The Blonde and the Bootlegger: A Percy Jackson story

Nobody's Sweetheart Now

Frank P.O.V

Since Percy and Jason were out of the game until further notice, Leo and I asked Connor and Travis Stoll to join us on our next rum run since it was a four man job. They let us use their car, because the police were less likely to recognize than Black Jack or Festus.
The trip went by smoothly at first. We had a rendezvous with some contacts of ours who lived on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Grandmother and I once spent a weekend in Niagara Falls years ago and I thought about how wonderful it would be to visit there again with Hazel.
"You want to take Hazel to the wettest place on earth, huh," Travis snickered when I mentioned this, nudging his brother Conner.
I blushed and pretended that I didn't know what they meant.
The Olympians have contacts with breweries and distilleries all along the New York/Canadian border. They liked to switch up who they sent us to, that way our movements would be harder to track. Though most of our suppliers were connected to the Boreas brewery and distillery, perhaps the biggest in all of Quebec.

A/N There is actually a brewery in Quebec called Les Brasseurs du Nord or Boreale (the French version of Boreas). Cafes in Quebec have umbrellas at the tables on their outdoor patios with the Boreale logo like how in the US, we have umbrellas with the logos of Corona, Budweiser, or Sam Adams.

We crossed back over into New York around two in the morning. Connor, Travis, and I were dozing off but Leo was wide awake and antsy like he'd drank a gallon of black coffee and ate a dozen glazed donuts. Sometimes I wondered if the little guy ever got tired.
I was woken up by the car suddenly stopping. The headlights of a couple police cars were reflected in the windshield.
"Get out now!" Leo whispered.
Half-awake, we stared at him and groaned groggily.
"Get out and hide in the woods."
I climbed out of the car with Travis and Connor and we ran and hid behind some massive bushes. Leo stayed behind.
The police cars caught up with us. Leo stepped out with his hands up to face the border patrol officers. I kept wanting to scream: "Get out of there, you idiot!"
The border patrol officers searched the car and found crates of illegal alcohol. One of them put handcuffs on Leo while the other busted up crates and smashed bottles, leaving a small pond of beer and whiskey on the road.
"Forgive me, Calypso," Leo said as he was dragged away into the police car.

Luckily the nearest town was connected to a Greyhound bus line which could take us back into Manhattan. Back in the city, we heard from Leo's parents that he was in some local jail awaiting trial.
I imagine that the time he spent locked up and waiting to learn his fate must have been torture of a guy as manic and restless as Leo. His parents pulled together as much money as they could to get him a lawyer and Calypso, the girl he had promised to run away with, took the bus upstate to be with him as much as she could.
After what seemed like a lifetime for all involved, Leo went on trial. He was found guilty on four counts of Prohibition violation and smuggling contraband. His sentence was to serve twenty years in Sing Sing Prison with the possibility of parole after four years.

Thalia P.O.V

Reyna and I reported Piper's disappearance to the police right away. We gave them her name and description: Piper Jemima Grace née McLean; About twenty years old; medium height and slight of build; bobbed chocolate brown hair; eyes that changed from brown to blue to green; last seen wearing a sleeveless blue and green frock decorated with ruffles and a green cloche decorated with blue ribbons; small tattoo of a dove on her left wrist.
A/N The name Jemima is Hebrew for Dove.