We do not own Percy Jackson & the Olympians or any works of Rick Riordan. All rights go to their original owners. We only own OCs and concepts we're introducing to the canon.
Writing credits go to Uzumaki Ricky, Monsterhuntergod, Sharad the hedgehog, and Traines.
Masters of Defying Destiny
Book 1: The Frozen Trails
Chapter 4: There Be Devils Here
"Of all the times to lose a rock-paper-scissors match." Lupe grumbled to herself as she lay back into the seat of an old beater car.
"At least you get to sit up front. I'm stuck in the back." A feminine voice said from the back seat.
Lupe sighed in annoyance. Crammed into an old, beaten up early 90s Honda Civic car were three hyperactive demigods and a Satyr at the wheel. Behind Lupe sat an athletic girl with tanned skin, blue eyes, and a mop of deep brown hair haphazardly tied in a ponytail. Her baggy sweatpants and New York Mets hoodie flopped about in the air coming in from the open window.
"And you're going to stay back there until you learn to cool your jets, Laurel." Lupe shot back.
"If you two don't stop fighting, I'm turning this car around and you can take the bus." The Satyr growled in annoyance.
"Sorry, Birch." Lupe grumbled.
"That's Mr. Overhill to you, kid. Rookies like you need to earn calling me by my first name." The Satyr, now identified as Birch Overhill, replied as he refocused on the road.
"How did Luke convince me to join this quest?" A male voice muttered from the back seat behind the driver.
A deep sigh came from a large Hispanic boy in the back. So large that he looked comical being in the back of such a cramped car. Black hair flopped in the breeze as brown eyes looked out the window. It was clear that he didn't want to be involved with the drama in any way. But it appeared that wasn't in the cards as Laurel spoke up.
"Because we needed a camper with more experience to be allowed to go, Chris." Laurel sighed.
"Also, I can't be the only guy on this mission or so Pan help me…" Birch grumbled.
"That's still not a reason." Chris answered.
"Quit complaining, Chris! This is a good opportunity for us. Also, can't this jalopy go any faster!? I don't want Holly's team completing their mission before we do!" Laurel shot back at Chris before complaining to Birch.
"One, we are still in traffic. Two, this is my car, only I can call it a jalopy. And three, I don't care about your stupid competitive nonsense." Birch sounded off before petting the dashboard. "It's okay, baby. You just take your sweet time."
"Look at it this way, Laurel. Even if you don't complete it faster, you can still do it better than Holly by making sure no one gets hurt." Lupe told her, trying to calm her teammate down.
"Also, aren't we looking for two demigods? What are two demigods doing in the middle of Jersey?" Chris asked.
Laurel immediately perked up at that. "You know what? You two have good points. Let's take our time and do this way better than Holly's team ever could." She replied, laying back and trying to relax during the car ride.
"Grover. You owe me for this, you goat-knocking, swindling son of a Dryad." Birch grumbled as he finally was able to turn off the busy road. "Good news, we are finally getting close. But… wait, that's not right."
"What's wrong?" Lupe asked, immediately reaching for a walking stick at her side.
"I am getting a rank odor from this place. Like there's a lot of dead monsters." Birch snarled, his face contorting as if he ate an expired Sour Patch Kid.
"Sweet. That just means that this mission will be even easier. You think these two have experience to be able to do that?" Laurel asked from her relaxed position, her eyes lighting up competitively.
"I don't think so…" Birch muttered as he brought the car to a stop.
"Why? Do you smell something else?" Chris asked in concern.
"I don't need to smell it. I can see it." Birch said, pointing in front of him.
"See wha-Oh…" Lupe said as she looked where he pointed to see something horrifying.
Laurel sat up and leaned forward to look. "Oh, come on. Whatever it is can't be… that… bad…? Oh Hades…" She said as she followed Lupe's line of sight.
Before them lay the squat, brick sided, single story Hotel Americana, with all the hallmarks of a cheap motel. An old sign that hadn't been updated in years, lackluster amenities, and a nearby vacant parking lot that screamed of broken dreams. Yet most surprising of all was the sheer amount of dust and monster trophies that littered the parking lot. The eye of a Cyclops here, a few Hellhound paws there, and so much more. Yet they heard the panicked, painfilled howl of a Hellhound that took their attention away.
Standing in the middle of the nearby vacant lot was what looked like a massive bear the size of a bulldozer. Yet, the more they looked at it, the weirder it got. It had short, thin fur of nearly translucent color, over a sickly grey, pale skin. Its powerful neck then lurched towards them, throwing a decapitated hellhound head off into the nearby forest. Yet as they got a better look at its face… it had an eerily human looking face draped over the ursine head.
"... You were saying, Laurel…?" Chris asked, immediately disturbed by the sight of… whatever that was.
"... What is that? What the fucking Hades is that thing…!?" Laurel asked in disbelief.
"I don't know, kids. But its smell is all wrong." Birch said nervously.
"Where are the demigods?" Chris asked.
"Room 12, end of the left building's row." Birch explained, pointing at the building they are in, holding his nose.
"How are we supposed to get past… whatever the fuck that thing is…?" Lupe asked in concern.
"I don't think it's going to attack us…" Chris replied.
"Why?" Laurel asked.
"Because it's staring into my soul and it's not moving. It's not even blinking…" Chris explained.
The girls looked again to see the massive bear monster staring at them, almost judging them. Then, to their surprise, it then laid down and appeared to fall asleep. Seeing this, the three demigods rushed to get out of the car and made a beeline for room 12.
"Put on the afterburners, you two! Whatever that is, I don't wanna know what's gonna happen if it decides to attack!" Chris whispered as they booked it for the room.
Soon arriving at the room, Laurel then tried to open the door in a panic. However, to her horror, it was locked. With a sigh, Chris touched the door lock, and they heard it click. Chris then stepped aside and motioned to the door.
"Ladies first." Chris said.
Laurel then rapidly opened the door and swiftly stepped inside.
Whack!
Laurel shrieked and recoiled in pain, clutching her nose as she stepped out of the room. Pulling her hands away from her nose, she hissed in pain, her eyes widening as her hands were slowly being dripped in blood.
"OWW!!" Laurel roared in pain, her hand clutching her nose.
"Come on, bro! You can swing harder than that!" A young boy's voice cried from inside the room.
"Oh, yeah! Thanks, Al!" Another voice responded, and Laurel instinctively tensed up as an acoustic guitar swung out again, stopping just short of her face as Chris spoke.
"Wait, wait! We mean you no harm!" The Son of Hermes cried out, waving his arms.
"I ain't buying what you're trying to sell. You're with them monsters, ain't ya?" the boy with the guitar accused, stepping out from the side of the door, makeshift weapon ready, a glare on his face.
"We are from Camp Half-Blood. We're on a quest to bring you two safely back with us." Lupe explained, cautiously stepping forward into the room.
The guitar-wielding boy's eyes widened as he backed up to allow Lupe into the room. Cautiously, he lowered the stringed instrument.
Standing before the trio stood two boys with similar features, with one being shielded behind the other's arm. The taller of the two had striking gold eyes staring back at them, as if judging their intent. Shoulder-length sandy blonde hair draped over his farmer's tanned face, his equally tanned body tensed and ready for action. The other brother was easily a couple of inches shorter, staring at them with icy blue eyes. The draft from the open door tugged at his unkempt, curly black hair. Both wore beaten up and dirty mismatched clothes, their skin beaten into farmer's tans, and they looked quite thin, fighting back hunger.
"Are you two okay?" Lupe asked.
Meanwhile: In the Heart of Queens
"Oh sure. My sister gets to be driven to her target. And here I am having to take the bus." Came a loud, feminine groan as Mike led his team off the bus.
"Holly, darlin.' You ain't got nothin' to complain about. We're finally gettin' a chance to prove ourselves, so please kindly shut yer mouth and deal with it." Another feminine voice said with a hint of a creole accent, but with a slight aristocratic tone.
"Mike. Oh, fearless leader. Can you kindly tell her that she's wrong?" Holly grumbled.
Mike sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Leave me out of this catfight. Also, why did I bring you two along again?" He asked, frustration ringing from his tone of voice.
As Mike stepped off the bus, he looked at his two teammates. Holly looked the exact same as her sister Laurel, right down to her less than stellar fashion sense. The other girl stood about a head shorter than him, with deep fiery red hair kept in a ponytail. Her camp uniform draped over her athletic body and revealed tawny brown skin from years in the sun. Emerald green eyes darted around, looking for any sign of danger.
"Because your sister took the two folks you wanted in payback for you getting this quest?" the southern girl asked.
Mike sighed and nodded. "Right. Let's get this done right and get home. We gotta meet with Coach Pine, so let's get moving." He replied, hefting his backpack full of his supplies, a pair of bronze colored biker gloves on his hands.
"Why does your old boxing coach work at a rich kid school anyways?" Holly asked.
"Because he's our Satyr contact and was assigned here by the camp to find and monitor our target." Mike explained as they walked up towards the front gates.
"Just what we need. More dumb jerks at camp." Holly grumbled, before getting an elbow from the southern girl. "Ow! Valentina!"
"Bless your heart sometimes, Holly." Valentina replied as they walked up to the gate to meet with their contact.
"Mike, ma' boy! It's been too long!" A male voice called out.
The man had lightly tanned skin, was a bit on the short side, and was rather overweight with sideburns. He had brown colored hair with a bald spot on his head partially covered by a baseball cap and a scruffy brown beard. He gave a big, toothy smile as he walked up while munching on an apple.
Mike gave a big smile back. "Hey, coach Marcus! Good to see you!" He replied as his old coach walked up and gave him a hug.
"And you brought a full team. Starting to wish I brought the van to work instead of the car." Marcus grumbled as he looked at Holly and Valentina.
"Aren't you a bit short to be a coach?" Holly asked, raising her eyebrow.
"You remind me of Philoctetes from Disney's Hercules." Valentina replied with a smile.
"Who do you think inspired his creation? And after all that, I still don't get any royalties." Marcus frustratedly replied. "But enough about the Mouse screwing me out of a good paycheck, let's get inside. Our target's in the fencing club as we speak."
Mike nodded and the three followed the Satyr inside. "So, coach, what can you tell us about the newbie?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You mean aside from him being rich?" Marcus asked sarcastically.
"Of course. So, give us the scoop, coach. What's he like?" Holly asked, eager to get started.
"Withdrawn, rarely speaks, always off by himself. Probably one of the richest kids in the school but has no friends. Overall, can't quite make heads or tails of him." Marcus explained as they approached the doors of the gym.
"Can he at least fight? We need to know if we gotta protect him much on the way back." Valentina asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Unless you brought a celestial bronze rapier, I doubt he's any good. Kid's a string bean. But he's good at fencing." Marcus explained before pushing the doors open.
"I could probably lend him my sword and stick to my cestus gauntlets if we need him to fight." Mike remarked as they walked in, heading towards the fencing hall.
They soon stepped onto polished and waxed wood flooring as they were surrounded by an alien atmosphere. On the white marble walls hung flags and banners of victorious tournaments and great victors of the club's past. Several major trophy cases were stuffed to the gills with medals and trophies. In the middle of the hall were various mats laid out, as multiple pairs of fencers practiced on each other. Each one wearing the distinctive white padded suits and mesh face masks.
"Alright, everyone! Club's dismissed early today!" Marcus called out, and quite rapidly the spars stopped. "Argos, ma' boy! I want to talk to ya'!"
A boy no taller than five feet turned to look at them, before taking off his mesh face mask. As he took it off, they saw a boy with an olive-skinned complexion, as if the sun itself had blessed him, striking electric blue eyes, and wavy, though messy, black hair. However, as he walked over, they noticed his features were less like a boy's, and more like a marble statue's. Carved to be meticulously regal and noble.
"Yes, Coach Pine?" He asked in a crisp, clear voice.
"This is an old student of mine, Mike Morales, and his friends Holly Victor and Valentina Ana De Leon. Mike, girls, this is Argos." Marcus replied, quickly handling the introductions for them.
"Argos Kastellanos." The boy corrected.
"Nice to meet you, Argos." Mike replied, holding his hand out for a handshake.
Argos looked at the hand for a second, as if processing the gesture, before shaking it. "Likewise." He answered.
"Now that the introductions are out of the way, let's step into my office. These three have something important to talk to you about, Argos." Marcus told the olive-skinned boy.
"Is it about that camp you kept cryptically mentioning?" Argos asked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.
"Got it in one, rookie." Holly replied eagerly.
"I already don't like you." Argos replied, side glancing Holly.
"What? What'd I say?" Holly asked in disbelief.
"Oh, bless your heart, Holly…" Valentina replied simply.
"Right this way, kids." Marcus said as he led the four to a small office at the back of the room, with Argos being last. Having a skeptical look on his face.
Meanwhile: Back at the Hotel Americana in Jersey
"And that's why we came here to get you." Lupe said with a big sigh.
"So, we're gods?" the younger of the brothers asked, rubbing his chin in thought as he sat on one of the beds in the dilapidated room.
"Huh, I thought we were like X-Men or somethin'." the blonde brother said as he stood next to his sibling, the guitar still in his hands but resting at his side.
"Demigods, actually." Chris replied, correcting the younger of the two brothers.
"I was thinkin' Jedi." The dark-haired boy said chipperly, frowning at having been wrong.
"So, Alastair. How have you two made it this far?" Laurel asked the dark-haired boy, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, our mama gave us these to keep the monsters away." Alastair said proudly, reaching under the top of his shirt and producing a necklace, the end of it being adorned with a thunderbird talisman. The silver trinket shone in the light of the room.
"So where are you two exactly from? And what in the name of Hades is that bear monster?" Chris asked.
"We're from Tahlequah Oklahoma; Mom moved from Alaska and had us a few years later. That thing out there is a Tupilaq, been following us ever since. I think it just wants us, whenever another monster gets close, it stops gunnin' for us and takes them out." The older brother said, sighing in exhaustion.
"So, is that why you painted the door red, Corvo?" Lupe asked, motioning to the recently painted door.
"Yeah, keeps the monsters out, seems our necklaces don't work on some monsters. Scares them dogs pretty good, but won't stop the more intelligent monsters, like the big bull." Corvo replied.
"Well, that complicates getting to the car." Holly answered as she looked out the door, seeing the Tupilaq still laying down in the parking lot.
"Follow my lead. I have a plan." Lupe replied, tapping her walking stick on the floor as a flash of light went off.
The brothers were shocked as the walking stick morphed into a long, oaken-hafted spear with a long broad spearhead of shimmering bronze. In her other hand, in place of a watch, came a large bronze shield, painted with a face of a lion.
"I'll take point and distract it. You four head to the car." Lupe told them, getting ready.
"Do you want to die?" Alastair asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Don't underestimate me, chico. I've trained for situations like these for the last several years. Just be ready to book it to the car." Lupe replied, looking out the window at the creature.
"Well, at least we don't have to hitchhike this time." Corvo sighed.
"On my count. Three. Two. One. GO!" Lupe cried out.
The five demigods made a run for the car. As soon as it sensed them, the bear monster perked up as it glared at Corvo and Alastair. Growling, it let out an ursine roar as it got up and bolted for them, the ground shaking as it charged in like a locomotive. Turning tail, Lupe stopped in place and readied her shield. The beast barreled into her like a runaway train as Lupe braced herself. Her shield took the brunt of the charge as she endured the impact, slowly getting pushed back.
"Lupe, get out of there!" Chris cried out as he ran to the car.
"Just get in the car and get ready to go! I'll be right behind you!" Lupe called out before shoving the Tupilaq back and stabbing at it with her spear.
The towering beast hardly reacted to the spear plunging into its flesh, much to Lupe's shock. Raising one of its paws up, it swiped at her with its massive paw. Though she was able to get her shield up in time, the sheer force of the blow sent her skidding across the pavement. As the bear turned to face her, it lowered its head to charge. Right before it could, a great black mass slammed into its side. The white beast let out a winded grunt as Lupe got a better look at her savior.
Tight black skin clad a muscular, vaguely human body that slashed and gripped at the Tupilaq with wicked claws. Taloned feet soon sunk into the bear's flesh with wiry, alien looking feet. The howling head of a carnivorous horse roared as great bat wings unfurled from its back. With several mighty flaps, the mysterious monster soon lifted the Tuqilaq into the sky.
"Get out of there Lupe!" Holly yelled from the car.
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Lupe called back as she sprinted towards the car.
As soon as Lupe hopped into the car, Chris spoke up. "What the heck was that!?" He asked.
"It's the Jersey Devil! Awesome." both brothers said, smiling widely, causing Holly to balk at them.
"That should buy us some time! Go, go, go!" Holly called out, motioning for the Satyr in the driver's seat to hit the gas.
As soon as the words left her mouth, they all felt a great thud on the hood of the car. Looking to see what caused it, they saw the severed head of the Jersey Devil laying there, looking straight at them in a contorted face of fear.
"AAAAAAH!" They all screamed.
"STEP ON THE GAS ALREADY!" Holly screamed in panic.
"And this is why I don't like coming to Jersey!" Birch yelled as he floored it.
As the car made a beeline for the George Washington Bridge, the Tupilaq walked back to the parking lot of the Hotel Americana. Seeing them drive away, it soon sniffed the air. After that, he lowered its head and began to go into a full running gait. Its eyes fixed in their direction.
Meanwhile: Back with Mike and Company
"... So let me get this straight. I am half-god, you all are half-god, and the coach is half-goat?" Argos asked, skepticism painted across his face.
"Basically, yeah." Holly answered, getting another elbow from Valentina. "Stop that!"
"Not till you shape up sugar." Valentina answered.
"And on top of that, you four are going to take me to a summer camp where I'm going to be training into a monster hunting super soldier?" Argos asked, looking at them like they were crazy.
"When you say it like that, it sounds silly." Mike replied, a bit taken aback at the sheer level of disbelief from Argos.
"I'll go with you on one condition." Argos said before crossing his arms.
"And that is?" Holly asked.
"Prove that you're half-god." Argos flatly replied.
Mike then stood up from his chair and cracked his neck quickly. Then he reached down with one hand under Coach Pine's desk. With a simple motion as he began to stand up, he lifted the desk up with him. This caused Argos to open his eyes wide with shock at what he was seeing.
"That enough proof for you?" Mike asked.
"Yeah…" Argos answered, utterly flabbergasted.
"Good." Mike answered before dropping the desk. The heavy desk then crashed into the hard ground and broke in half. "... Sorry Coach."
Marcus let out a deep, frustrated sigh before pinching the bridge of his nose. "Mike. We discussed this before." Marcus groaned in frustration.
Mike had the decency to look sheepish. "My bad, coach. Lost control for a second…" He replied nervously.
"Let's get him back to camp before I get to throttling some sense into you, boy." Marcus sighed before getting out of his chair. "Grab your things Argos. We are heading out."
"Right now? But I haven't packed anything…" Argos tried to say before getting cut off.
"We will get you everything you need when we get to camp. It's pretty common for people not to have pre-packed anything." Valentina explained.
"We need to send out brochures or something." Holly chipped in.
"Oh yes. Let's give all the monsters across the country our address. That sounds like a great idea." Mike said sarcastically.
As the group made their hasty exit from the school, Marcus stopped as soon as they got to the curb. He then hastily threw all their things in the trunk and went to start the car stat. This concerned Mike greatly.
"What's wrong coach?" Mike asked.
"Mike, get in the car now. We got trouble coming." Marcus sternly said as he opened the driver's side door.
"I can get us out of trouble; how bad can it be?" Mike asked.
"Look behind you." Marcus deadpan replied.
Mike turned around and stared in utter horror. Rushing down the middle of the street was a great horde of hellhounds, a living mass of black clad death jostling and pushing against each other to get at the demigods. The skies above them were choked with monstrous pigeon like birds, each bearing a celestial bronze beak that shimmered in the waning light of the day. Finally, breaking up the rear was the towering and burly frame of a cyclops. Mike was puzzled at how a cyclops could keep up with such a fast-moving horde of monsters, until he noticed the two cars it had fastened to their feet to use as roller skates.
"Normally I'm all for trouble, but not that kind of trouble." Mike said before hopping into the shotgun seat of the car, as Argos, Holly and Valentina sat in the back.
"I trained you well." Marcus said with a small smile before putting the gas pedal to the floor, and with a screech of tires and smoke they were off.
To Be Continued…