Percy Jackson and the Golden Net

So I Guess We're Fighting Pottery...

“Percy!” I heard her call my name the second I came around the corner of one of the buildings and into sight.

“Annabeth!” I called back. I was vaguely aware of Walt and another girl calling out to each other, but right then I was focused on Annabeth.

“Drew, are you ready?”

“Yes,” came her reply.

“C’mon then.”

“Where’s the person I’m supposed to talk to, though?”

That’s when we heard it. It sounded like a tree was stomping its way toward us, and I knew what it was. It smelled like an alley full of garbage had been dumped into a vat full of something incredibly sour.

I turned around, and sure enough, a huge Cyclops was lumbering toward us.

Drew started talking to the Cyclops immediately. “Oh, hello! How are you today? How am I? How sweet of you to ask! Well, my friends are trapped in that net over there and I was wondering if you would be so kind as to let them go?”

She talked rapid fire, asking several questions like those, and I knew the thing had no chance at all. I had to fight the urge to try and get the net up.

Carter and Walt seemed to struggle as well, but they stayed their ground.

The Cyclops turned its head like it was confused. It probably was. He walked over to the controls that seemed to have popped straight out of a building and pressed a button. The net came off, and Annabeth ran to me and trapped me in a hug. Sadie did the same to Walt, and then to Carter, but a little less enthusiastically.

The Cyclops just looked confused and Drew told it to go. It walked off. I was glad for that because he reminded me of Tyson. I knew that this one probably wasn’t as nice as him, but I still wouldn’t have wanted to kill it.

Then, our day got really weird. If that’s possible.

A dozen guys came out of nowhere. Six of them had on armor on, like normal armor, nothing special about it. The other six were the interesting ones. They had on what I thought were linen pajamas. They carried boomerang things, and staffs.

I stared at them, but Carter, Walt, and Sadie just started letting them have it. I shook my head, gave Annabeth and Drew a dagger, and took on the regular guys. They went down within minutes, and soon, Annabeth, Drew, and I stood over them. But they went slack, and their skin looked like it was cracking. Then, all of them turned to shards, like they were some sort of pottery.

We didn’t have much time to be amazed by this, though, because two pajama guys were still up, and Sadie looked ready to pass out. Carter and Walt looked like they were about to drop, too.

We ran over and started helping them, and soon we were done. All of them had turned to dust too.

“That was weird. Why’d they fall apart?” I asked.

“They were shabti,” Sadie said, blowing a loose piece of hair from her face. “Kind of like pot men.” She spoke with a slight British accent as though it had been suppressed by living in America too long.

Up close, she looked weird. She had red in her blonde hair, startlingly blue eyes, worn out jeans, a leather jacket over a dark blue shirt with the British flag on it, and combat boots. She was also chewing gum. When Carter had said sister, I had not pictured her like this. They looked almost nothing alike. Carter had dark skin, but Sadie had really light skin.

I was about to say this, but thought better of it. Annabeth would just punch me.

“So,” I said. “Thanks for the help Carter.” I stuck out my hand.

He took it. “Thank you.”

“So, I guess we’re done here.”

“Yeah,” Sadie said. “Thanks for rescuing me.” Then she looked to Drew and back. “I don’t really like the kind of people you hang out with if she’s your friend, but thanks.”

“Trust me,” I said whispering so only she could hear, “I don’t like her either. And you would love the kind of people I usually hang out with.” I backed off and winked, and she cracked a smile.