A/N: There's a poll on my profile I'd love you all to take a gander at. I'm fascinated by the results so far. And it will influence what I write in the future.
The reference/quote last time was from Mystery Science Theater 3000, Episode 421, Monster A-Go Go. Gypsy talks with Crow T. Robot about how she doesn't "get him," leading Crow to try to guess what about himself Gypsy doesn't "get" for roughly a minute and a half. Then she says it might be Tom Servo she "doesn't get," to which Crow replies, "Oh, brother! Like a Zippo lighter without any flint, I can't believe it," as he walks away. Then Tom Servo walks into frame, leading to the following conversation:
Gypsy: "Tom?"
Tom Servo: "Yo."
Gypsy: "I don't get you."
Tom Servo: "Nobody does. I'm the wind, baby."
Anyway, The Hootsman is in first place for guessing where the quote was but not what it was from, with 50 points. Diavo gets an amount of points for guessing where the quote was, but I don't know how many points exactly because they still haven't replied to my PM so I don't know if hints were used. Then there's blasterdog, with a self proclaimed 1 point, who seems to be keen on confusing the heck out of me in their PMs.
Disclaimer: This is a fan-made work using characters and settings primarily from "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" by Rick Riordan. This work is not intended to infringe on the copyright of any existing work.
15: Blackjack Nearly Gets Percy Killed
or
Zoë Adopts a Second Child
Percy didn't remember walking back to his Cabin, but that's where he woke up the next morning, so he guessed he must have just been really tired and forgot about it. He hadn't had a demigod dream in a long time. He didn't have one that night, either.
He packed up his things: a bag with ambrosia, an extra knife, eight bottles filled with seawater, a bunch of drachma, and cash, too. His shield-watch was on his arm, and his new sword, which had no name as-of-yet, was on his hip. He was ready to go.
He left his cabin just before dawn, and found Zoë still in her cabin with his water sense.
He couldn't really differentiate other people besides Zoë, but there was one signature in the Zeus cabin and one signature in the Athena Cabin, so he guessed that Thalia and Annabeth were still sleeping.
Thinking for a second, he went to Thalia's and knocked on the door.
He heard muffled cursing as Thalia stomped over to meet her guest. She looked like Hades, and growled, "What do you—" before she realized who it was.
"Oh. Hi, Percy. What is it?" she asked, not angrily, but still very irritated.
"I came to say goodbye."
Thalia seemed to take that a weird way.
"You're—you're leaving?! Why?! What for?!" she shouted hoarsely, her eyes wide in disbelief.
"For the quest? You were at the meeting," Percy said inquisitively.
Thalia calmed down and shook her head. "Oh. Oh, right. The quest. Sorry, I'm… I must still be half-asleep."
"It's fine. I just wanted to see you before I left. There's a chance that… I won't come back, after all."
Thalia thought about it for a second, before hugging him. "When you do come back, I won't be allowed to do that anymore."
Percy smiled at her confidence. "I'll see you, then, Thalia."
"Good-bye, Percy."
Taking a trip to Cabin Six for Annabeth, Percy found the door opened to him the instant he knocked—which he had expected to happen, more or less. What with her water signature standing directly behind the door, and everything.
Annabeth shoved her Yankee's cap in his hands before he got a word in edgewise.
"I had a dream," she explained.
"Um, okay. Need to talk about it?"
Annabeth looked very much like she was going to say yes, but then didn't. "No. It was… weird, even by our standards. But you'll need my hat. Something very, very bad will happen if you don't have it."
"Um, okay. Thanks, Annabeth."
"Stay safe, Seaweed Brain. I know you can do this."
Annabeth hesitated before she quickly hugged Percy, then squeaked "Good-bye!" and slammed the door in his face.
Percy looked at the cap while he waited for Annabeth's water signature to stop moving around.
Next up… was Lily. But he had to get Zoë for that.
Percy walked over to the Artemis Cabin just as Zoë walked out of it, like she knew he was coming. While she looked a little more kempt than last night, her hair neat and her eye-bags gone, her face looked more gaunt, and her complexion even more wan.
She regarded him briefly, before walking toward Cabin Eleven briskly, without waiting to see if he would follow. Even though she did that, she still had to wait for him to go inside. There were boys in there, after all.
Wordlessly, he knocked on the door, and a bleary-eyed Travis opened it with a, "What the Hades do you want at five in the morning?"
Percy just pushed past the prankster and retrieved the sleeping Lily.
Travis didn't move as he waited to close the door, but he said, "She's been waking up every hour or so and making some noise—saying something, I guess—but there's nothing we can do for her. Sorry, man."
Percy shook his head before walking out, leaving with a, "'S fine," that he didn't really mean.
When he reached Zoë, he gently woke Lily up.
"Percy? Zoë?" the girl asked as she rubbed her eyes cutely before she stretched and yawned.
"Yep," Percy answered succinctly.
Lily raised her arms and said, "Zoë."
Zoë picked her up and rubbed her back without a word.
In fact, there were not many words shared during the goodbye.
When Zoë finally put the girl down, she looked her in the eyes, volcanic so-dark-brown-they-looked-black ones against fiery purple-so-deep-they-looked-black ones, and said. "We shall return."
Lily nodded.
Percy knelt down and hugged her one more time, saying, "We'll be back soon. Be a good girl for us while we're gone, okay, Lily? Be a good girl for… for Percy and Zoë."
He almost said "Mommy and Daddy," but managed to avoid it at the last second. Gods, how had he gone from an older brother to a dad in the span of a day? This felt unreal.
He was startled out of his thoughts when he heard not one, but two new words come out of Lily's mouth.
"Bring Mommy back," she said slowly, like she was unsure. When Percy didn't respond, she said it again, more forcefully. "Bring Mommy back!"
So this was what she was doing at night? Practicing to say that? Oh gods, this wasn't fair. How could a heart feel so much warmth and pain at the same time?
Just as he had been pulling away, he rushed to grab Lily again, hiding his tears by putting his head beside hers. He repeated, "I will, I will."
He murmured by her ear, "I'll definitely bring her back, safe and sound. Okay, Lily? I'll bring her back, so have fun while we're gone, okay? We'll just be gone a week, and then we'll come right back, okay?"
Lily nodded and started crying, too, but she didn't know why, exactly.
When they parted, he stood up and said, "I love you, Lily. I'll be back. Soon. We both will."
Lily managed to smile and said, "Lily all love Percy Zoë, big big big no all!"
Percy braced himself and smiled back. "We love you more than anything in the whole wide world, too."
Zoë didn't verbally agree, but she nodded her head. Then she repeated the only thing she had said all morning. "We shall return."
She added, "And you should return to sleep, Liliana."
Percy nodded. "I know you were up all night practicing. I'm proud of you for learning new words on your own, but you must be so tired. Get back to bed now. We'll be back before you know it."
Lilly nodded sleepily, before laying yet another new word on the immortal pair. "Bye-bye!"
"Bye-bye!" Percy waved back.
"Farewell, Liliana," Zoë echoed the sentiment more formally.
When the girl was finally back in her Cabin, Percy and Zoë turned to face each other.
"I sent the Ophiotaurus with my father to Atlantis. There it should stay, until the council meeting."
Zoë nodded.
"Perhaps we should head to the stables?" Percy asked. "I don't know if Blackjack can carry both of us very far."
Zoë shook her head 'no.' "No need. I have a spell to halve our weight. The pegasus shall not be overburdened."
Percy's eyebrows shot up. "Wow, that sounds really useful!"
Zeo shook her head again. "It is far less useful than thou might first believe. It cannot be used in combat, and can only be cast on oneself. It places a great strain upon the body."
She explained to Percy how to cast the spell, and they both cast it on themselves. Apparently Percy was lighter, but he felt nearly twice as heavy as before. It wouldn't be much help in fighting, he supposed.
"Half!"
"Half!"
Percy summoned Blackjack with a mighty cab whistle that probably woke up the whole camp. Oops.
Hey, Boss! You called?
Percy looked at the jet-black pegasus when he realized the problem. If he and Zoë both rode Blackjack… they'd have to sit rather close together.
"I did. I'm going on a quest and we need the fastest Pegasus around."
Blackjack whinnied proudly, and you didn't have to be telepathic to understand that much.
Well, you called the right horse for the job, Boss. Where we headed?
"Not so fast. I also need her with me," Percy gestured to Zoë.
Oh. Is she… heavy?
"No, not really. In fact, both of us are only half-weight. It should be even lighter than you're used to carrying, actually."
Then what's the problem? You and your girl can hop right on, Boss! No problem!
Percy had gotten used to Blackjack calling him 'Boss'—it was miles ahead of 'Uncle' as was technically the case—but he was definitely not used to hearing Zoë referred to as 'his girl.'
"Her name is Zoë Nightshade, not… what you said. That's the problem. Do you think you could call Porkpie or Guido?"
Those guys? No way! I can handle both of you, no problem, Boss! Honest!
"I don't doubt that, but that's not the problem. She's a Huntress of Artemis."
Wassat?
"They don't like men."
So what? It's just a ride, not that big a deal, right, Boss?
Zoë was getting impatient. So far, Perseus had just been looking at the Pegasus and talking to it, and not getting on it and it was starting to make her mad.
All she'd heard was:
"I did. I'm going on a quest and we need the fastest Pegasus around."
"Not so fast. I also need her with me."
"No, not really. In fact, both of us are only half-weight. It should be even lighter than you're used to carrying, actually."
"Her name is Zoë Nightshade, not… what you said. That's the problem. Do you think you could call Porkpie or Guido?"
"I don't doubt that, but that's not the problem. She's a Huntress of Artemis."
"They don't like men."
Finally, she'd had enough.
"We are wasting time!" she spat venomously. "Get on!"
Percy got on.
Finally.
Zoë moved to get on herself, but she'd never ridden a pegasus before in her life. It had been fifteen hundred years since she'd ridden a regular horse, and she didn't remember exactly how to do it.
Percy proffered his hand.
She stared at it for a good, long while.
But she took it.
Finally.
Percy pulled her up behind him and she instantly realized what he had been talking about with the pegasus.
She couldn't avoid being practically pressed up against him. There just wasn't enough room. Any further back and she wouldn't be able to get her legs on either side of the creature's body. And there was no way to ride a flying horse side saddle.
So she was stuck. There was maybe an inch between them, and she was about to start hyperventilating. She'd never been this close to a man before. Never. She hadn't even touched Herakles, and now Perseus was an inch away from her.
And then a few seconds later, he wasn't an inch away from her anymore. He was about an inch closer than that.
They started climbing into the sky, and Zoë had to grab onto Percy to avoid being thrown off. Her fingers started itching for her knife, but she fought off the impulse.
So now they were pressed up against each other, close. No space between his back and her front. It seemed like every time Zoë tried to scoot back a little, the pegasus would do a weird maneuver and she'd be forced to grab back on again. And every time, her fingers twitched, but it was more instinct than anything.
She felt like she was going to be sick.
It wasn't because of the flying.
It wasn't even because she was pressed up against Percy.
No, she felt totally comfortable holding onto Percy. She didn't feel threatened, or embarrassed, or disgusted. She didn't feel nauseated at all. She didn't like it, it wasn't enjoyable, but it was fine. She was fine with it.
And that's what made her feel sick. Because she didn't feel sick, and she should.
She didn't enjoy the contact at all, she kept reminding herself, but she certainly didn't hate it. And by Artemis, that scared her.
She thought she heard Percy telling the pegasus to head for the Smithsonian, but she couldn't be sure. The wind in her ears was very, very loud.
Eventually, she gave up trying to separate herself from Percy. What would be the point? An inch or two would make no difference. She wouldn't suddenly start hating the feeling of his body next to hers if she managed to get a little further away. No one would be there to admonish her or call her… those things they'd called her, if she didn't get further away. Artemis would understand. She had no feelings for Perseus, and she wouldn't suddenly get them if she held her body to his for too long. She didn't have to prove anything to anyone, so she didn't.
She let herself relax as she pressed her face against his upper back (to keep the wind from stinging her eyes, of course). Even as far up his body as her ear was, his heartbeat rippled through him every time his heart pumped, and she heard it. Even in her position, she clearly heard his powerful heartbeat, its rhythm steady and slow.
Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum.
Her own racing heart slowly returned to its normal rhythm. Zoë tried not to notice that it beat at precisely the same slow and steady pace as Percy's. She tried even harder not to think about how they were exactly in sync.
She tried not to think of anything at all, really. It seemed like nothing was going right in her life.
Artemis was captured. Her father was free. Her sisters in the Hunt were starting to hate her because of how close they felt she was with Percy. That damn prophecy—why'd it have to phrase it like that, huh? Immortal pair, her foot!
Not to mention this boy, who Artemis told her was actually a man, and that she had some kind of mystical connection to, had told her all about the fate of the world and his whole fantastical story that the Styx confirmed was absolutely true.
Worst of all, he loved her. 'Growing feelings' was obviously not sufficient to describe how he felt about her. He was obviously crazy about her. And she actually felt bad for him. Because his love for her was hurting him. Bah!
He was nothing but respectful to her. He told her he never expected her to feel the same way. Just accepted his fate. How was she supposed to feel about that?
To top it all off, there was Liliana. A girl she had rapidly developed immense feelings for. In the span of a day, she had become a mother. She'd always acted like a mother to her sisters in the Hunt, but that was only metaphorical. Liliana, on the other hand, had actually chosen her as a mother figure.
Cries for "Mommy" still rang in her ears, each time like being poked in the heart with a sewing needle.
But Liliana couldn't join the Hunt, because she'd have to leave Percy, her father figure. Even if Zoë survived this quest and came back to Lily, she'd have to leave again right away. It just wasn't fair.
Nothing was going right in her life.
But none of that mattered up here. Up here, it was just her and Percy. They were doing their duty, but she didn't have to actually do anything right now.
She tried to let her mind rest as she leaned against Percy. She let her worries float away into the air rushing past them.
She'd get them back once they landed, she decided.
Percy couldn't help but obey the cranky Zoë when she ordered him to get on Blackjack.
Even if he knew it was a bad idea, it was her bad idea, so he thought, 'Why not? Why not? What's the worst that could happen? Zoë stabs me in the dick? Big deal. I'll just restart.'
You're so light, Boss!
Percy didn't bother responding to that.
He saw Zoë look at Blackjack with a furrowed brow, so he guessed she wasn't used to riding pegasi. He gave her his hand, and after she eventually took it, he pulled her up.
Wow, she's light, too! Where we headed, Boss?
Percy didn't remember telling Blackjack to go south. He was much too distracted with the sensation of Zoë an inch from his back.
And then when Blackjack took off, and Zoë's slender hands snaked around his waist to hold him firmly?
Yeah, he wasn't getting much thinking done.
Not only were her hands around his waist, but her… ahem, chest, was pushing up against his back. It wasn't big. No, it was really quite small, actually. But it was hers.
The only thing that kept him from "developing a situation" was thinking of the pain and suffering he was causing her. Yeah, that calmed him down pretty quick. Obviously not a sadist.
Blackjack was not improving the situation.
Every time Zoë started pulling away and Percy started breathing heavy sighs of relief, Blackjack would maneuver pointlessly, and then she'd be back up on him.
Gods, this was agony!
The woman he loved was pressed up against him, but not only was it not because she returned his feelings, which she never would, but it was also probably causing her just as immense pain as he was feeling! Gods, why are you doing this, Blackjack?!
Percy didn't know that Zoë actually just felt a little queasy because she didn't hate it as much as she wanted to.
And then, when she put her head on his upper back, she didn't even feel queasy anymore. She was relaxed.
Percy was not relaxed.
"Oh gods, why are you doing that, Zoë?! Are you trying to kill me?! I know you don't care about me, but think about the way I feel for a second here, please! Do you know how hard it is to convince myself you feel nothing for me when you do something like this?! I think I'm gonna have a heart attack! Oh, fine, if it's more comfortable that way."
Percy's heart was in trouble, but it didn't speed up. It had stopped really doing that. Instead, when his heart rate would normally be speeding up, nowadays it stayed the same speed, but pumped much harder proportionally. He just hoped Zoë couldn't hear his heart through his neck.
He had no such luck, of course.
He spent his time looking for a specific black sedan with a certain monster inside it, which he realized was actually unbelievably hard, now that he was trying to do it.
Percy thought that if Thorn was trying to follow the questers, he would have stayed near camp until he realized they had already left, and not in a van. He had Blackjack slow way down, and eventually he spotted Thorn, driving slower than Zoë had originally, but still faster than the rest of the highway traffic.
"Follow that car, Blackjack!"
Got it, Boss!
Percy's only reprieve from the awkwardness of Zoë leaning on him was the rest stop in Maryland, that Thorn somehow also stopped at. He jumped off Blackjack ten feet in the air and ran to buy some apples or something at the convenience store.
Zoë just stretched and took a bottle of water out of her bag. She didn't even get off Blackjack to do it.
When Percy came back and fed Blackjack the apples, Zoë had slowly slid into the position Percy had been in.
He looked at where she was sitting and said, "Do you want to sit in the front?"
Zoë thought about what that meant this time, instead of jumping to conclusions. If she was in front, Percy would be behind her. Percy would need to put his hands on her waist and pull her close to him. That was simply too much. Holding onto him was one thing, but him holding her? That was definitely not okay.
"Absolutely not," she decreed.
"Okay. Then you'll have to back up, or get off and back on again."
Zoë scooted back, and soon Percy's pain began again.
Blackjack was panting up a storm when he touched down near the Washington Monument, but he was better off than the first time.
"I'm sorry, buddy. But hopefully once we're done here, you won't have to fly so fast anymore. We can take it a little easier."
Easier is good. I like easier.
"Thought you would. Stay here."
Percy looked at Zoë, whose moonlight glow was back in full force, and her coppery complexion had almost returned to normal. Gods be praised.
"I'll head to Natural History, and… I don't know what you should do, Zoë. The Lion should be around here somewhere, but I don't know where."
"I shall follow thee. We should not split up. If we end up separated, this quest is as good as over," Zoë decided.
"Alright. Let's go, then."
The pair followed Thorn—who looked like he hadn't fully healed from the pounding Percy had delivered him—to the Museum of Natural History.
Zoë loitered in the shadows while Percy followed Thorn inside the building.
If Thorn looked worse than the original, Luke looked much better. Percy guessed that meant he had never been forced to take the sky. Luke was watching Thorn struggle with sadistic glee, his arms folded comfortably.
"Well?" Atlas boomed once Thorn made it inside.
"I do not know where they are, General," Thorn admitted with his bizarre French accent.
"That much is obvious," the General mocked. "How many are there?"
"I… think there are only two," Thorn said awkwardly, as if he knew this was not satisfactory.
"You think?" Atlas repeated incredulously. "You are on thin ice with me, Thorn. I send you for a child of the three elder gods, and you come back on the brink of death with just a little girl of unknown blood to show for it. If she hadn't turned out to be what we wanted, you…"
Thorn gulped as Atlas took his thumb and pointed it downward.
"Now, I'll ask just one more time, you pitiful excuse for a manticore. How many are there?"
"T-two," Thorn stuttered. "The son of the sea and the eldest Huntress! But no one has seen them since the morning. We do not know where they are."
The General grinned. "We don't need to know where they are."
He looked at the bandaged Dr. Thorn and frowned. "Go feed the Lion!"
Yes! The Nemean Lion!
Percy followed the frightened Thorn out of the room, catching the General asking if a soldier had the teeth before the door closed.
He watched as Thorn grabbed a giant uncooked steak that looked like it came straight from a cartoon out of an industrial refrigerator filled with the things. He followed behind as Thorn entered a different room, which was obviously the Nemean Lion's new den, if the blood spattered floor and walls had anything to say about it.
He had expected most of this, more or less.
Percy had not expected Thorn to shout, "Tina, you fat lard, come get some dinner! Tina, eat. Eat the food. Eat the food!"
He laughed out loud. He couldn't help it. If a man covered in bandages, holding a giant slab of meat, yells with a French accent, "Tina, you fat lard, come get some dinner," when it's barely noon, and you don't laugh? Well, then, you're not Percy Jackson.
Thorn dropped the meat and whipped around toward the sound of the laughter, as 'Tina' came into the light of the room for the food.
Percy didn't have much to say before he cut off Thorn's head with his new sword.
"Yup, definitely well balanced."
Percy looked at the Nemean Lion named Tina who was eating the comically sized T-bone steak.
"Sorry," he said softly, but Tina didn't respond.
He opened a still invisible bottle of sea water, and when he willed the water out, it seemed to have left the auspices of the invisibility cap, as it turned visible once more.
The Lion's mouth was open as it ate.
"Sorry," Percy repeated.
He willed around half of the water out of the bottle and into the Lion's mouth, and he took no pleasure in obliterating the internal organs of the beast.
He forced the water to expand and spin rapidly, pushing it throughout Tina's body. The first thing he destroyed were the vocal cords, so no one even heard it happening. When he was finished, the only thing left was Tina's pelt.
"Sorry," he said for the third time.
It was not a noble end for the beast. It was dangerous, and he needed its pelt, true, but he didn't imagine this method of monster slaying to be so… brutal. It was disgusting, even.
He put the pelt on, but he couldn't see what it turned into, as he was still invisible. He rushed back to the main room, where the skeletons had already sniffed a Huntress's sash.
Oops.
He ran out of the room, not waiting for anyone to open the door for him, and set off the alarm, full force. But he didn't have time to think about that.
He ran out of the building, and saw Zoë, who was kneeling on the ground for some reason.
He whistled for Blackjack as he ran towards Zoë. Pulling off his cap just as he reached her, he finally saw what was going on.
There was a cardboard box filled with kittens next to her, and a mercenary out cold next to the box. Inside the box were eleven orange tabby kittens all playing with each other, with black tiger stripes on their backs. There was one kitten on Zoë's lap, playing with her outstretched fingers curiously.
Oh.
He'd forgotten to tell her about the mercenary's mistake with the saber-tooth tiger teeth, and how instead of skeletons, they'd accidentally grown cats the first time. He hadn't told her a lot of things, actually. The things he deemed unimportant, or didn't remember fully.
Whatever, there was no time!
"Drop the cat, Zoë! We gotta go, now!" Percy shouted frantically.
Zoë shot to her feet like a rocket, her eyes wide.
Blackjack took just another second to drop down, during which time Percy realized Zoë was holding onto the fluffy little tabby, but couldn't actually say anything about it.
The pair hurriedly cast "Half!" before jumping onto Blackjack.
This time, Zoë was in front, and Percy was in back. As they took off, Zoë warned, "Touch me and I shall gut thee, pig."
Percy exhaled through his nose. "Blackjack, take us into the clouds! Head southwest!"
But Boss, I hate doing that! Those things are nothing but freezing wetness!
"It'll be fine! We need to hide!"
Whatever you say! You're the boss!
Just as Blackjack ascended, Percy saw the skeletons burst out of the museum.
Boss! That Zoë chick is gonna kill me with her squeezing!
"Zoë, you're holding on too tight with your legs. You're hurting Blackjack. Loosen up a bit."
Unlike Thalia, Zoë had no problems loosening up in the sky. She was just inexperienced, not scared.
Here we go!
Blackjack dove into a cloud, but was pleasantly surprised to find himself completely dry. Percy was straining his power just trying to control the cloud this finely.
He'd always been more Stormbringer than Earthshaker, but this was pushing it, big time. If it was a storm cloud, that would be one thing. But it wasn't. And trying to control the water in the cloud was similarly difficult, as it was bonded to dust particles and more sky than sea, really.
Finally, Percy decided it was far enough, and told Blackjack to head beneath the clouds to see where they were. He couldn't really tell, but no one seemed to be following them, so that was good enough.
"Alright, Blackjack. Don't push yourself too hard, but keep us moving. We're on a schedule."
Having received the pegasus's neigh as an answer, Percy turned to quality of life control. Zoë was already shivering—even though Huntresses were normally quite resistant to cold weather. Hmm.
Percy formed a kind of water windshield in front of Zoë. It wasn't perfect, but it kept the wind from getting too bad. Zoë quickly stopped shivering.
"You have my thanks," she told him.
"No problem."
Pretty soon, he heard strange noises coming from Zoë.
"Hm."
"Mmm."
"M-m."
"Un."
"Sh!"
"Kh!"
"Hm."
After several minutes, Percy couldn't handle the curiosity. He took a chance and leaned over Zoë's shoulder to see what was going on.
The orange kitten was nestled within Zoë's half zipped Huntress parka, looking up at her with pale yellow eyes. Zoë would extend a finger, the kitty would grab at it, and then Zoë would make a certain noise. Every so often, the kitten would bite her finger, but not hard enough to draw blood, and Zoë would either let out a sharp exhale from her mouth with a "sh" beginning or a "kh" beginning.
"What… are you doing?" Percy asked carefully.
Zoë ignored him, offering her finger to the tiger-like kitten, who batted at it playfully.
"M-m," Zoë made a weird noise.
This happened a few times before Zoë finally answered him.
"I am helping her train."
Percy blinked a few times, like he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Uhh… Train for what?"
Zoë extended a finger from both hands and the kitty went crazy trying to bat them both at the same time.
"Un," she vocalized for the cat. To Percy, she said, "Train to fight."
"You're teaching a newborn kitten how to fight," Percy confirmed.
Zoë shook her head. "This kitten is three months old. But I am teaching her to fight, yes."
Percy sighed through his nose. Why does Zoë keep... adopting things she'll have to say goodbye to?
"The kittens in that box back there were all grown from saber-tooth tiger teeth, just as the skeletons chasing us were grown from the teeth of Sybaris. They were born a few minutes before you found them, I imagine."
"You did not mention this before. Is it a new occurrence?" Zoë asked curiously.
"No, it's not. It happened the first time. I just forgot about it, 'cause those kittens never, ah, came up again, after that. It's been like a hundred years since I saw them last."
Zoë made her noise that could mean anything. "Hm."
Then the kitty bit her finger and she breathed out, "Kh!"
Percy asked, "Why did you pick this one up?"
Zoë blinked as she thought of what had happened.
A man barged out of the Museum of Natural History like the hounds of Hades were hot on his heels, carrying a large cardboard box. As chance would have it, the man turned and ran in Zoë's direction.
"Halt!" Zoë called out, but the guy didn't respond, so she knocked his legs out from under him and caught him with a haymaker on the way down, laying him out flat.
She caught the box with ease, and was surprised to find a dozen cute kittens on the inside, all wrestling each other.
She smiled.
She placed the box down beside her, before she noticed one kitten that wasn't playing with the others.
She watched carefully for a few moments.
She knelt by the box to watch closer. "Hey there, little one. Thy siblings do not care for thee overmuch, do they? You are just like me."
The kitten seemed to know Zoë was talking to it. It stood up on its hind legs and put its paws up on the side of the box so it could look at the woman speaking to it.
"Do not despair, little one. I am sure thou shalt find a new home, with new sisters who care for thee. Just as I did."
The kitten mewed at her.
"Just for a little, but then I must say farewell," Zoë compromised with the tabby as she lifted it carefully out of the box, noting as she did that the kitten was indeed female.
She placed the kitty on her lap, and offered a finger for her to sniff. And sniff the kitten did, before touching it with her paw.
"Thou shouldst learn to protect thyself," Zoë suggested.
"Mew," the kitten agreed.
"Drop the cat, Zoë! We gotta go, now!" Percy yelled, and Zoë picked up the kitten instinctively as she stood.
Zoë blinked again. "She was my favorite."
"I see," Percy said, but he didn't really see. The cat was absolutely adorable, huddled under Zoë's parka, but it was a kitten. They couldn't protect it on this quest, no matter how freaking cute it was.
"Can I ask why you're training it to fight?" Percy asked cautiously.
"Her," Zoë corrected.
"Sorry, 'her.' Can I ask why you're training her to fight?" Percy asked again.
"She should know how to defend herself," Zoë explained, as if that was somehow obvious.
Percy couldn't bring himself to argue. Zoë had to know that she couldn't keep that kitten forever, right? So why make her sad by bringing it up?
"I'm sure she'll make a fine warrior," he eventually decided on saying.
"She shall be a fine battle-maiden," Zoë argued.
Percy looked down. "Zoë, I'm not sure a cat is capable of practicing abstinence, or even comprehending it."
Zoë repeated, "She shall be a fine battle-maiden."
"Alright," Percy had no choice but to agree. "She'll make a fine battle-maiden, then."
"Yes," Zoë said plainly. "Now, cease thy noise. Chloe is trying to sleep."
"Gods, preserve me. She's already named it," Percy thought. "She's named it Chloe. An Ancient Greek name, just like hers… and mine, I guess."
It took a day and a half to get to their next stop: Cloudcroft, New Mexico—they were way behind schedule. Blackjack was more of a sprinter, and less of a marathon runner, so he had to stop for a few minutes frequently or he'd crash and burn. They only really stopped stopped one time, at a mall in Arkansas.
Percy used the time to go to the bathroom and eat, and definitely not to "relieve" himself so he didn't go fucking insane from being in constant contact with a gorgeous woman he was desperately in love with but wasn't allowed to touch. No, that was certainly not what he was using the hour they'd left themselves to do.
Zoë used the time to buy a month's supply of kitten chow for Chloe. Chloe had taken to sleeping in the hood of Zoë's Huntress parka, when she wasn't inside of it, training (read: playing) with Zoë.
In a mall parking lot, Percy took off Tina's pelt, and it transformed from the brown duster he'd gotten used to wearing back into the fur that it actually was.
Zoë just looked at, not reaching out to take it. Chloe popped her tiny kitten head out of the parka, curiously looking at the weird man who'd been next to her for what amounted to practically her whole life.
"Apparently, its name was Tina," Percy announced as he held out the pelt.
Zoë still didn't say anything.
"Mew," Chloe meowed.
"I agree. He is a fool."
"Are you serious?" Percy couldn't help but ask. "You're ganging up on me with a damned kitten, now?"
Zoë's eyes flashed dangerously as she put her hand on her cat's head. "Chloe Nightshade is not damned, Perseus Jackson. You shall take that back, or I shall take it back for thee."
Percy's eyes nearly escaped his skull. "When did she get your surname?!"
"About the time you called her 'damned!'" Zoë whisper-shouted. "Now, take it back!"
Percy sighed in exasperation. "Zoë, I'm worried about you—"
"Take it back!" Zoë angrily interrupted.
"Fine! I take it back!" Percy nearly shouted. "Chloe's not damned. You are! You can't protect her on this quest, Zoë! We'll be fighting a fucking Titan! If you try to protect that cat, she'll be the end of you!"
He breathed heavily, and his eyes were filled with pain, not anger.
"Can't you see that?" he added miserably.
"Mew!" Chloe meowed loudly.
"Absolutely correct, Chloe," Zoë answered her kitten, and not Percy.
"Fine, I'll bite," Percy gave in after just a moment of waiting. "What did she say?"
Zoë turned aside with an incredibly childish, "Hmph!"
It sounded extremely cute to Percy. But that didn't stop it from being extremely annoying, as well. Zoë could be such a little kid when she wanted to. That was why he hadn't realized how old she was at first, when he originally saw her. She was distraught by Artemis's capture and acted irritably and childishly for several days.
Kind of like how she was acting right now. Was this kitten really that important?
"Seriously, what did Chloe say?" Percy asked again.
Zoë rubbed Chloe's head gently and said in an overly polite tone, "That, I believe, is none of thy beeswax."
Percy closed his eyes, pinched his glabella—the skin between the eyebrows—and let out a long sigh. He felt like he'd been doing it more and more lately. Even still, he smiled at the joke. His smile turned sad as he gazed into the Huntress's eyes.
"Look, I'm sorry, Zoë. I didn't mean to upset you."
Zoë pressed her lips together and shook her head. If Percy had to guess, he'd say that she wanted to forgive him, but couldn't do it. She practically confirmed this belief when she said, "But you meant thy words. So it is no apology I care to accept."
Percy's heart squeezed and he tried to explain. "I just don't want to lose you, Zoë—"
"Thou shalt lose me!" Zoë snapped violently, and Chloe mewed in fright. This was the first time Zoë had actually become upset during this 'fight.'
As Zoë rubbed Chloe's head to calm her down, she continued with a more subdued tone. "You will lose me, Perseus. There are no two ways about it. Once this quest is over, I will either go back to the Hunt, and never see you again, or… I'll be dead. There is no way to keep me."
"I know that, Zoë," Percy admitted. "I wouldn't want to take you from the Hunt even if I had the chance. But, I…"
Zoë looked expectantly and Chloe mewed.
"I can't let you die."
"Foolish," Zoë admonished seriously. He could tell she really meant it, too.
Percy looked at her with hurt clouding his eyes and said, "What if you die, and then I accidentally beat Kronos, huh? What then? You'll be dead, forever! I don't care if you're never with me! I don't care if I never get to see you! Even if you'll never love me, I love you, damn it, and I don't want you to die, alright?!"
Percy breathed heavily as he thought about what he just said.
Oops. He'd always referred to his feelings for her as 'being in love with her' or 'having love for her,' but he'd never come out and said, 'I love you.' That was kind of a big bomb to drop.
Zoë took several steady breaths as emotions flitted across her face too fast for Percy to keep track of. But none of them looked good. Towards the end, she looked as if she might be sick. After she schooled her expression, she spoke, and as Percy expected, she completely avoided mentioning the L word and changed the topic entirely.
"Just give me the pelt, Perseus," Zoë demanded tiredly.
Percy obliged, and when Zoë covered herself in it, it turned into a golden-brown traveling cloak that covered Zoë's whole body, with a stylish fur lining. It looked like it came straight out of Lord of the Rings, or something. It even had a large hood in the back for Chloe, made of only the softest and poofiest fur.
The kitten in question soon found her way to the front opening of the cloak, sticking her furry head out underneath Zoë's chin.
"It looks like it was made for you. Why didn't it ever look that cool when I wore it?" Percy asked grumpily, but it was obviously a playful grumpiness.
Zoë answered in a breath, "Because you are a typical male dimwit who never thought to imagine what he wanted it to look like before he put it on."
Chloe mewed twice in agreement.
"Quite," Zoë responded to her kitten.
"How was I supposed to know to do that?" Percy whined.
Zoë raised one eyebrow. "Are you certain you wish for me to answer thee?"
"No," Percy conceded.
Zoë made her noise. "Hm."
Percy whistled for Blackjack, and they were off again. Zoë had sat up front every time since the first, and Percy believed it was so Zoë had more room for the kitten. He wasn't exactly wrong, but he wasn't totally right, either.
The two spoke amicably—more or less—en route to New Mexico after that. They just ignored what had been said during their quarrel. Which wasn't exactly healthy for a relationship—but they didn't have a relationship. Not a normal one, anyway.
Blackjack let the two—three, if you count the cat—off by the WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT, NEW MEXICO sign.
"Well," Percy started to say. "Let's go get mauled by a boar, shall we?"
A/N: So, how was that? A little action for you, but not much, I know. Still, the quest is now underway, and the status quo is changing with it. I also seem to have an "adorable character who only certain characters can understand" streak a mile wide. Chloe and Zoe are ancient greek names, by the way. I'm always surprised by that. Then again, common english names are also thousands of years old, because they're biblical. You know, normal stuff, like David, John, Adam, and Ezekiel.
There were a few references this time, one very easy, no hints, 10 points. 5 if you know where it is but not what it's from. The other, extraordinarily difficult, with no points for guessing where it is without knowing what it's from. 1000 points if you get the hard one with no hints. And I'll send you a sneak preview of the next chapter in a PM.
Hint 1: It's from a YouTube series. 500 points.
Hint 2: It's from a FunHaus video. 250 points.
Hint 3: It's from a Demo Disk. (A series with nearly two hundred ~15 minute episodes). 100 points.
If you didn't see it at the top, I'm telling you again, there's a poll on my profile page that will heavily influence what new story I post next. I always end up writing whatever strikes my fancy, so voting won't affect the update speed for this story, but I will probably end up posting another update of this as well as a new story on Christmas Day. What that story is is up to you guys.
No spoilers, but I'm extremely proud of the next chapter. It's got something for everybody.