Brighter Than the Sun

Chapter Twenty-Nine

We made it to Bridgehampton before the stuff, as they say, hit the fan. I don't even know where the hellhounds came from, but there had to be at least fifty of them. I shot them down as fast as I could as we retreated towards the Montauk Highway, hoping to hitchhike as close to Montauk as we could get.

For some strange reason, I thought of the time Harry and I had been swarmed by Dementors by the lake. We'd thought we'd seen my mom had his dad, but it turned out to be ourselves from the future. Then my dad had come, called us whippersnappers, and knocked us out.

I have the weirdest life.

"There!" Thalia shouted, her thumb extended. "That minivan is slowing down!"

The window on the passenger side of the car rolled down and we saw an old lady with a leather jacket. I thought she looked rather like a substitute teacher. The driver was a middle-aged guy - probably the lady's son - who looked like a lawyer.

"Are you headed somewhere, honey?" Asked the old lady.

"Yes," Luke replied. "We're trying to get to Montauk. We're trying to find our aunt's farm."

It was almost admirable how smoothly he could lie.

"How sweet," said the woman. "Why, we're heading to Montauk too. Why don't you hop in the back with my other son, and we'll take you to your aunt's farm, okay, honey?"

"Thank you so much," I said. "You won't believe how long it's taken us to get here."

The guy in the back looked like an old doctor with terrible bedside manner. I smiled politely at him and directed Thalia, Annabeth, and Grover to the back row so they wouldn't have to interact with him.

Since I was a terrible liar, I left the talking to Luke. He answered the old lady's questions vaguely and changed the subject so subtly I could barely tell it was happening. I had no idea how they'd started talking about coffee, but it was better than answering personal questions.

In no time at all, we'd driven through the Napeague and Hither Hills State Parks. We were just under three miles away from Camp. After all of this traveling, we were finally almost done.

Then of course things got worse.

"Almost there, aren't we, honey?" The old lady asked. "This is as far as you go, I'm afraid."

Weird, but they'd helped us this far.

"Thanks for the ride," I told her. "Grover, Thalia, Annabeth, let's go. We can walk from here."

I tried the door handle, but it was locked. I looked questioningly at the old lady.

"Honey," she said coldly. "I just said this is as far as you go."

Something was not right. I glanced at Luke and found that I could all but read his mind.

Monster? His eyes seemed to ask me.

Monster, I confirmed with a slight nod.

"Sorry, ma'am," Luke said, tensing, preparing for a fight, "But we've come too far. We're getting out here!" On the last word, he whipped out his sword lightning fast and shattered the window with its hilt. He flipped the lock and kicked the door open. I jabbed the creepy-looking doctor guy in the gut with my bow, allowing Thalia, Grover, and Annabeth to scramble out of the backseat. Luke took the lead, jumping out of the moving car and rolling when he hit the ground. Grover, Annabeth, and Thalia followed suit. I jabbed the doctor one last time before diving out of the car myself.

"Camp is that way!" Grover shouted, pointing. "Let's go!"

We darted into the woods. I recognized them. We were so close. The camp entrance was somewhere around here.