Alstroemerias {Percy Jackson}

32

Grover was searching for Percy with Magnolia and Annabeth. Percy had told them that he would be right down with the next group since they hadn't all been able to fit in one elevator car. Instead of calmly making his way down however, the St. Louis Arch ended up with a good size hole in its side and four people were being ushered into ambulances. So now, the three of them were searching every nook and cranny of the area to find their raven haired companion. It was stressful.

Maggie thought that she had caught sight of Percy near the floating McDonald's, so she hurried off trying to get to him before he went somewhere else.

"Percy!" she yelled. "Perrcyy!"

"Maggie?" Percy said as he caught sight of the unmistakable bright green hair of his best friend and began to push his way toward her.

Somehow, Grover had managed to pass Maggie in the sea of people, surprising Percy with a massive bear hug. "We thought you'd gone to Hades the hard way!" he cried.

As soon as Grover let go, Maggie took her time to wrap Percy a hug of her own. He hesitantly looked over his head to look at Annabeth. Percy thought she would be furious with him; however, she looked more relieved than anything.

"We can leave you alone for five minutes!" she said. "What happened?"

"I sort of fell."

"Percy! Six hundred and thirty feet!"

"You know it didn't really seem that high from up there. I-"

"Gangway!" a cop shouted. The crowd quickly parted, and a couple of paramedics rushed out, rolling the woman on a stretcher. She was trying to explain what had happened in the cursedly tiny elevator, but paramedics refused to believe her. "Just calm down, ma'am. The medication is starting to kick in."

"I'm not crazy!" she defended before catching sight of Percy. "Look! There he is, the boy!"

Percy and Maggie quickly turned around and pulled Annabeth and Grover farther into the crowd. He quickly explained everything the weird water messenger lady had told him underneath the water as they made their way back to the Amtrak Station. The entire time, Grover and Annabeth insisted that he couldn't ignore the summons to Santa Monica forever.

As soon as their train rolled into Denver, Annabeth dragged the others out of the station, through the crowd, and toward an empty do-it-yourself car wash.

"Let's try to contact Chiron." she said. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit."

"What does a car wash have to do with that?" Percy questioned.

"It's better than a spray bottle." Maggie stated as she began to drop coins into the machine. "We're going to IM him."

"Instant messaging?"

"Iris messaging," the blond corrected. "The rainbow goddess, Iris, carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."

"So, you summon her with a spray gun?"

"Magnolia pointed at the nozzle in Grover's hands. "No, you summon her with a rainbow. Spray gun's just the easiest way to make one. Unless you have an actual child of Iris with you. They just snap their fingers and bam! Although-"

"Drachma, please." Annabeth interrupted.

Percy carefully placed the gold coin on the girl's palm and watch her begin the call.

"O, goddess, accept our offering." she called out, tossing the drachma into the rainbow. It disappeared in a golden shimmer.

"Half-blood Hill." Grover requested.

"Please." Percy added.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Suddenly, the camp's strawberry field appeared in the mist. The call seemed to be situated in the Big House porch, giving the four twelve year-olds view if Luke Castellan a few feet away.

"Oi, Luke!" Maggie called out, taking the nozzle from Grover.

"Maggie? Oh! The questers! Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?" he said, scarred face breaking into a grin.

"We're uh... fine," Annabeth squeaked. She madly attempted to straighten her dirty t-shirt and comb the loose hair out of her face. "We thought Chiron- I mean-"

"He's down at the cabins." Luke's smile faded. "We're having some issues with the campers."

"What kind of issues?" Percy asked.

Just then a bog Lincoln Continental pulled into the car wash with its Stereo turned to maximum hip-hop. As the car pulled into the next stall, the bass from the subwoofers vibrated so much that it shok the pavement.

"Chiron had to- What's that noise?" Luke yelled, attempting to be heard over the ruckus.

"I'll take care of it!" Annabeth yelled back. "Grover, Magnolia come on!"

"What?" Maggie started. "But-"

"Give the nozzle to Percy and let go." she ordered.

Maggie reluctantly handed Percy the spray gun and followed Annabeth and Grover to the other stall. Percy could have imagined it, but he thought he heard Maggie questioning why Annabeth would want her to come with.

"Bye, Luke!" she called out. She managed to make out soft goodbye from the blond back before everything was drowned out by the man and his awful taste in music. 

I'm really sorry it's taking me so long to update. My plan was to be more on top of things during the summer, but a lot has happened with my family and i haven't been feeling very motivated to do anything lately, so things might not work out as I hoped. Don't worry though, I'm determined to finish this story eventually! just bear with me... 

Love you guys!! ❤️

- Ellie