Alacrity

IV

iv. Old Ladies Wear Shaving Cream Santa Beards

Days later, Annabeth raced into the Hermes cabin with an excited grin on her face. Lyra yelped in surprise as Annabeth grabbed her arm and wrenched her to her feet, tugging her out the cabin. "Woah!" Lyra exclaimed, stumbling after the grey-eyed girl. "What the hell?"

"It's happening, Lyra," Annabeth exclaimed excitedly. "It's finally happening! I've volunteered us."

Lyra's face dawned in realization, but she still didn't want to make any assumptions. Instead, she asked, "Volunteered us for..."

"For the quest," Annabeth answered in a 'duh' tone, glancing excitedly back at the girl. The two entered the Big House just as Percy sarcastically said, "Gee, who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this?"

Annabeth made herself visible to him. "I've been waiting a long time for a quest, seaweed brain. Athena is no fan of Poseidon, but if you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up."

"And I've been dying to go out to the real world since Luke came back," she said. "I'm here to prove we're important to all those who think cabin eleven is just a hotel."

"Sounds good," Percy said. "I suppose you have a plan then, wise girl?" Annabeth's cheeks colored a bright red and she snarked, "Do you want my help or not?"

Percy blushed then and he nodded. "A quartet. That'll work."

Chiron nodded. "Excellent. This afternoon, ew can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you're on your own." Lightening flashed in the background and rain began to pour violently. He sighed. "No time to waste. I think you should all get packing."

———

Lyra shoved everything she could possibly need into her pocket whilst Luke paced nervously beside her and the Stoll brothers handed her items - more stink-bombs, just in case, a couple of smoke bombs, toiletries, shaving cream, her pockets knife and other odds and ends that she might possibly need. Luke gave her several golden drachmas and fifty mortal dollars that he 'borrowed' from the camp store just in case. She also brought a standalone lock and a manual lock picking kit for when she needed something to fiddle with; suprisingly, manually picking locks calmed the girl. Her pocket-knife was helpful for when she needed to do it quickly, but doing it manually was soothing and fun.

When it came time to say their good-byes, Lyra thought Luke would actually burst into tears. His eyes were tinged red and he was nervously tapping his left foot. As she stood to her feet, he wrapped her up in the tightest hug she had ever received. "You'd better stay safe, Ly," he said, sniffling slightly. "I don't know what I'd do without you. I can't lose you."

"You won't," Lyra assured her older brother, rubbing his back. "You could never lose me. After all, who else would annoy you constantly? That's my job and I'll never give it up."

Luke pulled away and chuckled weakly. "I know, I'm just... nervous. Especially after what happened last time." He shuddered and absentmindedly touched the scar on his face. Lyra could tell by the faraway look in his eyes that he was remembering his quest two years back.

"I'll be okay," Lyra assured her brother. She then turned to the Stolls and gave them both hugs as well. "Thanks for the supplies. I'll see you guys in a couple weeks. Try not to burn down the cabin."

"Try to burn down the cabin?" Connor repeated. "Got it." He saluted her. Lyra rolled her eyes and said a few less involved goodbyes to Julia, Chris and Cecil. Before she could leave, Cecil handed her his bottle of cologne and said with pseudo-emotion, "To remember me. Plus, now you can't die because I need my cologne back to impress the laaadiessss."