31 Chapter 31

'It's warmer today. I was getting a bit tired of the cold, to be honest.

Damn, it's been two months since I last wrote here. Well, I might've not been writing, but at least I've been steadily adding some new photos. The last time I wrote something we were in Philly, I think? We're in Massachusetts now. Actually, we're more like almost in Connecticut — we left Boston just a few hours ago.

I know I'm probably just being paranoid, but... that city has to be haunted. There was just this feeling that constantly kept me on my feet — and get this; we didn't see a single monster there. Not one. Not even a Dracaenae (and these seem to be anywhere we go. They're like maggots). 

We stopped by the Boston Public Garden to have lunch. There was this big duck family statue in the middle of the park — a mama duck and her ducklings. I always thought little ducks were supposed to be cute, so I don't know what the artist did, but those things were the farthest from that.

They weren't poorly made by any means, but it felt... it felt like I wasn't supposed to be near them.

Then there was this fat squirrel. I can't help but wonder what the hell he ate to be like that. His claws were so sharp-looking that I almost swung my sword at it. And it was so mean-looking too...

Anyway, Boston didn't yield us any results. The Museum of Fine Arts, which was probably our best bet in the city, had a very interesting exposition on the art of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, but that was it. Nothing that indicated the camp to be there.

It wasn't like we were expecting a huge billboard with bold pink letters on a yellow background saying where the camp was, but— at least, I don't know, a small traffic sign. That would've been nice. 

The idea of searching for Ancient Greek signs and influence in major cities was Annabeth's idea. While we've been skimming through the countryside, a city has a lot more stuff we have to look at— so her idea saved us a butt load of time. She kind of made me feel a little dumb.

Alex stopped his cheap pen for a second. There wasn't much to write about if he was being honest. The last two months could be resumed with a few skirmishes with small groups of weak monsters that didn't pose much of a threat and an uneventful and borderline boring road trip save for the few moments where he and the other three were having fun. 

There was the ring as well, but nothing similar had happened since he woke up after the fight with the drakons. Sometimes, he'd find himself trying to talk to whoever spoke through it, but the silence he'd be met with afterwards often made him feel silly.

He felt the car slow down. 

Being so absorbed with the journal, he didn't notice Luke pulling the truck off the highway. 

"Why are we stopping?" he asked, stuffing the journal in his rucksack.

"Food," Luke mumbled tiredly. Okay, Alex thought, it was best if they stopped for a while. He didn't want their driver to fall asleep behind the wheel. 

Thalia was asleep, her head resting against the closed window of her backseat, while Annabeth was entertaining herself with an informative pamphlet about the Massasuchets State House. 

He looked out of the window.

The moon hung low in the sky. The truck's watch marked 10 PM, and the double-lane road they were now on was mostly deserted, with the occasional car passing by them.

Alex heard Luke sigh in relief when he spotted a dimly lit but cosy-looking diner on the side of the road. Looking at the glass block windows, he felt like Hedge would've liked this place.

The Son of Hermes manoeuvred the truck into a parking spot near the entrance of the dinner, beside a few other vehicles: another pickup, a simple sedan, and two motorcycles, one with a small sidecar on its right. There was another handful of cars that Alex couldn't be bothered to look at.

When the truck was turned off, they stepped out. Alex woke Thalia up before opening his door and stretching his stiff limps until he felt the joints popping. The punk girl yawned loudly while Annabeth jumped off from the front seat, eyes glued to the pamphlet. Luke did the same as Alex before walking to the entrance.

"Come on. I'm starving," he said.

The bell above the door jingled softly as they entered. Alex thought the sound was almost too cheerful for the late hour.

The interior of the diner was kind of a throwback to the 50s. Checkered black and white floor tiles, neon signs flickering gently above the counter, classic red booths lining the windows, and a jukebox in the corner humming a soft tune that Alex couldn't quite put his finger on where he'd heard it before. The place wasn't full, but neither was deserted. There was a couple lost in each other's company in the far back, and three women speaking in whispers by the counter. A family of five were speaking merrily at a table by the entrance, and there were a few strangers spread across the rest of the diner.

They made their way to an empty booth more a less in the middle of the place and sat down. There were two men dressed like geeks in the booth next to them. Luke sighed again, probably having missed a cushioned and comfortable seat, while Annabeth and Thalia immediately grabbed the menu. 

Alex sat on the edge of the booth. He shoved his rucksack between him and Luke. There was no way he'd leave their money, ambrosia and nectar bag in the truck. At least, not in an isolated place like this and when they were almost out of the last two things. Money wasn't much of a problem because of the mist trick, but it was always good to have some at hand.

Thalia flipped through the laminated menu before stopping on something that caught her fancy.

"Hm... a double cheeseburger sounds nice," she licked her lips and set the menu down. "What are you all gonna get?"

Luke ran his hand through his hair. "Just a coffee and some muffins."

The two looked at Alex. He grabbed the menu and read it for a moment. He looked for a word he didn't have to try hard to properly read before placing it down as well.

"Pancakes," he said.

"I want pancakes too!" Annabeth chimed in. She had the other menu practically covering her face as she peered over it and spoke with consideration only she could muster for such things. "And they better have chocolate chips. But... do you think they have spaghetti, too? Pancakes and spaghetti sound good."

The others couldn't help but laugh. The soft tune from the jukebox kept playing in the background.

"Why not?" Alex smiled. "You need your energy for tomorrow. Speaking of," he turned to look at Thalia and Luke, "we're heading deeper into Connecticut next, right?"

Luke nodded, though he seemed a little miffed. Alex knew why. Luke's mother lived in Westport, CT. And after everything his friend had done, just to go back to the place he ran away from...

"The state's got as much chance of being the right place as anywhere else we've looked."

As they discussed where they should go next, the waiter who had been by the counter serving the three women finally approached. "Evening, folks. What can I get for you tonight?" he asked with a smile that didn't reach his ears. 

Alex opened the menu again. He had to squint his eyes so the words didn't jumble too much.

"Uh... a double cheeseburger, a coffee and a muffin, some pancakes with sausages, and," Alex looked at Annabeth, "some more pancakes with a side of spaghetti."

"And chocolate chips!"

"Alright," the waiter wrote it down on his little notepad, completely unbothered by the last and weird request. "Anything else?"

"A strawberry shake," Thalia added.

The waiter, an old guy in his sixties with a large, bushy white moustache finished scribbling down the orders before offering a strained smile when he turned to leave. Alex couldn't help but notice the way his white shirt clung to his back from sweat. 

After the rowdy family left the diner, the man came back with a tray full of food. The four happily indulged in it, speaking about whatever came to their minds. When Thalia finished her burger, she went to the counter to ask the waiter if he could change the music. 

"Well, I gotta go to the bathroom," Luke said as he sat up. The coffee seemed to have waken him up.

Alex and Annabeth were left in the booth. The little girl kept eating her food merrily while Alex twisted the ring on his finger. There were loads of things he wanted to know about it. The history behind it, how it ended up in his family's hands; if his dad had ever heard the voice that felt like someone was speaking directly into your brain, if it was actually made of silver, and the biggest question of them all— who the hell spoke through or from it?

He seriously hoped he wasn't going crazy. ADHD and dyslexia were enough, he didn't need some form of schizophrenia added into the mix. He leaned back on the cushioned seat.

Chuckling from seeing Thalia trying to convince the old waiter to change the tunes, Alex ended up catching a conversation from the booth to their right, separated by a waist-high wood wall.

"I ain't a religious man, Vincent. I just don't dig the swine."

"Why not? 

"They're filthy animals. I don't eat filthy animals."

The man probably never had tasted the glorious flavour of a perfectly seasoned and crispy pork chicharon. He couldn't help but sneak a look at the pair. 

One of them — the dude Alex guessed was the one defending pork, seeing his plate had half of a sausage in it — was a pale-skinned man with with dark hair that fell backwards to his neck, dressed in a white shirt and pink shorts. Vincent, if Alex had heard right. The other was a dark-skinned, middle-aged man with a small curly afro for hair. His food was eerily similar to Luke's. He, too, was dressed in a T-shirt and some tennis shorts. Dressed like geeks, even if they most definitely didn't look the part.

"Sausages taste good. Pork chops taste good," Vincent said, showing it by eating a large piece of the sausage on his plate.

The black man scoffed. "A sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie. I'll never know 'cause even if it did, I wouldn't eat the filthy motherfucker. Pigs sleep and root in shit. That's a filthy animal. I don't wanna eat nothin' that ain't got enough sense to disregard its own feces."

Alex was so absorbed in the conversation of the two strangers that he couldn't help but quip. "What about dogs? Dogs eat their own feces."

The bacon-hating stranger looked at him with an arched eyebrow before answering. "I don't eat dog either."

"No, no, the kid's onto something," Vincent said, pointing his fork at Alex before turning to his companion. "You consider a dog to be a filthy animal, Jules?"

Jules shrugged. "I wouldn't go so far as to call a dog filthy, but they're definitely dirty. But a dog's got personality. And personality goes a long way."

"So by that rationale, if a pig had a better personality, he'd cease to be a filthy animal?" Alex asked, leaning his arms on the wood separation between the booths. Annabeth seemed to still be busy enjoying her weird mix of past and batter.

"We'd have to be talkin' 'bout one motherfuckin' charmin' pig," Jules laughed. "It'd have to be ten times more charmin' than that fat waiter back there, you know what I'm sayin'? The Cary Grant of pigs."

The three laughed, though Alex saw Vincent raise a hand to Jules.

"Good for you to lighten up a little. You've been sittin' there all quiet," he said. "But relax with the curses. We got kids here."

"Garçon! Coffee!" the man of the couple in the back called with his mug raised in the air.

"So what? Kids these days need to though the fuck up," Jules snorted. "And you call them swear words, I call them sentence enhancers," he turned to Alex. "Here are some of my favourites, kid: motherfucker, fuck, cunt, shit, shitforbrains, thundercunt, fuckface, asshat, cockhead, wank stain, —"

"Hey! HEY!" Vincent yelled, trying to stop him. Jules eventually did, but not before he increased Alex's vocabulary with two new dozen words he probably shouldn't say to other people he didn't want to piss off.

"Just letting the kid on something he can use to add some seasoning to his speech," Jules leaned back on his seat and ate some of his food. 

"Whatever," Vincent sighed. He sat up and pointed at the dark-skinned man. "I gotta take a dump. To be continued."

Vincent left for the restroom. Jules took a mouthful of muffin and looked at Alex. "You know, when I was your age—"

Just then, the distinct sound of a gun being cocked back echoed. Alex whirled around to look at the couple who, moments ago, were acting all lovey-dovey, but now had their handguns pointing at the ceiling.

"Everybody be cool, this is a robbery!"

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A/N: As always, don't forget to comment, review, and leave some stones!