TWO SIDES ━ thalia grace

-vi. percy has a pet

"I'll think about it," Kalani finally said. She couldn't lie to herself. The offer was tempting. But something inside of her prevented her from accepting it. She felt like she was being played with as the rope in tug of war. Yet right now, Annabeth needed her. She couldn't let her divided loyalties rescind her from saving her friend.

Luke's face was wiped of any indicator that he was upset by her procrastination of decision. "My side. . . Our side— is the right one, Kalani," he said in a scarily determined tone. Like if she said anything otherwise, he would consider her useless and tell his crony Kronos to smite her.

Kalani only stared back at him, her head tilting back slightly. "I guess we'll see," was all she said before she opened her eyes.

—•—

"How were you able to sleep while flying on a bunch of statues' backs?" Thalia said incredulously, her hands wrapped tightly around the base of the statue's neck. Her eyes were wide with alert, like she drank too much coffee. Kalani knew the complete opposite was true though. Thalia wouldn't have slept at all while in flight. And Kalani couldn't blame her.

Behind Kalani was Percy, who had his arms protectively planted around Kalani while she'd slept. "Ew, get off," she said, pushing his hands back.

"You're welcome for making sure you didn't die," Percy retorted.

Kalani didn't say anything, but stared forward, her mind replaying the dream she had over and over on loop.

"My side. . . Our side— is the right one, Kalani."

She decided to try her best not to think about it for now. Right now, her focus had to be on getting Annabeth back. Later she would revisit the dream.

"Well, you woke up just in time," Zoë said from the other statue. "Look."

Kalani gazed down at the ships floating in the bay below them, pivoting around the island. The Golden Gate Bridge was hazy in the fog, but she could vaguely make out the red foundation and the support lines winding up and disappearing in the thick clouds inhabiting San Francisco.

"There," Zoë suggested. "By the Embarcadero Building."

"Good thinking," said Chuck. "Me and Hank can blend in with the pigeons." They all looked at him. "Kidding," he said. "Sheesh, can't statues have a sense of humor?"

Soon, they landed on the ferry dock and successfully freaked out a random man who was sitting near where Hank parked. He screamed when he saw the moving statues and yelled something about metal angels from Mars.

After a short debate, the group agreed that they needed to find out who the mysterious monster that Artemis had been apparently hunting before she was taken.

"But how?" Percy asked.

"Nereus," said Grover.

"What?" Percy stared at him.

"Isn't that what Apollo told you to do? Find Nereus?" Grover asked.

"The old man of the sea. I'm supposed to find him and force him to tell us what he knows."

"Ah, torture," Kalani said, frowning. "I have a few ideas from these shows I used to watch, but I have no idea if it'll work on this guy."

"We won't be needing any mortal forms of torture to extract the information," Zoë told her.

"Guys, we'll figure that out when we get there. But how do I find him?" Percy said.

"Old Nereus," Zoë said, making a face.