The Half-Blood Project

31- Sand and Wind

 Piper McLean 

"Are you sure Pipes?" Jason seems perplexed, unsure, and unhappy in this situation and this predicament. I nodded and gave him a reassuring smile. 

"Jason, we'll be fine. Plus, we have Will with us in case Leo does something stupid, which will happen." I laughed and there was a muffled complaint from a few feet away, probably Leo. 

"I, I just wish I was going." 

"I know. But Percy told you, Frank and Hazel, to stay back and help these guys. They need you as much as anyone does." 

Jason still looked unhappy and I have this feeling he wanted to go in my place. A journey across the United States would be dangerous and it would be terrifying, at least one of us in the whole of the group would end up being injured or worse, died during this trip. 

I wish we had a dragon that would pick us up in its claws and carry us over to New York City without having to go through the trouble with cars and subways. 

But sadly, we don't have a dragon and we're taking the bus to Reno, then we're probably going to take either trains or cars, probably trains to at leastwise, or somewhere along the lines of the Midwest. 

Forty-five demigods, including me, Nico, Will, and Leo were going. Was that enough for the battle? Would we be able to pick any up along the way and train them to our best ability? Hope so. 

"We leave at noon, we'll be at Reno around eight and I had Hazel transfer some money over onto these nice and stolen debit cards that Conner gave me." I showed the three plastic green cards to Jason who rolled his eyes. If it was him, he would have never even thought of stealing anything. But I wasn't him. 

I walked away from our camp spot and started to hike up the hills, the green and gold blanket was so soft beneath me, the morning sun that had risen over the rolling hills shone warmly on my face as I took a seat on the thick carpet of grass. 

Was Dad looking at the same sun? Was he somewhere around the world shooting some movie that would make him even more famous? Was he making his breakfast like he preferred to do and drinking Walmart orange juice, not the fancy homemade crap?

Did he even know if I was alive? I hadn't talked to him since the day I ran from that boarding school in Carson City with Leo. Did he think I was dead or just estranged somewhere? 

I'm a horrible daughter. 

But then again, he hadn't been the best of dad's either. 

Whenever he was shooting a movie, he'd work long hours into the night and never got around to tucking me into bed, reading me a story when I was little, or even having the decency to call and say goodnight. 

All I wanted was for him to realize I wasn't some movie prop or some backgrounsssciencehter. His daughter. Not something he could ignore. 

When I was fifteen he sent me to a boarding school in Carson City. It had been a blessing in disguise, meeting Leo, almost dying, and meeting Percy. Being apart of the Half-Blood-Project. Being apart of a team that was like a real, real family. 

It was the only thing my dad ever did right. 

Maybe he misses me. Maybe he wishes he did something more for me. I was his only kid. He told me that I was all he needed for kids. Did I take that several different ways? Was I too much of a disappointment that he didn't want to make that mistake again? Or was it because I reminded him of Mom, who he barely spoke of? 

After this war can I find him and maybe start over? Luckily I was not like Annabeth who swore never to go back and just forgot her family. I wasn't like Percy who never spoke about his family. Where they dead? He said his mom had been gone for years, did that mean she was dead or estranged? I wasn't like Jason who didn't know his family at all.