𝐃𝐄𝐉𝐀 𝐕𝐔 • Percy Jackson.

14

WHY IS THERE A PINK POODLE. The question falls out his mouth as he stares with wide eyes straight at it.  He rubbed his eyes, but the poodle was still there. "Meet Gladiola, Amani. Gladiola, meet Amani." Grover said. Amani nodded to him, cyclopes, gods, furies, shit might as well add a poodle too, he thought. 

"Hello Gladiola." He said, greeting it after getting the pointed look from Annabeth.

Grover gave him a rundown of what happened while he was asleep: Apparently he had gone off and found Gladiola. They were planning on exchanging her back to her owners for the reward money.

"Can you wake up Percy? We're leaving soon." Annabeth asks.

He shakes Percy awake. "‘Well," Annabeth said, "the zombie lives." He notices his hands trembling. "How long was I asleep?" Percy asked, "Long enough for Annabeth to cook breakfast." Amani states as Annabeth tosses a bag of chips to him. "And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend."

Percy blinked. "Are you… talking to that thing?" The poodle growled. Amani flinched, gods he hated dogs. Terrifying little shits. "This thing," Grover warned, "is our ticket west. Be nice to him."

"You can talk to animals?"

Grover ignored the question. "Percy, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy." Percy stared at Amani, mouthing, is he foreal? He stared at him before giving a single nod. "I’m not saying hello to a pink poodle," he  said.

"Forget it."

"Percy," Annabeth said. "I said hello to the poodle. Amani said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."  The poodle growled. Percy said 'hello' to the poodle.

Grover explained again how he found Gladiola in the woods and they’d struck up a conversation. The poodle had run away from a rich local family, who’d posted a $200 reward for his return. Gladiola didn’t really want to go back to his family, but he was willing to if it meant helping Grover.

"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" Percy asked. "He reads the signs, obviously." Amani said with a roll of his eyes.

"Of course," he said, "Silly me." With sarcasm.

"Yes, silly you."

"So we turn in Gladiola," Annabeth explained in her best strategy voice, "we get money and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple." She said, "Not another bus." Percy said warily.

"Definitely not."  Amani agreed while Annabeth nodded. She pointed downhill, towards train tracks  "There’s an Amtrack station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon."

–

They returned Gladiola to their owners. Turns out, they were acquainted with his mother. When they returned Gladiola to them, the wife had gasped, "Are you, dear, Inaya's son?" She asked, her perfume wafted into his nose, and his face almost soured up.

He could see everyone else stare at him strangely, "no ma'am. I think you have the wrong person." He said with a polite smile.

"Oh alright. Sorry dear, the whole social circle and media has been going crazy after her son went missing. Almost three weeks he's gone. Never this long." She said with pity before she thanked them, handing them the wad of cash, before they left.

They walked in silence. He felt his heart pick up with each step and his mind rushed back and forth: to say the truth or to lie? He picked at his cuticles behind his back.

Grover asked the question, "so your mom is rich?" He sighed. "So you ran away and your mom's rich." Annabeth stated and he shrugged, "yeah." Is all he said. "Wait, your mom's rich, why couldn't we just use your money?" Percy asked. "I don't have her card? You think I just carry around a couple of hundred bucks in my pocket?" The lie slipped through his teeth and he relished how they accepted it.