𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐄𝐄𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐔𝐓.
light poured in from beneath him.
"does that help?" grover questioned.
"guess we're about to find out." percy shrugged.
annabeth shifted the clear crystal beneath glimpses of sunlight.
"are we almost there?" cherry huffed, leaning into annabeth.
"almost there." grover reassured her.
he was the only person putting up with her repeated question.
the crystal began to flow against the wall.
"ooh, that's so pretty." cherry smiled at the lights.
"unlike you-" percy began, but was cut off by annabeth.
"there, i've got a signal. toss it, seaweed brain." annabeth motioned him.
percy tossed the drachma into the light.
"okay. this will never stop being weird." percy shook his head.
"just like you." cherry mimicked the tone the boy had displayed earlier.
"if you want the gods' attention, you have to pay for it." annabeth looked at the boy beside her. "oh, iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering. okay, show me camp half-blood. chiron's office. luke?"
the boy appeared inside the flash of light reflected against the wall.
cherry gasped.
"annabeth? percy!" luke realized, his eyes shifting. "hi, cher."
"hi, luke." cherry greeted, with a wave, as if he could see.
percy glanced over.
why was she acting so weird?
'holy fuck. my boyfriend.' the redhead thought. '4 year age gap? 5 years until we can legally-'
"are you guys okay?" luke questioned the children.
"yeah, we're fine. where's chiron?" annabeth asked him.
"chiron's holding camp together with both hands. everyone thinks we're going to war, so the cabins are taking sides. please tell me you're calling with good news." luke begged.
"we know who stole the bolt." percy revealed.
"how do you know?" luke questioned, almost instantly.
"we ran into ares, and grover got him talking and realized ares knew who the thief was but was covering for them." annabeth explained everything. "so, who would ares cover for other than.."
"his favorite daughter. clarisse is the lightning thief." luke voiced their thoughts.
"chiron's gotta arrest her, find out what she knows. there's more to this than just the bolt, something bigger. don't ask me how i know, you just gotta trust me." percy explained
to them.
"okay, i'm on it." luke nodded. "so, ares, huh? what was that like?"
cherry was suddenly deep in thought.
was clarisse really the lightning thief?
she clearly loved her father, but would she go that far for his approval?
probably.
"well.. compared to the chimera on monday and medusa on sunday, could have been a lot worse." percy recalled the memories.
"medusa was saturday." annabeth corrected.
"i thought sunday."
"no monsters on sunday. monday, you died in the river."
"right. so, medusa on saturday."
cherry glanced over at them.
"guys, what is this?" luke noticed the girls glance.
"what?" both kids questioned.
"when did you turn into an old married couple?" luke teased.
his eyes stayed focused on the redhead.
he watched her become visibly tense.
maybe her face didn't display her discomfort, but the way she shifted definitely did.
"me and annabeth are the old married couple." cherry corrected.
annabeth leaned over, connecting their hands.
"not to change the subject.. but i'm gonna." percy began to speak. "we could use your advice on something. we're headed to las vegas to find your-"
annabeth instantly stopped the connection.
cherry watched luke's visual fade away.
"what was that about?" percy questioned.
"you can't ask luke about his dad." annabeth warned, with a huff.
"well, now i certainly can't."
"if you tell him we're going to see hermes, he's gonna try to talk us out of it. we don't need that right now."
"they don't get along?"
"at all."
cherry was still silent.
thankfully, grover, her favorite person on earth, came to her rescue.
"okay, got some updates. the men driving this truck are not nice people. traffickers." grover explained, with a frown.
"we can do our best to help all these animals escape, but not if it means we're jeopardizing the quest." annabeth offered.
"oh, no, no, no. they've already got a plan to get themselves out. and us, too. i mean, some of these guys, so smart. they were really only missing, like, one piece of the puzzle to get the cages unlocked." grover informed them.
"what's that?" percy asked him.
"thumbs. but we're here now, so... all good. and once the cages are open.." grover continued.
"they're gonna do something with the animals?" cherry asked.
"yeah. really elegant. i mean, these guys, they're... they're like artists." grover replied, sarcastically.
after the group collected all of their things, cherry helped grover release all the animals from their cages.
annabeth picked open the lock from the inside.
together, they released all the animals out onto the street.
thankfully, the group were safely on a corner of the street. they viewed the chaos from a safe distance.
"this seems dangerous." percy looked around at the cars.
"oh, they'll be totally fine. i gave them a satyr's blessing, so they'll be able to reach the wilderness safely." grover reassured.
"i meant for the people." percy cut in, with an awkward expression.
"oh.. them." grover began to notice the car horns honking. "well, i mean, i'm sure they'll... yeah, i don't know."
"uhhh, the people will.. live!" cherry agreed. "the animals are fine, so let's go."
"before the cops show up." annabeth agreed.
a police siren blared in the distance.
percy scanned their surroundings.
"so, how do we know which hotel is the lotus?" the blonde questioned.
"i'm guessing the one with the giant lotus blossom on it."annabeth turned, with a giggle.
"you were like two seconds ahead of me. seriously. sometimes, it might be okay to just let the easy ones go. can we agree to just try it, maybe?" percy followed after the girl who led the way.
« ───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ───── »
pop music blared over the speakers.
cherry gasped.
she admired the bright decor.
"this place is beautiful.. i'm gonna develop a gambling addiction." cherry trailed off, with a big smile.
"i know we're supposed to be saving the world, but would it be unprofessional if we just hung out here for a bit?" percy agreed.
"we find hermes, we get him to hook us up with a ride to los angeles and a plan to get into the underworld, and we are out of here ten seconds later." annabeth instructed the pair who were still looking around in amazement.
"i was kidding." percy reassured. "i'd never go along with anything cherry has to say."
"i'm gonna offer you up at a poker game and purposely lose." cherry threatened.
"wait, hang on." grover interrupted the fight. "your mom told you all the stories. did she read you the odyssey?"
"uh, the graphic novel." percy shrugged.
annabeth gave him a look.
"it counts." percy defended.
"odysseus lands on a beach. there's these guys who've forgotten where they came from, forgot everything that was important to them, and they got that way because they ate.." grover retold the story.
".. the lotus flowers." annabeth realized.
"so.. we might forget everything?" cherry questioned, with a huff.
"but if hermes is in there, though, then what choice do we have?" grover frowned, trying to come up with something.
"what do you think, wise girl?" percy looked over at annabeth.
"just don't eat anything." annabeth shrugged.
she began to lead the way, through crowds of people.
"fuck. but what if it looks really good?" cherry countered. "okay, percy! you eat something and then the rest of us remember you fondly."
"us?" grover teased.
cherry's eyes widened.
percy laughed.
"us means grover and annie. i will not be remembering you fondly." cherry cleared up, definitively.
"you will explicitly be banned from my funeral." percy scoffed at her.
"i would go nowhere near your funeral."
"hopefully you'd be in prison."
"for killing you."