stollen things || c. stoll

2.9~ Ring In The School Year With A Bang!

I'd moved back in to my dorm and gotten reunited with Sarah and my other friends. Connor was right. My classes were terrible, and the dyslexia did not help one bit. Still, I almost made it through the first week without any reminder of the whole Greek thing. Almost.

I'd go into town with my friends every now and then to visit Charles, but every time we went to the diner, I'd have strange feelings. I'd feel vibrations in the earth that were way too large to be any Vermonter. I'd pass a bookstore and get hit with the sense of something ancient. It was incredibly disturbing, but I ignored it because I wanted to be normal.

Every time I entered the diner, I'd feel eyes on me. No, an eye on me. I'd catch the manager smiling right at me. Every time, without fail.

The first Saturday of the school year, we went for lunch to visit Charles. Again, the ancient feeling hit. This time, the manager came out to serve us instead of Charles.

"Hello, ladies," His voice was the deepest I'd ever heard and he towered over us by at least two feet. Very unsettling. "What can I get for you today?"

Sarah saw nothing wrong with him. "A hamburger, please!" She smiled.

Something in his face flickered. I couldn't help it. My eyes widened. Mist.

"Excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom." I stood and rushed to the back of the store. I'd brought my knives, but could I take on a cyclops? At least, that was my guess as to what the manager was. He wasn't fully grown yet, but grown enough to throw me against a rock and kill me.

I tried to slow my breathing as I slammed the bathroom door shut behind me. He was biding his time for sure, but I couldn't just ignore it. However I also couldn't fight him in the middle of the diner. I jumped out of my skin at a knock on the door.

"Just a minute!" I called to the person in line, trying to sound calm.

"I'm not looking to use the bathroom, Child of Demeter."

Taunting a monster is never a good idea. I don't advise it. And it had hardly been two weeks since I last ran into a monster, who I had also teased.

If I'd already done it, what's the harm in doing it again?

"Not looking, huh? What, you've gotta keep an eye on the burgers?"

I would've grinned if I had the time, but the cyclops had already tore the door off its hinges and thrown it to the side, roaring.

I'd had enough sense to already have my knives out, so I dodged to side quickly. My mind flipped through every story I'd heard about defeating cyclopes. I didn't have anything to blind it with, and the diner was too cramped to climb anything to sneak up on the cyclops.

So I did what any self-respecting demigod in a similar danger would do. I dashed right through his legs and out the back door. Though large, he was very fast. He was right on my tail the whole way out. I jumped up onto the dumpsters to get up to his eye level.

I opened my mouth to taunt him again, but he didn't want to listen. He swiped at my legs. I wasn't planning on becoming a demigod veggie burger, so I tossed my knife right into his palm. No luck — he shook it off before it could make a deep enough cut to vaporize him.

One left. I'd go for the eye next. If that didn't work, at least he'd be blinded. So I let him get as close as I could before tossing my knife towards his face. He blocked it. I was weaponless and at the mercy of an ancient being. I hopped off the dumpster and ran back into the diner.

"Running, foolish demigod?" He roared in laughter.

I tore into the kitchen and took as much hot oil as I could into a bucket. Just as I was about to open the back door again, I stopped to grab a small cigarette lighter that laid on a table. The cyclops was standing boredly, trying to make a point.

"Ah! You've returned!" He looked down at me. "What cute weapons! I think my customers will love some demigod sandwiches."

I hissed a few curse words before stomping on the ground. A slab of earth rose me to his level. Before he could register the shock of how quickly I met his eye level, I threw the bucket of hot oil into my eye. He let out an earth shaking roar, trying to wipe the oil out of his eye. He started backing up, more and more. Just when he seemed to be regaining his balance, I shot out a vine to trip him again. He came crashing down onto one of the gas pumps at the gas station next door.

My knives were still too far away, and he was starting to get back up. I sighed.
'I don't want to do this,' I thought before tossing the lighter as far as I could, hoping to land it into the cyclops-gas pile.

I lowered myself to the ground and grabbed a knife, throwing that in as well. I'd be one weapon down, but I knew that Cyclopes weren't really damaged by fire. Hopefully the explosion put him in a position that he wouldn't be able to dodge the knife. The telltale yellow dust spreading across the ground confirmed my thoughts.

I'd defeated two monsters within one month, but I still didn't want to go back to camp. I needed this year to be normal. I rushed into the kitchen again and found a dishwasher boy. Luckily the Mist had covered the battle out back, so he probably thought I'd gotten into a fist fight with his coworker or something. I asked him to tell Charles that I wasn't feeling well and went back to school, and he agreed.

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hi besties i've been writing like a chapter a day so if the quality goes down just know it's cus the production is speeding up i'm just trying o finish SOM up so that i can get started with TTC cus it's my fave

not proofread pls lemme know if there are any major issues