𝐒𝐰𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐠 // 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑦 𝑗𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑠𝑜𝑛 ＆𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑙𝑦𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐈.

－ • ꕥ • －

"𝑎 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑠 𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑛𝑜 𝑔𝑜𝑎𝑙"
— 𝐰𝐨𝐥𝐟𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐠

－ • ꕥ • －

𝐄𝐕𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐀𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐇 walked next to Percy and Grover on the quiet highways of Missouri. Their only remaining mode of transportation currently was walking, much to Evangeline's dismay. "Hey, guys," Percy said suddenly, between Grover and Annabeth. "I think this quest might be harder than we thought. I've been thinking. I didn't steal the master bolt. You guys didn't steal the master bolt. We're pretty sure Hades has the master bolt, but he couldn't have stolen it himself. I mean, we don't even know who actually stole the thing, or why, or how deep this goes." Percy ranted calmly as they all walked at a medium pace.

        Evangeline looked over at him, her long blonde hair behind her shoulders. "It only took you a solid week." she commented on Percy's clueless nature.

        Percy frowned. "I'm the last person to realize this, aren't I?" Evangeline and Grover nodded at his words.

        "Yeah." Annabeth said quietly.

        "Okay, so... maybe when we started, my head wasn't fully in this, but since the river... it all feels different somehow." Percy explained, his clothes and hair now dry from the river.

        "I think a fall hundreds of feet into a river would do that to you." Evangeline twidled with Noah's ring, hearing her mother's words ringing in her head.

        Percy shook his head. "He saved me. My dad. I guess I just never thought that's something he'd do for me," he turned to the other blonde in the group. "You met your mom. Why aren't you happier?" Grover and Annabeth had both been wondering the same thing but didn't know how to ask.

         Evangeline shrugged, dropping her necklace. "Because she's exactly how I pictured her to be. Beautiful, elegant, and almost patronizingly sweet. Just the way she talked about my brothers made it clear I was never a priority to her. And now I'm on this quest and she wants the credit for it. She's the goddess of love, but she doesn't love me." Evangeline explained, looking at her bracelet. She wondered if Aphrodite would answer if she called for her.

        Her answer seemed to satisfy Percy, as sad as it was. "Maybe I gotta take things more seriously now." Percy's words were followed up by the sound of a motor engine.

        Grover whipped around. "Car." he warned, anxiety laced in his words.

        "That's not a car, it's a bike. Just let it pass. Come on." Annabeth instructed, nudging Evangeline and the boys towards road baricades, all of them rushing to push their heads out of sight. Evangeline was so much taller than them and she was practically horizontal against the gravel.

        "I'm saying, we're not just trying to retrieve a thing. I think we might need to be detectives here, too." Percy continued right where he had left off as soon as they sat down.

        Annabeth nodded lightly. "Yeah." she said nonchalantly, looking off into the distance.

        Percy frowned. "Why are you being weird with me again? I thought we weren't doing that anymore." the curly-haired blonde said pointedly.

        "I'm not being weird." Annabeth denied. Evangeline could tell she was lying.

        "Yes, you are. You've been weird since we left the Arch," Percy decided. Annabeth looked away and Evangeline exchanged a glance with Grover. "Oh... I get it. It doesn't have to be a thing, you know. That you hugged me."