Clockwork

9

The car was silent as Percy and the girl sat in the nearest fast-food restaurant's parking lot. She ate without a word, not any slower than the others when Percy first found them, and Percy waited until she had finally finished.

"Explain." She asked breaking the silence. Percy closed his eyes and leaned back. "What am I explaining?" Percy asked. She was the one who just killed a bunch of guys and said she didn't try to.

"For starters, why do you look like a metal detector's worst enemy? Secondly, why was I in a dark room for three days? Thirdly, why was there a fucking eclipse when we came outside? Fourthly, where is my dad? Fifthly, why-" She began rambling off questions.

"Stop. This is how I look. You were kidnapped by demigod traffickers, the eclipse helped me get to you without being seen but you took care of any problems that I might've had, and I may be able to tell you your fourth question if you told me who he is." Percy said, his eyes still closed and his head still leaned back. He was ready to turn in for the day as it was getting annoying.

"He's an angel. He had big black wings. He said that I was in trouble and would send help. I w-was kidnapped?" She said. "What's your name kid?" Percy asked.

"Jasmine, and I'm not a kid." The girl now identified as Jasmine said. "Does your dad happen to be unearthly beautiful and carry around an iPad?" Percy asked.

"Yes... It's weird to call my dad beautiful but... yeah he's pretty darn gorgeous." Jasmine said.

Percy sighed, opening his eyes but not moving his head to look at her. "Your father is Thanatos, the god of death. That would explain how you killed those guys on accident, and why you were considered a 'very valuable catch'. However, that doesn't explain why there are no..." Percy trailed off, sparing her a quick glance before sitting up to start the car and driving like a madman. No cars were on the street, even the fast-food drive-through was empty. That should've been a red flag.

"What the--!" Jasmine said, bracing herself against the back of her seat. Percy mentally cursed himself. He had trouble dealing with those things alone, but now he had someone to protect.

"Slow down would you?" Jasmine screamed at him. Percy ignored her, instead of going faster, pushing the truck to its limits. He had terrible luck, and as fate would have it, he had put absolutely no gas in this truck. The truck hadn't given up yet.

Hephaestus was helping him as much as he could with keeping the truck running, and Percy knew he would do more if he could. Percy saw red and blue lights flashing in the rearview mirror. "It's the cops! Pullover!" Jasmine screamed.

"Look closer." Percy raised his voice, not yelling, just enough for her to hear. "What do you mean l-- holy fuck what is that?!" She screamed.

"Nekroús. They are obsessed with death." Percy said. "So... they're like my d-dad's personal fan club? Maybe they won't kill us?" Jasmine said, but Percy could hear it in her voice that even she knew that the possibility of them sparing either of them was well under zero.

"They only come after those connected to death in some way. If you escape death, or in your case, his daughter, they will kill you themselves." Percy said. They won't only take a person's life, they'd take that person's soul also. "How do we escape something like that?" She asked, panic evident in her eyes.

Percy took a look at her panic-filled golden brown eyes and looked back to the empty road in front of them. "How well are you with a gun?" Percy asked.

"Terrible."

"How well can you drive?"

"Even worse."