𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙘 || 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘫𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘹 𝘰𝘤

xᴠɪɪ - ᴡᴇʟᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴄᴀᴍᴘ ʜᴀʟꜰʙʟᴏᴏᴅ!

——WELCOME TO CAMP HALFBLOOD!

IF YOU WERE TO tell lilith park a few days ago that she would be on the news after just watching her best friend fight a god—she would've laughed in your face, flipped you off, and placed a curse on you. all in that order.

but there she was, giving the best acting performance of her fucking life. shedding fake tear after tear while hearing the sob story that percy was giving to the press next to her.

"all i want," he said, choking back fake 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 the beautiful city of los angeles with a free major appliance from his store. here's the phone number..."

lilith was amazed with her mothers work with the mist.

during the fight on the beach, the mortals had seen ares with a shotgun and percy with a rifle. the explosion was caused after ares fired at the police cars—he had supposedly hit a gas main that was ruptured during the earthquake. the l.a. news stated that ares was this crazy kidnapper that had abducted lilith and her crew in new york. they said that he had dragged them across the country on a ten-day trip of terror.

poor little percy jackson wasn't a nation criminal at all! instead, he had only caused that commotion on the greyhound bus because he was trying to get away from his captor (the witnesses on the bus had magically remembered ares being there with them, too)! the crazy man made that explosion in the st. louis arch. and in denver, the waitress at the diner had reported to the police that she had seen the kidnapper threaten his abductees outside of the restaurant, she had gotten her friend to take a picture.

then finally, brave little percy jackson (lilith was wondering if this was the same kid that she had eaten oreos with) had stolen a gun from the bad, bad man that had stolen him and had a shotgun-to-rifle fight with him right on the beach. just before anything go too far (honestly, what was "too far" according to the l.a. news?) police arrived. but in that huge explosion, the captor had fled. leaving no casualties. percy jackson and his three friends were in police custody.

and that's where our story leads to lilith crying on live television! after percy gave his heart moving speech, the crowd of news reporters and paparazzi gathered around to save up enough money to get the four of them on the quickest flight back to new york city.

lilith noticed that percy was practically shaking in his boots—or sneakers—the whole flight. when taking off he held his breath and looked as pale as a ghost. lilith and percy sat together (lilith next to the window), so she let him hold onto her hand whenever he wanted. he didn't do it often, but each spot of turbulence he squeezed it for the love of the gods.  it kind of hurt but lilith didn't say anything.

when they landed in la guardia, the press were already there. they had almost stormed the four of them, but annabeth had lured them away using her invisible yankees cap, shouting, "they're over by the frozen yogurt! come on!". she then rejoined the three at baggage claim.

at the taxi station, percy had instructed the to split up. lilith, annabeth, and grover go to camp halfblood. and percy go straight to olympus. they all tried to argue, but percy explained that the three of them needed to head back and tell chiron about what happened. after that, the three agreed. lilith noticed that percy looked reluctant to say goodbyes, too. she figured that it was because of all they had been through together.