Page 92 of Ares' Shield
“You remember us?” I ask.
I thought the woman was blind with the dark glasses she wears. How did she know we were here?
This just keeps getting weirder.
“How do you know us? What are you?” I ask and get a cane to the shin. “Ow.”
“What a rude question. You young demigods have no respect for your elders,” the old woman scolds.
“What did you say?” I ask, still rubbing my shin.
“No respect at all,” she grumbles.
“You called us demigods,” I whisper shout at her.
I glance around the gas station, but no one appears to be paying us any attention. Thank the gods.
“Mortals can’t hear me or see me,” the old woman growls.
“I’m sorry, but who are you? Why do we see you here all the time?” I ask gently.
“If I told you that, I would have to kill you.” She chuckles and mimics scissors snipping thread.
What does that even mean? I glance at Raven with wide eyes, but she shrugs.
“Is there something you wanted to tell us?” I ask.
“You have done well. Watch out for traitors in the trials ahead.” She waves a gnarled hand and disappears into thin air.
“What the hell just happened?” I ask Raven.
“Did you see the scissor snipping thing?” Raven mimics the scissors.
“Yeah, you don’t think… That’s impossible, right?”
“What?” Raven asks.
She turns to the shelves and grabs even more snacks.
“You don’t think she was one of the fates, do you? They don’t usually show up to have a chat with demigods.”
“Why would the fates live in Barstow, Beth? It seems like a pretty weird place to set up shop when there are places like LA and San Francisco.” Raven grabs a candy bar and walks back to the chip aisle.
I follow her over there. How could she still be worried about snacks after that crazy interaction?
Once we have all the snacks Raven thinks we need, I pull my black card out of my pocket and pay at the register.
Adrian jogs up to us. “Did you talk to a weird blind lady who likes hitting people with her cane?”
“How did you know that?” I ask slowly.
“She came out here and whacked Draven over the head with her cane and told me where we need to go next like she knew something we didn’t.”
I turn wide eyes to Raven. “I told you.”
“Damn, I wish I could have seen that crazy old bat swat Draven with her cane. That would have been epic.” Raven walks past us to the SUV and hops inside.
“Where did she tell you we need to go?” I ask, dread pooling in my gut.
