"The moment I met you,
I held my breath.
And you've been taking
it away ever since,
Nico di Angelo."
[ NICO DI ANGELO x MALE OC ]
[ PERCY JACKSON SERIES ]
[ HEROES OF OLYMPUS SERIES ]
cover by @humaneity !
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0031. | THE MONSTER PAYS AN EYE FOR AN EYE
Distance in the Labyrinth was different and a lot shorter. And despite travelling from Mexico, they made it to Times Square pretty quickly. They climbed out from the Marriott's basement and out into the real world.
The sunlight in New York burned Vela's corneas after becoming used to the darkness of the Labyrinth but he did his best to adjust them. The traffic zoomed past, unaware of the group. Percy guided them down the sidewalk and into a small alleyway with high cement walls so they'd be covered from watchful mortal eyes. Grover's goat legs weren't exactly inconspicuous even with the Mist.
Vela leant against the wall as Percy let out five sharp whistles and they waited. A minute passed and Rachel gasped. "They're beautiful!" He glanced up at her exclamation, looking up at the sky where she was pointing. He felt his chest warm at the sight of the Pegasi that flocked towards them. They reminded him of Silena. She was always good with them, maybe the best equestrian alongside Beckendorf and Percy.
They landed in the alleyway, trotting in circles around Percy excitedly. One that Vela recognised as Eirene whinnied at the sight of him. He grinned. She was Silena's favourite and so liked Vela too. She was the only Pegasi he could get on without being travel sick. "Hey, girl, how're you doing?" He stroked her mane. She nuzzled into his hand with a neigh of approval.
"Yeah," Percy said, speaking to the only black Pegasi - Blackjack. Percy had an obvious advantage as an equestrian given that he was able to speak to horses so it was a little hard to understand his one sided conversations. "I'm lucky that way," he mumbled. "listen, we need a ride back to camp quickly."
Eirene bucked up Vela's elbow, trying to get his attention so he would stroke her. He scratched her behind the ear just how she liked it and she whinnied happily.
Percy slid up onto Blackjack and Vela copied him, saddling up on Eirene. They all did, getting on their respective Pegasi until Vela realised there wasn't one for Rachel or Nico.
"Well," Rachel managed a smile. "I guess this is it."
Percy nodded uncomfortably. Vela pretended to be busy with Eirene, not wanting to be a part of whatever was going on between Percy and Rachel. Percy had a horrible habit of bringing Vela into everything and he really hated that sometimes. "Thanks, Rachel." Percy said. "We couldn't have done it without you."
Rachel said, "I wouldn't have missed it. I mean, except for almost dying, and Pan..." her voice failed her.
Vela decided to tune out their conversation. It wasn't right to listen in on them. Instead, he watched Annabeth carefully. He didn't want to be, but he was kind of annoyed at her. He didn't like how she had made him upset because he had a scar. As if it wasn't already hard enough to look himself in the eye and look at his own reflection, now he had her reminder that all he was to her was her replacement for Luke. He touched his split brow self consciously, feeling the groove of his scar, smooth but jagged.
