Confidence & Pride// [Percy Jackson OC]// Book 5

{Chapter Twelve}

_____
"Maybe I've done enough/And your golden child grew up
Maybe this trophy isn't real love/And with or without it, I'm good enough"
- Three (Sleeping At Last)
______

WE FOLLOW YOU UNTIL THE END

ARYA SPOKE FAR TOO SOON. She would gladly walk down the thousands of steps to get to the Underworld as long as it meant she wouldn't have to walk back up them to get out. With each burning step she considered what kind of deal she could make with Hades to get some kind of elevator put in place. It was one of the worst experiences of her life. She kept having to take water out of her arm band and putting it on her legs in order to let her muscles relax so she could keep walking. She was jealous of Percy, with his newfound immortality his muscles didn't seem to get tired and he spent a lot of their walk up laughing at her for struggling so hard. She had to stop herself from shoving him down the steps.

By the time they got back into the mortal world, the sun was setting, creating an almost picture worthy skyline, it had the warm colors and clear enough sky that any sane person would take a second to appreciate it, and after everything Percy and her had just been through, the siblings did just that.

"Do you feel that?" Arya asked.

"You mean the air?"

"Yeah." The word was barley audible.

It was clear as day as soon as she breathed in it. Something was wrong, and danger was coming for them, their time to prepare was over. The battle was coming to this very city and by the end of it, a victor would be crowned.

Percy and Arya were tense as they walked out of the park and into the city. All the mortals were going on about their lives like it was a normal August day. Most of them rush to get home from work. Percy and Arya having to weave their ways through crowds of people. Arya wanted to tell them to run, to evacuate, but she knew it would amount to nothing but stares and maybe the police getting involved. It was best to just let them go on like normal. Pretend like everything was going to be fine until it wasn't.

Percy hailed them a taxi quickly, a skill he was so much better at than Arya. They crawled in and Arya told Mrs. O'Leary to follow them, and not to walk up to too many people, it confused them too much.

"I'm gonna call Annabeth, tell her it's here." Percy informed her as he pulled out the phone from his pocket. He had tried to call her once on their way back up at a moment when Arya insisted they rest for a minute, but all he got was a voicemail, who knows if they had even heard it.

Arya nodded and snapped her fingers, willing the mist to distract the driver so he wouldn't pay any attention to their conversation. Once Arya gave the nod of approval he dialed the number, Arya noted he had it memorized which she thought was cute, and put it on speaker phone so they both could talk.