Chapter Twenty

“Nykole,” Hypnos says, appearing out of thin air so suddenly I almost fall off my bike. “What is the status report?”

“It would be a hell of a lot better if you’d let me do my job,” I snap.

I crane my head to the side, trying to see the police cars. Unfortunately Hypnos’s big ego blocked the way. I sigh in frustration, they were gone. “What was so important?!” I glare at him.

“I just wanted to tell you not to let them get away,” Hypnos says. “As it seems you are a failure at your job.”

“And whose fault is that?!” I demand.

“Not mine. You’re the one who was supposed to be following them.” Hypnos says with an eye roll.

“And you distracted me!” I shout.

“Tsk tsk. Excuses excuses. Now get to it. You’re wasting time!” Hypnos says.

I glare at him and turn my head to the side, “Excuse me?”

“Bless you,” Hypnos says nonchalantly. “Now if you’ll excuse me. I have some things that need to be taken care of. Urgently. Your duty is to follow that car, you hear me. And since you have fallen behind I will help you out.”

He snaps his fingers and all of a sudden I was standing outside a building. A mental institution? Oh, that’s what code red must mean.

The cops hauled Derek out of the cars. The ones that tried to get James and Quinn out ended up with a broken hand or leg.

“Awesome sauce. I have never been in one of these before,” James says, jumping up and down clapping.

That guy had so many issues. I sigh, and sneak in after them. Coating myself in invisibility, a cool trick I had learned from Ares. That guy was pretty cool. Though I wouldn’t admit it.

Quinn frowns slightly and turns back and stares at me, but then her eyes flicker away. I smile, Ares had said I wouldn’t be able to fool her. Guess he was wrong. Idiot.

“Do you guys have chicken?” James asks. “And oatmeal? And oh, oh COOKIES! I love cookies!”

“Is he for real?” A women in white asks.

“Afraid so,” An officer says.

“Well, yes, you can have cookies, right this way,” the women says. She turns around and looks back at the officer. Mouthing, please kill me! Before turning back around and grinning.

James grins, “See, I told you they weren’t arresting us. They wanted to give us cookies!”

Derek groans, and steps aside banging his head against the wall. “Why? Why me? Why is it always me? Why couldn’t they have left with me?”

“Because you’re not her type,” James points out.

“So! That doesn’t matter! Why does Mutt always get lucky?!” Derek groans.

“Because he’s so good looking,” James says with a wink. “And you’re… Not.”

Derek glowers at him, eyes narrowed. “How would you know?”

James shrugs, “Probably because Moon’s with Mutt and you’re in the hallway of a mental institution. With us.”

“He has a point,” the women says. “Now, if you’ll please follow me, I’ll take you in for evaluation.”

“Look lady,” Quinn says. “We’re not crazy. Your cops made a huge mistake. Now, we’re on a clock to save the world and you are making it so that we can’t. So if that’s all, we’ll be going.”

“I’m afraid not,” the women says, turning her nose up.

“What does that mean?” Quinn says.

“It means that you will not be leaving here until you are signed out by a parent.” The women says with a smirk.

“Or we could just you know, escape,” Quinn says.

“Not likely,” the women remarks. “No one has been able to escape from here for over five centuries.”

“Well then I guess it’s time we broke that record,” Quinn says. And then, faster than I can blink she turns around and kicks a guard in the stomach, effectively knocking the gun away from him.

The women blows a whistle, nothing happened.

“That was ineffective,” James notes. Before elbowing the guard that had came to try and restrain him and Derek.

The women backs away, holding her nose, her face showing that she knew something that they didn’t. I pull my shirt up over my chin, to cover my nose.

“Guys,” Derek says, watching the women.

James and Quinn were still busy trying to knock down the onslaught of guards. They didn’t hear him. Or the whirring noise that was starting from the pipes inside the walls.

“Guys,” Derek repeats. Using his jacket to cover his nose.

Slowly vents along the top of the walls open, and the whirring noise grows louder.

“GUYS!” Derek shouts, his voice muffled by his jacket.

White fog came out of the vents.

“WHAT?” James snaps, turning around.

Quinn stops too, glancing up at the vents. But it was too late, her and James fall to the ground. A guard marches up to Derek and brings the butt of his gun against his head.

۝

Moon

When we walked out of the restaurant a girl was leaning against Cevin’s van. She had long straight red-gold hair and hazel rimmed green eyes. She was wearing a white tank top with a black leather jacket over it. She had black ripped jeans on and combat boots. She wore black gloves over her hands. Her hair was loose and fell over her shoulders.

Mutt grins and runs over to her, throwing his arms around the girl, she does the same to him. I felt a pang of jealousy run through me. I resist the urge to growl.

“You came!” Mutt says.

“Of course I did. I’ll always come when you call. You know that. Although I was under the impression you were coming to me not the other way around.” the girl says, raising an eyebrow.

“We ran into some… trouble,” Mutt says. “Oh, Alex, this is Moon.” Mutt says, motioning to me. “Moon’s a new demigod, daughter of Zeus. Moon, this is Alexandria, Alex for short. She’s the only known daughter of Thanatos.”

“Hi,” I say, sticking out my hand.

Alex tilts her head to the side, I squirm slightly under her gaze. Swallowing.

Finally Alex nods, “I like her. Hey Moon, nice to meet you.” She grabs my hand, shaking it once before letting it go.

“Quinn, James and that goofy looking guy are at a mental institution,” Alex says.

“Well at least they're not in a prison,” Mutt says.

Alex hesitates, “Actually it’s worse.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Death is approaching them as we speak,” Alex says. “And we won’t get there in time to stop it.”

۝

Alex

I couldn’t really explain the look on Mutt’s face when I told him that they were going to die. He looked like his world had just ended and it had just begun at the same time. I glance between him and Moon. Neither of them speak.

Moon’s eyes were wide, the blue turning slightly gray-ish. Looking like a stormy sky blue.
“You know, the more we wait the more time they have to die,” I say.

That seemed to snap them out of their silence. Mutt jumps over the hood of Cevin’s van. Sliding over it and landing on the other side in zero seconds flat. He opens the door and starts the car.
I walk over to Moon, “Break his heart and I’ll break your bones,” I whisper in her ear. Louder I say, “I’ll meet you guys there. Fifteen minutes and then they’re dead. Twenty and I won’t be able to bring them back to life.”

“You’re leaving?” Moon ask. Her voice raising a few octaves.

I spreads my arms out, “You got a better idea, princess? It’s going to take you guys five minutes to get there. Time is running out I can get there in five seconds.”

“Don’t call me princess,” Moon snap.

“Whatever you say, princess. Now can we get on with it? I wanna be at camp before dinner,” I says, turning around and walking away.

Glaring at her retreating figure I climb into the passenger side door. Slamming it closed, causing it to echo after her laughter.

“And that my gorgeous friend,” Mutt says. “Is Alex Drevak.”

I was so mad about Alex’s nickname that I almost missed his words. Almost.