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QUESTING WAS HARDER THAN Aelia remembered. Maybe she was getting too old to still be going on world saving quests, and she was practically falling asleep on the row boat, and they hadn't even gotten out of the Bay Area. With the way things have been in the unsafe mortal world, she expected monsters to start attacking them every few minutes. Instead, the sunset seemed peaceful and the only sounds could be heard from cars driving past them on land.
They sped by a pack of sea lions lounging on the docks, and she swore she saw an old, like, really old homeless guy sitting among them. From across the water, the old man pointed a bony finger at Aelia or maybe Percy, and mouthed something along the lines of 'How do you do, fellow kids?'
Aelia can't remember ever pissing off someone that eerily resembled Dr. Emmett Brown from Back To The Future but the evil Santa Claus looked like he meant business.
"Well that's not fucking creepy," she let out, when he continued to stare at them once they passed the docks.
"Did you see that?" Hazel asked, completely bewildered once the shock had passed.
Percy's face was red in the sunset, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that he was in love. "Yeah. I've been here before. I... I don't know. I think I was looking for my girlfriend."
Aelia let out a sigh of relief. "Oh I thought it was for me for a second," she whistled. "I've pissed off a lot of people."
Percy rolled his eyes at her, but it's not in annoyance. "Glad to take the burden off you."
"Annabeth," Frank said, returning back on topic. "You mean, on your way to Camp Jupiter?"
Percy frowned. "No. Before that." He scanned the city like he was still looking for Annabeth until they passed under the Golden Gate Bridge and turned north.
Aelia's never really been past the bay on boat, which makes this trail completely new. Despite the fact that the deep blue sea was very much interesting, she focused more on Percy who was beside her.
Percy Jackson, who on first glance was the opposite of Jason Grace.
Out of the very short period of time she's known him, she's figured he's most likely from the upper east coast, mainly due to the strong accent he had and his specific dialect. Somewhere closer to New York or Boston, perhaps. She tried to memorize the bulletin board she used to track Jason's sightings, recalling that he had been seen in a couple of stores alongside Brooklyn a few weeks ago. She wished she could zero in on a specific district or subsection, but New York was huge.
Part of her wants to shake Percy like a piggy bank so that he could tell her where Jason is, and she could get in a flight directly towards him and leave this whole death freeing quest behind. Sue her, the love of her life had been missing for months.
