𝐎𝐋𝐘𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒; 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐙𝐞𝐮𝐬 || 𝐏𝐉𝐎

Chapter Five

"THE SHIELD"

The crows howled overhead as the group of four wandered across the desolate Missourian land, just west of St. Louis. They had begun trudging westward, in hopes of finding any means of travel faster than walking, and one that left them preferably unnoticed.

"Hey guys," Percy cuts in, defying the silence that once evoked the quad, "I think this quest might be harder than we thought."

Sighing, he continued, "I've been thinking—"

"Well, that's never a good thing," Abigail giggles, cutting him off in a teasing tone.

Percy smiles at her, punching her shoulder lightly as he continued, "Anyways, 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."

Abigail tilted her head to her left, Annabeth moving her ear close to Abigail's mouth, "If he says master bolt one more time, I'm upper cutting him," Annabeth chuckled softly at her words, ignoring the confused looks from the two boys who brushed off their odd behavior.

"I mean, we don't even know who actually stole the thing—or why, or how deep this goes." Percy digressed, frowning softly as he lost the rock he had been kicking the last few miles.

Abigail tutted a small rock into his path, giving him a new rock to manually tumble on the floor for the next few miles before he eventually lost that one. Percy gave her a smile before realizing the unimpressed looks from Grover and Annabeth.

"I'm the last one to realize this, aren't I?"

Annabeth sighed, "Yeah."

"Okay, so, maybe when we started, my head wasn't fully in this; but, since the river, it all feels different somehow. He saved me. My dad. I guess I really never thought that's something he'd do for me. So maybe I've got to take things more seriously now—" His voice tapers near the end, the teens turning around at the sudden sound of an engine roaring through the barren landscape.

"Car!" Grover announced, being the first to notice the engine due to his enhanced hearing.

"That's not a car, it's a bike. Just let it pass, come on," Annabeth mumbled, not sparing another glance towards the lousy Harley that was approaching.

"Bikes and Motorcycles are very different thank you very much," Abigail argues, pursuing Annabeth in an attempt to explain the situation.

The four quickly made their way behind a cement wall that guarded the side of the road, using it to shield themselves from the motorcyclist's view in case the rider recognized them.

"I'm saying, we're not just trying to retrieve a thing. I think we might need to be detectives here, too." Percy adds, ignoring the stern stare from Abigail.

Abigail grunted, gaining the three's attention, "If we need to start being detectives, you can go first. Percy, what do you think my stare means?"

Percy's eyes danced across her face; specifically, her nose, lips, and jawline; ignoring the teasing looks from his friends, before speaking, "uhm—not sure?"

"It means that we need to be quiet as that guy rides past, because he looks like the same man that is destined to kill my kind," Abigail hissed, tucking herself even lower between Annabeth and Percy, leaning her head forward to glance at the biker before turning to Annabeth and rifling through her hoodie pocket, much to Annabeth's displeasure, before pulling out a pair of sunglasses and sliding them over her face to obscure her identity.