Phaedra Belinda Guerreo was only seven years old when she was abandoned by her mother. She got to camp with the help of a few demigods named Luke and Thalia. On the way, they met another little demigod named Annabeth. They became best friends. Annab...
It’s funny how humans can wrap their mind around things and fit them into their version of reality. Chiron had told Phaedra that long ago. She didn’t appreciate his wisdom until much later.
According to the L.A. news, the explosion at the Santa Monica beach had been caused when a crazy kidnapper fired a shotgun at a police car. He accidentally hit a gas main that had ruptured during the earthquake.
This crazy kidnapper (a.k.a. Ares) was the same man who had abducted Percy and three other adolescents in New York and brought them across country on a ten-day odyssey of terror.
Poor little Percy Jackson wasn’t an international criminal after all. He’d caused a commotion on that Greyhound bus in New Jersey trying to get away from his captor (and afterward, witnesses would even swear they had seen the leather-clad man on the bus—“Why didn’t I remember him before?”).
Its crazy how one thing can influence how they think.
The crazy man had caused the explosion in the St. Louis Arch. After all, no kid could’ve done that. A concerned waitress in Denver had seen the man threatening his abductees outside her diner, gotten a friend to take a photo, and notified the police.
Finally, brave Percy Jackson had stolen a gun from his captor in Los Angeles and battled him shotgun-to-rifle on the beach.
His ego is really getting stroked right now. He's gonna get such a big head because of this.
Police had arrived just in time. But in the spectacular explosion, five police cars had been destroyed and the captor had fled. No fatalities had occurred. Percy Jackson and his three friends were safely in police custody.
The reporters fed them this whole story. They just nodded and acted tearful and exhausted (which wasn’t hard), and played victimized kids for the cameras.
“All I want,” Percy said, choking back his tears, “is to see my loving stepfather again. Every time I saw him on TV, calling me a delinquent punk, I knew...somehow...we would be okay. And I know he’ll want to reward each and every person in this beautiful city of Los Angeles with a free major appliance from his store. Here’s the phone number.” Phaedra had turned her body, looking like she was about to cry, but instead she was laughing silently.
The police and reporters were so moved that they passed around the hat and raised money for four tickets on the next plane to New York.
Percy knew there was no choice but to fly. Phaedra hoped Zeus would cut Percy some slack, considering the circumstances. But it was still hard to force Percy on board the flight.
Surely, Zeus wouldn't strike down the plane that has his master bolt inside….right? Right?
Takeoff was a nightmare. Every spot of turbulence caused Percy to gold on tighter. He didn’t unclench his hands from the armrests or Phaedra's hand until they touched down safely at La Guardia. The local press was waiting for them outside security, but they managed to evade them thanks to Annabeth, who lured them away in her invisible Yankees cap, shouting, “They’re over by the frozen yogurt! Come on!,” then rejoined them at baggage claim.
They split up at the taxi stand. Percy told Annabeth, Grover and Phaedra to get back to Half-Blood Hill and let Chiron know what had happened.
They protested, mostly Phaedra saying 'what of something goes wrong?' But Percy assured her everything would be fine.
Percy hopped in a taxi and headed into Manhattan. The others went back to camp.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
