Act I Chapter XVI: The Demigods Open Up. Slightly.
Percy felt like his life was some kind of punchline. Four demigods gathered in a car and headed off to New York to find a destroyed camp. There was a joke in there somewhere, he just couldn't think of it. He also wished he knew who was writing the punchline.
The only one who legally was allowed to drive was Luke, but both Reyna and Annabeth had different experiences with illegally driving a car. Reyna just muttered she had to do it a few times before. Annabeth told them it was "complicated" and "involved homemade firebombs, three friends, and a very angry monster". Luke had laughed as if he was there.
Percy sighed and filled up his soda once again. The hot dog he had grabbed didn't look particularly appetizing, but when did gas station food ever? His gaze moved to the side. Luke was buying a few energy drinks. Some of it was to stay awake; the rest was because he liked the taste.
Annabeth stood next to Percy and was filling up a soda for herself. She looked to be in a debate about what flavor to get. Percy studied her for a moment and then spoke up, "Make a suicide."
"Suicide?" Annabeth repeated as she looked at Percy. "What is that?"
"I'll show you," Percy offered, and he held his hand out for the cup. Annabeth handed it to him. Percy moved to the soda on the left and placed the cup under for two seconds. Then, he moved to the next soda and did the same. Percy hit each soda across the way only skipping out on the diet soda and randomly placed tea options.
When he looked back at Annabeth, he found that her nose was almost turned up at the drink. Annabeth balked, "That looks disgusting!"
"Try it," Percy persuaded. Annabeth studied him for a moment. Then, she took the cup and stared down at the liquid. Percy offered her a straw. Annabeth declined and slowly took a sip of the drink. When she lowered the cup, there was a frown on her face, and her eyebrows were drawn together.
"It doesn't taste terrible," Annabeth began. She looked at Percy. "Why doesn't it taste terrible?"
"I don't know," Percy admitted with a grin. He placed a lid on his cup and grabbed a straw for himself. Annabeth rolled her eyes, but she didn't pour out her drink. She put the lid on and followed him to the counter. Luke was dumping a few supplies on the counter; mostly food, a lighter, and a map.
Reyna walked up to them holding onto a bag of chips and a drink that had steam coming off of it. Annabeth turned her head, "Coffee?"
"Hot chocolate," Reyna answered. She shrugged. "My weakness."
"Mine too. Only if it has blue marshmallows," Percy added. Annabeth looked at him with confusion.
"Blue?" Reyna questioned.
"It's a tradition my mom and I have," Percy began with a shrug. He averted his gaze for a few moments. "My mom dated this really terrible guy. I called him Smelly Gabe because he smelled like a sewer. Well, they had an argument one day about how food couldn't be blue. My mother decided to defy him by making cookies with blue chocolate chips, blueberry pancakes with blue food coloring, and anything else she could add the food coloring to."
Percy shrugged as he felt his face heat up, "There was one day that she found these blue marshmallows. I don't even know where she found them, but she put them in everything for the next week. Spaghetti and marshmallows don't taste as good as you think."
"It doesn't sound like it would taste good at all," Annabeth commented.
"Smelly Gabe ate the whole pot," Percy declared.
"He couldn't have smelled that bad," Luke argued as he finished paying and turned towards them. They all started walking towards the car that they had "borrowed".
"He did," Percy promised. "He would use my room when I was away at school, and I would come home to the smell of cigarettes, alcohol, and this other smell that I don't even know. It lingered for weeks and was the only thing that I could smell."
"I wonder if she was disguising your scent," Luke commented. Percy looked at him perplexed and tilted his head slightly. "You know how all demigods give off a scent to monsters? It almost sounds like this guy smelled so bad that he overpowered your demigod scent."
Percy stopped walking as Luke got in the driver's seat. Sally knew that he was a demigod, but she didn't stay with Gabe just to protect him, did she? Percy felt his stomach swirl, and he didn't think he would be able to keep down his hot dog.
"You okay?" Reyna asked as she grabbed the door handle but didn't open it. Percy forced himself to nod, and he walked towards the van. He sat in the back seat, and a frown decorated his face. "You don't look okay."
"Do you think Luke is right?" Percy asked quietly as he glanced at Reyna. "Did my mom really stay with an abusive monster just to protect me?"
"I think she had your best interest at heart," Reyna replied honestly. She averted her gaze for a few moments. "The life of a demigod is hard. It's full of tragedy and pain. The longer she could delay you from finding out you were a demigod meant that you had more time to spend with her. To be normal."
Percy nodded, but it didn't do much to make him feel better. He sunk into his seat and nibbled on his hot dog. Annabeth played with the CDs that they had found in the glove compartment. Luke drove quietly, but he did decline or agree to a CD every so often. Reyna stared out the window and looked to be lost in thought.
Percy felt himself shiver as he thought about everything that had happened to him ever since he learned that he was a demigod. It all felt so different now. He didn't know if he would ever go back to school like a normal kid or if he would have to watch his back for monsters every day.
Would he be able to see his mother again? To tell her how grateful he was for everything she did? Percy let out a shaky breath and laid his head back. All he needed to do was calm down, because he would see his mother again. Nothing would stop him from that.
"I can't believe we're actually doing this," Annabeth said suddenly. Percy nearly jumped out of his skin. A sigh left Annabeth, and she twisted in the front seat to look at them. "What do you think Chiron will say?"
"He'll thank us for making his job harder," Percy cut in as he tried to break the building tension in the car. They all knew what they were walking into, but he felt like they all had wildly different expectations of what that actually meant.
Percy had not thought about it. If he did, it would scare him. There also was no reason to make a plan if they didn't know what they were walking into. Finding Camp Half-Blood was the first step. From there, they would try to find the Oracle. If one of those things were not to be found, it would throw any plan that they made out the window.
Good thing Annabeth had already made twenty plans. And it actually was twenty. Percy counted. Because she kept repeating them the entire ride to the gas station. The plans weren't that detailed either, so every fifty words felt like they were repeated every ten minutes.
The drive to the general direction of Camp Half-Blood's remains was not a long one. It would only take a few hours. After looking at a map, Percy suggested taking a train or a bus and was promptly shut down by Annabeth and Luke. Both had bad experiences on a bus before, and Luke had warned him that anyone could walk onto a bus or train. They would have no way of knowing if they were a monster. In a car, they could control who entered.
It still made the drive feel like forever. When they entered New York, they stopped at the gas station. Now, it was just the final push. Percy heard Luke chime in, "Even though he helped us, I'm not sure Chiron is happy with us leaving on our own. I know he's worried. Lupa might threaten to eat us. Or will actually eat us."
"Lupa wouldn't," Reyna defended.
"That's because she likes you so much," Annabeth noted bitterly. She turned in her seat to look at Reyna. Percy thought it was a joke, but he saw the deadly serious look in Annabeth's eyes. Huh. Not a joke. Then again, Annabeth didn't seem to have a sense of humor.
"Not sure why," Reyna replied with a shrug. She averted her gaze to look out the window, and Percy met eyes with her reflection.
"Because you're a Roman," Annabeth accused, and she said it like she believed it was a matter of fact. Reyna didn't look away from the window. "I've heard you and Lupa speaking Latin."
"Does that really matter?" Percy interrupted. He looked in between the two girls. He noticed Luke had slowed down, almost stopping. It seemed like he was getting ready to jump between the two. "Who cares who is Roman and who is Greek? We should be working together."
"If we are going to work together, we can't hide things," Annabeth retorted. Percy gave her a concerning look. They did not need a disagreement this early into the quest.
"I am a Roman," Reyna muttered. "My mother appeared to my father. She warned him that my sister and I would be the ones to carry on the power of Rome. Or be the reason it fell."
"Did your father tell you who your mother was?" Luke gently prodded. Reyna looked at them and shook her head. She moved her gaze down and played with a small tear in her jeans.
"I overheard it. I didn't see it," Reyna muttered. A dark look shadowed her eyes. "We knew better than to be in sight of our father when he had one of his... episodes."
"I'm sorry for prying," Annabeth said after a moment. Reyna just shrugged. Percy looked at her and frowned.
"That guy I mentioned earlier, Smelly Gabe, was a real jerk. He had his moments too where he got physical," Percy began. Reyna met his eyes, and they both shared a nod of understanding.
"My dad and I don't have a good relationship," Annabeth admitted. It looked like she wanted to say more, but she just cleared her throat and looked back ahead. "He never hit me, though."
Percy looked at Luke, expecting him to chime in. Instead, Luke visibly tensed. His fist tightened on the steering wheel, and his jaw clenched. Percy quickly looked away as he almost made eye contact with the very angry man. The rest of the car fell silent, and Percy knew they had a long drive ahead.