LUNACY; percy jackson

chapter 11

[act one; chapter eleven     -     a crater filled with gold]

    A Coast Guard boat picked them up, but they were too busy to keep them for long, or to wonder how four kids had gotten out into the middle of the bay. There was a disaster to clean up, or so they were told. Their radios were jammed with distress calls.

    They dropped them off at the Santa Monica Pier with towels around their shoulders and water bottles, before speeding off to save more people.

    Their clothes were sopping wet, even Percy's, which came as a surprise. When the Coast Guard boat had appeared, he'd silently prayed they wouldn't pick him out of the water and find him perfectly dry, which would've raised some eyebrows. So he'd willed himself to get soaked. Sure enough, his usual waterproof magic had abandoned him. He was also barefoot, because he'd given his shoes to Grover. Better the Coast Guard wonder why one of them was barefoot than wonder why one of them had hooves.

     After reaching dry land, they stumbled down the beach, watching the city burn against a beautiful sunrise. Andromeda felt as if she were being dragged backwards, her feet heavy in the sand, her wet pants weighing her down.

    "I don't believe it," Annabeth said. "We went all that way—"

    "It was a trick," Percy said. "A strategy worthy of Athena."

    "Hey," she warned.

    "You get it, don't you?"

    She dropped her eyes, her anger fading almost immediately. "Yeah. I get it."

    "Well, I don't!" Grover complained. "Would somebody—"

    "Percy..." Annabeth said. "I'm sorry about your mother. I'm so sorry..."

    "The prophecy was right," he said. "'You shall go west and face the god who has turned.' But it wasn't Hades. Hades didn't want war among the Big Three. Someone else pulled off the theft. Someone stole Zeus's master bolt, and Hades's helm, and framed me because I'm Poseidon's kid. Poseidon will get blamed by both sides. By sundown today, there will be a three-way war. And I'll have caused it."

    Grover shook his head, mystified. "But who would be that sneaky? Who would want war that bad?"

    Percy stopped, looking down the beach. His eyes, however, lifted and landed on Andromeda. She was turned partially to him, partially to the beach, like she wasn't sure which way was the best, which one would provide her with whatever silent thing she searched for. He approached her, grasping one of her hands. "I'm sorry about your mom, too," he told her. Her eyes flickered away from his, and he knew, then, that it didn't take a genius to see the emotions that lingered there, hidden behind the bravery she tried so hard to sell. "It's okay. I don't blame you."