Life of A Young Demigod: Book 2 (Percy Jackson Reader-Insert)

Knockoff Coney Island Really Sucks

By the time we made it to Miami, which was apparently the nearest shore, it was getting late. Really late. Not like, time of day wise, but deadline wise. According to the paper, it had been 13 days since we left. We only had about half a day left before the tree would likely be dead for good. We sat on a bench, panicking a bit, but, thankfully, Percy had one of his rare moments of genius.

"Clarisse. You have to go. Alone." He said, digging a slightly damp wad of cash out of his pocket.

"Take the fleece. Get a flight to New York. Get it to camp. It has to be you."

Clarisse frowned. "Percy, I failed. I screwed up the quest in every way possible. It should be you."

Percy simply shook his head and shoved the fleece and cash into her arms. "No. I can't fly. And it's still your quest. Regardless of how you got it.The prophecy makes sense now."

Clarisse's eyes went wide. "Fail without friends, to fly home alone..."

I smiled at her a bit. "Go, Clarisse. We can't waste any time. Be safe."

She took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "I... alright. You guys did well. Than... thank you."

Andromeda smirked at that. "Clarisse saying thank you? I didn't think I'd see the day."

"Don't push it."

I gave her a quick hug, despite her protests. "You did well, Clarisse. Trust me. Your dad should be proud of you."

She smiled lightly, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Maybe. See you all back at camp. Take care."

With that. She made her way to the curb and hailed a taxi. I let out a sigh of relief. "Well. Anyone for dinner? Personally I'm tired of granola bars."

We wandered around for a bit, looking for a place to eat. The area reminded me a bit of Coney Island, albeit more tropical and noticeably newer.  It made me a bit homesick, really. It was weird, I'd only been gone for (what felt like to me) a couple days, but I still missed home as if I'd been gone for months. It hadn't felt nearly as bad last summer. I guess being at sea most of the time changed things a bit. I'm not exactly at home on the sea like Percy is, I suppose. We were down by the larger docks when we saw something we had all hoped to never see again. The Princess Andromeda.

"Guys." I said, my voice low. "We need to go. Right now."

I pointed the ship out, and we silently agreed to get as far away from it as possible. We didn't make it far.

As we rounded a corner, a large pair of hands grabbed Percy by the shoulders. It was one of those big bear twins, I wasn't sure which. Regardless, right behind him was someone I was very sure about. Luke.

"Who do we have here? A couple of my cousins?"

We drew our weapons, but Luke's bodyguard had a knife to Percy's throat, so we couldn't do much. He and Luke slowly backed up towards the ship, the rest of us following as close as we felt was safe.

"Let him go, Luke." Pleaded Annabeth, her eyes starting to tear up. "There... there's still time..."

Luke simply sighed, a hint of sadness, perhaps even regret, evident in his eyes.

"No. There isn't. At least not for me. Don't try any magical nonsense, Y/N. I won't underestimate you a second time."

As much as I disliked it, he was right. The grip his goon had on Percy was stronger than it had been two weeks prior. The same plan wasn't going to work a second time.

"What do you want Luke?" I asked, my voice quivering a bit. I didn't like seeing Percy like that, and I could feel us being slowly surrounded by more monsters as we got closer to the ship.