Chasing Legends (Male Reader x Annabeth Chase)

Chapter Ten

10| Nah, Y/N'd win.

The group spent two days on the Amtrak train, heading west through hills, over rivers, past amber waves of grain.

While they weren't attacked once, nobody relaxed. Y/N felt that they were traveling around in a display case, being watched from above and maybe from below, that something was waiting for the right opportunity.

Y/N noticed Percy trying to keep a low profile because his name and picture being splattered over the front pages of several East Coast newspapers. The Trenton Register-News showed a photo taken by a tourist as he got off the Greyhound bus. Percy had a wild look in his eyes. His sword was a metallic blur in his hands. To a mortal, it might've been a baseball bat or a lacrosse stick.

The picture's caption read:

Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of his mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from the bus where he accosted several elderly female passengers. The bus exploded on an east New Jersey roadside shortly after Jackson fled the scene. Based on eyewitness accounts, police believe the boy may be traveling with three teenage accomplices. His stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture.

"Don't worry," Annabeth told Percy. "Mortal police could never find us."

"And besides, who's bold enough to try and capture not one, but four raggedy looking teenagers?" Y/N added in but neither of them sounded too certain.

Y/N spent the rest of the day either sleeping or looking out the window and counting all the different animals that the train passed by.

Once, during his animal counting sessions Y/N spotted a family of centaurs galloping across a wheat field, bows at the ready, as they hunted lunch. The little boy centaur, who was the size of a second grader on a pony, caught his eye and waved. Y/N looked around the passenger car, but the only other person to notice was Percy. The adult riders all had their faces buried in laptop computers or magazines.

Another time, toward evening, while Y/N was sleeping Percy saw something huge moving through the woods. He could've sworn it was a lion, but he remembered that lions don't live in the wild in America, and the thing he saw was the size of a Hummer. Its fur glinted gold in the evening light. Then it leaped through the trees and was gone. Something told him that it was for the best that Y/N didn't see that one.

The groups reward money for returning Gladiola the poodle had only been enough to purchase tickets as far as Denver. They couldn't get berths in the sleeper car, so they dozed in their seats.
Y/N on the other hand, stayed awake since he did most of his sleeping earlier in the day.

The snoring and bleeting of Grover kept waking Percy up. During the night, he shuffled around and his fake foot fell off. Percy and Y/N had to stick it back on before any of the other passengers noticed whilst Annabeth giggled at them.

"So," Annabeth asked Percy, once they'd gotten Grover's sneaker readjusted. "Who wants your help?"

"What do you mean?" The boy responded uncomfortably.

"When you were asleep just now, you mumbled, 'I won't help you.' Who were you dreaming about?"

"We can't help you if you don't tell us what's wrong." Y/N chimed in, yawning feeling his sleepiness sneak up on him once more.

It wasn't difficult to see that Percy was reluctant to say anything. But whatever it was, had bothered him so much he finally decided to speak.

Annabeth was quiet for a long time. "That doesn't sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne."