I'm so sorry I haven't been able to update in a while. I'm very busy with school. I'm so sad because no one greeted me for my birthday.:'(

Thanks for the pegasus names. I might use some of them, but they won't appear in this chapter yet. There isn't much Harry Potter in this chapter so I'm sorry to the Harry Potter fans.

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson. Δεν το δικό Περσέα Jackson. Hindi ko pagmamayari si Percy Jackson.

Chapter Nine—Flying on the Talkative Pegasi

Percy's POV

We flew in silence. Thalia closed her eyes and held on to her pegaus very tightly. She was riding a mare whose name I didn't know. I heard the pegasus say Ouch! Because Thalia was digging her nails into the mare's skin and her nails were long and sharp.

Tyson looked very happy with his new friend. He was talking to his pegasus, who I recognized as Rainbow II.

I noticed that all of the pegasi stayed at least 5 feet away from Nico. His own pegasus was complaining in his head. Why do I have to get stuck with this guy? He smells like dead people! He's creeping me out. The others are so lucky…I think his name was Fabio. Then, he started to think of ways to get away from Nico without angering me. His plans usually ended up with Nico hurtling toward the ground and getting squashed. I don't know why he'd think I wont get angry at that. He noticed me staring at him and thought, Oops. I forgot he could hear me. Sorry, my lord! I didn't mean any of those thoughts. I was just joking around. I was trying to be like a child of Athena. They always plan things, right?

Uh, you do know that my dad created horses, right? I asked.

Yes, my lord. He answered.

And you know that my dad's Poseidon. He nodded. Nico looked strangely at his Pegasus. Maybe he thought that Fabio has some sort of disease.

Of course I do!

Did you know that Athena was an enemy of Poseidon?

Yes.

Then… why do you want to be a child of Athena?

I, um…hmm… wait, do you hate the children of Athena? He looked at Annabeth.

No, I don't.

So you like her?

Yes! I mean no, I mean, uh… I heard him neigh, although it sounded more like he was chuckling.

Blackjack was surprisingly quiet. Well, he wasn't really quiet, but he wasn't talking to me so it was still surprising. He was having a conversation with another pegasus. It was Marie. I noticed that she looked a lot like Blackjack. She was a pure-black pegasus with wings like a giant raven. Then I thought 'She's the pegasus that I rescued from Luke's ship!' Blackjack and Marie heard me.

Yes, I'm the Pegasus you rescued, my l—Percy. Thanks for remembering me.

Are you two related? You look alike. I asked.

Yes, he's my brother. Marie said.

Yes, she's my sister. Blackjack said at the same time as Marie.

Okay… So, where are we now? I asked.

We're almost at Delaware. Blackjack answered.

How long have we been flying?

About 12 minutes.

It's a lot faster to ride a pegasus. I remembered my first quest. I remembered the furies, Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium, the Arch… I was thinking so deeply that I didn't notice that Annabeth flew next to me.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain!" I jumped, and I nearly fell off my Pegasus, but luckily Annabeth caught me before I fell.

"Annabeth!" I shouted.

"Aren't you going to say 'thank you'?" she asked.

"'Thank you'? You nearly made me fall off my Pegasus!"

"But I caught you!"

"But if you didn't surprise me, you wouldn't need to catch me."

"I only did that so I could get your attention!"

"Why not just tap me on the shoulder?"

"It would have the same effect. I only said 'Hey, Seaweed Brain' and you jumped. I didn't even shout! There aren't a lot of options to get your attention without you getting surprised, and I didn't know that that would happen!"

"Well, uh… you, um…" I couldn't think of anything to say. Annabeth is a great debater.

"Are you going to thank me now?" she asked.

"Uh… Thank you." I whispered.

"Sorry, I didn't you."

"Thank you!"

"No need to shout! Anyway, we should probably land and let the pegasi rest for a while."

Boss, could you tell her that we don't need to rest yet. We could fly for another ten miles! Blackjack said.

"Blackjack says they don't need to rest yet." I told her.

"Would you want them to rest only when they are too exhausted to stand?" She asked.

"Well, no."

"Then we should land." Blackjack whinnied in protest. "Blackjack—"

Blackjack looked at her with puppy-dog—or should I say foal-horse—eyes. He looked cute, and I'm sure Annabeth would do whatever he wants. If only she could hear what he was thinking…

"Fine! But only for one more mile." Blackjack still looked at her with those eyes.

"Two… alright, five!" Blackjack still wasn't very content with that, but he figured it would be the best he'll get from Annabeth.

I didn't keep track of the time, but I knew it's been only a few minutes. I was still recalling my first quest when we landed. I got off my Pegasus and so did the others. Annabeth went to Thalia and told her that she could open her eyes already. She excitedly got off her pegasus. Fabio really wanted to get away from Nico so he ran to the other pegasi before Nico could even touch the ground. Nico fell on his back and cursed his pegasus.

We landed in a clearing in a forest. I could sense a stream nearby. Some of the pegasi grazed while the others looked for the stream.

"Percy, do you know what's wrong with Thalia?" Nico approached me. His hair had grass, leaves, and soil sticking out. He tried to remove them and fix his hair, but the soil was a bit sticky.

"Uh…" I looked at Thalia. She looked like she was going to throw up. She was sitting beside a tree with her eyes closed. I think she was praying to her dad. I wonder if Zeus could do anything about her fear of heights.

"She looks like she's going to be sick." Nico said.

"It's probably nothing. Maybe she just ate something bad." I replied. I can't tell him Thalia's secret. I promised Thalia.

"Can hunters get food poisoning? I know that they can't get sick, but can they get poisoned?" he asked.

"Don't ask me! I'm not a hunter. You should just ask her."

"Ask who what?" Nico and I jumped. Thalia approached us. She looked a bit better.

"Oh, Nico wanted to ask you if hunters can get food poisoning." I said.

"Umm…" She looked at me questioningly. "I don't think so. I'm not really sure."

"Oh, okay." Nico replied. He walked away.

"Why did he want to know if we can get poisoned?" Thalia asked.

"He noticed that you looked like you were going to throw up. I couldn't tell him your secret so I suggested that you might have eaten something bad." I explained.

"Oh. Okay. Thanks for keeping your promise."

"No problem."

The pegasi went back to the clearing. Yo, boss! Can we go now? We need to exercise our wings.

"Alright, we better get going if we want to get to Las Vegas." I announced. Everyone mounted their pegasus. Thalia didn't want to fly again, but she didn't have a choice. Fabio asked the other pegasi to switch demigods, but none of them wanted to get stuck with Nico. I guess he's stuck with him.

Ready, boss? Blackjack asked.

Let's go! I told him and the other pegasi.

I'm not sure of the states that they will pass through in this quest because I am not American. I'm only relying on my almanac. I also don't know the approximate time it takes to get to Las Vegas. If you know these things, please don't hesitate to tell me.

I'm going to need more characters for the future chapters so here's a contest. The first 5 people who could guess my IQ will be included in my story. Here are the clues to my IQ:

1. It's higher than Eisenhower Holt's (from The 39 Clues) IQ.

2. It's a lot less than Sheldon Cooper's (from The Big Bang Theory) IQ.

3. It is not an odd number.

4. If you add 100 to the number of letters in the Greek alphabet and subtract the number of Heracle's labors, that is not my IQ but you are getting close.

Tell me your guess and please REVIEW!