𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐃.
she just couldn't fall asleep.
a small voice called out.
"hey, you asleep?" percy spoke into the air.
"yes." annabeth answered.
"unfortunately not." cherry huffed, and sat up.
"i wish you were." percy complained.
"i wish you'd go to sleep and never wake up." cherry replied, with a glare.
percy whispered something under his breath.
annabeth rolled her eyes.
"you and thalia were really close, right?" percy asked the girl who laid beside him.
"yeah." annabeth nodded.
"what was she like?"
"why?"
"she was the last forbidden kid before me, right? she must've dealt with the same kind of stuff."
"she was tough. i mean, she knew she was a forbidden kid, she just didn't care. when luke and thalia found me, luke cared for me right away. but thalia.. she made me earn it."
"is that why you give me a hard time? i gotta earn it with you too?"
"yeah. maybe."
"i gotta say, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me."
"what doesn't make sense to you?"
"gotta burn an offering to get a parent's attention. gotta beat up on clarisse just to get my father to admit he's my father. it isn't supposed to work that way. people who are close to you aren't supposed to treat you that way."
cherry could hear the feelings in percy's voice.
cherry knew the last thing love should've been, was conditional.
people who love you don't treat people like that.
that's why cherry and percy treated each other the way they did. because they didn't love each other.
they never would.
"you wanna know how i ended up alone on the road in the first place? i started out as a gift to my father. that's how it works with athena. we're born from a thought in her mind, and then given to a partner she feels connected to." annabeth began to explain.
"and for a while, i was treated like a gift. my father cared for me. he loved me. i knew it. then he met a woman. they had their own kids. and to her, i.. i wasn't a gift. i was a problem. so i left." the girl glanced over at the redhead.
"i was seven. it isn't the gods who think that way. it's everybody. but at least with the gods you know the rules. show them respect and they'll be in your corner, no matter what." she finished.
a loud groan came from the other side of the bunk.
cherry grinned.
"you awake?" percy questioned.
"well, i am now. thanks." grover complained.
"are you okay?" percy's eye widened, confused at grover's strange behavior.
"he's super grouchy when he doesn't get enough sleep." annabeth explained.
"he's super grouchy when he doesn't get enough.." grover mimicked.
cherry giggled.
"grover, you're my favorite." the girl complimented.
"good. who else would be?" grover huffed. "definitely not percy."
"definitely not." percy and cherry spoke at the same time, one more aggravated than the other.
"you've never been on the road with him before. a little different than a froofy boarding school." annabeth cut into the conversation.
"who's froofy? you're froofy. what's froofy? i think i need to eat." grover decided.
the red and purples hues meshed over the horizon.
"it's so pretty outside, look." cherry observed, with a smile.
"unlike you." percy commented.
"the second i get a chance to sacrifice you, i will." the redhead glared at him.
« ───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ───── »
cherry took a seat.
percy shoved his way into the seat beside her, rolling his eyes.
she rolled her eyes, too.
"two days until we reach los angeles." grover started the conversation. "plenty of time before our deadline to reach the underworld."
"this is so exciting! i love los angeles." cherry squealed.
"can i ask a dumb question?" percy interrupted her.
"all you ask is dumb questions." cherry glared at the boy sitting beside her.
"it's like you need me to make fun of you." annabeth agreed.
both girls giggled.
"shoot." grover motioned.
"i've never been to los angeles before. i'm guessing you two haven't been either. so, how will we have any idea where we're going?" percy pointed out.
"uh, i'll be the best tour guide in the world!" cherry cut in, with a bright smile.
percy rolled his eyes.
"that's like step 37, and we're still on step four. cross that bridge when we get there." grover waved it off.
"follow-up stupid question." percy continued.
"dude." annabeth resisted laughter, looking at the girl beside her.
"and you shall fail to save what matters most in the end." percy repeated the familiar sentence. "back in jersey, i told you the oracle said this quest would fail. and no one's mentioned it since. seems like something we oughta be taking a little more seriously."
"well, what is what matters most? the lightning bolt, right?" cherry guessed.
"hey. look at that. are those.." percy pointed out the window.
"centaurs." annabeth nodded.
cherry stared as the creatures ran by.
"no one even knows they're there." percy spoke, his voice a little low.
"there used to be herds of them everywhere." grover nodded.
"what happened to them?"
"humans. a few thousand years ago, the god of the wild, pan, disappeared. and ever since, without pan to protect the natural world, humans have been trying really hard to chip away at it."
percy took in all of the information.
"the bravest satyrs volunteer to become searchers, trying to find pan. none have ever returned." annabeth informed him.
"your uncle we found in medusa's, ferdinand. he was a searcher?" percy glanced over at grover.
grover just nodded.
cherry reached over the table, giving his hand a squeeze.
"the oracle didn't say the quest would fail. fail to save what matters most. that could mean a lot of things. that's how prophecies work, that's how fate works. it could mean a lot of things. the harder you work to understand, the harder it gets to understand. sometimes, you've just gotta let it come to you when it's ready." annabeth explained to the trio around her.
"i agree!" cherry nodded.
an older man in a uniform approached the table of children.
he had a stern look on his face.
"excuse me. can i see your tickets, please?" the man spoke, taking the slips of paper. "you're in cabin 17b?"
the man led the group of children over to their cabin of the train.
the window was broken in, and wind was violently whooshing.
everything inside of it was completely destroyed.
"you wanna explain?" the officer pointed.
"what the fuck?" cherry spoke, looking around the room.
"wait. wait, you think we did this?" percy questioned.
"did you?" the officer questioned.
"i mean.. how? and why?" percy spoke, confused.
"sir, when we left to get breakfast, everything was intact. we don't know how this happened." grover promised.
"we got a witness here, says she heard the window smash, and then heard children's voices." the officer pointed behind him.
"oh, come on." percy complained.
"this is so stupid." cherry agreed.
"can you tell me what time you left the cabin?" the man answered, with a frustrated look.
"are we under arrest?" annabeth questioned him.
"i don't think you wanna take that tone with me, little girl." the officer replied.
"little girl?" cherry questioned. "who do you think you are?"
"are we under arrest?" annabeth repeated herself.
the group were led back to the table they'd been sitting at before.
they all sat together, trying to come up with a good plan.
what were they supposed to do?
"so we're just killing time 'til we find out that guy's like a werewolf or something, right?" percy questioned them.
"i don't think he's a monster." annabeth shook her head.
"i think he's stupid, and annoying, and ugly, and-" cherry ranted, but paused. "i trust whatever annabeth says."
"well, if he's not a monster, what's going on here? why would anyone tear our room apart?" percy questioned.
"maybe they were looking for something." grover suggested.
"we don't have anything." percy reminded, with a huff.
"the people who think you stole zeus's master bolt might disagree." annabeth pointed out.
"right." percy nodded.
"well, look, they're not gonna find something we don't have." grover comforted his friend.
"yeah, grover's right! he always is. we'll be fine." cherry nodded, smiling at the boy across from her.
"either way, we aren't spending the day answering questions in the st. louis police station. we need to get out of this before we get delayed." percy said, and looked around the train.