"Send me! Send an army! Send a thousand ships! I don't care, just bring her home. I hate being without her."
[ PERCY JACKSON x FEMALE OC ]
[ PERCY JACKSON SERIES ]
cover by @humaneity !
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0009. | THE TOTALLY REGULAR LOTUS HOTEL AND CASINO
Percy pulled an all-nighter staying on watch. He was better at being on watch than he thought he might have been. The occasional jolts of the truck over potholes and Grover's erratic snorts and snores struck him with adrenaline with every lurch. It reminded him a lot of when he was younger and he would stay awake past his bedtime, listening to Smelly Gabe shouting and arguing with his mom. He would force himself to stay awake hours after Gabe passed out, just in case his mom needed him. Now, he was forcing himself awake in case his friends needed him.
He felt he owed his friends this defence, as meek as it was. This was his quest, he was responsible for them all.
In all honesty, since last night, he had grown a little bit of intimidation.
Octavia's story of her quest highlighted to him just how lowly their own quest must have seemed to her. She had held up the sun and freed a god, and Percy had asked her to run an errand to pick up a Master Bolt. He felt foolish and very small, but his biggest conclusion was that all the stories at Camp he had heard in admiration of Octavia were all very true. Octavia was cool as hell!
He had silently hoped that they could have spent the whole night awake, on watch, together.
He wanted to hear more of her stories, to know more of what she had accomplished. It wasn't only for greed of wanting to know more about demigod life, Percy wanted to know more about her. Last night felt like his first ever glimpse at an honest Octavia, and he craved more opportunities to call her O.
Alas, his wishes were not met and instead he had resolved himself to staying awake all night in an effort to stay on alert for his sleeping friends.
He wanted to let them rest for as long as they needed, they were all clearly exhausted, but after a night's driving, he was forced to wake them prematurely. The truck had stopped and they would have to hide from the truck drivers.
"Annabeth." He hissed, pushing her shoulder. "Wake up." He shook her and she burst upwards like a vampire, a terrifying look on her face of alarm. She almost smacked her face straight into his. He dodged her.
"Huh— what?" She mumbled sleepily, her gaze immediately falling across the truck to Octavia who still slept beside Grover. Percy didn't notice the way that Annabeth's instinct was to find her.
"Truck's stopped." He whispered to her. "I think they're coming to check on the animals."
Annabeth mumbled some Ancient Greek curse and scrambled to wake up Octavia and Grover who both woke up with the same disorientated snort. Octavia's hair was a vivid fire, all stuck up on the left side of her face where she had been laying on Grover's shoulder. She looked quite ridiculous, but after knowing the burning story of her hair, Percy couldn't bring himself to think of her ever as ridiculous.
