Percy Pov
Piper came back from the ticket desk to us. "Well, the Arizona train doesn't leave till 15 minutes, but everyone's boarding it now. I asked if we could go on the train and look to see if anyone has our baggage, but she said we need tickets, which…we don't have any," she plopped in the seat next to Jason.
"Okay," he interrupted the silence. "How about we look for our luggage, go to the airport, use the money we have, and go home?"
"What? We can't just go home after we have our luggage –that is, if we get our luggage back! Not without seeing Annabeth –we didn't do all this for nothing!" Hazel yelled, obviously irritated. I didn't blame her. I didn't blame any of them. Here we were, tired, dirty, upset, annoyed…and we'd gotten nowhere.
Piper sighed. She probably didn't feel like yelling, though if she did, she probably would've. "Well, we have to do something," she said, picking at her shirt.
"How about we first use our plane ticket money to buy train tickets, find the person who took our luggage, and head to Los Angeles to the airport?" Jason put his head in his hands. "We're getting nothing accomplished, so how about we start with our suitcases?"
"Then how will we fly back home?" Piper said gloomily. "The best we can do is use the money for our plane tickets, and one of us will have to stay."
It was quiet for a long time. Hazel huffed and crossed her arms. Jason looked tired and frustrated, as he propped his head on his hands. Piper bit her lip and looked out the window.
"I think we should go with Jason's idea. Buy a ticket, find our luggage –if it's there –come off the train before it heads to Arizona, use some more of our plane ticket money to take a train to Los Angeles, and have just enough time to go to the concert," I finally said. Piper and Hazel looked at me like I was crazy.
"How will we all get back, then?" Piper asked.
"That doesn't matter –if we don't buy the tickets, we can't get our luggage," I told them. They agreed, since it was the best idea we had. We went up to the desk, and Hazel winced as she watched Jason hand our precious money over to the lady. We weren't even going to go to Arizona –all we needed to do was get on the train to Arizona to retrieve our luggage, and come off.
"Wait," I said, as we paid for four train tickets to Arizona. I dug into my pocket and took out a plastic bag full of extra money. "I forgot I had this. My dad gave it to me in case –so we have enough money to pay for a train to Los Angeles and get on a flight. All of us!"
"Yeah Percy!" Piper looked much more energized, having all this stress taken away from her.
Jason exhaled. "Well, we don't have as much to worry about now!"
"Thank goodness," Hazel sighed, relieved, as we headed to our train platform.
We boarded the train and scanned the room for our suitcases. It took a while, and many passengers kept staring at us.
"There!" Hazel pointed to a short pudgy man sitting down with four suitcases –the purple one Piper's, the brown one Hazel's, the black one Jason's, and the blue one mine.
He was reading the newspaper, and didn't notice us until I cleared my throat. He looked up suspiciously, then immediately looked nervous.
"Excuse me, but I think those –" I pointed to the suitcases, "are ours."
He started drumming his fingers on his chair. "Yes –I'm sorry –you can just take them," he bit his lip and uncomfortably started to fidget. "It was, um, you know, a mistake."
"How can a blue, brown, purple, and black suitcase be mistaken?" Jason stepped forward.
"And you can't just say 'you can just take them' –we spent money and time to get on this train! We're going to have to talk to the train staff assistants and customer service. Or worse –call the police," Piper fingered her phone, getting ready to take it out.
I was getting ready to say something as well to add on to what Piper was saying when he burst into tears. "I'm sorry," he wailed, and all my anger turned to sympathy. "I'm just trying to get to my wife and kids who are all the way in Florida, and I have no food, clothes, or money –I was desperate, so I stole someone's train ticket and took your luggage!" He wiped his nose on his sleeve and made a sound like an elephant blowing a horn.
"How did you end up in California?" I asked him.
"Percy," Hazel hissed, nudging me. "He stole our suitcases. This is not something to give pity on!"
The man wiped his eyes. "It's sort of a long story."
"A long story? Bet ours is longer. You can tell us," I sat down.
He sighed. "I'll put it the short way. I was on a business trip, and I decided to take a detour, which made me end up in Bakersfield. Then, all my money and luggage got stolen, and I walked from there to here, which had the nearest train station. The ticket on the ground was only up to Arizona, so once I get there, I'm going to need to figure out how to get to Florida," he simplified.
"Really?"
He nodded sadly.
I stuck my hand in my pocket. "I'm sorry –we just really need our suitcases back, sir. But…you can have this." I reached out and handed him money enough for one plane ticket –money that I was willing to give up for.
"Percy!" Piper said, horror struck. "Then you can't get back to –"
"You can take a plane to Florida when you get to Arizona," I interrupted Piper. "I know how it feels like to be in your position. We," I gestured towards my friends, "know how it feels like."
The man seemed reluctant to take it.
"Take it," I offered. Finally, he took it the money.
"Thank you," he said. "I don't know how to repay –"
"How about just give us our suitcases back?" I asked.
"Of course! Yes –and thank you," he said again.
"Have a safe trip to Arizona and Florida," I smiled, as Piper, Jason, Hazel and I rolled our suitcases to the front of the train –which started moving.
We all looked at each other frantically, which passed out a bad vibe.
"Oh no –we spent too much time talking!" Hazel looked at us worriedly.
"Stop the train!" Jason yelled, waving his arms up and down. Everyone ignored him –I guess the people thought he was trying to act dramatic or make them stop for no reason. The train speeded up, faster and faster.
When he realized no one was paying attention to him, he slumped and looked at me.
Piper sighed. "What should we do now?"
Hazel's voice was stiff. "Well, there's nothing we can do but go to Arizona, then buy tickets from there to Los Angeles."
We found a seat on the train, finally, looking out the passing landscapes.
"Percy! That was so…mature of you," Piper looked at me as we found a seat on the train. "You gave up that for him?"
"He needs it more than I do," I said truthfully, having no doubt about it.
It was quiet for a long time.
Finally, I couldn't stand it. Our flight had been delayed. Car broke down. Missed our train stop. Luggage stolen. We were going to Arizona unwillingly, when we could've came off the train earlier. We'd be on the train on Los Angeles right now already, if we came off a few seconds before. Now, we had to spend an extra couple of hours, and we probably couldn't make it to the concert. I glanced over my friends' faces –all of theirs were tired, ashen-faced, and frustrated. "Look –guys, I'm sorry. This is all my fault, and I've made it all a mess. I'm tearing us all apart," my eyes found a spot on the floor.
"Of course it isn't your fault," Piper said. "It's our fault, actually. You're the only one who hasn't been complaining at all, and has hope. I'm sorry, for letting fate get the best of us."
"Yeah," Hazel agreed.
Jason nodded. "What Piper said. We need to have hope to keep going, not just complain and wait for it to be over. Brothers forever, right?" he cracked a smile.
"And, I'm also sorry for overreacting, it's just…I was looking forward to seeing Annabeth –and now, the chance is gone…I'm just really disappointed…" Suddenly, she quickly straightened up as if she said something wrong. "Oh, Percy, I'm so sorry –you –you must be the most disappointed of all, with you wanting to apologize to her and to have another chance…"
Even Piper cringed, and Jason looked sympathetically at me.
"It's fine," I managed out. "Really, it's –it's okay."
"Sometimes, God needs to make the stars align so they can form a constellation," Piper said.
p~p~p~p
We had finally arrived in Los Angeles. After going to Arizona, getting off the train, buying four tickets, getting on the train again to California…we actually went through it.
We wheeled out our suitcases (yes, we had all four of them) and stepped into the blinking lights of the city, alive and welcoming. We were finally at our real destination.
Jason practically kissed the sidewalk because he was so glad we were back in California.
"Yes!" Hazel cheered. "In Los Angeles!"
Since we arrived three hours earlier than we expected, we still had time to go to the concert.
We found a hotel and quickly got into our rooms, unpacking.
"So, what do you think –how about an early dinner for the four of us?" Piper asked.
We all agreed, and walked downtown to a restaurant close by.
"Los Angeles is amazing," I commented as we passed a fountain squirting water and forming a heart.
"I still can't believe we're here –ow," Jason's ankle turned, and he winced.
"What is it? Are you okay?" Piper automatically bent down, and Hazel and I did the same. Piper was inspecting his foot, checking for bruises.
"I'm fine," he assured us, and waved us away. "It's oka-ow," he tried to get up, not successfully hiding the pain.
"We need to get you to the hospital," I said immediately.
"No, then we'll –ow –miss the concert," he protested, and tried to walk on. "I'm fine –see?" he took a few tentative steps forward, masking the pain, although I could still see it inside him.
I shook my head. "It's fine. You can't go on like this. It's better if we at least check it. Let's go," I said, as Hazel and Piper helped him up.
Sorry for not updating in a while –I've been so busy planning the next few chapters, that I apparently forgotten that I still had to finish this one! Well, now that you guys have waited for so long, GET READY FOR SOME PERCABETH BABY in either the next chapter or the one after ;) The House of Hades is coming out soon! A few of you guys had a question: Who's my favorite PJO/HOO character? Percy! He's my absolute favorite –sweetest guy ever! My question: (um, I'm kind of afraid to ask this but I'll be brave) On a scale from 1-5, how would you rate this story? Please review! –Sophia