Me, Jay, Vincent, Tom and Terry walked down the street a few seconds later, though I stayed towards the back of the group and stayed mostly silent with the rare exception of an occasional good joke that was made. I honestly didn't really know why Jay singled me out to join them, but so far at least it wasn't bad. I did feel a bit separated from the group, though that was mostly due to not having anything to say to the group to add to any of their jokes or whatever.

It was at times like this that I remembered why I don't like being social with large groups of people. But… a decent relationship with the people who are most likely to get on the basketball team, maybe even alongside myself, is a good thing. If I get on the team and there is a good amount of people who very much do not like me, then there is a good chance that I won't be able to play to the best of my ability and therefore get kicked off the team. It was then that I realized what I was doing here, really. ‘God… I am doing this for politics!’ I realized with horror.

That didn't change anything however, so I just kept walking right along with the kids around me.

It was this kind of thing that made me think about what I would rather be doing right now. I could be trying to figure out what went wrong with my motion detector that I was trying to make. I could be writing up the basic plan for the next ring I wanted to enchant. I could be hanging out with Percy or Grover. Kind of wish I was with them instead of Jay's group. At least I wouldn't have to listen to Terry and Tom one up each other on who was richer or had the best clothes. I will admit that when Vincent tried to get in on the argument by saying he had a mint condition DC comic, that got me to finally give an actual smile.

Vincent wasn't happy when the only thing he received for his efforts was an odd look from the pair and promptly got ignored again. He seemed to wilt a bit, but he perked up after a few seconds. I mean, what was he expecting? It was things like this that really showed that everyone is human. I did not expect for the big muscle bound jock guy of the group to have a comic book collection, or an interest in DC while also being in the ‘basketball/popular/more rich than usual for this school’ group. Of course I can't say anything. I am learning to be a blacksmith for the gods' sake.

Whatever. Humans are weird. That's not to say that demigods, monsters or other beings aren't but humans probably take the cake against pretty much everything in one way or another.

We turned the corner to where the ice cream parlor was visible from and I saw where we were going instantly. The building stuck out quite a bit from the larger surrounding brick stores, because while the surrounding buildings were the definition of normal this one shop looked like a building taken from the 1960s and plopped down in New York. The name on the storefront read Hope Ice Cream. The building was blue and white with a patterned cloth canopy over a few brightly colored benches below. It was like those photos where there is a single person in the focus of the camera and the background is all blurred and had less color, it just stood out and you knew that this is important. The building gives that odd effect, making it stand out quite a bit.

Just as I thought we would, our group walked right to the odd parlor and we headed inside with Tom and Terry finally stopping their showing off contest with a word from Jay as we stepped inside.

The inside was just as nice as the outside, with the blue and white sixties theme continuing with a little bit of pink mixed in here and there with chairs and the walls with a black and white tiled floor. There was a shiny counter a few feet away from the entrance and tables with cushioned benches lining the wall with the windows. There was also an old white haired woman standing by the counter wearing a bright pink and blue uniform and a smile as she turned her attention from the crowd of people enjoying their ice cream cones to the new customers, us.

“Well hello there! Just got off of school for the day, Jay? And brought some new friends too!” The woman at the counter, who was named Cally according to her name tag, said enthusiastically like an aunt greeting her niece who stopped by. They clearly knew each other as Jay smiled back at Cally. “Hey, Cally. Yes, we just got off for the day after basketball tryouts. Ardika and Vincent are trying out for the team as well, so we decided to get to know each other a bit over some ice cream.” Jay explained, gesturing to me and Vincent as he explained.

The old woman's calculating look seemed to almost peirce right into my soul for a split second as she looked at me, then she turned to Vincent and the feeling was gone. It was odd, she kept her smile but as she examined both of us she seemed to have something in her eyes as she looked us over that made me uncomfortable. Then it was gone and the pleasant smile that Cally wore seemed to brighten a bit. “Quite the new friends you have!” She said with a chuckle, though my instincts nudged me a bit as she said that.

It was almost as if she knew something. I mean… she seemed ok? There weren't any monster ice cream parlors around in the universe according to the books, just Monster Donut and later the gorgons shop, so it was possible that I was reading too much into it. It's possible that she could be a goddess or a demigod or something though, so I kept my guard up and put my right hand into my jacket pocket to clutch onto my dagger's hilt but didn't make any moves.

I stayed calm and kept an eye on everything. But I could have sworn that the moment I gripped my dagger she gave me a subtle approving nod before she turned her attention back to Jay.

“I suppose you three want your regulars?” She asked with a smile as she looked between Jay, Tom and Terry, who all nodded before she turned back to Vincent and me. “And what do you boys want?” She asked me and Vincent with a tilt of her head.

“Could I have a cookies and cream ice cream cone?” I asked with a smile, it's been a long time since I had even had ice cream so I was obviously going with my favorite one.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Can I have a vanilla cone?” Vincent asked after me, with a small smile.

“Vanilla ice cream and cookies and cream… I think this is the first time I have gotten an order for cookies and cream! Not very popular here for some reason. I will have your orders right up!” Cally exclaimed with a smile at me, though her words gave me pause. I wasn't sure, but I was pretty certain that cookies and cream ice cream was in the top ten most popular ice cream flavours. Maybe it's not popular in this universe? Or maybe that's just a New York thing. I honestly don't particularly care much.

She served us our ice cream cones a second later however, putting that out of my mind as she lifted up five cones from behind the counter as soon as she had finished speaking. How did she do that? She couldn't have prepared it in that short amount of time! She must have had it preprepaired. Wait a minute! That doesn't make any sense either! She said she had never had an order for cookies and cream, so why would she have it prepared behind the counter?

My surprise at what the woman had just done was apparently not noticed or shared by the other four as they reached out and took their cones in a second, with me only hesitating a second before doing the same and going to sit down at a nearby table with everyone except Jay who stayed behind to pay.

I took a look at my ice cream cone for a second, a little bit of misgivings on my face at the prospect of taking the treat from this weird place but I licked it anyway and enjoyed the flavour of the ice cream as the other kids did. I waited for Jay to come back as I ate my ice cream. He seemed to be a regular here, or at least knew the old lady, Cally. So I wanted to ask some questions about her, and this place. Something about this seemed off and I do not like that I have no idea what.

Jay came back after a moment, putting away his wallet as he did while licking at his caramel ice cream cone and sitting across from me at the table. “You come here a lot?” I asked Jay curiously as soon as he had sat down, which caused him to look up at me with a lopsided smile. “Not really, I came here a few times with my mom for business stuff. Cally has an insane memory, she remembers anyone who ever came in here and there orders.” He said.

“Impressive.” I said, sitting back and licking my ice cream thoughtfully.

Jay seemed to notice that I was thinking about something, and his smile only increased as he watched. “If you think that's impressive, then listen to this!” He said excitedly and leaning forwards before continuing, “I listened in on my mom talking about this place, and she said that this parlor just appeared out of thin air a year ago! One night this place was just an empty lot, then the next morning this building was just sitting here and all the records of ownership and stuff appeared that morning!”

Now my brain was drawing parallels to the Monster Donut chain, and I did not like it.

“But that's impossible.” I said continuing to act the part of a clueless kid, because I was, to get some more information. Jay just smirked and raised his hands in defence. “It's just what I heard.” He said quickly and took another lick of his ice cream.

I didn't think I would get any new information from Jay, so I licked my ice cream again and continued to think to myself. Monster Donut was a chain of donut shops that was tied to the lifeforce of a hydra, but now that I think back Anabeth did mention that it was an experiment by someone. Could it be that this is another experiment tying lifeforce to a monster? It made some sense… But Percy and Annabeth's main concern when the chain was the hydra that made its home nearby the locations. Theoretically, the shops themselves could be fine to eat at? It was never mentioned specifically besides some snippets of other people and monsters going to get donuts from the chain.

‘As long as I keep a lookout for monsters that could attack then I could be fine?’ Was my last thought on the matter before I realized how stupid I was being and my hand left the hilt of my dagger to go into the pocket I kept Masatr inside and slipped it onto my finger. ‘Monsters should sense that I am a mortal now… Though I never gave it a good round of tests to see if it actually works… Whatever. I think it does, and the system said it should.’ I thought with some relief, turning my eyes to gaze around me.

The kids around me were back to talking and laughing with each other, with the exception of Vincent who was just looking at his ice cream with a frown and a look of confusion. He was probably trying to figure out why the others weren't impressed by his comics or whatever. The other customers were all doing their own things as they ate their ice creams. Cally was looking at me with an odd expression that I couldn't place when I turned my attention to her. She was looking at Masatr. Then she seemed to notice my gaze and gave me a nod, her expression changing slightly to show a little bit of respect before she turned her attention to a customer who was approaching the counter.

She was not a normal mortal. That is for certain. I am sure of it. Too many things are adding up for it to be coincidences. However, no matter what she is, she hasn't made a move yet. Letting my guard down would be stupid, but provoking her would be stupid.

I relaxed myself against the padded bench and took a long lick of my ice cream, listening to the conversation around me while I ate my treat with an eye and ear on everything despite the calming and safe feeling environment. Just in case.

My worries of being attacked seemed to be uncalled for however as we all finished up our ice cream and left to head back to the school and arrived a few minutes later, walking across the open field without a care in the world.

As I walked back I slipped Masatr back into my jacket pocket and looked over the yard towards the school building and the dorm building. The fields were full of people hanging out in the summer sun, but my eyes managed to make out the pair of forms in the shade of a tree that I recognized as Percy and Grover.

“I will see you guys tomorrow!” I said to the group at large before splitting off to head to Percy and Grover from across the field to sit down.

“Hey.” I said as I walked over to the pair, sitting between Grover and Percy beneath the tree and causing Grover to look up from his snack and Percy to look over at Jay and his group that seemed to be heading for the dorm building. “Hey, Ardika. You just got back from tryouts?” Percy asked me, turning his head away from the retreating backs of Jays group to look at me.

His question caused me to feel a little uncomfortable as I realized that I didn't even get the chance to talk to Percy or Grover before I left. “No, that finished a while ago. I was just grabbing a treat with some of the other guys who were in tryouts.” I explained as I settled down, watching as Percy looked out at where Jay’s group had been again. “Right…” Percy said, a little more slowly than usual as he looked.