Gold Hoarding Dragons
I stood in front of her door nervously but knew it was the right thing to say goodbye and begin my apology.
Annabeth was furious with me and this was one of the times where I was unsure exactly what to say or do.
I knew what I did wasn't exactly the best choice but if she could see through my eyes.. she'd see that it wasn't just a dumb Seaweed Brain move. I wanted to explain this to her but the closest I got to knocking was curling my fist.
"Percy," Someone called.
I turned to see Jason.
"You ready to go?" He questioned.
"Uh yeah I'll meet you down there." I said.
Jason nodded and walked away.
I sighed and looked at the door as if it would tell me what to do.
I can't do this right now.
I have to go off and save the world and I can't have Annabeth on my conscience.
So instead of leaving a heartfelt note or saying goodbye in person, this time, I just left.
Jason and I walked into the Principa to be greeted with bug eyed stares and not so quiet whispers.
It appeared to be a senate meeting we interrupted and at the head of the table sat Frank and Reyna.
"Percy and Jason, we are a very important meeting right now, perhaps-",Reyna began to say
"It can't wait." Jason interrupted.
" What's wrong." Frank said standing up.
Frank was no longer the self conscious chubby son of Mars that I had first gotten to know, but a warrior in his own right.
"We need your help, both of you guys."I said.
I met Reyna's eyes and she somehow knew what I was trying to say without saying it as her eyes widen and she stood up.
"Very well, this meeting will continue at a later time. Leave us." Reyna said in her signature tone that made people scramble to their feet and exit immediately.
"Now, what have you two nimrods gotten into now."
"So..does any of those items ring a bell? We thought you both might at least have an idea about Cassius' dagger since it's Roman." Jason asked.
"Mmm." Reyna said with her thinking face on.
"Cassius' dagger.. the dagger used to aid in the kill of Julius Caesar correct? Cassius' own colleague and friend..one of the most memorable betrayals in our history.."Reyna said trailing off into her own thoughts.
"I will check our inventory but I believe we don't have these items, where is Annabeth? I'm sure she can aid in the research on finding your lost artifacts."
Jason suddenly became mute and interested in the floor.
"We thought it best if Jason and I came, familiar and friendly faces." I said as Reyna raised an eyebrow.
"Wait.." Frank said breaking his silence.
"Would you say these artifacts are basically tools of evil but technically..treasures."
"Depends on your definition of treasure but-"
"And what are all of these items made of.." Frank asked carefully.
"Well essentially, Celestial Bronze, Imperial Gold, and old fashion, well, gold." Jason said confused at Frank relating this to anything we were just talking about.
And he wasn't the only one.
"Which all happens to be the most valuable metals on the planet." Frank mumbled nervously.
"What are you trying to say, Frank." Reyna said.
"I know who has the artifacts..or rather what does."
"A dragon. A gold fiending, ancient Chinese dragon that happens to be guarding hell,has the artifacts." I said with sarcasm.
"I know it sounds out there but my grandma use to tell me stories of him..Fuzanglong, the guardian of hidden treasures and the underworld. The stories she told me used to scare the crap out of me but he exists. I know he does. And you all can't seriously be doubting the fact that there's a dragon out there when I can literally turn into one."Frank said.
Frank had a point.
I had seen some pretty outlandish stuff including an egyptian crocodile and a demigod that could come back to life every time he died if he was taken to a hotel for a little nap time.
"Even if your story had some truth to it, I've been to the underworld, hell, basically took a tour, and I didn't see any dragons hoarding gold." I said.
"There is one than more entrance into the underworld. Circe spoke of this during my time with her." Reyna added.
"So, where would your dragon be?" Jason asked
Franks nose wrinkled.
"My grandma never gave an actual location but just said, he lies where all the gold lies with him." Frank said then realizing how unhelpful and cryptic that was.
"Wait a minute, where all the gold lies with him.. are we not in California folks, gold rush central?" Reyna said.
"So it's in California, but that doesn't really narrow it down much considering our time restraint." I said.
"I think I know someone that can help with that.." Frank said.
"A dragon. Really. A dragon." Hazel said staring at Jason,Frank and I with disbelief.
Reyna had gone off to search the inventory and research as we went to Hazel in hopes of locating the lost toys.
"I know it's crazy but it's true! And we really need your help finding Fuzanglong's layer which holds a lot of gold and stuff and also happens to be an entrance to the Underworld so I thought you could help in this department." Frank said, shrugging.
Hazel stared and shifted her gaze between all three of us.
"Fuzanglong.. the dragon."
"Hazel!"Frank pleaded.
"Ok fine! Get me a map of California and a bowl of cube sugars." Hazel said.
"What are the sugars for?" Jason asked.
"For Arion, he's had a sweet tooth lately."
I once again found myself sitting on the outskirts of Neptune's shrine and was currently throwing rocks.
The reason..there wasn't any.
"Can I join you?" A voice said.
I turned to see Reyna.
"Sure, we can have a rock throwing contest.. I'll warn you though, Neptune might throw a fit if you beat his son in front of his own shrine." I said making Reyna laugh.
"I've finished my search in inventory and I was correct, we don't have any of the items so I proceeded in researching.. I compared notes with Annabeth and she seems to be on to something." Reyna said.
She obviously saw me tense at her mentioning Annabeth and I realized this was a trap.
"I lied to Annabeth about going on my quest and left without saying a formal goodbye..twice." I said just putting it out there.
"I know." she said simply.
I turned to her.
"Then why'd you trap me into saying that!" I said offended.
Reyna laughed lightly.
"I thought you might want to talk about what's really going on, why you did what you did." She said.
"Well I was only trying to protect her and Jason said-"
"Wait.. please tell me you did not take advice from Jason." she said as her faced starting turning red, for what I didn't know.
"Well yeah I mean-"
Reyna then broke out in a full fit of laughter to the point where she was wiping tears from her eyes.
"Sorry, didn't think my love life was this hilarious.." I mumbled.
"N-No Percy, it's not that but did you forget who Jason is?"
"What do you mean?"
"He's the son of Jupiter! He probably gave a whole self righteous sermon about how you and the rest of the big three are the superior bunch and you have to protect those at all cost!" Reyna said.
"Well yeah.. kinda." I said realizing that's exactly the speech Jason gave.
"Look, Jason's heart is in the right place, and so is yours, but at the end of the day, we're all demigods, we all fight our own monsters and we all have that high probability of dying and you trying to protect Annabeth.. that's not you trying to protect her necessarily." Reyna said.
"What do you mean?" I said frowning.
"You love her, right?" Reyna asked.
"Yeah.." I said getting uncomfortable.
"She's your heart.. and in this world we don't wear our hearts on our sleeves, we keeper them protected and guarded under armour so no one can hurt us." She said.
"So.. I want to protect Annabeth so much because I don't want to lose her, and I don't want to feel that pain. or anymore lost." I said as I came to the conclusion that I was being the most selfish boyfriend on the planet.
Reyna nodded.
I turned to Reyna and hugged her, she grunted in surprise but then returned it.
"Thanks Reyna." I said breaking away.
Just then Jason stumbled into the courtyard red faced looking between me and Reyna.
Or rather the close proximities of our faces.
"Uh Jason, what's going on?" Reyna said standing up and scooting away from me.
"Uh Hazel round the layer, I IM'd Piper to let her know what we were doing so uh, you ready to go?" Jason said, looking at me.
"Uh yeah," I said standing up.
let's go cook up some dragon."
