Prescilla stood in front of Charlie with an apologetic smile. "Sorry. You tripped one of my traps on your way out of camp. Chiron told me to follow you to make sure you were okay."
Charlie was still confused. "One of your whats?"
She smiled a little wider. "I'm a daughter of Hecate, so I had some magical tripwires around camp to ensure we would know if something was coming in or going out. You tripped one."
Charlie thought about it for a moment before filing that info away for later. "Okay, so why have you been following me?"
Her smile fell. "Chiron wanted to make sure you were okay, so I volunteered to be the one to do it."
"Okay then. I guess that makes sense." He could see no evidence of lying, except for the part about Chiron. Why would she be lying about Chiron?
He pushed that thought out of his mind for now and motioned for Sophia to come down. She dropped down gracefully next to him.
Prescilla jumped when she came down. "AAH! Where did you come from? Where did you go?"
Sophia smiled. "Cotton eye joe?" Charlie laughed. Prescilla did not look amused.
She gave Sophia a hard look. "Alright, fine. I was in the rafters."
Prescilla blinked. "Why?" she asked, her immense confusion evident.
"So if things went sideways, I had a shot on you and was safe and out of the way. I'm not the best with close combat. I'm better with a bow."
Prescilla still looked confused. "But you're a terrible shot."
Sophia rolled her eyes. "Actually, I'm one of the best. I just can't show it because the campers think I'm a daughter of Poseidon."
Prescilla's confusion only grew. "Are you telling me you're NOT a child of Poseidon?"
She nodded. "I am so confused." Charlie looked at Sophia. They had a silent conversation and agreed to tell Prescilla everything.
Charlie broke the silence. "You better sit down. This will take a while."
Half an hour later, Prescilla knew everything. "It all makes sense now! Sophia's pride, your ability to stay underwater for over an hour and come out completely dry, the fact that you are so good with a sword! It all fits!"
She frowned. "Except for the archery. How did you learn?"
"Our aunt Thalia taught our mom, and she taught me," Sophia explained. Prescilla made an 'o' with her mouth.
"Okay. So that's why you want to save them. They're your parents. Percy and Annabeth I mean." Charlie nodded.
"Alright. I wanna help," she announced.
Charlie looked at Sophia. She shrugged. "Alright, I guess," he told her. "But it will be dangerous. We think Porphyrion is there, along with Chrysaor."
she nodded. "I think we'll be fine. Probably."
"Alright then. Let's get another ticket." They got up and walked back to the terminal. They bought a third ticket, which was somehow still available, and sat down to wait.
After about 5 minutes, Sophia broke the silence. "Can I go get some pretzels? We never got to actually eat them, and I'm hungry."
Charlie nodded and said, "sure. Get me one too."
"I will also have one," Prescilla told her.
Sophia nodded. "Got a preference?"
"Not really."
"Alright." she got up and skipped over to the pretzel stand.
Charlie and Prescilla stayed in comfortable silence while they waited. 'This is nice' Charlie thought. 'Sitting in silence, with a nice girl next to me, just thinking about life and the universe'.
Charlie's eyes moved around the space, looking at all the different people who were there. His gaze eventually landed on Prescilla, and he was a little startled to see her staring at him.
"What?" he asked. She jumped slightly, then blushed at being caught,
"N-nothing," she said quickly. Too quickly.
He frowned. "Are you sure?"
"Yep," she told him, her voice slightly strained. He didn't believe her, but let the subject drop.
He decided to ask about Chiron instead. "Why did you lie about Chiron sending you?"
Her eyes widened. "What do you mean?"
"My mom taught me how to read people. A part of reading people is telling when they are lying. Like when you told us Chiron sent you."
She was quiet for a moment as if thinking how to get out of answering. When she eventually answered, she sighed. "Chiron didn't send me. He doesn't know I'm here."
He raised an eyebrow. "You mean to tell me that you left without even telling Chiron where you were going? Do you realize how worried he is going to be?"
She looked incredibly guilty. "I know. But I had to move quickly. I didn't know where you would go, so I got into these clothes, grabbed some supplies, and started following you as fast as possible."
He sighed. "Gods, that was dumb." her face fell at this, and he quickly tried to make it better, "not that I'm not glad that you're here. It's just… Chiron was already going to be worried about me and Sophia missing, but I think he knows who we are. You though…"
She sighed. "I know. It was stupid. But I want to help."
"I know. Just… be better about it next time."
"I will."
They slipped back into silence, though this one was not as pleasant as the last. Sophia came back a couple of minutes later with three pretzels. "Who wants pretzels?!" she called, before seeing their faces and cringing.
"What'd I miss?" she asked.
"Nothing important," Charlie replied curtly. She nodded and let the matter drop. They sat there eating their pretzels until their flight was ready.
As the plane took off, Charlie hoped and prayed for Zeus not to notice them or strike them down.