“I don’t suppose you have a plan on how to get out of this situation, or do you?” Hermione snapped at Jacquel as they found themselves sitting at a restaurant. Several hours had passed since the incident at the bookstore, and no one came to retrieve them.
In short, Ron, Hermione, and Jacquel were stranded in New York City.
Jacquel shook her head. “There’s no way we’re staying out here. But we're stuck here. In New York out of all places! Had I known I’d be stuck here, I would have gone with my grandmother as she cruised the Nile in Egypt.”
Ron didn’t respond to them, not even when it was time for them to eat. Jacquel and Hermione began to worry about him. Sure Jacquel had rudely blurted out that he was a demigod, but was it true? Or was it a pipe dream?
Hermione said, “I think you may be right about Ron. He might be a demigod and no one knew about it, until you found out.”
Jacquel said, “I’m not one to gossip, but is it possible that one of Ron’s parents is a Greek god? That goes without saying, of course.”
Hermione said, “Well, what if we don’t know anything about his human mother? She could be a regular woman who doesn’t know her son is a demigod. What do you say to that?”
Ron ignored the girls and began walking around the place. No one paid heed to him, which seemed to unsettle him. He remembered Chiron’s warning regarding demigods: “The more powerful you are, the more danger surrounds you. Monsters will seek you out and destroy you.” He then remembered Chiron’s next words: “There's a safe place for demigods called Camp Half-Blood. There, you will train and learn how to survive in a world populated by gods, demigods, and monsters.”
How will I get there, he thought.
Jacquel saw that Ron had gone and she got up to go look for him. But when she stepped outside, she saw Ron standing at a street corner. Ron said to her, “Did you mean it? Am I a demigod?”
“I meant every word,” she snapped.
“I don’t think my mom would approve of that,” Ron said with a concerned look on his face.
“Since when has she approved of anything that you've done?” Hermione cut in.
“Not ever, if you ask me,” said Ron. “Sometimes, I wonder if she really is my mother.”
“If she wasn’t, that could explain some things,” Jacquel muttered.
Just then, they all turned and saw a man leering at them. He had red eyes and off-color skin. He said, “Son of the Sea God, what you have done was unforgivable!”
“Sea God?” Ron questioned.
“Poseidon,” Jacquel whispered. “He’s definitely on to you.”
“What has my father done that would make you seek me out in revenge?” Ron cried out. “Besides, my father is an accountant, not the Sea God or whatever you call him.”
“Foolish boy,” the monster (for it was a monster and not a man) roared at him. “Your father sought to have me chained up as punishment for a crime I didn’t commit.”
“I’ve heard of you!” Jacquel yelled. “You were the one who sank the Titanic in 1912!”
“Indeed,” said the monster. “Your father cast me into the deepest part of hell and proclaimed that if I should return, one of his children will destroy me. But now, here I am and I will destroy you first!”
“Leave him alone!” a man yelled at the monster. At the same time, Ron whipped out his wand and waved it at him. “I will destroy you,” he said as he uttered a spell.
Believe it or not, the moment Ron unleashed the curse, he was sent flying back, slamming into Jacquel and Hermione. All three fell to the ground. Jacquel gasped as she stood up; in her hand was a series of charms she had received as presents during her summers at Camp Olympia, which was outside Seattle, Washington. She wore the charms on a chain at her hip. Hermione grew angry as she had dropped her book and she was in the middle of reading what most people would consider the most boring part of the book. Ron, however, gasped in horror as he watched his wand burst into flames.
The monster laughed at them, saying, “Foolish boy, did you think wizard magic can work on me? You’re the son of Poseidon!”
Just then, Jacquel whipped out a bow and arrow and shot at the monster, hitting him on the nose. He let out a loud and angry roar as he looked down and saw Jacquel about to fire another arrow at him. At the same time, the other man tossed a pen to Ron. Ron stared at him, saying, “Are you kidding? I don’t need to write anything; I need to fight him!”
“Click it!” the man shouted.
Ron clicked the pen and it immediately turned into a sword. “Interesting,” he muttered to himself as the monster leered toward him. He reached out and poked it between the eyes, killing it.
Jacquel said to him, “That’s odd. I never read the part about pens turning into swords.” Ron could only stare in shock.
“We must get going now,” said the man.
Without a second thought, Jacquel and Ron rushed back to Hermione and then all three kids followed the man to a parked car nearby. Something told Ron that it wasn’t over yet…
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