Reborn In Percy Jackson World! The Titan Curse

Saying Good Byes and Promises

I yawned as I rubbed the back of my neck, as Thalia looked at the sky with wary looks. Grover had been chewing his shirt non-stop as his eyes glanced at the camp with worried looks, while Zoe and Bianca said goodbyes to the other Hunter. I saw Nico come towards us at full speed, he stopped near me and tried his best to catch his breath.

"Morning Nico" I greeted him warmly.

"Morning Reiner" he beamed at me and grinned.

"Are you here to say good luck?" I asked.

Nico tugged my jacket sleeves "Are you leaving too? But, you promise me that you won't leave me behind!" he looked at me with accusing looks.

I quickly crouched down so we can see eye to eye "Nico, this is important. I have to save my friend and a Goddess from the bad guy"

"You mean you will save the world?" he asked and sniffed "But-but-"

I ruffled his hair "I will come back, I promise. And we can play Mythomagic again together"

Nico wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket before hugging me rather suddenly "Promise? Promise that you will come back?"

I hugged him back and patted his back gently "I promise, I will come back"

Nico pulled himself and pulled two cards and a figurine from his pocket "Here for you"

I accepted the item and saw that the cards were Apollo's card and Hades's card, also the figurine is also Apollo's.

"Keep it," he said and looked at me again "I hope it can give you extra strength and defense. Also, you have a reason to come back here, since I lend that to you so you have to return it to me"

I chuckled as I put the item in my jacket pocket "Thank you. I'll keep it safe and return it to you" I ruffled his hair as he grinned brightly at me

Then Nico hugged me again this time he also whispered "Please, keep my sister away from harm's way. Even though she left me behind, she is still the only family I have left. Promise me that you will protect her"

I froze for a moment before I patted his head "I will do my best to protect her"

Nico then pulled himself as he stood near the Pine Tree as he watched Zoe and Bianca walked towards me, Thalia and Grover. But, something was missing, I didn't see Percy anywhere today. It almost felt like he was avoiding me altogether, or he was already plotting to follow us. Then after a final goodbye to Nico, I climbed the back seat as Zoe decided that she's the one who will drive the minivan since she's the oldest one. In the passenger seat, Bianca sat there with rather sad looks as she looked at Nico. Right at my side Thalia already sat there and now focusing on her lap, and behind us there's Grover who watched the sky with wary looks. After a few moments Zoe finally drover the car rather awkwardly into the road before we finally meet the main street that already crowded despite the sun barely touching the sky.

The ride was rather boring and annoying as Zoe and Thalia always argued about something, it's almost an hour and we barely left New York, because of the crowded street. I glanced up at the sky and saw a glimpse of a light brown Pegasus that suspiciously looks like Joker. I quickly put all my focus on the Pegasus and finally believed that the Pegasus was indeed Joker, and that can only mean one thing. Percy rode him because Joker never let anyone ride him aside from me and Percy, last time Travis tried to ride him, Joker threw him straight into the freezing lake water and Travis had to stay in bed for a nasty cold for 5 days and Connor had been sulking at those time because his partner in crime is sick.

"Hey!"

I quickly turned my head as Thalia gave me curious looks "Yeah?" I managed to get that word out since my brain still focusing on Joker.

"Did you see something?" she asked me in a curious tone.

I quickly shook my head "Nothing, I just thought I saw something. But it's probably just my imagination"

"What did you see?" she asked me.

"Pegasus" I blurted out "Maybe a stray, it just reminds me of Joker. Since I barely flew with him and he had been bothering me about it"

Thalia didn't seem satisfied with my explanation but she only nodded her head as she watched the street with disinterest looks. I cleared my throat awkwardly as I looked at the sky again and this time I saw Joker land on a tall building not too far away from our position. My eyes shifted to Zoe and Bianca who didn't seem to notice anything about the Pegasus that had been following us since we left the camp.

"We should stop in the building in front of us" Grover mumbled when we were about to enter Washington DC "I think we can find some clue there"

"In the coffee shop?" Thalia asked clearly surprise "Why would Lady Artemis stop there?"

"Probably she found some clue about the thing she's hunting in there" I answered "Maybe some kind of informant or someone that see the monster" I glanced at Thalia "And probably we can buy some coffee and doughnuts. I bet some of us are hungry since we barely eat anything for breakfast"   

Zoe looked only glanced at me briefly "Fine" she snapped "But I expect you to be quick we don't have much time left"

I nodded as Zoe turned left rather suddenly made my body slammed into the door and someone slammed my right side. I only grunted in pain as I heard a few loud tires screeches behind me with loud horns and a few curses thrown at us.

"Holy Zeus!" I heard Thalia's voice right by my side "You can kill us with that kind of driving!"

"Shut up!" Zoe hissed "Don't speak like you've never done that before!"

I heard Thalia take a sharp breath before she lunged forward at Zoe, ready to attack the Hunter. I quickly wrapped my arm around her and pulled her back, fighting in this cramped space could be dangerous, especially with Thalia's temper and power, she could blow this car up and jeopardize the whole quest. Thalia squirmed a bit before she huffed angrily and slumped at her original seat, her eyes still drilling holes into the back of Zoe's head, while I sighed tiredly while rubbing my forehead, already feeling tired even though the quest barely started.

Zoe parked the van across the coffee shop and turned the engine off, she took her backpack and opened her door harshly, almost ramming it into a guy that happened to be walking by. I opened the car door and climbed down from the van, I stretched myself and felt a little relieved when the chilly morning rushed into my face.  Scanned the whole area, knowing that Percy still followed us and he probably will come into the shop with Annabeth's invisibility cap on. Then I felt the hair on the back of my neck stood up, I immediately scanned the area again and froze for a moment when I caught a pair of mismatched eyes bored into me.

"Uh, you guys go first," I said "I'll scan the area around the shop, maybe I could find something"

Zoe gave me skeptical look "Uh-huh, right"

I sighed as I rolled my eyes "Just go inside find what do you looking for and I will get inside when I finish my own investigation outside"

After four of them were already inside the store, I quickly turned around and walked away from the coffee shop, I knew that Dr. Thorn is not alone, he brought a couple of monsters with him. So it will be ugly fast and I didn't want to drag my other friends into this mess. I stopped when I spotted a rather empty and deserted alleyway, I quickly turned into the alley and walked deeper into the alleyway, after I made some distance from the crowded street, I stopped and breathed slowly. I perked up my ear, a smile crept into my lips as I heard a couple of footsteps stopped not too far behind me.

"What do you hope bringing us in here, boy?" I hear a gruff voice.

I turned around and found Dr. Thorn, with Jake behind him, the silver-headed boy looked pissed when he faces me, perhaps he remembered that day when I utterly humiliated him. A scar ran down from below his right eye and stopped on his upper lips. His icy blue eyes dagger into mine, while he scowled deeply.

"Remember me?" he snarled.