Percy Pov
"So, what's the plan?" Jason asked as we checked out of the hotel. It was now Wednesday –we'd stayed a few extra nights. I checked my watch, though I already knew the time. I guess it just seemed like a business-like thing to do.
"We can take the train to Los Angeles, and we should get there by Friday," I started. "Then we can go to the bigger airport, where flights will go out sooner, and hopefully by Saturday afternoon we'll be back at San Francisco."
Piper considered this. "That makes sense," she nodded, tugging her suitcase as we went out the doors.
"We have enough money, right?" Hazel asked as we headed towards the train station. All of us took out our wallets as we combined everything together. "Save enough money for the plane tickets," she added.
We paused in front of the station to count everything up. "We only have enough money for two tickets," Jason said helplessly. "How will we get two more?"
We went over to the ticket desk. "Hi –what time is the train to Los Angeles?" Piper asked. The ticket lady handed us a paper of the schedules of the trains leaving.
"Los Angeles train left three minutes ago," she pointed with her pen. "The next train there will be at 5:00, in six hours," she circled a time at the bottom of the paper. "It's the last one –the next train heading to Los Angeles won't be for a week if you miss this one." She handed the paper to Piper. She winced as she looked at the train schedules.
We thanked her, and walked to the side.
"Right now, our problem is getting two more train tickets," Hazel slid the handle of her suitcase down. "That's our biggest problem. Any ideas on how to earn the money?"
A middle aged couple passed us, arguing. I caught the words "two extra train tickets to Los Angeles?!" and walked over to them, excusing myself quietly from Jason, Hazel, and Piper.
"Excuse me," I said politely, cutting into their conversation.
The woman stopped blaming the man for a second and turned to me. "Hello, dear," she said in a voice much kinder than she'd used on her husband. "Is there anything you need?"
"Um –yes. Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but I couldn't help overhearing you two saying something about extra train tickets to Los Angeles?"
She nodded. "Yes – we're off to Los Angeles to visit my parents –you know, summer's almost over, so we thought a mini reunion would be nice," she explained. I nodded. "We have two extra tickets, because my dear husband Rob," she took a moment to glare at him, "bought 23 tickets instead of 21," she sighed.
"It was an accident Jen–I asked for a head count and two of them went in line again, so I counted 20, then you, me, and dad," Rob shook his head.
"So many years –you still don't know how many children you have? Honestly –"
"21 tickets? Wow," I said, acting impressed, trying to switch the topic.
"Yes –we have 18 children, plus Rob's father," she informed, smiling proudly.
"You both must be very talented –raising 18 kids," I blurted, not knowing what else to say.
"Why thank you, sweetheart," Jen said, feeling flattered.
"You're very welcome –now, if there's any chance –my friends and I are in need of just two more train tickets…" I pointed towards the direction of Jason, Hazel, and Piper, then explained how we needed to get to Los Angeles as soon as we could.
She immediately nodded. "Of course –we don't need them anyway," she reached into her purse and pulled out two clean, crisp tickets.
"Thank you so much," I said gratefully.
"You're welcome honey –enjoy your trip!" They went back off, arguing again.
I went over to my friends, who were discussing possible decisions.
"I suppose we could use our plane ticket money…but then one of us would have to stay behind at the airport," Jason shared.
"I'll stay behind then –I'll just find another way to get back to San Francisco…" Piper said, starting to take out her phone to call her dad.
Jason took the phone from her. "Of course not, Pipes, we are definitely not leaving you or anyone behi –"
"No one is going to get left behind," I bumped in, showing them the train tickets.
Hazel's eyes went huge. "You stole –"
"I didn't steal them –someone gave them to me," I explained what happened to them, as we bought two more.
"Well, we were lucky –make sure we all have at least two hundred dollars with us in case," Piper told us as we sat down on the chairs to wait.
"Oh –how come I've never thought of it before?" I took the Piper's phone from Jason and started dialing a number.
"What is it?" Jason asked.
"I'm going to ask for a refund for the concert tickets since we don't need them anymore –then we can have extra money," I said as I waited for someone to pick up.
"Good idea," Piper commented, and leaned back on her chair, closing her eyes.
"Hello –this is the front desk –how may I help you?" A woman's voice rang out.
"Hi –I'm wondering if I can have a refund for the Annabeth Chase concert tickets?" My voice felt dry as I said Annabeth's full name.
I could hear her tapping on her computer. "Of course –may I ask the reason why?"
"My friends and I missed the concert at Los Angeles, so…"
"Missed the concert in Los Angeles? The concert is this Saturday, you couldn't have."
"This Saturday?" I pulled the tickets out of my pocket to double check. "No, the date says it was last Saturday."
"No no no, there was a mistake –someone accidentally booked the concert to last Saturday –it's actually supposed to be this Saturday –last Saturday Annabeth Chase was performing in Nashville."
"Really?" My heart pounded. The concert was this Saturday?
"Yes –would you still like your refund?"
"Hold on a second," I said, and put my hand over the phone. "Guys!" Piper's eyes immediately shot open, and Hazel and Jason quickly turned towards me. "The concert is actually this Saturday –they accidentally scheduled it last Saturday –last Saturday she was in Nashville," I said, my energy level rising.
"So that means we still have time to go to the concert!" Hazel cheered, accidentally knocking down her suitcase. "Whoops," she said, picking it up.
"We still can go, right? We can ride the train to Los Angeles which will arrive Friday –then Saturday night we can go to the show and Sunday we'll take a plane back home," Piper sorted out the priorities.
I forgot that the lady was still waiting on the phone. "Oh –sorry about that -we don't need a refund anymore."
"Okay then. Enjoy the show and have a nice day!"
"You too." I hung up, feeling accomplished.
p~p~p~p
"San Diego! Everyone off to San Diego!"
I rubbed my eyes and looked around. Everyone on the train was getting up and fidgeting with their luggage, as they hurried out.
"San Diego?" I thought aloud. Maybe I was still asleep. I reclosed my eyes.
"San Diego! Everyone off to San Diego!"
My eyes shot open, and now fully awake and alert. My geography was terrible, but I was pretty sure San Diego was under Los Angeles, which meant…we missed our stop! "Guys!" I shook them vigorously. "We missed our stop!"
Jason woke up immediately, though it took a while for Hazel and Piper woke.
"San Diego is the last stop –if you guys are planning on staying on the train," she said, her voice filled with irritation.
"What?" Hazel squinted her eyes. "San Diego?"
"We missed our stop," I quickly filled in for her. "Excuse me, miss," I said to the assistant, who was starting to leave. She turned to us. "We accidentally missed the stop to Los Angeles –could there be another way to go there?"
"Yes," she said, rolling her eyes. "There's something called the bus."
I took a deep breath. This woman surely wasn't making this easy. "Er –I meant…by train."
"Well, you could take a train to L.A. that leaves…Monday," she said.
"Monday?" Jason stepped up. "That's too late."
"Well that's too bad! Now, you all can decide what to do off the train –please get off now, and I mean right now. Off, off, get off," she shooed us off, leaving us at the train station lobby with our luggage at our feet.
"Well…that woman was really…annoyed," Jason said finally, as we stared at the ground.
"What should we do now? It's already Friday afternoon," Piper glanced around. "We can't use up our plane ticket money –which means we have no money left."
"Hey, where's our luggage?" Hazel noticed. We all looked around. Our suitcases and bags were…gone!
"Where did everything go?" I said, checking under a seat.
Piper huffed. "Great. No money, and no luggage."
"Someone must've accidentally took it!"
Hazel folded her arms. "Our luck gets even better," she sighed.
I looked around the lobby. "It has to be somewhere," I said, double checking someone's suitcase to see if it was ours. The man grunted. "Sorry," I quickly apologized.
"Those suitcases have our photo ID's! If we don't have them, we can't go back to San Francisco!" Hazel bit her lip, looking worried.
"Good thing we have our wallets with us –if we didn't, we wouldn't have any money –not even a penny for our plane tickets," Piper said. We started walking to the nearest railroad platform to check if someone might've brought it there.
"Let's just…calm down. Whoever took our things couldn't have gone far. They probably –" I started to say.
"Hey! That's the ribbon I tied to my suitcase!" Jason walked farther towards the platform, Hazel, Piper and I following reluctantly. He picked up what looked like a pink ribbon with Winnie the Pooh designs on it.
Hazel looked doubtful. "It could've been anyone's, Jason."
He shook his head. "It even has the stain from the Jello Ellie ate." He pointed to a purple smudge, and looked ahead at the sign. "Arizona," he read.
That meant…the person with our luggage was headed to Arizona.
Hello my faithful readers! Chapter 36 already? My gods! Let me just say my heart warms when I think about the time I only had 14 reviews and 13 followers -and NOW?! WHAT. 226 reviews? ) I'm so sorry I didn't update in a long time ;) School has definitely started –sigh- which means I'll be updating about once a week now instead. Nevertheless, this summer has been wonderful, and though I'm hesitant on going back to school –THE HOUSE OF HADES IS COMING OUT SOON! I'm sooooooooooo excited –anyone else? Now, question time! If you were a demigod, who would be your parent? I think I'd be half daughter of Apollo, half Poseidon. Apollo, because I LOVE music so much. Poseidon, because I just love being in the water, especially the ocean and I love horses and I really want one! How about you guys? –Sophia