MY DREAM • percy jackson

chapter 18

ALORA DIDN'T LIKE TO FACE HER PROBLEMS, so when one the shape of her mom came around she did what she was best at, she ignored it to the best of her ability. The girl stood stiffly beside Percy, the boy taking short glances at her every couple seconds to make sure she was okay, as they entered the casino, keeping the same unreadable expression while looking at the bright and colourful place.

"I know we're supposed to be saving the world," Percy said as they stood at the entrance, "but would it be unprofessional if we just hung out here for a bit?"

"We find Hermes," Annabeth started as she stopped the boy who began to step forward, "We get him to hook us up with a ride to Los Angeles and a plan to get into the underworld, and we are out of here ten seconds later."

"I was kidding." Percy rolled his eyes.

"Wait, hang on." Grover stopped them from bickering.

"What?"

"Your mom told you all the stories." Grover stated turning to Percy. "Did she read you the Odyssey?"

"The graphic novel." He shrugged and Annabeth looked at him to see if he was being sarcastic. He wasn't. "It counts."

"Odysseus lands on a beach." Grover continued. "There's these guys who've forgotten where they came from, forgot everything that was important to them, and they got that way because they ate.."

"The lotus flowers." Percy cut him off in realisation.

"If we go in there and then forget everything, that would be bad on a number of levels." Grover said, expecting a sarcastic remark from Alora that never came. That really worried him.

"But if Hermes is in there though, then what choice do we have?" Percy asked before turning to Alora. "What do you think, wise girl?"

Alora looked at annabeth to answer but realised that said girl was looking at her expectantly, she turned to see Percy and Grover also waiting for her reply.

"Me?" She asked in surprise, speaking for the first time since the incident. Percy nodded encouragingly and Alora felt her cheeks heat up before she turned to Grover. "Just don't eat anything."

"Wait, why were you just looking at me when you said that?" Grover asked annoyed as Alora followed Annabeth into the casino, percy directly behind her. "This place is a lot bigger than it looked from the outside. He could be anywhere."

"Let's split up." Annabeth suggested.

"I thought we didn't do that anymore." Percy said as the group came to a halt. "Also, you guys have seem him before, but i haven't. So I'm not gonna be much help alone."

"You two go check over there and I'll take Percy with me." Alora mumbled quickly turning to leave before Annabeth stopped her.

"We meet back in the lobby in 20 minutes, no matter what." The other girl told her, and unexpectedly pulled her into a hug. Annabeth wasn't usually big on hugs so this shocked Alora. "Be careful."

"Will do." They pulled away from the hug and Alora nodded at the girl before walking away and dragging Percy with her. "Come on, Sunshine."

After following the girl for a few long moments, Percy could see the way she was anxiously biting down on her lip and her nervously playing with her necklace.

"Ally," he said immediately and got a hum of acknowledgment, "Are you okay?"

The girl just hummed in agreement and nodded her head. Percy sighed as he stopped.

"Ally," He grabbed her hands, causing her to stop and look at him, "You don't have to pretend with me, are you sure you're okay?"

Alora felt her throat go dry at the worry in his eyes and her heart beating faster as she realised he was holding onto her hands as if she was going to disappear.

"Yeah," She nodded after what felt like a lifetime, "Yeah, I'm just... shocked? I don't really know how i'm supposed to feel when the woman who abandoned me just appears."

stupid crush she thought when her mouth closed. She didn't mean to say so much but Percy had some sort of ability to make the girl tell him everything she felt in that moment. Well except for the fact she was freaking out about him holding onto her hands.

"You don't have to feel a certain way," Percy reassured her, not looking away from her eyes. "I mean this isn't something that happens everyday, but if it's bothering you, if anythings bothering you, talk to me."

Percy analysed Aloras face in that moment and the world seemed to stop. Her eyes were a perfect shade of blue with grey specks in them and freckles spread across her cheeks like the stars in the night sky. Something he knew she loved.

"I will." Alora nodded, squeezing his hands before pulling hers away. Moments like that hurt her, knowing the boy would never reciprocate her feelings. "Come on, we need to find Hermes."

Percy watched as the girl walked ahead and he silently cursed himself for staring for so long before following.

"How do we know Hermes is gonna help us?" He asked, knowing the gods always need a reason to be helpful.

"I've known Luke for a long time," Alora sighed and Percy couldn't help but feel a touch of jealousy, "Long enough to know about his mom. She was a seer, a human who could see through the mist, and like me she could see the future. For some, that's enough to drive them insane and i think that's what happened to his mom. I know Luke blames Hermes for it so helping us might be a start to winning him back."

Percy nodded in understanding. He could hear the underlying tone of worry in her voice, worry that it could happen to her, so Percy decided then and there that he would never let that happen.

"Look..." He trailed off, gaining the girls attention. "If i tell you something, do you promise not to make fun of me?"

"Of course."

"So, I've been having these dreams." Percy hesitated. "For a while, they were weird. Then, like Luke's mom, they got scary. You have these too, right?"

"All the time." Alora nodded, remembering the last dream she had on the truck.

"And then this guys started showing up and talking to me." Percy admitted. "But not like in a regular dream. It's more like he knows we're in a dream. But today, it was different. Like I somehow ended up in his dream."

"Like you were eavesdropping on him." Alora said as they came to a halt. "He was talking the lighting thief wasn't he?"

"Yeah," Percy nodded with furrowed eyebrows, "To the person who stole the bolt for him, how did you know that?"

"I had the same dream." She sighed as she played with her fingers nervously. "But it was like it was in fast forward and i couldn't make out what anyone was saying, it was weird. Weirder than other dreams i've had and i've had a lot of those."

"The part i don't get though, is that they were talking about what comes next. Like getting Zeus and Poseidon to fight was only the beginning, and they're planning something so much bigger on top of that." Percy looked at her like she held all the answers in the world and she sadly couldn't answer him. "So do you think it's real? Because if it's real something the gods don't even know about, I mean what are we supposed to do about that?"

"I don't know." Alora sighed in defeat.

"You don't know?" The boy asked in shock.

"There are things about dreams i don't know." The girl said truthfully.

"Yeah but if you don't know, what chance do I have?"

The girl paused and looked at Percy who was staring at her intently. He looked at her as if she had every answer, and, although she didn't, he knew she was his only hope.

"We need to get to the underworld first before we worry about any of this." The girl shook her head. "Come on."

"Right behind you, princess."

em speaks!
guys im so sorry i havent updated in like years but im hoping to get more updates out in the next couple days. ALSO THANK U SM FOR 70K READS WHAT THE FLIP!!! all your comments mean sm to me and are what keep me motivated to write. love yall!!!