Chapter 2

Percy woke up to a heavenly smell. Reyna, he assumed, was making breakfast and by the smell of it, she could pass as a professional chef. Percy had a quick shower, put the clothes he wore yesterday on and made his way downstairs into the kitchen. Reyna's back was facing him so he didn't want to startle her by just appearing suddenly.

"Goodmorning," Percy said. "Thank you for letting me stay here, in that really comfortable bed."

"It's no problem. I made you some breakfast." She said, putting the food on a plate for him. Percy sat on a stool at the island in the middle of the kitchen.

"It smells really good," Percy said. She put the plate in front of him.

"Baked Egg Danish with Cheese and Bacon, and some home fries on the side," Reyna said, looking proud of herself. Percy took a bite of one of a few danishes and his eyes widened in awe, he quickly finished the first danish and looked at Reyna with the same expression seemingly glued to his face.

"Where did you learn how to cook like this?" Percy said.

"I taught myself in my spare time." She said, waving him off. "It's nothing special." At that Percy scoffed.

"Yeah, nothing too special at all, I must have eaten some truly terrible things for this dirt to taste so good," Percy said, voice dripping with sarcasm. Reyna rolled her eyes at him and got her own plate and sat at the other side of the island. Percy went back to eating his delicious meal and before too long he was finished.

"Well, I've got to go now, best get these quests done as soon as possible," Percy said as he got off his stool. "Thank you for the delicious breakfast."

"Before you leave camp we should get you properly equipped to go on a quest," Reyna said. She got off her stool and made her way to the front door.

"Yeah, that would be a good idea. I just didn't think the Senate would appreciate me showing up out of nowhere taking things and then leaving." Percy said and started following her.

"We won't be asking permission, you are in the Legion you have the right to be supplied for a quest," Reyna said.

"Before we go to the barracks I would like to get my stuff from my apartment," Percy said as he remembered that he would be gone for a while and since he and Annabeth broke up he needed to move out. Now it was Percy leading Reyna. They got to Percy's apartment and Percy opened the door and let Reyna in.

"Won't you need a box?" Reyna asked.

"No. A pillowcase will do, I don't need that much from here." Percy said. "Come on, take your shows off get a drink while I get my stuff." Reyna took her shoes off and started walking hesitantly to Percy's kitchen with Percy leading her. Percy grabbed a glass and looked at Reyna questioningly.

"Just water please." She said, Percy, filled the glass up and set it in front of her and was about to leave the room when someone clears their throat. Percy sighed and turned to look at Annabeth.

"Only a few hours and you're bringing other girls home?" Annabeth said.

"Annabeth, please shut up, I'm leaving, this apartment indefinitely and Camp Jupiter until further notice. Reyna was gonna get me supplies for my quests but I wanted to stop by here to get some of my things." Percy said. He then went up to their room and took a pillowcase off a pillow and stuffed a few outfits in there, The Art of War, a picture of him and his mom, and a picture of The Seven. He changed into joggers and a dry fit long sleeve, both were black, these clothes would be more comfortable under armor. He rushed downstairs as quickly as possible, eager to leave.

"I've got the things I need, let's get out of here, Reyna," Percy said, putting his shoes on already.

"You can't just leave your other stuff here," Annabeth said. She gave a glare to Reyna after she quickly moved past her and got her shoes on too.

"Burn the other things for all I care," Percy said as he opened the door, ushering Reyna out, Percy following right after.

"Sorry about that, I was hoping she wasn't gonna be there, it's Saturday though so she was bound to be there," Percy said as the started heading to the Fifth Cohort barracks.

"It's alright, I still can't believe you guys broke up," Reyna said. "It's about that thing you and Lord Mars are doing, isn't it."

Percy gained an amused look. "Indirectly. I started training more seriously, with my abilities and my swordsmanship, after, uh, Frank died. That was around a year and seven months ago. I gradually started training more and more, it's not like I was solely focused on that though. Then she broke up with me yesterday so I decided to go all out with Mars. You know the rest."

Reyna stayed silent and the rest of their walk to the barracks was uneventful. When they got their Percy went in to find his old hammock with his gear leaned against the wooden support post. He put the belt on first, it has straps with studs on them which gave some groin protection. Next, he put on his scarf and segmented plate armor, then he put the scabbard holding the Gladius around his neck and across his torso so it hung at his side. Then he put on the Galea, the Roman standard issue helmet, he kept the chin strap untied. The Pugio was strapped on next, it is a small wide dagger. He wasn't gonna bring his Pilum or Scutum so he left those here and went to go see what Reyna was doing.

Reyna was packing a sac with food when he came into the kitchen like part of the barracks. It's more of a pitiful pantry. Reyna tied the top of the sac and turned and held it out to him.

"Thanks," Percy said. "How long does it take to walk to California?"

"Too long. You can take Scipio, he knows his way back." Reyna said. She whistles loudly and Scipio flew into view a few seconds later. Percy smiled.

"I do the same thing with Blackjack," Percy said as he rubbed Scipio's side. Percy climbed onto the Pegasi's back and leaned forward to speak into his ear.

"Can you take me to L.A, California?" Percy asked Scipio.

"Yes milord, well be there in no time," Scipio said.

"Perfect, call me Percy. Scipio will take me, he'll be back soon." Percy said the last part was for Reyna.

"Thanks, Reyna. C'ya." Percy said and kicked Scipios's side, urging the Pegasus to start running, a few seconds later Percy and Scipio were in the air.

Percy and Scipio landed in an alleyway in L.A and Percy had only gotten off Scipio when he heard a screech. He looked to the sky where the screech came from and saw two very familiar monsters, Stheno and Euryale. The two Gorgons were descending quickly so Percy told Scipio to leave and go back to Camp Jupiter. Glad that Scipio wasn't gonna get in the way Percy reached into his pocket to get Riptide, which appeared in his pocket as soon as he passed the Pomeranian Line but stopped himself, might as well try this Gladius out he thought and drew the sword from its sheath. The two monsters landed a few feet in front of him instead of just swooping down on him from the air, probably monster arrogance.

"Come to sell me more food?" Percy asked, one just hissed at him, making him think it was Stheno.

"You know, I can't tell who is who since both of you are equally beautiful," Percy said which got them both to screech this time.

"We aren't beautiful puny halfling," Euryale said.

"Puny doesn't seem right, I've killed you guys like five times and you haven't even killed me once," Percy said with a smirk taking over his face. The two Gorgons finally had enough and charged at him with another one of those awfully annoying screeches. They flew in a straight line so when they got close Percy took a big step to the right while spinning clockwise, making his sword slash through Stheno's midsection. He turned to face Euryale right away, knowing she would be even madder. An idea popped into his head and he took out his ballpoint pen and uncapped it, turning it into Riptide, Percy then threw the blade at Euryale and started running towards the last Gorgon. Euryale dogged Riptide but Percy was there, thrusting his Gladius into Euryale's stomach before she could recover from dogging Riptide.

After wiping his blades clean Percy took out the piece of paper Mars had given him and looked at the address, 8500 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90069, he walked out of the ally to look at the road signs and saw that the place was close, turning right to go west on Sunset Blvd, he made his way down the sidewalk and in about three minutes he was there. It looked nice enough on the outside, clearly, it was an apartment building.

He walked into the building and went up to the secretary and she greeted him with a smile. She was a pretty good looking girl, about three years older than him, nice dark hair and brown eyes.

"How can I help you." She said.

"I am here for the apartment I am going to be living in, though I don't know what one that is. A friend set it up for me." Percy said.

"Are you Percy Jackson?" Said the girl. Percy nodded slowly.

"Your intimidating friend was here a day ago. I'm supposed to give you this." She handed him a key. "Your all the way at the top."

"Thank you," Percy said and went to the elevator. It was a long way up but at least it didn't have horrible music playing like at the Empire State Building when going up to Olympus. The elevator dinged and opened, there was a small hallway to a door which Percy assumed was his and took the key out. He unlocked the door, went in and locked it again. it's a very nice and big apartment, two floors, nice wood flooring, and white walls. Very spacious, there was a big, white L shaped couch under the stairs with a glass coffee table and a T.V mounted on the wall in front of it. The kitchen was very nice, white cabinets and white island with steel stools around it, it had everything a kitchen could have. He went up the stairs and found a guest room and then the master bedroom. The master bedroom was big, with its own bathroom and a walk-in closet. He opened the closet and saw it filled with clothes for him, there was also a nice desk in the corner for him with a laptop already there. He then went to the bed pushed down on it, very comfy he thought. He closed the blinds and took most of his clothes off and slipped into the bed and was asleep very quickly due to his long day of flying and fighting.