In which Percy and Piper face a bit of a delay to their plans but they still got this.
Replies:
Thickneck: I mean, this plan is a spur of the moment plan so it'll work.
Undeath9087: We love Rhea, and she loves her family. And yeah, if Zeus found out he'd kill her on the spot at this stage.
Guest: Currently no Greeks know that Percy is a magician though that will change in time- Percy's trying to hide it, partially because the fewer people who know the more of an advantage she has- especially over their enemies like Kronos. But with Hades- well her being Osiris' daughter gives her more credibility, if that's the right word. And for all she knows Rhea would tell her youngest son.
Drizzle: Percy is determined not to meet them lol.
Guest: Magicians can turn people into animals- like Carter turning Amos into a fruit bat- if I remember right, and Set too actually. And Menshikov turned Carter into a snake at one point. And the stuff just sort of transforms with them.
avaatje: Sorry, the pairings already been set in stone I'm afraid.
Guest: I mean, they'd be more effective that way lol.
Percy could feel her heart almost pounding out of her chest as she and Piper tried to move quickly but calmly down the train.
Thankfully it seemed that Apollo and Artemis were being very thorough in their search- and because they couldn't pinpoint where they were sensing the power from they had to take their time in each carriage.
That meant that soon enough Percy and Piper were leaving them behind by a good three or four carriages- and when they reached the final carriage Percy forced herself to try and breath calmly despite the anxiety that felt like it had a grip around her throat.
"You have a plan?" Piper was clearly trying not to panic herself as she took her bag from Percy, which somehow helped the daughter of Poseidon center herself. She always found it easier to calm herself when she was having to be the brave one because someone else was afraid.
She took a deep breath.
"I do Pipes." she shoved her arm sideways into the Duat- and really at this stage that came as second nature, and a moment later she was pulling out her wand, and Piper shifted nervously.
"Please tell me you're not fighting them-"
"I'm crazy but I'm not that crazy Pipes." Percy gave her friend a wry smile, carefully using the wand to trace a familiar heiroglyph onto the glass of one of the windows and she muttered, "Ha'di."
She would usually just use the Divine word- it was simpler but- she needed to use as little power as she could- just in case she needed to fight anyone very powerful- so she did it the long way- it only added a few extra seconds- and she winced at the very loud noise as the glass shattered, which made several people gasp and yell, all of them rushing to get away-and the noise was explosive Percy couldn't blame them for that. But Percy was sure one of them would go rushing to tell one of the staff- not good, Apollo and Artemis would be rushing to see what the commotion was.
"Percy!" Piper's voice was panicked, "What are you doing?"
"Okay, okay Piper I know this feels crazy but it's going to be okay I promise you." Percy focused "Don't fight it, let it happen." and Percy used her magic, picturing Piper shrinking, transforming.
She wasn't the best at transforming other people- she was used to doing it herself but it was the best chance they had of getting away- and it was much more of a drain on her magic to transform Piper- and it took much longer than Percy would have liked, but after what felt like a lifetime Piper was no longer a pretty girl but a beautiful looking dove- she pecked at Percy's hand anxiously and Percy swallowed hard, "It's okay Pipes-" Percy could hear voices, coming back in their direction- she turned, tilting her head to peer through the doors.
And she could see two figures making their way up the train quickly- too far to see clearly but she could tell that they were both glowing faintly, one a golden and one silver- crap crap crap.
Percy cursed under her breath, closing her eyes and forcing herself to calm as she felt that familiar tingling in her limbs, and after what felt like a lifetime but could only be a few seconds she was in a familiar bird form, and she flapped her wings hard, rising up- and she glanced back- with her sharper bird eyes she could see them more clearly- even with the
glow surrounding the figures speeding their way through the train.
And then she was flying through the window- and she turned her head, her sharper vision managing to focus on the little white bird, flying towards her.
If she could she'd be grinning.
Instead she let out a shriek, and Piper's response was a rather nice sounding cooing noise. Percy liked that, it was pleasant.
When they reached each other Piper's white feathered head butted Percy's wing gently and she let out another cooing noise- and Percy tilted her head, tilting her wings just so- and Piper followed her lead as they veered away from the tracks- if Apollo and Artemis knew they'd been on the train then they would probably keep a watch- they'd have to find another way to get to Los Angeles.
Thankfully they'd been passing through Atlanta- that wasn't as far as Percy would have liked to get but at least they were somewhere fairly populated- it would be easier for them to get another ride out of there than if they'd had to get off in the middle of nowhere.
Once Percy judged them to be far enough away from the train she led them to an alley around the back of a building and they landed.
Percy transformed herself back first, shaking herself as she released the spell on Piper- who stumbled as she transformed back into herself, blinking rapidly and grabbing at the wall to help steady herself.
"Oh my gods." Piper breathed the words, "What was that?!"
"That was a transformation spell." Percy declared, biting her lip, glancing up at the sky- the sun was rising, it was morning now. "Okay. So that's kinda messed up our plan."
"What's our next step?" Piper asked with a frown, "How do we get from Atlanta to LA?"
"Uh- well." Percy pressed her lips together tightly before, "Let's go get some breakfast and I can see what I can find online." she decided after a moment, "I should probably be calling mom soon anyway. And we need to talk."
"We do?" Piper frowned, "Why?"
"Because." Percy took a deep breath, "I got a visitor while you were in the toilets. My grandmother."
"Your-" Piper blinked, "Your grandmother- as in the one who was married to the guy we think is behind all of this?" her voice is incredulous "Are you saying-"
"Yep." Percy popped the P, "That would be the one."
"Okay then." Piper said the words slowly, "Breakfast, talk, and then we'll call your mom."
Thankfully it didn't take them long to find a decent diner- and Percy was glad for the walk to get there after so long on the train.
As they walked Percy undid her braid, combing her fingers through her hair- playing with it gave her hand something to do- it was always so much easier to focus when she was moving, even if it was just her hand.
And once they were sat down they both ordered milkshakes, and Piper ordered waffles whilst Percy ordered some blueberry pancakes.
As they waited for their food Percy talked to Piper, she told her about her little visit from Rhea, the conversation they'd had.
Once she was done the food had arrived, and Piper took a bite of her waffle before she tilted her head, chewing and swallowing, sipping her milkshake before she spoke. "What do you think?"
"I don't know. She offered to help- and she did warn me about our two godly stalkers." she pointed out, "So I don't think she's working with her husband. And it definitely confirms that it's my dearest gramps responsible for all this."
Piper snickered, "I dare you to call him gramps to his face-"
"I'd rather not." Percy laughed, "I'm pretty sure he's still all chopped up in Tartarus."
"Okay, you have a point." Piper laughed, leaning over and jabbing her fork into Percy's pancakes, swiping a piece that Percy had just cut up and popping it into her mouth.
"Hey!"
"You steal my food all the time." Piper grinned, "It's payback Kane."
"Real mature Pipes." Percy giggled.
"I thought it was." Piper grinned at Percy slapping her fork away when Percy tried to swipe a piece of the girls waffle. "Nope, nope I steal your food, you're not allowed to steal mine."
"Rude." Percy huffed the word, smiling despite herself. "I guess even with her visit it doesn't really change anything right? We still have our plan and all."
"A plan which is kinda derailed."
"We'll make it to LA Pipes. Trust me, stuff like this never goes as planned. There's always set backs and detours."
"I guess you'd know. None of this is ever gonna be easy. Stuff like this never is."
"Do you think we'll have to do more stuff like this?"
"I mean, maybe. If Kronos is scheming then I'm not sure I can just sit in Brooklyn House and ignore half of my heritage." she admitted. "But I mean- maybe if we stop his plan here we won't have to worry about it."
"I hope you're right." Piper shook her head, "I know you've dealt with worse before but the idea of that- it's sort of terrifying." she admitted.
"Oh it's pretty intimidating even for me." Percy took a deep breath "Which is stupid but hey, that's how it works." she shifted, "So, think we should take the plunge and call mom?"
"I think she'll come hunting you down if you don't." Piper's lips twitched.
So Percy pulled her phone from her pocket, quickly pulling up her moms number and putting it onto speaker.
The phone rang twice before there was that familiar click of someone answering, and Percy leaned forward slightly as she heard her moms voice.
"Hey sweetheart. Everything okay?"
"Mom." Percy couldn't help the smile that spread across her lips at that, "Yeah, everything's fine, kind of. It's complicated."
"What do you mean kind of?" Sally's voice was automatically on edge. "What's going on sweetheart? Piper are you there honey?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm here." Piper leaned over the table too. "And by here I mean Atlanta."
"Atlanta- honey what are you doing in Atlanta you should still be on the train on the way to New Orleans."
"I know." Percy forced back a groan, running her fingers through her hair. "I know mom. But the twins were on the train, you know, the ones who have stuff in common with Ra and Khonsu."
"I- oh!" Sally's voice was shocked, "You mean- baby you're okay aren't you?" she asked quickly, "Did you get out safely?"
"Yeah, yeah we did. Not sure how long we have until they track us down again but hopefully our escape brought us a couple of hours at least. I smashed a window and turned Piper and me into birds."
"Well that's something." Sally's voice was worried, "Honestly baby I hate how much trouble you seem to get yourself in. You said you're in Atlanta? Maybe I should see if I can portal there-"
"Mom we're fine. We're going to look up the best way to get to LA from here. We have enough money."
"I don't like this baby-"
"We're fine Sally." Piper spoke up, "Percy knows what she's doing. I'd be useless without her." she gave Percy a soft smile which made Percy blush.
"I mean, you haven't had much chance to show off yet." Percy said quickly, "Don't worry, you'll get your chance to shine."
"Hmph." Sally didn't sound impressed, "Girls I know you're both capable I just- you know I worry- I'll always worry even when you're all grown up-"
"Well that's not gonna happen." Percy grinned, "I might be an adult someday but I'm never gonna be grown up."
"You shouldn't make promises like that." Sally laughed, "Nothing would make me happier than having my babies be my babies forever. Your brother and sister are both growing up far too fast- Carter's preparing for college and Sadie's sixteen- gods I can't believe how much you three have grown up- gods I wish I had the twins with me right now but Desjardin's is entertaining them and I'm about to have to go and give a bunch of students a lesson on healing magic."
"Good luck with that-"
"It'll be fine." Sally laughed, "As long as I can fend off their questions about what it's like being the mother of the three kids who saved the world."
"Hah, they should be thanking you. You're the reason Carter and I turned out like we did." Percy declared, "Good luck with the lesson mom."
"I'll be fine, you're the one I'm worrying about baby. Both of you. Just be careful okay. If you need anything call. I've told Carter and Sadie what's up."
"Ugh, how did they react?"
"Worried- but they know that you need to do this yourself. This is your quest not theirs."
And it was.
Her siblings couldn't help her with this.