⋰☆✄♘➶⋱
【𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐨𝐠𝐬】
ᵍʳᵒᵛᵉʳ❦ⁿᵒᵃ

Annabeth passed the four tickets over, Noa and Grover un-clasped hands and leaned back in their chairs on sync.  The man flickered his eyes back up. "You're in Cabin 178?"

Annabeth and Percy looked at one another, Noa inhaled deeply as she stared right up at the man. She saw the tense look on his face start to flatten. "Is there a problem, sir?"

"Yes, I'm afraid there is." he was honest, but his tone was low as Noa's presence calmed him down. "Do you mind coming with me?"

"What was that?" Annabeth whispered to Noa, walking behind her as the four began to walk behind him.

"I zoned in on his serotonin levels, calmed him down a bit for whatever he's about to-" Noa began, stopped when they made it to their small cabin. Annabeth bumped into the back of her at the sudden halt she made, staring at their completely trashed cabin. "What in the Hades happened here?"

"I was hoping you could tell me that one." the man eyed the four. "Anyone want to explain?"

"Wait. Wait, you think we did this?" Percy looked at him in complete shock.

"Did you?" he shrugged.

"I mean...How? And why?" Percy was clearly in a lot of shock, Noa's presence could only do so much for stress levels and he was a clear proven fact to that.

"Sir, when we left for breakfast, everything was intact." Grover cut in, trying to be the mediator of the fours clear issue. "We don't know how this happened."

He rolled his eyes and looked to the woman a few week away, talking with a female officer. "We got a witness here, says she heard the window smash, and then heard children's voices."

"Oh, come on!" Percy huffed.

"Well our voices aren't all that child like." Noa gave him a knowing look, shrugging her shoulders. "You know how all those hormones in milk and red dye are...most boys my age have beards or so much hair on their legs it's like their part goat."

Grover laughed but quickly hid it with a cough, Noa fought a smile.

"Can you tell me what time you left the cabin?" the man ignored Noa's clear effort of getting them out of this situation.

"Are we under arrest?" Annabeth questioned, keeping her eyes on the trashed room.

"I don't think you want to take that tone with me, little girl." The man pulled his head back.

Noa immediately turned her head his way to fix the way he spoke to her. Annabeth held her arm out to grab Noa's wrist, telling her not to as she sized up the man. "Are we under arrest?"

Spoiler alert...they weren't under arrest. They ended up right back where they started, Percy and Noa back in their shared seat as Grover and Annabeth were. "So, we're just killing time until we find out that guy's like a werewolf or something, right?"

Noa looked to Grover. "You smell a dog?"

"No dog." he shook his head.

"I don't think he's a monster." Annabeth looked back at the man, talking to the so called witness.

Noa eyed him slightly. "He's not being obvious enough...he's not trying to be our friend and all the monsters usually use that tactic first."

"Noa's right, it's still hard to say with this guy." Grover agreed with the girl by Percy's side.

"Well, if he's not a monster, what's going on here?" the Jackson boy was trying to figure the entire thing out, clearly thinking they knew more than they did. Noa wondered if Percy realized that they were almost as clueless as he was, just had a little more experience under their belts. "Why would anyone tear our room apart?"

"I knew I shouldn't have brought my most expensive lipgloss." Noa shook her head. "Apollo kids did warn me how nuts humans go over it."

"I don't think they're after your lipglosses, Noa." Grover promised her, though Noa had a tight grip on her camera to make sure no one stole that one for her.

"It was missing from the bag I left in the room." Noa pointed out with a knowing eyebrow raise. "Unless you took them?"

Grover rose his hands in surrender. "I didn't think it was my shade. Maybe they were looking for something else...something valuable we took on this quest."

"Percy's pen." Noa's eyes widened in realization.

"Maybe." Percy shrugged as he felt it in his pocket. "But, aside from that and your necklaces, we don't have anything."

"The people who think you stole Zeus's master bolt might disagree." Annabeth pointed out the biggest clue, giving him a knowing look.

"Well, look, they're not going to find something we don't have." Grover hurried to reassure the group, seeing the faint panic on Percy's face that made him glad he'd been sitting near Noa. "What did we leave in the room? The bags of our clothes and unmade beds."

"Either way, we aren't spending the day answering questions in the St.Louis police station." Annabeth shook the facts off, looking to Noa. "We need to get out of here. What's the deal with your other necklace? Can it help?"

"My father made it for me when I was just a baby, my mother put some curse on it." Noa further explained as she messed with the ring necklace she showed Percy during capture the flag. "It only is activated when it senses my biggest fear, the worst thing I can face. It's supposed to help me."

"You've never experienced something so bad in a thousand years?" Percy gaped her way.

"My mother didn't give it to me until my thousandth birthday a few months ago. Said she wanted it to be memorable or something, though my hundredth birthday probably would have been just as memorable." Noa shrugged her shoulders. "I haven't faced any danger since."

"D-Do you mind if I sit?" the so called witness tapped Annabeth on the shoulder, smiling down at her as the four shut their mouths quickly. She set the dog carried down, a growl coming from it. "Ah, you poor dears. Your parents aren't here, are they?"

The dog whimpered as she looked over. "Isn't that right, precious? Don't children get scared when they're all alone? It's okay. I'm a mom. I know how scared you must be."

She then looked up to the man that hadn't stopped lurking them. "Excuse me. Would you mind giving us a little space? I think...I think you're making them nervous."

"Wrong you." Noa mumbled under her breath, Percy knocked her on the leg.

He walked away as she smiled to the four again. "I want you to know...I don't actually think you made that mess back there. I just wanted a moment alone with you. There are some things I need you to understand-"

"You have something on your jacket." Grover cut her off, eying the mess on the eggshell blouse. "Looks like...it looks like glass."

It brought the remaining trio's attention to it, Noa shifted uncomfortably as she sneakingly flipped her video camera open under the table, holding it in her palm tightly. Grover looked her up and down. "No one smashed out the windows from inside our cabin. Someone smashed them in from outside."

The dog from the carrier got louder, growling much fiercer. The woman looked over. "Oh! Yes, sweetheart. I know, I know."

"What in the Medusa?" Noa mouthed toward Percy when the woman's back was turned, he gave her a similar look back.

The woman stood up and faced the door again, a smile on her lips. "This isn't your fault. But sadly, you're going to have to bear the burden of your parents mistakes today."

"Listen, lady." Percy glared up at her. "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. Wanna see the video?"

Noa pulled her video camera out from beneath the table, revealing it had running the whole time as she smiled to the woman. The woman's face fell some before she replaced it with a scoff. "Monsters like me? Well...of course they're like me. They were my children."

Percy blinked. "Children? What does that mean?"

"The mother of monsters." Grover shifted in his seat in a faint fear, like he was pushing closer to the window.

"Echidna." Annabeth confirmed.

Noa knew of her, she'd just never crossed her path before. The dog carrier shook violently, Echidna shhed her recent child softly. Grover and Noa shared a look, knowing the story of the woman because they'd heard Chiron speak about it during a class. The woman looked at them. "Monster...it's an odd word considering my grandmother is your great-grandmother, and this has always been a family story. But...to my eye, the demigod is the more dangerous creature. Disruptive. Violent. Manipulative. If I exist for anything, it is to stand in the way of monsters like you."

Her monster growled loudly, making Noa jump. Echidna leaned down by the carrier. "My little one here. She's just a pup now. Bless her heart. Today..."

She shifted her gaze back to the staring four. "-you will be her prey. Are you afraid yet? Oh! It's all right. Fear is natural. It's also essential to the hunt. Your fear. Your doubt. Your confusion. I needed you to understand what was happening so that she could track the scent. So she could learn and grow, because...well, that's what a good mother does for her children. Not that you would know."

"Noa, now!" Grover yelled out. Noa quickly used the shell necklace to flash Echidna, the story on how her skin was weak to none natural light proven real at the way she winced and pulled back, as if she'd been electrocuted. Noa quickly got out of the chairs as the other three did too, the "pup" from the carrier flashed its tail out and stung Percy. Annabeth stabbed it fast.

"Go!" she called, the three running with the girl right behind them. The four ran down the slim hallway of the train, the police officer close behind. Annabeth quickly turned to the door to give them a head start, blocking the lock.

"Percy." Grover grabbed his friend as they paused, protected from the glass.

"What is that?" Percy looked at the needle Grover gently removed from his chest.

"It's a stinger." Noa gaped as she grabbed Percy, her hand laid on his heart. "This isn't good, it's already attacking his bloodstream."

"Do you know what kind of monster has one of those?" Annabeth looked to Grover frantically, breathing heavy from the sprint they made.

"I don't know. I mean, nothing good probably." he shook his head.

"Do you feel okay?" Annabeth looked at him.

"I think so." Percy nodded. "Why? Do you think it's poisonous or something?"

"How can you tell it's already in his blood?" Annabeth looked to Noa with wide eyes.

"I can feel the weakening of the blood around his heart. Usually I can only hear it when someone's heartbeat speeds up in a romantic way but it feels and sounds different, like it's weakening his heartbeat instead of making it go faster." Noa further explained the new full-body feeling she didn't even know could happen. The entire train shook, the tires coming to a loud halt as the four slowly looked back to the window. The two officers that were trying to get to them on the other side of the door looked around in confusion, staring at the monster that shattered the door closest to them.

"We gotta move." Grover spoke fast, making it to the end of the train first as he pushed the door open. Annabeth jumped off next, Noa and Percy close after as they ran for the train tracks a few feet away.

"Why isn't it still chasing us?" Percy asked, realizing nothing was on their heels anymore.

"Echidna said whatever she was hiding in that carried, it's young." Annabeth held onto that piece of information, Grover held Noa's shoulder to give her a run over. She had been right next to Percy, a possibility of her getting the end slash fresh in his mind. "It won't venture too far from her mother. She's learning to hunt, and this seems like the hunting part."

•

kylie speaks

my favorite part about writing
"fantasy" is all the special abilities i get to throw in with my oc's. i mean, a magical necklace that only reveals how it can help her when it senses she's at her biggest distress? given to her on her one thousand year old birthday by her greek goddess mother? all while she can hear and feel when people have romantic feelings and now when they get poison stings? now imagine if i tried to write that cool stuff into a cobra kai fan fic....wouldn't hit the same