A bronze owl

Time kept passing, small scars started covering our bodies as monster attacks were harder to deal with than before. My shoulder wound had healed better than I expected, but moving my right arm was still a hard and painful job, most likely because of the improper treatment the wound received as well as the lack of rest, it is hard not to move your arm when you are surrounded by a group of cyclops after all.

The weapons we got from the dracaena were useful, for a while, the three spears eventually broke or melted due to some monster's acid, but the wound on my shoulder was worth it.

"Wouldn't it be good to go to a hospital? I don't know how long this needs to be healed or if it is healing properly at all, and I can't read the two books we stole. Unlike the other one that had a lot of pictures for me to figure out, this ones have more words than anything else." said Annabeth while taking my bandages off to change them for new ones.

"I know... but if we went to a hospital they would call the cops even if they don't recognise one of us they would still have to call someone if two young girls show up with this type of wounds." I tell her. While the news uproar caused by the disappearance of the daughter of a famous movie star has died up, a.k.a. me, it is not worth the risk going to a hospital. "I am a demigod hahaha, I am sure it will heal just fine, all it takes is a bit of time that is all."

"I don't know... I hate not knowing what to do or how to help you." she says while getting upset. "I know it hurts a lot okey? So please let's go and have someone see it." she insisted.

"Sigh, fine then. Let's go to the hospital in the next town we pass alright? We are almost out of the New York state so it will be okey once we reach New Jersey or Pennsylvania, I am not sure which one we will arrive at." I say. It is truly terrible not being able to read and geography was never my forte.

"We are getting to Pennsylvania." says Annabeth, who is quite good at... well everything actually.

"Okey, then once we enter Pennsylvania we go to the hospital. Who knows maybe we get to borrow some books from the doctor's office huh?" I say while smiling.

"Sigh, you should call stealing for what it is, otherwise you are both stealing and lying." she scolded me.

"Come on now, we are just borrowing, of course it is until they find us and force us to return it but still, it qualifies as borrowing." I say proudly while she shakes her head.

As we make our way to the bus station, Annabeth suddenly stops. "Did you see that?" she asks me while looking into a specific direction with narrowed eyes.

"No." I say seriously. "Is it a monster or a group of monsters?" I ask, preparing for the worse while grabbing my hammer under my coat.

"No... it was an owl, a bronze owl." she says.

"Huh, are you sure?" I ask.

"Yes..." she says, searching for the owl that was no longer there.

"If it is an owl... it could be a sign or a message from you-know-who, but at the same time... why would they be interested now?" I say while tightening the grip on my hammer.

"I don't know, but it is already gone." says Annabeth, still moving her head while looking in every direction.

"It could mean anything so it is better if we simply think about it along the way." I tell her.

"Yes..."

Getting in the bus after paying the fees earned us a few weird looks, most being confused looks or pitiful looks from the few people that were still around at this hours of the night.

"We should start planning what we will do after going to the hospital." I say, bringing Annabeth's attention away from the view and into the conversation. "There probability that we will have to run away is quite high, so we should know already where to go next."

"Won't we just keep going wherever we have to go to escape the monsters?" she says confused. So far we have simply being escaping while getting on buses that head southwest.

"Yes, but I am not talking about that, I mean what we will do to get out of the hospital if they don't let us leave." I explain. "I made this smoke bomb with some of the powder we borrowed from the supermarket and metal scarps I found in the lair of the last group of cyclops, the problem is I only have one, so if they don't let us leave I will have to use it. You be ready to run away at any moment okey?"

"Okey." she answers while nodding.

After a few minutes I feel Annabeth's head resting on my shoulder. I see her closed eyes, her blonde hair, her dirty skin and the small scar above her left eye which covers a tiny part of her eyebrow. It hurts, watching the person you care about the most get hurt because you are too useless to help, my shoulder wound is a real hinder when fighting against monsters so she has been forced to take on more aspects of our defences. In that sense I suppose I am grateful for her telling me to go to the doctor even if it might be a bit dangerous, after all having someone willing to be in danger for you is... heartwarming.

Eventually the bus reached our stop, a relatively small city in the outskirts of Pennsylvania.

"Hey smart girl, we are here." I say in a soft tone to wake her up.