Flight [Peter Parker] - Book Two of Wealth

38

October 5, 2016

Chiron advised the three teenagers to spend the rest of their day at the camp, following the rest of their scheduled activities. Jacqueline found solace in keeping busy with things like canoe racing or bow and arrow lessons.

The girl continued making friends throughout the day, something else that helped her concentrate. This son of Aphrodite, Adrien, had seen her down when they had been at the canoe races from two to four. Jacqueline had opted out of racing that day. She had too many things on her mind.

She had been sitting by the shore, making bubbles float out of the water with a frown on her face. Adrien had sat beside her and introduced himself with a sweet smile. He had kind green eyes and nicely parted blond hair. Even if he hadn't told her that he was a son of Aphrodite, she would've guessed it. He had this aura of effortless beauty and charisma about him that seemed to radiate far more in Aphrodite children than others.

When he tried asking her what was wrong, she replied as kindly as possible that she'd rather not talk about it. The boy complied, deciding to change the topic.

"Who d'you think'll win?" Adrien asked her

Jacqueline shrugged, looking out on the creek at the canoe racers, "Percy's a pretty strong competitor. It took a lot out of me to beat him."

The boy laughed, "That's without a question but, I always root for Kat. She's the one with brown hair over there. She's a daughter of Apollo."

Adrien pointed out into the creek and Jacqueline followed his finger with her eyes, landing on a girl with short brown hair and tan skin, glasses framing her determined eyes.

"She can't swim but, sometimes we dare each other to do crazy things and one of those things that I dare her to do is canoe racing so."

Jacqueline's lips turned up in a small smile, "Is she your girlfriend?"

"What?" Adrien had an incredulous expression on his face as a soft pink tint spread over his cheeks, "No. Kat's just a very good friend."

The teenage girl smiled wider before looking down at the sand and opening up to Adrien about Peter. She told the son of Aphrodite about how worried she was about her boyfriend and about how she was going all the way to Alaska to save him.

"You must love him a lot." Adrien noted

Jacqueline froze, her wide eyes looking over at him, "Love?"

"You do, don't you?" The boy had a teasing smile, "I mean, I would go anywhere to find a person in danger but, you're itching to leave and you can't stop worrying about the special boy so, love is a part of your equation."

The teenage girl blushed, looking away, "We've only been dating a few months."

The canoe race was over with Percy winning once again, Kat in second place. Adrien cheered his friend on along with the other campers that were there. He had a proud grin on his face and, when Jacqueline turned her attention to Kat, she could see the teenage girl's blush and smile on her face as she looked at him.

The boy then turned to Jacqueline, a knowing smile on his face, "I'm a son of Aphrodite. I may not know how to do magic tricks with water but, I know a thing or two about love."

All that could pass through Jacqueline's mind was how ironic and almost paradoxical this situation was.

In her free time, Jacqueline packed up for the quest. Silently, Percy helped her in packing. The man seemed to still be apprehensive about her leaving but, Jacqueline didn't push it. She knew whenever Tony was worried or anxious about what happened to her, he was unnaturally silent. Maybe Percy shared the same fatherly trait.

Leo had come to her with her phone, promising her thirty minutes of doing whatever she needed, "You've got to get used to IM-ing people, Jack. The stretch that I've gone for you with this is-"

"Amazing." Jacqueline cut in, a small smile on her face as she kissed her friend's cheek gratefully, "I owe you, big time. This is the last time, I promise."

The man gave her a grin in return before telling her good luck with whatever she needed. She then realized she hadn't told him nor Natalie about what she'd dreamed about. She made a mental note to tell them. She'd gotten so used to confiding in them the past few months, it felt weird that they didn't know about this yet.

Jacqueline saw that she had gotten dozens of calls and texts from May and Peter's friends, namely Ned. They were all wondering where the boy was. The teenage girl fought the desire to call May and tell her what had happened to Peter. It would be so hard to explain, especially in under thirty minutes.

Jacqueline decided in only sending a single text to Ned, 'really hard to explain but, I'm going looking for Peter. Make sure May is okay. I promise Peter's gonna be fine. Talk soon.'

The girl realized how vague that text message was but, she decided it was as good as she could do without worrying him or May any further.

Jacqueline then decided to call her dad with the remaining twenty minutes she had on her phone. She explained to him everything that's happened since she left the Avengers facility. She told him about her getting ready to embark on a quest to find Peter with the two other children of the Big Three.

Tony was surprisingly very understanding about everything. He told her that if she ever needed anything, to call him.

"I thought you'd freak out." Jacqueline confessed

"I'm trying something out where I'm not overbearing. It's pushed everyone else away so I'm changing that."

"Dad.."

"Don't worry about it, doll. Make sure to be safe and remember I'll be there in moments if you need me. I've got some big news for when you come back home."

"Do you?" Even with everything that's happened, Jacqueline couldn't help but smile

"It's pretty big."

"That's so helpful."

"Love you too, darling."

Once they hung up, Jacqueline decided to stay completely off of her phone. It wouldn't help her if she was on it all the time. Besides, she could bear being without technology... to a certain extent.