Disclaimer: I don't own PJO.
To Anonymous Reviewer, Hhhhh: Yeah, I know. But you'll see Percy's intelligence improve later on in the story! I can promise you that, I'm sure.
To princess3170: I broke my promise, didn't I? I'm so sorry! I'll try my best to update the castle part like you've wanted as soon as possible, okay? I've been pretty busy the last few days. I've wanted to type this up and update it ASAP. I guess I couldn't find the time for it. But hey! I've added Percabeth in this chapter ;)
Love Quest – Chapter Twenty-One
Katie, Clarisse, and let's not forget Travis were running away. From whom you ask? They were running away from the cops, guards, and knights of Atlantis for thievery thanks to our favourite son of Hermes.
They were currently hiding in an old and abandoned passage way trying to catch their breath between of a couple smelly dumpsters. Katie and Clarisse glowered at Travis evilly.
"What?" Travis asked innocently, still panting a bit.
"I hate you," Katie growled, crossing her arms. "I can't believe you! Taking that car was enough, but no, you had to steal from stores, bakeries, and even pickpocketing old ladies! Seriously, Travis?"
"Yeah, and we didn't keep anything at all either," Clarisse huffed. Katie raised an eyebrow at her. "What? We had to drop all that stuff so we could run faster. Should've fought instead… That way we could've kept the stuff."
Katie sighed. What did she do to get stuck with these two people? Even though one of those people she's with is her boyfriend, but still. "Look," Katie started. "It's bad enough that Travis started stealing things and even earning the award of being number one most wanted thief along with us being his pathetic 'thieving minions'. We do not want to get into any more trouble."
"Aw, Kit Kat," Travis complained. "Trouble is fun!"
"That's what Nico said about danger. Is danger fun, Travis?" Katie tapped her foot impatiently for an answer.
"Yes," Clarisse said.
"Maybe…" Travis said thoughtfully.
Katie groaned. Is she the only responsible person in this group? "Just wait 'till Percy gets here. He's going to wring you neck. Oh, it'd be worse when he finds out what you did to his house back at town."
"I didn't ruin it!" Travis defended himself.
"No, you didn't break it. But you most definitely ruined it," Katie said. "We need to find Percy and get our butts out of trouble and fast."
"Or we could just tell them the password Percy gave us, and tell them we're friends," Travis suggested.
Clarisse scoffed. "Who am I? Barney the dinosaur? I don't think so."
"Wait, that's a brilliant idea!" Katie agreed. "Maybe they'll let us off the hook."
"They think we're thieves," Clarisse pointed out. "They would think we got the information on the password from trading or something."
Katie never thought of that. She slumped to the ground and buried her face with her hands. "This is horrible!"
"This is so awesome!" Travis says. "Quick, what else should we steal?"
"Oh no, Travis," Katie says, glaring icily at him. "There is no 'we' in this stupid stealing game you're playing. I want to home." Katie began to cry softly and Travis started to feel bad. Making your girlfriend cry? Who would stoop that low?
Katie was usually the goody two shoes. She's never been in trouble for anything. And being Atlantis's most wanted criminal? That doesn't do well on her record at all, even if she usually lives in Town Half-Blood instead of the mortal world.
He sighed, not wanting to upset his girlfriend (which he already did). "Fine. How about we try Iris messaging Percy, huh? We could check where he is and ask for help." Katie sniffed and looked up at Travis hopefully, which made him glad he didn't say anything stupid.
"I've got a drachma," Clarisse sighed. "We'll need light and water."
Travis pulled out a water bottle and a flashlight from his knapsack. He poured some of the water onto the ground. As it formed into a puddle, Travis tossed the flashlight to Katie as she wiped away some tears. Katie turned on the light and a tiny faded looking rainbow formed. Clarisse dropped the drachma into the puddle.
"O, Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering," Clarisse says. "Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon. Er, somewhere."
An image appeared: it showed something that freaked the trio out. They've spotted the rest of the remaining demigods all in one group facing some ugly terrible monster.
Travis gapped. "W-Wah?" Katie and Clarisse followed the same example.
Percy was standing on a tree branch, high enough for Zeus to zap him into smithereens. Annabeth stood next to him, and Michael was healing Thalia's leg it seems. Beckendorf was fiddling with some sort of metal, and Silena was hopelessly throwing rocks at the monster. Pollux was crying and drinking a bottle of alcohol. Nico was the only one trying to battle the monster with his sword, and it looked like he wasn't going to last much longer.
And when they noticed the monster? Oh gods, it wasn't good. It was this huge…thing. The front was a lion, back was a goat, and the tail was a snake glaring at Travis's group through the message as it tries to snap up Grover in the air who looked like he had no control over his flying shoes.
Clarisse was about to speak up to let the other know that they were Iris messaging them, but the freaky fire breathing goat disconnected the message. By breathing fire onto it, obviously.
"That was…" Katie spoke up after a few minutes of silence, thinking of a word to describe the situation.
"Absurd?" Clarisse suggested. "I can't believe it. They get to fight a wicked huge Chimera when we're stuck running away from pathetic soldiers? Why am I even in this boring group?"
"Hey! I feel offended! I'm not boring!" Travis gasped, faking pain as he placed a hand over his heart. "I'm a son of Hermes!"
"Imbecile," Clarisse muttered under her breath.
"We need to help them!" Katie says. "They're in trouble!"
"Good idea," Clarisse agreed sarcastically. "I really want to beat up some monster butt. Either that, or Travis's. We're stuck. The guards surrounded the area. How are we to leave this place?"
"We, uh…kill them?" Travis suggested since after all, Clarisse was the daughter of Ares. It was her job to kill, wasn't it?
A dangerous evil glint appeared in her eyes, but Katie scowled at both of them. "No," Katie disagreed. "No killing! Percy's the prince of this place, remember? We don't want his mom to hate us! We'll be staying at his castle when everyone arrives!"
"Correction," Clarisse says, holding up her index finger. "We're wanted criminals; therefore the queen would still hate us."
"We don't want her to hate us more!" Katie argues, although it's pretty hopeless.
Travis groaned in frustration. "You know what? I'm tired. I'm going to go to sleep," he announced, and leaned down onto the surface of the dumpster.
Clarisse whacked a fly away from her face. "So what? We're going to let everyone else die?"
"They've got three children of the big three, a daughter of Athena for strategies, Beckendorf for supplies, Michael for healing, and Pollux and Silena for backup, plus a satyr. They'll be fine," Travis reassured.
"No, have you not seen that Iris message? They were about to die," Katie protested. "They're our friends! We have to help!"
"What is there to do?" Travis snapped. "We can't even get out of this place! We're stuck! Right now, all we can do is hope that they'll be okay." He sighed. "I'm sorry. I just feel like it's my entire fault."
"It is your fault," Katie pointed out and Clarisse nodded in agreement.
"If you didn't steal anything at all, we'd be safe," Clarisse added.
Travis groaned. "Okay! Okay! It's completely my fault! Sheesh now let me go to sleep. I'm tired."
Travis closed his eyes and tried with great effort to fall asleep, but he felt too guilty. He just leaned against the dumpster with his eyes closed. Assuming he was asleep, Clarisse and Katie followed his example. Clarisse leaned on the opposite dumpster and Katie on Travis's shoulder. Feeling comfortable, Travis was able to sleep, encountering a strange dream.
There was Percy and the rest of the gang, treading through the forest of dark green. It was night time and stars shone brightly. They looked tired and needed a rest. Everyone had dark circles under their eyes and they looked dehydrated; even Percy. He was probably out of energy to create any water for everyone. Beckendorf probably ran out of water supply in his large bag. Their aura was depressing. Travis guessed that it was after they've defeated the Chimera; Nico's got a bit of monster dust in his hair.
Speaking of Nico, Travis would've laughed his butt off if his vocal cords would work in his dreams. Where were his pants? It was hilarious seeing Nico hiking with only a pair of boxers and a T-shirt. It looked like someone just woke him up on a Monday morning.
The back of Annabeth's hand was brushing against Percy's as they swung their arms, walking in front of everyone else, leading the way with a gadget of some sort. Beckendorf probably made it. Thalia was yawning every second, and Silena was already fast asleep in her boyfriend's arms. Beckendorf actually looked like he couldn't even carry Silena anymore. It was that horrible. Oh, but you should take a look at Pollux. He's worse. It was probably from a hangover after drinking a bottle of alcohol. He's cradling it in his arms like a baby. Michael was crawling to keep up; literally. Grover was hungrily chewing on his last tin can by the looks of it, savoring every taste.
Travis was shocked. What happened to them?
"Percy, we've been walking for over seven hours after that battle. Are you reading that thing right?" Annabeth asked, leaning her head onto his shoulder. "My legs are getting sore from all that walking."
"What? The Wise Girl can't take it?" Percy smirked, although it looked a bit weak.
"I can too," Annabeth stood a bit straighter.
"Can we rest?" Michael begged from behind the group, not being able to keep up.
"Monsters will find us. We're in a larger group now," Thalia protested. "And we don't have enough energy to fight. If we split up again, we'll get lost. We need to rely on Beckendorf's invention."
"We can have someone on guard duty while the rest sleeps," Michael insisted.
"We can't," Nico says. "One tired person's weaker than a group of us being in this state. We need to keep walking. I don't even have enough energy for shadow travel."
"We went way too deep into the forest," Beckendorf sighed.
"Mhmmphh," Pollux grunted, taking another sip of that alcohol. He looked like he was about to faint, and wake up with another huge hangover again.
"Don't worry," Percy says. "We'll be there soon." Annabeth sighed and closed her eyes, head kept on his shoulder. Percy didn't seem to mind this, as if it was normal. Travis gapped. Did they start going out without telling him? Aw man, Travis sure loved juicy gossips to spread around Town Half-Blood; almost as much as the Aphrodite kids did.
"I hope," Grover bleated nervously, making an irritating chewing sound.
A couple minutes later, they were surrounded by apple trees; Atlantis's famous apple orchid. The place was filled with trees in rows, red circular shaped fruits on it. There were some ladders scattered about to pick apples with, forgotten to be placed away.
Travis was glad they've arrived. He had almost forgotten about his own problem. He needed Percy to help convince the guards that they're not guilty for stealing (even though Travis was).
"We're here…" Thalia murmured in awe, taking in the beautiful view. Even though it was dark out, the red apples were shining from the light of the moon. Thalia smiled up at the moon as if she was smiling to Artemis.
"Apples!" Nico exclaimed greedily, and hurried off with Grover to pick a bunch of juicy ones.
Percy chuckled at their immaturity (even though he usually is too), and Annabeth opened her eyes to meet his. He realized that Annabeth's eyes looked beautiful in the moonlight, and Annabeth thought the same with Percy's eyes. They didn't realize how close their faces were. They just kept looking into each other's eyes curiously.
Michael coughed purposely so they'd stop staring at each other. They did. Turning their heads away from each other, they blushed furiously red, as red at the apples around here.
Ah, so they aren't dating. Too bad. Travis wanted to go back to town, announcing to everyone that a son of Poseidon was dating a daughter of Athena. Ooh, and that'll start a huge war between Poseidon and Athena. Clarisse and her father would be happy. But a dangerous situation it would be.
Silena seemed to have woken up and glared very evilly at Michael, but he didn't notice it.
Grover and Nico were munching on apples behind a tree, hogging on every fruit they've picked out; the biggest and reddest ones. Thalia scowled and stomped towards them, giving them a piece of her mind. She started shouting things like, "I'm the girl," and "Give me that stupid apple!"
Pollux had passed out on the grass the moment they've arrived. Michael crawled over to a tree as fast as a field mouse. He picked a non-bruised apple from the ground and took a bite out of it, looking very satisfied.
Silena and Beckendorf were sitting far away from the crazy people, eating apples under the moonlight as if it was the most romantic thing in the world.
Percy's stomach growled and Annabeth smirked at him. "Come on, let's eat something on the menu," she suggested.
"What's on the menu?" Percy asked with curious wide eyes, and a blush crept up Annabeth's neck.
"Apples obviously," she says, turning her head away. "There's nothing else to eat."
Percy nodded his head in agreement. "And then we nap," he added.
"And then we nap," Annabeth repeated, confirming the decision.
They walked up to a tree with a ladder by its side and Percy climbed up it, passing down each red apple he'd pick to Annabeth. After picking out six good looking apples, Percy climbed back down and collapsed tiredly onto the ground with Annabeth by his side, sitting cross-legged on the green grass. They quickly ate their apples and felt their stomachs fill up.
Percy lay down on his back after their short snack, comfortable with the cool breeze blowing in the orchid. Annabeth lay next to him, cuddling closer for warmth, closing her eyes and ready to fall asleep. Hesitantly, Percy placed his arm around Annabeth's waist and kissed her forehead a goodnight, hoping she was already asleep. She smiled, aware of what had happened and slowly dozed off with Percy's soft breathing (which soon become snoring).
Grover looked dead in his sleep, as well as Nico and Thalia. They were asleep next to each other in a straight line in the order of a satyr, electric girl, and skeleton kid. Nico obviously looked dead in his sleep because he was the son of the dead. He had pale skin and lay still on the grass, unmoving. Grover, well, he tossed and turned a bit as well as Thalia.
Pollux was already asleep from the beginning snoring as loud as Michael who lay under an apple tree with an apple core still in his hands. Beckendorf and Silena fell asleep in each other's arms. Everything looked peaceful.
Travis knew what he had to do the next morning. Sneak into the apple orchid and retrieve his friends so that they could get into the castle safely, and discuss about their quest. Though, sneaking into the apple orchid without getting caught would be hard work. But as a child of Hermes, they've got wickedly fun plans to get there, even if it's just a simple one. Oh, Katie and Clarisse aren't going to like this…they aren't going to like it one bit.
I know, I know. It's short and I didn't bother editing, but I wanted to update it as soon as possible.
I'm graduating on Wednesday! I feel so awesome.
And I'm drinking root beer. Mmm... And then I'm going to drink some Sprite, and...I'm not healthy, am I?
Eh, doesn't matter.
REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! Tell me about your amazing predictions for the next chapter! ;)
Inferring doesn't hurt, does it now?
Oh, and I'll try to update again earlier if I find the time. Graduation's soon, school year's ending, and things are getting pretty busy. Gods, I sure can't wait 'till summer vacation! Then I'll get to have fun typing up more chapters :)
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