The Sea Tyrant's Obsession (PJO x ROR) 18+ WTM/WTS Book 1

*I Settle My Tab

Note: One more chapter of The Lightning Thief left.

The gods are jumping into the next scene after celebrating Percilla's victory over Ares's counterpart.

New Title:

I Settle My Tab

"Is she going to pay off something?" Zeus asked curiously.

"No, I think she's going to return the bolt," Hades replied.

It's funny how humans can wrap their mind around things and fit them into their version of reality. Chiron had told me that long ago. As usual, I 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 me and two other adolescents in New York and brought us across country on a ten-day odyssey of terror.

Ares, Shiva, Buddha, and Loki laughed at the other Ares for being called a crazy kidnapper.

Poor little Percilla Jackson wasn't an international criminal after all. She'd caused a commotion on that Greyhound bus in New Jersey trying to get away from her 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, gotten a friend to take a photo, and notified the police. Finally, brave Percilla Jackson (I was beginning to like this kid) had stolen a gun from her 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. Percilla Jackson and her two friends were safely in police custody.

This time, all the gods chuckled.

"She got quite the insane story surrounding her," Shiva remarked, shaking his head in amused disbelief.

The reporters fed us this whole story. We just nodded and acted tearful and exhausted (which wasn't hard), and played victimized kids for the cameras.

"All I want," I said, choking back my 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." The police and reporters were so moved that they passed around the hat and raised money for three tickets on the next plane to New York.

Dionysus laughed, "She is a good actress."

"I hope she doesn't return to that waste of space of a stepfather," Apollo muttered.

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

Zeus scowled. "That copy of mine better not strike her down."

Takeoff was a nightmare. Every spot of turbulence was scarier than a Greek monster. I didn't unclench my hands from the armrests until we touched down safely at La Guardia. The local press was waiting for us outside security, but we managed to evade them thanks to Anthony, who lured them away in his invisible Yankees cap, shouting, "They're over by the frozen yogurt! Come on!" then rejoined us at baggage claim.