Indigo Eyes

Chapter 3

But right now, they had a different problem as Grover began sniffing the air.

"What is it?" Percy asked.

"I don't know," Grover answered tensely. "Maybe it's nothing."

But they all knew it wasn't nothing as Annabeth began anxiously slapping her Yankees cap against her thigh before abruptly stopping. "Percy," she whispered, drawing their attention to the last of the passengers boarding the bus.

An old lady dressed in a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves and a shapeless, orange-knit hat that covered her face walked onto the bus and Cressida could instantly feel the tension and nerves radiating from Percy as he sunk down in his seat.

"Do you know her?" she whispered as Percy yanked her bag from her lap, trying to hide behind it.

"She's my math teacher," he replied, and she furrowed her brows, not understanding what he meant as she peered over the seats again, the rain pouring down the windows.

"Well, she brought friends," she revealed as Percy peaked around the seat to see the two other old ladies that came in behind the first. Together, in their get-ups, the three old women looked like triplet demon grandmothers.

Demon grandmothers that sat right behind the driver, two of them crossing their legs over the walkway, making an X and sending a clear message that no one was leaving the bus as it began to pull out of the station.

"She didn't stay dead long," Percy commented before he turned to Annabeth. "I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime."

"I said if you're lucky," Annabeth retorted. "You're obviously not."

"All three of them," Grover whimpered. "Di immortales!"

"It's ok," Annabeth promised, and you could see the gears turning in her head. "The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows."

"They don't open," Grover moaned.

"A back exit?" she suggested, but there wasn't one. And even if there was, they were heading for the Lincoln Tunnel where there would be nowhere to get off or go.

"They won't attack us with witnesses around. Will they?" Percy asked nervously.

"Oh, they absolutely will," Cressida answered.

"Mortals don't have good eyes," Annabeth reminded him. "Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist."

"They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?" Percy sighed.

"Hard to say. But we can't count on the mortals for help," Annabeth replied.

"We can't count on anyone for help," Cressida corrected.

"You're just a ray of sunshine, aren't you?" Percy sassed and she rolled her eyes.

"Maybe an emergency exit on the roof?" Annabeth continued.

"We'd be dead before we'd get it open," Cressida protested before the bus hit the tunnel and everything was dark, save for the lights that lit up the aisle. And she could hear the blood pumping in her ears as the sound of the rain faded away.

And then the demon woman that Percy called his math teacher stood up. "I need to use the restroom," she announced in a very monotone, rehearsed voice.

"So do I," said the second woman.

"So do I," repeated the third as they all rose and began walking down the aisle.

"If Percy killed one of them and they're after him, maybe we can distract them while he escapes," Cressida suggested.