9 You're in my seat....

Maximus was making plans for the future on how to change the future. He decided he was not planning to follow the story and became a sheep. No, he decided to fulfill his dad's playful request. He was gonna go wild. He thought he could make him proud and bring a little joy to a life filled with betrayal and ostracism.

He had read upon some mythologies concerning Pan. What he found saddened and angered him. Pan was a god who the common folk, the masses loved and respected, but what could common folk do when the senate or the king decrees that Pan is a pagan god, a heretic who opposes Olympus. Most definitely lies spread by Zeus and Hecate.

Who knew, maybe even the whole of Mount Olympus conspired this farce. This made Max to not trust any of the gods. In fact he respected Kronos as he was openly a tyrant, he atleast was true to his being, unlike the gods. No wonder Luke did what he did. Nevertheless he was going to remove Kronos' head from his shoulder, if he ever gets released from Tartarus.

As it was 1999 he calculated that he had around six more years till the original story started, he wondered if he could save all the people who would like die or almost die, like Percy's mom or Thalia grace.

He also wanted to save Percy's mom sooner from the bastard- Gabe. No woman should suffer like she did, not forgetting she sacrificing her whole life, dreams, ambitions and also her dignity, which suffered constant humiliation from Gabe in front of his "friends".

Max did not miss the scenes were he would sexually harass her by grabbing her ass or forcibly kiss even when she resisted, he would even hit her her... In the face! But even after all this she always was a smiling angel to her son and her love for Poseidon never wavered.

Max swore, if he ever got the chance he gut Gabe like the pig that his is. He decided he was going to take his time do it slowly, just to hear him 'squeal'.

Max gave a long drawn out sigh coming out of his thoughts.

Before boarding the bus he double-backed to the zoo and rescued the snake he drifted with. He didn't know why but something kept bothering him not to leave her behind. Yeah she was a female, with a slender lime green body, which fascinated Max as he wondered how she would hide in the wild with such a bright coloured body. She willingly slithered into his sleeves when he went to get her.

Max had her wrapped around his waist as she was not very long and she also didn't mind it much, rather preferred it, for his body was nice warm and comfortable to her cold-blooded body. Max fed her a piece of jerky from time to time although she did not eat much because she was very young, hardly 3 years old.

From time to time he 'tasted' the air for any monsters following him. He found out she had given him a kind of sensory abilities able to differentiate between human, demigod and monster. Exactly why he drifted with the her.

Humans had a sour smell which he found a bit unpleasant but bearable, at that time he wondered how bad Gabe Ugliano, Percy's step-dad had to stink to cover up Percy's smell from monsters and even gods.

Monsters had a foul smell of sulphur that he could spot miles away thanks to his nose of a bear. He did not know the smell of demigods and gods as he had not met any.

After a day of travel, the bus had reached a pitstop in South Hampton with a quaint little diner attached. while the bus had to refuel. The 5 passengers including Maximus had gotten of to have something to eat from the diner.

Maximus was the first to finish eating and come out. He quickly on guard, when he got a whiff of new smells and some sour smell miles away getting closer. There were two new smells. He smelt something sweet like honey and a pleasant smell of....his eyes widened. He boarded the bus and saw four kids sitting bunched up together in the last row.

Chuckling to himself, he though, 'Fate is such a fickle thing. To meet them here.... Things are gonna get interesting.'

He saw a kid with crutches, a boy around fourteen or fifteen his eyes shifting hear and there. Inbetween them sat two girls, one around his own age and one little 6 or maybe 7 years old judging by her scrawny body and loose clothes.

He made his way to the last row. Seeing Max approach them the blonde kid who Max assumed was Luke put his hand inside his hoodie, ready for a fight.

Max just cocked his head to one side and said in aa monotone, "You're in my seat."