Back To Black | Luke Castellan

12

Grover explained to them that he knew who stole that bolt. That it was Ares's daughter, Clarisse. Nadia didn't like it. That she could think that she had done something like that.

So Nadia kept quiet and let them talk and think of theories. It was getting dark and Nadia pulled out of blanket and laid it down. She laid on top of it and got some sleep.

Hours had passed and the Nadia woke up to the sounds of them talking. "Where almost there." She heard Grover say. She sat up and saw Annabeth and Percy sitting next to each other with the crystal in her hand.

"There. I've got a signal." Annabeth said. She looked at Percy and nudged him. "Toss it seaweed brain." She said and he flipped the drachma.

"Okay, this will never top being weird." He said. "If you want the gods attention, you have to pay for it." Nadia said standing up and walking over to them.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering." Annabeth prayed and the light turned orange. "Okay, show me Camp Half-blood. Chiron's office." She said and it turned into an image.

"Luke?" Percy asked and Nadia whipped her head to see him turn around. "Annabeth, Percy?" He asked and looked around and saw Nadia.

"Nadia! Are you guys okay?" He asked them.

"Yeah. W—we're fine. Where's Chiron?" Annabeth asked him. "Chiron's holding camp together with both hands. Everyone thinks we're going to war, so the cabins are taking sides. Please tell me you're calling with good news."

"We know who stole the bolt." Percy said and Nadia looked from Percy to Luke. "How do you know?" He asked, unsure.

"We ran into Ares. And Grover and Nadia got him talking and realized Ares knew who the thief was but was covering for them." Annabeth said and shrugged her shoulders.

"So. Who would Ares cover for other than..."

"His favorite daughter." Luke finished. His eyes found Nadia's. "Clarisse is the lighting thief." He said and looked back at the three of them.

"Chiron's gotta arrest her, find out what she knows. There's more to this than just the bolt, something bigger. Don't ask me how I know, you just gotta trust me." Percy said.

Luke nodded. "Okay, I'm on it. So Ares, huh? What was that like?" Luke asked. "He's an asshole." Nadia said and Luke smiled.

"Well... compared to the Chimera on Monday and Medusa on Sunday, could have been a lot worse." Percy said, looking at Annabeth.

"Medusa was on Saturday." She said. "I thought Sunday." He said. "No, no monsters on Sunday, Monday you died in the river."

Percy nodded his head once. "Right, so, Medusa on Saturday..." he said.

"Guys, what is this?" Luke asked and they looked at him. "What?" They both asked at the same time. "When did you turn into an old married couple?" He asked.

Nadia laughed. "Or worse, Luke and I, just with a lot less fighting and blood." She said and Luke looked at her and smiled.

The two pre teens didn't look at each other. "Not to change the subject, but I'm gonna. We could use your advise on something. We're headed to Las Vegas to fine your dad—" Percy started to say and Annabeth cut the message.

Percy looked at her. "What was that about?" He asked her. "You can't ask Luke about his dad." Annabeth told him.

"Well, now I certainly can't."

"If you tell him we're going to see Hermes, he's gonna try to talk us out of it. We don't need that right now." She said to him.

Percy looked away from her. "They don't get along?" He asked and she sighed. "At all." She said in a sad tone.

Grover walked over to them. "Okay, got some updates." He said and Percy and Annabeth stood up and they formed a circle.

"The men driving this truck are not nice people. Traffickers." Grover told them. "We can do our best to help all these animals escape, but not if it means we're jeopardizing the quest." Annabeth said.

"Oh, no, no, no. They've already got a plan to get themselves out. And us, too." Grover said. He put his arm against one of the cages. "I mean, some of these guys, so smart. They were really only missing, like, one piece of the puzzle to get the cages unlocked."

"What's that?" Percy asked him. "Thumbs. But we're here now, so... all good." He said. "And once the cages are open, they have a plan from there?" Nadia asked him.

Grover nodded his head. "Yeah. Really elegant. I mean, these guys, they're... they're like artists."

Grover should have mentioned escape artistes. After they let them go they ran out in the middle of the street, stopping traffic. The four of them ran to the sidewalk and watched from afar.

"This seems dangerous." Percy said to Grover. "Oh, they'll be totally fine. I gave them a satyr's blessing, so they'll be able to reach the wilderness safely." He explained.

"I think he meant for the people." Nadia said.

"Oh, them. Well, I mean, I'm sure they'll... yeah, I don't know. But the animals are all set." Grover said and Nadia rolled her eyes.

The police sirens were heard in the distance. "Okay, come on, before the cops show up." Annabeth said looking around.

They looked at her. "So, how do we know which hotel is the Lotus?" Percy asked her. "I'm guessing the one with the giant lotus blossom on it." She said as they follows her gaze to the big building with a lotus flower on it.

"You were like two seconds ahead of me. Seriously." Percy said and Annabeth chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Sometimes it might be okay to just let the easy ones go. Can we agree to just try it, maybe?" Percy asked.

Nadia jumped up and down hitting Percy. "Let's go bitches!" She excitedly said as they walked towards the building.

Percy looked at her. "You have a serious swearing problem." He said and she smiled. "Get used to it, kid." She said throwing her arm over his shoulder.