Percy Jackson: A New Hero

Chapter 12: The Philadelphia Supernaturals Pt. 2

"Awww," I groaned out.

I opened my eyes and saw darkness. I thought I was back at home in my room when the memories flooded back to me. At the same time, my head began to pound.

I slowly sat up and placed my back against the cold brick wall. "Look who's finally awake," a voice said.

Startled, I looked around until my eyes landed on Skylar. "How long was I out?" I asked.

"I'd say an hour, but it's kinda hard to tell in here."

Skylar gestured at our surroundings. I looked around and took in the scenery, or lack thereof.

We were in a cell inside an unusually dark dungeon. There's no way we were still in the city. Our cell was pretty small, too. There were some bars blocking the exit and no windows. They looked pretty old to me, though. Maybe we could dislodge them enough to allow us to pass through the gaps.

Skylar must've seen my face because she quickly said, "Don't bother. There's no use trying to move the bars. I've already tried."

"So then, what do we do?" I asked.

"I dunno. This was not how I thought my first quest would go exactly."

"What do you mean?"

"At camp, most people come back with stories of doing something cool or going on a grand adventure. I thought they were going to be something like what your dad did."

"What do you mean?" I asked. I've heard bits and pieces of what my dad's done, but nothing to get a good sense of it, and definitely nothing of his "adventures."

"Well, your dad's first quest was to find Zeus's lightning bolt. He traveled across the country and even to the Underworld. I was expecting something like that. Not to be the gods' diplomat to people that just argue with each other and put those that are trying to help them into cells."

I nodded, "I get it. This was not how I was expecting my summer to go. School was almost done when all this shit happened. I wanted to hang out with my friends and then enjoy two months at my family's cabin in Montauk."

Skylar laughed.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"The image of you sitting on a beach for two months. You just don't seem like that type of person."

I was about to say something back when a door at the end of the hallway opened. The person who stepped out of the doorway was one creepy-looking dude. Between his blood-red eyes and the scar on his head, he looked like your generic bad guy. He even had buzzed black hair and some stubble as a beard.

"You two better get comfortable 'cause you're gonna be here for a while." He said. He even talked like a generic bad guy.

"Until when?" Skylar asked.

He replied, "Until Rebekah Mikaelson steps down as head of the Vampires and gives control of them to Aurelia."

"What a power-hungry bitch!" Skylar retorted.

I snorted at that.

The man was fuming. "You two are very lucky I'm not the one in charge!" he yelled. "If it was me, you'd be tortured for all of Olympus' information, like the location of those fucking camps you demigods have. I'd love to see them burn."

"Then why don't you?" I asked.

The man bent down and said, "If I touched you, Aurelia would kill me because you're the only bargaining chips she's got. Now, get comfortable."

With that, the man left, closing the door behind him, leaving Skylar and me alone once again.

"We need to get out of here," Skylar said once he was gone. "Look," she pointed.

I followed her hand with my eyes until I saw what she was pointing at: a keyhole.

She said, "If we can get that to unlock, we'll be able to sneak out of here and stop Rebekah from giving up control."

I nodded, "I think I have an idea."

"What is it?"

"My dad said that I have the ability to turn myself into water form. Basically me, but made entirely out of water. If I can get myself to turn into that, I can morph my hand into the shape of the key and open the lock."

"That's not a bad idea. But have you ever done it before? And can you do it on command?"

"We'll see. What other option do we have?"

I stood up and closed my eyes. Please, Dad, I thought, help me do this to get us out of here.

I tried to imagine my entire body as if it was made entirely out of water and could mold itself into whatever I wanted.

I stood there for about thirty or so seconds but felt no change. I opened my eyes, and I was still the same. Skylar touched my shoulder and said, "It's okay, Luke. We'll find another way."

"How?"

"We'll call the guard back. Then, I'll distract him while you lift the keys off of him. It won't be as stealthy, but it can still work."

"Okay."

Skylar yelled out for the guard a bunch of times until he eventually came in. "What the fuck do you want?!" He asked, clearly agitated.

I did my best to hide out of sight as he approached our cell door. Once he was close enough, I slowly reached for the keys attached to his belt and carefully lifted them up. I made sure not to use my thumb, as that's the heavy finger, and he would probably feel it touch him.

"I need some water," Skylar said. "We've been in here for a while."

The guard thought about it for a second, which was great for me as it gave me more time to lift the keys off him. While he was deep in thought, Skylar glanced at me. Once the keys were off him, I returned to my hiding spot and pocketed the keys. I then went back in sight of the guard and said, "Please, sir. Aurelia wouldn't want us to die of dehydration, now would she?"

"Fine," he said.

The guard then went back through the doorway and after a few seconds to make sure he was gone, I pulled out the keys. "Let's get out of here," I said.

Skylar took the keys and placed them one by one into the keyhole. After a few keys, she landed on the right one and slowly unlocked the door. We carefully walked down the hallway and I opened the door a little bit. I peeked out to make sure no one was coming and then stepped through the doorway.

Now, I could hear cars honking and bustling sidewalks. We were still in Philly. Thank the gods, I thought.

Looking around, we were in the lobby of some building. The windows were covered up by wood and construction materials, but you could still tell it was a lobby. Skylar and I ran to the next set of doors leading back to the outside world when suddenly, the guard came back with two water bottles in hand. "Hey!" he called out.

Skylar and I took off, running out of the building as the guard dropped the water and chased after us through Philadelphia.

We ran across streets and through alleys, but the guard was still following us. As we came out of an alley, I ran into a lady walking with some grocery bags. "Sorry!" I apologized as I ran off.

"Luke," Skylar said, "we have to split up."

I nodded, "Alright. Let's meet back up at Rebekah's house."

"Okay."

I guess I was more valuable than Skylar because the guard didn't even think about following after her. Instead, he just kept coming after me. Good thing I was on the track team, because my improved stamina is definitely paying off.

The cloudy weather was great for me because the alleys were very dark. I ran through another one and then across the street, where a bunch of people were walking. I ran to them and then hid in the middle of the crowd. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the guard come out of the alley and then look around for me. He didn't see me because he then turned around and went back through the alley he just came out of.

Once he was gone, I looked around to figure out where I was and saw a sign for the University of Pennsylvania. Great, I thought sarcastically, it's gonna be a long walk back to Aunt Rebekah's house.