Chapter 3: Joules and Watt

Chapter 2

Tiny there brought down his hammer, but I didn’t stick around to see where it landed. I switched directions and ran to his left (the hand he held the tenderizer in was his right) and tried to get around him. I herd a yelp from behind me as he finished his down stroke.

“Hey, no fair. Food not supposed to move!” He complained and raised his hammer, starting to turn. The top of the hummer opened up and a turret came into view. Yes, a turret, I have no idea how it got in there either. My mom’s voice came out of the car.

“Nobody eats my boy!” Then the turret started to fire. The giant grunted as spikes of what looked like bronze started sprouting in its chest. The first set of spikes started to disappear before the monster was defeated, but that is when I stopped looking. I ran for the car. As I reached the place where the passenger door was supposed to be I didn’t see anything, the sides were smooth. The back popped open and Alex’s head came around the corner.

“C’mon kid, back here.” She helped me inside as the turret lowered and my mom started to choke me with a hug.

“You silly little boy, never, never, ever do that again do you hear me?” She was saying as I began to turn blue. Once she let me go the others congratulated me on a job well done, I had distracted the monsters enough to keep the neighborhood from becoming dog chow and lived to tell the tale. They seemed more impressed with the second part than the first. Then we heard the sirens.

“Oh dear, I forgot to turn off the alarm didn’t I?” Mom said. Mark pulled up to the front door and dropped her off, she waved as the car pulled away again and then rushed inside. Mark drove past a bunch of police cars calmly, and the cops inside didn’t even take a second look.

“Where are we going?” I asked. Josh sat up and removed the wrappings on his leg. There were some scars left, but the wound he had before he got in the car looked like it had a month to heal. He flexed his leg, then smiled and started putting his pants on.

“The train station. The ADAV here doesn’t have enough power to get us to New York. Were gonna get over to Kansas City. There the Athena kids can get us to camp.” He said. ADAV? Athena kids? My head hurt.

“That lightning wall thing must have taken a lot out of you kid,” Alex said. “Rest in the seat, its going to be at least an hour before we can get to the train station that will take us to Kansas City.” Sleeping sounded like a great idea. As soon as I finished lying back, I passed out.

After what seemed seconds I opened my eyes. It looked like I was on a boat, looking at a series of islands just as the sun broke over the horizon. It was a beautiful sight, reds and yellows painting a tapestry across the sky.

“Why thank you.” A voice next to me said. I jumped and looked at the owner of the voice. Her face was beautiful, with dark eyes and flowing brown hair that easily reached her waist. She was wearing a saffron kimono with designs of flowers and the rising sun. Her arms looked golden, and her fingers were rosy, like they had been dipped in some sort of powder. On her back looked to be the design of giant white doves wings, but I didn’t get a good look.

“I think some of my best work is done out here on the islands. To much mortal fuddling with the sky around big cities. But that is not what I brought you here to talk about little boy. Where is he?” She asked.

“Who?” I responded. I had no idea what she was talking about.

“My father you dolt. Last summer in Kronos’s foolish attempt to defeat the Gods, your father in particular, my father disappeared. I cannot sense his presence anywhere. So tell me. Where. Is. He?” I was still clueless.

“Listen lady, last summer I was in Utah, with no idea that the Greek Gods actually existed, much less were fighting whoever this Kronos guy is.” She looked at me for a couple of seconds.

“Very well. I believe you. However, I cannot let you live, as I have been told that you are the key to causing my father to fade. I cannot allow that.” She raised her hand and, palm parallel to the boat, pointed her fingers at me. She bent her pinky in, then a bolt of lightning hit the boat. As I flew into the water I saw her floating in the air and yelling in the sky. The white wings on her back having come to life. I hit the water.

It was a shocking kind of cold, like when its a nice hot day outside and you go to an Olympic swimming and jump in kind of cold. My body refused to react, telling me that this was not happening. My brain was screaming that I would drown if I didn’t start flapping my arms or something. So I sank like a rock. When my body came to its senses I could barely breath, I couldn’t see the surface. Then a face with red hair floated in front of my face. She grabbed my arms and we shot towards the surface.

I woke with a start, headbutting Josh, who was trying to wake me up, so hard that we both ended up falling out of the car and onto the ground. Mark shrugged.

“That works.” He did something and the back door to the hummer swung shut and folded up into a briefcase. He picked it up like it weighted nothing and put it into his backpack. I climbed up as Alex helped Josh to his feet. Josh was wearing his shoes now.

“Where are we?” I asked. Then looked around. We were at the Salt Lake City train station, and according to the giant clock it looked to be one AM. Explained the lack of people.

“Hold out your sword.” Mark demanded. I held it tighter to myself.

“Why?”

“Because, that thing is kind of noticeable to anyone who knows what they are looking at. Normal mortals will see what they expect to see, and since your not traveling with your mom they will expect a weapon to be a gun, not a sword. Now hold it out.” Mark replied testily. I had no idea how holding it out would help, nor why ‘mortals’ would see something other than a sword when looking at my sword, but I held it out for him to see. He moved his face close to it and inspected the scabbard, looking for something. He did this for a full minute, motioning for me to hold it certain ways until he found what he was looking for. He tried to touch my sword, but a little spark jumped from the sword, hitting his hand and causing him to jump.

“Alright, alright. Look at the sword, you see the left hand? That’s the hide symbol, it can be changed, but I would need a forge for that, so right now your stuck with it. Place that on top of your left hand.” I did, and electricity began to fork along the blade. The sword itself disappeared and the scabbard started to wrap itself around my hand. I started to panic, but before too much longer I was wearing a black fingerless glove with metal caps over the knuckles. My eyes widened and I flipped my backpack over my shoulder and rummaged through it. I pulled out a glove that matched the one I was know wearing.

“Where did that come from?” Josh asked. He has been in my closet before, but I kept this hidden.

“It came with the sword, I never wore it or anything because I think wearing only one glove is kind of stupid.” I tried to put the second glove on, but something was inside of it. I pulled out a card that had one word written on it. Joules. I slipped the card into my pocket and put the glove on. They matched, and both felt like they were made for me. Thinking about it, they probably were.

“How do I get it back?” I asked.

“Figure it out.” Mark said, still rubbing his hand where the shock and gotten him. Alex looked at it then gave him a funny look.

“No damage, don’t pout. Tell him how to get his sword back.”

“That’s just it, I don’t know. The weapon, and the hide-mode, are keyed to him. It is probably something he naturally does before using the sword. Like Percy with Riptide, you uncap the pen to use it, he has an annoying habit of fiddling with pen caps. Jason flips coins a lot, that’s why he had Ivlivs. Whenever I go into a fight I flick my wrists, one way when I use a shield, another when I use my gladius. It is something that you do to get things rolling.” I closed my eyes and thought about every time I practiced with the sword. I preferred a sword and open hand style, it allowed me to move faster, without a shield or another weapon to slow me down. It also let me do things like mess with hanging scabbards or something, which tripped my opponent up. I thought about going into a fight, and my shoulders tensed. I could feel the muscles flexing in anticipation. Suddenly my left hand felt heavier. I opened my eyes, and the sword was there. Different this time.

The blade remained unchanged as long as my arm, still made of that bronze like metal. The handle had two curves that weren’t there before. No matter how I moved my hand, they stayed in the same place, so no matter what I did with the blade they protected my fingers. I saw some electricity dance along the guard. Cool. My right hand started to feel a little heavy too, and when I looked at it I saw why.

Joules, the second glove, had grown some bronze plating. It still felt the same inside, smooth cloth, but the glove itself looked like a bigger version of my hand. Mark tossed a little ball at me, and my hand moved to catch it, the glove didn’t interfere. But as I gave the ball an experimental squeeze it popped in a burst of electricity.

“Interesting. It looks like now that you are using the complete set the weapons have reached their full potential. Watt, the sword, has a reservoir of electricity in it. Imperial Gold, fine work. The glove there,” I interrupted with its name. “Very well, Joules, is also a weapon. In its basic form, the gauntlet, it amplifies your strength a little. I doubt you could do anything new with its strength enhancement, but it is just enough to make a difference. It also appears to work as a battery,” he was close to the glove and I concentrated on making sure it didn’t zap him. I wanted to know what it could do.

“Yes, it can store electricity for you to use if you get tired or to fire back at a target. Not too much apparently, one small recharge or a decent blast, but again. Better than nothing.” He backed away again, then turned and went inside the station to buy our tickets. I relaxed and the weapons disappeared, becoming two gloves again.

“Don’t get too mad at him. Camp rules state that no two campers can be alone together on camp grounds, and ever since we started going out the only way we could spend some quality time was by going on these missions, the time before we found our charge. Anyways, our train leaves in ten, lets catch up to him and wait for it.” Alex finished, then followed Mark into the station. Josh and I followed. Josh looked about to say something, but then he saw something that freaked him out.

The wind started picking up and getting stronger, then Josh got picked up off his feet and thrown into the train station. The doors slammed shut in his and Alex’s faces as they rushed up and tried to open them.

“Well, well, well. I knew there was a Demigod at school because of Goat boy there. I just didn’t expect it to be a wimp like you,” said a familiar voice that I dreaded. I turned around, and the school bully Ashley Johhanson was floating above the ground with wings. Surrounding him were two horses that looked like they were made of wind also.

“The Mistriss will reward us for your demise.”

Chapter 4