𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐈𝐋¹ || 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐘 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐎𝐍

𝐗𝐕𝐈𝐈

✦ 𝐌𝐒. 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐎𝐍 ✦

IT'S FUNNY HOW HUMANS CAN WRAP THEIR MINDS AROUND THINGS AND FIT THEM INTO THEIR VERSION OF REALITY. Chiron had told Percy that long ago. As usual, the raven-haired boy didn't appreciate his wisdom until much later.

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 – "Why didn't I remember him before?")

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, got 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 three friends were safely in police custody. The reporters fed them this whole story. The quartet 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."

You can imagine how much Aurora teased Percy for his acting... she was on fire (Percy didn't mind at all.)

The police and reporters were so moved that they passed around the hat and raised money for four tickets on the next plane to New York.

They knew there was no choice but to fly. They hoped Zeus would cut Percy some slack, considering the circumstances. But it was still hard to force himself on board the flight.

Takeoff was a nightmare.

Every spot of turbulence was scarier than a Greek monster. Percy didn't unclench his hands from the armrests until they touched down safely at La Guardia.

Grover looked like he wanted to gnaw on the seat cushions. Annabeth was trying to calm down their satyr friend, her grey eyes however were trained outside the window.