Chapter 2: I go For a Run

Chapter 1

I would have laughed at that ridiculous statement if not for the fact that something just broke my window trying to jump in, and then it was disintegrated just as quickly as it appeared.

However the statement was followed by a large smack and a “Really? Terminator quotes now? I should never have taken you to see that movie.” Then the light switch flipped on.

The first figure, the guy who must have thrown the knife, walked into the room. He was relatively tall, almost six feet. He was tanned, with brown hair. He wore a black jacket with the sleeves rolled up, showing bracers on his forearms. The one on his left had a snowflake symbol, the one on his right a little flame symbol. He held two more daggers by their blades, ready for throwing.

Following him was the attractive girl from school earlier. Her black hair was tied back and her eyes moved from one corner of the room to another, as if looking for something. In her hand was what looked like one of those Billy Clubs that cops use for non-lethal take downs. She was wearing black leather biker girl clothing that left her midriff and stomach bare, and made you notice her...lets not go there.

My mom followed them into the room. She was about as tall as the girl, which is to say they were both shorter than the boy. Over her back she had her katana, the bottom of the blade hanging out by her hip, she said this was a gift from my father too. She wore her combat boots, blue jeans, and a loose fitting button up shirt under a denim jacket. Her hair was also tied back.

“I told you we should have done this sooner Alice.” the boy said in a tone I did not like. I started to get angry. Everyone in the rooms hair started to lift up.

“Max. Breathe, slowly like we learned.” My mom ordered. Immediately I reacted to what she said, taking deep breaths to calm myself. The dude wasn’t helping.

“We should have picked him up a week ago, when we got the call to come here. You insisted that we wait for you to get back, we didn’t have to give you that call you know.” He was saying. This was followed by another smack on the head from the girl in leather.

“I am sorry Mrs. Aldo, but Mark is right, we got the call when the protector first detected the monsters. It was too late even then. If it wasn’t for the order from higher up, we would have taken your son and gotten him to a safe place already.” The girl said. Mark was rubbing his head where she hit him.

“I understand your worry Alex, I told Josh that if things got too hairy that you were to pull him out, and I got on the first flight back I could. I was told that there were only two monsters, and they did not know wo he was, I didn’t know that things were this bad.” What were they talking about? My mom lifted me off the bed and carried me across the carpet that was strewn with broken glass. She put me down in the walk in closet.

“Get dressed for travel and fill the backpack with the necessities, we’ll be out here waiting for you honey.” She said, then closed the door. I blinked. Travel? Where were we going? I did as my Mom told me, put on some basic pants and an Orange shirt, then I stuffed some clothing into my backpack and a book I was reading. I also put on some socks and shoes, it may be against house rules, but I was not going to get carried across the broken glass again. I opened the door to see Mark waiting for me.

“Your Mom and Alex are packing some food for us to eat while we are on the move.” He said, then moved to exit the room. Quick as I could I drew Watt, which I suddenly sheathed in my hand, and laid the flat of the blade on his shoulder.

“One, never talk like that again to my mother,” I said. Hey, its just me and her, we look out for each other. “Two, you are going to tell me what the heck is going on.” He stood there a moment, and I thought he was going to talk, then he quickly lifted himself onto the the tips of his toes, which made me swing wide as I fought to keep a hold of the sword, armature mistake that I shouldn’t have made. He then spun and then two Gladii grew from his wrists and he placed them on either side of my face. He moved in close, the blades not moving.

“One,” he said. “From now on, if you ever draw your weapon again, you had best be prepared to use it correctly child, things are no longer make believe. Two, I spoke like that to your mother because she put us all in danger, you most of all because you don’t know what the heck is going on. And three, you are the son of a God. A Greek God. Your life is now in danger, and we, meaning Alex and I, have been sent to save your sorry ass and take you back to camp where you can learn to protect yourself. Have I made myself clear?” He asked that last part clipping off each word. I was getting annoyed at this kid, my mother would never put us in danger. I got too angry though and the light in my room blew out. I also heard the lights in the hall go.

Mark flinched, but thankfully the blades didn’t move. His weapons shrunk back into bracers on his arm. He grabbed my arm, the one not holding Watt, and dragged me down the stairs. Apparently the bulbs down here blew out too, because my mom was calmly digging through the fridge with one of the flashlight helms, that we kept in easily found places around the house, on her head. She got out of the fridge as she heard us walking up, frowning at my drawn sword. Alex looked panicked at the sudden darkness.

“You tried to ask questions forcefully didn’t you?” She asked me. I nodded and she sighed. “You, Mark was it? Take your girlfriend outside and keep watch, my son is freaking her out. And find Josh, we cannot leave him here.” She motioned me over to her while Alex and Mark stared at me.

“You mean, he...the lights?” Alex asked. My mom nodded. Alex and Mark looked at each other with big eyes, then he opened the kitchen window and climbed outside while Alex moved into the living room.

“Mom, what is going on?” I asked.

“Remember when you were eight, the lightning bolt?” She asked, I nodded. “And then when you were nine and that hissing lady?” I nodded again. “And then just before we moved here two years ago the strange dog attack?” One more I nodded. “Then the mini siege we had in the storm watch center during that freak weather thing last year?” At my nod she continued. “Well, the first bits were not your imagination, you did summon the lightning, the lady was a snake lady, and the dogs...they were wolfs looking for you. You, my lovely boy, are a child of a God. One of the Greek ones, I think you know which.” I thought about it. Electricity it all centered around -

“Zeus.” Was all I said, but she nodded. The air thrummed with power for a moment. Then we heard a roar from outside, followed by a thud at the front door. We heard Alex run to the door and open it.

“Oh my Gods, Josh, what happened?” She asked. I moved to the front room, followed by my mom. Alex was kneeling over Josh and parting the fur on his leg to take a look at the bite mark. Wait, fur? Yes, From the waist down Josh had furry legs and cloven feet.

“Dude,” I said. “Your feet.” He looked over at me and smiled.

“Yeah,” he bleated. “Not the way I wanted to show you, but I’m a Satyr.” Mark ran around the front.

“No time for pleasantries, Alex can you carry him into the car.” Alex nodded, but before she could pick Josh up my mom tossed her a cloth bag full of food and slid another over her arm.

“My sword wont hurt the thing, plus its not after me. Keep your weapon arm free, I’ll get him to your car, then you four get out of here. Just make sure these things don’t stay around here for us bystanders to become monster food.” Then she picked Josh up.

“Mom, aren't you coming with us?” I asked.

“No son, the place your going I cannot enter. I have been hearing about this Jackson woman who lives in New York. Her son is like you. Maybe we can get together as a support group after I move.”

“Your moving to New York? I thought you hated it there.”

“I do, but the camp is out there and I want you safe. I can stand that damn city if it means your safety.” With that, she walked outside to the hummer. Mark followed her, now with a shield in his left hand and a Gladius in his right. Alex just sighed and lifted her Billy Club, which became a sword. I lifted Watt and followed after them.

Outside was a horror show.

Down the street was a giant wolf, at least as big as the hummer. It had red eyes and was growling enough to sound like a car. Hunched around it was a group of dogs that I recognized as similar to the one that jumped out of my window. Sitting on the houses, and street lamps, and electrical wires all around the dogs were a bunch of birds who’s beaks glinted in the moonlight. I was getting a little worried at this. Then the wolf talked.

“All little God spawn. Come to play. Give yourself up, and we shall not kill these others.” It was looking straight at me and, I’ll admit it, I froze. I just stood there staring at this big wolf with red eyes, and I knew that it wanted blood. It really didn’t care who’s blood either. Alex was standing at the rear of the car waiting for my mom to get out. My mom was inside buckling Josh into his seat, and Mark was in the drivers seat (strangely placed in the middle of the front) starting up the car. I remembered back when we were moving the first time, after the lightning thing in the school, when I asked my mom where it all came from. She answered me in a typically scientist fashion.

“Well honey, everything in life is made of atoms, and each atom has a positive and negative charge inside of it. When there is more positive than negative, then the charge of the atom is positive. And where there is more negative than positive, the charge of the atom is negative. Lightning happens when enough of these charged atoms gather at opposite ends of something, in the case of lightning that is when the clouds gather too many positive or negative atoms, and too many of the opposite kind gather on the ground. To fix this problem two lines of the atoms reach out to each other, and when they touch Lightning.”

Of course when she explained it like that the first time, I didn’t get it. But since then she has gone over it with me in simpler terms, so now I know what she meant. I looked at the hummer, with mom still inside, then at the wolf. I needed to get these two groups separated before we left mom here. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath. Then I thought in scientific terms. If the premise that I was a son of Zeus, the God of Lightning, was true, and the fact that I had called lighting in the past was true, then the theory that I could see the charges and control lighting to react in ways not natural to it was also true. I opened my eyes.

At first nothing was different. Then I started to notice little clumps blue and red floating around in the air. Some floated to each other, and when they touched they immediately mixed together and dissipated. I looked around some more, tyring to figure out what I was seeing. In the grass in front of me was Josh’s walk-man. I put Watt into its sheath and picked the walk-man up, flipped it over and took out a battery. Where the positive should have been was a clump of blue, and at the other end was a clump of red. Positive and Negative.

The only way to get the monsters out of here and keep everyone else safe was to go through the clump of monsters. Then I saw the pathway between buildings that lead to the park that was next door. I made my decision and started acting.

I...well... I focused and forced the floating clumps of red and blue towards each other, but kept them from touching. It was hard at first, and I lost some, but then I figured it out and made a barrier just in front of the path to the park. I then anchored, that is the best way I can describe it, the wall of blue and red a few inches apart. They wouldn’t leak charge to the other wall, but anything that passed through would be electrocuted. For how long? I was about to find out.

My mom had just finished getting Josh situated when I started running, so she saw me first.

“Max NO!” She yelled, but it was too late. I started running at the monsters, but at the last second before I hit the wall I had made, changed directions and ran into the park. I heard Mark and Alex and my mom yelling, as well as the dogs barking and the giant wolf.

“What the hell is going on back there?” Mark yelled.

“Max get back here!” My mom continued.

“Alice, Mrs. Aldo, get back inside were going after him. Mark, he is leading them away from the people, into the park. Go around, we can cut him off and pick him up.” Alex yelled and the engine revved. I hope they were right.

“After the boy! The Mistress will have your hides if we do not kill him!” Yelled the wolf, followed by a lot of zapping for a few seconds as the dogs and birds must have hit the barrier I put up. Unfortunately, as I looked back, not all the monsters had been fried. I ran faster.

The Charge wall took a lot out of me, but the adrenaline was keeping me going. As I was running my mind raced, trying to figure out what to do. To my right, where the street was, I saw the hummer racing towards the front of the park, where I was running. I black shape pounced towards me, but I drew Watt and swung wide. I felt resistance to the blade as it hit the dogs muzzle, but the resistance quickly disappeared as the monster did. I brought the blade in again and put it away, then put on more speed.

I dashed through the swing set, and two of the dogs got caught in the chains. I ducked under the jungle gym as some of the birds dived, they were caught in the strong plastic. I had almost made it to the front, just as the hummer drove up, when the ground between us came to life.

“Uh oh, little Demigod no run away. Little Demigod die, Demigods tasty.” Said the giant as it raised its giant meat tenderizer.

Chapter 3