Fragmented Trajectory (A Percy Jackson Fanfiction) A Continuation

Chapter 9: Demigod Blues

My feet are instinctually backpeddling, drawing me further and further away from the wiry girl edging close as a handsy dance partner. The girl - a head shorter than me, with a shock of raven hair styled in a choppy pixie cut, her eyes so deeply blue they glow violet in the shimmering sunlight - isn't to be deterred and gamely follows my movements, taking a single step for every foot I skid backwards.

"Game...?" I question.

Her thin lips quirk into a smile so eerie and out of place my brows hitch towards my hairline.

"That's right." She folds her arms beneath her chest and plops down cross-legged in the grass in one fluid motion that makes me question her genetic background, as she looks oddly monkey-like during the process. "A game. Like I said, I was hoping for blondie or the ditsy one but... you'll do."

What in Hades is this chick going on about? I finger my bow, fingertips ghosting over the smooth curve, plucking daintily at the taut string. Two seconds. It would take me two seconds exactly to fish out an arrow, knock it and fire. Cabin Seven is constantly running drills, timing its campers so that we're as efficient as possible when in the heat of battle, so I know my limits well. Two seconds. It isn't a long time at all, and would certainly be enough to deal with some run-of-the-mill monster.

Flighty little telekhine this girl is not.

"Nice ride ya got there, by the way." She points lazily to where Andrena dozes, her slick tail twitching once as though she knows unfamiliar eyes are on her. I say nothing, and she takes this as an invitation to continue. "Real stylish. I gotta wonder how you trained her so well, but then again, I saw ya while you were up there and..." Her ruddy cheek dimples. "Looked like you were having a little trouble."

She could see us? That's... unsettling, at best. It wasn't through an Iris Message, which I'll assume she's at least knowledgeable of, seeing as how she didn't react negatively to seeing a wandering gryphon. Either she's another demigod, or... Zeus only knows.

"Anyway!" The sprightly girl slaps her palms down on her knees, beaming a bit fiercely in my direction; I can't help the urge to avert my eyes and my gaze drifts over Andrena's softly snoring form, the hopeful thought that she'd wake soon tickling the back of my mind. "The game... It'll start in a little bit, so I might as well explain the rules. This place" - she gestures expansively - "is completely under my control. Magic barrier and all that - no communication in or out, and you ain't leaving till the game is done."

So the botched Iris Message was her doing after all. Should have figured that from the beginning, but my head's been in a fog since waking up and my thought process has slowed down considerably from the blunt-force trauma of hitting the ground at speed. So forgive me for being a bit out of it and unexciting.

"The game is between you" - she crooks a finger at me - "and me" - then hooks a thumb at herself - "with a couple surprises thrown into the mix. I'll give you the entire day, and all ya have to do is take this from me." From beneath her Like a Boss t-shirt, she pulls out an intricate-looking pendant, shaped and molded into a flat black disk with a sliver of white peeking out from one edge. As she cups it in her hand, jostling it a bit to let it catch the light, I make out the slightest of violet hues sparkling among the expanse of black.

I swallow thickly, just shy of a terrified gulp.

"I'll be hiding, o' course," she goes on, oblivious - or secretly amused - to my agitated response, "so it won't be that easy for ya."

"...We're playing... hide-and-seek?" My lips curl into a dissatisfied scowl. Seriously. She shot me out of the freaking sky all for some childish game of hide-and-seek? Oh wait till I got my hands on her; even the almight wrath of Hera wouldn't compare to my vengeance.

The girl bobs her head, then tilts it to the side as though remembering something. "Wellll... not quite. Other stuff's gonna happen too, but before I can get inta all that, you gotta meet the other players!"

...What?

She brings two bowed fingers to her lips and lets out an ear-piercing, one-noted whistle that splits apart the meandering sounds of the country and quiets the twitchy crickets dotting the fields around this tiny abandoned town. In the ominous silence that follows, the girl's smile stretches from ear-to-ear and she closes her eyes in what I could only describe as glee, her arms spread as though in welcome.

Which is when I hear it. The crunch of brittle grass, the mismatched clomp-stomp-clomp that haunts many a male demigod's nightmares and wildest fantasies.

The word doesn't completely register, doesn't click, until the moment where both super model-esque girls are flanking the pixie of a ringleader, seductive pouts on their puffy lips, an insatiable, predatory hunger deep in their layered gazes.

"Empousai."

"Ex-cusia!" the busty blonde huffs, flipping a curl of spun sunlight from her shoulder. "You promised us hotties, not some spindly twiggy girl."

The girl's - Excusia, I suppose - shoulders rise and fall in a helpless shrug. "Eh, sorry, couldn't do anything about it. Those guys were too fast for my magic, I guess. You should be happy I got you a plaything, though, else you woulda been bored enough to turn on me." Her eyes glint with something more than her usual charm as she cheerfully asks, "Isn't that right?"

The two empousai only offer bubbly giggles in answer to her perfectly reasonable (I'm a demigod, nothing's really reasonable) question.

Wait. My breathing grows shallow as a list of facts suddenly surge through my mind. She can use magic, magic powerful enough to shield an entire town and near-completely to block out Iris Messaging; she has power over empousai; that pendant tucked under her shirt is probably supposed to represent a new moon, or the dark side of the moon or something like that... If she's a demigod she has to be....

"You're a daughter of Hecate, aren't you?"

But... why aren't you in camp?

Excusia turns her head, looking away from a pointless argument with the redheaded empousa on her left, a slow smile crawling across her lips. "Well, well, well, lookie here, we got ourselves a thinker! Most people have to wait for me to tell 'em to get that part, cause Hecate ain't that well-known, ya know? I don't usually mind, being used to it and all, but I gotta congratulate you on that one." She nibbles at the tip of her thumb, smiling around the skin pinched between her teeth. "Bravo, Miss Demigod, bravo."

She stands, dusts off her shorts. After fiddling with her short hair for a moment, she waves her hand at the empty town surrounding us. "I'll be hiding somewhere round here, and you gotta find me and take my necklace. But don't get all cocky, now, cause Sandra and Bella are gonna be on your ass in the next sixty seconds." To my horrified grimace, she giggles. "Yeah, I get that look a lot. Anyway, you won't be needing this while you're with me so...." She lifts an arm, revealing the brown-leather bag dangling from her wiggling fingers.

My hand flies to my side and tangles in the folds of my shirt, no hint of softened leather against my skin at all. When did she...?

"No magical items like ambrosia or whatever. That's the rules, Missy. That bow of yours ain't magic, so you can keep it, but I'm betting it's pretty useless without the arrows in here, huh?"

I'm really starting to hate this little brat. I grit my teeth to keep from barking out something I'll no doubt come to regret and only level a venomous glare at the girl, who looks no older than twelve.

Her face splits once again into what I'm starting to consider her signature crooked grin. "Well, get a move on then! Only forty seconds till these two start huntin'!"

And with that, she snaps her fingers and disappears in a swirl of putrid purple smoke, and I take off for the relative safety of some decrepit old building, wondering how in Hades I'm supposed to kill something as terrifying as an empousa - let alone two - with just a simple bow. No arrows, no other weapons; just a bow.

Dammit Jasper, where are you when I need you, Mr. Unreasonably Intelligent Trousers?!
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This chapter was written by Arctic_Sky