The Lightning Thief - Something's been Stolen

PERCY BECOMES FAMOUS

Still corrections to be made, as always. This chapter is mostly about finding Percy, so not a lot of action. I will be basically following the chapter outline of the original Lightning Thief book, because that just makes everything so much more easier :) Hope you enjoy!

“Okay, so now we make a plan.” I thought hard. “First, we find Percy-”

“If he’s still alive” Grover bleated mournfully.

“Don’t think that way,” I snapped. “He must be around here somewhere-”

SPLASH!

Something smashed into the Mississippi. It was carrying a bronze weapon. Grover and I exchanged looks.

“The river.”

Now, I knew that thing wasn’t Percy. It was probably a flying boulder or a piece of the Arch that had broken off, and was flying along side Percy. The thing I was interested in was the object that came hurtling into the river afterwards.

The only reason I knew it was Percy, was not because the thing was on fire. I knew it was Percy because while it was flying down, it was gracefully yelling. “Aaaagggghhhhh!”

Around us, every emergency vehicle in St. Louis was surrounding the Arch. Police helicopters circled overhead. The onlookers crowded Times Square.

I grabbed Grover. “We need to find Percy before they do.” I mumbled to him. Park rangers and policemen were flooding the area, looking for information. I tried to keep my head down, hoping no one recognized us as Percy’s dangerous companions.

We tried to make our way to the river, but blockades had been set up everywhere. Everyone was lining up to get out of the area, and everyone was being checked. We couldn’t get out that way, someone would surely recognize us.

We walked past another set of policemen, who were looking around suspiciously. The middle-aged park ranger who had given us trouble before was talking avidly to what looked like a chief policemen, looking around and indication descriptions. I soon realized that he was describing Grover and I.

“Grover” I whispered, not wanting to draw attention to us. We were right in their line of sight, so any movement would have been a give-away.

“Hmm?” He was looking around at the news reporters.

“You see those guys over there?” I whispered again. Grover looked over and spotted them, nodding. “They know who we are. We need to either get out of here and come back for Percy later, or find Percy right now”

As if on sue, the park ranger spotted us. “Hey!” He yelled, pointing. Several people, including the policeman he was talking to, looked around. “Stop right there!”

I reminded myself that if we ever saw Percy again, I’d slap him.

Grover froze. I checked to see if my Yankees cap was still in my back pocket. The policeman stared at us. “Are those the two?” He asked the park ranger, loud enough for us to hear.

The ranger nodded. “Yeah, the two running around with that Jackson boy”

The policeman studied us for a while. Grover bleated nervously, while I looked around for any escapes. The policeman walked to us slowly. Some people looked at us nosily, but there were too few of the to cause an uproar. “You two.” The policeman said slowly, as if talking to scared animals. “Do you know this boy?” He held up a picture of Percy.