¹Pocket Full of Posies.

𝐗𝐕. summer insights

pocket full of posies
❛ xv. summer insights ❜

━━━━━ IT BOGGLED JOSEPHINE'S mind how easily the mortals warped the truth to fit in the confines of what they could feasibly understand.

              According to the L.A. news, the explosion at the Santa Monica beach had been caused when a crazy kidnapper fired a shotgun at a police car. He accidentally hit a gas main that had ruptured during the earthquake.

              This crazy kidnapper ( a.k.a. Ares ) was the same man who had abducted Percy, the nameless girl from the St. Louis Arch ( a.k.a. Josephine ), and two other adolescents in New York and brought them across the country on a ten-day odyssey of terror.

              Poor little Percy Jackson wasn't an international criminal, after all. He'd caused a commotion on that Greyhound bus in New Jersey trying to get away from his captor ( and afterwards, witnesses would even swear they had seen the leather-clad man on the bus—"Why didn't I remember him before?" ) The crazy man had caused the explosion in the St. Louis Arch. After all, no kids could've done that. A concerned waitress in Denver had seen the man threatening his abductees outside her diner, had gotten a friend to take a photo, and notified the police. Finally, brave Percy Jackson ( this kid wasn't sounding too bad anymore ) had stolen a gun from his captor in Los Angeles and battled him shotgun-to-rifle on the beach. Police had arrived just in time. But in the spectacular explosion, five police cars had been destroyed and the captor had fled. No fatalities had occurred. Percy Jackson and his three friends were safely in police custody.

              The reporters fed them this whole story. The questers just nodded and acted tearful and exhausted ( which wasn't hard ), and played like victimized kids for the cameras.

              "All I want," Percy said, choking back his tears, "is to see my loving stepfather again. Every time I saw him on TV, calling me a delinquent punk, I knew ... somehow ... we would be okay. And I know he'll want to reward each and every person in this beautiful city of Los Angeles with a free major appliance from his store. Here's the phone number." The police and reporters were so moved that they passed around the hat and raised money for four tickets on the next plane to New York.

              They had no other choice but to fly. Josephine only hoped that Zeus would cut Percy some slack—especially considering the circumstances. But Josephine still had to drag Percy onto the plane before it left without him.

              Takeoff was a nightmare. Percy's panicked state made Josephine's panicked state even worse than it normally was. With every spot of turbulence, he would grab her arm tightly, digging his nails into her flesh. ( "Percy, that hurts," she whispered to him. "What's gonna hurt worse if Zeus strikes us down," he hissed back. "We won't even know if he does," she countered. "We'll be dead before we feel the pain." ) He didn't fully let go of her arm until they touched down safely in La Guardia. The local press was waiting for them outside security, but they managed to evade them thanks to Annabeth, who lured them away in her invisible Yankees cap, shouting, "They're over by the frozen yogurt! Come on!", then rejoined the three at baggage claim.

              The four split up at the taxi stand. Percy told Josephine, Annabeth, and Grover to get back to Half-Blood Hill and let Chiron know what had happened.

              The daughter of Apollo shook her head. "I'm going with you."

              "Posie." Percy sighed. "If things go bad, you three can get out alive. I have to do this by myself."