~0~

Percy Murders a Burger

~0~

Ray didn't really sleep for the night, as he, instead, mentally mapped a way to Los Angeles. He had enough knowledge and experience to know that DOA Recording Studios was one of the two main entrances to the Underworld. Percy didn't tell him yet, but it was obvious that the discussion they had yesterday was the only thing they had to go with.

Nobody else had the same combination of strength, motive, and method of taking the Master Bolt other than Hades, loathe he was to admit. As the eldest of the Big Three, his power was comparable, if not more, with his brothers. And with the Underworld at his disposal, to boot?

To steal the Bolt, Hades could send anything from a stealthy ghost to a secret child of his own. The motive was there, and possibly a strong one. After all, Ray was not blind to the lack of Hades' presence in general at Olympus; no throne, no shrine, no anything to signify that Hades was a part of Olympus at all. Jealousy was, after all, one of the strongest parts of a god.

He knew he would be thinking a lot for the night, so he switched Big Harley into autopilot, crossed his arms, and began to think.

There were other suspects, of course. Like, say, Ares, the barely controllable god of war, who would love a massive war between Poseidon and Zeus. But Ray doubted the god would do such a thing, considering the world was already engulfed in strife and whatnot. There wouldn't be any reason to start another one. Right? Right.

Though to be fair, Ray never really did or could meet the infamous war god. He only heard stories- or, more specifically, complaints- from Lady Athena whenever she met him, telling him about it during their learning sessions as Ray politely listened. Personally, he never found time to arrange a meeting between himself and Ares, only ever meeting his representatives. Whenever he planned to meet the war god, there would always be something that needed his immediate attention, or Ares would just send his god-children instead; Phobos and/or Deimos.

It was weird, really, since he could easily set up a meeting with Hermes out of all gods, but never Ares. Although, considering that Ares wasn't all that important in his plans, he didn't put much thought into it.

Hermes himself, despite being a god of thieves, would be too busy to steal and hide something as important as the Master Bolt (he would know- Alexa showed him a stolen copy of Hermes' schedule once, and they had to burn it to stop it from keep unfolding), and unless through flawed logic of destroying the world using the Master Bolt to make him less busy, he was out of the list as well.

As for the others… Demeter, Persephone, Artemis, Hera, Dionysus, Apollo… none of them had much reason to steal the Master Bolt, as literally all of them didn't care about weapons of mass destruction. Ray couldn't talk about the former Olympian Hestia, yet another entity he had never met yet, but Lady Athena's words and reading stories in Olympus' library assured him pretty much that the eldest Olympian wouldn't even entertain such a notion. At least, not yet.

Lady Athena? She was smarter than that. He knew she had no use for WMDs, other than to contain or destroy them.

And so, alas, Hades was a main suspect again.

Well, other than Poseidon, that is. There was the possibility that Zeus was correct in accusing Poseidon of stealing the Master Bolt, but what the God King was incorrect would be using Ray to steal the accursed thing. The motive was difficult to decipher, unfortunately. They hated each other- or, well, hatred was a strong word, but from what Ray had seen they really, really loved to fight and squabble. Maybe Poseidon stole the Bolt to spite him? But that would be… stupid.

And that was not the only thing he had to consider. He had a whole 'nother pile of mess to think, surrounding the Big Prophecy.

With all that had happened yesterday, he didn't get the time quite think about the consequences of his joining his brother. Now though, with the now-public information that he was a son of the Big Three, and the long-known fact that he was already sixteen, and now he was missing… well, he didn't need to be a son of Athena to predict the immortal public's reaction to it.

The mess that would soon befall them all made him pity whoever it was that would have to deal with it later… probably Schneider, as usual.

That is, if he wasn't the snitch. Then Ray would pray for all the migraine-inducing paperwork to appear on Percival's desk.

A ruffle of cloth pulled him out of his thoughts, and Ray glanced aside at his brother.

Percy's face was blank as he slept, and his tendency to drool had already dirtied the blanket Ray gave him. The other kids were also fast asleep in the back, and Ray could hear Grover's semi-silent sheep snores.

Ray smirked a little. Their first real fight in the outer world and they got knocked out instantly. He wondered what would happen should he wasn't there, or at least Big Harley wasn't. The kids would be forced to use the Greyhound bus, and considering the three Furies just furiously attacked them earlier…

His amusement disappeared, and he frowned as he drove further, passing a truck on the left lane. No, he wouldn't think such a thing. What mattered was the fact that these brats who were stupidly willing to risk their lives in saving his butt were now sleeping, safely in Big Harvey's tummy.

Besides… if he didn't go with them, then the Stormguard would've taken him away. Now that was something he owed his brother for.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw said brother's eyes snapping open. But before Ray could say anything, Percy turned to him and immediately gripped his arm.

Ray almost yelped, but he had enough self-restraint from doing so. Slowly, he turned to his little brother. Percy's grip tightened every heartbeat, and the strength in his smaller hand hurt. "Good morning, Percy, but I would appreciate it if you… didn't…"

Percy was shaking.

His brother's eyes were wide, and the sheer, utter terror in Percy's adorable sea-green eyes killed his words in his throat. Percy- by Olympus, Ray realized that Percy was on the verge of tears.

Paternal instincts taking over, Ray stood up from the driver's seat and quickly went over to his brother. Almost instantly, Percy grasped his hoodie and dumped his face in Ray's stomach. Ray knelt so he could hold his brother better, as he slowly realized it had been a long while since the last time Percy cried, much less broke down like this. The little man never allowed himself to cry. Something was wrong.

This idea was reinforced when he could hear small, weak sounds coming from his brother, and Ray realized that Percy was whimpering.

That fragile noise hit him like a Calydonian boar. Oh, so very rarely, in his five years as a Keeper had he ever heard such a helpless sound. It triggered every single cell in his body, screaming at him to help the poor kid. He heard pained groans, and cries here and there, but nobody ever whimpered like that. This was purely emotional, nothing physical.

"Percy, Percy," he whispered, opting to cradle his brother's head. Percy latched on to him like a baby koala, and if the situation wasn't so dire and confusing, Ray would gleefully point it out. As it stood, he allowed his brother to cry, and let his hoodie dampen any sound that might leak out. Ray assumed his brother wouldn't like it if his friends got woken up by his crying.

For an eternal moment, Ray could only hear half-formed sobs and muffled wails. In those seconds, he never allowed a single muscle in his body to loosen his grip. In those seconds, he rapidly thought of reasons for this emotional breakdown, and the only conclusion he came to was one- a nightmare.

Only when Percy's shaking wasn't as concerning, his breathing wasn't as rapid, and his whimperings turned non-existent, did Ray pull back and gave his brother a once-over. Weakly, Percy looked up to meet his gaze.

Ray sighed sadly and connected their foreheads. He wiped the tears off Percy's cheeks, then put his hands around his brother's head. Staring directly into those tired, fragile green eyes, Ray mumbled, "Nightmare, Percy?"

A beat passed. "…Yeah."

"Wanna talk to me about it?"

Percy closed his eyes, as though pained, but didn't answer. Upon seeing this reaction, Ray hesitated to ask a second time, but Percy then answered, quietly.

"It was terrifying," Percy whispered, a tremor passing through his body as he slowly opened his eyes. "I-I saw you, Ray… gods, I saw you die. I was right there, and I watched you die, Ray…"

Ray momentarily froze as a surge of dèjavu surged through him, even though he knew he wouldn't be able to remember the first time he heard those same words in the same way it was spoken. Like those words were triggers, Percy shuddered again.

Moving past his bemusement, Ray held his kid again, whispering soothing words, reassuring him that everything would be fine. Soon enough, Percy stopped trembling, and only when Ray felt his brother's breathing turn even, did he pull back.

The twelve-year-old's grip was as powerful as ever, but his body went limp, his head lolling down forward. As surprising as it was, Percy had actually fallen asleep again. Or perhaps… not as surprising. If anything, he supposed the boy was sleeptalking.

Ray frowned in concern, gently unclenching Percy's fists on his hoodie jacket. Slowly, silently, he put his brother's arms back on Percy's stomach and covered him with a blanket. In truth, Ray didn't know what to make of it, but he was aware of one thing.

With all of his planning; considering all possibilities, preparing all possible problems… and he missed the most obvious, glaring flaw and factor.

Those he traveled along with were still kids.

Hell, Ray himself wasn't even legally an adult yet- he was still sixteen. It spoke volumes on how nature spirits and minor gods often congratulated him for reaching fifteen in the first place. No matter who his parents were, a demigod reaching fifteen is… surprising, seeing the current time and age and the messes he often got caught up in.

But still, his point remained. None of the kids was mentally prepared for this type of quest, involving executions, lives, deaths, and them being hunted down by Zeus' own private army. Physically prepared? Of course they were, the military might of the Keepers was at their disposal. Their minds were another thing entirely.

Ray scowled, going back to his driver's seat. No, none of the kids deserved any of this. Dammit, he should've taken Alexa along, or Marcus, or at least Sophia! But- damn it all, but then, any of them could potentially plunge the quest further into danger.

What was he thinking? Bringing along three twelve-year-olds on a dangerous quest? What the hell was he thinking?

Percy dreamt of him dying.

When this was over, Ray will schedule a therapist for his brother.

~0~

Normally, it would be difficult to find a restaurant chain that wasn't actually a monster's nest, but the Keeper's database was also copied to Big Harley, so stopping at a genuine fast food restaurant while crossing out the trap houses was barely any trouble. After taking a takeaway from one such chain, the journey continued.

The least Ray could do after forcing the kids to go along with this ridiculous 'adventure' was to make the journey as comfortable as he could.

Through the rearview mirror, he could see the first to properly wake up was Annabeth, as he assumed. The girl yawned widely, before realizing that she wasn't alone, and yawned in a more… refined way. She stood up, stretched, and went into the loo. After Annabeth did her business, Ray watched her go over to the driver's area.

"Good morning," Annabeth greeted, neutrally.

"G'mornin'." Ray smiled at her, before tossing a brown paper bag at her, who fumbled with it for a second. "That's your breakfast. There's cola in the mini-fridge."

Annabeth peeked into the bag. "Um, thanks."

Her tone was a clear indication of what she thought about junk food being their breakfast (burgers and fries, a classic), but she was too polite to outright refuse him. It almost made him laugh, but the earlier conversation he had with his brother weighed heavily in his mind.

Ray tilted his head forward. "Why don't you sit down, Annabeth? There's something I want to talk with you about."

The girl's eyes widened. "Me? Um, sure, I guess. But where should I…"

Her words trailed off into personal mumbles. Her sharp, grey eyes roamed the interior before they landed on Percy, and her face slightly, ever-so-slightly, morphed into disgust and annoyance. In the end, for reasons beyond him, she sat down next to Ray, right on the carpet, crossing her legs and opening her paper bag.

He stared at her.

She blinked when she noticed him. "Uh, is anything wrong?"

"Why are you sitting on the carpet?"

Annabeth looked down, confused. "Am I… not allowed to sit on the carpet?"

"There are seats everywhere, Annabeth. You don't have to sit on the carpet."

"They're all taken," she said slowly, in a way reminiscent of one Percival Schneider.

"Well, you can sit next to Percy."

Her face scrunched up. "He drools when he sleeps, no thank you."

Huh, now where would she know something like that? Ray didn't remember Annabeth seeing Percy sleep… ah, of course, when his brother was knocked unconscious from tiredness.

Ray frowned at the memory. Unfortunately, Annabeth seemed to see his emotion to be because of her attitude.

"Oh! Um, but it's fine! A little… grossed out wouldn't hurt anybody," she said hastily, scrambling up to her feet and plopping herself down next to his brother.

Ray put a palm on his face, but the blessed girl didn't see it. When Annabeth finally unwrapped her burger, Ray began to speak. "Uh-huh. Well, I wanted to talk to you about plans involving this quest, that is, of course, assuming we don't have one."

As the daughter of his teacher chewed, he could see those proverbial mind gears turning and turning. After Annabeth swallowed, she answered.

"We do have one, actually. Well, we did, until you showed up and we had to chang- ah! I mean, it's not a bad thing, of course!" she hastily added. "We just, had to, uh, change our plans."

He shook his head. "I don't blame you if you're angry at me. I know how much you value quests like these. So, what were your plans and how did I change them?"

Annabeth took another bite, this time chewing slowly and, dare he say it, unhappily- moodily. "I'm not- I'm not angry at you, Ray."

"You are," he said, "It's obvious. But as I said, I don't blame you. It's not uncalled for."

"I'm not," she insisted, lowering her burger as she turned to look at him. "Really. I know how important this quest is. I'm not mad at you."

"Really now?"

"Yes!"

Ray knew she was lying- the only reason she could say that was because he didn't look at her right in the eyes. There laid a waver in her tone, small, but since he already dealt with countless immortal sensitive beings for five years, he knew a carefully hidden dishonesty when he heard one.

"Even a bit?"

"Even a bit."

He chose not to argue (further). If she was anything like her brother, then the conversation would end up with him chugging a jug full of aspirin. "Fine, I'll take your word for it. Now, about the plan."

Annabeth sighed, then chomped. He waited until she gulped. "Well, at first, we were just going to go to Los Angeles."

Ray waited some more, but when she didn't add anything, he glanced at her. "…That's it?"

Annabeth blushed, looking away. "I didn't know Percy had a dream about where to go. I honestly thought it would just be a simple fetch quest- sure, anything involving the Master Bolt is extremely dangerous, but at least it would be simple. At least, I thought it would."

"From my experience, nothing involving the divine is simple. This is another level entirely… but this isn't what I wanted to discuss with you." Ray smiled wryly. "Now, tell me. What is our current plan?"

Annabeth took a deep breath. "Well… I think, the plan still stands. From that address Percy got, we have to go to this… DOA Recording Studio, in Los Angeles. Don't we just have to, you know, travel there?"

"Yeah. Which path will you take?"

Annabeth's eyebrows furrowed. "Path?"

"Road." Ray sighed. "I meant to say road. We'll go through which cities, and which roads?"

"Oh, if that's the case, then… wait, where are we anyway?"

He looked back at the road ahead of them, bustling with commuters in the morning rush hour. Everything was moving except them, as Ray had parked Big Harley aside for the moment to discuss their next move. Brick buildings surrounded them, and if it weren't for the lack of towering glass skyscrapers in every visible background, Ray would've believed they hadn't left New York.

Thankfully, they had. Ray reached over across her and opened the glove box, before pulling out a map and tossing it to Annabeth. "I believe we're in Kensington, Philadelphia. Now, where should we go next?"

Putting down her breakfast, Annabeth unfurled the map and rigorously scanned it. "Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Philadelphia… Kensington. Okay, I think I know the most straightforward road."

Fast, Ray thought, amused, but not at all surprised. "Oh?"

"Yeah, if we were mortal," Annabeth grumbled, and Ray smiled. "Because we're not, there's always something else. Is there somewhere we should avoid? Any other factors to consider?"

If he was perfectly honest, Ray just wanted to avoid any major city- but he was also worried if that was the first thing Zeus thought he'd do.

"Let's list them off, shall we?" He grinned at the girl instead, leaning back in his seat. "A time limit; we have twenty-nine days left until the summer solstice."

"Oh yeah…" Annabeth muttered, eyes glued to the piece of paper. "Lady Athena did say that Ze-"

Ray immediately snapped his fingers and the Mist engulfed the interior, drowning her words in artificial silence. Percy and Grover jerked awake, alarmed by the sudden, loud noise. Stalker also screeched awake, the bird squawking from inside his house.

"What? What?" Grover bleated, somewhat panicked. Percy was no better, scrambling on the seat, knocking Annabeth's burger right off her lap, and landing on the RV floor, uncapping Riptide.

Annabeth focused all her attention on her burger's mangled corpse which now bloodied the map. Slowly, she raised her head and looked straight at a disoriented, sleepy, and just now, scared Percy Jackson.

"I'm going to kill you," she said.

"Eep!" Percy yelped.

"Calm down." Ray grinned. "Stalker, bring me a handkerchief."

In an avian equivalent of kicking his door open, Stalker burst out of his house melded into the roof of the RV, swooped down to grab the said item, and threw it on Ray's lap. He saw the ruined remains of a burger, and swooped into scavenging that juicy, artificial meat.

Ray handed the cloth to Annabeth, trying his best not to look like he was dealing with a rabid animal. The kid grumbled unpleasant things, but she did take it while muttering her thanks. Ray turned to his brother and his brother's friend.

"G'mornin," he said. "We were just discussing on what to do next. Well, we were about to, but then you got possessed by a ninja."

Percy blushed and looked down. Ray handed him the bag where the two other burgers reside.

"Have some breakfast, there's coke in the fridge, and Grover." The satyr kid looked at him. "For you I got you that new… veggie… burger thing. See if you'll like it."

"Oh!" Grover started. "Oh, thank you, Ray."

"Don't mention it. Since we're all awake, I'm going to drive us around so we don't stay too long in one place."

"Huh?" Annabeth looked up from her cleaning duty, curious. "Why?"

"An external factor, my dear Chase," Ray answered, looking up at the rearview mirror so he wouldn't hit anything as he reversed Big Harley. "We're being chased by someone."

~0~

"Stormguard…" Annabeth repeated after Ray had finished explaining, stunned. "A squad of storm spirits…"

Ray was a hunted criminal now? Percy sat on the seat across Grover, still in the process of processing this information. Stormguard…which meant Zeus himself wanted Ray. Athena's warning and the Oracle's prophecy rang in his head, which didn't help at all with his situation.

Across him, Grover was no better at all. Heck, Percy would be glad if his best friend would start chewing on food or his tin cans, but he wasn't, so he knew Grover was as shocked and scared as he was.

What were even storm spirits? He was sure he learned it with Annabeth once. Percy clenched his fists, absolutely hating his habit of being stupid at important moments.

"That's right, which is why I had to stop you from saying the Z word to prevent that guy upstairs from noticing where it's spoken," Ray explained, still driving and completely oblivious to both Percy's thoughts and Stalker making a nest on his hair. "Assuming they don't know where we're going, we can go the fastest, most direct way to Los Angeles. Personally, I don't believe they have a reason to think we're heading to Los Angeles, considering, well, it's Los Angeles."

Percy looked up, dreading what he would hear but knowing he needed to anyway. "What? What's wrong with Los Angeles?"

His older brother glanced at the rearview mirror to look at him. "One of Underworld's main entrances is in there, and that, in turn, makes it a suitable place for monsters to make nests. I dunno, maybe they like the dead people vibe there."

Percy fell back in his fancy, comfortable seat, a silent curse muttered through gritted teeth.

"Language," Ray called.

"Sorry," Percy mumbled. "I just- is it that bad, Ray?"

"It's difficult, to be sure," Ray informed them. "But not impossible, as long as you know where to go. Luckily for you, I'm here."

The last part was accompanied by a joking tone, to which none of them responded meaningfully. Stalker squawked, while Percy, on his part, desperately wished he would never have to bring his brother there. And even if he had to, he would make sure that it would be the absolute last time.

Ray noticed the silence and coughed. "Right, anyway, we're going off-track. Annabeth, I'm assuming you really had no clue the Stormguard existed?"

"No!" Annabeth's answer came quickly, stressed. "How- how didn't I know this?"

"I'm not surprised. Even your mother wasn't entirely sure, so that meant they were hidden properly. But now they're released, so we know Z's taking this thing seriously."

"Even my mother didn't know?" Annabeth whispered.

"She had a feeling," Ray assured. "But she never managed to find the right information. They were hidden, and hidden well. You done brainstorming?"

For reasons Percy was sure he had no clue yet, Annabeth seemed downcast after that knowledge was revealed. He guessed it was because of the pride thing all children of Athena seemed to have, especially pride at their mother. For a short time, Annabeth just stared at the map, before she sighed.

"How about… Washington?" she asked, looking up.

Ray narrowed his eyes, which was his older brother's next best thing to do to remember things when he couldn't close his eyes. "So pass through… Baltimore. Dammit… ugh, at least it's not Detroit. Though, the interstate bridge before that isn't too high, so I think we can pass without any sky dwellers noticing."

Percy perked up. "That sounds great."

"It would be, in normal circumstances. Thing is, I've been wondering how paranoid Z is, and how smart he's trying to be."

He became worried again. "What do you mean?"

"Well…" And there came another lesson. "Considering that everyone in Olympus now knows I'm a son of the sea god, don't you think that Z would be closely watching any road near the coasts?"

"You're right," Annabeth agreed, her face growing pink. "That means we should probably avoid main roads."

Ray looked at Percy through the rearview mirror, but both he and Grover were staring at Annabeth instead. Said daughter of Athena sighed, knowing full well she would be highly responsible for the final verdict.

"Well." She inhaled. "Washington is the fastest, if only because of the interstate. But it's a big city, so expect a lot of monsters. Or… we can go through Lancaster, instead. It's not as big, and the roads there are mainly rural, so not as many monsters as well.

"But there are open skies all around- if anybody is flying around, we will get seen. It can work in our favor, though, because in such a place, it'd be easy to spot a Storm Spirit- one grey smudge flying in the sky is hard to blend in on a sunny day like this. Personally though… I'll choose to go through Lancaster. If we find trouble in the coast cities, our sky god would know." Annabeth frowned, lowering the map. "But ultimately the decision falls on you, Percy. You're the one chosen for this quest."

Percy grimaced, then looked at Grover.

"Can you smell a storm spirit, Grover?"

His best friend was hesitant, that much Percy could see. "I- well… I can certainly try, Percy."

Percy nodded and turned to Ray. "What do you think if we go to Washington?"

"I'll disable most if not all of Big Harley's arsenal." Ray shrugged. "Yes, her main cannon is heavily surrounded by the Mist so even we can get confused if we look straight at it when its cloak is active, but firing a twenty-millimeter cannon in the middle of a bustling city isn't really a good idea. Besides, bullets don't work on sentient clouds."

"So we can't fight back?" Percy reworded his question wearily.

"We can break some road safety laws! Unless, of course, you're thinking we rather step out and deal with any threats single-handedly."

Percy cringed at the thought. Maybe they could go through there if they gun Big Harley down, but he didn't want to know how many monsters would be roaming around in Washington the hard way.

Was he willing to take the risk? And he had to consider what Ray pointed out- if Zeus was watching any road near the sea, it would be impossible not to bump into whatever a storm spirit was. Adding that to what Annabeth said, Percy knew which city name sat on his tongue.

He lifted his head, staring at the rearview mirror to look at his brother's purple eyes. Through the glass, Ray smiled encouragingly.

"Let's go through Lancaster," Percy decided.

~0~

Big Harley's Mist device worked well, in the sense that it hid them from monsters very well. They passed a cyclops and some hellhounds, but not one of them batted an eye.

Sometimes, though, it worked too well when they chose not to turn it off, and a car bumped them on a rural, village-y road. Ray's eyes had narrowed, while the car's driver got too weirded out from bumping into an invisible thing and pulled over. Percy imagined the guy would call a friend to drive him home.

But the ride itself, other than that, was uneventful. On the way, Annabeth explained about storm spirits, or its Greek name… anemoi-something.

Spirits that take on the form of whirling dark clouds, crackling lightning, and blowing cold winds wherever they go.

Ray mentioned how the Keepers once fought a group of wild ones that immediately attacked them on sight, and how all of the Keepers' weapons simply phase through the spirits' bodies- except Percival's adamantine sword. As leaving it entirely to Percival would only tire him down and tire him out quickly, Marcus (counselor of Hephaestus' cabin, Percy remembered) crafted a makeshift Greek fire flamethrower to aid him, which worked excellently.

Unfortunately though, when Percy asked his brother if the flamethrower was in Big Harley, Ray said that the thing exploded near the end of the fight when Marcus had to hurl it at the horde.

Soon after the impromptu lesson, they passed a 'Welcome to Lancaster' sign, but Percy's grip on his pen never lessened. He kept glancing at the sky, half-expecting a single dark cloud to hover there.

But the sky stayed clear. The sight of open skies did nothing to calm his nerves. He pleaded with his brother to go through roads covered by tall trees.

Ray raised an eyebrow, but he agreed to his request. Soon, they descended from the highway and went through the smaller, rural roads.

There wasn't much to say about Lancaster. It was like Long Island roads, but with fewer trees. A building or two would pique Annabeth's interest, but they passed them all the same and she would lean back against her seat again.

Despite Ray refusing to turn off the radio, the ride through the city was still silent. Nobody said anything; Percy was too busy looking at the sky, Annabeth too busy looking at the map, Grover too busy stress-eating cans, and Stalker too busy sleeping.

The only noises in the RV were just the rumbling of engines and the offkey singing of Ray. They passed buildings, trees, and a lot of empty fields, with no traces of any sky legion around whatsoever. Maybe Ray was just paranoid, and nobody was searching for them.

"I don't think we should stay here for long," Annabeth suddenly spoke up, almost making Percy jump. "I say we take the highway back before crossing the river."

At his confused look, she added, "It's better that way. There are two bridges, but one is small. If we take the Wright's Ferry bridge, we can hide among the other cars better."

It was sound reasoning. No one had any complaints (she was the smartest in the RV and she knew it), so Ray turned the vehicle back to the highway right as the massive river came into sight, and off they went to the busy bridge.

And hoo boy, Percy felt naked on the bridge. They were surrounded by cars, and moreso surrounded by the river, but even then they were surrounded by the sky. From every side, the bright blue stared back at them. He couldn't help but continuously glance back and forth from the windows, his worries never leaving him alone.

And despite all that, the object of his worries just cheerfully mumbled along with the song on the radio.

Truth be told, had a bit of difficulty looking at his older brother after tonight. He had a terrifyingly violent nightmare involving his brother, and he was trying his best to forget about it.

Easier said than done, considering how Percy still shuddered just thinking about the idea. It was… vivid.

He swore he could still taste the blood on his face.

A loud noise thankfully ripped him from his "meditation", so he looked at the source. Ray frowned when they sped up to pass a big truck and the engine's rumble drowned out the music.

Grover noticed Percy's slow descent into panic first, so the satyr tried to calm him down.

"Percy, calm down," Grover said, worried. "We're already halfway through the bridge, I don't think any of them will show up at all."

"Hopefully," Percy muttered.

Like him, Annabeth also held her blades tightly, her body language fully alert. Her gray eyes turned to him. "Just don't let your guard down."

"R-right."

"Are they not patrolling the bridge?" Ray mused. At the deadly looks he received, he held up a hand as surrender. "I know, I know, I'm not trying to jinx us, but still. If I were Z, I'd put bridges across the islands as a priority over… ah, fiddlesticks."

The giant curtain that was the massive truck got left behind.

And right there, up in the clear sky next to the bridge, was a single, small black cloud.

~0~

Percy swore he didn't see it before.

Grover clutched his reeds worriedly. "Maybe… he doesn't see us?"

The tiny cloud started sparking- light blue arcs of electricity crackling all over it. Before Percy could process any of what he was seeing, Annabeth screamed at Ray to dodge, which was unnecessary as Ray suddenly slammed the gas and quickly gained speed.

Considering that he was standing when Ray did his thing, he was launched towards the back of the RV, almost barreling into Annabeth who simply moved out of the way (Thanks, Chase).

BOOM

Percy couldn't see it, but he could hear and feel it. His hair stood on end, and he could feel a shockwave pushing the RV slightly forward. There were screeches as brakes were quickly kicked to dodge the lightning bolt, and he winced when he could hear the hard sound of metal hitting metal; the cars crashing into each other.

"Wow, and he doesn't even care about any collateral damage," Ray drawled, as though this wasn't unusual for him. "Talk about enforcers, rights kids?"

"Ray!" Grover screeched.

Since there was no longer anybody behind them, Ray slammed his foot on the brakes this time, and Percy gripped a chair as strongly as he could. All four of them could see a super-hot, zig-zagging bolt of light crashing onto the asphalt right before them with a loud thunderclap. A small shockwave jolted their ride.

A small crater melted into existence in front of them.

Without another word, Ray changed the gear stick and peeled the RV out of there, following all the other cars who were trying to get the hell off the bridge.

"Everyone, don't touch anything made out of metal attached to the car!" Annabeth shouted. "Are all the windows rolled up?!"

"Y-yes ma'am?" Grover stammered.

There was this crinkling sound coming from all over the RV, like the car was wrapped up in a giant plastic bag. Annabeth turned around, her face turning grim.

"The camouflage is going away…" she muttered. "Close contact with the heat?"

Heart beating loudly and quickly in his chest, Percy stumbled back to the front part of the ride. "Ray! Is there anything in here that can protect us?! Use the gun or something!"

"Bro, storm spirits are pretty much just living thunderclouds." Ray glanced at him, seemingly way too calm for the situation. "Bullets don't work against them. I told you this."

Dammit, Ray was right. As Percy was quickly thinking of something to get them out of the situation, another lightning bolt crashed into the asphalt next to them.

"Ray, he's chasing us," Annabeth warned from somewhere in the back.

His older brother grunted. "Percy."

Percy gripped Riptide, ready to unleash it. "Yeah?"

"Use your powers, gather as much of the river's water as you can."

His eyes widened. "What?! Why can't you just-!"

"Because I'm driving, Perseus." There was a serious glint in Ray's purple eyes, something that made Percy pause. "If I take away my attention, I'm worried we'll crash or fall to the river. What do you think will happen then?"

An image formed in his head- a sunken RV, and a giant lightning bolt crashing into the water, frying everyone alive.

"Something bad," he agreed, narrowing his eyes. "What do you want me to do?"

"Make a protective ball around us." Ray began his order, his gaze turning back to the bridge. "If we get hit, the electricity will conduct with the water instead of us."

With how fast the RV was going, it would be far from easy. Percy also had a concern about the lightning just piercing through the shield and clipping them instead, but… that just meant he had to make it thicker.

"Go." Ray nodded. His brother flashed him a small smile. "I know you can do it."

Percy stared back for a second, before he nodded resolutely and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

He tried his best to ignore the world- Annabeth and Grover screaming, bolts of lightning nearly hitting them, Ray's erratic driving to evade everything he could. The car shook and rumbled, the air was tense and dangerous.

He took another deep breath.

He imagined they were birds, above a lake. Screeching, flailing their wings, terrified and panicking. An angry thundercloud shadowed them, striking with thunder every so often.

The water could help them, maybe conduct the lightning away from them. But how? How could a lake reach up to the sky?

Percy could hear thunder rumbling from the outside world, momentarily breaking his focus, like an earthquake is happening above their heads.

Like a volcano exploding. He opened his eyes.

Percy felt his gut clench uncomfortably, like when he ate something he shouldn't have, and around them, the Susquehanna River exploded in the form of a diagonal explosion, like a sentient geyser.

Acting without thinking, he dropped his pen and brought both of his hands up, his powers catching the gallons and gallons of river water and forcing them to form a bubble shield around the RV.

With perfect timing. Another thunderclap, and another beam of lightning heading straight toward them. This time, Ray didn't dodge.

In fact, he slowed down.

Percy didn't exactly know what to expect. He was honestly half-expecting the shield to explode when in contact with the lightning. Maybe even evaporate, leaving them defenseless.

Instead, the water caught the lightning.

He felt like watching it in slow motion; the lightning hitting, curving, and dispersing, until the bolt was no more and the water bubble turned into a pulsating, crackling ball covered by a glowing white net.

"Don't lose focus, Percy!" Ray shouted.

Percy didn't answer, too busy preventing the shield from collapsing and frying them on the bridge instead. His control was split, as well, trying to get the shield to keep up with Ray's speed.

There was a moment's lapse in the assault, as though the storm spirit was confused. But it didn't last long, and a second bolt blasted through the air.

And just like the first strike, the second ended up absorbed by the shield.

"Yeah!" Grover cried out. His sound was muffled by the intense crackling sounds around them. "You go, Percy!"

"Percy, can you get a clear shot?" Annabeth demanded loudly, to be heard over the noise.

"What?"

"Can you or can you not get a clear shot at the storm spirit?!"

"Are you crazy?!" Percy shouted back, not looking back, hands still held up.

"Maybe she is, but she may have a point!" Ray joined in. "If you throw the shield back at the storm spirit…!"

"Turning it into the Lightning Bomb!" Grover gasped. "Just like you and Thalia did against that giant!"

A third lightning struck the shield, and it, too, joined the others.

"What giant?!" Percy, of course, had no idea what Grover talking about.

"Just throw it, Percy!" Annabeth yelled.

"Do it!" Ray ordered.

Oh, what the hell, Percy thought. Gathering his wits and focus, he ordered the shield to jump. He thrust his hand, and the giant ball of lightning and water launched itself into the thundercloud.

But, considering his aim was trash, the shield-turned-bomb just sailed harmlessly past the spirit.

"NO!" Percy screamed.

"Grover hold the wheel!" Ray roared. Grover immediately jumped and held the steering wheel, as Ray held out a hand to the sky and glared.

Like a weird, bulbous frisbee, the giant bomb stopped and flew back, slamming itself into the back of the spirit, the moment it was preparing another bolt.

Ray clenched his fists, and the Lightning Bomb condensed into a small sphere… and exploded.

Percy's ears rang at the noise, and he clenched at them. He saw that the others did the same, though Ray cupped his hands over Grover's instead of his own. The blast wave almost blew the RV, but with nothing more than a surprised yelp, Grover held the car in place, even though he swerved slightly. Shakily, Percy took a peek through the back windows.

The last bits of the storm cloud had dispersed, and traces of lightning lingered in the air. The spirit was gone.

No one said anything. His ears were still ringing, and soon they began crackling for some reason.

He watched as Grover tugged the back of Ray's hoodie without a word. Ray just nodded, grabbing back the wheel and sitting down. He pressed a button somewhere on his right, and the crinkling sound came back.

Silently, now camouflaged again, Big Harley rushed to the end of the bridge. The cluster of people watching the bridge failed to see the giant RV driving past them, entering Wrightsville.