by Amy Laine
When we got to the park, it took my breath away. Tree’s bloomed around us, butterflies danced to the breeze and the sun shone warmly on our shoulders.
Jason picked up a flower. “Can I keep this?” He asked me innocently twirling the stem in his hands. He let it into the air and it floated away, which was strange because there was no wind blowing that day.
So much for keeping the flower.
Mom is laying down a blanket in the grass when she jerks her head up. “I…I’m not ready!” She screams at nobody. I stare at her blankly. “Are you okay?” My mind comes back into focus.
“What are we doing?” I demand putting my hands on my hips.
Mom smiles coming back from her fit stage. “Why having a picnic of course! I forgot the picnic basket in the…” She trails off and stares blankly at a tree and giggles like a school girl.
I hold her gaze. “In the what?” Mom shakes her head again. “In the car dear. I just said that. Go get it. I’ll wait here with Jason.”
I was reluctant to leave my little Jason in the hands of this creepy woman but finally, I agreed. How bad could it be?
I trotted back to the car and punched in the code to open it. I crawled into our van and poked around. I couldn’t find the picnic basket. Maybe mom was mistaken. This wouldn’t be the first time she did something stupid.
I sighed and started to close the door when I saw Jason’s favorite teddy bear lying on the seat. I picked it up. He never went anywhere without Litty (short for Lightning because he could never pronounce it), and he would be wanting the little stuffed animal.
I gripped Litty in my hands and slammed the car door. It felt good. I walked back to where mom was sitting.
I noticed she was sobbing, mascara running down her cheeks making her look like a clown. “What is it now?” I bent down next to her.
Then I noticed Jason wasn’t sitting on the blanket. “Where is he?!” I screamed. I flipped up the blanket in frenzy, as if he was hiding underneath it.
Mom just shook her head. “She took him, Thalia! She took him from me!” I gripped her by the shoulders. “WHO took him?” I gritted my teeth. Jason, my poor Jason.
“Hera.” Mom whispered and then slumped forward. I caught her but in the end I just let her fall forwards. I had to find my little brother.
“He’s only two!” I screeched at the sky, hoping Hera would hear me and change her mind, if what my mom said was true.
I didn’t believe her though. Mom must have hidden him somewhere, or worse…even killed him. I refused to believe he was gone though.
I dashed over to the playground and climbed all over it looking for him. The trees. He loves hide and seek. My tired brain said. I’d been searching for an hour and mom had been in the same position for the whole time.
I sprinted for the trees and checked them. I even lifted up some small boulders like he would be crushed underneath them. I opened the boys’ bathroom and actually walked in. There was no one in there, thankfully. I probably would have been scarred for life.
Finally, I checked the car and walked around the park calling his name. Tears sprung to my eyes, but I forced them down. I wouldn’t give my mom the satisfaction of seeing me cry. That’s what she was hoping for.
This was the final straw. Jason was the only thing anchoring me to staying home and not running away. I couldn’t stay here without my two year old baby brother. It wasn’t home anymore.
We rode back home in mostly silence, sometimes my mom asking, “Would you like something to eat? Just because Jason is gone doesn’t mean you have to be sad. It was…the right thing to do.” She convinced herself. I wanted to tell her to shut up but I didn’t. I was in too much pain.
With Jason gone, I had an excuse to run away. I was only 12 years old. I took off in the dark with my pack (containing food, flashlights, matches, money, a blanket, and medical supplies); and Jason’s teddy bear Litty.
The teddy bear was just a reminder to never go back.
I met Luke not long after running away. I’d followed this goat because I felt like it was important. It appeared not long after I stepped out of the house. She was called Amaltheia, my dad’s sacred animal. She had curlicue horns like a ram, but the swollen udders of a girl goat. And her shaggy gray fur…wisps of neon light seemed to cling to her, making her look blurry and a little bit ghostly. She had sad amber eyes and a bronze collar around her neck that said ‘Property of Zeus.’ I found that kind of obvious and mean.
She led me a long way…into the dragon cave in Charleston. That’s where I met Luke. We made small chat at first, until we both realized we both had psycho moms. “Running away?” I asked him. He nodded. “Yeah…” We figured out we were both demigods and that it couldn’t be bad if we teamed up to stay alive and fight monsters.
We joined forces to fight the Greek monsters that kept hounding us separately. He was a son of Hermes and I was a daughter of Zeus.
Some how, we survived. I broke my arm once, running from Hydra as it spit acid at my head. I was 11 and Luke was 13. I ducked and rolled to the side, only to slam into a brick wall. Luke took it from there, using his celestial bronze sword from his dad, to stab the monster in the stomach, where its heart might be.
It exploded into a giant package of lemonade drink mix, coating Luke from head to toe. He grinned at me from sliding underneath the monster’s body.
I smiled weakly at him. “Are you okay?” He asked me rushing to my side. He limped a little from sliding on the ground, but he seemed alright. I cursed myself for getting hurt, and missing out on the action. “I’m fine.” I lied. Luke shook his head. “No you’re not.” He helped me up.
A spark flashed between us and I looked into his eyes. He caught my gaze and then looked away. “So…um we should keep going. Let’s get back to the safe house so we can fix your…arm.” He lent his hand, and I took it.
We built millions of safe houses all around so we could use them when we needed them. If we were hurt and had no where to go- we had somewhere to go. We stumbled across some nice friendly gods who helped us sometimes, and supplied us with things, like ambrosia and nectar. Other than that, we had to strike out on our own.
When I was twelve, we ran out of food. We’d moved into Richmond by now. We had to ration our food and eventually we ran out of it all together. One day, we went into an alley way because, we were hiding from a monster. I told Luke it was stupid to go into a dead end, an alleyway like this- we’d be trapped but he wouldn’t hear it.
There was a trashcan lid propped up in the corner, a scrap of iron in the corner, and an actual trashcan filled to the brim with all sorts of good food. The food was what interested me. The sheet of corrugated iron moved in the corner.
“There.” I pointed to the sheet of iron. “Wait,” Luke warned. He pulled me back. I sighed. Luke was always so cautious. Why? He drew his sword and advanced toward the iron, making absolutely no noise at all.
That’s when I realized the iron was moving. “Is that normal?” I hissed eyeing the corrugated iron. I activated Aegis my shield I’d gotten as a prize from Hal’s mansion. (Long story). It was quivering. Any moment a monster could leap out of the bin and pounce on us. Luke shook his head and pressed a finger to his lips, quiet.
Luke grabbed the iron on the count of three and tossed it to the side.
That’s when something came out. It took my eyes a moment to register what was going on. It was a little girl wearing pajamas, with a hammer- aiming it straight at Luke. Like an idiot, all I could do was stand there and watch, thinking, oh my gods that little girl is going to kill Luke!
Luke deflected the hammer to the side expertly with his sword. “Hey,” He said trying to calm the girl down. He held her by her arms. She struggled and kicked. A stubborn one. I thought approvingly. I was beginning to like this girl. She had bravado and spunk.
