Percy Jackson, the Son of Olympus: The Lightning Thief

| CHAPTER XVI || The Train Ride |

*January 4 XXXX*

*Percy's Point of View*

***

The first few miles, I was excited; after that...not so much. I was slumped against the window of the train in exhaustion, wishing for one of the blue double espressos with whipped cream from the Olympian café, or maybe playing a prank with Artemis, that always upped my energy. Well, usually because if I was tired during a prank, she'd slap me awake.

I sighed as I thought of her. I knew we were great friends, and I got along with her hunters quite well, but I wanted to be more than that. I know that she's a maiden goddess, but that doesn't mean she can't love...right? I just wish I knew how she really felt about me; if she saw me as just a friend...or something more.

I sighed again. Oh, who am I kidding? Of course, she only likes me as a friend! She hates males! It was nearly impossible to become her friend, much less become her boyfriend. If I do anything that is beyond friendly, it might ruin our whole friendship, and I don't want that.

But...if she does like me in a romantic way, then I would be throwing away the whole chance of getting closer to her. We'd be stuck in the 'friendzone' forever. Well...until I die of course.

And being mortal is another problem. I'm only a demigod. I'll grow old while she remains the same. I could fall in battle, while she can always come back. There is just too much distance between us. The only way I could become immortal is if I do something beyond great to impress the gods. But, to do that, there would have to be a threat so terrible that the gods would see it as impressive. I mean, I know I'm sort of the Olympians' favorite, and I usually get what I want, but not even that could get me to be immortal. They raised me from an infant because I was too young to go to camp, and my mortal parent was dead. They took pity on me.

Then I thought back to that moment. What if I hadn't gone towards the ocean? What if I had gone the other way? What if the giants didn't kill my mom? Would I have been raised on Olympus? I also thought about all the other demigods. It was only because I am a son of Poseidon, one of the Big Three. A powerful demigod, therefore they brought me to Olympus, to make sure I wouldn't grow up to be evil. It was because of that Great Prophecy.

I thought about all of the demigods back at camp, stuffed into the Hermes cabin because their parents forgot about them－because they were the children of minor gods, who didn't have a cabin so it would be pointless for them to be claimed but leaving their children to think that they didn't care. I got angry, knowing that the gods did that. Just because I was a threat I got attention, I got everything, but the kids of weaker gods, they weren't much of a threat, so they were cast out.

No, I couldn't understand how they felt, but I knew that they probably felt useless, uncared for. Just because their parents didn't have thrones, or weren't Olympians, or their parents didn't care enough to claim them. They must have felt like they didn't matter－like they didn't belong.

That was the moment when I realized...we were vulnerable. If a new threat were to rise and promised glory to all of these people, the minor gods and goddesses, and demigods of these gods. If this threat promised them power and importance, why wouldn't they jump at the chance to take it? Why wouldn't they betray Olympus to not be ignored? They would want to prove that they are equal to everyone around them.

I had to tell the Olympians. Maybe if I shared my concerns with Athena, she could convince Zeus and the other gods to care more about their children. But of course, it wouldn't be that easy. Change is hard, especially for gods. It's like going through the same routine your whole life and suddenly, you are asked to do something completely different. Also, I wasn't quite sure that this was happening. 'Maybe I'm being paranoid. I think I'll just keep my concerns to myself until I feel like the time it right.'

I was suddenly startled out of my thoughts as a hand was laid on my shoulder. I nearly flew out of my chair. Turning my head, I looked over at Annabeth, who had just put her hand on my shoulder. Travis was asleep.

"Hey, what has you so uptight?" she asked.

I looked into her eyes and sighed. "It's nothing; never mind."

"You were really far gone. What were you thinking about?" she asked instead.

"I told I was fine. I've just got a lot on my mind. If it's anything important I'll let you know," I assured her.

She gave me a small smile, reaching out to take my hand. "You're different than I thought you would be," she said.

"How so?" I asked.

"I mean, you're not completely infuriating, even though you're a son of Poseidon," she explained.

My eyes widened and I gave her a weird look, not knowing if it was a compliment or an insult. "Um...thanks?" I said though it sounded more like a question.

She gave a laugh. "Sorry. It's just...our parents are rivals, and I thought that we would be rivals too, but we aren't. We're friends, right?"

"Yeah, well, when I was on Olympus, I spent my time equally between the gods. They trained me and taught me. Your mom, Athena, usually hung around during my classes, because it was her job to figure out my fatal flaw. She also taught me history, and I'm proud to say that I am her favorite student," I said, puffing out my chest dramatically at the end.

Annabeth laughed again. "You were probably her only student," she said.

I blushed. "Well...yeah, but I'm still her favorite student!" I protested.

Annabeth rested her head on my shoulder, depending on me to keep her up as she laughed. I smiled, glad that I had made her laugh. She is too uptight sometimes; it's good to laugh every once in a while.

I looked around at the train car. Travis was still asleep, and there were only a few other passengers on board. There was an old man with a cane and a seeing-eye dog. There was a group of teenage girls with a lot of shopping bags, probably going home after a long day at the mall. And at the end, a happy couple was chatting and laughing, two kids sitting nearby, playing on their phones.

I looked up at the rail map. We had seven more stops to go, then we had to switch trains for the third time, and we'd be in Los Angeles. I sighed. This quest was bleeding me dry. I spent my entire allowance and Christmas money on these train tickets.

Once I looked back down at Annabeth, I noticed that she had fallen asleep as well. I smiled, and wrapped my arm around her, letting her use me as a pillow. I would let her sleep until we got to our stop...

***

Published: Sunday, November 27, 2016

~CSP2708~