The Battle for Olympus

Percy

The drive to Long Island was calm, like the breath before the storm. Percy flipped his visor down to block the setting sun, and glanced over at his co-pilot. Thalia tapped her fingers against the base of her seat while she stared out the window. Her silver aura was faint, but noticeable. Percy still had a hard time wrapping his head around her immortality. Assuming she didn't die in battle, she could be driving this road hundreds of years in the future, maybe with another bunch of demigods on the brink of a war.

Saying goodbye to his mom was hard of course, but Percy had a goal: get Annabeth back at all costs. He would always willingly give his life for hers, even the lives of the gods. He's never say it out loud, they would probably blast him, but he was tired of doing their bidding. He just wanted his girlfriend back.

"When's the last time you were back here?" Percy asked, directed at Thalia but really anyone in the car.

Thalia raised an eyebrow. "About a month ago. I was visiting Jason. You nervous?"

"I..." Percy frowned. Was he? "Nah, just trying to make conversation. What about you guys?" He adjusted his mirror to see Clarisse and Nico in the back seat.

Clarisse grunted. "Not since the war."

"Actually, same," Nico said. "I, ah, had other things to do."

"Like going to Camp Jupiter and not telling anyone?" Percy winced. "Sorry. That's not what I meant."

"It's okay, Percy. But yeah, stuff like that."

"So it's a bit of a homecoming for all of us," Percy said.

"For you and Clarisse," Thalia corrected. "Camp was never my home. Unless you count the years I was a tree." She paused. "Which I don't. And this was never Nico's home either, right?"

"Yeah." Nico cleared this throat and turned back to the window.

"I stand corrected." Percy turned off the highway and onto the back road, the woods growing over their heads. He couldn't help but remember his first trip with his mom and Grover. He'd been so scared and confused, but he never could have predicted where he was now. A part of him still felt like that 12 year old kid who just lost his mom.

"Don't miss the parking lot, punk," Clarisse added unhelpfully from the back. "It's not marked."

"Thanks," Percy muttered. That was true, the parking lot was really just a pullout on the side of the road with the three camp vans.

Percy drove around a bend and Thalia tensed beside him, her fingers clenched around her seat. Her pine tree stood tall on the hillside, the tallest in the area.

"What was it like?" Percy asked. "Being a tree I mean." He expected her to punch him, but instead Thalia gazed out the window.

"It was... quiet. I could feel the time passing, but it was like a dream. Even now when I think back, it's just a haze."

Percy had a hard time imagining being a tree. Dionysus had threatened to turn him into a dolphin on more than one occasion, but at least that was an animal. He could still swim.

Thalia pointed up ahead. "Right there. We can hike the rest of the way in."

Percy parked and tucked the keys in his pocket, allowing his companions a brief time to stretch and collect their weapons. Clarisse slung her gym bag over her shoulder, which now included Thalia's spear strapped to the outside. Nico leaned against the hood of the car and blinked up at the sun. Percy imagined that after spending time in Tartarus, the sun was always a blessing.

"Let's go, super squad," Thalia said. "Chiron's gonna love to hear what we have to say."

"Super squad?" Nico mumbled.