Whoo, long time no update! Well I won’t keep you waiting. Anyone excited for the House of Hades book? I am. I’m just now getting over the ending of Clockwork Princess. That pissed me off so much and yet it was such a great ending…
Chapter Quote:
“You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.”
~Author Unknown
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Chapter 3: Bryn Swears Like A Sailor
Derek
Derek woke up to Bryn swearing colorfully in Greek. He kept his eyes closed, not wanting her to stop because he found it amusing. He could feel the car going rather fast, probably faster than the speed limit.
“Fila mou to kolo! Ohhh pidiksu! What are you doing?! The speed limit is seventy-five, not sixty you kolos! I have a person to go rescue! You probably are just going to McDonald’s to get chicken nuggets! Ugh, na pari i eychi!” Bryn swore. Derek snorted. He understood most of it. The first part had been “Kiss my ass.” The second, well, it’s the verbal equivalent to the middle finger. Kolos meant ass. The last part was simply ‘damn it.’
“Bryn, they can’t hear you,” Derek commented.
“Doesn’t matter. It makes me feel better. Did I wake you?” she queried.
“Yeah, but that’s okay. I needed to wake up anyway. It was an interesting thing to wake up to, not to mention amusing.”
“Should’ve heard her a few hours ago. You thought she was colorful just now. I think she made up some insults back in Pennsylvania. Lots of things about her father striking them down and of crows,” Silena remarked.
“I didn’t know you were up at the time or else I wouldn’t have said anything,” Bryn admitted, blushing slightly.
Silena laughed. “With your driving, I’m amazed I slept at all. Although, your comments were highly entertaining.”
“For an eighteen year old, you sure do have a vocabulary on you,” Rachel joined.
“They were necessary. Unless you wanted me to strike down every car in front of us and have eighty police cars behind us, be glad I did,” Bryn retorted.
“Where are we anyway?” Derek queried, looking out the window. He watched the green foliage of trees and bushes flash by in a blur. A flash of gold jumped out into the open, then back into the forest. If Derek wasn’t mistaken, he had just seen the Nemean lion. He secretly appreciated the fact he’d seen it from inside a car rather than if he’d just been walking by.
“We’re in Morgantown, West Virginia,” she replied.
“West Virginia… Bryn, that’s like… almost seven hours from Camp Half-Blood. We left at what… three in the morning? It’s only seven thirty! How fast have you been driving?!” Silena demanded in shock.
“I believe my speedometer has rarely dropped below seventy,” Bryn answered casually.
“Screw monsters killing me. Your driving is going to do it sooner…” Derek snickered at his girlfriend’s comment but couldn’t disagree. Bryn’s driving scared the Hades out of him too.
“We’ll be stopping soon for a bathroom and refreshment break. I just wanted to get ahead of anyone who might be coming after us.”
“I don’t think I need a bathroom break. Your driving has already scared the crap out of me,” Silena commented.
“I swear to the gods, if you’ve actually defecated in this car, I will kill you,” Bryn warned.
“It’s an exaggeration Bryn, she doesn’t really mean it,” Derek consoled. “You’re getting snappy. When we stop, tell me where we’re headed and let me drive, okay? You take a nap. You need it.”
Bryn sighed but agreed. “Just make sure you drive fast.”
The group fell silent as Bryn continued to drive (and cuss). Rachel busied herself with reading a book and listening to her IPod. Silena looked out the window while listening to her IPod. Derek and Bryn struck up conversation.
“Any more dreams about the girl?” Bryn asked quietly as to avoid Silena overhearing the conversation.
“Yeah… it’s only one every couple of weeks, but she’s in pain, Bryn. I want to help her, but I don’t know how. She’s a… captive I think. Something is forcing her to stay where she is. Just where she is being kept is the question. She’s a demigod, that much I know. It’s why they’re holding her.”
Bryn had a steely gaze in her eyes. Derek knew she was relating herself to Hallie, and he knew then that she’d help him in finding this mysterious girl he’d been dreaming about. Bryn had a soft spot for imprisoned demigods since she had personal experience with the horrors of it. Derek figured her determination to get Luke stemmed from this. Bryn didn’t want him imprisoned and tortured the way she’d been. She’d never gone into the details of her experience, but Derek knew the toll it’d taken on her. It was the reason she acted the way she did.
“After we get Luke, she will be rescued. Count on it,” Bryn promised.
“I know,” Derek said with a smile.
And he did.
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Percy
He should’ve known. He should’ve never let his daughter, Derek, or Bryn out of his sight until after he’d gone. And even after he was gone, he should’ve had someone watching the three demigods constantly because they would’ve gone after him. And what’s more, Rachel had gone with them. He didn’t know how he knew, but the coincidence of her leaving at the same time his daughter, her boyfriend, and friend left, it was too obvious.
Percy paced up and down the Big House anxiously; meanwhile, Annabeth sat on the couch, looking down at the ground with her stormy gray eyes. Grover chewed nervously on some tin cans.
“They are long gone. All of them have turned off their phones, making it impossible for me to track them. My guess is they are in the middle of Pennsylvania,” Chiron guessed.
“Bryn would be driving,” Percy remarked. “She wouldn’t be driving slowly.”
“Then they’re probably almost out of Pennsylvania. The girl drives fast when she wants something. I trust her to take care of Silena and Derek. They are family to her; she would rather die than harm them. The point of the matter is, you two still wish to go,” Chiron said.
Annabeth nodded. “I don’t trust Bryn to do something rash. She’s never faced a world-ending… whatever enemy this Hannah girl is.”
“Nicely put,” Percy commented half-heartedly.
“Shut up,” Annabeth replied. “Percy, Grover, and I have experience. We should be the ones on this quest going after my son.”
“He’s my son too, Annabeth,” Percy said somewhat heatedly. She acted as if Luke belonged to her and only her. It ticked him off.
“I didn’t mean it that way Percy,” she said gently. “I meant that he’s our kid; he’s just Bryn’s best friend. Our connection with him is deeper than hers.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Aphrodite admonished, scaring the living daylights out of everyone except Chiron. He seemed used to it.
“Lady Aphrodite,” Annabeth said in shock.
“Hello dear! You look very well for your age,” Aphrodite told her with a smile. Her attention turned to Percy. “Oh, look at you handsome! Your son has definitely inherited your devilish charm! Speaking of him, his connection to Bryn is deeper than you think.”
“Should you be telling us this?” Percy queried. He remembered a long time ago Annabeth telling him it was never a good thing to know too much about your future, or someone else’s for that matter.
“No, but you need to understand. Bryn does need to be on this quest. In fact, so do Derek and Silena and you and Annabeth.”
“What about Grover?”
“He’s optional, although I suggest you take him.”
Percy looked over at his friend, trying to avoid seeing the hurt look on the satyr’s face at him being ‘optional’. “Why do you suggest he’s optional?”
“That I cannot say. It would have some, uh, devastating consequences. What I’m saying is that you and Annabeth should go after them. Good luck Jacksons.” The demigods looked away for one second and looked back; the goddess of love was gone.
“I still don’t know whether I like her or not,” Annabeth grumbled. “But it doesn’t make sense. If Rachel is with them, that makes four. If Percy, Grover and I go, that makes seven. If we all rescue Luke, that means eight comes back, yet in the prophecy, only seven can come back.”
“We need to take Grover,” Percy stated firmly. “It’s bad luck to have more or less than three in a group.”
“I know what Aphrodite said Perce, but if eight of us go, that means one person won’t return. I don’t want to risk that,” Grover wrangled sadly. “We’ve had enough deaths.”
“We don’t even know if it’ll be a death though!”
“It usually is.”
“Grover-” Percy began.
“You two go. I will stay.”
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So what do you think’s going to happen? Will Grover go or stay? Will Percy risk someone not coming back? Review!