THIS IS ME TRYING

31: Signals

LUNA, PERCY, and Annabeth sprinted off the ship and tried their best to get as far away from it as possible. Despite having bigger concerns, Luna couldn't distract her mind from Clarisse and it was driving her insane. It still felt strange that the Quest was practically over: they retrieved the Fleece, were going to save Thalia's tree, Annabeth was okay, and they had rescued Grover from Polyphemus' Cave. And, within that time, Luna had only managed to tangle her feelings up inside of her even more.

"Percy!" A voice called, "Luna! Over here." And the three were met with Tyson, who was standing in amongst a crowd of people and gesturing with his hand for them to follow him.

Grover and Tyson were given the getaway mission to organise, but Luna hadn't expected a form of transport that was so normal. A blue Prius, which had been parked in the nearby parking-lot. Luna slowed her jog to a stop when the back window rolled down,

"Get in!" Grover called out, as Tyson and Annabeth rushed into the back seats of the vehicle.

But Percy slowed down beside Luna, asking curiously, "Guys, whose car is this?" He covered the blood stain on his shirt with his green jacket.

The passenger seat window rolled down next, and a familiar woman leaned across the seat to open the door, "Just get in!" And Percy looked at his sister in confusion.

Luna pulled a face, "Sally?! How did..."

"GET IN!" Everyone repeated in unison, which finally made the two siblings start moving.

Percy sat in the passanger seat, whilst Luna had the task of climbing over Grover and Annabeth's legs to sit on the floor in the backseats. The space was limited, especially with Tyson, but Luna was more focused on the fact that Sally had picked them up from a Quest in some random car.

The journey back to Camp was rather long, but Grover had spent the time explaining to Sally what had happened. Percy and Luna both stayed silent, but the girl knew that their unusual quiet was for different reasons. Luna knew that Percy was almost in a state of dissociation because of the events that had happened: Annabeth had been badly injured and taken by Luke, Grover was Polyphemus' bride, Tyson was supposedly dead, he got stabbed then healed, and he had been separated from Luna. The journey back was a time of reflection for him, where he stayed in his mind and overthought every action he made.

However, Luna's silence was filled with the many interactions she had with Clarisse. Her mind felt like a film reel, playing back every conversation and argument that they had in the past few days. And, despite Percy had apologised to Clarisse about what he had said, Luna couldn't shake it away. What did he mean? What did he know? Did everybody else know, too?

Luna considered that it was maybe time to tell Percy and Sally about not liking boys, but something always held her back. The voice in the back of her head, which sounded very similar to Gabe's voice.

Luna was afraid that she'd be outcasted even more.

Sally cut in, as she continued to drive, "Wait a minute, wait a minute. You guys are talking fast, I want to make sure I don't get anything wrong. Okay, the Golden... Fleece can bring Annabeth's friend... back?"

"Yeah," Annabeth nodded simply, "And, finally, I may get to see Thalia again."

"Same. This is incredible." Grover added in agreement, "Percy, can you believe it?"