"Oh, percy, you're okay!" My mom said as she crushed my rib cage. For someone shorter and smaller than me, she sure was strong. And even though I was having a little trouble breathing, I loved it. Yes, I'm a mama's boy, but you try sleeping in a cabin by yourself knowing your mom's worrying because you've disappeared and probably called the police. "Where have you been?" She asked after letting go.
"Camp Half-Blood." I answered.
"And they let you go?" She nearly shouted.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Percy, if you went to camp half-blood, you should know that you are a powerful demigod. Now that you know, you're not safe here." My mom looked sad. I know she won't be happy with the news.
"I know, mom, but I'm on a quest." I told her.
"A quest! That's even worse." She put her hand over her forehead.
"I know, mom, but I have to do this." I said confidently.
"Oh, you even have that look in your eyes. I hate that look." She commented sadly. I'm sure she was talking about my you-can't-change-my-mind look. I smiled at her as everybody else came in. "Hi Grover, Nico, and..."
"Annabeth. Annabeth Chase. Nice to meet you." They shook hands and smiled at each other.
"Likewise." She then turned to me, "So are you going to tell me about this quest, Percy?"
—
"Percy make sure you keep in contact with me." My mom told me as I grabbed my keys.
"Okay mom." I said as she hugged me.
"I love you, Percy."
"Love you too." I hurried out the door before my mom could give me another hug, she had the tendency to do that. I had a lot of questions I wanted to ask her, but I decided to wait until I came back; if I came back.
"I'm sitting in the front." Nico said
"No you're not, I am!" Grover argued.
"Yes I am!" Nico responded.
"No you're not!"
"Percy!" They said at the same time. They usually did this if we were going somewhere in my car.
"Both of you, get in the back." I finalized and they grumbled as opened the door to get in the backseat. Annabeth laughed as she sat in the front seat and I got in the car.
"Why does she get to sit in the front?" Nico asked.
"Because she's not fighting over it like you two idiots." I answered. Nico and Grover mumbled some more but it tuned out as I started the car. I pulled out of the parking space and drove down the road.
"So where exactly west are we supposed to be heading?" I asked.
"Whaddaya mean?" Grover asked.
"Like does anybody have a specific state in mind?"
"How about we go to Las Vegas" Nico suggested.
"Why Las Vegas?"
"Because I like Las Vegas." Nico said as if it was obvious.
"Okay, Nico's not making suggestions anymore." I responded.
"How about we go by our instincts." Annabeth said.
"Percy's instincts usually lead to bad things." Grover whispered to Annabeth like I couldn't hear him.
"Shut up, Grover."
"Well, my instincts usually leads to good things, so I think we'll be okay. Besides, does anybody have any other ideas?" Well, she got him there. She really was great at that.
"Fine, we go with our instincts." Grover said as I got on the highway.
—
"Maybe we should go to a hotel." Nico said.
"I think we should, too." I agreed. I had been driving for hours and I was getting tired. It was about 3 in the morning and I had been up since 7. Before anybody could protest I got off the highway and drove down an empty road.
"Did you have to choose a dark road with no cars? Dark roads always lead to bad things." Grover whined.
"Grover, it's not like cannibals are come out and try to eat us. Calm down." I replied.
"You never know, Percy."
"Yeah, wel-"
"Percy, look out!" Annabeth yelled. My head turned so quickly, I'm surprised I didn't get a whiplash injury. I slammed on the brakes and turned the wheel to avoid whatever was coming at us head car tilted until it flipped over and repeated the action over and over again. I groaned as the pain shot up my body immediately. There was a piece of glass in my arm and I could feel the blood dripping off my head. I unbuckled my seat and smashed onto the roof of the car. I groaned even more.
"Percy.." someone whispered. I turned over to see Annabeth trying to pull her seat belt off. I could see her shirt dampening on her side. "Percy..they're coming." I looked in the backseat, Grover and Nico were knocked out cold. I didn't have time to examine them before Annabeth spoke again. "They're coming, Percy."
"Who's coming?" I asked.
"I don't know, but I don't think they want to ask if we're okay. My seatbelt is stuck. Help." I tried to unbuckle her seatbelt but it wouldn't let go. "They're getting closer, Percy."
I gave up on unbuckling the seatbelt and tried to think of something else to do. I dug in my pockets looking for Riptide. I searched the ground. "They're almost here, Percy. Hurry!" Annabeth said urgently as I found Riptide. I uncapped it and it grew into the sword, the bronze having a faint glow. I took the seatbelt in my hands and cut it with riptide. Annabeth slammed on the ground as I did. She got a painful look on her face, but didn't say anything.
"We have to get out of the car, Percy." She said. I nodded as I turned and opened my car door. I crawled out followed by Annabeth. I groaned as I stood up and Annabeth did too, while holding her side. The red spot on her side had gotten bigger. I looked over to where Annabeth was looking.
There were two of them. At least we were even, but with Annabeth's side, I was sure she couldn't do much. The men were on horses; pegasus. Over the time I had stayed at camp, I learned that I could talk to horses. Maybe even other things, anything created by my dad. The pegasus that the guys were on didn't sound too happy with them hitching a ride. They were saying words I didn't even know existed.
When they were close enough to be seen clearly, they hopped off. I gripped Riptide harder and I could see Annabeth reaching for her dagger.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Annabeth." The one on the right side said. They were twins, black eyes, black hair, and evil looking smirks; but maybe that was because there was close to no light.
"How do you know my name?" Annabeth asked as she held her dagger tightly.
"It's a secret. Now, you and Percy have to come with us." He replied.
"That's not gonna happen." I said as I raised Riptide.
"Oh, come on, Percy. You don't have to make this hard on yourselves." The one on the left said.
"I prefer things the hard way." I retorted.
He smirked," I like your style, kid, but me and my brother prefer the easy way."
That's because you're scared you can't take them. These guys are easy, dude. One of the horses said.
"Oh really, why is that?" I asked. I hope the horse was right.
They looked uneasy for a moment,"Well, we can't kill our bait, now can we?" Bait?
"You're bait?" Annabeth questioned as if she was reading my thoughts.
"Oh no, Annabeth. You can't get information out of us. Of course, seeing as you're a child of Athena, I guess it's in your nature. I think we've done far too much talking, though." He reached behind and pulled out two swords. I got in my battle stance. I hope the other didn't decide to attack Annabeth, I didn't think she could handle it with her wound.
The one the left charged and swiped one of his swords down. I parried it with ease, but pain shot up my arm. I had completely forgotten about the large piece of glass sticking out of my arm. I'm sure the guy saw the pain that spread across my face because he smirked.
Get to the water, Percy.
At first I thought it was a horse, but this voice didn't sound like a horse's voice. It sounded older, much older than a horse could live. Get to the water, Percy. To your right, down the hill. It said. I trusted the voice, but what if they didn't follow and went after Grover and Nico. They won't. They want you not them, Percy. You must go or you will not beat them. Trust me.
The guy swung again and I blocked it and kicked him in the stomach. While he recovered I grabbed Annabeth's hand and ran.
"Don't run, Percy. You'll just make it harder on yourself." The other shouted. They both ran after us like the voice said. Somewhere along the hill, I tripped and sadly pulled Annabeth along with me. We tumbled down the hill and it added to the pain. Annabeth smashed into a tree and it stopped both of us. Not being hurt nearly as bad as Annabeth I managed to get to my feet. I looked up, the twins were making their way down the hill, slowly. I checked to see if Annabeth was breathing and when she was I struggled to pick her up. I placed her arm around my shoulder and stumbled the rest of the way down the hill. I could hear the twins getting closer but I was two steps away from the pond. I placed Annabeth on the ground gently and stepped into the pond. Almost instantly, the pain disappeared. The large piece of glass slid slowly and painlessly out of my arm and fell into the pond. The wound closed until it was just a white mark. I felt great. They finally reached the bottom of the hill and I got in my battle stance again.
"You can't beat me, Percy. There's no reason to fight me or run." He smiled at me.
"Dude, you talk too much." I said. He gritted his teeth, then charged. He swung his sword, I parried and kicked him in his stomach again. This time he went flying and hit a tree. He slumped down and didn't get back up. The other one looked surprised. He reached behind him and brought his sword out. At least he only had one. He came at me, recklessly. He swung and I blocked it easily. I pushed up and swung my sword down, but he jumped back before my sword made contact. He swung low, I jumped, and hit him with the hilt with my sword. He staggered a little but regained his composure. He swung again and I knocked it to the side and elbowed him. This time he collapsed on the ground. I took a deep breath.
I bent down to Annabeth not knowing what to do, she was barely breathing now. I looked at the white line on my arm, then at Annabeth. Gods, I hope this worked. I lifted up her shirt enough to see the wound. I then placed my hand on her stomach and watched as the water washed over her stomach. The gash started to close until again it was a white line like mine. I kept my hand on her stomach until Annabeth's eyes started to flutter open.
"Percy? What happened?" She asked as she looked around.
"No time to explain. We have to go." I held my hand out and she took it. I pulled her up and immediately started up the hill.
"Come on, we have to get Grover and Nico." She nodded and headed to the car. I crawled in the car and grabbed Grover and pulled him out. I did the same for Nico. They both were still unconscious.
"Now what?" Annabeth asked.
I thought for a moment but came up blank. The pegasus, Percy, use the pegasus.
"The pegasus." I told her as I put Grover arm around me and walked toward the pegasus that were having a weird conversation.
Dude, you came back. I knew you could take them. I told you he could take them, Maury. The black stallion said to the brown one, who I was assuming was Maury.
Blackjack, i told you to stop calling me Maury. My name is Maurice. I could tell how annoyed Maurice was.
Yeah sure, whatever, Maury! Blackjack must've been excited he was jumping around as if he was ready for a fight. I didn't know pegasus were such energetic horses.
"Hey, Maurice and Blackjack, we need your help. You gotta get us out of here." I told them.
Yeah, whatever you say, boss. They both looked pretty happy to get away.
Anything is better than those two. Maurice said. Hop on, boss.
"You don't have to call me boss." I told him as I put Grover on Blackjack.
"Okay. Are you talking to the horses?" Annabeth asked. She looked bewildered and it was actually a funny look.
"Yeah, who else would I be talking to?" I replied as I took Nico out of her arms and put him on Maurice.
Annabeth looked at me weirdly, mumbling to herself Who Else? but I chose to ignore it. I went back to our car and grabbed my bookbag. It was probably the only one we could actually take and it held the most important things for our quest. I climbed onto Blackjack and waited for Annabeth to get on Maurice.
Where to, boss?
"Not really sure, yet, but go west." I told him. With that being said, we took off, heading west. Good job, Percy.
Thanks...dad.
A/N: Although the movie was extremely disappointing, it did have pretty good features. Like Percy being able to heal others. :)
