I woke up in the back of a bus and saw Annabeth sitting in the front.
‘Where am I?’ I asked.
‘You are in trouble’ She replied ‘But right now you are in a bus going to Camp Half Blood’ She didn’t look angry at me maybe because I had apologized to her.
‘But if you are here then who’s driving the bus’ I asked
‘Percy, Chiron thought that’ she was interrupted by me
‘STOP’ I shouted
‘But why?’ she asked
I got up and ran to the front of the bus
‘Let me get off’ I said to Percy
‘If it was up to me I would have let you in that mall, but Chiron told me to get you and so I will do that’ he replied
‘Look, you don’t understand the prophecy said’ I was interrupted by his sudden brake.
I looked outside and saw a truck flying towards the bus it slammed into the bus and we were rotated at least 3-4 times.
And as I looked out a window I saw a Manticore standing outside it looked the same but it had a different face.
I looked at Annabeth, she was alright her lip was bleeding but she looked fine.
I saw Percy who was bleeding and looked as if he had passed out.
Yesterday, when I had hit Percy I was fine but when a Manticore hit my brother I became really-really angry.
‘Annabeth’ I said with an angry expression ‘Take care of Percy I’m going to take out this Manticore’.
And before she could reply I stepped out took out my sword and charged at the Manticore
‘He is going to kill you’ he said
‘Who is?’ I asked
‘The Lord’ he replied
I didn’t wait to ask him who the ‘lord’ was and I charged.
He swung his tail at me, I ducked and before he could react I cut his tail off, and then put my sword through his stomach as he changed into dust.
I noticed we were in a clearing in a forest I ran back to the bus and saw Annabeth feeding Percy some Ambrosia.
‘As soon as Percy is healed’ I said ‘I want you two to go back to Camp’
‘I’m not returning without you’ Percy replied
‘I defeated two Manticore’s alone, I think I can take care of myself’ I replied
‘I’m not leaving you’ he said ‘That Manticore hit me too I’m going with you, Annabeth you should go back’
‘I don’t think so Seaweed brain, I’m not leaving you’ she replied.
‘So it’s decided we three go on this quest to San Francisco, we have extra sleeping bags in the bus’ he said
I wanted to argue but I didn’t think it would make much difference.
‘So, I and Steven will get some food while Percy, you will iris message Chiron’ Annabeth said
Percy raised an eyebrow like he wasn’t sure about his girlfriend going to get some food with his brother but Annabeth kissed him and he looked alright after that
We started walking towards the city when she said
‘What is the true prophecy?’ she asked
I told you guys already.
‘Who is older you or Percy?’ I asked
‘me’ she replied ‘why do you have a problem with Percy’
‘I don’t have a problem with him, I was just angry at him yesterday’ I said
‘He’s forgiven you’ she said ‘He was pretty happy when he heard that you were fighting a Manticore for him’
When we returned to the place where we had set up our camp Percy told us that he had iris messaged Chiron and had also booked a ticket to Chicago scheduled for an hour later.
We left the clearing for the station and also left the broken bus which some kids from the Hephaestus cabin would take care off.
We boarded the train and talked for some time about who could be the ‘old god’ but we couldn’t decide and went off to sleep.
I saw that Annabeth was sleeping but Percy was still awake so it seemed like the best time to apologize.
‘I’m sorry for yesterday man’ I said
‘It’s okay, I was a jerk first’ he replied
And for the first time I talked to Percy alone for a long time he told me about his adventures and I told him about my normal life which wasn’t as interesting as his stories.
And for the first time I felt like I really had a brother.
‘So this demigod Rick Riordan’ I said ‘He wrote all things like they really happened’
‘No he added many of his own opinions, like Nico di Angelo has not visited Camp Half Blood since the House of Hades was released because Rick said that he was ‘you know’’
‘Yes’ I said while smiling
We talked for more than an hour before we went to sleep and even though I was going on a quest where I was probably going to die I was feeling really happy.
The next morning I could tell that Annabeth was surprised me and Percy were really talking like we were brothers.
‘So any idea that who sent the Manticore’ I asked
‘No idea, and who could be worse than Gaia and Kronos’ Annabeth replied
‘Let’s just leave that to the future’ Percy said
The train stopped at Chicago and we couldn’t get another train for that night so we went to a restaurant
To have some food, I was just in the middle of my pizza when a woman came into the place and she down just behind us she looked like she was really rich.
She had a Chihuahua with her and as soon as Percy and Annabeth saw her they looked really scared and that was a weird sight for me because why were two demigods who defeated Kronos and Gaia and escaped from the depths of Tartarus itself scared of a woman with a Chihuahua.
‘We have to get out of here’ said Percy
‘But why’ I asked
But he didn’t reply and grabbed Annabeth’s hand and led her out with me following, hopefully nobody noticed that we hadn’t paid the bill and we ran out onto the streets and kept running and I saw the woman again standing in front of us.
‘Who is this’ I asked Percy as we took out our swords.
‘My name’s Echidna’ the woman said ‘and this is my son the Chimera’
And as she said this the Chihuahua changed into a creature with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, a blood-caked mane, and a ten-foot-long diamondback snake-headed tail which grew out of its shaggy behind.
‘Steven Jones’ Echidna said ‘A son of Poseidon, but are you a worthy son of Poseidon’
‘What do you mean’ I said
‘Why did Percy Jackson get his powers when he was 12 years old and you are 14 so where are your powers’ she said ‘Does Poseidon not trust you, does he feel that you can go evil’
She had struck a chord because I was thinking about this for the past 2 days.
‘You’re right’ I said ‘Poseidon doesn’t trust me, But I don’t care about his trust and whatever you say I’m not turning against him so we should just fight’
So we did the most foolish thing, we charged at the Chimera, Annabeth took the left side and Percy took the right side and I took the middle.
Annabeth and I had to duck very much because he was continuously trying to poison us with his tail. At one point the Chimera breath fire and I had to jump on top of him and at the same time Percy dodged and ducked and finally was able to hit the creature with Riptide and as the Creature turned into dust and I fell on the ground.
I got up and we all looked at Echidna who was very angry and she said
‘I would love to kill you three’ she said ‘but I was specifically ordered not to’
And as she said this she disappeared in a flash of white light.
‘So this was fun’ I said
Percy looked at me smiling but Annabeth looked at me as if I had joined Echidna.
‘What’ I complained
‘Nothing’ she replied. But I was sure there was something that was bothering her
We found a clearing in a forest and set up our sleeping bags there and Annabeth took first watch I tried to sleep but I couldn’t sleep and after half an hour when Annabeth thought I was asleep she started talking with Percy.
‘I don’t trust him’ she said
‘You don’t trust who’ Percy replied
‘Your brother Steven’ she said
‘But why?’ he replied
‘Because Luke talked like him about Hermes he said he would never turn against them but he did’ she answered
‘Hey, look even I don’t trust him so much and maybe he is going to be like Luke but what can we do’ he replied.
I had trouble sleeping but when I did I had a bad dream I was standing in a mountain like place where a man was holding something like a ceiling I looked around and saw the ruins of buildings when a voice spoke in my mind.
It sounded like a voice of some old wise man he said ‘Join me Steven Jones, son of Poseidon and you will be rewarded’ the voice seemed to come from everywhere ‘I trust you more than Percy does’
And as he said this I woke up to the voice of Percy.
It was morning so I thought Percy hadn’t woke me up for my shift. I looked at them and they were packed for the train ride to San Francisco.
‘Why didn’t you wake me up for my shift? ‘ I asked Percy
‘I wasn’t sleepy so I let you sleep’ he replied
‘OH’ I said in a loud voice so that Annabeth also looked at me ‘Was that the reason because I thought you didn’t trust me, because I talked like Luke’
I pushed him to the ground picked up my bag and started walking towards the station.
When I was walking I started hearing voices in my mind
‘Join me’ the voice said ‘I will treat you better’
‘SHUT UP’ I shouted after 5 minutes and it worked.
We had already booked our tickets yesterday so I just sat in the train waiting for Percy and Annabeth to come say they are sorry but that didn’t happen because they just didn’t show up.
I got off the train before it started and went to the area where we had set up camp and I peeked through a tree and saw Percy and Annabeth both chained to a tree.
There were 2 demigods and a very tall human who I figured was a laistrygonian. Both demigods had jet black hair they both looked 16 and on had a scar on his forehead and they both looked very strong and I figured that I wouldn’t be able to kill even one of them alone.
Then one of them crossed the line because he took out his sword at scratched Percy and Annabeth’s arm and even though I was angry at both of them I was angrier at the two demigods so I took out my sword and charged.
The one with the scar slashed at me, I ducked and hit his leg with my sword so his leg got scratched and he fell on the ground and I was sure he would not be able to get up for some time. The other one tried to hit me but I rolled away and when he tried to hit me I ducked and slammed my shoulder into his stomach and then I punched him in the face.
And then I turned my attention to the laistrygonian who was holding a boulder in his hand and as he threw it I barely missed it.
I ran at him dodging his punches and jumped and put my sword in his stomach.
I looked back and saw Percy and Annabeth shocked and a demigod getting up I kicked him in his face and saw the second one holding his face where I had punched him.
I cut off Percy and Annabeth’s chains and chained the other two demigods to the tree nobody said a word not even Percy and Annabeth.
‘Who do you work for?’ I asked
‘We work for the lord’ the one with the scar replied
‘Which lord’ I asked again
‘Lord Uranus’ the other one replied
Me and Percy both looked at Annabeth waiting for her to say something but she didn’t she just looked shocked
‘What should we do with them’ I asked Percy and Annabeth
‘We can leave them like this’ Percy suggested
‘We can iris message Chiron to send some party ponies to take them to camp, I think they live somewhere around here too’ Annabeth said
So we followed her plan and kept the two chained to the tree while we went to catch another train to San Francisco.
We were in the train for nearly 2 days. Percy and Annabeth had apologized to me and we were talking about Uranus when the train stopped at San Francisco.
We took our bags and went to Camp Jupiter to stay for the night.
And when we reached Camp Jupiter I was really surprised, it was way-way better than Camp Half blood. Many fountains and housed lined the streets a river flowed around the edges of the whole place. There were many shops and a statue.
We started walking and I saw five people coming our way Jason, Piper, Leo, Frank and Hazel. There was a reunion of the seven demigods and I felt like I was going to pass out. They introduced me and I went to the guest house to get some sleep but I had the same dream again I heard the same voice and it said the same thing.

Notes