The Daughter of the Sky // Wattys 2016

Chapter 19

   "What do you mean we have to take a plane?" Percy wouldn't go through the airport's glass doors. "Hello, I'm the son of Poseidon! I can't get on a plane, Zeus would blast me out of the sky!" He looked like a seven year old whining about a lost toy.

   This was the protector of Olympus? Get real.

   I rolled my eyes. "I doubt that'll happen. Hello, we're on a quest to retrieve his bolt to prevent a massive war."

   He shook his head. "No way."

   "So you can single handedly take down Kronos but you can't get on one teeny tiny little airplane?" Paris teased.

  "Right," Percy agreed, "so if you'll excuse me-"

   I stepped in front of him. "Listen Wonder Boy, I did not fight the Minotaur, go all the way to Camp Half-Blood, and almost get torched by the hydra itself for you to back out on me and get scared over an airplane. You're getting on."

    "Why don't you make me?" Percy and I stood nose to nose. I raised my hand at him, blue electricity sparking on the tips of my fingers. 

    He got on the plane.

    The flight from New York City to Los Angeles was the longest I'd ever been on, verging close to six hours. Paris and I had slept through a majority of our trip but the same couldn't be said for Percy. It was weird seeing him scared; he rotated from nervously picking at his fingernails and shaking his hair out, to rearranging the inflight magazines. He did this every five minutes for the five hour and thirty-seven minute flight. I looked out of the small window, hundreds of clouds passing by. Below, I could see thousands of molecular streets leading up to one giant ocean. It was hard to believe the men who created these domains had children just like me.

    "Passengers, this is your captain speaking. We have arrived in Los Angeles California. Please make sure your seatbelt is fastened correctly and remain in your designated seat until the airplane comes to a complete stop. Once again, thank you for flying with us."

    I could hear Percy huff out a sigh of relief at the flight attendant's announcement. He took the seat closest to the edge, just in case.

   "Have you heard anything about Nico? Hades's son?" I softly asked, hoping Percy would answer. I couldn't help but wonder where Nico was, and if he'd attack again anytime soon. 

  "Last I heard they were keeping him on lockdown in his cabin." He looked at me with sympathetic eyes, trying to soothe my troubled thoughts. "As hard as it is for you to believe, Nico Di Angelo really isn't a bad guy. I've known him since he was a kid...the other day was really out of his character."

    "Do you really think it's Hades trying to start a war? Why would he do that?" I tried my best to ignore any talk about Nico Di Angelo's winning personality. He was crazy, period.

    Percy shook his head and furrowed his eyebrows together in concentration. "No way. The whole thing sounds completely bizarre. Even if Hades pulled a fast one over both Zeus and Poseidon, he'd have no one as a backbone. Nobody sides with Hades except for his wife Persephone. And even she hates the guy's guts. None of this adds up. I wouldn't really blame the guy for wanting a little more recognition on Olympus, though."

    I nodded, thinking back to the way Percy acted in the Olympian throne room. "What's with you and Zeus anyway? Why do you hate him so much?"

   "I don't hate Zeus...but it's hard to like someone who sees you as the biggest mistake on Earth. He sees my birth as an unforgivable crime, since I was conceived during the Big Three's oath."