mastermind - percy jackson

xii. drakon

"a child of ares is destined to kill it"

"What are you going to do when you get up there?" Annabeth called after, Cassandra.

"Honestly, I have no idea" Cassandra responded. She had to be quick with this, as flying when she was already this drained was one of the worst ideas she's had in her entire life. "You're the daughter of Athena here, I kind of figured you would have a plan."

Annabeth facepalmed. "She's been spending way too much time with you."

"What?" Percy protested. "It's not my fault."

She just shook her head at him, and watched nervously as Cassandra entered the helicopter, disappearing from their view.

"Get away from the door!" Cassandra yelled at Rachel, stumbling toward the controls up front.

"I'm trying!" Rachel yelled in response.

"Try harder!" Cassandra hurried up front, and moved the pilot to the seat beside her.

"Are they arguing right now?" Annabeth asked, trying to hear what the two girls were yelling about, from the ground.

"Uh, I think so?" Percy answered.

"This is not good" Annabeth muttered, as the helicopter can a few feet away from slamming into the side of a building.

Then, miraculously, the helicopter righted itself. It spun in a circle and hovered. And very slowly, it began to descend.

It felt like forever, before the helicopter thudded to a landing in the middle of Fifth Avenue. Percy looked through the windshield to see, Cassandra at the controls.

Percy and Annabeth ran forward, as the rotors spun to a stop. Rachel opened the side door and dragged the pilot out. She was still dressed like she was on vacation, with beach shorts, a t-shirt, and sandals. Her hair was all tangled and her face was green from the helicopter ride.

Cassandra, climbed out last. She had a very annoyed look on her face, as she took her hair out of the very messy ponytail it was in.

Percy stared at her in awe. "I didn't know you could fly a helicopter."

She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it and took a deep breath before answering. "I did a mission once. It was at some airforce base. Artemis spent weeks teaching me and Zoe all of the controls."

"You saved my life" Rachel said.

Cassandra flexed her bad shoulder. "Yeah. And lets not make it a habit. In case you haven't noticed, I don't like you. But what are you doing here? I figured you were at least smart enough to know not to fly into a war zone."

"I—" Rachel glanced at "Percy. "I had to be here. I knew Percy was in trouble."

"No shit, Sherlock" Cassandra mumbled. "Well if you'll excuse me. I just took down a Titan all by myself, and I'm pretty tired. Glad you could stop by Rachel."

"Cassie—" Percy called.

She stormed off.

"I, uh, should go check on her" Annabeth mumbled, and followed after her.

When they reached the Empire State Building, Annabeth went to go check up on her siblings, while Cassandra went to go find Drew.

She found her in the lobby, bandaging her wrist.

"You look awful" Drew commented, when she sat down beside her.

"I'm glad you're safe too" Cassandra said. "What happened?"