Percy Jackson, Son of Poseidon

Chapter 26

ON THE ROAD TO VEGAS

The whole ride was mostly spent in silence. They had opened the duffel bag Ares had given them and founded some new clothes, money, food and water. Clarisse and Annabeth had been snacking on some oreos while he stared out the window at the passing scenery.

Percy was broken out of his reverie by Annabeth who nudged him slightly to get his attention. Turning towards the back seat he saw Clarisse was fast asleep and was pressed up against the window. Annabeth offered him some of the oreos which he gratefully took and nibbled on "you know I never asked" she started as he cast the maffiato charm (which he has been using quite a lot lately) over them so that the driver wouldn't overhear.

"what about?" he questioned with a raised eyebrow (not that she could see it).

"This magical school you supposedly go to" Annabeth says with a curious tone, much like many of the Ravenclaws he had encountered in Hogwarts.

Thinking that it was safe enough to tell her (there was the statue of secrecy after all) Percy started explaining to her about the wizarding world.

"At age eleven we all go to this boarding school I guess you can say, its called Hogwarts" he starts "basically there are four different houses, there's Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Slytherin" Annabeth nodded, urging him to continue.

"We're all sorted by personality, so Gryffindor is the brave, Ravenclaw is the intelligent, Hufflepuff's are loyal and hardworking and will usually take anyone" Percy says with a slight shrug.

"And Slytherin?" Annabeth asks with her thinking face on, as if she was trying to solve the worlds biggest riddle (see what I did there?).

Percy smirks, he was proud of his house and was happy that Annabeth had taken an interest about the school he absolutely loves (even with Potter and that Dumbledore).

"Slytherin are for those who are cunning and ambitious, I'm in Slytherin" he tells her enthusiastically and begin telling her stories of Hogwarts. After explaining about all the classes that were thought and telling tales of his time there Annabeth had a look of wonder in her face.

"It sounds amazing" she says truthfully. Annabeth was very curious indeed, she wanted to know how such a school could get such an enthusiastic response from the boy who usually had very calculated responses. Then again he was also very enthusiastic in talking about the magical sport of Quidditch and had even ranted slightly about his favorite team ("I mean the falcons are known for their hardcore style of playing but the bats and the magpies are the second and first best in the league respectfully").

After a moments silence Percy was the one who spoke up "how long have you been in camp?" and noticed through the rear view mirror how Annabeth had tensed.

"Ever since I was seven" she says curtly, hand absentmindedly going up to her beaded necklace. Oh? must've hit a nerve there he thought devilishly, noticing the response.

Ever the Slytherin he is Percy decided to press on "Seven you say?" he asks willing his voice to sound innocently curious.

Annabeth stiffened up slightly "yes" she bites out, slightly bitter.
"Are you going to elaborate?" Percy said already putting the pieces together. Someone once mentioned Luke had been in camp for a long time... Annabeth had seem to know him really well.. she also had seemed really worried once she heard the news about Grover.

"You came to camp with them didn't you?" He stated rather bluntly once it was clear Annabeth was not going to elaborate. "You came with Luke and that other girl, the one who was turned into a tree, Grover was your protector" Percy continued seeing the slight look of surprise from Annabeth which was gone in a second.

"Who told you that?" Annabeth asked with furrowed eyebrows.
"No one, its quite easy to work out really I mean before I went to camp Grover kept mumbling 'can't fail again' or something and somebody at camp told me about the boundary" Percy says shrugging nonchalantly.

Annabeth sighed deeply "yeah I did.. didn't meant to really I ran away from home bumped into them by accident" Percy frowned when she said she ran away.

"You ran away?" Annabeth nodded, expression hardening again "My father didn't wanted a child and later on married my step mother who had two kids, she didn't wanted me ruining the family" she says and Percy felt his anger rising because of a man he had never met before.

Deciding to change the subject Percy asked another question that's been lingering on his mind for awhile now "what do you think of the split in camp" and could tell that Annabeth was thankful for the change of subject.

"I think we really need to get this bolt" and Percy nodded his agreement.
"hear hear" he says with a light voice but quickly turned serious again "what about you? what side are you on?" and waited for a response from Annabeth.

"I don't know about my mom but I know I'll fight next to you"
"Why?"
"Because you're my friend seaweed brain. Now anymore stupid questions?"

I seriously had to write this in a few hours when I should've been doing homework.

But oh well, here's a new chapter I hope you like it and please tell me what you think! thank you so much for reading.

Disclaimer; I do not own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does and that last line came from his book. And obviously the art does not belong to me.

-ThatBookFanatic