Life Changes, A Percabeth Future Story

Chapter 14: Road Trip

"Percy, we have to be insane to be doing this. I mean, these two can't last an hour in the car without driving us crazy or going crazy themselves, and we're trying to drive all the way to New Rome with them? What were we thinking when we planned this?" Annabeth says after Callie says for the third time since they had gotten into the car that she needed to go potty. "And, Callie," she added, turning to see the two girls in the backseat, "we have been in the car for less than two minutes, and we told you to try to go before we left."

Callie just shrugs. "I didn't hafta go then."

Percy stifles a laugh from the driver's seat, but quickly goes silent with a glare from his wife. Luckily for everyone involved, they pull up in front of the Graces' house just then. They had decided to carpool with Jason and Piper, and stopped there to pick them up.

"I'll take her in," Percy offers.

After a brief conversation with Piper at the door, Percy takes Callie inside while Jason and Piper bring their bags and Zephyr out to the Jacksons' SUV.

"Off to a great start, huh?" Piper jokes as Annabeth gets out of the car to help them.

Annabeth laughs wryly. "In case you were wondering, it's not a good idea to potty train your 2-year-old right before a road trip across the country."

"Noted," Piper replies, putting Zephyr into the car.

As soon as Cleo sees Zephyr, her face lights up. "Hi, Zer!" she shouts, waving at him wildly.

Zephyr responds in turn, shouting "Hi, Cweo!"

A minute later, Percy and Callie return, and the kids go through the process of greeting each other once again, as if they haven't seen each other in years.

Once everyone and everything is finally in the car, the group sets off.

At first, the trip is great. The kids are happy, they're making great progress toward New Rome, and they haven't even run into any monsters. The only bump in the road, so to speak, is that Annabeth has a hint of carsickness, but even that is fairly minor.

They had decided to keep driving through the night, so as to save both money and time, which in theory had seemed like a great idea. The kids could sleep in their car seats, and the adults could take turns driving while the others slept.

In practice though, even with frequent breaks--usually at playgrounds so the kids can get out and play--everyone is tired of being in the car by the second afternoon of the trip. Finally, after hearing a chorus of 'We dere yet?'s from the three toddlers for what seemed like the hundredth time, they decided to change their plans.

Finally, that afternoon, they pulled into the parking lot of a small hotel. They had decided to stay the night at a hotel so everyone could get some much needed rest, and the kids could play in the pool.

Of course, that was the first thing Cleo noticed upon entering the building. "Swim?" She asked, excitedly pulling against her father's grip on her hand as she tried to get closer to the water.

Laughing, Percy scooped her up into her arms. "Let's get your swimsuit on first, then we can go swimming, okay, Dory?''

Apparently accepting this, Cleo grins and turns to her sister. "Ca-wee, swim!" she exclaims.

Giggling, Callie yells it back, until soon both girls are chanting "swim" back and forth to each other.

Soon after, once they've all gotten ready--and once the girls have stopped yelling--they're back at the pool. Callie stays in the shallowest part of the pool, playing and splashing where she can easily stay above the water, under Annabeth's watchful eye. Cleo, on the other hand, took to the water like... well, like a fish to water. She went further out, into the deeper part, without seeming to care one bit if her head stayed out of the water, or that this was the first time she had done something without following her sister's lead in months. Percy, who was right there with her, was careful to ensure she stayed out of the water enough to breathe--they had decided not to test whether she had inherited her father's powers just yet--but she seemed as if she would be just as happy to stay underwater forever.

A bit later, the Graces joined them. Zephyr was a bit apprehensive at first, but was eventually coaxed into the water to play with Callie. Seeing this, Cleo, who had until that point been uninterested in going to the shallower part of the pool, stopped what she was doing and swam to join her sister and best friend.

Annabeth and Piper shot each other a glance upon noticing this, but nothing was said about it.

Hey Guys! I know it's been a bit since I've updated, and I would like to thank you for sticking with me this far. I really wish I could update this more often, but between being swamped with homework and stuff since I started college, and just struggling to write even when I do have the time, it hasn't really worked out. I hope you guys like this update, though. I realized I never said in the chapter why they were going to New Rome, but that'll come up in the next update 😜. I'll try to update when I can, but I can't guarantee when that will be.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all. If you celebrate it, eat lots of food, lol. If not, just happy November, instead I guess.

See ya in the next update!

💖💖💖Cam