riley doesn't want to give the poodle back
that night was horrible.
we stole some blankets, and food from aunty em's, but we didn't light a fire. we weren't in the mood to cause any more attention.
we decided to sleep in shifts. percy volunteered for first watch.
annabeth curled up on the blankets and was snoring as soon as her head hit the ground. grover fluttered with his flying shoes to the lowest bough of a tree, put his back to the trunk, and stared at the night sky.
i layed on a blanket and watched the stars. it was something i loved to do on the roof of my house in malibu.
"go ahead and sleep," percy told us. "i'll wake you if there's trouble."
i waved him off and kept staring, wondering of my dad was watching the stars. if they were even out. he probably wasn't. probably in his workshop, tinkering away.
grover nodded, but still didn't close his eyes. "it makes me sad, percy."
"what does? the fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?"
"no. this makes me sad." he pointed at all the garbage on the ground. "and the sky. you can't even see the stars. they've polluted the sky. this is a terrible time to be a satyr."
i stopped listening, guilt seeping through me. stark industries was a part of this. we manufactured weapons. we have factories that pollute the air. the weapons we make, even if they're on a government contract, literally destroy landscapes.
i layed down, and closed my eyes, sleep taking me away.
i had a dreamless sleep. usually demigods dream of many things, but as a child of aphrodite, i rarely got these terrifying nightmares.
i woke up around sunrise, and noticed grover sitting with a furry pink poodle.
"uh, grover? why do you have a poodle?" i asked.
"riley, meet gladiola. gladiola meet riley." he said. "this is our ticket west."
"hey," i said to the poodle.
annabeth had woken up, and had the same conversation with grover. grover began explaining the plan, and annabeth cooked breakfast. the poodle sat in my lap, and i rubbed his ears. he purred in content.
"doesn't riley still have her credit card?" annabeth asked.
"oh yeah," i exclaimed, reaching in my pocket to get it. "my credit car...." i trailed off. sometime during the quest, probably the bus explosion, the card melted. only a fourth of it remained. all you could read was 'to stk' from the name and the first two numbers.
"well, there goes that idea," i said. i patted the poodle, "sorry buddy,"
"hey, riles. you know i didn't mean to make you feel bad, right?" grover asked after a few moments.
"about what?" i asked.
"last night. there's nothing you can do," he explained.
"i know, i just—" i took a deep breath, "when i become ceo, i'm going to stop selling weapons," i decided.
"wait, seriously. you can't do that. stark industries is a weapons company. if you don't sell weapons, what are you going to sell?" he asked.
"i don't know. but i don't want to ruin the environment anymore. if by stark industries not selling weapons anymore, the quest for you to find pan becomes easier, it's a risk i'm willing to take." i said.
"wake percy up, willya?" annabeth asked me, cutting mine and grover's conversation short.
"sure," i got up and placed the poodle in grover's lap.
i tapped percy, "wake up,"
he woke up trembling. i decided not to question it.
"so sleeping beauty awakens," i said.
"how long was i asleep?" he asked.
i sat back down. "long enough for annie to cook breakfast. oh, and grover went exploring. he found a friend."
the poodle yapped at him suspiciously. grover said, "no, he's not."
percy blinked. "are you... talking to that thing?"
the poodle growled. i picked up gladiola, and pet him. he nestled closer to me.
"this thing," grover warned percy, "is our ticket west. be nice to him."
"you can talk to animals?"
grover ignored the question. "percy, meet gladiola. gladiola, percy."
percy looked at me waiting for me to react. i stared right back at him, with a deadly serious expression.
"i'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," percy said. "forget it."
"percy," i said to him. "i said hello to the poodle. annabeth said hello to the poodle. you say hello to the poodle."
the poodle growled.
percy said hello to the poodle.
grover explained to percy what had happened. that he'd come across gladiola in the woods and they'd struck up a conversation. the poodle had run away from a rich local family, who'd posted a $250 reward for his return. gladiola didn't really want to go back to his family, but he was willing to if it meant helping grover.
"how does gladiola know about the reward?" percy asked.
"he read the signs," grover said. "duh."
"of course," percy said. "silly me."
i elbowed him.
"so we turn in gladiola," annabeth explained in her best strategy voice, "we get money, and we buy tickets to los angeles. simple."
"not another bus," percy said warily.
"no," i agreed. i pointed downhill, toward train tracks. "there's an amtrak station half a mile that way. according to gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon."
we had to give the poodle back. i cried. the poodle was also very sad. grover told me he didn't want to leave me, and he will miss me. that sort of cheered me up.
just in case the rich locals, gladiola's owners, recognized me, i pulled the hood for aurora's hoodie over my head. i put on some sunglasses, and kept my head down for the most part. when percy asked why, i said i didn't want them to see my face.
i think he could tell i was holding something back, but he didn't question it. for that, i was thankful.
we spent two days on the train.
this was new for me. i've never been on a train before. grover looked at me in disbelief when i told him.
we weren't attacked once, and several times i'd have to hide percy, because a passenger stared too long. he had to try and keep a low profile because he was on the front cover of many east coast newspapers.
the trenton register-news showed a photo taken by a tourist as he got off the greyhound bus. he had a wild look in his eyes. his sword was a metallic blur in his hands. it might've been a baseball bat or a lacrosse stick.
the picture's caption read:
twelve-year-old percy jackson, wanted for questioning in the long island disappearance of his mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from the bus where he accosted several elderly female passengers. the bus exploded on an east new jersey roadside shortly after jackson fled the scene. based on eyewitness accounts, police believe the boy may be traveling with three teenage accomplices. his stepfather, gabe ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture.
"don't worry," annabeth assured him, "mortal police could never find us."
i told J.A.R.V.I.S. to take all pages of 'percy jackson' on the internet down. anyone within a half-mile radius of us couldn't find anything percy jackson related on the internet.
oh, the wonders of having your own unhackable a.i.
our reward money for returning gladiola, only took us to denver. we couldn't get berths in the sleeper cart, so we dozed in our seats. i didn't get dreams, just flashes of my life. like the time luke, and i had a race up the rock wall. or when my dad took me to disney-world. or when happy helped me plan pepper's surprise party. or when pepper helped me plan happy's surprise party.
percy was next to me, in the window seat. in front of me was annabeth, with grover beside her. percy leaned his head on my shoulder, while he slept. i didn't mind because i couldn't sleep anymore.
"i won't help you," i heard mumbling.
i turned my head slightly, and realized percy was talking in his sleep. he repeated it a few times, when grover bleated, waking him up.
he shuffled, and his fake foot fell off. percy, and i scrambled to put it back on, without anyone noticing.
i couldn't take it anymore. one of the traits, i inhabited from my father, was being impatient. i couldn't wait. i needed to get it of my chest.
"so," i asked, "who wants your help?"
"what do you mean?"
"don't play dumb with me. when you were asleep just now, you mumbled, 'i won't help you.' who were you dreaming about?" i asked.
he seemed reluctant but he told me. he told me there was a voice in a pit, calling him. it laughed and pulled him closer. offered his mother to him.
something about it made me feel wrong.
"that doesn't sound like hades. he always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs." i said after a long time.
"he offered my mother in trade. who else could do that?"
"i guess... if he meant, 'help me rise from the underworld.' if he wants war with the olympians. but why ask you to bring him the master bolt if he already has it? this doesn't make sense. we're missing something."
annabeth woke up, and began listening to our conversation.
grover shifted in his seat. i reached over and readjusted his cap so it covered his horns. "percy, you can't barter with hades. you know that, right? he's deceitful, heartless, and greedy. i don't care if his kindly ones weren't as aggressive this time—"
"this time?" percy asked. "you mean you've run into them before?"
i reached up and fiddled with my twine bracelet. luke had told me all about the furies and thalia's final stand on half-blood-hill, "let's just say i've got no love for the lord of the dead. you can't be tempted to make a deal for your mom."
"what would you do if it was your dad?" he asked me.
i froze, before sighing, "i'd want to save him. but... if i ended up making a deal with the lord of the dead for his safety, he'd never see me the same way again."
"you'd leave him to rot?" he asked.
"no, i mean, not to rot. i just know what he would want me to do."
"what about you?" he turned to annabeth.
"that's easy," she said. "i'd leave him to rot."
"you're not serious?"
i looked at her. i knew she was serious.
annabeth's gray eyes fixed on percy. "my dad's resented me since the day i was born, percy," she said. "he never wanted a baby. when he got me, he asked athena to take me back and raise me on olympus because he was too busy with his work. she wasn't happy about that. she told him heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent."
"but how... i mean, i guess you weren't born in a hospital...."
"i appeared on my father's doorstep, in a golden cradle, carried down from olympus by zephyr the west wind. you'd think my dad would remember that as a miracle, right? like, maybe he'd take some digital photos or something. but he always talked about my arrival as if it were the most inconvenient thing that had ever happened to him. when i was five he got married and totally forgot about athena. he got a 'regular' mortal wife, and had two 'regular' mortal kids, and tried to pretend i didn't exist."
i nudged annabeth with my foot. she looked up at me and smiled, slightly.
"my mom married a really awful guy," percy told her. "grover said she did it to protect me, to hide me in the scent of a human family. maybe that's what your dad was thinking."
"he doesn't care about me," she said. "his wife — my stepmom — treated me like a freak. she wouldn't let me play with her children. my dad went along with her. whenever something dangerous happened — you know, something with monsters — they would both look at me resentfully, like, 'how dare you put our family at risk.' finally, i took the hint. i wasn't wanted. i ran away."
"how old were you?" percy asked her.
"same age as when i started camp. seven."
"but... you couldn't have gotten all the way to half-blood hill by yourself."
"not alone, no. athena watched over me, guided me toward help. i made a couple of unexpected friends who took care of me, for a short time, anyway." she said.
percy's gaze drifted to me. i guess he wanted to know more about me.
i didn't want to tell him everything in the middle of a train cart. maybe somewhere more quiet. i fiddled with my infinity charm, and pretended not to notice percy.
percy took the hint, sighed lightly, and went back to staring out the window.
toward the end of the day we went over the mississippi river, and into st.louis. annabeth craned her neck to see the gateway arch.
"i want to do that," she sighed.
"what?" percy asked.
"build something like that. you ever see the parthenon, percy?"
"only in pictures."
"it's much more beautiful in person." i told him.
percy was about to ask me more, but annabeth saved me.
"someday, i'm going to see it in person. i'm going to build the greatest monument to the gods, ever. something that'll last a thousand years."
percy laughed. "you? an architect?"
i slapped his arm, "don't laugh. annabeth is going to be an amazing architect," she's talked about this so many times, i began believing it.
she would build a monument. her project would be funded by stark industries. i would help her install cool gadgets and gizmos, so when, a hundred years from now, some demigods are on a quest, we can help. even if we're gone.
annabeth's cheeks flushed. "yes, an architect. athena expects her children to create things, not just tear them down, like a certain god of earthquakes I could mention."
percy looked down at the river.
i gave annabeth a look.
"sorry," she said. "that was mean."
"can't you guys work together a little?" i pleaded.
"did athena and poseidon ever cooperate?" percy asked.
"the chariot," i said after a few moments of thought.
"my mom invented it, but poseidon created horses out of the crests of waves. so they had to work together to make it complete." annabeth finished.
"then we can cooperate, too. right?" percy asked.
annabeth waited a long time before answering, "i suppose,"
we pulled into the amtrak station downtown. the intercom told us we'd have a three-hour layover before departing for denver.
grover stretched. before he was even fully awake, he said, "food."
"come on, goat boy," annabeth said. "sightseeing."
"sightseeing?" grover asked.
"the gateway arch," she said. "this may be my only chance to ride to the top. are you coming or not?"
"let's go. this is going to be fun," i told them.
"as long as there's a snack bar with no monsters." grover said.
"sightseeing, it is," percy muttered.
i grabbed his hand and dragged him along.
the arch was about a mile from the train station.
late in the day the lines to get in weren't that long. we threaded our way through the underground museum, looking at covered wagons and other junk from the 1800s. it wasn't all that thrilling, but annabeth kept telling us interesting facts about how the arch was built, and i smuggled some gummy worms, from my backpack, to percy and grover. grover gave me jellybeans in return, so we were all good.
"i'll give you a pink and green gummy worm for three pink jellybeans," i said to grover.
"two gummy worms, five jellybeans." he offered.
"two gummy worms, six jellybeans," i counter-offered.
"three gummy worms, six jellybeans,"
"two gummy worms, six jellybeans," i said. "final offer.
"fine," grover grunted and gave me the jellybeans.
percy kept looking around suspiciously, "you smell anything?" he murmured to grover.
he took his nose out of the jelly-bean bag long enough to sniff. "underground," he said distastefully. "underground air always smells like monsters. probably doesn't mean anything."
but something still felt wrong to me. i've been here before, and everything seemed fine, but this time, i just had a bad feeling in my bones.
"guys," percy said. "you know the gods' symbols of power?"
i pulled out another gummy worm, from my bag. "yeah?"
annabeth had been in the middle of reading about the construction equipment used to build the arch, but i nudged her and she looked over.
"well, hade—"
grover cleared his throat. "we're in a public place... you mean, our friend downstairs?"
"um, right," percy said. "our friend way downstairs. doesn't he have a hat like annabeth's?"
"you mean the helm of darkness," i said.
"yeah, that's his symbol of power. i saw it next to his seat during the winter solstice council meeting." annabeth said.
"he was there?" percy asked.
she nodded. "it's the only time he's allowed to visit olympus — the darkest day of the year. but his helm is a lot more powerful than my invisibility hat, if what I've heard is true...."
"it allows him to become darkness," i confirmed. "he can melt into shadow or pass through walls. he can't be touched, or seen, or heard. and he can radiate fear so intense it can drive you insane or stop your heart."
"why do you think all rational creatures fear the dark?" grover asked.
"but then... how do we know he's not here right now, watching us?" percy asked.
annabeth, grover, and i exchanged looks.
"we don't," grover said.
"thanks, that makes me feel a lot better," percy said. "got any blue jelly beans left?"
we went towards the elevator.
we got shoehorned into the elevator car with this big fat lady and her dog, a chihuahua with a rhinestone collar. i figured maybe the dog was a seeing-eye chihuahua, because none of the guards said a word about it.
we started going up into the arch.
"no parents?" the fat lady asked us.
she had beady eyes; pointy, coffee-stained teeth; a floppy denim hat, and a denim dress that bulged so much, she looked like a blue-jean blimp.
"they're below," i told her. "scared of heights."
"oh, the poor darlings."
the chihuahua growled. the woman said, "now, now, sonny. behave." the dog had beady eyes like its owner, intelligent and vicious.
percy asked, "sonny. is that his name?"
"no," the lady told him.
i shifted, the lady was giving me weird vibes. i looked over to percy, and realized he was getting an off feeling from her also.
at the top of the arch, the observation deck reminded me of a tin can with carpeting. rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other. the view was really pretty. percy looked eager to leave.
annabeth kept talking about structural supports, and how she would've made the windows bigger, and designed a see-through floor.
"if you actually make something with a see-through floor, there ain't no way in hell i'm going to go there," i warned her.
"why, scared of heights?" percy asked.
"no, not heights. this is perfectly fine. i'm scared of falling, i guess. walking on glass scares the living shit out of me." i explained.
"basophobia," annabeth muttered.
"shut up, you little arachnophobic," i said.
the park ranger said the observation deck was going to close, and percy steered us to the elevator cart. he was about to come when he realized it was full.
the park ranger said, "next car, sir."
"we'll get out," i said. "we'll wait with you."
something felt off with me, and i didn't want to leave percy alone.
"naw, it's okay." percy said, "i'll see you guys at the bottom."
i wanted to tell him to shut up, or switch places with him, but i couldn't talk. it was as if words left me. what would i say? something's going to happen. i just know.
i stayed put, keeping my eyes on percy. he seemed to sense my unease, and smiled reassuringly at me. for his sake, i gave a small smile back.
the doors slid closed, and we went down.
REY WRITES !
thanks for reading !!
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