THIS IS ME TRYING

11: Mother Of Monsters

LUNA COULDN'T sleep on the train ride, though she didn't know if it was because of how uncomfortable the pull-out beds were or because of the moonlight shining onto her face from the open window. She was more concerned about how loud Grover snored, and how Annabeth was sleeping through it.

Percy blew a quiet whistle, which gained the girls attention that he was still awake. The two kids started whistling to each other when they couldn't fall asleep, and if the other person were awake, the night would normally end with a midnight feast and deep talks about Smelly Gabe.

Luna whistled back quietly, sitting up in the train bed to look down at Percy, who was on a mattress on the floor. She couldn't help to notice that Percy looked upset, so climbed off of her bed and joined him on the floor. The boy sat up, moving along so they could both sit on the bed and enjoy the view of the moon out of the window.

Luna whispered, "Bad dream?"

"Yeah." Percy whispered hesitantly, "You?"

"My mind is buzzing." Luna explained as well as she could, though Percy frowned in confusion. She continued, "It's too quiet, even with Grover's snoring."

"I got used to the shouting, it's so weird without it." Percy agreed, before asking, "Do you miss him... Gabe?"

"No." Luna paused, "Do you?"

Percy shook his head, as Luna stared out of the window, watching as a brown owl followed the train. She smiled to herself.

The boy had a rough idea of what Gabe used to do to Luna- of course, he had seen him hit her before on multiple occasions. He hated Gabe as much as Luna did, and had to fight the urge to not punch the man for all the misery he had caused her. However, Percy had promised Luna to keep it a secret- they never broke their promises.

Annabeth sat up slowly in her bed, smiling slightly at Luna before groaning, "I haven't missed that sound. How loud does he have to snore?"

Luna chuckled, "Exactly, he's-"

A groan came from his bed, as Percy questioned, "You awake?"

"Well, I am now." Grover sassed, "Thanks."

"Are you okay?" Percy questioned curiously.

Annabeth explained, "He's super grouchy when he doesn't get enough sleep."

Luna smirked, "Clearly."

"Clearly! Nah!" Grover retorted sarcastically.

"You've never been on a road trip with him before." Annabeth continued, "A little different from froofy Yancy."

"Who's froofy? You're froofy. What's froofy?" Grover argued, "I think I need to eat."

The breakfast on the train wasn't the best meal that Luna had ever had, however it managed to fill her up for the start of her travels to Los Angelis. As Annabeth and Percy argued over extremely small things, Luna found herself scanning through a newspaper that had been left on her seat. Of course, her dyslexia stopped her from being able to read but she made out a few words that looked like 'missing' and 'Car'.

Luna passed the newspaper to Grover, before pointing at the words that she couldn't read, "What does that say?"

"Kids And Mother Still Missing After Freak Car Accident." Grover read aloud, which caused Percy and Annabeth to stop arguing and listen.

"What about that bit?" Luna pointed to another paragraph.

"Percy Jackson, a troubled child, and Luna Ugliano, a teenager who has had a violent past of being kicked out from numerous schools, were last seen on a location with their parental figure Sally Jackson." Grover read, "With more information of the children provided to us by Gabe Ugliano, their father figure, the police do not know if Percy Jackson and Luna Ugliano are suspects in Miss Jackson's disappearance."