Briar rarely left camp. The few occasions where she had were to visit Olympus with the rest of the year-round campers. It hadn't been all that exciting, if anything Briar was bored seeing the gods. They were nothing but glorified beings controlling life for mortals and sitting back while their children die for them time and time again. The only good thing out of those visits was getting to see the way Zeus's fingers had minor tremors anytime she got too close. No repellent necessary. Of course her fun was always ruined by Annabeth and Luke ushering her away like she needed to be kept on a leash. Luke once made a joke that someday she would give the old man an aneurysm.

  It was funny to think she had the power to scare a literal god while she wasn't even half his size. That had to be bruising his ego. Though not as much as it was frustrating herself. She had the king of gods afraid yet went on a quest for him — no, not for him, for Annabeth.

  Briar watched through the tinted windows as they passed familiar buildings. Ones she hoped to never see again. Manhattan, the city that housed Leah Bardale, her mother who was no doubt lying on the couch puffing away on a lit joint and white powder under her nose. The image made the girl clench her hands under her knees. Briar could easily run to her old apartment from where they sat parked in front of the Greyhound Station. If she was feeling like seeing a ghost again, a shell. Leah probably wouldn't have been right in the head to even answer the door anyway. And as much as Briar can pretend to feel nothing, she was broken and couldn't handle her mother turning her away. Not again.

   "I can't look at you without seeing him," her mother had said. "Sometimes I wish he were here instead." The words weren't malicious or meant to hurt but they dug a dagger through Briar's heart. She wanted to be strong and let the words roll off her like they meant nothing but she had been ten, just a kid wanting her mother to love her. Briar knew Leah's heart was shattered but so was her's.

  She was left to pay the price of being the spawn of a god.

  The four left the van, each wearing expressions of; determination, nervousness, pain, and contemplation. Briar took her own bag while Argus unloaded the others. The pink strap hanging over her shoulder as she stood off to the side, a wisp of a shadow dancing between her fingers as her eyes looked up at the sky. Night was falling, making Briar feel a little more comfortable in her skin. A child of the underworld. Child of Sleep and dreams. Granddaughter of Night and Darkness. The late hours brought comfort to the girl.

  "Are you thinking of him," Annabeth asked quietly as she neared.

  Briar glanced down at her, shadows moving to dance around the blonde instead. "Are you thinking of her?" Knowing they both meant their respective godly parents.

  "I want her to be proud of me."

  If she had been anyone else standing in front of Annabeth she would have given some bullshit lie that her mother will always be proud of her, but Briar wasn't going to hide her distaste for the Olympians or fabricate a lie to save Annabeth's feelings. That just wasn't who she is. "Athena only cares for her own pride," Briar's shadows coiled around Annabeth's wrist in a makeshift bracelet despite the blue haired girl trying to will them back to herself. "She doesn't care, Annie, none of the gods do."

  The blonde puffed out her cheeks in irritation, gray eyes narrowing while her hands balled into fists at her sides. Always defensive when it came to the gods — especially her mother. "Just because you have bad luck with your dad doesn't mean I do with my mom." And just like that the shadows ripped themselves from her skin as if she were a venomous snake.

  Briar stood there watching her expressionless. Void of all feelings. "Don't come crying to me when they disappoint you."

✧˖*°࿐

The rain continued to pelt down on the four kids, even with Briar trying to use her wings as an umbrella. Her inky black clothes masked some of the water marks but it did little for the girl's frustration. She hated the rain. And not just because it was wet but because it made her sleepier than usual. The soft sound of rain hitting the pavement was like a lullaby that was lulling her into a temporary slumber.

Briar leaned against the bus stop while the trio played with an apple bouncing around their bodies. Her head against the pole and eyes blinking open every few seconds as she yawned. Falling asleep out in the open where any monster could show up for a pound of her flesh was one of the dumbest things she could do but Briar was going to blame the calm of the water making contact with the ground.

"Dr. Facilier," she heard Percy call out to her. Much to her annoyance.

Blinking the haze from her eyes she saw the bus had arrived and the trio were beginning to board. With the mist hiding her wings she followed after them, not sparing the driver a glance. Her back, however, straightened when she felt eyes on her. Her gut was telling her to get off the bus and flee but instead she sat down in the back of the bus beside an still upset Annabeth.

Resting her head against the seat, her eyes closed once more. Her good ear was listening for all sounds in case of danger but the girl couldn't be bothered to stay awake. Her head rolled till it was resting on Annabeth's shoulder who stiffened from the contact.

She glanced over at Grover and Percy who were snickering but it died down when another figure joined them on the bus. An older looking woman followed by two more. They looked relatively similar. Demons. Punishers of sin. The Furies.

"She didn't stay dead long," Percy's voice wavered despite trying his hardest to keep his nerves to himself. "I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime."

"If you're lucky," Briar mumbled into Annabeth's shoulder.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "you're obviously not."

"All three of them," Grover whimpered and that got Briar to fully wake up. Her hand fell to the handle of the blade between her wings. They stayed there for a moment while watching the Furies, a bitter taste in her mouth as she pictured all the ways she could make them scream.

"It's okay," Annabeth tapped her finger against Briar's knee while thinking. "The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem, no problem."

"Breathe," Briar instructed. Not once taking her eyes off Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone.

Annabeth's eyes lit up with an idea. "We can slip out the window."

Grover shook his head, "they don't open."

"Back exit?"

It was too late. The bus was already moving and had been since the Furies sat down. While the trio was a bundle of nerves Briar was calm, too calm. She kept a level head while her hand dropped from the sword and instead held her hands together. Looking the very definition of unbothered. It was unsettling to Percy how she could just turn off a switch in her brain. Like she wasn't worried for her life at all meanwhile they were sitting there and losing their minds.

"They won't attack us with witnesses, will they?" He asked.

"Mortals don't have good eyes so it's hard to say what they'll see through the mist."

"They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?"

Briar shrugged, "or they'll see four kids killing three old bats."

"You want to fight them?" Grover sat up straighter with his eyes wide, "You can't be serious...please tell me you aren't serious."

"I don't know about you but I'd like to live to see my brothers again."

The bus went dark as they entered the Lincoln Tunnel, an ominous silence overtaking the space. Alecto turned to look over her shoulder, making eye contact with a certain girl with cerulean blue hair. Briar lifted her hand, wiggling her fingers in a wave that pulled a sneer to the Fury's lips.

The Furies stood simultaneously, eyes locked with the demigods and satyr, vocally excusing themselves with needing the bathroom. It sent Annabeth, Percy, and Grover into panic all the while Briar remained unaffected — much to Annabeth's frustration. She had killed Megaera before. Convinced they weren't going to die tonight Briar remained seated despite the voices in her head screaming and begging her to get out of there.

"Percy, take my hat." Annabeth instructed, "You're the one they want. Turn invisible and go up the aisle. Let them pass you. Maybe you can get to the front and get away."

"What about you guys?"

"Our scent isn't as strong as yours, mine less so." Briar kept an attentive eye on the Furies, fingers itching to grasp Soul Splitter and drive it through each of their hearts. She could do it, she knew she could. Megaera hadn't been an issue when she was eleven and she wouldn't be at thirteen. Alecto and Tisiphone only added a mild challenge but unlike last time, Briar wasn't alone.

"I can't just leave you," Percy looked between the three pleadingly.

Grover gulped while digging his nails into the palms of his hands. "Don't worry about us," he said. "Go!"

Briar finally tore her eyes from the three sisters, watching as Percy hesitated with trembling hands. Grinding her teeth together she reached over to Percy since she sat in the aisle seat, fingers with chipped nail polish yanked the hat from his hands and shoved it on his head. "Go dumbass," she huffed.

With Percy disappearing from view she strained her ears to hear his footsteps creeping away from where they sat. Briar felt a twinge of something for sending only him away but his scent was the strongest meaning he'd more than likely be killed before the others. It was a sad thing the demigods had to endure — just another reason for Briar to hold such animosity towards the gods.

The Furies continued to venture in their direction, their bodies shifting into their true forms. Leathery bodies with large bat wings and claws of a gargoyle. They clearly have never run into a child of Aphrodite. The matching handbags turned into whips that only made Briar narrow her eyes, daring them to lift the weapons towards her companions. She'd take them on, and lose, but still Briar would fight for Grover. For Annabeth.

"Where is it?" Alecto hissed as she and her sisters unleashed their whips.

People were screaming but that was the least of their worries. Whatever Hecate was allowing them to see probably wasn't pretty. "He's not here!" Annabeth yelled, frightful. "He's gone!"

The blonde's state of fear aggravated Briar. Usually Annabeth was sitting on her little pedestal commanding the world without a visible chip on her shoulder. Now? The girl was the very image of terrified, even as she unsheathed her bronze dagger.

If Briar grinded her teeth even more she'd shave down a tooth. Dark strands moved between her fingers till they gathered in the palms of her hands lying in her lap. The rise of the whips only resulted in her directing the shadows at the Fury closest to her, Tisiphone. They shoved her back with a force that should be criminal to come in contact with someone as old as she. The shadows wrapped around her ankles and wrists as Alecto and Megaera watched with clenched jaws. They bound her to the floor with a whisper of a snake's hiss.

Sadly, Briar wasn't as experienced with the shadows as she liked to pretend to be. She had limits. One target at a time. While it was a great asset against monsters it did nothing but infuriate the Furies further. "Hey, Megaera, here for round two?" She asked with her head slightly tilted to the side as a wolfish grin lifted her lips.

"I want that one," Megaera pointed a crooked finger in Briar's face.

"The Underworld really doesn't have good nail techs, yikes."

"I don't remember you talking this much."

Briar shrugged, "it was a long ride with a sarcastic water-gun."

Alecto grumbled under her breath incoherent words before turning to the sister still left standing. Tisiphone still laid struggling against her binds on the floor that surely made bystanders look at the old woman strangely. "Can we get back to the task at hand before you banter with the little bird?"

Briar drew her brows together in offense but didn't retort with Annabeth and Grover readying themselves for a fight with the dagger and a tin can.

Just as the Furies prepared themselves to attack the sitting children the bus was jerked to the left then the right. The standing monsters were thrown back into the windows as Tisiphone screamed out for them. The bus took another yank to the side, making contact with the tunnel wall in a coalition that likely damaged the bumper. They were moving again, this time out of the tunnel and into the storm.

Briar would have gone flying out of her seat had it not been for Annabeth wrapped an arm around her. "What the fu —" Briar was cut off by the sound of cars honking and tires screeching. "Jackson," came out in a breath that sounded a little too close to relief. He had to have been the one to cause this, a distraction for the three to get away from the monsters.

The vehicle came to an immediate stop, crashing into the trees. The knee jerk reaction was to release Tisiphone and use the shadows to keep Grover from slamming into the window. Keeping him firmly against the seat.

Everyone but the 'mythical' exited the bus in hysteria. Though Grover looked about ready to snatch his friends and run. Not out of fear for his own life but theirs.

The Furies regained their balance just as Grover, Briar, and Annabeth moved from their seats. One with her wings tucked to her sides, another with her dagger out and ready, the satyr with his tin can raised. Annabeth yelled "back off" in Ancient Greek while Grover threw the can — hitting Tisiphone in the face.

"Hey!" Percy yelled, now visible to the group.

He effectively distracted the Furies from the campers. Alecto stalked down the aisle while baring her fangs at the boy. Her sisters followed suit. The eldest of the Furies flicked her whip with red flames while Megaera and Tisiphone jumped on the back of the seats. Their claws dug into the leather as they crawled in his direction.

"Perseus Jackson," Alecto started. "You have offended the gods, you shall die."

Offended the gods? By existing, not being what they wanted him to be. The cruel life he was forced into, the life they all were. Percy rolled his eyes, "I liked you better as a math teacher."

Alecto growled, not noticing the three children approaching from behind.

Percy removed his pen from his sweater pocket and uncapped it, revealing Riptide in its bronze glory. The Furies hesitated at the sight of the weapon. Alecto more than the others.

"Subit now," she hissed. "And you will not suffer eternal torment."

That's likely.

"Percy look out!" Annabeth screamed.

Alecto ceased her whip at his hand holding the sword while Megaera and Tisiphone lunged for him. He had managed to keep a tight grip on his sword just as the sound of screams of agony reached his ears. He turned and to his left stood Briar with Soul Splitter stabbed through Megaera's heart, a bloodthirsty look passed through the feather girl's eyes till it dimmed to nothingness.

Shaking away his daze of surprise he turned to the Fury on the right, Tisiphone, and sliced through her neck before she screamed and turned to dust like her sister. Annabeth wrestled Alecto and yanked her back while Grover ripped the whip from her hands.

"Hot! Hot!" He yelled.

Alecto tried everything in her power to get Annabeth off her back but to no avail. She and Grover teamed up. While the blonde held her still the satyr tied her legs together with the whip. Once they were done they shoved her further down the aisle where she couldn't get up with her wings elongated.

"Zeus will destroy you!"

Briar leered down at her while sheathing her sword, "he's a man-baby."

"Hades will have your souls!"

"Braccas meas vescimini!" Percy yelled, earning him an odd look from Briar but he did just tell a Fury to eat his pants.

The bus shook till Briar stumbled on her feet, knocking into Percy who steadied her with a hand on her arm that she quickly shook off. He wasn't feeling immense dread so he guessed that had to be progress.

"Get out!" Annabeth yelled while pushing the others ahead of her to the exit.

The four rushed outside just as lightning hit the bus once more. A camera clicked and flashed as they stood there watching the bus in bewilderment and Percy still standing with his uncapped sword till Briar nudged him sharply with her elbow.

The bus exploded as Alecto let out an angry wail, calling for reinforcements.

Annabeth yelled, "run!" And so they headed for the woods with the bus in flames and mortals in hysterics.

What a great adventure already.

JANE!

this took me longer to write than i thought it would but hey i wrote something longer than two chapters so this is a win for me!

Briar is my child and i love her while also wanting to shake her around a bit. we all get like that with our characters right?