Speed Demons

Part 31

Alex Fierro

We pulled the Big Banana to a stop in front of a beach house on the coast of Montauk after an interesting encounter with Aegir, his nine daughters, and Njord, Magnus' grandfather. The whirlpool hadn't spat us out in the same place we had gone in. We had been just close enough to spot Percy's cabin, as well as the Montauk Point Lighthouse in the distance. "Should we all go?" TJ asked curiously.

Magnus shook his head, "Probably not. Maybe one or two people."

"I'll go," I shrugged. I didn't give anyone time to react. I turned into an eagle and flew towards the cabin as my vision heightened. No one followed. That's fine.

I landed on the porch, turned back into myself, and knocked on the door.

It swung open before I had even finished knocking. Percy stood there, in his small glory. What I mean, is that he's small, barely taller than Blitz, our resident dwarf friend. The speedster stood at about 5'5", making him a few inches taller than Pidge, his girlfriend. He had raven-black hair with a mysterious grey streak. He had a Brooklyn Dodgers sweater and a pin which I was surprised I recognized. It was a rainbow-coloured infinity symbol to represent Autism Awareness. Other than that, everything he wore was black. Even his shoes looked like they were draped in shadow.

His eyes were bloodshot and there were tearstains on his cheeks. "Alex," he greeted hardly. He looked up at the horizon, no doubt seeing the large, bright yellow ship at the shoreline. "Is it time?"

I brushed off his sour mood, "Yep," I said cheerfully, his expression darkening further. "Time to go stop doomsay!"

He grumbled a quiet, "Again," and walked to the left of the cabin, no doubt where his Lion was hidden. Seeing the lion leap into the air, I shape-shifted again and flew next to him. Landing on the boat, I realized that the lion was likely too big to stand on the ship. Percy didn't even try, he landed next to the ship, pushing it out to sea. once we were far enough out, he floated above, silently following us.

TJ saw the flying Lion and just about fell out of his skin. Being from the civil war, he hadn't seen many things fly, other than birds and Valkyries. He loved planes, helicopters, anything. He raised his arms and cheered when he got over his shock. "WOOHOO!"

I walked over to Magnus and Sam. "He's in a bad mood," I told them. The son of Frey looked up at the Lion and shrugged.

"There's not much we can do, as long as he's up there," Sam said, not looking happy about it. Suddenly, the Lion reared its head back and spat out a familiar speedster, who landed lightly in the frigid water. He resurfaced just in time to see the White Lion turn on a dime and fly off in the opposite direction.

Percy muttered some curses to no one in particular as he climbed onto the deck. He plucked his still attached pin from his soaking sweater and stood at the bow, clutching it tightly in his hands. The seawater had washed away the tearstains, but it was still clear he had been crying.

Magnus

I walked over to Percy after asking Sam and Alex to give us a minute. "You alright?"

"I'm fine, Magnus," he snapped.

"I disagree," I replied. "I know you too well for that."

"Only by accident," he muttered. "I wouldn't have trusted you with all that stuff."

"And have I told anyone?"

"No," he said. "But you're terrible at keeping secrets. Sam probably figured it out, and so did Blitz and Hearth."

I sighed. "Sorry."

"You'd better be." He squeezed the railing of the ship so hard his knuckles turned white.