Crickets have weird legs

Chapter 27

Monday November 25, 2013

10:21 am

(Ivan's POV)

I stare into the man's eyes. "What did you expect me to look like?" The man's eyes flickered between me and Michael.

"I don't know, I just thought you would looked different." I stared at him blankly, he looked at Michael for a bit. "Michael you can go now."

"Oh. Okay." He turned his head towards me. "Imma wait for you outside. Bye!" We walked outside before I could respond. Why would wait for me? What a weirdo. I look around the room for a second. The room had a homey atmosphere to it. There was a couch backed up to the wall. In the very back of the room was a fridge along with a microwave in the wall by it's side. The guy cleared his throat before talking.

"So I heard you're a runaway." The guy said in a stern tone as he leaned back in his chair.

"Kind of." His gaze felt like it was looking into my mind. My body tensed up under his gaze.

"Okay, you'll going to be living in the camp for now on."

"Wait why!" Living in the camp looks like torture. Plus there's the random monster attacks on the camp. I wouldn't want to live here. The guy's gaze didn't stop feeling uncomfortable.

"Well, demigods attract monsters with just their magic. It's dangerous for demigods to live outside the camp without anybody near by."

"I can fight though. Plus I've been living without my mom for almost a year with no problems. Barely any monsters came to attack me." He put his finger on his chin.

"Better safe than sorry." I hate that phrase! It's so annoying. I can take care of myself anyways. "Oh, I want to talk about your powers." Does he know what about the weird boxes appearing randomly in my face? Finally, maybe I can learn something about it. It would be nice to get rid of them. It does have its benefits though, it's still annoying. I wouldn't want it. "I wanted to ask, how did you learn to use your powers?" Oh, he doesn't know about the boxes. I slumped into my chair.

"I woke up one day and felt something weird. It just comes naturally to me. I learned all of it on my own." His gaze somehow made me more uncomfortable.

"Do you know the basics or do you just attack without thinking."

"I think I know the basics." He gave a slight nod.

"Alright, you can go now." I happily stood up and walked out out the room. The sun attacked my eyes as soon as I stepped out of the room. I instinctively closed my eyes as I walked away from the building. I slightly opened to looked around. I looked over the camp on a hill. The camp looked tiny, kind of like an ant pile. Once my eyes were used to the bright sun, I opened my eyes. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Michael smiling at me.

"Hey." He really did wait for me. Why though?

"Hey."

"Oh, did you know that there's a forest behind here?"

"Cool." I said in a bored tone. I turned around to walk towards the camp, Michael suddenly grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the back of the building. I tried pulling my hand away from his grip, but he grip was too strong. "Can you let go!" Michael looked over his shoulder.

"Oh, sorry." He let go of my arm. I quickly bring it to my side. He turned around and started walking backwards. "C'mon I want to see what's in the woods!" I roll my eyes and follow him. It's not like I have anything else to do. Except that parade I wanted to go to. I'm still annoyed about that. I follow Michael into the woods. He was happily looking around, exploring what ever we came across. Not like we came across anything interesting anyways. Maybe some weird trees occasionally. Michael stopped for a little bit. "Is that a mango tree?"He said excitedly. I looked off into the distance, the only thing I could see were trees.

"I can't see it."

"Really, but it looks so close!" I squinted my eyes and tried looking into the trees again. I see tiny pieces of orange in the distance. How did he see that, it looks like an ant from here.

"It could be, it just looks orange from here." Michael leaned forward a little bit.

"No, it's definitely a mango tree, it has a bunch of mangoes hanging off it."

"I can barely make out the color. How can you see them so clearly?"

"It's pretty close. Get your eyes checked." I let out a groan as I walked to his side. "You know, I kind of want some mangoes right now." Michael said. I wonder what mangoes taste like. Never had them, they always like the food that rich people would eat.

"Are they good? They have a weird shape them."

"Yah!" He excitedly yelled. He started bouncing up and down. "I haven't had them in so long. My mom stopped giving them to me when I was around eight. I could never forget their taste." He started speed walking towards the mango trees. I had no choice but to follow him. It took awhile for us to get to the mango tree. I don't know why Michael said it was close. We had to be walking for a least half an hour.

"Michael I thought you said it was close!"

"I thought it was be closer." What an idiot. He turned around with a huge smile on his face. I notice that his eyes were completely different from before. His eyes were now a bright green, his pupils were abnormally large when compared to before. "It's going to be worth it though!"

"Hold on, are your eyes okay? They kind of look," I stopped talking for a split second. His pupils quickly shrunk and his eye color changed to dark brown. "Different."

"They feel fine, why?"

"You know what, never mind." He nodded and walked the mango tree. As we got closer to the tree, I notice that the tree was on the very edge of a garden. The garden had to be a mile long or longer. There were apple trees, carrots, and there even some plants that I haven't seen before. There was a dirt path dividing each plant. Sombra quickly changed out of his necklace form and ran off into the garden.

"Should we stop him? I kind of feel like he's going to ruin everything." Michael said in a worried tone. Sombra ran to the carrots and started sniffing them.

"I think he should be fine." Sombra got top of the carrots and laid down on them.

"You sure?"

"I don't know, it's now like we can do anything about it.

"Isn't he your pet?"

"He is. He doesn't listen though."

"Ah." I feel the top of my head tingle, I quickly step to the side. A mango hits the ground where I was standing before. I look up to see Alice up on one of the branches with a mango in one hand. Why do I keep running into her?

"Hey." Alice said.

"Hi!" Michael yelled while waving his hand.

"So what are you doing here?" Alice asked while taking a bite into the mango. I shrugged.

"I wanted some mangoes!" Michael said.

"I can give you some if you can get me down." Alice asked. I roll my eyes just looking at her. She isn't high at all, the tree is tiny. I use the wind and plucked a mango from the tree. "Hey," Alice shouted. "That isn't allowed!" I bit into the mango as I stared into her eyes. A slightly bitter taste filled my mouth. It was hard to chew; a disgusted expression appeared on my face. After a few seconds of chewing I spit it out.

"Michael I thought you said they were good."

"You're supposed to peel the skin." Michael said with his voice sounding emotionless.

"Dumbass." Alice commented. I use Wind Slash to split the mango in half.

"Hey give me one half." Michael said. I stuffed my mouth with the flesh of a mango. A pleasant, sweet flavor filled my mouth.

"Gf yer," I swallowed a piece of the mango. "Own." The juices from the mango covered the area around my mouth.

"What?" Michael asked.

"I still need help getting down." Alice said. Michael turned to Michael.

"You're not even that high, just jump." Michael said.

"No! It looks high from here!"

"But you're not."

"Yes I'am!"

"Just use the same path you used to get up."

"I don't know how I got up here!" Alice sounded desperate at this point. I took a tiny bite into the mango.

"If you want I can just push you off." I said in a sarcastic tone.

"You know what I might jump." Alice responded. She gripped the branch and slowly slid off the branch until she was hanging from the branch. The only thing supporting her body was her grip on the branch. "Oh this was a mistake!" Alice shrieked.

"Should we help her?" Michael asked.

"I don't know." I said as I bit into the mango.

"You still didn't give me the other half." I quickly swallowed.

"Get your own." I said. Michael muttered something under his breath, I couldn't hear what he was saying. Alice somehow managed to wrap her legs around the branch. It kind of reminded me of how a koala would hang. Michael grabbed on the mango on the floor and started peeling it.

"Help." Alice begged. I rolled my eyes.

"It's not that high! Just jump." I heard Michael mutter, "I wish we had some hot sauce to go with this." Alice took a deep breath and unwrapped her legs from the branch. She closed her eyes and let go of the branch. She quickly landed on the ground.

"Oh it wasn't that bad." Alice said while opening her eyes.

"You weren't even that high. Why did you get scared?" I asked.

"It looked high from up there." I looked at the branch she was hanging on. The tree wasn't even that tall. I bit into the mango again. I heard Sombra neigh off in the distance. "Why is there a horse here?" Alice looked off in Sombra's direction. Her eyes widened as she saw Sombra. A wide, nervous smile quickly formed on her face as she rushed over to Sombra. She stopped by Sombra's side and hesitantly reached out to Sombra, Sombra looked at Alice's hand before nuzzling her hand. How come Sombra doesn't do that with me? Sombra laid on the ground as Alice kept petting the kirin. I stroll over to Alice and Sombra.

"Go away, the kirin doesn't want you here." Alice said while still petting Sombra. I glared at her for a bit before deciding to ignore her. Sombra lifted its head up and walked over to me. I reached out my hand to pet Sombra's neck. The kirin pushed my hand out of the way with its head and licked the top of my head.

"Why!" I yelled. Sombra puffed and laid its head on top of my head. The weight of Sombra's head made me bend over a little bit. Alice stared at me blankly. A bit of Sombra's droll dripped onto the mangoes in my hand. God dammit! I sadly threw the mangoes onto the ground.

"Is- is that kirin yours?" Alice said. Her voice sounded desperate, it kind of sounded like she wanted me to say no.

"Yep." I replied while pushing Sombra off my head. Sombra whined for a bit and went to go wonder the garden.

"Oh." Was the thing Alice could reply with. I notice Sombra chomping down on a carrot behind Alice. She nodded and looked at the carrots beside her. She smacked her lips and got on to her knees. She plucked a carrot out of the ground. The carrot had random black spots along with some parts of the carrot having tiny holes in it. Alice muttered, "Dammit," under her breath.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Tending to the carrots." I look around and notice how much carrots there were. That's got to be annoying.

"Do you do it for fun, or what?" I asked. Alice sighed as she plucked out another carrot that looked exactly the same as the other one.

"No, my cabin does the garden work. I'm just forced to do it." She grabs the two carrots and places it in front of her. Michael appeared next to me with some mango in his mouth.

"Hef." Michael said with pieces of mango flying out of his mouth. Alice started doing hand signs with her hands. She messed up a few times but eventually the carrots started to decay quickly. I notice Michael's body tense up. I look over at Michael.

"Michael?" His eyes looked like they were flashing every color. His pupils quickly formed a horizontal oval. I stood there in shock, not knowing what to do. He let out a deep breath as his eyes went back to normal except this time his eyes were a bright green. He blinked a couple of times before going back to eating his mango.

"You need help?" Michael asked. Alice looked over her shoulder with a smile on her face.

"Yep." She pointed over to a corner of the garden. "Just see if there're any bugs. If the carrots are black, take them out of the ground." He nodded and walked away. Alice looked at me and pointed to the middle of the field. "Can you check that part."

"I never said I would help though." Alice glared at me.

"You're going to let your friend do all of the work?"

"He's not my friend. I met him today."

"Oh." She looked kind of disappointed. "You can just go away then." She quickly turned back plucking out carrots. I begin to walk but a box stopped me dead in my tracks.

New Quest!

Pluck you all the spoiled carrots

Rewards:

+2 more levels under the Geokinesis subskills

100 xp

$5

20x mangoes

10x carrots

Possible chance to form a friendship with Alice

Failure Consequences:

Nothing to do for the rest of the day

No friends

Finally, a easy quest! I don't think I have any Geokinesis skills though. I never thought of experimenting with that. Ice and Wind skills are way easier for me to use anyway. The Xp isn't much but the food is a plus. I notice the last reward. That's just a tiny bonus, doesn't really matter much to me. "Hey Alice where do you want me to pick the carrots?" Alice turned her head towards my direction.

"I thought you weren't going to help." She said in annoyed tone.

"I got nothing else to do, and I don't know the way to camp." She rolled her eyes and pointed to a random patch of carrots. I nod and walk over to the area. I look at carrots randomly. Which ones Am'I supposed to pick? I lift a random carrot randomly just a bit. There were no black on the carrot. I start randomly just start shifting through the leafy parts on the top of the carrot. I something light jump on my hand. I jerk back my hand, there was cricket that was at least four inches long. I stare at the cricket, it took all my willpower forcing my body to stay still. A ball of fear built up in my chest. The cricket jumped up my arm. I shakily move my other hand and flick it off. The fear in my chest quickly disappeared. I let out a sigh of relief as I saw the cricket jump away from me.

I notice a carrot with tiny bite marks along with tiny black marks on laying on the ground. I hesitantly grab the carrot with my thumb and index finger. This can't be normal. I put the carrot next to me and shift through other tops of carrots. I decide to start near where I found the black carrot. Everything looked normal so far. I felt a bead of sweat drip form on my forehead. My knees start feeling numb. I shift my body so that I was sitting on my butt, the black carrot still by my side. I wipe the sweat off my forehead. Why does it have to be so hot? My hand brushed up against the carrot as I put my hand down. I stare at the carrot, wonder how to tell the difference between a normal carrot and what ever this carrot was. I wonder if Inspect would help?

Danver Carrot (Spoiled)

Description- A long, orange carrot that most people visualize when thinking about a carrot. First developed in the 1870's and quickly became popular in 1886 due to it being able to be grown in poor soils. Some Danver Carrots can come in different colors. The carrot is now spoiled.

+5 health

Will give you food poisoning eventually

There are different kinds of carrots? Why did it need to tell me that? At least I know that food can give me health. I wonder if drinks can give me health too? I have to try that later.

Thanks to you making a smart choice you get +2 to Wis

I close the box and sigh as get back on my knees and start using Inspect on every carrot I see. I regret accepting this quest.

12:02

I feel someone tap my shoulder. I peek over my shoulder to see Alice handing me a mango. I put the carrot down and grab the mango. I put it in my Inventory while Alice looked at the pile of spoiled carrots a few feet away from me.

"Do we really have that much carrots that were spoiled?"

"Yeah, doesn't your cabin take care of the garden? It was so bad."

"It's not only our cabin."

"How did it get this bad then?" She shrugged while Michael appeared by Alice's side. He pointed to a carrot by my hand.

"You missed one." Michael commented. A shiver went up my spine as I looked into Michael's eyes. His eyes weren't there, I think. It was like they weren't there, but there at the same time. His eyes quickly went back to normal as soon as he blinked. I plucked out the carrot, and put the carrot in the pile. Alice did some signs with her hands; the pile quickly decayed.

"Thanks." I said to Michael. How did he even see that? I slowly get up onto my feet. "So are we done here?" I asked Alice.

"Yep." As soon as she said those words I got a box telling me that the quest was complete, a box shortly appeared telling me my Inspect skill leveled up eight times. Did I really use the Inspect skill that much?

Lvl 13(42%) Inspect- You can see the stats,descriptions,of objects and people. Can also tell you the hobbies/dislikes of your target. You can also see the stats and descriptions of people who are less than 100 levels above you.

How is the new feature supposed to help me. It's only good if I want to know about them. It's still something though. I close the box and look out into the garden. "So how long will it be to get back to camp?" I asked Alice.

"About thirty minutes." I groan internally just thinking about how long the walk is. There was silence between us for a second, only the sound of Michael chewing a mango could be heard. "We should probably start walking now." I nod as she turns around and walks onto the dirt path. Michael and I quickly followed behind her. None of said a single thing to each other. Sombra quickly caught up to us, the kirin walked by my side. My body felt a bit sore from today. I pick myself up with the wind and plop my body onto Sombra's back. I hugged his back and closed my eyes.

"No fair." I heard Alice say. I didn't bother to reply. I just wanted to rest. I yawned as I got into a more comfortable position. "That kirin deserves better." Alice said in a jealous tone. Sombra snorted in response. Silence fell over us as we walked. A stomach growled beside me. I slightly open my eyes.

"Does this place have a lunch time? Michael asked holding his stomach..

"Yeah, it should be beginning soon." Alice said.

"What are they serving?" I asked while sitting up.

"I think," She stopped for a second. "Pasta? Wait no, Tosatadas." She said sounding unsure of herself.

"You sure?" Michael asked excitedly.

"No."

"Oh." Michael said sadly. I close my eyes as silence filled the space between us. I don't how much time passed but eventually the camp into sight. I reluctantly got off Sombra as the kirin turned back into a necklace.

"Kirin can shape shift?" Alice said in a suspicious tone.

"This one can." I replied.

"Where's the food?" Michael asked. Alice sighed.

"Just follow me." Alice started walking further into the camp. Michael and I started to follow her. It took us a while to get the pavilion. Most of the seats were taken. Alice turned to us started walking backwards.

"I'm going to sit with my friends bye!" She quickly turned around and started walking towards a group of people.

"So where should we sit?" Michael asked me. I looked around, there were no free seats in sight.

"Oh I see some extra sits over there." I see Michael point to a group of people.

"I think there're people sitting there."

"Really? Look's empty to me."

"You know what, let's just go over there to be sure." Michael nodded. We walk over to the group Michael was pointing to. Behind the group were three empty seats.

"See they were empty." I roll my eyes and sit down. A plate of food suddenly appears in front of me along with a cup of juice. On the plate was a beef sandwich on it. It looked like there was a bit of scrambled egg in it. I put the sandwich in my Inventory to eat for later. I drink the juice in one gulp. What do I do now? I decide to wait for everyone to finish eating. It took less ten than ten minutes for everyone to finish eating. When people starting starting leaving I took it as a sign to leave. In the corner of my eye I notice people from my cabin leaving.

"Michael, I have to do something. See you later?" I said to Michael. He said, "goodbye," while nodding. I follow the group from the distance. Hopefully they were going back to the cabin, if they were not then I would have absolutely no idea how to get back. I followed them for a while before they stopped in front of a cabin. Looks like the Fūjin cabin. I heard sizzling coming from the inside. It's the Fūjin cabin. I walk up to the door and without hesitation I open the door. Everything looked the same, it had to be the Fūjin cabin. I walk to the bookshelf and pull out a book called, "The Mist." The cover had someone covering their face with their hands. There was green mist kind of blocking the face, but not by much. Look's interesting. I walk over to one of the holes and get in. I close the top part and pull out a flashlight. At least now I can finally get some rest.

10:56 pm

I lay the book on my chest as close my eyes. I try to get into a comfortable position but it felt awkward. I try to ignore the feeling. I groan as the feeling won't go away. Maybe if I take off my ring and my necklace? I wrapped my fingers around my ring and began to pry it. Before I could take it off I hear Anenoid talk in my head.

'Where are you?'

'At the Shinto demigod camp.'

'How did you even get there?'

'I don't know, I just wanted to go to a parade.'

'I told you to stay away from any demigod camp.'

'I got curious.'

'Who's the new person by the way? They're not talking.' What is he talking about?

'I don't know what you're talking about?'

'I can feel someone new in the ring, who is it?' I think for a little bit before replying. I think back to earlier today. Was it that woman who looked like she was on crack? The quest did say I would get a new slave.

'Are you talking about the crackhead?'

'I don't know, they aren't talking. Well anyways, have fun with that crackhead.' I take off the ring and put it in my Inventory. I decide to leave on my necklace since it's technically Sombra. I close my eyes and immediately go back to sleep.