Chapter Seventeen

Mutt

After the encounter with Zeus the road trip was quiet. I hated the quiet, yet this time I knew I was the cause of it. At the moment everyone seemed to just assume that talking would be a bad thing. Talking is never a bad thing.

“So,” I say, drawing out the word.

“So?” James repeats.

“Are you two seriously repeating each other now?” Derek asks, sounding very annoyed.

“Well,” James says. “I was just trying to make Mutt continue talking after making everyone interested. But now that you bring it up that would be fun.”

Derek groans, throwing his head back against his seat.

“What’s wrong Derek?” I ask.

“Yeah, what’s wrong Derek?” James repeats.

“Dear gods please kill me now!” Derek shouts.

“Oi!” James says. “Jeesh, I have ears that I’d like to keep attached to my face thank you very much.”

“You never use them so they must not be that important,” Quinn says.

“Gasp!” James shouts. “Of course they are important! They make me fabulous!”

“Yeah,” I agree. “But while we’re at it why don’t you be mindful to my ears?”

“My ears are more important than yours!” James snaps. “No one cares about your ears!”

“I care about my ears! How could you say such a horrible thing!?” I cry.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Moon mumbles.

For the first time I realize that she was actually still there. Turning around to face the farthest seat in Cevin’s van I see Moon asleep, her head resting on her arm, leaning against the window.

“Hey Moon, are you awake?” I whisper.

“Clearly she isn’t you idiot!” Derek snaps.

“Who peed in your Cheerios?” James asks.

“I don’t eat cereal,” Derek says.

“Oh man,” I say. “Are you feeling ok? And I’m pretty sure she’s at least semi awake.”

“What?” Derek says. “Of course I am, what are you talking about?”

“Demeter is gonna be mad at you,” James says.

I tune them out and focus back on Moon. She was muttering in her sleep, something about death. Normal demigod dream I guess.

“Stop,” Moon mutters. “Get the hell away.”

I frown slightly, never heard a demigod talk in their sleep before. My frown deepens when something red starts pooling under her shirt.

“Moon!” I say, jerking around and shaking her. “Moon wake up!”

“What’s wrong?” Quinn asks.

“She’s bleeding.” I say, still trying to wake Moon up.

The van jerks to a halt so suddenly that everyone is thrown forward. Including me.

“OW!” James says, his head slamming into the dashboard.

“Oops,” Quinn says, not really seeming to care.

I decide to ignore them because of the more pressing matter at hand. “Moon?” I ask. “Are you going to wake up?”

“No, get away from him! Leave us alone!” Moon says softly.

“Um, do you think she’s dreaming?” James asks.

“No duh,” Derek snaps. But you could see the beginning of panic in his face. If our enemies could get to us in our dreams, could we ever be safe?

“If it’s ‘just a dream’ then why is she bleeding!” I snap.

“Um?” Derek says.

“Are you sure you’re the child of Athena? You don’t seem to know much,” James says.

“Hey!” Derek says. “I’m rather new at all this thank you very much!”

“Isn’t it supposed to come naturally? I mean, you’re the son of wisdom? Aren’t you supposed to be smart? Like can a child of Athena just not be smart?” James asks.Derek remains silent. Not even I really knew what he could’ve been able to say.

“Well?” James continues. “Aren’t you supposed to have an answer O Mighty Derek?”

Derek clenches his jaw together and turns away. If we weren’t all allies here I’m sure one of them would’ve been dead by now. Well, Derek would have been dead by now.

“Will you two grow up?” Quinn groans. “Mutt? What’s going on? What’s wrong with Moon?”

“How am I supposed to know?” I ask. “It’s not like I can read minds or jump into dreams.”

Quinn looks thoughtful all of a sudden and I knew that I had just given her a grand idea. Except it would be me potentially dying if it went wrong.

Moon’s blood starts to drip onto the floor, spreading out over the floor like a disease.

“Why don’t you just kill us already?” Moon mumbles. “We’re already dead.”

And then, almost like I was in her dream I saw a girl, her back was turned to me, allowing me to see nothing other than her dark hair and black clothing. A sword held loosely in her hand, blood glistening off the silver metal. The red looking metalic in the moonlight. It slowly dripped onto the grass, creating a puddle of endless red.

She was standing over two figures, one I could tell was Moon, the other I couldn’t see.

Then I was thrown out of the image in the same instance that I really started looking around. How was I going to find someone when all I knew is that they had black or brown hair?

Suddenly Moon’s breath hitches, and red starts flowing faster, this time from the spot that would’ve been her heart.

“MOON!” I shout at the top of my lungs.

She jerks upright, “What?” she asks.

I inhale, the blood was gone. So was the tears in her clothes. That meant the wounds were gone. But how?

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” She says. “I was just sleeping.”

“You were bleeding out all over Cevin’s van,” James says. “Good thing it must’ve been an illusion though. I would’ve hated to have to clean up after you dying on us. Plus I don’t think blood stains come out. So how about we don’t try it?”

“Is he for real?” Derek asks.

“You’re asking the wrong people,” I say, helping Moon sit up. “No one’s for real around here.”

“Tell me about it,” he mutters under his breath.

“Are you okay Moon?” James asks.

“Um,” Moon says. “Not with the current definition of ‘okay’ from the dictionary.”

“Good thing demigods have a different definition then,” Quinn says.

“We do?” Derek asks.

“Yes. But then again you seem to be including yourself in something that from what I understand you don’t really want to be part of,” Quinn says.

“Yeah, that was then. This is now,” Derek says with a shrug.

“Mhmm, so now that you learned that you could get killed in your dreams you suddenly decide that you want to be a demigod?” James asks.

“I’ve always been a demigod,” Derek snaps.

Before they could start arguing sirens suddenly come from behind us. Red and blue lights flashing.

“Uh oh,” Derek says. “Those are cops.”

“Dude,” James says. “We’re demigods. Not idiots.”

“Please step out of the car with your hands up,” an officer says over a megaphone.

There were two cop cars, four officers. One held the megaphone, the other three were kneeling behind the open doors of the car, guns pointed at us.

Signing I open the door, “Hello officers. Is there a problem?” I ask, not bothering to lift my hands.

“Idiot,” Derek mutters. “Don’t mind him officers, he’s not important.”

“Excuse me?” I say, turning to stare at him. “I happen to be the son of Poseidon. I outrank you. Not to mention my pure awesomeness. Compared to your not-awesomeness.”

James grins, “Actually, since I’m the son of Zeus I outrank all of you. And I don’t even have to be awesome to do it.”

“So you admit it?” I ask. “You bow down to my pure awesomeness?”

“We’re so dead,” Moon mutters.

The cops hadn’t lowered their guns. One of them pulls out a radio and says something in it.

“So um,” James says loud enough for them to hear. “Would it be bad if we killed some mortal cops?”  

“YES!” Moon and Derek says at the same time.

Quinn shrugs, “Maybe not today then.”

I turn to the cops. “Oh look, you’re already bowing to my complete awesomeness! That makes me King of Awesome! I rule over mortals and mythical beings!” I follow this speech with maniacal laughter.

“Oh gods,” Moon says, crouching down and putting her head in her hands.

“Aren’t you children out past your bedtime?” One of the officers says, walking towards us cautiously. His name tag read R. Mick.

“No sir,” I say. “At least I don’t think so. But I mean, we haven’t the time to sleep. You see, we need to save the world.”

“Plus,” James adds. “Alex will kill us if we’re late. Daughters of death are so impatient.”

“Dispatch I have a code red, send backup immediately,” Officer Mick says into his walkie talkie.

“What’s code red?” I ask. “And can you ask backup to bring some cookies. Preferably with lots of sugar. I love sugar. Do you love sugar?”

Mick frowns, but radios in my request. I jump up and down with joy.

“Um, whose in charge here?” Mick asks.

“Derek,” I say.

“Mutt,” Derek says.

“Moon,” James says.

“Quinn,” Moon says.

Quinn rolls her eyes at us all and doesn’t say anything. She was just leaning against the car door. I don’t think the officers had seen her yet.

“Um,” Mick says. “Who was driving?”

“Quinn,” we say together.

“And Quinn is?” Mick asks.

“The name of the person who was driving,” I say.

“Which one of you is she?” Mick asks.

“Ohhh,” I point to Quinn. “Would you like us to wear name tags? I think Cevin has a back of sticky notes in his van. Right next to his taser.”

Moon groans and Derek slaps his forehead. Officer Mick reaches for his gun. I could hear sirens coming closer to us.

“Right, um, would you mind going and getting the taser?” He asks. “Officer Pizza will accompany you.”

“YOU’RE LAST NAME IS PIZZA?” I shout at the young officer.