IS PINE-BENDING TREES A NEW TREND?

It's been four days since we left DGH. No monsters popped up, probably because three Furies were watching us. I doubt anyone would want to mess with them. Anyways, Vittoria said we were in Pennsylvania, somewhere in Pittsburgh. We were almost halfway to the Mississipi River.

We had no place to stay, so we usually slept in the wilderness. A few times, we crashed into a hotel. Showers were a luxury, and so was brushing our teeth. Actually, even a roof over our heads was a luxury. I now understood how a hobo felt, and it was not great.

I asked Vittoria why we couldn't take an airplane, and she rolled her eyes like I was an idiot. "Yiannis, Zeus's domain is the sky. If the thief convinces him somehow that you stole his bolt, he'll certainly fry you. Even if he didn't, monsters love us. They are attracted to our scent. It would be hard to fight in an airplane. If a monster destroyed the engine, we would die just like that." She had a point, I suppose. Even if I was the thief, I doubt Zeus would blast me unless he wants to destroy his own weapon as well. But Vittoria was right about the engine thing. Planes are pretty fragile.

We had a hard time sleeping last night. Leaves stuck themselves on Vittoria's hair, and my eyes were red. Helen's stomach growled, and I agreed with it. I needed some food to inhale. Thankfully, it didn't take long to find a McDonald's.

After straightening our appearances, we entered the store. Vittoria fumbled through her bag. We had decided to split the money we had just in case someone lost their bag. That way, two of us would still have some money, unless we spent it all. That would also be the money we could spend on ourselves. Unfortunately, we had a bit less than eight hundred dollars between the three of us, and Vittoria only had a hundred. At this rate, we were going to run out soon and become real hobos if we didn't replenish our stash.

"Yiannis, maybe you should buy," Vittoria sighed. "You have five hundred bucks left, don't you?" I nodded. "Wouldn't it be better if you bought? Since I have the most, it would be better to save what I have in case we need all five hundred."

"Sure," Vittoria shrugged, "but if you lost your bag, we would only have about three hundred dollars between Helen and me. We're the ones who need to save up, so you should buy since you have extra."

"It would help if you and Helen didn't buy so many stupid souvenirs," I mumbled.

"What was that?" The two asked in unison. "Nothing," I answered. "Alright, fine, I'll buy the food. What do you guys want?"

I lost sixty dollars to fast food, although I can't blame Helen or Vittoria for ordering so much. There were some days where we just ate a snack bar. We were thirsty for the calories and the fact that we were eating junk food after so long. The food served at DGH is high quality but too healthy. Even their desserts have little sugar in them. I wanted to inhale some big macs like in that episode of Spongebob where he just sucks up crabby patties.

Needless to say, we devoured our meal. I hadn't felt so satisfied in a while. I watched Helen rip through cheeseburgers while Vittoria swallowed a bunch of fries. I wiped bits of lettuce off of Helen's face with a napkin. "Relax. I know you're hungry, but we've got all day. We could even order more for later if you want." Vittoria and Helen excitedly nodded. "That would be much appreciated," Vittoria said. "But you sure you want to waste more money?"

"I never said I would pay for it. I can't pay for everything, you know."

"Neither can Helen or I," Vittoria frowned. "We're the ones who need to save our money in case you lose yours." I wanted to argue that I'll be bleeding out money that way, and our stash will become super low super quickly. But I decided to listen to Vittoria. I would just have to budget even more tightly now. "Alright, fine. What do you guys want?"

As we headed towards a bus stop, someone called out to us. "Hey, wait." I turned around, and we were surrounded by a bunch of kids. They were only a few years older than us, and they all sported tattoos and earrings. It seems I run into some wanna-be gang. Great.

The kids pulled out something from their pockets. Some had pocket knives, while others had pistols. The kid who I thought was their leader smiled. "Well, what's this? Two pretty girls, who have some cash on them? We can't let that pass by us." I nudged Vittoria. "Take Helen and run," I whispered. "I'll freeze them for you." Vittoria nodded. She grabbed Helen's hand and took off with her as the kids got ready to pounce on them. I stamped my foot. Time stopped around me, and the kids just stood there, like they were in a video and someone hit the pause button. I ran after Vittoria and let time flow again.

"Alright, I think we can stop running now," Vittoria said. I nodded. Helen pointed to a store. "Remember last year's Christmas, Yiannis?"

"Yeah. You wanted to put the star at the top of the tree, but you were so short it took me, dad, and a ladder to get you up there."

Helen blushed. "I was not! I'm much taller this year."

"Yeah, you're still a foot shorter than me, Helen," I said matter-of-factly. "You're such a meanie!" Helen pouted. Vittoria smiled. "It seems the kids from before won't be bothering us now. So lets-"

"Kids? Arrg, don't tell me it's those stupid brats." A large man had popped out of the store. He had yellow Crayola blond hair and black eyes. His figure reminded me of Anatasia. Both were so muscular that it was unreal. "You need some help? Those brats don't know when to leave someone alone. Before long, they'll be back for you again." Vittoria shook her head. "No, thanks anyway. We need to get going. The bus should be arriving at any minute." The man raised an eyebrow. "You mean the one that stops there?" He pointed towards the stop we were just at. It was hard to see clearly from when we were this far away, but sure enough, the kids we just ran away from were waiting there, too. "They stand at that stop all day looking for their next victim," the man sighed. He looked at his watch. "It's one 'o'clock. The kids usually go to Mcdonalds to eat at about two, buying with the money they stole. You should stay here until then. Those punks won't be going anywhere anytime soon." Vittoria was wrapped in thought. I wasn't sure why she was so hesitant about accepting his offer. "Alright, fine," she sighed. "We'll take refuge in your store for now." The man smiled. It was not the smile people make when they're happy or when they do a good thing. It was a twisted smile, the one I make when I have someone eating off of my hand. The smile someone makes when they successfully make someone else do their bidding. Now I was just as hesitant as Vittoria, but we already were in the man's store.

My mental gears were turning. Was the man a monster? No, that couldn't be it. He was right in front of me. Then I turned back to those kids. I squinted through the windows of the store as I tried to get a better look. The leader had wings? My jaw dropped when I saw what he really was: a manticore. The kids had been right in front of me, but I couldn't even tell that they were monsters. How? Then I remembered something Vittoria said. Monsters could manipulate the mist. That complicates things. This large man might be the leader of the pack of manticores, but I won't be able to see it. Also, judging from what I'm seeing, they have stingers on their tail. How am I going to avoid that when I can't see it?

The large man grabbed the branches of a pine tree. "Since you guys are here, would you mind helping out? I need you to help me bend this pine tree here to the ground." Helen stepped forward, but I stopped her. "Sorry, but I'm pretty weak, and as you can see, Helen over here is disabled. We can't help you, but she can," I pointed towards Vittoria.

"Why am I being called out here? Yiannis, Helen may not be able to help, but you can. I doubt you're as weak as you say," Vittoria retorted. I placed my hand behind my back, acted like I was scratching it, and pointed towards the "kids" at the bus stop. "Look at them closely. Very closely," I mouthed. Vittoria peered out the window, and I knew she saw the manticores when her eyes widened. "I'm not sure what's going on, but the man over here could be their ringleader. It looks like they used the mist to fool us." Vittoria nodded. "Eímai tóso chazós." I understood the greek at once(she called herself stupid.) The man looked at us, a little annoyed. "Hey, if you're done talking, mind helping me? Trees don't bend themselves." Vittoria eyed me nervously, then muttered something. Her voice was too low for me to hear clearly, but I caught one word she said: Sinis. Was that something in greek? If so, the meaning didn't pop up in my mind. That's how it worked for demigods. Was it a name? A place? Before I could ask, Vittoria walked over to the man and started helping him bend the pine tree.

Wait, who the hell bends pine trees? I don't think anyone would buy a bent tree. It's not visually appealing, you know? Then it hit me. Sinis was the name of a guy Theseus(the guy who killed the Minotaur) fought. Sinis would ask someone to help him bend a tree and then unexpectedly let go, causing that poor someone to be catapulted into the air. Vittoria was going to be that poor someone if I didn't do anything.

The man(Sinis) was grinning. I knew he was planning to let go of the tree. I stomped my foot. Sinis raised his eyebrows. "What's going on?" He inspected the tree, touching the trunk. "Why is the girl not flying through the air?" He turned to me. "Think you could help me," he said, forcing a smile. I scratched my head. "Sure, but you said something about someone flying through the air?" Sinis clenched his teeth. "Yes, I was worried about her flying through the air. She was holding on so tightly, I thought she would soar into the sky! Hahahahah!" I doubt I could best Sinis in a fight. I could have frozen him and then slashed his throat, but I wasn't thinking. I was too worried about Vittoria and ended up freezing time around the tree along with her. The one downside to my powers is that I could only freeze time around one space at a time. For example, if I froze time around a person, I couldn't freeze another person until I first allowed time to move again. Doing so now would send Vittoria crashing into the wall.

I smiled. "Alright, I'll help you. But I need you to do a couple of things." I could feel the sweat trickle off my face. I don't think I was ever this anxious before.

I stooped down and hugged the bottom of the tree. "Hmm, I think the problem is that Vittoria's not pulling hard enough." Sinis grabbed the branches. "So I just need to pull down harder to help things along, then?" I nodded. "You can't let go of the tree, no matter what. Otherwise, this won't work." Sinis pulled harder and harder. I shook my head. "You're going to need a lot more force than that. Way more than that." Sinis was pulling so hard I could see all the veins on his arms. "Is this enough?"

"Nope. You still need more." Sinis's shirt was ripping at the sleeves. His bulging biceps were just that big when flexed. His eyes were closed in total concentration. I grabbed Vittoria's hands and gave Sinis some encouraging words. "Just a little bit more!" I stomped my foot and jerked Vittoria backward as hard as I could. Poor Sinis, meanwhile, flew to the other side of the room, getting his head stuck in the wall.

"What's going on? What happened to Sinis?" Vittoria asked. I pointed to the wall. "He won't be getting out of there anytime soon. We need to run. Now!" I grabbed Helen's hand, and the three of us rushed out of the store.

"There!" I cursed. It was the kids from before, or rather, I should say it was the manticores from previously. Helen hugged my arm tightly. I could see the fear on her face, contorting her features. "Yiannis, was the man who owned that store a monster, just like the ones chasing us now."

"Yeah. Don't worry, I'll keep you safe." I lifted my little sister into my arms and carried her as I ran. A bus stopped on the next block. Vittoria ran ahead of me. "Hurry up! Do you want to die?"

"See how hard it is to carry someone while running, then talk!" We barely managed to hop aboard the bus just as it was getting ready to leave. The doors slammed shut as the manticores furiously tried to claw their way through. Then the driver hit the gas, and we zoomed through the streets, safe at last. Unless the bus driver was another monster, in which case we were screwed.