¹𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐄𝐋 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 ━ 𝗽. 𝗷𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝗼𝗻

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⋆ ˚｡⋆ʚ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 ɞ⋆ ˚｡⋆
─── ❛ letters ❜ ───

IT'S FUNNY HOW HUMANS CAN wrap their mind around things and fit them into their version of reality. isabella recalled chiron telling her something like that a long time ago.

according to the l.a. news, the explosion at the santa monica beach had been caused when a crazy kidnapper fired a shotgun at a police car. he accidentally hit a gas main that had ruptured during the earthquake.

this crazy kidnapper (a.k.a. ares) was the same man who had abducted percy and three other adolescents in new york and brought them across the country on a ten-day odyssey of terror.

poor little percy jackson wasn't an international criminal after all. he'd caused a commotion on that greyhound bus in new jersey trying to get away from his captor (and afterward, witnesses would even swear they had seen the leather-clad man on the bus).

the crazy man had caused the explosion in the st. louis arch. after all, no kid could've done that. a concerned waitress in denver had seen the man threatening his abductees outside her diner, gotten a friend to take a photo, and notified the police. finally, brave percy jackson had stolen a gun from his captor in los angeles and battled him shotgun-to-rifle on the beach. police had arrived just in time. but in the spectacular explosion, five police cars had been destroyed, and the captor had fled. no fatalities had occurred. percy jackson and his two friends were safely in police custody.

the reporters fed them this whole story. the four friends just nodded and acted tearful and exhausted (which wasn't hard), and played victimized kids for the cameras.

"all i want." percy said, choking back his tears. "is to see my loving stepfather again. every time i saw him on tv, calling me a delinquent punk, i knew...somehow...we would be okay. and i know he'll want to reward each and every person in this beautiful city of los angeles with a free major appliance from his store. here's the phone number." the police and reporters were so moved that they passed around the hat and raised money for three tickets on the next plane to new york.

isabella knew there was no choice but to fly. she hoped zeus would cut them some slack, considering the circumstances. but it was still hard to force themselves on board the flight.

takeoff was a nightmare. every spot of turbulence was scarier than a greek monster. percy didn't unclenched his hands from the armrests until they touched down safely at la guardia. the local press was waiting for them outside security, but they managed to evade them thanks to annabeth, who lured them away in her invisible yankees cap, shouting, "they're over by the frozen yogurt! come on!" then rejoined the rest at baggage claim.

they split up at the taxi stand. percy told annabeth, isabella and grover to get back to half-blood hill and let chiron know what had happened. they protested, but finally they agreed and headed off to the camp, well, except for isabella. the girl ignored percy's requests and stood by his side.

"if zeus kills someone, he better kill us both."

that was all she said before calling for a taxi with her hand.

they hopped in a taxi and headed into manhattan.

thirty minutes later, the two friends walked into the lobby of the empire state building.

they must have looked like a homeless kids, with their tattered clothes and their scraped-up face. they hadn't slept in at least twenty-four hours. so embarrassing.

percy went up to the guard at the front desk and said. "six hundredth floor."

he was reading a huge book with a picture of a wizard on the front. isabella recognized it, harry potter. "no such floor, kiddo."