Half-Blood Legacy

Great. I'll read it later.

Hey Everyone! Look What I finally did!
Jan. 16:

Now, chapter four will be put up some time in the next month.

wow. I'm really behind schedule.....


Chapter Four: Beware of Creepers...
Ryan

My turn again! Wes didn’t want to tell this part, so I’ll do it. We stopped at this rest stop to sleep. Kris says we’re questing in luxury with having a truck and all. I’d rather sleep on the ground, but a truck bed will do. It was a bit weird sleeping next to Jake, but the girls were sleeping in the cab in their seats. I took first watch and Kris and Jake fell asleep almost immediately. I was tired but the prophecy bugged me. I had taken some serious thought on that after we left. Jake had too, he was taking notes on his laptop. That thing is awesome by the way! It’s like indestructible and has a touch screen and everything! He even gets free internet where ever! I bet it’d even work on the moon! I’ve considered borrowing it but Jake would kill me. Yup, there. He just told me that he would.
Anyway, sitting here awake on look out for any monsters that may or may not show up. I wasn’t tired yet, but I probably wouldn’t have slept anyway. Jake snores. Loudly.
<Here there is a scribble on the page>
Sorry about that- Jake took the notebook and I had to chase him down, but he wouldn’t give it back and the Wes had too… Wait. You’re just reading this; you probably didn’t even know I stopped writing. Why am I explaining myself!?
Okay, back on subject. Worn out from pushing a truck half a mile to a gas station but the prophecy bugged me too much to sleep. That’s as far as I got so far, right? Yah.
The night was quiet. The street lights made the parking lot really creepy. I messed with the stock of my crossbow, seeing if I could make a mark with my fingernail. Normally, I really don’t mind guard duty. In fact, sometimes (and don’t tell anyone) I like it. But something gave me a bad feeling, maybe it was just the fact that my brain was going numb with cold and the dead trees looked like something from an old horror movie. I honestly hate winter in the North. Ugh, I mean- I’m from Arizona! Back at my old house, winter just meant Christmas was soon, up here it means it’s the time for staying indoors or pelting the people who venture outside with frozen balls of slush! (Not that that isn’t fun at times…) I glanced over at the main building. A hot coffee sounded so good right about now. It was like negative infinity with a slight breeze. Kris and Wes had heaters in the cab, Thor had fur and Jake was like- made of fire.(He was also hogging the blankets) I was freezing my butt off! And you know, caffeine's always nice…
Thor raised a head as I shifted to get up. I put a finger to my mouth. If there was any trouble, Thor could at least wake Jake up. I’d only be away a minute. I quietly hopped out of the truck bed.
“Where are you going?” I nearly jumped out of my skin. I looked back at Wes in the passenger seat.
“Stretching my legs, getting a coffee or two.” I said, leaning against the truck door. Wes opened the window. Kris turned in her sleep. “I thought you were asleep.” I admitted. Wes shrugged.
“I haven’t slept in a while now.” Wes said quietly.
“Why now?” I think I hit a ‘No Talking Zone’ by her frown, but she just shrugged.
“I guess my body just got tired of sleep.”
“Tired of sleep?” I said with a smile. “Was that a pun?”
“I didn’t mean it as a pun.” Wes said, smiling a bit.
“Yah, I figured.” I looked up at the moon; the last line rang in my head again. ‘Ending in darkness, like the moon.’ “Hey- do you think that the darkness in the prophecy is the normal kind of darkness or a metaphorical kind?”
“I’d bet the metaphorical kind.” Wes said, not even missing a beat with my random question. I nodded.
“I wonder what shore it’s talking about.”
“Probably one by water.” Wes said smartly. I frowned. Witty lines were my job... though that was pretty good.
“You know, it wouldn’t hurt to have an actual input.” I pointed out. Wes rolled her eyes.
“Look- whatever it means, it can’t be good. I don’t like the sound of the prophecy. All I know, or can assume is that in two weeks we should be on the West Coast.” Wes said simply. I sighed.
“Fine, fine. Yeesh- it’s freezing out here!” I complained, shivering.
“It is a bit cold.” Wes agreed.
“A bit?!? It’s like the freaking-” I stopped short as something caught my eye. It was my ADHD kicking in, but this was one of those times where it actually was useful. Wes caught the change and raised a brow. “It’s like 1 A.M., right?” I asked.
“12:32, why?”
“There’s someone staring at us.” I said, lowering my voice quite a bit. “No cars came in after us.” Wes stretched and discreetly glanced towards the building. There was a guy in a black trench coat watching our truck. (Ugh. Even when I’m just relating the story, that’s like *the oldest* cliché in the book! It’s just terrible! The bad guy wearing black. Why can’t the bad-guy wear an imposing blue or at the very least a dark maroon? And a trench coat none the less. Villains have no sense of style.)
“You think he’s a mystical freak or a mortal freak?” I asked. Even if he was just a mortal creeper, I was glad I didn’t head into the building like I was going to do. Wes just shrugged.
“With our luck?” She started. “Trouble.”
“Should we wake the others?” I asked. Wes thought for a moment.
“Yah. Do it quietly.” Wes said with a nod. She acted like she was going to get something from the space between the seats and quietly woke up Kris. I climbed back into the back again and tapped Jake.
“What….???? Night time. Sleep….” Jake mumbled.
“Your turn.” I lied, hoping the get him alert. Jake rose to his elbows and looked around. He dug into his pocket and pulled out his pocket watch. Geeze. Who knew it actually could tell time?
“No it’s not.” Jake grumbled. “I’ve still got like two hours.”
“Dude!” I said in a loud whisper. “Just get up!” Jake sat up and blinked a couple times. He looked rather out of it.
“What do you want?”
“There’s a creepy dude.” I told him honestly. Once again, honestly wasn’t always the best policy. Jake looked at me like I just woke him up because of an impending alien invasion.
“Good night.” Jake laid back down again.
“No! Stay up!” I demanded, pulling him back to a sitting position. Thor was staring at the trench coat guy. “Wes and I think he’s trouble.”
“Great.” Jake said unenthusiastically. “Let me know when that’s a definite.”
“Gah! You put me on watch and you aren’t freaking listening!”
“WILL BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!?!” Wes ordered in a loud whisper. I glanced over at where the creepy dude was. He was walking away. I glanced at Wes. She didn’t look too happy either.
“Well- he’s gone. Can I sleep now?” Jake asked, returning to the pleasant mood he had been sporting for most of the quest.
“No.” Wes answered bluntly. “There must be a reason why he left. We would have been more prepared if *some people* were quieter.”
“It was his fault.” I muttered.
“Just keep an eye open- all of you.” Wes said, glaring at Jake. Jake grumbled and started petting Thor. I frowned. The trees were looking ominous in the suspense. I felt my crossbow butt nervously. The quiet was torture, but talking wouldn’t help matters. I leaned back against the wall of the truck bed. It was just at that moment when something flew past my nose. I fell back in surprise. I heard the back windshield shatter and it sounded like the front windshield did too. Jake had his shield activated in a moment. Wes shoved open her door, almost hitting me in the face, and scampered out beside me. She twisted her armbands into her bow and quiver. Why don’t I get any of these transforming weapons?! I have to lug all the equipment around while everyone else gets illogical transformations that just fit in their pockets! I mean a ring turning into a sword! That’s worse than a pen! Do *I* get any illogical transformations? No- I get hundred-pound weapons I have to carry around. I mean- is it really that hard to ask for like… I don’t know- a sharpie that turns into a knife. Not too big of a size difference. Or even just something collapsible.
Anyway, it sounded like Kris was trying to crawl over to our side without getting shot, and Jake was easing over too. Even in the illogical world of demigods, physics apparently still applies. (But only when it’s inconvenient for us.) A sudden shift in weight plus heavy hits to the side of the truck equals a tipped truck. Wes and I scrambled backwards to avoid becoming demigod pancakes, Jake and Thor tumbled out on top of me and it sounded like Kris hit her head. Kris managed to squeeze out of the sunroof and joined our dog pile behind our tipped truck. I shoved Jake and the dog off of me and we all took shelter behind the truck, hoping it didn’t tip again. We could hear the spikes slamming against the bottom of the truck. With every hit I could have sworn the next one would go straight through. I could see our panicked breaths puff in the winter air.
“Dare I ask what this is?” I said, closing my eyes wishing that monsters stayed that thing that you always swore was in your closet but when you got older it turned out to be only a sweater. The next hit I felt hit in the spot right behind my back. If that had been a bit harder…. Why couldn’t this be a sweater? Wes swallowed nervously.
“Manticore...“ She whispered beside me. The truck bounced as it was hit again.
“I’m assuming that’s bad.” I whispered back. Jake seemed to be wide awake now.
“Well, we won’t get very far just waiting for it to kill us.” He muttered.
“It’s not like we can do much with him just shooting at us from far. Did you see what it did to our windshield?” Kris pointed out. I had to agree with Kris. Those spikes were coming like bullets. Jake’s look hardened.
“Then we’ll play his game.” He said, rolling his left shoulder and letting his shield glint in the moonlight. “Let’s hope Mason made this as well as he bragged.” He slid out from our hiding spot behind the truck, sheltering now behind his shield. The manticore started firing at him, probably seeing him as an easier target. He winced with every hit on the shield, and was bracing it with both hands now. He looked at me expectantly. I picked up the crossbow I brought and quickly scrambled behind him. I could barely see the manticore at all, and Jake wouldn’t be able to stand up against the spikes forever. I fired off a couple shots at what might have been the manticore. Or a tree. Wes moved between me and the truck and readied her bow.
“Don’t you have night vision goggles or something?” She asked Jake; apparently she couldn’t see any better than I could.
“I don’t carry every gadget known to man!” Jake snapped, quickly adjusting to brace himself for the next hit.
“You should. It would help....” I muttered, firing almost blindly at the manticore.
“Can you get any closer?” Kris asked. She must have been feeling rather useless with her sword.
“With or without dying?” Jake retorted. His breath-clouds were heavier and his voice was tight with effort. Kris sighed and helped him hold his shield.
“I’m taking that as a ‘no’.” I focused on the manticore, aiming more carefully. I was determined to hit it, and I was going to hit it hard. This was going to end. Right now. I fired.
“Headshot!” I shouted proudly with a victorious fist pump as it exploded into golden dust.
“My shot.” Wes corrected. I frowned. Stupid Apollo kid. Why do they always have to take all the fun?
Jake gave a sigh of relief and let his shield drop. I winced for him as it made a loud ‘gunk.’ Normally, Jake wouldn’t treat, or let any of his things be treated like this. At the moment, he was too tired to care. He looked beat. I guess you would too under the circumstances. You know, you can’t really tell how tired you are until after the hard stuff is over. Or how cold.
“Want me to buy you some coffee?” I offered. Jake made a face.
“Gross.”
“Well, now what?” Someone asked. I honestly don’t remember who.
“Flip the truck before some overly-concerned cop comes up.” Jake mumbled, hardly understandable now. Kris and Wes nodded in agreement. No one seemed to move just yet. For obvious reasons, no one wanted to flip a truck in the middle of the night… or any other time of day; but on the other hand, no one wanted to try and explain why four teenagers (and one dog) were out with a totaled truck in the middle of the night. There were some things the Mist just wouldn’t cover.
For the poor reader utterly lost in all this demigod talk, the Mist is a mystical force that lets normal people continue their normal lives even as the primal forces of nature are fighting around them. See, because of the Mist, mortals can’t see all this Greek stuff like monsters and gods. They would, however, see things like swords and hellhounds as more normal things, like guns and poodles. If you’re epic like Chiron and some experience demigods, you can manipulate the mist to make mortals see what you want them to see, like a sword’s a pen or something. (Which actually isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds.) I hear some mortals like our friend, Rachael the Oreo can see through the Mist. I’d really hate to have to explain all this demigod stuff to a normal person. I’m making it a personal goal to avoid mortals who can see through the mist.
Well, back to the story, after a long period of grunting, sweating, groaning, and freezing we finally got the truck on all four(deflated) tires. We just stood there for a while.
“I’m pretty sure this isn’t street legal.” Kris commented. Jake yawned.
“Sleep now… fix later.” He said, kicking away some broken glass.
“Yah, because I really enjoy sleeping with glass in my semi-frozen butt.” I muttered. Wes pulled out her blanket and shook glass out of it. I was seriously considering sleeping on a bench like a hobo… but then I remembered that metal benches stay cold and wood benches have splinters. I nudged Jake who was starting to fall asleep standing up. “Can’t you like, rig something to clean up the glass?” Jake murmured a response that I think was a yes, because he nodded sleepily and proceeded putting random parts he had in his pocket together. Kris and Wes munched on some snacks and sipped Mountain Dew as they watched him work. Jake set the finished product in the cabin and it set to work cleaning up the truck. We were all mostly asleep by now, so we were quiet for a long time. I reviewed the prophecy in my head, trying to keep myself awake.
“I have a bad feeling about that line.” Jake muttered. I looked over at him, surprised. I didn’t notice that I had started to say it aloud. “The recriminate part.” He clarified.
“I really don’t think that’s a word.” I said with a frown.
“It is.” I looked at him, still not quite convinced. “I checked.”
“Right… And why don’t you like the line?”
“To recriminate is to make a counter accusation-.”
“So? Two people accuse each other of something. Lawyers do it all the time.” I paused for a moment, ignoring Jake’s ‘you’re-an-idiot’ glare. “Recriminate.” I repeated, dissecting the word in my head. “It’s spelt like re-crime-ate, right?”
“Where are you going with this?” Wes asked. The girls seemed to have tuned in to our conversation.
“’Re’ means ‘again’, so maybe it’s to recommit a crime against someone.” When there was no rely, I continued. “I think that as long as we don’t have beef with anyone important, we should be fine.” I said with a shrug. Kris raised a brow.
“Ryan.”
“Yes?”
“We’re demigods. We have beef with *everyone* important.”


Is it just me, or is this chapter longer than the others? Well, I guess it's to be expected with Ryan telling about plot important things *and* an epic battle.

This is really good! I love it so far.

I just reread that chapter and realized that you put 'Rachel the Oreo,' were you by chance eating cookies when you typed this?

No, but Ryan's narrating and I thought it'd be both funnier and more like Ryan.

Jake! Whatever happened to this epic story?!

Plot happened.
Then it died.... Next time, we do like what we did for this event: stuff first, prophecy later.