I stare at the reflection, 'maybe if I don't move, it'll think I'm not there,' I thought but would you look at that IT reached and picked me up by my bag.
"Aye! Hey maaaan~" I said, holding onto the straps as I'm lifted into the air as it stared at me with that one eye of its or his, all watery. Ew. "How about we talk about this! So, like, put me down-" I was cut off by a foul smell, like it stank like rotten fish with a mix of some sort of soggy cake.
I gagged. "Ew dude, do you not have a toothbrush?" Big mistake, Gosh, why couldn't you keep your mouth shut? The cyclops grip on my backpack tightened as he brought me toward his mouth, and oh guess what that's what triggered my flight Instinct, so I did the logical thing and screamed at the top of my lungs.
kicked him in that single eye of his and let myself slip out my bags grip.
Once I stumbled to the ground, I didn't need to take a second guess to know I needed to run and get some help!
Speaking of help, do these people not see a kid, myself, get almost eaten by a one eyes freak?!
Ignoring that I ran as fast as I could, which really wasn't far because It was still early, and I have a sucky stamina. Should have listened to Len when she told me to exercise more..oh well no time to feel guilty about that!
Once I stopped to catch my breath, I looked back and saw nothing but the crowd, but I could feel as if it was running right after me, so meaning there was no time for a break.
I slid into the nearest alley and ran into it. It was dark, stinky, and filled with random trash bags, your regular old New york alley.
'Oh I'm gonna yell at Jolien once I see her again I swear-' I cut myself off when I bump into another as I exited the alley, "Ah sorry." I look up and was greeted with a girl. She was taller than me by a few inches at best but wasn't a giant like that one eyed freak I looked down to her shirt which was a dark shade of purple, and had words on it, I couldn't really Decipher what it said due to my dyslexia, but I was able to make out halfblood
I glanced back to her face, she was pretty I'll give her that but she was just staring at me as if I was something she'd been looking for and finally found it after a millenia, weird but I gave her a forced smile and a nod before turning to walk off, but then she spoke.
"Are you a demigod?"
"A what now?" I said, turning to look back at her.
"A uh demigod, half god half mortal?" She said, which didn't help at all. She could probably read my expression on my face because she let out a sigh and put her hand out for a hand shake. "Forget it, I'm Anaray, and are you alright? You seem outta breath?"
I took her hand, which had small cuts, both old and new, but were weirdly soft. "Oh uh, I'm Atohi, and no, I'm not alright. I lost my friend."
"And your friend issss?" She said, doing a gesture with her hand as if telling me to go on, "Their name." She then said bluntly after I Cleary did get what she wanted.
"Oh! Her name is Jolien Cooper I-"
"Hey, I know Jolien!" Anaray suddenly said, smiling."How about I help you find her?" She asked, and I nodded without hesitation.
Don't think I haven't forgotten one-eyed man on the other side of the alley, and I did not wanna see him again, so getting taken by a pretty girl would be great. And she knows Jolien, so it should be easy to find her so win-win situation.
As she started walking, I made sure to follow close behind her, just gotta pray and hope I'm not leading myself into more trouble.
Little did I know that's exactly what I was doing.
We went up and down the side walk and while we were at it I was able to get information on what time it was, and yes it was WAY past my school's tardy time, so guess I'm ditching.
"Hmm, how did you lose Jolien anyway? She's not one to wonder off." Anaray asked and I just shrugged in response, "Lost her in a crowd,I tried contacting her but was interrupted by a one-eyed man-"
"One-eyed man?"
"Yuh, literally only had one eye in the center of his face, and he was quite tall and bulky," I replied back bluntly and stopped walking when I noticed Anaray had froze up.
"Uhm, you good?" I mumbled, and she suddenly grabbed my hand and practically dragged me down the street, "Aye what the hell? No need to drag me. I can walk on my own. Thank you very much."
I yanked my hand out her grip and stared back at her. Now she seemed on edge, and suddenly, the sense of uneasiness filled me. We both stood in silence, kinda logical since I was clueless, and she so obviously didn't know how to explain what was going on when thank the gods I heard a familiar voice.
"Atohi! There you are! Come on, we gotta go-" Jolien stopped and looked at Anaray.
"Ah! Anaray! What are you doing here?"
Ok good atleast this Anaray girl wasn't lying about knowing Jolien. "Uhm, I was just wondering around, really. Was gonna head back to camp. "
Anaray said, pointing to her shirt, and Jolien nodded.
"Great! now that all three of us are here let's get going! Like now, now now."
Jolien quickly said, ushering me and Anaray to walk forward, "Anaray, you got money for a taxi?"
"Yup!"
"Wait! Hold on, what's going on?"I asked but was ignored, great. They were too busy trying to get us a ride to some camp, and I didn't even know what on earth was going on! Till that uneasy sense rolled down my spine freezing me, it was that one-eyed freak again I just knew it, Jolien seemed to also feel it since she took Anarays money and walked to taxi that had pulled up
"HEY! look a taxi right there, let's get going!"
I looked at Anaray confused and frankly a bot tired, and I wasn't even half way through my day, but she beckoned me to follow so I did, Jolien payed the taxi, gave a location and pushed us into the car. So here I was going to some place named "Camp halfblood" located in Montauk, at the end of Long Island.
So I sank into my seat and didn't even bother listening to Jolien and Anarays grumbling whispers. And waited for the taxi to take us to our new destination.
'I'll ask what's going on when we get there,' I thought to myself and looked outside the mirror as the taxi got onto new Yorks streets and drove off.
