𝐂œ𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐬é𝐬 [Percy Jackson]

24

Leo had said they were close. His idea of "close" needed some work.

After trudging half a mile through hot fields, getting bitten by mosquitoes and whacked in the face with scratchy sunflowers, they finally reached the road. Hadrian remembered how sunflowers had felt in his hands as he lay them on Kira's grave. But of course that had been a dream. He only visited their grave once after he'd paid to have a gravestone made and set next to his mother's grave. There was no body to bury so he'd buried an arrow instead. Hadrian forced himself to focus on the reason why they were here in the first place.

An old billboard for Bubba's Gas 'n' Grub indicated they were still forty miles from the first Topeka exit.

"Correct my math," Percy said, "but doesn't that mean we have eight miles to walk?"

Jason peered both ways down the deserted road. He looked better today, thanks to the magical healing of ambrosia and nectar. His color was back to normal, and the scar on his forehead had almost vanished after Coach had taken out the stitches last night. 

"No cars..." he said. "But I guess we wouldn't want to hitchhike."

"No," Hadrian agreed, gazing nervously down the highway. "We've already spent too much time going overland. The earth is Gaea's territory."

"Hmm..." Jason snapped his fingers. "I can call a friend for a ride."

Percy raised his eyebrows. "Oh, yeah? Me too. Let's see whose friend gets here first."

Jason whistled.

"Um.." Hadrian looked between the two. What was up with them? First: both had tried to sit at the head of the table and now this? Did they feel they had something to prove?

Percy simply closed his eyes and concentrated.

Hadrian hadn't studied him up close before. And in the morning light, he looked better than he had last night. Two years ago, he'd met Percy, but he had looked different back then. 

They had both been fifteen, Kronos in a sarcophagus and Percy who wanted to slash his sword through the body- Luke's body.

Hadrian had hesitated with the first arrow.

But Percy had hesitated as well.

It was a bit of a trip to remember the old Percy Jackson and now this guy in front of him. They seemed like completely different people. Of course, he still had his same sense of humor, the same features. But now he was older, more hateful towards the gods, more irritated. He seemed more mature as well. His jaw was more defined, fine muscles under his skin, eyes so mesmerizing, he could have been the son of Aphrodite.

Hadrian had never felt so pathetic before. So utterly useless. Sure, he could use a bow and arrow. But he was surrounded by all these amazing heroes, people who had done the impossible again and again.

Thunder crackled in the clear sky.

Jason smiled. "Soon."

"Too late." Percy pointed east, where a black winged shape was spiraling toward them. At first, Hadrian thought it might be Frank in crow form. Then he realized it was much too big to be a bird.

The winged stallion came in for a landing. He trotted over to Percy and nuzzled his face, then turned his head inquisitively toward Hadrian and Jason.

"Blackjack," Percy said, "this is Hadrian and Jason. They're friends."

Blackjack. A black Pegasus kept captive on the princess Andromeda... it came back to him in pieces. He had watched the Pegasus with Percy on his back during the battle of Manhattan. Now he just had to hope the horse didn't recognize him.

The horse nickered.

"Uh, maybe later," Percy answered.

Hadrian had heard that Percy could speak to horses, being the son of the horse lord Poseidon, but he'd never seen it in action.

"What does Blackjack want?" he asked.

"Donuts," Percy said. "Always donuts. He can carry all three of us if—"

Suddenly the air turned cold. Hadrian's ears popped. About fifty yards away, a miniature cyclone three stories tall tore across the tops of the sunflowers like a scene from The Wizard of Oz. It touched down on the road next to Jason and took the form of a horse—a misty steed with lightning flickering through its body.

"What the actual fuck?"

"Tempest," Jason said, grinning broadly. "Long time, my friend."

The storm spirit reared and whinnied. Blackjack backed up skittishly.

"Easy, boy," Percy said. "He's a friend too." He gave Jason an impressed look. "Nice ride, Grace."

Jason shrugged. "I made friends with him during our fight at the Wolf House. He's a free spirit, literally, but once in a while he agrees to help me."

Percy and Jason climbed on their respective horses.

Hadrian looked at the solid, very real horse with wings and then at the one made of smoke.

"If the horse drops me, I'm gonna stick so many arrows into your backside, you won't be able to sit for a month, Jackson" Percy grinned at that and offered Hadrian a hand which he accepted. The bow and quiver on his back were a bit uncomfortable, but he managed.

The pegasus took flight and Hadrian despite himself grabbed Percy around the waist and may or may not have screamed. Of fucking course Percy had abs that Hadrian could feel through his t-shirt. He tried not to think about how Percy smelled like the ocean or how warm his body was to the touch.

Tempest raced down the road with Blackjack soaring overhead. Fortunately, they didn't pass any cars, or they might have caused a wreck. In no time, they arrived at the thirty-two-mile marker, which looked exactly as Hadrian had seen it in his dream.

Blackjack landed. Both horses pawed the asphalt. Neither looked pleased to have stopped so suddenly, just when they'd found their stride.

Blackjack whinnied.

"You're right," Percy said. "No sign of the wine dude."

"I beg your pardon?" said a voice from the fields.

Blackjack turned so quickly, Hadrian almost fell off.

The wheat parted, and the man from his dream stepped into view. He wore a wide-brimmed hat wreathed in grapevines, a purple short-sleeved shirt, khaki shorts, and Birkenstocks with white socks. He looked maybe thirty, with a slight potbelly, like a frat boy who hadn't yet realized college was over.

"Did someone just call me the wine dude?" he asked in a lazy drawl. "It's Bacchus, please. Or Mr. Bacchus. Or Lord Bacchus. Or, sometimes, Oh-My-Gods-Please-Don't-Kill-Me, Lord Bacchus."

A/N:

Every time Hadrian looks at Percy: He looks different than I saw him two years ago, now he has more muscles and omg his pretty eyes and omg his jaw and his side profile and his abs and-