While I continued to gather random stuff, I pulled out my hell phone, the one I had gotten from Lucifer, and dialed the number under which I would reach Damian, the representative of the male demons.
"Hello? Who is this?" came his voice once he picked up the phone. I didn't respond for a second, as I was formulating a way for him to pick me and the other two up, without either suspecting him to be a monster.
"Hello Damian, this is Percy. Me and two other people are currently on a quest. Could you take a car, any of the ones I have built, though preferably one that is meant for regular use, to come and pretend to give us a lift? We're currently east of New York, Grove Street, if I read the sign correct."
"Sure I can, but what do you mean by 'pretend' ? Will I just be driving or what?"
I was a little bit annoyed that he didn't get what I meant immediately I explained more in detail.
"I plan to hitch a ride but I don't want to get into anyone's car, especially if the person could either be a monster or considering our age, a potential pedophile. So I want you to grab a car and drive us until we're outside of the city. Then you may throw us out once we reached Aunty M's Garden Gnome Imperium. We will find our way from there."
"Sure thing. Be there in 20 min. You don't mind if I play some music, right?"
"No I don't. Matter of fact. Play it as loud and annoying as possible."
"All right, be there in 20."
And with that I hung up. I hid away the phone again and rejoined Annabeth and Grover at the curb. We waited for a few minutes before I brought up the idea of hitching a ride. Grover thought it was a great idea, even if a bit risky but Annabeth was entirely against it.
"My mother will make sure we get to our destination in time. Anything else would be unwise."
This however was most definitely the wrong thing to say, as almost immediately the alleyway across the street lit up with what seemed to be an U earthly glow. Red eyes stared at us from inside the darkness.
We didn't have time to prepare for a fight, before the hellhound launched at us. It's front paws crashed into Annabeth and my chest, throwing us in our backs while my head hit the ground hard. But Grover had it worse, he had stood between the two of us and was currently on the ground, staring down the canines throat while it began to glow red, visible flames gathering at the back of its throat. I got up as fast as I could, grabbed him by his small, but growing, horns and dragged him away before the dog could unleash the flametorrent. I wasn't as fast as I had hoped, but still fast enough so that only Grover fake feet were singed.
"Well, I can't use those anymore."
"Guess the mist has to take care of that, but now, focus on the fight Grover."
Meanwhile Annabeth was still on the ground, probably concussed or simply out of commission. I mean, that hellhound did come at us like a small car in a restaurant. Let's just say my head is thicker than the average demigod skull, and leave it at that.
Grover reacted quickly after our small interaction and dragged her away while creating some distance himself.
I didn't get that privilege and immediately got thrown away by an oversized paw. Seriously, that paw was as big as a family pizza, just in diameter. And behind that movement was atleast two tons of mass. And that's not even mentioning the giant claws this thing has. They ripped right through my armor, like it was paper instead of celestial Bronze.
I landed on my back before I managed to tuck my chin in and roll back onto my feet using the momentum from the throw. And it was a good thing I did that as the moment I looked up, wanting to figure out where the hellhound was, I saw that thing flying at me like a crashing plane. I rolled to the side, away from it's outstretched claws and swiped my sword along it's ribcage and stomach, but the sword didn't cause enough damage, atleast it drew blood. The hound turned around furiously and swiped at me which I managed to dodge again by launching myself away, but the fucking dog was faster and managed to stomp on my left leg hard. I could hear the crack reverberate through my body and even from the outside.
The hellhound noticed it too, as it began to let its guard down, wanting to play with me as it's prey before it would rip me apart. But here is a funny thing, something that had changed a while ago, something I had failed to mention.
Ever since my evolution, my hair was no longer snakes. Sure the snakes still existed and they could also spawn from it, but they were now more of a summon able beast than a fixed part of my being.
Unlucky for the hound, it had failed to notice the shadows beneath its feet. Thick shadows that moved and twisted around like roots of a tree.
The dog growled victoriously as it lifted itself up again, up into the air, before it crashed its frontlegs into my other leg, breaking it as well.
Then, mere seconds after it had, foam began to bubble out of its maw, dripping to the ground where it sizled and began to visibly corrode it.
Not long after, with a heartbreaking whine, the hellhound exploded into dust, leaving behind two glas vials, one containing what was obviously blood, the other was clear and, judging from its consistence, may contain the hellhound Saliva.
Grover came back, carrying an unconscious Annabeth on his back. He took one look at my very obviously broken legs and sighed.
"Now what, I can carry both of you and those breaks will defiantly need some time to heal."
I couldn't really answer him right now, not that he actually wanted one. The pain I felt was, admittedly, a lot, but I had worse. Slowly, using one of the powers that I had inherited through my bloodlines, I began to hum a low melody, so silent that even Grover didn't pick up on it, but the plants around us, their dead seeds hidden beneath the concrete, seemed to feel it and they began to grow, slowly but surely. I noticed the change in them but knew immediately that I wouldn't be here to see them create cracks in the concrete as they grew for I would be long gone, already on my way to Los Angeles.
But there was something my humming did, something that only affected me. Glyphs, remnants from my evolution and part of my very being, part of my very skeleton and flesh, began to glow in a light green, almost unnoticeable unless you were in a completely dark room.
My bones wouldn't heal anytime soon, but they will heal fast enough. I asked Grover to find me something I could use as crutches and, after he left the unconscious Annabeth at my side, later returned with two sticks, large enough for me to use for now.
They wouldn't hold for long but they were better than nothing.
We returned to the curb where I asked Grover to hold out his hand, signaling that we wished to hitch a ride.
It took a few more minutes until a black family van drove towards us, with a license plate that was very familiar to me. The van came to a halt right in front of us and then, Damian lowered the window, asking us to get in and where we were going.
At first Grover was suspicious, Annabeth was still knocked out and I was already in the passenger seat, beckoning him to come in.
After Grover had loaded the unconscious sack of potatoes in the backseat, Damian began to drive.
The drive was almost entirely silent, since Grover was still suspicious of Damians intentions, but after some time had passed, I decided that introductions were in order.
"Grover, this is Damian, I met him some time ago while I was skating at a park. Damian, this is Grover, he was my roommate for about a year at Yancy and spends his summer at the same camp as I do. Now that you both know each other, let's start talking, this is getting awkward."
After my splendid introduction of them both, where I had conviniantly forgotten to mention that both of them belonged to the supernatural, I expected there to be atleast some form of conversation, but I was disappointed.
The entire ride was almost completely silent with the exception of Annabeth, who had awoken at some point, screaming: "Watch out! A hellhound" out of nowhere, causing Damian to flinch in suprise and almost landing us in a ditch.
After this, considering Annabeth hadn't been awake when I made introductions, I had to reintroduce Damian to them.
Finally, after a silent drive of almost two hours, with Annabeth and Grover attempting to whisper at the backseat about what had happend while she was out and failing miserably at it on the account of both Damians and my hearing being far better that theirs, we finally came to a halt.
Right outside, to our right, was an old almost dilapidated street leading to a house with and impressive garden filled with statues.
Yeah, you guessed it, it's Aunty M's Garden Gnome Imperium. Who could have guessed.