The Lightning Thief [Book One]

Growing Closer.

Had she changed at all? She had been claimed by her godly parent, but he didn't seem to really care about her too much. Did he care about any of his children? As Reagan watched Ares and Percy duel, she felt something bubbling and twisting in the pit of her stomach, and she couldn't exactly pinpoint it. Jealousy? Maybe she was jealous of Percy, who seemed to be getting all this favor from the gods, who even got attention from Ares who didn't seem to notice her presence at all. But it wasn't that exactly. She was...angry. Angry with her father and the gods, who didn't seem to care about most their children. She was angry with her father because the only reason he claimed her was because he wanted to get his stupid shield back.

She wasn't aware that she was glaring.

"Reagan, are you okay?"

She looked over at Annabeth, and behind her was Grover, who was watching the battle whilst chewing on his shirt slightly. But Annabeth's calm grey eyes were on her and her alone, which for some reason made Reagan's heart race with excitement. But when Annabeth repeated the question, Reagan was snapped from her thoughts as a howl of anger and pain could be heard. And then there were police sirens, the flashing red and blue lights momentarily blinding her when she looked over at the sidewalk where police cars were parked, the officers holding out guns at percy and Ares as normal mortals watched with gaping mouths. When she looked back over at the battle, Percy was in the water, waves lapping at his ankles as they washed away golden blood that dripped from a wound on Ares leg. The god had a snarling look on his face, lips pulled back into a sneer as he raised his sword above his head.

"You'll pay for that," he growled.

There was another cold wind, like some invisible miasma of death and fear settled over them, permeating their bones. Ares went perfectly still, arms shaking ever so slightly with the force of a deadly strike just waiting to happen. Then the invisible presence disappeared, and Ares blinked in surprise and slowly lowered his weapon, which then transformed into a shotgun again.

"They have guns!" a mortal whispered from somewhere behind the squad cars. Ares didn't seem to notice them at all.

"You win this one," he growled, carefully stepping out of the water despite his wound. "But just you wait, Persius Jackson. One day I'll get my revenge." Ares smirked at that, a backpack appearing out of thin air that he tossed at Percy, then disappeared without warning in a golden ray of light.

They all had to shield their eyes, lest they want to incinerate just from the sight of Ares in his true form. Inside the backpack was Zeus' master lightning bolt, and Percy hugged the backpack to his chest and returned to his friends. Grover pounced immediately, making a bleating boat noise as he hugged his close friend tightly, saying how happy he was that Percy didn't get killed. Above them flew the three Furies, their leathery wings flapping slowly as they lowered slowly to be seen by Percy and his friends.

"Here ya go!" Reagan shouted, checking to make sure the Helm of Darkness was still in the bag she held before throwing the whole thing up high into the air to be caught by one of the Furies. One of them lowered even more, her lips pulled back into a wolfish smirk as she pointed one gnarled finger at Percy.

"I can't wait to see you in the Underworld when your time comes."

Percy simply stared up at her as the flew up towards her sisters, and the three Furies disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. He shouldered the backpack right as several police officers ran over, guns still raised cautiously, and escorted the four kids back to the squad cars to be interrogated. Compared to the first lie with Medusa (Reagan still couldn't believe that Percy said they were in the circus), Percy easily persuaded the police officers that they had been captured and had escaped, but then it was quickly put together that Percy had wrestled a gun away and fought off the kidnapper until the police could arrive. He had even mustered up tears as cameras were tuned in on him.

"My step-dad will be so happy for me to arrive back home," Percy began. "In fact, he'll be so happy that he'll give you a free appliance from his store. Just call."

With free appliances being offered, and the four children crying and sniffling, soon enough people pitied them to the point that they began to cough up money, and there was enough money to pay for four tickets back to New York City. Percy was distraught on the airplane as he sat next to Reagan with Annabeth and Grover sitting in the row in front of them. Percy was so scared they'd be shot out of the sky that he clutched the armrests for dear life, his nails digging into the worn leather. Reagan was silent, just staring ahead as she felt the plane take off and they were up in the sky when she finally decided to look out the window, she was surprised at how scared he actually looked right now.

Her lips quirked up into a weak smile. "I'm surprised at you, Jackson."

"W-What?"

Reagan shook her head. "You killed Medusa, made the god of the Underworld angry, fought my dad. You're scared Zeus will shoot you out of the sky?"

Percy smiled nervously at that, his grip on the armrests loosening. "We're cool than?"

She blinked in surprise at that. Were they cool? She hadn't even realized that she had befriended Percy Jackson in any way. Only a week ago she was pretending to chop him to pieces back at camp, and now she was sitting next to him on an airplane on the way back to New York. The anger and hatred she felt for the gods and her father slowly dissipated, but was still nestled in the back of her head to think about later once she was back in her cabin. The thought of her cabin made her heart jump into her chest. Once she was back at camp, she'd be moved to the Ares cabin and be introduced to her actual siblings. The hatred for her father and the gods doubled over, and she thought she'd be in pain with how much anger she had inside.

"Yeah. We're cool."

Yes, Reagan couldn't bring herself to ever hate Percy anymore. In some way, they had actually gotten somewhat closer in a way.

"I'm sorry about your dad," Percy spoke up after a second, and Reagan was sure he was just talking still to keep him distracted from the idea of being hundreds of feet in the air at the mercy of a god.

Reagan frowned briefly. "Sorry about what?"

Percy fidgeted with his fingers absently and nervously as he looked over at her. "Sorry about how he is. And that I beat him in a fight."

She grinned. "Don't be. It was really cool how you stood up to him," she confessed.

They drifted into silence than as a baby a few rows ahead started crying loudly. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, though. Not like before, in the awkward moments when they were forced together and had nothing to say whatsoever. Instead, Reagan allowed her eyelids to slowly droop shut into a restful sleep that she's been denying herself ever since they started this stupid quest.