FLOWER POWER ─ percy jackson

xvii. the flower shop

Aster looked at Thalia, unsure of what to think, based on Annabeth's opinion. Thalia just told her to think whatever she wanted to.

The memory left a sour taste in Aster's mouth. The thought of Thalia either tugged at Aster's heartstrings or made her sick to her stomach; and Luke was a traitor now, having traded their camp, their home, their family in a split second for revenge and power. Aster swore that if she ever saw Luke's face again, one of her knives would be going straight at it. She glanced over at her father, and was suddenly thankful that her relationship hadn't gotten that bad with him. He at least wasn't broken from a possession gone so wrong.

Finally, after two hours of uncomfortable silence, Andrew spoke. "How was your summer, Aster? Anything eventful happen?"

Aster turned to him from the window. She could barely make out the ending of Wake Me Up When September Ends on the radio. "Do you want the 'no, nothing really happened' answer, or the actual answer?"

Andrew inhaled sharply. "The real version. I know about your... world, so you don't have to hide it from me."

Aster stretched her legs out in front of her, ready to be done on this gods-forsaken road trip, but they had unfortunately two hours left to go before they reached Salem. Aster meant to give her father the short version, but once she started talking, she couldn't seem to get her rambling to stop.

"Well, I did a lot of gardening. I always do a lot of gardening, but I enjoy it most of the time—except when Katie wakes me up at seven AM to do it. She's my half-sister, by the way."

Andrew chuckled, and Aster continued.

"I meant this new kid named Percy this summer, and we're friends now. He's the son of Poseidon, which breaks some pact with the Big Three gods—Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades—and that's sort of the big deal. It essentially means everyone wants to kill him. He's the second child to break it, the first– I'll tell you that story later.

"Anyways, in June, someone stole Zeus's master bolt, which he models all lightning bolts after. That thing is powerful; think atomic bomb, but not as small as Hiroshima, but capable of destroying all of Eurasia."

Andrew whistled, eyes wide. "Whoa."

"Yeah, I know. Zeus was blaming Poseidon for stealing it, saying he wanted to usurp him from his throne. Poseidon denied it, but of course Zeus didn't believe him. They were all ready to go to war over it, and that would have literally torn the world apart. Zeus had a deadline of the summer solstice for Poseidon to return the master bolt because that's when they have their bi-annual conference. So basically me, Percy, Grover, and Annabeth—I'll have to tell you about them later—went on a quest. We went to a bunch of dangerous places... almost died a couple of times–" When she saw the concerned expression on her father's face, Aster shook her head. "But we didn't! Almost doesn't mean we did." It would probably be best if she left out the part about the Underworld, then. "Long story short, we retrieved the master bolt, Percy got it back to Olympus in time, and the world is fine. Then the rest of the summer went pretty smoothly."

"Wow," Andrew said after a few moments. He seemed shell-shocked. "That's . . . a lot to put on a bunch of twelve year-olds."

"I know," Aster said.

The rest of the two hours were a lot less awkward when Andrew suggested they play road games. If you play enough games of I Spy, apparently time flies.

When their car pulled into Salem, Massachusetts, Aster's gaze swept through the town, her eyes sticking on small details.

Salem was a quaint city, though it wasn't very little. It was significantly bigger than her hometown, which you could drive through in about ten minutes. Though it wasn't as nearly as overwhelming as New York or St. Louis or Los Angeles, it wasn't something that Aster was used to. Even after she'd left Vermont, Camp Half-Blood resembled a small town as well. She didn't do very well with change, having to trust that everything would turn out okay—albeit differently.