ATYCHIPHOBIA¹ | p.jackson

SEVEN.

as chiron explained who Argus was to percy, she turned around. she saw luke running up the hill, a pair of shoes in his hands. "hey!" he said, slightly out of breath from running up the hill. "glad i caught you." nicasia rolled her eyes when she caught annabeth blushing, the way she always did when she was around the older boy.

"just wanted to wish you luck." he said. "and i thought um... maybe you could use these." he said, looking only at percy. it kind of seemed like he only wanted percy to wear them. weird.

"maia!" luke said. white bird wings sprouted from the sides of the shoes. percy nearly dropped them as the wings flapped. then he did drop them. idiot. the wings continued to flap around on the ground before they folded up and disappeared. nicasia picked the shoes up and tossed them to percy.

"awesome!" grover called out. luke smiled. "those helped me on my quest so i figured they could help you too. they're a gift from my dad, but i don't use them much these days..." he sent nicasia a look that seemed to say not you. again, weird. he didn't want her to use the shoes. nicasia was confused but knew she would probably figure it out later.

percy thanked him. luke spoke up again. "look percy, a lot of hopes are riding on you. so just... kill some monsters for me, okay?" he turned to nicasia. "i know you will." nicasia let herself slightly smile at that. luke and percy shook hands. luke patted grover's head between his thorns, then gave a goodbye hug to annabeth, who was blushing, again. lastly, he turned to nicasia, he gave her a hug. before he broke apart from the hug, he whispered something to her, unnoticed by everyone else. "no matter what happens, you and annabeth never wear those shoes." he said. nicasia didn't let her confusion show when they pulled apart.

once luke was gone, percy turned to annabeth. "you're hyperventilating." he said.

"am not." annabeth responded.

"you let him capture the flag instead of you, didn't you?" percy asked.

"did not." annabeth snapped.

"that whole thing is quite literally both very illegal and very disgusting, beth." nicasia added.

"why do i want to go anywhere with you two?" she said before stomping off towards the SUV. argus followed, jingling his keys as he walked. nicasia walked after them, not wanting to hang out with percy longer than she had to.

she sat down next to the window in the SUV, in the back. she could watch their back from there, make sure no monsters were following them.

after a while, percy and grover finally joined them in the SUV. argus drove out of the countryside and into western long island. annabeth, grover, and percy all sat next to each other in the middle row. annabeth started reading her book as soon as she sat down in the car, grover played with his reed pipes, and percy looked out the window. nicasia also looked out the window as she began to nervously pick at her hands. her nervousness was not evident either, it would only be clear that she was nervous if you really knew her.

after they had been on the road for a while percy turned to nicasia. "so far so good." he said. "ten miles and not a single monster." nicasia rolled her eyes as she responded. "don't jinx it, jackson." annabeth turned around, joining their conversation. "it's bad luck to talk like that." she agreed before turning back to her book. everyone went quiet for a second.

percy, of course, had to disrupt their moment of quietness. "hey, nick, why is your armor and weapon gold?" he asked, looking at nicasia. nicasia blinked at him. "nick?" she asked, annoyed. he nodded. "don't call me that." she snapped. "why?" he asked, slightly teasing.

"because it's annoying."

"well, get used to it because i'm gonna be calling you that all the time, now that i know it's annoying. and you never answered my question."