Drake, Lucia, and Thomas, three demigods on their way to Colorado, lost in the depths of Wisconsin, children of the following Olympians: Ares, Hephaestus, and Apollo. All three were powerful gods, which meant their children were also pretty fantastically powerful. With no guidance, exhausted from already walking most of the day, what could possibly go wrong? A lot… if you’re a demigod. They’d been lucky most of the day, which was an improvement over yesterday, but all three were now on guard and expecting a monster attack any moment. A demigod cannot just go 24 hours without almost becoming a fancy meal.

When he was almost sure that his legs were going to fall right off, Drake sighed in relief as Thomas suggested they take a break for a few minutes.

“Oh, thank the gods,” Lucia groaned, flopping down on the grass, and stretching out her lithe body. She closed her eyes and kicked her shoes off, flexing her toes happily. “We’ve been walking forever, Thomas. Were you trying to make sure we dropped dead from exhaustion before we even get to Colorado?”

Drake laughed and shook his head while Thomas scowled and muttered something about girls being such whiners under his breath. Like most Ares kids, Thomas didn’t have much patience and reacted to most things with ferocity and pterodactyl screeches. Lucia shot him a dirty look, which he smirked at. Drake turned his attention to his surroundings.

Like his mom, Drake was more calculating than impulsive (like Thomas) and wanted to take this moment of rest to familiarize himself with his surroundings on the off chance that they’d be attacked by any monsters. They seemed to be in a cornfield, and Drake could hear the lowing of cows somewhere in the distance. He couldn’t see any immediate threat, so he opened his backpack and pulled out the cheese they’d picked up at one of the farmers markets. He offered some to Thomas and Lucia and took a bite of his own.

“Whoa,” Thomas said around a mouthful of cheese. “This is some fantastic cheese. These people really know how to do cheese.” Drake couldn’t help but agree, this cheese tasted better than any cheese he’d ever had.

“Honestly,” Lucia said, exasperated. “It’s just cheese you guys.” She took a bite of her own with a roll of her eyes, but her eyes widened. “I stand corrected,” she mumbled, swallowing. “This is not at all just cheese. This is like… whoa.” Drake and Thomas looked at each other and burst out laughing.

“Stop,” Thomas said suddenly, sitting up straight and looking around. Drake and Lucia looked at him, mouths still full of cheese, eyebrows raised in alarm. “I hear something.”

Drake slid his sword into his hand, his shoulders tensing. Thomas clenched his jaw and stood up slowly. Lucia put her hand on her bracelet, which spiraled into her shield when she twisted it, ready to stand up when she needed to.

That’s when they heard the screeching and looked up. “Scatter!” Drake shouted.

“Where? We’re surrounded by freaking corn!” Came Thomas’s panicked reply. Lucia huffed and shoved them both into the corn as the winged creatures descended towards the ground.
  To be continued...