Struck by Lightning

III

Percy silently walked past the Big House, where he knew Thalia, Grover, Bianca, and the other members of the quest were preparing for their trip west. As he thought about it, he clenched his fists in anger. Annabeth was one of the people in danger, and it was his friends that were going into danger! He should've been going with them, rather than just sitting around the Camp, doing nothing.

Still, he did nothing as he walked past, resigning himself to being able to do nothing as his friends faced evil.

As he walked towards the cabins, he passed Artemis' cabin, where the Hunters were staying. As he looked at the ornately-designed but rarely-used lodge, he saw a rustle of movement in a nearby bush. His eyes narrowed as he saw Nico in the bush, before realizing why he was there in the first place. His sister, Bianca, was still fresh to this world, as was Nico himself, but she was already going on a dangerous quest. The boy had to have been scared for his sister. In that instant, Percy felt a kinship with the undeclared demigod.

Percy pulled a baseball cap – Annabeth's trusty invisibility cap – out of his pocket, donning it as he snuck closer to the cabin. Right outside it, near where Nico was hiding and eavesdropping, there were two Hunters that were talking.

"It is terrible that Phoebe has been incapacitated like this," one of the Hunters was saying. "Her hives are severe."

"Indeed. These campers are disgusting men for having done this to a sister. Lady Artemis would have told us never to trust them if she were here," the other replied.

With a start, Percy stepped backwards. They were down one person before they even started the quest? That meant his friends were in even more danger before the real danger had even come. Before long, the Hunters went back inside of the cabin, and Nico emerged from the bush, his face pale from the same conclusion Percy had arrived at.

Pulling off his cap, Percy strode toward the startled boy.

"And what do you think you were doing?" he asked Nico, who looked down at the ground.

"You heard them," Nico replied, his voice quiet and hesitant. "The quest's already down a Hunter, and they've only barely left Camp. How will Bianca be safe like this?"

Percy sighed as he placed both hands on the younger boy's shoulders. Nico looked up.

"Don't worry. I'll go after them. I'll make sure Bianca and the others are safe. Just stay here at Camp, where it is safe."

Nico nodded. Percy went.

Apart from a terrifying and potentially catastrophic run-in with Dionysus himself, Percy and Blackjack's journey was fairly uneventful. They had tracked the van that the questers were using for hours.

"Boss!" Blackjack mentally said. "They've stopped!" Percy looked down over the edge of the flying pegasus. He saw the van that the Camp had given Zoë for her quest pull into a parking space by none other than the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. He sighed, happy that they had finally stopped after hours of driving (or rather, for him, flying on the back of Blackjack).

"Take us down," Percy said. Horse and boy both descended gracefully, the Mist helping to obscure the most blatant parts of it. If anyone saw Percy coming down, they saw him in a much more mortal-friendly light. However, given the relatively early hour on a weekday, there weren't many tourists around. The two descended into the National Mall.

"Go ahead without me," Percy whispered to Blackjack. The pegasus looked at the demigod for a few moments before nodding, flapping its wings and flying away. Turning to the museum, Percy pondered what to do.