(Disclaimer: I don't own PJatO or FEAR, Rick Riordan and Sierra Entertainment do. And I don't own the Eragon series or the Huddle House breakfast restaurant.) Percy's POV
By the time we'd reached Jericho, Kansas, the sun was already setting and we were starving. I thought John was going to fall off Teresa the white pegasus.
Hold on, she said.
"I'm trying," John muttered.
"Hey Percy," Annabeth groggily said.
"Yeah?" I replied.
"Ever read Eragon?" She stared ahead
"No,"
"Teresa reminds me of Saphira." And with that, she laid her head on Guido's mane. I could swear he blushed.
Awwww! Annabeth likes you, Guido, Blackjack mused.
Shut up. It's obvious that she's tired, not in love with me, Guido said. The way Guido said it made me uneasy, and I really had no reason why I felt it.
"So, Blackjack," I asked him, "Where is this guy?"
Am I hearing things or did you just say 'guy'? He said.
Nope I'm defiantly hearing things, Porkpie said.
Shut up, P.P! Teresa complained. I was asking myself the same question. Did she just say 'Pee pee'?
Quit calling me, P.P. or I'll start calling you Tressy!
Whoa, hold up there. Oh and by the way, my friend is a woman, Blackjack explained.
I once met her at her house. She scared me more than I scared her, Guido shivered. A water tower came into view. It took me a few seconds to decipher the large blue letters painted on the side. Jericho.
"I've heard of a television series called Jericho," Annabeth bragged, "It was about the town except it was post-apocalyptic."
She didn't need to say anything after we landed because she was too entranced on the structure of the buildings. This place looked like a modern day Wild West town.
"So where is this woman?" John asked. He had his hand on his gun clipped to his belt, ready to draw it.
"Right now, let's not worry about that. I'm starving," I said.
Annabeth stared at me, "How can you think of food at a time like this?"
"I haven't eaten anything at all today!"
She threw her hands up in frustration, "I'll never understand boys!"
I was going to say, and I'm never going to understand girls, but I wasn't going to say that to her face.
You know, boss. You have to admit that it's actually very hard to understand both boys and girls, Blackjack mused.
John stared at the police department, "let's just forget I just heard that."
"Same here," Grover fiddled with his hooves while Blackjack whinnied in laughter.
John's POV
Percy ordered Blackjack and the other pegasi to stay hidden until we are ready to find the woman we need golden nettings from. I won't mention that I'd heard Annabeth and Thalia's conversation back in Frederick. Percy was worried about three prophecies? What the hell! I thought there were only two and now I have to worry about another! This adventure just keeps getting better and better along with Annabeth's problem with Percy.
The sun was below the horizon. It was getting late so we rented out a room in the nearby motel and waited until morning to catch breakfast. As soon as we lifted ourselves out of bed and dressed, we hauled ourselves to the Huddle House, hoping that the Nanner'pus won't be on my stack of pancakes.
After breakfast, Blackjack came out of the shadows behind the Huddle House.
She's a goddess.
"Oh," Grover muttered.
But guess what? She's willing to help us with the gold net!
"What are we waiting for then? Let's find her!" Percy said.
"We don't even know who this goddess is, Percy," Annabeth explained, "She could be Kronos' minion for all we know."
I stared across the deserted street and in the shadows was Alma waving. Then she sprinted off behind the building.
"What's her name?" Percy asked Blackjack, but he flinched and bellowed his wings at us like he saw something behind us.
Percy's POV
Slowly turning around, was a woman in a long Middle-Eastern dress decorated with different colors of flames and pictures of families in them, her hair was pulled into a bun, and her earrings were wind chimes.
"Hestia," she said.
We bowed while John saluted to her like she was the commander.
"I believe you are in need of a golden net, am I correct?"
"Yes m'am," Annabeth spoke as we rose to our feet.
"This task is highly dangerous. Even the great Hercules failed this along with... what's his name...?"
"L—Luke," Annabeth hesitated. She and I knew that was a touchy subject for her, but she didn't let on.
"Yes. Artemis and I are very good friends since we think on the same page. I heard she gave you a quest to find the Hind and Blackjack here mentioned a person who lives in this area," She pointed to herself, "And so it all boils down to the prophecy, I am afraid I cannot say anymore about that."
I sighed in frustration, "So we have to get an Apple of the Hesperides now?"
"In order for Hephaestus to melt it, yes,"
This is so confusing! I never heard of a more complex prophecy in my life. But it seems that Kronos knows how to work his way into it.
"Beware of Ladon. You remember what happened to Artemis' lieutenant, but her death will not be in vain."
Soon she began to glow into her true immortal form as we averted our eyes. The light died down. Looks like we're going to keep going west.
John's POV
I wish I could understand these people, but apparently, this adventure I'm on is probably more horrific, frustrating, and toughest thing I've ever went on besides the incident I caused at the Armacham facility with blowing up the place by shooting out the conduits and practically causing an atom bomb to blow the place to smithereens.
I sighed at the thought, "Looks like we have more errands to run. Who is Hestia again?"
"Goddess of the hearth, family, and home," Annabeth replied.
"She helps keep families together. Except she left her Olympian seat for Dionysus because of too many quarrels," Grover continued.
Percy sighed again, "This is all too confusing."
"Don't worry, Seaweed Brain. We'll figure this out. All we need is a golden apple for Hestia to give to Hephaestus to craft the golden net that could catch the Cerynian Hind to convince Alma Wade to join the Olympians and help us fight off Kronos' army while either you or Thalia battle Kronos to the death," Annabeth explained. Wow, she put a lot of thought into this.
"What does Thalia have to do with this?"
"Well, she became immortal right before her sixteenth birthday and she could break her oath,"
"Why would she even break her oath?"
"To fall for men,"
I was guessing that Percy didn't want to go on because of the way Annabeth said it made him feel ashamed of himself.
"What are we waiting for, people?" I ushered.
"Waiting to see if Kelp Head here is ready to catch the uncatchable and snatch the unsnatchable while waiting to beat the unbeatable," she mused again. I'd say she's pretty damn smart for a daughter of Athena.
"This Great Stirring really stirred up everything, including my head," he said.
"Like I said, don't worry,"
"What about Global Warming? Don't we need to worry about that?" Grover asked.
"That, we need to worry about." Annabeth pointed out. This conversation was really getting on my nerves as I was trembling with impatience.
"Could we please just go already?" I said rather harshly.
"Sorry, Point Man. Jellyfish-,"
"Quit calling me that!" he snapped.
"-Percy is being stubborn at the moment. I guess we'll go without him,"
"No way! I'm coming," he crossed his arms.
"Then quit stalling! You look like-,"
"A statue, probably,"
"Well, yeah!" she mounted Guido while Grover mounted Porkpie. I decided to jump on Teresa once again; feeling like stopping in Jericho was a waste of time.
Percy mounted Blackjack when he muttered, "Glad she's not mad at me from what happened last year."
And together, we flew off into the west... again.
I've been dying to write this chapter with Hestia in it! This storyline just gets better and more confusing does it? And do I have to keep saying this to you? It's not up to me whether you want to classify my chapters as cliffhangers, its yours. It's YOU that keeps the writing spirit going, the imagination running, and the skills improving. Plus, I found a very good guide for beginner fanfic writers. Go to the wikiHow website, type 'How to Write a Fanfiction' and it will give you the basics on writing a great fanfic for you diehard fans :)
