Magic In the Air| The Lightning Thief Male Reader Insert

6. Heads Up, Aunty Em

I hate the Gods.

I hate Zeus especially and I would scream that from the top of Mt. Olympus if I had the chance.

"An entire box of Honey Buns," I mourned while dragging myself through the woods along the New Jersey riverbank. The smell of the Hudson wasn't making my mood any better.

"Three Kindly Ones. All three at once," Grover shivered.

"Come on," Annabeth urged. "The farther away we get, the better."

"Our money was back there," Percy told her. "Our food and clothes. Everything. (Name) is really torn up about his Honey Buns."

"An entire box!"

"Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight—"

"What did you want me to do? Let you guys get killed?"

"A fair trade for my snacks," I cut in, making them both glare at me.

"You didn't need to protect me, Percy," she argued. "I would've been fine."

"Sliced like sandwich bread, but fine." Grover put in.

"I think filleted would be more appetizing." I said.

"Shut up," she told us.

"Tin cans," Grover brayed mournfully, "a perfectly good bag of tin cans."

I placed my hand on his shoulder and nodded at him.

We were both going through the same tragedy, after all.

We trudged through muddy ground, souring my already pretty negative mood. After a few minutes, Annabeth spoke up again.

"Look, I..." she started. "I appreciate you coming back for us, okay? That was really brave."

"But I launch a bus full of people away from the Hudson and all I get is told to shut up.." I grumbled.

"We're a team, right?" Percy said.

"It's just that if you died, aside from it really sucking for you, it would mean that the quest is over," she explained. "This may be my only chance to see the real world."

It was then that I realized that Annabeth and I were a bit similar—not much, but it was there.

I'd spent these past few years just traveling, trying to find some stability and just sit still for a while, but she wanted to get out and explore the world after being kept in camp for an extremely long time.

I was almost able to feel sorry for her.

Almost.

The thunderstorm had subsided behind us and we had walked so far from the city that we were walking in complete darkness.

I stepped to the front of the group and held up my hand. Without a thought, I called forth a mini fireball to illuminate our way.

'I'm getting better at this," I noted.

I ignored Percy and Annabeth talking(flirting) behind me and continued walking silently.

I almost lost my concentration when when a shrill whistling screamed in my ears. I whipped my head around to see Grover holding reed pipes.

"They still work!" He cried out. "If I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods."

He played a few notes and Percy immediately walked face first into a tree, making me snicker.

Once I calmed myself down, I sighed softly and extinguished the flame in my palm and crouched down while tensing my leg muscles.

"What are you doing?" Annabeth asked.