Hey guys, I hope you enjoy this chapter- not so much action but hey, what can you do. Anyways, just so you know I'm making some progress on The Lost Hero- it does make me laugh though cause I've realised that Leo is the only one out of the trio to actually know what he's doing since Jason has no memories.
With that decided, the three girls headed to the Subway, and once they were sat down Rachel turned to Clarisse, "Okay, so we should probably know more about your brothers if we're gonna have to deal with them."
"Right." Clarisse grimaced, "They're minor gods, Phobos and Demios. Phobos is the god of fear and Demios is terror."
"They sound like great guys." Percy's voice was thick with sarcasm, "Super friendly."
"What's the difference." Rachel tilted her head curiously, "I'd have thought they were basically the same but, I mean if they're two different gods then they must be different."
Clarisse frowned, "Deimos is bigger and uglier, I guess. He's good at freaking out entire crowds. Phobos is more, like, personal. He can get inside your head."
"Which is what he did to you." Percy grimaced, "Sounds like a lovely guy, I should ask him if he wants to hang out sometime. Is that where they get the word phobia?"
"Yeah." Clarisse grimaced, "He's stupidly proud of that. All those phobias named after him. The jerk gets off on it. I mean I get enjoying fighting but.. causing pain like that doesn't seem right to me."
"So why don't they want you driving the chariot?" Rachel frowned, "I mean you said your dad gave you permission so why would they decide to hijack you? That makes no sense to me."
"It's usually a ritual just for Ares's sons when they turn fifteen. I'm the first daughter to get a shot in a long time."
"Good for you." Percy paused, "But you're like sixteen now right?"
"Yeah, I know." Clarisse snorted, "I was just glad that I got the chance at all. But then Phobos and Demios showed up. They hate me. I've got to get the chariot back to the temple. Or I'm gonna be dead meat."
"Where is the temple?" Percy asked after a moment, "Will we have time to get from the zoo to the temple? Because if not then I don't know what to suggest."
"It's Pier 86. The Intrepid."
"Right." Percy nodded, "That makes sense, I've never been there but they have like an old military museum there right?"
"Yeah." Clarisse nodded, "It's a place of war. Lots of guns and bombas and things. Dad loves it."
They spent the rest of the journey in a comfortable quiet, and they got off the subway at Times Square and caught the Number 1 line downtown, towards the ferry terminal.
The three girls boarded the Staten Island Ferry at three thirty, along with a bunch of tourists, who crowded the railings of the top deck, snapping pictures as they passed the Statue of Liberty.
Percy found her gaze drawn to it, a smile crossing her lips, "D'you know who it was modelled after?" she asked softly, an absent note to her voice.
"What?" Clarisse gave Percy a confused look, "What are you talking about?"
"Bartholdi. The dude who made the Statue of Liberty. He was a son of Athena-"
"Really?" Rachel's eyes widened, "That's really cool. Who did he design it to look like?"
"Athena." Percy told Rachel with a soft smile, "Annabeth told me that last time we were here for a day trip." she admitted, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, enjoying the memories- that had been a good day out. She remembered that much, they'd had ice cream.
"Of course she did." Clarisse rolled her eyes, "Gods you guys are ridiculous-"
"Yeah yeah, like you're that much better Clarisse, you have a soft sappy side too." Percy poked her tongue out at Clarisse and darted away when Clarisse tried to punch her arm,
"You're such a brat Jackson! I do not have a soft side and I will prove it by breaking your face!"
"Maybe so." Percy shot back casually, "But it's not like you don't secretly have a sappy side, I saw you and Chris at the campfires over Christmas- don't think I didn't see the
way you were holding hands and being all cuddly.
"I will stab you Jackson I swear to Zeus I will stab you and I will enjoy it-"
"He'd approve of that, Uncle Z hates my guts so he'd probably thank you honestly."
"Girls, girls-" Rachel was laughing, "Can we please stop acting like dumbasses-"
"But Rachel, you and I both know that being a dumbass is an integral part of my personality."
"Integral, that's a long word, your girlfriend teach you it?"
"Yeah, and I'm not ashamed." Percy shot back, "My girlfriends are a genius future architect who could kick both of our asses and a beautiful fierce artist who hit dear old grandad in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush."
"She what?" Clarisse almost choked, her eyes wide, "Rewind a second there did you just say what I think you just said?"
"Can you stop bragging about that." Rachel's face went red, but there was a gleam of smugness in her eyes. "It wasn't that big of a deal-"
"It was when he was rising." Percy told Clarisse smugly, "I was there, terrified, he'd slowed time, I had no way out and then I heard someone screaming my name and I just saw something flying past me, and I just heard him say 'Ow' and- it turns out Rachel just threw her hairbrush at him and it nailed him in the eye."
Clarisse blinked before looking at Rachel, looking her up and down, "Impressive. You been training?"
"Yeah-"
"You, me, knives. Next time you come to camp with your girlfriends I'm going to train you properly."
"I've been learning how to use a dagger already-"
"Throwing knives." Clarisse had a slightly manic gleam in her eyes as she said that, "If you aimed that well with a hairbrush you could be deadly with some decent knives-"
"She's probably right." Percy's voice was thoughtful as she focused on her girlfriend, "They would be a good weapon for you- you have your dagger for when you have to get close but if you could throw knives too... and we can set something up in the garden at home, some sort of target and knife range, there's enough space."
Rachel hesitated, "Fine." she said after a long moment, "As long as we can find some pictures of Alabaster so I can use them as targets-"
"Deal." Clarisse said quickly, "I'm sure we'll be able to find something, if not-"
"I could draw him." Rachel's voice was thoughtful, "We could make it a point system, ten points for arms and legs, twenty for the chest, thirty for the head, forty for the eyes and fifty for the balls-"
"Rachel!" Percy's laugh was a startled scandalized thing and Clarisse tossed her head back, laughing loudly.
"Oh I like you. This is going to be fun."
"And suddenly I am regretting this." Percy was smiling despite her words, "Clarisse I swear if you're a bad influence on my girlfriend-"
"Oh bitch please no one could be a worse influence than you." Clarisse scoffed, "You're the girl who apparently fought a god at twelve years old. You are the most crazy person I have ever met."
Percy paused, thinking for a long moment before she shrugged, "Okay, okay, you may have a point there." she conceded, "But it's not like I ever mean to do the crazy stuff I do. It just sorta happens-"
"That doesn't make it better Percy. You blew up a volcano-"
"Helped blow up a volcano. I helped-"
"You'd have done it on your own if Leo wasn't there." Rachel's voice was pointed, "And you know you would have so don't even try to deny it."
"I- okay, okay yes I'd have done it on my own probably- but I didn't."
"And Leo was only there because he doubled back to come back to you while you did the crazy thing. Besides, Leo's not a good person to use as a comparison when talking about insanity. The first time I met him and Nico they used his powers to try and make popcorn and it nearly set the kitchen on fire-"
"Oh gods." Clarisse choked back a laugh, "You- you know what I don't even want to know what a normal day is like in the Jackson household. Doesn't Thalia live there too these days?"
"Yep." Percy nodded, "There's three big three kids, a kid who bursts into fire on a daily basis, a guy who is a kelpto, and Annabeth."
"Annabeth is the only one of them with even a single brain cell." Rachel chimed in, "Just saying, out of all six of them Annabeth is the only one who actually thinks things through-"
"When we were twelve she piggy backed a fury, screamed at Charon and hauled my ass out of Tartarus after Alabaster tried to toss me in. And when she was fourteen she decided she wanted to hear the Sirens singing and nearly drowned herself because she forgot to hand over her dagger-"
"... I take it back." Rachel groaned, "None of them have any common sense at all. And I'm not much better so yeah, you're probably better off staying away from the Jackson home honestly, there is literally never any peace."
"We also get Drew popping in every few days." Percy added- and she laughed at the annoyed look that Crossed Clarisse's face. "She pissed you off too?"
"Percy your new friend pisses everyone off. The girl is a nightmare. Though- I think Silena's made some progress with her. The last time she used her Charmspeak it was on an Apollo kid who was bothering Lacy-"
"Oooh." Percy straightened up slightly, "That is good to hear, she'd only do that because it annoyed her which means she actually cares, which for Drew is a pretty big thing."
"I seriously don't know how you put up with her-"
"Trauma bonding." Percy stated easily, "Drew was the one who got me through my time with Alabaster, without her I think I'd have probably cracked a lot sooner, she gave me hope that I might have at least one friend there. She might be a bitch-"
"She's definitely a bitch." Rachel piped up, "Last time she crashed our date she spent the entire time criticizing Annabeth and I'd appearances."
"I did tell her to stop-"
"I know you did." Rachel rolled her eyes, "But still, your friend is definitely a bitch."
"She does care- deep down inside." Percy shrugged, "I think I'm the only friend she has, it's her way of being protective. If she can't drive you away then you're not so bad."
"When exactly will she accept that she's not going to drive us away then?" Rachel huffed.
"I'll have another word with her about it." Percy promised, "I swear to you I will-"
"I get that she's your friend, she's just annoying." Rachel gave her a wry smile, shaking her head, "Relax Percy, I know what she means to you I wouldn't ask you to tell her to stay away."
"She's like the annoying big sister I never had." Percy admitted. "She's getting better too- she's not as much of a bitch as she was at first- and I mean, you said that she defended Lacy. She's making progress. She's letting herself care more." and Percy knew Drew's past made that hard for her. Percy didn't blame her for always keeping people at a distance, it was just difficult because it meant that she treated people pretty badly to keep them away."
"I have to hear about the bullshit she does when she comes to camp from Silena." Clarisse admitted, "Though... Silena is starting to soften up towards her. She was pretty upset when Drew said her dad suggested muzzling her-"
"Oh yeah." Percy snorted, "That's not even the half of it- any little kid with a power like that is going to end up using it, it wasn't Drew's fault that she didn't even know what she was doing."
"Wish she was here right now." Clarisse snickered, "Do you think she'd be able to order Demios and Phobos to give the Chariot back."
"Honestly, she's stubborn enough to give it a good go." Percy said with a bright laugh at the thought of it, "Want me to give her a call-" Percy was cut off when the ferry gave a lurch as if it had hit a rock, and Percy had to lash out to grab Clarisse and Rachel to stop them both from going flying as tourists spilled forward, tumbling into each other.
Percy let out a breath, glancing between the other two girls.
"We need to go see what that was." and then together the three of them ran towards the front of the boat.