Percy Jackson: Right Hand Man of Chaos

Chapter 28

You sure boss? There could be some monsters nearby that need a little hoof to the face. Or a hoof to the butt, whichever one you need boss.

I smiled. "We'll be fine. You go rest and take it easy. I'll try and visit soon."

He bumped his muzzle against my chest. Stay safe boss. Remember my sugar cubes. He snorted to emphasize his point and then took off, doing a couple loops around our heads and then flying west.

Annabeth tapped me on the shoulder. "Look. I know Blackjack needs rest, but how are we getting back to camp?"

I fished around in my pocket. Finding the whistle, I showed it to her. "It's a whistle for Mrs. O'Leary."

"And how exactly did you get one? Daedalus is the only one who knows how to make then and he's well, dead."

"Chaos fashioned it. He's smart that way." I answered. While having one of my weekly chats with Chaos, he told me about Mrs. O'Leary. Though we couldn't bring her into space, he did make a whistle that called her to my side; just in case I needed her assistance on a mission. The only thing that I required of the whistle was that it never broke. I mean, what good is a whistle if it broke every time I needed help?"

"Ah, the all-powerful Chaos."

"Yep. Hey look. A bakery! Come on, let's go get a cannoli!"

Annabeth sighed and grumbled something about my unending appetite, but followed me into the bakery. When we entered the small bakery and got a box filled with cupcakes and these strange Roman biscuits called Itrion. It sounded weird but tasted surprisingly good. They were these really thin biscuits made out of sesame seeds and honey. I wolfed down three in no time. Annabeth closed the box and glared at me. "No more." She scolded.

We came out of the bakery and decided to sightsee. We strolled around and visited a museum that specialized in Roman Architecture. After 300 years, Annabeth's love of architecture hadn't gone away. Lovely.

It was getting close to dinner time. Even though Chaos built a picnic table for us, we mostly ate in the cabin, so our absence at dinner wouldn't be missed, except by our teammates, and Henry who, even though he was a little excitable, was excellent at piecing together clues.

"Ready?" I asked, fingering the whistle in my pocket.

"I guess so." She looked around and sighed in happiness. "I'll miss this place."

"Oh, we can always come back. You know, as long as Blackjack is up for it."

"Very true. Okay, so tell me. How are we getting to wherever we're going?"

I took out the whistle and blew into it. A moment later, a large black shadow appeared and a large dog bounded out. Mrs. O' Leary. She looked around confused and then spotted me. I guess she could tell it was me even with my disguise. She bounded over and started to lick my face. In fact, she pushed me so hard, I flew through the air and landed in the Tiber River.

"Ah! Gah! Mrs. O' Leary! Good girl!" I pulled myself out of the river and willed myself dry. "Nice to see you too girl. You look great? Has Uncle Nico been taking good care of you?"

She barked and panted, her tongue sticking out of her mouth.

"Okay." I leaned in and whispered where I wanted to go in her ear. "Got it girl?"

She barked and lay down so we both could climb onto her back. "And next time, try and not push me into the river, okay?" She barked and, once we were securely on she stood and ran into the nearest shadow.

We emerged inside a volcano. Gods it was hot. I slid off her back and help Annabeth off. I wiped my brow and summoned a bubble. I forced it around us and we both sighed in relief as our body temperatures became balanced.

"Thanks Percy. It was starting to get hot in here. Where are we? A volcano?"

I nodded. "Right on the nose. We're currently inside Mount St. Helens."

"You mean..."

"Yep. The place of our first kiss. Also where we found Luke's body, but let's focus on the happy. It was also where Rachel hit Kronos in the eye. Wait, was that that quest or a different one."

She shivered at Luke's name. "Agreed. And I believe it was the same one." We walked to the area where we were spying on the telkhines.

"I remember. You were about to face the telkhines. We kissed." She said. "Just, don't ever scare me like that again.

I sighed at the memory. "Yeah. It was a pretty great kiss."

"It was. But that was not how I pictured my first kiss."

I looked surprised. "Really? I always saw you as the person who would kiss a person who was about to run into a potentially life threatening situation." I grinned my lopsided grin at her.

She smacked my arm. "Oh, shut up you."

I rubbed my arm. "Okay first of all, OW! Second, this was a great kiss, but there was an even better one."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but first, can I call a do-over for that kiss?" Without waiting for her response, I leaned down to kiss her.

We came up for air about 2 minutes later, red-faced.

"I believe that was an acceptable do-over." Annabeth said, breathless.

"Agreed. Now come on. I have one last surprise." I said, tugging her back to Mrs. O' Leary. My hellhound was rolling around the floor playing with leftover supplies from Hephaestus and the long gone telkhines.

We shadow- traveled back to the beach. I walked over to a nice flat part of the beach and snapped my fingers, summoning a picnic basket filled with food and a picnic blanket. We slid off and Mrs. O' Leary traveled away, probably in search of a gigantic chew bone.

I walked over to the blanket and sat down and opened the container containing cold mac n' cheese. Looking up at Annabeth, I noticed she was still standing. Patting the blanket next to me I called, "Come sit."

She came over and sat. "Won't someone come down to the beach and find us?"

"Nope. Chaos has this whole beach protected. Ever watch Harry Potter? As soon as anyone gets close to here, they turn and walk back to where they came." I know I said I never read Harry Potter, but I did watch the movies. They made a great eight date nights.

"Chaos, the miracle worker." She said smiling.

We lapsed into a comfortable silence. I wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close while simultaneously munching on a blue jell bean. We watched the moon reflect on the water and listened to the crickets chirp in the background... peaceful.

Finally we were done with the food. We stood up and I snapped my fingers, making the entire picnic disappear. I took her hand and we started up the path. Instead of going towards the cabin, I veered left, towards the canoe lake. I stopped us when we got to the dock.

"You know Percy. This was the best date ever. Well, at least in a long time."

"I know. You know there's only one was to end this perfect night."

"Really? How's that?"

"I'll show you. I grabbed her and we both tumbled into the canoe lake. Capturing her lips with mine, it was pretty much the best underwater kiss ever.