They were almost to the river and hadn't seen any of the agents yet, that was either a good sign or a really bad one. Percy was trying not to be too jumpy, because logically he knew that Jason was keeping an eye out from the sky for them. But every sound and leaf rustle was making him jump.
"Calm down," Annabeth told him. Percy sighed as she set a comforting hand on his shoulder as they walked. "It's not like you can use Riptide anyway, being this tense isn't going to help."
"Yeah yeah, I know," Percy said forcing his hand away from its natural place by his pocket. Riptide wouldn't work on mortals, and he didn't want to hurt anyone either. But in situations like this it had become second nature to keep his weapon close. "Do you think Jason grabbed any of the wooden practice swords? Would come in handy if we do run into anyone." She nodded and pointed up to where Jason was hovering over a tree nearby.
"Go ahead and see, I don't know if he did or not but it couldn't hurt to ask," Annabeth said. Percy nodded and gathered some water that had collected on the leaves, then formed a hand shape to wave in front of Jason. Jason glanced over then flew down.
Unfortunately Jason hadn't grabbed any of the dummy swords, but one of the little Demeter boys come up with a solution. Out of sticks and other discarded wood in the forest he made several wooden swords and a knife that was an exact replica of Annabeth's for them.
"Thanks kiddo, you're amazing," Percy said ruffling the kid's hair.
"You're welcome!" the kid said running back to one of the wagons to be with his friends. It was a while later when Jason called out to them.
"Hey, I see Nico!" Jason called down. It was thanks to that warning that Percy didn't attack his cousin when he came running out of the woods towards them. They had been heading towards the border, a spot far down the beach away from the cabins. The plan was for Percy to make them a huge bubble and get them down the coast enough to avoid the Avengers and meet up with the group from New Rome. Then they could make it to California. It was a simple plan, but that didn't mean they would get to implement it.
"Percy, no one else showed up to my evacuation point, where's Will?" Nico asked slightly breathless. Percy frowned, Will should have met up with Nico already. They had the same evacuation route.
"I don't know, where-" Percy was cut off by Jason yelling out a warning, and Piper yelped. Their plans just didn't want to work tonight, and that was just Percy's luck.
Authors Note: Heloooooo! Did you guys miss me ;). Anyways, I'm back! I'm not going to make grand excuses of being hit by a train or anything, real life and writer's block are just a pain. I'm hoping to get back to a somewhat normal posting schedule, but no promises. I hope you guys like the edits and the missing chapters that have now been added. I think it makes the story flow much better, but as always feel free to give me ideas in the comments! See you soon (fingers crossed)!