BLUE BLOOD percy jackson

EIGHT.

EIGHT. we accidentally explode a train

the lightning thief !

PRESENT

THE FOUR OF THEM had ended up getting on a train after they had shipped the head off to Olympus. The compartments on the thankfully had four beds so there was no splitting, Jude decided that was the least that they needed after everything they had just said and done.

Grover was at the very top bunk, Annabeth in the middle, and Percy was next to Jude, their beds almost touching, but giving them enough room to move around. Jude couldn't sleep, so he just stared at the ceiling, listening to the small hum of the train running along the tracks.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Percy jolt, and he looked over at him to make sure he was okay. He was well aware that it was a nightmare, but Percy had been having quite a few since he had met him. "You okay?" Jude whispered, making sure not to talk any louder in fear of waking Grover up, who was passed out--sprawled out across his bed. Percy swallowed and turned to look at the boy beside him, automatically calming down at the sight of him. He didn't understand why, but there was just something about Jude that eased his mind. Maybe it was a accent.

"Yeah. . . Yeah, I'm okay." Percy said, reaching up to rub his eyes, deciding he wasn't going to get any more sleep after that. Jude already knew that as soon as he fell asleep, it would be bright out, so he kept his eyes open. He looked at Percy for just a moment or two more before he finally turned away, staring at the ceiling once again.

"Hey, you asleep?" Jude simply assumed he was talking to Annabeth since he had just spoken to Jude anyway. It was silent for a few moments, and Jude was beginning to think that Annabeth had fallen asleep in the time it took Jude to make sure Percy was okay after his nightmare. "Yes." She finally said, and a smile crackled onto Jude's face.

Percy shuffled around a little on the bed he was laying on, not looking at Annabeth, but instead looking straight up like Jude was. "You and Thalia were really close, right?" Jude winced a little, knowing that this was a little bit of a sensitive topic with Annabeth. "Yeah." Annabeth simply replied.

"What was she like?" Jude found himself closing his eyes as he listened to the conversation, not falling asleep at all, just. . . relaxing. "Why?" Annabeth asked, and Jude sorta hoped Percy would change the subject soon, as Annabeth's tone was not a good one.

"She was the last forbidden kid before me, right?" Annabeth hummed as Percy talked. "She must've dealt with the same kind of stuff." Percy finished and Jude opened his eyes again. He did not know much about Thalia, so maybe this was his chance to find out even the simplest of things. "She was tough," stated Annabeth when she realized Percy was going to continue asking questions.

"I mean, she knew she was a forbidden kid, she just didn't care." Jude admired that, even if he hadn't met the girl. "When Luke and Thalia found me, Luke cared for me right away." That sounded pretty similar to Jude's case. Luke was a caring person. "But Thalia. . ." The girl trailed off as she tried to think of the best way to explain how she was.

"She made me earn it." Annabeth concluded and Percy turned to look at Jude, a puzzled expression on his face--almost like he had figured something out. Jude raised an eyebrow at this and urged him to say whatever he thought. "Is that why you give me a hard time? I gotta earn it with you, too?" Percy asked the girl that lay above the beds of the two boys.