Dallas' POV
"YEAH, NO THANKS for saving your life, douche." I crossed my arms and glowered, "And what the hell is Camp Half-Blood? And why did you call the self obsessed lunatic a satyr? What's that?"
"On second thoughts, I should just leave you here."
"You're under the impression I was going anywhere with you I the first place." I growled, "Now answer my questions."
"Look, nani-"
"Don't call me that. What does that even mean?"
"-I could leave you here, and let Zeus' monsters kill you and then everything would be great." He looked keen for the idea, "But no, there's always got to be some dumb prophecy telling people what to do. So wether we like it or not, I'm taking you back to where I grew up."
"Chill out, god." I exasperated, "At least answer my questions and tell me your name."
"I'm Ahomana. A satyr is a goat legged man, and Ethan Doles is one. Camp Half-Blood is a summer camp sanctuary for demigods." He sighed, "Happy?"
"No." I glowered, "And I want answers, but from someone a little less insufferable than you."
"Shut up and follow me." He picked up Ethan and threw him over his shoulder, the poor guy almost getting impaled on the silver spear strapped to his back.
The annoyingly attractive guy then marched off back through the bushes, the way he came.
I had no choice but to follow.
•••
"So where exactly is this camp? And I hope we're not walking there." I complained, solely to annoy him. I was no stranger to walking. Being homeless your entire life tends to do that to you. (Don't ask me how I was homeless my whole life. Honestly I had no idea how a baby had grown herself up).
"Long Island, New York." He replied, shifting Ethan's weight. Somehow the guy was still unconscious.
We'd been walk through the streets of Miami for a while. It was a lot of extra time for me to wonder if this idiot was actually here to help me.
"What?" I gaped. I'd walked a lot in my life, but I didn't have the urge to hike up the continent to New York. "We'd better be flying by plane."
"Even better - we're flying by pegasus." Ahomana said proudly.
"What?" I blinked, "You know what, I'm not even going yo ask."
"Good choice."
"But I do have more important questions." I went on. Ahomana groaned. "Why the hell are you in Miami when you're so called home is in New York? What was that before about getting your attention? And how do you know Ethan Doles?"
"A lot of questions." He said, "Which I'll answer later! We've arrived."
I had been do fixated on glaring at the back of Ahomana's head that I didn't notice we'd come out of the streets onto the beach. I almost jumped when I stepped into the sand.
"Why the beach?" I asked.
Ahomana ignored me. I glared at the back of his head again so hard I could have sworn I saw smoke swirling up from his perfect dark brown hair.
We walked down the beach for a few minutes until we came to a carpark. Who would use up valuable seaside space for a carpark, I would never know.
But the thing that surprised me more than the oddly placed carpark was the trio of agitated winged horses barely contained by two teenagers.
"Wait, you meant an actual pegasus?" I blurted.
"Yeah, nani, I did."
Ahomana's 'nani's were starting to annoy me.
"You got them Mana?" One of the two said. She was a frizzy red headed girl, probably about my age. She reminded me of a smaller of that girl off the movie Brave. "Took you long enough."
"Well it would have been nice if you came but no, you didn't get to see me slay the giantomachian dragon." Ahomana bluffed.
I laughed. "Honestly, I thought you'd be smarter than to boast about killing the dragon when the person who actually killed the dragon is right behind you."
The red head burst out laughing. "I like her. She doesn't like Mana."
I grinned. I knew I was going to get along just fine with this girl.
The other guy tapped her on her shoulder. "Excuse me, but three pegasi are threatening to fly away if we don't hurry up."
Ahomana grumbled and walked over to the first winged horse, a dappled chestnut coloured one. He dumped Ethan on it's back, and fastened him to the horse with a few ropes.
"Bags not riding with the goat." He said.
"Same." The other guy agreed. He reminded me of chocolate, for some reason. Dark chocolate. He didn't seem like a sweet guy. His hair and eyes were deep brown, and he was dappled with scars.
"Wow guys." The red head sighed. Then her eyes widened. "Oh my god I'm sorry! I've been so rude!" She rushed over to me and embraced me in a hug.
I froze.
I didn't do hugs.
But she didn't seem to notice, and pulled away after a while. "My names Justice. I'm a daughter of Dionysus. Over here is Frederick, son of Hermes."
"Daughter of who? Son of what? Is Hermes a chain store?" I frowned.
Justice laughed. "They're Greek gods. You'll learn."
"Okay..." for some reason, the idea didn't seem new to me. "Who's Ahomana's parent then?"
Justice faulted. "Um, well, he hasn't really been claimed yet. And call him Mana, apparently his full name makes him feel weird."
"Oh." I didn't know how to respond.
"Come on, your supposed to tell us your name now." She chuckled.
"Sorry. I'm Dallas." I gave a sheepish smile, "So I'm guessing a demigod is one of you? A god's kid?"
"You learn fast. Yep, that's us. And you now."
Who's my parent then? For some reason the thought didn't sit well. I couldn't place it. But being thought of as a demigod didn't feel right.
"Well, let's get you back to Camp Half-Blood before our pegasi fly away."
•••
The flight was probably the best thing I'd ever done. The other demigods didn't look too keen about being so high, but it exhilarated me.
Which drowned out some of the annoyance that I got stuck flying hanging onto Mana's waist. Well I should have held onto his waist. Instead I had my arms out like wings, feeling the wind.
"Hold on you idiot." Mana sighed, "You're going to fall off."
"You'll catch me." I laughed.
"I'd be happy to knock you off to test that theory."
"I was talking about the horse, Ana." I laughed, and the pegasus, a solid looking chestnut stallion, whinnied in response.
"Don't call me Ana."
"Don't call me nani."
He swore at me. I stayed silent.
Suddenly a scream cut across the air. We both snapped our gaze over to the other riders.
Ethan was thrashing around, yelling and panicking. He was smacking the grey pegasus, which made it jump around bolt towards the sky in fright. The scream was from Justice, who had tumbled off the back as the horse shot upwards.
Mana and Fred pulled their pegasi.
"Ana catch her!" I screamed in his ear.
He shrugged me off and tried to steer the pegasus down.
If you want something done you just have to do it yourself. I grabbed the reins from his grip and used the horse's mane to swing around to the front, before spurring the pegasus into flight.
Mana screamed and grabbed my waist.
We basically fell, but with a lot more speed. The ground got closer and closer.
I suddenly realised there was only a few seconds before we would become a pancake.
I pulled up the horse and did the stupidest thing I've ever done. I jumped.
Don't ask me why, I just knew I would survive.
I caught up with Justice only metres above a highway. I wrapped my arms around her and closed my eyes.
And suddenly we splashed into water.
I gasped and opened my eyes.
We were sitting in a puddle that was reflecting the sun so much it glowed. It almost looked like pure gold.
And we didn't have a drop of it on us.
"What?" I blinked.
Justice looked at me. "You saved my life."
"I-"
She engulfed me in a hug.
Mana landed beside the puddle. He gaped at me. "How'd you do that?"
"What?"
"You just - " He looked like a fish out of water, "I don't know how to explain it. You bent the light and forced it into that puddle."
"I what?"
"You're a very powerful demigod." Justice concluded. "Which means we really need to get you back to camp."