DAISY || P. Jackson x Fem O/C

1.11 | 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐀𝐧 𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐩 𝐓𝐨 𝐎𝐥𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐬

 ~⚡~{[CHAPTER ELEVEN]}~⚡~

[Percy Takes An Exclusive Trip To Olympus]

IT'S FUNNY HOW humans can wrap their mind around things and fit them into their version of reality.

Chiron had told Percy that long ago. As usual, he 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. This crazy kidnapper (a.k.a. Ares) was the same man who had abducted Percy and three other adolescents in New York and brought them across country on a ten-day odyssey of terror. Poor little Percy Jackson wasn't an international criminal, after all. He'd caused a commotion on that Greyhound bus in New Jersey trying to get away from his captor (and afterwards, witnesses would even swear they had seen the leather-clad man on the bus – 'Why didn't I remember him before?') 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 Percy Jackson (Percy was beginning to like this kid) had stolen a gun from his 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. Percy Jackson and his three friends were safely in police custody.

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

"All I want," Percy said, choking back his tears, "is to see my loving stepfather again. Every time I saw him on TV, calling me a delinquent punk, I knew... somehow... we would be okay. And 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 four tickets on the next plane to New York. Percy knew there was no choice but to fly. He hoped Zeus would cut him some slack, considering the circumstances. But it was still hard to force himself on board the flight.

Takeoff was a nightmare. Every spot of turbulence was scarier than a Greek monster. He didn't unclench his hands from the armrests until they touched down safely at La Guardia. The local press was waiting for them outside security, but they managed to evade them thanks to Annabeth, who lured them away in her invisible Yankees cap, shouting,

"They're over by the frozen yogurt! Come on!", then rejoined them at baggage claim. They split up at the taxi stand. Percy told Annabeth and Grover to take Daisy and get back to Half-Blood Hill to let Chiron know what had happened. They protested, and it was hard to let them go after all they'd been through, but he knew he had to do this last part of the quest by himself, so he sort of guilt tripped them, by reminding them of the state Daisy was in, and a load of rambling about how she needed urgent care and what-not. They glanced at her guiltily and agreed. If things went wrong, if the gods didn't believe him... he wanted Daisy, Annabeth and Grover to survive to tell Chiron the truth.

He hopped in a taxi and headed into Manhattan.

Thirty minutes later, he walked into the lobby of the Empire State Building. he must have looked like a homeless kid, with his tattered clothes and his scraped-up face. He hadn't slept in at least twenty-four hours. He went up to the guard at the front desk and said,