"Everyone have their bags?" Annabeth questioned as she looked back at the others. Thalia was sitting in the passenger's seat and had her earbuds in. She was currently drumming on her knees and relaxing. Annabeth pulled out one of her earbuds and received a very angry glare. "Do you have your bags?"
"Yes, mom. We all have our bags. Can we get going?" Piper groaned. She was sitting in the backseat. Jason sat right next to her with a content smile.
"I made sure they had everything packed last night," Jason promised.
"He was so annoying," Thalia added. She raised an eyebrow, and Annabeth put the earbud back in. "Thank you."
Annabeth smiled and started her car. She was trying to keep herself contained, but she was so excited to go to Rome. It was something she always wanted to do, but going out of the country couldn't be done in the spur of the moment. It cost money and time she didn't have to give.
All the museums. The restaurants. The history of the place.
Annabeth could not wait. In fact, she just wanted to close her eyes and be there in Rome. Instead, she had to go through with this car ride and the plane ride. Granted, it was a private jet...
As Annabeth drove, the car was rather quiet. Jason and Piper talked quietly about company things. Thalia was listening to her music and seemed focused on that. Annabeth listened to the radio but kept it down low enough not to disturb the others.
Her mind was focused as she drove. She had spent her free time from the gym figuring out the best ways to prepare for her fight against Reyna. There was the obvious tactic of gathering videos of Reyna's past fights and watching them with Piper and Percy. Just like old times.
Lupa would be there to help of course. Though, there was always a nagging thought in the back of Annabeth's mind. While Reyna's relationship with Lupa was fractured, the two had been close. Reyna was talent that Lupa scouted and molded.
It wasn't fair to think that Lupa would be biased, but she had to keep that thought in mind. And maybe talk to Lupa about it. Let her realize that it was just her paranoia getting to her. Annabeth chewed the inside of her cheek.
Her fight against Reyna would be the hardest of her career. Just watching Reyna fight Clarisse told Annabeth how much trouble she was in. She wasn't anywhere near as strong as Clarisse. Her punches and kicks didn't pack as much of a punch.
If Reyna just shrugged off Clarisse's blows, what would she do to Annabeth's? While the two had trained together, a fight would be different. The gloves would, metaphorically, be off. Annabeth took a deep breath.
Starting now, she was not going to focus on her fight with Reyna. The only thing that mattered was her trip to Rome.
"The company won't fall apart without you, will it?" Annabeth teased.
"Oh, not again," Piper groaned. "He spent all of last night fretting about it."
"Sorry," Annabeth mouthed to Piper. All she received was an annoyed look. Jason wrapped an arm around Piper.
"It's going to be okay," Jason assured. He looked at Piper. "Thank you for showing me that."
Piper grinned and kissed Jason. From the front seat, Thalia made a face, "Ew! Can you two not do that?"
Jason stuck his tongue out at Thalia, and she stuck her tongue out in response. Piper kissed Jason's cheek, and when she licked him, Annabeth just focused on the road.
"Stop doing freaky things in my car," Annabeth complained. A laugh escaped her friends, and she resisted the urge to beat them up then and there. Thankfully, the rest of the ride was rather quiet and void of disgusting acts.
As they arrived at the private runway, Annabeth felt her nerves triple. They parked next to Octavian's car and saw that he was sitting against the driver's door, waiting for them. Annabeth slowly got out. Her friends followed her.
"Good evening," Octavian greeted as he walked toward them. They had already given their passports to Octavian the day before, and all the paperwork had been taken care of. As far as she knew, they would have a straight flight to Italy, and when they landed, customs would go through their bags before letting them off.
The flight would be no less than ten hours long. They were leaving around five in the afternoon, and with the time difference, the plan was to land in Rome around ten in the morning, get settled in the hotels, and have a few free days.
Annabeth was so excited.
"I am going to pop this Ambien and sleep the entire flight," Thalia warned.
"I'll draw on your face," Piper promised. Thalia gave her a sneer. Jason smiled and wrapped his arms around both of them.
"The pilot finished all of the checks, and we're ready to board," Octavian said. He gave them a small smile. Octavian looked tired. Those bags were still under his eyes. Annabeth hadn't really asked him about his family issues, but she knew it was big enough that she could just search it on the internet and learn all of the details from a gossip site.
"I call dibs on the first seat," Thalia said.
"Let's put you near the window," Piper suggested. Thalia glared at her. "I mean, do you want Jason to keep climbing over you to get to the bathroom? You know he has a small bladder."
Jason pouted as they were led to the plane. Annabeth carefully climbed up the stairs and was the first one to step inside. She was not the first person on the plane, though. Lupa was sitting in the first seat and looked down at her laptop.
Lupa looked up and smiled at them. Annabeth smiled back. Lupa spoke, "Sit wherever you want."
Annabeth looked at the seat and felt her eyes widen. She didn't fly much, but when she did, it was nothing like this. There were only two seats in each row, but there was enough room between the rows that they could prop their legs up on the seat or even lean back in it. A large table rested between the two seats with enough room for each person.
"Hell yes," Thalia said as she found the nearest window seat and sat in it. Her hand immediately closed the window. Thalia grabbed her medicine from her bag and took it. Her earbuds were already in and a cover over her eyes before Annabeth could even find a seat.
Annabeth debated where to sit as Jason and Piper both took a row. She then sat down at a window seat. Her backpack was put in front of her, and she grabbed an architecture book she had bought almost a year ago and had yet to read. Hopefully, Percy would sit next to her.
Annabeth looked out the window, and a smile came to her face as she saw Paul's car parking next to hers. Percy was the first one out of the car, and he walked around to help Estelle out. He picked up his younger sister and a backpack. Sally and Paul got out of the car a moment later.
Octavian was there to greet them, and he walked them toward the plane. Annabeth stood to look at Percy, and she waved at him. He waved back with a huge grin. Percy made his way toward Annabeth, but instead of sitting next to her, he sat in the block of seats near her. A sympathetic look was shot to her.
Annabeth just nodded in understanding. Percy spoke, "Hey, Wise Girl."
"Hey, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth greeted. She looked at Estelle. "Hi, sweetie!"
Estelle waved at her like a mad child. She spoke with a toothy grin, "I'm going to be on my best behavior!"
"I'm sure you will," Annabeth smiled.
"Do you want the window seat?" Percy asked. Estelle nodded enthusiastically. "Are you going to be too busy watching Baby Shark to look outside?"
"I'm watching Spongebob now," Estelle protested. The grin that came to Percy's face was infectious. He helped Estelle settle into her seat and handed her a tablet.
"Sally," Annabeth greeted as she stood to hug Sally. Sally hugged her tightly. "Hey, Paul."
"How are you doing, Annabeth?" Paul asked.
"Is your ankle better?" Sally fretted as she pulled away and looked Annabeth up and down.
"I'm fine," Annabeth promised. "I've been icing my ankle and resting it."
Paul and Sally sat in the row across from Jason and Piper. They began to talk quietly. Annabeth sat back down as her gaze moved outside. Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw two new cars in the parking lot.
Nico was standing outside of one of the cars, holding the door open. Hazel got out a moment later, using her crutches as leverage. Both of them turned toward the plane. Nico made a comment, and Hazel looked ready to raise her crutch and beat him with it.
At the back of the trunk was Frank. He held onto a backpack and a smaller bag that Annabeth assumed belonged to Hazel. Frank closed the trunk and followed behind the two of them. Reyna stood a few feet away from the car and was talking to two others.
One of them was Gwen. Annabeth stared at the former fighter. She was sure that Lupa had mentioned she was coming, but it still felt odd that she would be in the same place as the former champion. A few feet from them stood Romy. Reyna turned to look at him and said something, and he nodded.
Compared to when Annabeth first met him, Romy looked a lot better. He filled out his clothes a little more. Before, there had been scruffy hair and patches all over his beard. Now, he was freshly shaved, and his hair was freshly trimmed.
Annabeth found herself watching as Hazel made her way up the steps, but she moved rather quickly for essentially hopping up them. Lupa was there to meet her at the top and make sure they were okay. Hazel made her way down the aisle, greeting everyone as she did. She also ignored the first two rows they had left open.
Hazel sat down near the back, and Frank sat by her. Annabeth looked ahead to see Gwen hugging Lupa. Gwen then made her way toward Thalia and gently tapped her arm. Thalia raised her sleeping mask.
"Sit your ass down," Thalia said with a grin. Gwen grinned back. Annabeth could hear the clearing of Sally's throat, and Thalia looked back. "Sorry!"
Romy was on the plane next. Lupa immediately hugged him and had him sit in the free seat next to her. Annabeth looked back out the window and saw Reyna and Nico standing with Octavian and waiting by their car. As another car pulled up, Nico stiffened.
Reyna placed a hand to his back and squeezed it gently. Nico took a deep breath and walked toward the car. Will got out of the driver's seat and trapped Nico in a hug. It hadn't been announced officially and didn't have to be, but everyone knew the two of them were dating.
Nico squirmed out of his grasp as a woman got out of the car. She was beautiful and had dirty blonde hair that was wrapped up in a ponytail. It was too far to see her eye color, but she had a beaming smile that surpassed Will's. The woman looked Nico up and down before immediately pulling him into a hug.
Annabeth tried not to stare at Will's mother, but she couldn't help it. Especially because the woman wore cowboy boots but managed to pull it off. She wore blue jeans and a flannel shirt over a pink blouse. Her smile was infectious as she pulled away from Nico and began talking to him.
Nico said something and motioned to Reyna. The fighter waved and said something back. Will said something to his mom, and they started to walk toward the plane. Nico followed next to them, and his hand grabbed Will's.
It didn't take long for the final car to pull up. Hylla got out followed by Kinzie. Reyna greeted the two as did Octavian. The four started to walk toward the plane, and Hylla wrapped her arm around Kinzie's waist. Annabeth settled back in her seat and watched the others climb on.
Will's mother sat down, and as Will tried to sit next to her, she motioned for him to sit next to Nico. The two sat across from her, and after seemingly asking for permission, Octavian sat next to Will's mother. Lupa took the time to speak to the stranger, and both seemed to smile during the entire conversation.
As Hylla and Kinzie stepped aboard, Hylla exchanged a tense nod with Lupa before making her way down the aisle. As they made it past Annabeth, she heard most of Hylla's question, "-join the mile-high club?"
Kinzie gently slapped her arm as they sat down. The last one on the plane was Reyna, and her eyes moved around before settling on Annabeth. She walked toward her and spoke, "Mind if I sit here?"
"Not at all," Annabeth said. Reyna smiled at her and sat in the empty seat. She grabbed her earbuds and put them in. "How is the shoulder doing?"
"Better," Reyna replied. She glanced at Annabeth. "Your ankle?"
"It's getting better," Annabeth replied. "Still sore, but..."
"Yeah," Reyna finished as she awkwardly sat back in her seat. Annabeth shifted and glanced out at the window. Reyna cleared her throat. "What book is that?"
"Oh, it's an architecture one," Annabeth said as she showed Reyna the cover. "I bought it almost a year ago and kept telling myself I was going to get around to reading it, but I haven't had any time."
"Is it pictures or..." Reyna trailed off as she leaned over to look at the book. Annabeth opened it to show a mix of small pictures and gigantic paragraphs that made her dyslexia cry a little bit.
"It's more of the history of architecture starting with ancient Egypt and then moving on through the world. There's a huge section about Renaissance Italy. But also stuff about Greece like the Pantheon. I think Rome has a big section about the aqueducts and the Colosseum," Annabeth ranted.
While Reyna had earbuds in, she made no movement to grab her phone and turn on music. Instead, her gaze stayed focused on Annabeth as she ranted about the book and even jumped to the different pages to show Reyna. It wasn't until the pilot was calling for their attention that she realized that she had been talking for at least five minutes straight.
"Sorry," Annabeth whispered.
"It's cool," Reyna said with a smile. "I like hearing you talk about things you're passionate about."
Annabeth smiled back at her before focusing on the pilot and listening to him as he welcomed them to the flight and told them what to expect. As she listened, Annabeth's eyes drifted to Reyna. Her companion had grabbed a book of her own from her backpack. It wasn't anywhere near as large as Annabeth's, but a quick glance at the cover showed it was a book of Roman history.
Annabeth put on her seat belt and looked out the window. She was so excited for this trip, and she didn't think that she would get any sleep through this flight. Even if it meant she would be tired when they landed. Annabeth was just so excited. Something told her this trip to Rome would be the most memorable of her life.