Josh: Chapter 10-12

"Wait a minute." Annabeth objected. "I'm the one who should go."

"It's too bad Annabeth," Nico said. "He already chose me."

Annabeth glared at me, like she couldn't believe me that I just picked him instead of her. Obviously, She was older, but since Nico is the child of the big three, I figure that he will be more useful. But in terms of strategy, Annabeth is the one that we need.

"I'll think about this." I turned my back away from Annabeth, and began to think. Who do we need more? Nico, or Annabeth? If I choose Annabeth, then she might flirt while in the quest. However, she is smart and is strategic. But If I pick Nico, then I would have an advantage over the monsters since he could open the earth up and swallow monsters.

Then I know what to do.

"A game of rock, paper, scissors." I announced. "Whoever wins goes with me."

They both agreed. Annabeth knows Nico for a long time so she knows what he is going to pick. Nico throws in rock and Annabeth throws in paper.

"Paper beats rock! I win!" Annabeth said, and she stood right beside me.

"Ok then. Josh, Percy and Annabeth it is." Chiron said. "Now, we will send you to your quest."

"What?" Percy protested. "You said you're going to send us tomorrow!"

"I'm afraid tomorrow will be a little bit too late. Apollo has only got 5 days."

"5 days before what?" I asked.

"5 days before the sun moves off course." Chiron answered. "You see, the sun is a big ball of gas, and the earth is rotating around it. If he didn't kept it on guard, the earth's path will change, and thus changing the seasons."

"Oh, okay." So basically, he was saying that if I didn't rescue Apollo in 5 days, The earth will escape the gravitational pull from the sun, and hence there will be no more sun, which means I had no source to regenerate.

Chiron let us pack our stuff first, My backpack was packed with burgers and $400 mortal money. I also bring some spare clothes so in case one of the clothes got dirty, I could change them. I also bring with me my weapons that Apollo had given to me previously.

"That's Argus." Chiron pointed to the man with many eyes. Argus is a man with eyes covered all over his body, I guessed he had one hundred eyes. "He will take you to the nearest bus stop. Until then, you're on your own."

Argus gestured to get into the minivan. I, Annabeth, and Percy followed him.

We got to the car, and Argus drived us to the nearest bus station.

As the car went along. We talked about a lot of stuff.

"So Josh," Annabeth asked. "How did you survive until adulthood?"

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that demigods didn't live until the age of 19. They died in the hands of monster. Most of them died a horrible death. But you are different."

"Of course I am different!" I laughed. "I'm a demititan, remember?"

"Oh, right." Annabeth laughed too.

We passed a few minutes of silence.

"So, what happened to your mother?"

I wish I could tell her, but I couldn't. My mother was one subject that I cannot speak of. That reminds me of what my mother did when she found out that I didn't grew anymore. I remembered what my mom said about me: ''Hey you no good kid! I'm not your mother! Now get out of the house or I will slap you silly!''

I started to cry. I felt miserable and lonely. I imagined my friends who always treated me like a freak. I thought that no one would want me around just because I am a demititan. Annabeth put her arm around me.

"Hey, no need to cry, maybe you can figure a way to get your family back."

"No, no." I wept. "I can't get back to my mom. She's still that way."

"But, you can't just give up on your family, you can't abandon what your mom did to you. You were lucky that you're not the only one."

I stared at her. "You mean you had an issue with your parent too?"

"Yes," Annabeth said. "But that issue had been resolved. My father is Frederick Chase. When I was 6, he got remarried to another mortal women. My stepmother treated me like a freak, and she wouldn't let me play with her kids. Everytime monsters attacked, My stepmother would blame it on me because I am a demigod. I ran away when I was 7, and finally got back with my family when I was 15 years old."

I wiped my tears. "Do you think my mom actually loved me?"

"Yes, she loved you very much. Probably she couldn't stand how many monsters were attacking your home or other reasons. You should do something to get your family back."

"But how?" I asked.

"Just wait. I figure that soon enough, your family will be back together again.

"You really think that?"

"Yes."

Now that's another reason to go with Annabeth. She is actually intelligent and knows how to handle things. She knew that I had rivalry with my mother and told her side of story to see how to handle it.

Just when I'm about to talk more, Argus signalled us that he already reached the nearest bus station. He dropped us into the bus station and we were on our own.

I felt a sensation that somewhere in front of us, there's a monster.

"Annabeth, Percy, did you sense that?" I asked.

Annabeth frowned at me "Sense what?"

"That there's a monster just behind that tree."

Annabeth saw the figure came out. "How did you know that's a monster?"

"I don't know, it just told me." I said.

"And what is it?"

"My instincts."

Now that is one ability that other demigods didn't have. The ability to smell monsters. Although satyrs and cyclops can smell monsters, surprisingly demititans can smell monsters too.

"Wow!" Percy cut our conversation. "Are you saying that you can smell monsters?"

"I didn't smell monsters!" I said, irritatingly. "I sense monsters."

"Wow, then I suppose you can sense monsters in the underground too?"

"I don't know about that Percy. I'll tell you if it occurs."

The figure now had came out. It was a giant, with a ripped biceps. The giant stood 8 feet tall and is glaring at us. It was a laistrygonian giant. I learned that from Greek Myth lesson in grade 11.

"Well well, what have we here?" The giant said.

I decided to try something new. I tried to bend light around me in a weird shape so I wouldn't got seen. I learned how invisibility cloak were actually made by bending the light around it so much that it appears near invisible. I closed my eyes and concentrated with the light around me. I willed it to bend around me and not hitting me. As I watched, my shirt turned invisible, and the others gasped. "How...!"

I didn't wait for their answer. I ran up the the giant and let go of my concentration. Suddenly I'm visible again, and the giant looked surprised. "How...!"

I didn't wait for an answer. I pulled my sword out of my sheath and sliced the giant in half. In a moment, the giant turned to ashes.

Annabeth and Percy stared at me. "Josh? How did you do that?"

I was stunned. "Do what?"

"Turn invisible. I didn't know you could do that!"

"It was the bending of the light. I remembered that from science class when the teacher described how things turned invisible when light was bent around them and none of the light waves actually touched them."

I decided to put that subject aside. I took a taxi and drove to the most possible location that Apollo might be kidnapped: Mount Othyrs at San Fransisco, also the home to the titans. I figure that they would let me in easily since I was the child of Hyperion.

To be continued.