In which, Adira Lancaster falls in love with her rival, Percy Jackson
OR
he falls in love with her first, unknowingly.
She only seemed to think about a rivalry. Nothing else. Zilch. Nada. Zip.
-disclaimer- I do not own the Percy Jackson Books, or an...
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It didn't take me that long to pack. It took me longer to say bye to my family and my friends. Annabeth said she'd walk me up Half-Blood Hill.
I could tell she was jealous that I was going on a quest, and didn't do a great job at hiding it. But I could tell that somewhere, deep down, she felt happy for me. My brothers were skeptical, but they made sure I had everything in the end. I put my hair in a french braid, packed an extra pair of clothes, an Ancient Greek book, my invisibility cap (which Annabeth also had one of her own) and finally, a hundred dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas. He gave me an entire Ziploc bag full of ambrosia squares and an entire canteen of nectar, which he gave Percy as well.
We waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, then we, plus Annabeth, hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus. I placed my hand on her trunk and smiled. Chiron was waiting for us in his wheelchair. Next to him stood the surfer dude I'd seen when Percy was recovering in the sick room. He was the security guard that you could find around camp if anything weird was happening. He had eyes all over his body so he could never be surprised. Today, though, he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, so I could only see extra peepers on his hands, face and neck.
"This is Argus," Chiron told Percy. "He will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things."
"Or a hundred," I joked. I heard footsteps behind us.
Luke came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes.
"Hey!" he panted. "Glad I caught you."
Annabeth blushed, the way she always did when Luke was around. I nudged her and she let out a small smile.
"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told me and Percy. "And I thought ... um, maybe you could use these."
He handed Percy the sneakers, which looked pretty normal. They even smelled kind of normal.
Luke said, "Maia!"
White bird's wings sprouted out of the heels, startling Percy so much, he dropped them. The shoes flapped around on the ground until the wings folded up and disappeared.
"Awesome!" Grover said.
Luke smiled. "Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from Dad. Of course, I don't use them much these days...." His expression turned sad.
I think Percy didn't know what to say. It was cool enough that Luke had come to say good-bye. I'd been afraid he might resent me for getting so much attention the last few days. But here he was giving me a magic gift.... It made Percy blush almost as much as Annabeth. Oh, how excited I was to tease him about it.
"Hey, man," he said. "Thanks."
"Listen, Percy ..." Luke looked uncomfortable. "A lot of hopes are riding on you. So just ... kill some monsters for me, okay?"
