Making Waves

Chapter 2

Percy pinched herself. Focus! You're in the middle of a robbery, seaweed brain.

Now why did her inner voice sound like Annabeth. Whatever, another problem for another time.

When she zoned back in, the main robber was at Janet's booth, ordering her to empty the till. He spotted the beige envelope next to her keyboard and ordered her to hand it over, which the woman did, her hands shaking. The man peered inside and made a noise of approval.

"Hey! That's my rent!" Percy blurted out before snapping her mouth shut. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She had even taken a large step forward, which was why the two of the other three robbers had immediately repositioned their guns to point at her. She carefully stepped back to her original spot.

"Shut up," the main robber growled, stuffing her envelope in one of the bags they had brought with them. "New plan, you five," he gestured towards Percy, the three men, the woman, and her daughter, "against that table." Did the child not count?

Two of the robbers closed in on the five of them and cornered them into the large table.

"Phones," the leader barked, and the same two robbers came and collected each of their phones. The man who had been arguing on his earlier, hesitated and it was yanked forcibly out of his hand. When it was the woman's turn, she gave hers willingly and quickly, clutching her daughter's hand even tighter.

Across the room, where the leader and the fourth robber had their guns trained on the two open booths, Percy noticed one of the tellers, not Janet, discreetly press something under the table.

Percy relaxed just a little, knowing the cops would be here soon and they just had to stay safe and stall until then. Perhaps if everyone was looking at her, she could have misted them into thinking they had everything and leaving, but with the way the robbers were spread out across the room, she didn't want to take the chance that it wasn't successful. Plus, they still had her rent.

Percy was aware that she was fidgeting. The leader and robber 4 (in her head, she'd taken to calling the two at the teller by those names, and the two guarding her and the civilians, robber 2 and robber 3) had been taking too long to gather everything they needed. Robber 4 had taken the male teller towards the back of the bank, no doubt to try to get him to open the safe. She didn't dare try to reach into her pocket for riptide, so she had taken a pen off the table behind her and was twirling it in her fingers. One of the men near her side eyed her but she ignored him.

"Excuse me," a quiet but steady voice spoke up near her and Percy immediately whipped around to face the source. The mother from before had lifted her head slightly, though she still wasn't looking any of the robbers in the eye. "My daughter, she needs to use the bathroom, could we..."

The woman trailed off, not knowing exactly what to propose. Percy's heart sank, there's no way this would go well. Best case scenario, the robber allowed them to go with an escort, but Percy did not at all feel comfortable letting the robber go with them alone. And worst case...

"Shut up bitch!" Robber 2 bit out, his voice a little higher and younger than the leader's. He brought the gun closer to her face.

"Please, sir, she really needs to go," the mother pleaded, looking desperate.

The leader spared a glance behind him to see what the commotion was, but he must've deemed the situation unimportant, because he quickly went back to harassing Janet. Robber 2 on the other hand, was not having it. He stepped forward, grabbing the woman by the hair, and yanked, hard.

She screamed as she was forced down to her knees. In the process, she had dropped her daughter's hand, not wanting to drag her down as well. Percy clenched her fists in anger but admired how she was thinking about her child even while in pain.