The Path Of Glory (Annabeth Chase x Male Reader)

20. Six Hundredth Floor

It's funny how humans can wrap their minds around things and fit them into their version of reality, Chiron had said when they were still at Camp Half-Blood. Y/N 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.

The crazy kidnapper—a.k.a. Ares—was the same man who had abducted Y/N and four other adolescents in New York and brought them across the country on a ten-day odyssey of terror.

Poor little Y/N L/N and Percy Jackson weren't international criminals after all. They had caused a commotion on that Greyhound bus in New Jersey trying to get away from their captor—and afterward, witnesses would even swear they had seen the leather-clad man on the bus. 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 Y/N L/N and Percy Jackson—very nice, these kids—had stolen guns from their captor in Los Angeles and battled him shotgun-to-rifle on the beach. 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. The kids were safely in police custody.

The reporters fed them this whole story. They just nodded and acted tearful and exhausted—which wasn't that hard—and played victimized kids for the cameras.

"All I want," Percy said, choking back his tears, "is to see my loving stepfather again. 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." The police and reporters were so moved that they passed around the hat and raised money for five tickets on a plane to New York.

Y/N hoped Zeus would cut Percy some slack about flying, considering the circumstances.

During the flight, every turbulence scared Percy more than a Greek monster, which was hilarious. At the airport, the local press was waiting for them, but they managed to escape thanks to Annabeth, who lured them away in her invisible Yankees cap, shouting, "They're over by the frozen yogurt! Come on!" then joined them at baggage claim.

They split at the taxi stand. Y/N and Percy to Olympus, and Annabeth, Ethan and Grover to Camp Half-Blood, to let Chiron know what had happened. They protested, but finally Percy managed to convince him, saying it was his quest and he decided.

Y/N and Percy hopped in a taxi and headed into Manhattan.

Thirty minutes later, they walked into the lobby of the Empire State Building.

They must have looked like homeless kids, with their tattered clothes and their scraped-up face. And twenty-four hours without sleep, Y/N thought.

They went up to the guard at the front desk and said as one, "Six hundredth floor."

He was reading a huge book with a picture of a wizard on the front. It must have been good, because the guard took a while to look up. "No such floor, kids."

"I need an audience with Zeus," Percy said.

The guard gave him a vacant smile. "Sorry?"

"You heard him," Y/N said.

He was about to decide this guy was just a regular mortal, and they would better run for it before he called the straitjacket patrol, when the guard said, "No appointment, no audience, kiddo. Lord Zeus doesn't see anyone unannounced."