𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍° ! percy jackson

𝐢.𝐱𝐢 - 𝐢 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐫 (𝐚)

Aurora only cracked a smile once Percy slammed straight into a tree.

She felt bad for the big oak, because Percy's head was pretty huge, sympathizing only with the plant as the son of Poseidon rubbed the red knot on his head. After watching Percy trip and curse and generally feel pretty miserable, Aurora finally let a small snicker slip out of her lips.

"Are you laughing at me?" Percy's voice was incredulous as his eyes narrowed at the stony faced girl, who was hiding her ridiculous grin behind her finally-still hands.

"No," she drew out the syllable, but couldn't contain the teasing that was slipping into her cold intonation. She glanced away, a tantalizing smell prickling the senses in her nostril. Her nose twitched as she took a deep whiff of luxurious, fried, greasy, unhealthy food: the best kind. It smelled like home, like Connor Stoll shoving his face with his cheeseburger and fries while Aurora sat and giggled at his idiocy across the dining pavilion.

She looked away fast enough to not catch Percy's aquamarine gaze softening as she giggled, melting into a pool of understanding.

They kept walking until they saw a deserted two-lane road through the trees. On the other side was a closed-down gas station, a tattered billboard for a super old 1990s movie, and one open business, which was the source of the neon light and good smell.

It wasn't the fast food restaurant that Percy would've hoped for, from the looks of his fallen face and lip jutting out slightly in a hopeless pout.

"Yeah, I can't read that." Percy sighed dejectedly, crossing his arms over his grumbling stomach. Aurora stayed quiet, although to her it looked like ATYNU MES GDERAN GOMEN MEPROUIM. "What the fuck does that say?"

"I don't know," Annabeth conceded before Grover, the only non-dyslexic person there, translated it into "Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium."

Percy started forward, but Grover grabbed his arm with wild eyes. "Are you crazy? This place is weird."

Percy glanced at Aurora, as if he was looking for approval. Annabeth's eyes had glazed over, hunger overtaking her brain power, but as sea green met hazel, Aurora's fatigue hit. She was really hungry, and tired, and—

"I don't know," she blew out a slow huff, her breath brushing a loose strand of strawberry-blonde colored hair out of her eyes. She felt self-conscious, their previous interactions with monsters putting a crack in her armor of confidence. "I don't know. I don't want to do anything wrong."

Percy waited for a moment before nodding to Annabeth. The two seized both of her elbows, her feet nearly tripping over themselves as they dragged her forward. The three completely ignored Grover's nervous bleats as their stomachs chased food.

Then, the door creaked open, and standing in front of them was a beautiful, tall woman with a long gray gown that covered everything but her hands. On her head sat a petite hat, like one of the ones that the British women wore to tea parties. It had a veil, so no tendrils of her hair could be seen. She was enticingly gorgeous, the type of woman that could lure a god to her with a single glance.

"Children, it is too late to be out all alone," she said, sympathy lacing her strong voice. "Where are your parents?"

"They're... um..." Annabeth started to say.

"We're orphans," Percy quipped quickly, a coy smirk playing onto his lips as he supported his sentence with full confidence. Aurora wanted to kick him in the gut. "Separated from our caravan. Circus caravan, that is."

Percy didn't know how close to a reality being an "orphan" was to some people.

(Some people meaning Aurora.)