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.He bought a pair of energy drinks and paid at the counter.He walked outside and pulled out his phone to check the time, stopping at the curb to wait for a long white van to park next to his car.At that moment, the screen lit up with a call.It had been on silent all week.“Doc,” Zach said, answering the phone with a smile.“Having a good spring break?”“Having a terrible spring break,” Jason snapped over the phone.“Where the hell have you been? I've been calling you and June for days.”“Woah now,” Zach said.“My phone’s been silent and June left her’s at home.Something happen?”“The rest of The Pantheon got off a plane in Miami and hour ago.”“Aren't they supposed to be there until Saturday?”“Things change.There was a serial killer in their hotel.Celene thinks it was a Titan.It knew her name.”Zach rubbed his jaw.He was taking June's advice and growing a beard.He hadn't shaved since the wedding-- which was only a few days ago-- but it looked like two weeks' growth for a normal man.“Which name?”“The really old one.”Zach set the canned drinks on the roof of his car.“Is everyone okay?”“Yeah, they're all fine.Evan got the power back on in the hotel.We're having a meeting in two hours, once everyone can get away from their doting parents.Where are you? Are you even in town?”“I'm forty minutes out.June and I are just coming back from Savannah.We eloped.”“What?!? I'm not touching that with a ten foot pole right now,” Jason grumbled.“We've got a Titan looking for us and someone on the mortal side here trying to blackmail me.”“What?”“You heard me.Get in town and meet at Celene's at nine.I gotta go.Someone's calling.”“Alright.I'll see you soon, Doc.”Zach hung up the phone.June stepped out of the gas station, her red hair fanning out behind her in the wind.She hadn't put it up in its high ponytail for days.She looked genuinely relaxed as she smiled at him.Her smile faltered.“What's wrong?”“We have a meeting in two hours.Something bad went down in Greece and someone here knows about us.”Zach went around to the driver's side of the car.As he passed by the box truck, June saw someone step out and strike him on the back of the head.Zach went straight down and June screamed.The man who had attacked him just smiled.“Does that help? Screaming? Do people want to get involved?” he asked her.June tried to focus on his face, but it was ever-shifting.His nose grew and shrank and hooked and flattened.His eyes flashed between blue and black and brown and green.There was no way that he was human.“Come on, Hera,” the attacker said.“I haven't got all night.What is it, two hours until your friends realize you're missing?”June put her fists up, but she glanced behind her.Could she make it back into the store fast enough? Could she leave Zach, her husband, behind?He lunged.She swung her fist and struck him across the eye.His head jerked back from the blow.She had never hit anyone like that before, and June was surprised at how much it hurt.Her knuckles throbbed.She hesitated.He lunged forward and grabbed her, pinning her to the side of the green Roadster.With one hand pinching her nose and covering her mouth and his body holding her still, he waited.She struggled to breathe, watching the skin shift around the split skin on his cheek.Her lungs ached and she tried to kick her feet, but he held her down.The edges of her vision darkened and June Herald Jacobs lost consciousness.“Have a good breakfast men, for tonight we dine in Hades!'”-King Leonidasxvi.Patrocles went into battle wearing thedistinctive armor of the great Achilles.In doing so he painted a target onhis very own back.When the body of his cousin was returned,the hero Achilles was filled with angerand swore vengeance on Hector, who had slain him.It was his duty.But Odysseus, seeing the hero's rage,went to him and advised Achilles to wait.So he granted his men a full day of restto prepare to fight.“A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.”-PlatoXVI.Peter Hadley slid his key into his front door and entered the house.He dragged an old, beat-up, gray piece of rolling luggage behind him.The bag thunked as he dragged it up the carpeted stairs.He set it down in the hall and turned to look into the living room.His father was asleep in the arm chair, drops of beer clinging to his wild beard.Peter set his keys on the table.His father started up.“What? Why are you home? It’s not Saturday.”“We came home early,” Peter said.“I paid for a week.”“You didn’t pay for anything, remember?” Peter went into the kitchen and got a glass of water.He leaned on the door frame and watched his father rub his eyes and search the chair for the remote to the TV.Was he going to ask why they came home early? Didn’t the school call him? Peter sipped his water and waited for his father to ask questions.No questions came.“Why aren’t you at work?” Peter asked.His father’s face darkened.“Son-of-a-bitch would rather hire illegals than pay me an honest wage.”“You lost your job?”“They say we should build a fence.Well the fence won’t stop ‘em from coming on rafts, will it?”Peter sat down on the couch.He didn’t think that immigration had anything to do with his father’s firing.More like inebriation.“But it’s okay.You have a job,” his father said.Peter set down his glass of water.“I’m seventeen.”“And? A job is a job.I was feeding myself when I was your age.”“I have school.I don’t work full time.”Peter watched his father’s fist tighten and swallowed.Surely he remembered the tape? He wouldn’t dare hit Peter now.“You’ll need to sober up and look for another job,” Peter said.“I can’t pay the rent.”“You ungrateful little asshole.”“I make minimum wage.”“Then ask for a raise.”“You’re supposed to be the adult in this house!”Mr.Hadley took a swing.He was too drunk and missed, hitting the wooden frame on the couch.He cursed and took another swing, but Peter had ducked under his arm.Peter turned invisible, slipping away while his father shouted and stomped around.He made it out the front door and closed it behind him just in time for his phone to ring.“We’re having a meeting,” Penny said.“Alright.Uh.I need a ride.”“Alright.I’ll call Astin and Diana to get you on their way.They’ll be at your house--”“No.Not my house.Have Astin come to the gas station.”“Is everything okay?”“Sure,” Peter said.“I just need an energy drink.You know, jet lag.”“Okay.I’ll see you in a bit.”“Thanks, Penny.”Jason paced in front of the door at Celene Davis' house.Eleven kids had arrived and were sitting around, whispering about the serial killer in the hotel.Devon held her baby-- now with a buzz-cut-- and tried to keep him quiet.They were all still waiting for Zach and June [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]