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—— THEY WERE ALL now sitting together Annabeth and Grover on one side and Azalea and Percy on the other. The blonde girl had insisted that she get the window seat since the sun rises was beautiful with pinks and oranges lighting up the sky. "Two days till we reach Los Angeles. Plenty of time before our deadline to reach the underworld." Grover told them. Azalea reached into her bag that was on the bench separating Azalea from the boy next to her and pulled out her hair brush, and beginning to brush her tangled golden locks.
"Can I ask a dumb question?" Percy asked next to her making Azalea roll her eyes. "It's like you need me to make fun of you." Annabeth said.
"Shoot."
"I've never been to Los Angeles before, I'm guessing neither of you have been to Los Angeles." He was wrong though Azalea had lived near LA for most of her life. Her father's vineyard was located in Santa Barbara and when she was younger sometimes Azalea and her dad would take trips to Los Angeles. "I've visited Los Angeles a few times when I lived in California."
"Do you remember it." He hopefully asked her. "It was Like six years ago, so no." Azalea told him honestly.
"Ok so, how will we have any ides where we're going."
"No idea, but that's like step 37 and we're still on step four. Cross that bridge when we get there." Grover stated.
"Follow-up stupid question." The blonde boy said making Azalea let out a sigh and slumped back in her seat, she grabbed her apple juice and took a big sip. "Dude" she told him putting her juice back on the table.
"And you shall fail to save what matters most in the end. Back in Jersey I told you the Oracle said this quest would fail and no one's mentioned it since. Seems like something we oughta be taking about little more seriously." Percy and Azalea had talked about this the night before so she moved her gaze away from Percy and to the outside. Where a few centaurs were running along with the train. "Hey, look at that." All of the teens started looking outside the window. "Are those?"
"Centaurs." Annabeth pointed out the obvious. "Aren't they beautiful." Azalea added.
Percy looked around to the people on the train. "No one even knows they're there."
Azalea shifted her eyes way from the galloping centaurs and to Grover who started talking "There used to be herds of them everywhere."
"What happened to them." Percy voiced.
"Humans... a few thousand years ago the god of the wild, Pan disappeared. And ever since without Pan to protect the natural world, humans have been trying really hard to chip away at it." Azalea always liked how much emotion Grover would use when he talked about something he liked.
"The bravest saytrs volunteer to become searchers, trying to find Pan. None have ever returned." Annabeth explained further.
"Your uncle we found in Medusa's, Ferdinand. He was a Searcher." Grover shook his head yes to the question. A sad tone filled there group.
"The oracle didn't say the quest would fail. Fail to save what matters most." Annabeth quoted. "That could mean a lot of things. That's how prophecies work that's how fate works."
"It can mean a 100 and 1 things." Azalea budded in.
"The harder you work to understand, the harder it gets to understand. Sometimes you've just gotta let it come to you when it's ready." Annabeth continued.
Azalea took another sip of her apple juice, swallowing hardly when a police officer showed up at the table. "Excuse me, can I see your tickets please." Annabeth got out the ticket and handed them to him. He took a minute to look it over "you're in cabin 17B?" They all looked at each other with questioning glances.
—— WALKING BEHIND A police was not on Azaleas bucket list today. When he told them to fallow him that's when the blonde had really started being concerned, they couldn't have done something wrong? She was walking behind Grover with her apple juice in hand when they came up on their cabin. Percy and Annabeth were blocking the view but she could hear harsh wind blowing. "You want to explain." The police officer asked.
Azalea was finally able to push past Grover and see the completely ruined train cabin they had been asleep in not even a hour earlier. "Wait you think we did this?" Percy questioned. This officer must of been hit In the head because how would they able to do this. "Did you." Oh he was very stupid Azalea thought taking another sip of her juice box.
"I mean think about this officer how in the world would we do this. And why would we even do this." The young girl told the officer who just stared at her with his brown pushed together in thought. Weird she thought.
"Sir, when we left to go get breakfast everything was intact. We don't know how this happened." Grover told the man.
"We got a witness here, saying she heard the window smash, and then heard children's voices." He moved out of the way and a woman dressed in pink was exposed talking to another police officer. "Oh, come on."
"You fucking liar." The two blondes said at the same time the only difference was Azaleas was loud enough for the woman to hear.
"Can you tell me what time you left the cabin." He interrogated.
"Are we under arrest." Annabeth harshly asked. "I don't think you wanna take that tone with me little girl." Azalea made a face at the police for talking to her friend like that. She walked up closer to him, until Percy put his hand out so she didn't get to close to him. "Look I know that your a police and all, so you think your all high and mighty, but all she did was ask you a question. So I'm going to recommend you answer it. Are we under arrest?" The police just gave them a look and called over his little police friend who ended up telling them they weren't yet and to go sit back down were they were before. The four of them all started walking out the door before the man say something again. "Blondie you stay here we need to ask you a few questions."
She stopped in her spot along with the rest of her friends. "What do you think they want." Grover whispered. "I don't know but..."
She was cut off. "Now." The lady police said this time.
"Go sit down I'll be there in a minute." She waved of her friends, locking eyes with Percy who was basically saying with his eye he didn't want to leave her alone. "I'll be fine." She reassured the blue eyed boy before walking back to the officers.
"Sorry for my little outburst mr. police officer." She gave them puppy eyes hoping what they had to say wouldn't be to bad. "What's you full name."
"Azalea Amaryllis West, why." They ignored her question.
"How old are you."
"I'm thirteen, why." She was ignored again as the lady wrote on her notepad.
"When's your birthday."
"Look why are you asking me all these questions and not my friends as well." She tried to defend her self. "Answer the question."
"April 25, 2010."
"Azalea are you aware you have been on the missing kids list for four years." At the news the police was spilling Azaleas mouth flung open. "You were reported missing by your stepmother."
"Ohhh, that son of a bitch."
—— AZALEA HAD WALKED back to where her friend are with the police trailing behind her. She sat down next to Percy and let out a sigh. "What did they tell you." Percy, Annabeth and
"So supposedly I've been a missing kid for four years." She told them in a low voice. "And that like two years ago I was presumed dead."
"How." Annabeth whispered yelled. "I have no clue but I know it was my witch of a stepmom. And then he told me that when we get to the next stop I'm going to have to go in for an interview." Azalea definitely did not want to do that, there was no way she would sit there and answer questions about something that never really happened. But a thought was left in the back of her mind she wondered what her father thought, or if he missed her at all. A police officer walked by and they all fell silent again.
"So we're just killing time till we find out that guys like a werewolf or something, right."
Annabeth turned to look at the police interrogating the woman who was a liar. "I don't think he's a monster." Azalea shook her head in agreement.
"Hard to say."
"Well if he's not a monster, what's going on here? Why would anyone tear our room apart." Percy asked. "Maybe they were looking for something."
"The only thing we even possess is my backpack, and it wasn't even in there." Azalea told them she checked underneath the table to see if it was still there and it sure was. "So then why would anyone tear our room apart."
"Maybe they were looking for something." Grover suggested.
"We don't have anything."
"The people who think you stole Zeus's master bolt might disagree." Azalea had definitely forgotten the part about the master bolt. "Right." Percy exclaimed.
"We'll look they're not gonna find something we don't have." The green and brown eyes drifted away from Grover who was talking and to the woman that was walking up to them. She looked well taken of, not a wrinkle on her clothes or a fly away in her hair. "Either way, we aren't spending the day answering questions about anything." Annabeth made eyes contact with Azalea to hint back to what she said before. "In the St. Louis police station." She finished the older woman now being close to Annabeth and leaning to tap her shoulder.
"Do you mind if I sit?" She asked the table pointing to where Azalea was sitting. "Ummm." The young girl gave the woman a weirded out face. She placed her pet carrier down and it started making weird noises. That made Azalea scrunch her eyebrows together at the feeling she felt from the animal in the carrier.
"You poor dears." The woman in the blazer made a hand signal for Azalea to scoot over so she could sit. Azalea listened moving over towards Percy who tensed up at the contact of their legs and arms that brushed together.
"Your parents aren't here, are they?" The woman completely sat down next to Azalea making the girl freeze up from the radiating feeling of danger coming from her. She hadn't been able to feel it from far away but she definitely could now it made her feel sick, and that's when she knew this was the monster they were looking for.
Next to her Percy could feel the blonde girls whole demeanor change. Her body tensed up and the sweet smell of flowers that followed Azalea around everywhere was almost nonexistent in this moment. The sound of the moving animal scared her even more making Azalea lean more of herself on Percy. "Isn't that right precious." Inside the pink bag the noise got louder and louder. "Don't children get scared when they're all alone."
Azalea wanted to say something but it would raise to much suspicion. "It's okay, I'm a mom I know how scared you must be." She turned to the police officer and the blonde and Annabeth shared a look. "Excuse me, would you mind giving us a little space? I think." The brown haired women put her hand on Azalea who pulled away quickly at the contact. "I think you making them nervous."
The police walked away and the woman looked back at them "I want you to know I don't actually think that you made that mess back there. I just wanted a moment alone with you. There are some things I need you to understand." Azalea side eyed her intently.
"You have something on your jacket." Grover pointed out. It looks like... it looks like glass." Suddenly it all clicked for the rest of them. "No one smashed out the windows from inside the cabin. Someone smashed them in from the outside." A animal noise was made catching there attention. "Hm, oh!" The woman went to check on animal "yes sweetheart. I know I know you're impatient." She sniffed the carrier. "But we're almost ther." She got up and leaned on the other table. "This isn't your fault, But sadly you're going to have to bear the burden of your parents mistakes today."
"Listen lady." Percy piped up. "I don't know who you are but I think I know what you are. We've run across a few monsters like you and we've sent them all packing."
She scoffed in an offended tone "monsters like me. Well, of course there like me. They were my children." Now Azalea new why the feeling was so strong this was the mother of monsters she was just sitting next too. "Children." Percy questioned next to her. "What does that mean."
"The mother of monsters."
"Echidna." Both Annabeth and Azalea said at the same time. Echidna hummed on response her monster in a bag making more noise it started moving and shaking creeping Azales the fuck Out.
"Monster it's an odd word, considering y grandmother is your great-grandmother and this has always been a family story. But to my eye the demigod is the more dangerous creature." The animal kept making noise. "Disruptive, violent, if I exist for anything it is to stand in the way of monsters, like you." She stopped talking and the animal let out roar "my little one here she's just a pup now, bless her heart." Azalea had moved from a side eye to a blank stare when Echidna started petting the carrier, and whispering to it.
"Today... you will be her prey. Are you afraid yet. Oh it's alright, fear is natural. It's also essential to the hunt. Your fear, your doubt your confusion." Azalea started scooting to the end of the seat, so that she could run at any moment. "I need you to understand what was happening, so that she could track the sent." The bag started shaking uncontrollably, the zipper started unzipping by itself and the fear was evident on Azalea's face.
"That's what a good mother does for her children, not that you would know." Azalea looked at her friend with a concerned expression why weren't they running already. "You should run now." The bag fully unzipped and a long tail came flying out from the bag. Azalea saw it coming straight to her face and ducked down onto the floor the tall hitting Percy instead. Annabeth grabbed onto the flying tail and stabbed it with her spear. "No sweetheart!"
"Go." Annabeth yelled at them, Azalea struggled on the floor before getting up and running for the exit. "You stop." The policeman shouted behind them.
Azalea, Annabeth, Grover and Percy had all made it in time through the doors so that Annabeth could turn back and lock the police, Echidna and her pet out. The police banged on the train door yelling at them to open it. "Percy." Azalea called said to him a little out of breath.
The police continued yelling but the girl was to focused on pulling the thin needle out of Percy's clothes. "Come back here and open this door!" She heard and saw Annabeth come running towards them. "What is that." Percy asked. Azalea held it up for the four of them to see. "It's a stinger." Annabeth answered. "Grover do you know what kind of monster has one of those?"
Azalea handed the stinger to Grover. "I don't know, I mean nothing good probably." Percy was grasping on to his shoulder. "Do you feel okay." The brown and green eyed girl asked her friend. "I think so, why. Do you think it's poisonous or something?"
The banging got louder as Percy looked to his friend for answers. "I have no clue, but it definitely could be." Azalea told him the train jerking to the side at the same moment. All of the lights started flickering and from down the hall they could see a big cat like creature coming there way.
"We got to move." Grover told them. Azalea started running through the train and away from the monster coming towards them making the ground beneath there running feet shake. All four of them sprinted out of the train's exit and to the other side of the tracks. When they stopped Azalea put her hands on her knees, beginning to huff and puff.
"Why isn't it still chasing us." The boy next to her exclaimed. She felt like laying down on the rocks from the adrenaline crash going through her body. "Echidna said whatever she was hiding in that carrier, it was young. It won't venture too far from her mother. She's learning to hunt... and this seems like the hunting part."
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I'm so excited for the final episode tonight!!!!!!
Love Estella