Bewitched || P. Jackson

𝔽ancy a spin?

As frustrated as Nicki was with Percy when she saw him bolting down the street from the corner of her eye, she almost dropped the ambrosia she was holding in her attempt to chase him.

"Perseus!" Nicki called. "Where are you going?"

The demigod was beelining to a beat-up blue car. The hood was badly dented like somebody had tried to hammer out some huge craters. Nicki's skin tingled. Why did that car look so familiar? Then she realized it was a Prius.

Paul's Prius.

Nicki sped up, trying to catch up with Percy. The boy seemed to have extra speed in his feet as he ran. "Hades." Nicki cursed, almost slamming into Percy as he halted beside the car.

Paul was passed out in the driver's seat. Sally was snoring beside him. Percy's mind felt like mush. How had no one seen them before? They'd been sitting here in traffic for over a day, the battle raging around them, and no one had even noticed.

"They... they must've seen those blue lights in the sky." Percy rattled the doors but they were locked. "I need to get them out."

"Perseus," Nicki said gently.

"I can't leave them here!" He sounded a little crazy. He pounded on the windshield. "I have to move them. I have to—"

"Perseus, just... just hold on." Nicki waved to Chiron, who was talking to some centaurs down the block. "We can push the car to a side street, all right? They're going to be fine."

Percy's hands trembled. After all, he'd been through over the last few days, he felt so stupid and weak, but the sight of his parents made him want to break down.

Chiron galloped over. "What's... Oh, dear. I see."

"They were coming to find me," Percy said. "My mom must've sensed something was wrong."

"Most likely," Chiron said. "But, Percy, they will be fine. The best thing we can do for them is stay focused on our job."

Then Nicki noticed something in the backseat of the Prius, and her heart skipped a beat. Seat-belted behind Percy's mother was a black-and-white Greek jar about three feet tall. Its lid was wrapped in a leather harness.

"No way," Percy muttered.

Nicki pressed her hand to the window. "That's impossible! I thought you left that at the Plaza."

"Locked in a vault," Percy agreed.

Chiron saw the jar and his eyes widened. "That isn't— "

"Pandora's jar," Percy told him about their meeting with Prometheus.

"Then the jar is yours," Chiron said grimly. "It will follow you and tempt you to open it, no matter where you leave it. It will appear when you are weakest."

Looking at Percy's helpless parents, Nicki imagined Prometheus smiling, so anxious to help out poor mortals. Give up Hope, and I will know that you are surrendering. I promise Kronos will be lenient.

Anger surged through the demigods. Percy drew Riptide and cut through the driver's side window like it was made of plastic wrap. "We'll put the car in neutral," Percy said. "Push them out of the way. And take that stupid jar to Olympus."

Chiron nodded. "A good plan. But, Percy..."

Whatever he was going to say, he faltered. A mechanical drumbeat grew loud in the distance—the chop-chop-chop of a helicopter.

On a normal Monday morning in New York, this would've been no big deal, but after two days of silence, a mortal helicopter was the oddest thing Nicki had ever heard. A few blocks east, the monster army shouted and jeered as the helicopter came into view. It was a civilian model painted dark red, with a bright green "DE" logo on the side. The words under the logo were too small to read, but Percy knew what they said: DARE ENTERPRISES.