FAVOURITE IDIOT || P.J

28

❛ unexpected visit ❜

"PERCY WAKE UP."

Y/n splashed salt water in his face, resulting him to awake.

In the distance, the sun was sitting behind a city skyline. They could see a beachside Highway lined with palm trees, store fronts glowing with red and blue neon, a harbour filled with sailboats and cruise ships.

"Miami, I think," Y/n said, "But the hippocampi are acting funny."

Their fishy friends had slowed down and were whinnying, swimming in circles while sniffing the water.

"What are they saying?" Y/n whispered.

"This is as far as they'll take us," Percy said aloud, "Too many humans. Too much pollution. We'll have to swim to shore on our own."

Y/n didn't like the sound of that. In fact, none of them were psyched.

They hopped off their hippocampi, the waves pushed them forward, and in no time, they were back in the mortal world. They wandered along the cruise line of docks, pushing through crowds of people arriving for vacations.

Taxi drivers yelled at each other in Spanish and tried to cut in line for customers. Tyson's eyes blurred from the Mist. Grover placed his cap and sneakers. Even the Fleece transformed into a red and gold high school letter jacket with a large glittery Omega on the pocket.

Annabeth ran to the nearest newspaper box and checked the date in some random brand. She cursed. "June eighteenth! We've been away from camp teen days!"

"That's impossible!" Clarisse said.

"Skatá." Y/n cursed.

Thalia's tree must be almost dead," Grover wailed, "We have to get the Fleece back tonight."

Clarisse slumped down on the pavement. "How are we supposed to do that?" Her voice trembled. "We're hundreds of miles away. No money. No ride. This is just like the Oracle said. It's your fault, Jackson! If you hadn't interfered-"

The daughter of Aphrodite scoffed, "Percy's fault?" She snapped, "Who was the one that ratted Grover's cover? Hm? Who was the one that couldn't shut up and sunk the Queen Anne's Revenge because they wanted to taunt Polyphemus? If it's anyone's fault, it's-"

"Stop it!" Percy shouted.

Clarisse sent a glare while Y/n crossed her arms in frustration.

"Clarisse," Percy started, "what did the Oracle tell you exactly?"

She looked up and took a deep breath before reciting her prophecy:

"You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone,
You shall find what you seek and make it your own,
But despair for your life entombed within stone,
And fail without friends, to fly home alone"

"Ouch." Grover mumbled.

"No," Percy said thinking, "No...wait a minute. I've got it."

He searched his pockets while his friends stare cluelessly at him, "Does anybody have cash?" The boy asked.

Y/n, Annabeth and Grover shook their heads apologetically. Clarisse pulled a wet Confederate dollar from her pocket and sighed.

"Cash?" Tyson asked hesitantly. He was so quiet that Y/n nearly forgotten he was here, "Like...green paper?"

Percy looked at him, "Yeah."

"Like the kind in the duffel bag?"

"Yeah, but we lost those bag aaage-" he halted to a stop when Tyson rummaged in his saddle pack and pulled out the Ziplock bag full of cash that Hermes had included in their bag.