Percy
On the second day of the expo, it went pretty smoothly. My mom got there early to set up her table while Paul and I sat behind her at a table, somewhat hidden away from the crowd. Yesterday was quite chaotic. It was very loud, there was a lot of people, and we were there for so long. I don't doubt that today will be the similar to yesterday.
Paul kept asking if I was doing okay ever since this morning and I was, truly. But I was getting tired of that question. It doesn't really make sense in my point of view, like, if I hit by a car and someone asks me if I'm okay, what do you want me to say? "Oh I'm great!"
No.
If I got hit by a car. Of course I wouldn't be okay. Nobody would be okay. But sometimes, even if you're feeling down, you always gotta say you're good because if you say anything other than 'good', people will ask why, and sometimes I don't really know why. I just feel that.
Anyways, sorry for that.
Paul brought a deck of cards with him today, since I can't really go on my phone or anything. I've never really played with cards growing up, partly because I'm busy trying not to die.
"You know how to play gin rummy?" Paul asked while handing me 6 cards. I shook my head, and Paul smiled. "Great, I'm gonna teach you."
He gave himself 6 cards and put the rest of the deck in the middle of the table. He then flipped the top card up and set it next to the stack. It showed a 4 of spades.
"Okay, we each get an amount of cards,and we have to organize them by number or category or color. The first person to have no more cards in their hand wins. And how you do that is, let's say I have 3 clubs. And it's a 5, 8, and 2. If I have a matching category like that, I put it down. But it has to be 3 cards or more, or else you can't set it down. But if I have a mix of 1 hearts, 1 diamonds, 1 spade, and 1 clubs, but the numbers are 5,6,7, and 8, I can put it down because of the numbers. You can never put down a mix of categories down unless the numbers match. But if the colors match and not the numbers, then you can put that down too. And we just go on and on, trying to get a match for your cards. And if you have nothing to put down, you pull from the deck. And if the card you chose doesn't help you at all, you can put it down. And later on, if I see that I need that card, I can grab it from the pile, but I have to grab all the cards after that. If that makes sense. But, if you pick up a card from the deck, and you realize that you want it, you can keep it, but you have to exchange it with another card in your hand. So you switch cards. And any cards in the discarded pile, we can grab, as long as we keep the cards after it. And then, once one of us has all our cards matched, you win. And all those cards count for points and they can be added up in multiple games until 500, and if someone gets 500 points, they win the game. Cards 2-9 are 5 points. Cards 10-King are 10 points and Ace's are 15 points. And let's say, you win and you have 105 points, but I lost and I obviously still have cards in my hand that I wasn't able to match yet, those cards in my hand still count as points but they are taken off from my final number. For example, if I was able to match 75 points up, but my card deck points were a total of 25 points, I now have 50 points. And we just play game after game until one of us gets 500 points. Does that make sense?"
I just blinked at him. "Not at all."
"Okay, um, let's just start playing, and you'll learn from there..." Paul bit his lip. I had 2 hearts, 3 diamonds and 1 spade. None of the numbers connected, so the only match I had were the diamonds. I grabbed the three and I set it down on the table, and Paul smiled. "There you go! You already got a match."
Paul didn't seem to have any matches because he pulled a card from the deck, and he stared at it for awhile before putting it down. "Now you see, I didn't need that card, so I'm just putting it down to a pile." I nodded. And I plucked a card from the middle deck and it was a club. I set it down beside the card Paul had put away and Paul picked up his own card from the deck. He liked that card because he switched it with another card.
I looked at the clock on the back wall and it read 10:58. The expo opened at 11. Only a few more minutes before we get bothered by the commotion of people.
It was my turn, so I grabbed a card from the deck and its number was 3. I looked at my deck of cards, and I saw that one of my hearts and the remaining spade matched with this card. I slipped the cards in my hand and I set the matched cards down. And I smiled at myself. Paul pointed out, "You have to discard a card, since you kept one from the deck."
I looked at my remaining hearts card and I set it down by the discard pile. And I realized that I won the round.
Paul looked amused. "That was fast, games like these usually last longer. But its probably because I only gave us 6 cards, since it was your first time. Wanna play again?"
"Why not?"
Paul shuffled the card deck elaborately before handing 8 cards for the each of us. While he was doing that, I looked at the crowded people that have just entered the arena. I can't help but wish that Annabeth was here with me. She would've loved it here, no doubt.
Paul and I continued playing for a little while before we decided to take a break an hour later. None of have reached 500 points yet, surprisingly. Paul won the next two games, jut barely.
After sitting down for so long, my legs began to cramp up. I stood up and stretched my legs for a little bit before deciding to walk around the arena.
Paul went off to the bathroom, so I decided to pull up a chair and sit next to my mom for a little while. Fans came and go, and I don't think there was ever a time when the line was shorter than five people.
Paul must've been taking a number 2 because he's been taking too long. I kissed my mom on the head before standing up and walking outside. It was getting a bit stuffy inside, and I needed the fresh air, anyways.
I pushed open the glass doors, and I walked into main lobby. The lobby was just as crowded as the arena itself, but not by that much. I opened the doors to outside and a gust of wind immediately greeted me. The summer sun blared its light on my eyes, so I had to squint.
I barely took two steps when someone came up to me. I sidestepped the stranger but he stood in front of me once again. I frowned. His tall stature blocked the sun from my eyes so I was able to get a better look at the man who was starting to ruin my day.
He had dark skin and even darker hair. His humongous muscles were defined by his black leather jacket. But I couldn't stop staring at his arms. They were literally bigger than my head.
"Stop staring at my arms," the man said.
"Well, what do you want me to do? You're sorta blocking my way here.." I said while moving my eyes away from his arm.
And I walked past him and started walking around the block. I heard the man give out a sigh and start following me. After a minute, I stopped walking and turned to face the creepy man. "Uh, do you mind?"
"The bathrooms back that way," the man pointed back to the arena and smiled.
"No, I meant, like, can you leave me alone? Can I just ever have a day in this city where I can walk down the street in peace and not get kidnapped?"
The man made an amused face, "So you're assuming that I'm gonna kidnap you?"
I nodded. "Well, yes, that is what kidnappers do. They follow their victim and then out of nowhere, they attack them and shove them in their car," I said while making some dramatic hand motions.
The man just blinked. "So, you came from the arena. Did you just come to see your favorite author or something?" He asked. But I noticed he changed the subject. And he didn't deny the fact that he was gonna kidnap me.
"Yeah," I lied.
The man gave a very small smile, which was very unnoticeable, but I noticed it. "Oh? Who's your favorite?"
I paused. And tried to think of one of the authors names from the arena. There were a few that said hi to me, and they seemed pretty nice. I just need to think of their names... "Oh, my favorite is probably Rick Riordan." I congratulated myself for thinking of the authors name in time. I remember we had a short conversation together. He was really nice, and sarcastic. Like me.
"Oh, my friend likes his books," he added.
I nodded my head awkwardly and started walking forwards once again.
And like I suspected, the man kept on following me.
Dam, this dude was persistent.
"Can you stop following me?" I said rather harshly.
"Can't do that," he replied with a calm voice.
"And why is that?"
"Don't feel like telling you."
"Okay, then. . ." And I sprinted away.
The mans loud footsteps ran after me. I heard him talk to his ear with something about reinforcements.
This was gonna be a long day.
I took a sharp turn down the street which was filled with traffic. I maneuvered through the cars onto the other side of the street, and I ran even faster. I kept my hand in my pocket, in case I needed a riptide.
I don't even know why I was running. The dude just didn't give me good vibes. But then again, every stranger I meet gives me not good vibes, so maybe it's just me.
I looked behind my shoulder,and I saw that he was no longer behind me.
I was a bit confused, because I knew that I wouldn't be able to lose him that fast. Which would only mean, he's hiding....
He's probably here somewhere..
I thought for a quick moment and decided to call my trusty sidekick, Blackjack.
"BLACKJACK!" I shouted at the air.
People who were walking past me didn't even give me a second glance. I guess they must be used to tourists yelling at the air like a psychopath.
As I was waiting for the pegasus, I felt eyes watching me.
I cursed. And started running again, trying to lose them. I saw a flying figure in the distance. And I knew it was Blackjack.
He landed on a roof, and I knew that I should go up there because I don't wanna risk Blackjack trampling some people down on the street.
I went into the alley and found a ladder. Perfect.
I set it up by the roof and started climbing. The ladder was very unstable and it kept wobbling. I really wish Jason was here. He could've just flew me up there.
I was almost up on the roof when I heard yelling down on the ground. I slowly turned my eyes down and saw some people in masks.
I cursed again. And I climbed faster. And kept thinking that they wouldn't see me. But I jinxed it because they saw me.
"There!" one vigilante person said. Down on the ground, the Green Arrow aimed an arrow at me and shot it. He missed me by just a hair.
I kept on climbing faster. And by the time he had nocked another arrow, I was already in the roof.
The man who was talking to me earlier, I recognized him from yesterday. He was there when I escaped. I mentally scold myself for not recognizing him sooner.
I could hear the commotion of them behind me, I heard the ladder shake, and I knew they were following me.
Blackjack landed in the roof, and I ran to him. He greeted me. "Hey, boss!"
I climbed onto his back and grunted, "How many times have I said for you to stop calling me that."
"Not enough! But can we get some donuts? I passed by a shop a few blocks back," he asked.
"Not now, I'm being chased at the moment. And it would be appreciated if you could start flying away. Now."
And at the moment, the Green Arrow appeared on the roof.
He paused for a second, staring at Blackjack. And that one moment gave us time to fly away.
The vigilante started shooting arrows at us, but we kept dodging.
"Where should we go?"
"I don't know yet. Just keep flying and don't stop."
But that wasn't possible because we stopped going around in zig zags because we thought we were too far away for another arrow to hit us, but we weren't.
And arrow had shot through Blackjacks wing and his flapping became slower and more unstable.
Another arrow got me in the bicep. However, blood didn't come dripping from the wound. I warily pulled the arrow out of my arm, and noticed it wasn't a normal arrow. I frowned at it, and threw it out. What was the point of shooting that arrow if it wasn't going to do any damage?
"Boss? Boss? You good?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fi-" A wave of nausea cut me off. I grabbed ahold of Blackjack's mane for support. "I don't feel so good."
And suddenly, I realized what the arrow was. A tranquilizer.
"I need you to go, Blackjack. Don't come after me, okay?"
"What are you talking about?" He neighed.
I tried my best to stay awake, but my eyes felt heavier than ever. But I couldn't stop myself. I fell off Blackjack who began flapping around vigorously. And I curled myself into a ball and I put my head in my arms. And
"Curse you, Fates," I whispered before I went unconscious.
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AHAHH YAYAYA THIS WAS A REALLY LONG CHAPTER. 2630 WORDS INCLUDING THIS NOTE.
The card game part was super unnecessary and random but whatever. Life is unnecessary and random. I also explained the game super badly. I know how to play the game, I'm just not good at explaining things. So like, don't judge. Please and thank you.
Okay yeah. This was a fun chapter. And a cliffhanger. SO WOOOHOOOOOOOO
byE my FriEnDs