They arrived at Cleveland at about 3:30 PM. Just like he had said, the first thing that Luke did was take them to get some food. It took some debating between the three of them, but they eventually decided to go to a small pizzeria and order two large pizzas, one plain cheese and one meat lovers. Percy hadn't understood why they were getting so much food when there was only three of them, but Luke insisted. He said that as long as none of them minded cold pizza, it would make great leftovers.
After they had their late lunch Luke took them to a park. Because of the rain, the park was practically empty, which was probably for the best. Luke was able to teach Grover how to properly use the winged shoes. It was funny to watch Grover tumble through the air. After some practice and coaching from Luke, Grover slowly started to get better. Until he looked at least a little competent.
Once Luke was confident that Grover could be left on his own without crashing into the trees, he turned his attention to Percy. The two of them sparred for about an hour, though they continuously stopped so that Luke could correct Percy's stance and form.
Percy could have sparred all evening, but after driving all day Luke needed some sleep. While Percy worked on his forms Luke went back to the car to get some rest. When Percy and Grover were tired of practicing and training, they decided to stretch their legs a little bit and walk around town.
It was nice to just walk and chat, to pretend that they were just normal kids. Percy didn't have a specific destination in mind. They just saw some of the sights, ducked into whatever stores they came across to get out of the rain, and just took it easy. After a few hours the novelty started to wear off and both of them were ready to get back to Luke. On their way back to the car they passed a bakery where Percy saw them selling fresh, hot cookies.
Percy didn't normally splurge on money, but he'd been having a craving all day and he thought that Luke might have had the same craving. He went in and got four hot chocolate cookies while Grover got himself a fudgy brownie. With their treats in hand they hurried back to the car. Luke was still asleep, but he looked like he was having a nightmare, and the cookies were cooling down.
"Hey, Luke," Percy shook his shoulder. Luke groaned and grimaced, but didn't wake up. "Come on, man, get up." Percy was practically tugging on Luke's arm at this point. The older teenager suddenly jerked awake with a gasp and sat up so quickly that he almost hit Percy's forehead.
"P-Percy," Luke stared at him in shock. His eyes were slightly dazed and it took him a moment to really become aware and awake. He groaned and rubbed his hands over his eyes. "What's up?"
"You were having a nightmare," Percy said. "And I found something I thought you might like. He pulled one of the warm cookies out of the bag. The chocolate chips were still hot and melty, just the way that Percy liked it. He handed the cookie to Luke, who stared at it for a moment before he smiled and took the cookie. Percy pulled another cookie out for himself and gave it a try. It was definitely better than the packaged stuff from the convenience store. "It's no Mom's cookie, but not bad,"
"Not bad," Luke said. His smile looked sad and a little forced, but Percy didn't think a lot about it. It was bitter-sweet for him too. Luke rubbed his nose and crawled out of the backseat to get to the front. "You guys ready to get back on the road?"
"What, already?" Percy had thought that they would spend the night in Cleveland, but Luke had other ideas.
"The sooner we leave Cleveland, the sooner we get to L.A." Luke said. "That's why I took a nap, so I could drive tonight."
"If we stay in one place too long, we'll just be giving monsters a chance to find or catch up to us." Grover pointed out.
"Exactly," Luke started the car. "It's best for us to keep moving." He started driving. "I hope you're cool with sleeping in the car, because we're going to be on the road all night."
"Unless we're attacked by monsters," Grover said.
"Yep, unless we're attacked by monsters," Luke said, and they both sounded far too casual about this, like they thought that confrontations with monsters were completely inevitable. Percy wasn't so comfortable with it, especially since Luke had only gotten a handful of hours of sleep today, and he hadn't slept that well last night either.
Percy was feeling tired already, but he didn't think he'd be able to get any sleep. He planned on staying awake for as long as he could. Somebody had to keep Luke company, make sure he stayed awake and had back up if they did come across monsters.
Percy pulled his legs up on the seat and leaned against the window. For more than an hour they drove in almost complete silence. Percy thought he would get antsy, but just staring out the window was fairly entertaining. He had lived in New York all his life, barely ever left the city, so it was weird to see how different the landscape of Ohio was.
Eventually the thrill wore off and Percy found himself dozing. He didn't want to sleep, so he sat up straight and looked at Luke, who was rubbing his eyes. His eyes were slightly dazed, and Percy didn't know if it was because he was tired or had a lot on his mind. Either way, he looked like he needed a distraction as much as Percy needed something to keep him awake.
"You said something earlier about none of us getting turned into trees," Percy said. Luke jumped slightly and glanced towards him. He hadn't noticed that Percy was awake. "What was that about? Is that something that happens to demigods often?"
"Not really," Luke said. "Is Grover asleep?"
Percy glanced in the back. "Yep, he's out," He thought for a moment that Luke was just deflecting, but a moment later he sighed.
"Look, it's not unheard of for half-bloods to be turned into plants, or animals, or be cursed in some way or another. The gods don't like giving attention to people, unless they're personally offended, in which case the gods will make your existence a living hell." Luke said. "When you listen to all the stories, they're funny or weird, but it's a lot less fun when it happens to someone you know."
"You know someone who got turned into a tree?" Percy asked quietly.
"Thalia," Luke said, his voice pained. "You were told about the tree on Half-Blood Hill, weren't you?"
"I think so," Percy said. The people at camp frequently mentioned the story in passing, but it was almost taboo and nobody liked to go into specifics or details. It was like a really loud secret. "A girl gave her life to save a couple other half-bloods, and she got turned into a tree, which keeps the camp protected."
"Me and Annabeth were the half-bloods she saved," Luke said. She gave her life for us, but she shouldn't have had to." Luke's hands tightened around the steering wheel. That dark look returned to his eyes. He started telling Percy the whole story, about traveling with Annabeth and Thalia, meeting up with Grover, trying to get to Camp Half-Blood. Percy had been really confused when Luke mentioned that Thalia was the daughter of Zeus, but Luke didn't look like he was in the mood to be interrupted, so Percy kept his questions to himself.
Everybody talks about Thalia like she's a martyr, but she wasn't. She was a victim and a child who didn't deserve all the crap the gods threw her way." Luke said.
"I thought that the whole goal for half-bloods was to be heroes." Percy said.
"Our only goal should be to stay alive and have as happy a life as we can." Luke said. "Just because we're demigods doesn't mean that we should have to live our lives the way that the gods want us to."
What Luke was saying sounded wrong, but it felt right. Percy had lived his whole life up to this point just for himself, but since he'd gotten to camp he'd had to adjust to conforming his life around the will of the gods. It was actually nice to hear that he wasn't the only one who thought that life would be much simpler without the gods.
"Thalia's dad could have done anything to honor Thalia's bravery," Luke said thickly. "He's the king of the gods. Zeus has the power and authority to do anything he wants. He could have healed Thalia, or given her the power to defeat the monsters, or even stopped the monsters from chasing us in the first place, but I'm supposed to be grateful that he turned her into a tree."
Luke seethed and Percy could see his hands shaking. "I don't know if anyone told you about how the underworld works, but there are different levels of it. The Fields of Punishment, Fields of Asphodel, and Elysium, where heroes go. That is where Thalia should be, but because Zeus turned her into a tree, her soul is stuck. She can't even get the reward that she deserves, and I can't just thank the gods for that."
Percy shivered and pulled his legs up to his chest. At camp there were a lot of half-bloods who had an issue with the gods, but there was still an underlying current of respect there. Percy hadn't thought much of it, because the gods were their parents, and Percy definitely respected his mom, so he believed that respecting parents was a good thing. But technically speaking, Smelly Gabe as his step-dad was his parent too, and Percy definitely didn't respect him. Gabe was a bully and had done nothing to earn Percy's respect, and from what he had heard of the gods they weren't much different.
"It doesn't really make me want to get the master bolt back." Percy said quietly. It made him feel a little sick just how much the gods could affect their lives and not think twice about it. It was scary and really frustrating.
Luke turned to look back towards Percy, and he looked really alarmed for a moment, but the look faded so quickly that Percy wondered if he had imagined it. "Normally, I'd be all for saying 'screw you' to the gods, but they seriously will destroy the world, and they're going to drag their demigod kids into their war, and we all deserve better than that."
"So, we let the gods control our lives, just because they're more powerful than us?" Percy frowned. "I don't like giving in to bullies."
Luke chuckled and twisted in his seat to hold a fist out to Percy, who grinned and returned the fist bump. "I knew there was a reason I liked you, kid," Luke said. "Trust me, I'm not about to roll over for the gods. But they are stronger than us, which means that we have to be smart and a little patient about this. Don't worry though, I'll keep you in the loop."
Percy never really liked it when people told him to just lie low and wait patiently. Everybody always said that things would work out eventually, but that wasn't always true. Percy had learned that he couldn't just wait for everything to work out. If he wanted something to happen, he had to do it for himself.
However, Luke's words didn't sound like just another empty promise. Luke was also discontent with the hand that he and all the other demigods had been dealt, and he wanted to fight back. Percy hadn't been given any reason to not trust Luke.
Percy leaned against the seat and rested his eyes for just a minute. He tried to ignore and hide how tired he was, but he couldn't quite hold back the exhausted yawn. "Why don't you get some sleep?" Luke suggested.
"I can't just leave you on your own," Percy said as he rubbed his eyes. Even though he didn't live with his mom for the majority of the year, there had been countless times when he had woken up in the middle of the night and found his mom crying, completely devastated and exhausted. It made Percy feel horrible. His mom worked so hard and sacrificed so much for him, and she had done her best to hide how much she was suffering. Percy had felt useless that he couldn't do anything to help his mom. Now, he had reason to think that his friend was suffering in silence too. Percy couldn't do a lot, but he could make sure that Luke knew that he wasn't alone.
"I'll be fine," Luke assured him, but Percy wasn't about to just take his word for it.
"There's no way you're not exhausted," Percy said. "I know you haven't been sleeping well."
"If I find myself falling asleep, I'll pull over at a rest stop and slip in a nap," Luke said.
"And what if you get another nightmare?" Percy asked. Luke stiffened. He was quiet for a long moment, which unnerved Percy more than it probably should. Luke was incredibly silver-tongued and charming. He got people to trust him very easily. It was weird to see him hesitate about anything.
"There's nothing I can do about them," Luke said. "I can't really control what my dreams are."
"My mom said that nightmares are caused by stress," Percy said. "At least, recurring nightmares are." For the first time in his life, Percy wondered if his mom was plagued by nightmares. There was so many things he didn't know about her, and so much that he could and should have done to help her, and now it was too late.
"Life instantly gets harder the second you become an adult," Luke said, and Percy couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. "It's just taking me time to figure it out."
"Maybe I can help," Percy said. "A problem shared is a problem halved."
"Maybe," Luke said. He didn't sound completely convinced, but he wasn't brushing him off either. "I'll think about it later, but for right now you need to get to sleep." Percy opened his mouth to argue, but Luke cut him off before he could start. "I'm serious, Perce, but I'll tell you what. The second I see the sign of a monster, I'll wake you up so we can put those sword-skills of yours into real practice."
"I'm gonna hold you to that," Percy said as he laid down. He still didn't really want to sleep, but he could barely keep his eyes open. It had been a really long day. Percy had never known that sitting in a car all day could be so exhausting. Percy wasn't exactly looking forward to several more days of being on the road, and then making the return trip, but he didn't dare complain. He would rather sit around and be constantly bored and tired than for his life to be threatened by endless monster attacks.
Percy just hoped that Luke would keep his word and get some rest himself, because he couldn't possibly continue on all night, not on his own. Percy may not know just what Luke was going through, but he swore to himself that he would find a way to help him out anyways. Luke had done so much for him, and Percy was determined to return the favor.
A/N: I'm kinda super into writing Percy. He's just a sweet kid, but he has a fair amount of righteous fury in him, which makes him so much like Luke.
Also, I'm thinking way too much about the traveling route that they're taking from New York to L.A. I'm looking into how far they could get in a certain number of hours, what cities would they pass through. I'm definitely making this a road trip story.
Hopefully the conversations and short stops they make are enough to keep the story interesting. I'm definitely having fun with this, but I want you guys to enjoy yourselves too.