Rachel Elizabeth Dare
"What the hell was that? How the hell did you do that? Why the hell do you have a sword? Who the hell are you?"
The young woman with curly red hair, green eyes, and a very pretty appearance now had her face clouded with disbelief, surprise, confusion, and, at the same time, a whole lot of curiosity.
Instead of fear.
The barrage of questions left Percy with no idea what to say.
Besides the fact that he still couldn't say much.
Even while enduring the pain in his throat, Percy cleared it for a moment before raising his hand and snapping his fingers.
"You didn't see anything," he said in a very rough, almost hoarse voice as he manipulated the Mist, trying to make it affect Rachel, who, as far as he could tell, wasn't a demigod, just an ordinary human.
"What kind of nonsense are you talking about? Are you an idiot? I saw everything," the girl said, looking at Percy as if he were the idiot.
At the same time, she crossed her arms and walked right up to him until they were face to face, staring straight at him as if she wanted answers to her questions right now.
Percy opened his mouth when he realized the Mist hadn't worked.
That only left him with the option of using some illusion spell.
But before he could cast it, the girl slapped his hand away.
"Would you stop doing whatever it is you're trying to do and answer me already? Who the hell are you? Or... what the hell are you?" she said, staring at him.
Meanwhile, Percy, son of the God of the Sea and disciple of the First Dragonborn, wore a look of complete disbelief after watching one of his spells get brushed aside with nothing more than a slap.
Then he looked at the young woman standing in front of him again.
"What? Are you finally going to tell me why you were glowing like some damn firefly, or do you want me to start screaming for security?... Well..." She glanced toward the pile of skeletal security guards lying on the ground. "The real security," she added.
"Ah, right. If I'm asking who you are, I should introduce myself first," the young woman said in a calmer tone. "I'm Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Now... are you going to tell me your name or not?"
...
"Seriously, is nobody worried about Percy?" Grover said.
Though even as he said it, he took another bite of his vegetable burrito while he and the others sat together at a shared table with their trays of food.
They were all eating calmly as well.
"Why worry? That guy's strong enough to beat any enemy standing in front of him," Thalia said.
Though she seemed annoyed to admit those words because it meant acknowledging that Percy was stronger than she was.
But it was the truth.
One she had already accepted at some point.
"And if he gets beaten up along the way, that wouldn't be so bad either," Zoë added in the venomous, resentment-filled tone she still reserved for Percy.
Bianca didn't have much to say.
She was too busy happily eating her burrito.
Though that was only because she had a great deal of confidence in Percy's strength, even if she hadn't known him for very long.
"Yeah, Percy is pretty strong," Grover said seriously. "But sometimes he can be a little..."
Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly stopped and looked around while sniffing the air.
Among the smell of burritos, everyone's perfume, and everything else, Grover caught a scent he knew all too well.
"What is it? Monsters?" Thalia asked when she saw Grover's expression growing paler and paler.
"Yeah. And there are a lot of them. They're coming from every direction," Grover said as a hint of panic began appearing on his face before he turned toward the entrance of the restaurant.
It had two large glass windows that looked out onto the outside.
When everyone turned their eyes there, they could see several skeletal warriors walking outside, armed with batons and pistols.
They began splitting into groups, walking toward both sides of the exits.
And a couple more headed straight for the restaurant, ready to search the place while trying to find them.
Which wasn't difficult at all.
Because if they could see them through the glass, that meant the skeletons could see them too.
Or rather, Zoë.
Who seemed to be the one they had marked as their target.
The moment they spotted Zoë, they rushed straight toward the entrance of the restaurant, readying their weapons, even prepared to open fire in front of the mortals.
Though, of course, they couldn't have cared less about that.
The problem was that Grover and the others did.
And they couldn't let innocent people get hurt because of them.
Fortunately, Grover came up with an idea the moment he saw the first skeleton step through the door.
He looked at his burrito and shouted at the top of his lungs,
"Burrito war!"
Before hurling it straight at the face of the first skeleton through the door with more than perfect aim.
Obviously, a burrito wasn't as painful as getting shot with a pistol.
But it turned out to be surprisingly helpful when it smacked into the skeleton's face and knocked its skull clean off its neck, sending it rolling across the floor.
That was like kicking a hornet's nest.
Because that day, it seemed like most of the visitors were teenagers who had been dragged there by their families on this boring trip.
So, without hesitating for even a second, every other teenager present completely lost control and started the biggest burrito war the place had ever seen.
That made it impossible for the skeletons trying to aim their weapons to do so properly.
Because now cups of soda, French fries, and guacamole were flying everywhere.
Some of them even splattering directly onto the skeletons, whom the humans probably saw as security guards trying to stop their massive food fight.
Which turned them into the perfect targets for the barrage of flying food.
Even Grover couldn't help being surprised that his spur-of-the-moment idea had worked so well.
Maybe a little too well.
"Come on," Thalia said, snapping Grover out of his surprise as she grabbed his arm. "Let's find that idiot Percy and get out of here," she added, taking advantage of the chaos to escape.
...
Meanwhile, Percy, who had just endured Rachel's machine-gun barrage of questions, walked along with his hands over his ears, trying to ignore the red-haired girl who was now following him closely toward the restaurant.
"Would you answer me already? And where's your sword now? How did it fit into that tiny bag? Are you some kind of wizard or something? I already introduced myself. Aren't you even going to tell me your name?" Rachel continued, indignant that this boy kept ignoring her even though she was right there beside him.
Even the threat of calling security hadn't worked.
Or rather, he simply didn't care.
"What, did the cat get your tongue?" she added, about to become even more annoyed than she already was at being ignored.
But suddenly, before she could say anything else, Percy, who had been walking while trying not to listen to her endless questions, stopped.
Then, moving so fast that Rachel felt as though he had turned into nothing more than a blur, the mute young man suddenly appeared beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her to the side.
At the same time, he drew his sword, which had somehow appeared in his hand again.
Making her heart skip a beat.
But that feeling didn't last long.
Because three shots rang out almost immediately.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As the boy now holding her turned and swept his sword.
Three metallic sparks burst against its blade, and three flattened chunks of lead fell at their feet.
Percy looked at the skeleton, which still had its pistol aimed at him, while several more came running in his direction.
"You'd better not stay near me... or you'll be in danger," Percy told her, having recovered part of his voice.
Though it still sounded rough and barely above a whisper.
But because he was standing so close to the young woman, she heard every word perfectly.
At the same time, her face was every bit as red as her hair.