Crimson Rivers [1] - Percy jackson

Chapter 5:Percy Ruins A Bus

It didn’t take me long to pack i grabbed a few necessities and food and water. I also brought my sword and a small knife. Which left me only an extra change of clothes and a toothbrush to stuff in a backpack. The camp store loaned us one hundred dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas. These coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chiron told us, but Olympians never used less than pure gold. Chiron said the coins might come in handy for non-mortal transactions—whatever that meant.

He gave Percy, Annabeth, and me each a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag full of
ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies, if we were seriously hurt.
It was god food, Chiron reminded us. It would cure us of almost any injury,
but it was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half-blood very, very feverish. An overdose would burn us up, literally.

Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which she told us had been a twelfth-birthday present from her mom. She carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored, and a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve. I was sure the knife would get us busted the first time we went through a metal detector.

Percy was bringing just a change of clothes and a toothbrush. Grover wore his fake feet and his pants to pass as human. He wore a green rasta-style cap, because when it rained his curly hair flattened and you could just see the tips of his horns. His bright orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his daddy goat had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 12 and Hilary Duff’s “So Yesterday,” both of which sounded pretty bad on reed pipes.

We waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the
strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, then hiked up Half-Blood
Hill to the tall pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus. Chiron was waiting for us in his wheelchair. Next to him stood Argus who also works in the Infirmary. Today, though, he was wearing a chauffeur’s uniform, so you could only see extra peepers on his hands, face and neck. He waved at me and I waved back.

“This is Argus,” Chiron told Percy “He will drive you into the city, and, er,
well, keep an eye on things.” I heard footsteps behind us. Luke came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes. “Hey!” he panted. “Glad I caught you.” Annabeth blushed, the way she always did when Luke was around.
“Just wanted to say good luck,” Luke told us. “And I thought…um, maybe you could use these.” He handed Percy the sneakers, which looked pretty normal.

Luke said, “Maia!” White bird’s wings sprouted out of the heels, startling me so much, Percy dropped them. The shoes flapped around on the ground until the wings folded up and disappeared.

“Awesome!” Grover said.

Luke smiled. “Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from
Dad. Of course, I don’t use them much these days.…” His expression turned
sad. He turned as if only just then seeing me and handed me cereal bar. “Incase you get hungry”

We didn’t know what to say. Here he was giving Percy a magic gift. And giving me a cereal bar? “Hey, man,” he said. “Thanks.”

“Listen, Percy…” Luke looked uncomfortable. “A lot of hopes are riding
on you. So just…kill some monsters for me, okay?”

They shook hands. Luke patted Grover’s head between his horns, then gave
a good-bye hug to Annabeth, who looked like she might pass out. And went to hug me but I stumbled back and just shook hands with him, that alone made my skin crawl