in case she knew Percy. Somehow, Claire doubted Nomura would. There was something about Percy that was off, like we didn't know enough to determine who or what he was. Claire had been going to check on him when Percy landed in her portal and they collided. Claire was pushed back through her entry portal with a dazed-looking Percy. He got up a moment later, took a nanosecond to register Claire, and rushed toward the sunlight of the sewer grates far above. Claire, NotEnrique, and Nomura close behind. What happened next was beyond words. The sewer water blasted up into a funnel, Percy Jackson atop of it, spiraling him to the high ceiling twenty feet above.He pushed off the grate and the hole of Heartstone Trollmarket recoiled as early morning light spilled in. He yelled back down, "See ya, Typhon spawn!" The world was still for a few moments as everyone pondered the events before Blinky, Aaarrgghh, and a limping Jim stumbled into the room. As Nomura filled them in on the strange events, Claire went to stand next to Jim. He smiled and took her hand. A lengthy explanation later, Jim and Blinky had a few ideas."Yes, young pupils," Blinky said, eyes shining as he prepared to do what he loved most."it appears we have some studying to do!"

                                                 ⚠️ ATTENTION READERS⚠️

I write this to apologize for the short chapter. I have a monster head ache and a mild case of writer's block, which here means I was running low on ideas during this chapter. I have quite a few ideas for the next chapter, but if you have any fun plot twists, ideas for events or monsters, minor ideas, whatever, feel free to post them any time. I just might use them, so be sure to post them!