Let's Run Away
and find our destiny together
"So... I'm Annabeth. You?""Percy."
"Short for?"
"Perseus."
"Cool. And, uh, I'm sorry for calling you dumb earlier."
No answer.
They adjusted their bags and started a steady pace in a random direction.
"So where are you from?" the girl with blonde hair inquired.
"New York."
"That's far."
He made an affirmative humming noise and they continued in silence for a bit.
"So, how much food you got?" he asked her after a while.
"Not much left. I've been on the road for two days. Got hungry," she shrugged indifferently.
"Me neither. Let's try that garage," he pointed down the road, "I'm out of money so we'll have to do it the other way. And it'll make a good sleeping place."
Stealing. Annabeth knew she'd have to do it to survive, but that was just her thoughts. In reality, it was a bit more daunting. But for her first time, she decided she didn't want anything weighing heavily on her conscious and threw caution to the wind.
"Sure, sounds good."
Once they reached, they saw it was mostly empty. There was a lady and her child buying what looked like ice-creams and an old man walking through the isles. The cashier sent the two disheveled children suspicious looks, but carried on organizing things behind his table. She couldn't help but feel a small pang of guilt for this man, who might lose his job or the chance to make some money. She quickly brushed it aside, reminding herself she needed to survive. She wouldn't turn down the challenge of life. She'd never turned down a challenge before (although she was seven) and she wasn't going to start anytime soon.
They had a quick discussion in the chips isle, then set their plan into action.
Percy walked into the bathroom, then out again looking frantic, "Your bathroom's flooding!" and soon enough, water gushed out from under the door that had swung shut behind him. The cashier muttered something under his breath, then rushed to the bathroom. The old man, along with the lady and child, went to see what all the commotion was about. Percy stood there acting frantic, but also looking tired. He had said that he wasn't so good with his powers, so she had to use her time wisely.
She hurriedly filled the two almost empty backpacks (one from Percy) with granola bars and beef jerky, knowing they'd last the longest. She managed to grab a few bottles of water and stuffed them inside too.
"Mom's here!" she shouted once she was done. It was their code for 'I'm done stealing. Let's get out before they catch us and send us back to our houses.'
"Sorry sir, but my mom's here. Bye," he called as the two children left. They went around the building and huddled together, their backs resting on the walls.
"Here."
Annabeth offered Percy a granola bar, taking one herself.
"Thanks."
He looked like he would pass out soon.
"Do you want to do shifts? You know, so the monsters don't sneak up on us, like that... hellhound did to me." She'd been thinking about it for a while. If they did, then it would reduce the chances of the monsters hurting them, especially since their scent thing would be of two... demigods. It was till a bit new, but she rembered stories from the babysitter and her teachers. Hopefully that would be enough for now.
"Sure." He made to sit up, but she gently pushed him back down.
"Your tired. You used a lot of energy. You need more rest. I'll take first watch."
"But you need a better weapon," he said as he unzipped his bag. He found the silver tipped arrow and passed it to her. "This is some kind of magical silver. A girl shot a hellound that was chasing me when I was five. I wanted to thank her but she ran away. So I told myself I'd give her her arrow back. It's been about two years now, and I still haven't seen her. I might see her in the future, but I think you'll have more use for it in the present. Normal metals don't work very well. This would probably be better than that hammer of yours."
She gave him a small smile in gratitude, then proceeded to studied the arrow. It had silver fletchling that matched the tip, and a wooden shaft. Looking closer she saw some scribbles. They slowly moved around until she could make out the letters.
"The Hunt."
"What?" Percy asked.
"It says, The Hunt. That's probably where the girl is from. The Hunt."
This girl was obviously also a demigod. So this 'Hunt' had something to do with Greek mythology. Well, it's not really mythology anymore, but that's besides the point. She couldn't remember anything about a hunt from the Greek myths she'd heard.
Making a small sound of frustration, she turned to the boy who was zipping up his bag, "We're going to a library and looking for a book on Greek myths tomorrow."
"Um," he turned a deep scarlet, then mumbled something.
"Say again?"
"I can't read," he mumbled so quietly, I almost didn't hear.
"That's fine, I'll teach you."
"No, the words kind of fly away when I try to read. It gives me a headache."
"Oh," she sounded dejected, even to herself.
"But, if you wouldn't mind, you could, uh, read it to me? Or explain what you understand? Only if your okay with it!" he turned his head away, obviously embarrassed.
"Sure. That won't be a problem. That way we'd both know." she didn't want to embarrass him anymore so she turned around cross-legged and called out a "Goodnight."
"Night," he muttered as he drifted to sleep.
/linebreak\
Percy shook Annabeth awake when cars starting coming into the garage.
"Annabeth," he whispered, "Annabeth, wake up. We should get moving."
"Five more minutes," she grumbled and pulled her bag closer to her.
Percy chuckled, "Fine. I'm going to see where we can find a library. And a shower. We need to wash up, or they won't let us in."
He walked away after hearing her hum in agreement.
He turned the corner so he was out of her line of sight and let out a deep breath. It was his first time traveling with someone while he was running. He'd always been alone. Sure, Eddie - one of smelly Gabe's better friends - helped him with a couple supplies before he left New York, but that was it. He ran on his own, he stole on his own, he slept on his own. He'd never done it with someone else, and it was weird. But the good weird. When he was walking, he had company, when he was stealing, he had help and when he slept, there was someone looking out for him. He'd never had someone look out for him other than his mom.
He contemplated all the things that would change now that he had someone else. A friend. A giddy smile spread across his face at that. He'd never had a friend before.
Then he was lying on his back on the floor, the air nocked out of his lungs.
"Oh I'm so sorry! I was so stupid! I don't see you, sorry again." a lady exclaimed. She wore black, flowy, material dress thing, sunglasses and a scarf that covered her hair. Her voice was sweet, like hot chocolate filled with marshmellows. She seemed kind enough.
"It's okay," he mumbled. If he played this right, they might get the directions to the library and a shower. He got up, chewing uis lip in fake nervousness. "Uh, ma'am? My-my sister and I were supposed to meet my d-dad at the library but we got lost last night so... so we slept here and now we don't really know where we are and we need to find the library soon and-"
She finally cut him off. He internally sighed, he thought he would have to make up more tales. If you add enough 'ands' they always give in.
"Oh you poor child. The library is a couple streets down on your right, but how about we get you cleaned up first, hm? Why don't you bring your sister? You two can wash up at my place then I'll take you down to a police station and they can help you find your dad. I live a couple houses down here."
Perfect. They could run after they got cleaned up.
He sniffled a few more times before letting out a small, "Thank you."
"Don't worry sweetie. Why don't we go get your sister?"
He led her back to their little camp where he gently shook Annabeth awake.
"Sis. Hey, sister. A nice lady is going to help us."
She woke up groggily, "What?"
"Hey, sis. A nice lady said she'd help us."
Her eyes widened a bit and she quickly understood her role.
"Okay," she turned to the lady putting on a polite smile, "Thank you so much."
"No worries dear. Now, let's get moving. I hope you don't mind, but I live where I work."
They slung their respective backpacks on the shoulders and sent the lady dazzling smiles.
"I hope you don't mind us asking, but what's your name?" Annabeth asked politely.
She chuckled, "Oh, you dears can call me Aunty Em."
