Triplets of Leto

Chapter 26

Percy POV

Luke and I sat there in our seats, making some small talk here and there, for about 6 hours. It was a little boring. We both felt ADHD feeling harder and harder to resist. I ended up wishing I knew sign language, so I could make signs while I'm bored. In addition to tapping my foot, which I have been doing the whole ride, I started to running my hands through my hair, changing its style every so often.

My stomach starts to rumble, loudly. I head to the bathroom. It may be the cause, not sure.

It wasn't, but it stops rumbling so loudly, so I sit back down in my seat. Five minutes later, my stomach is louder than last time. I start to get a small belly ache.

A blued eyed man sitting behind me asks, "are you hungry? Do you have any food? If not, I have some I can give you."

"Are you sure? I'm just heading to my uncle, with my cousins, we're gonna get food there." I tell him.

"No, no. You're headed to Denver, right"

I nod. "That's 14 hours away. I insist. Here, some chips, a Granola bar, and an apple, for you and your cousins." He hands me them.

"Thank you so, so much." I smile largely at him.

"It is no problem." He winks at me.

I get Luke to wake Annabeth up.

"The kind man behind us gave us some snacks. He insisted." I point behind me, but nobody is there. "Where did he go?"

"Percy, there was never anyone there." Luke says.

"What do you mean, you heard me talking to him?" I ask.

"No, I didn't. You did not utter a single word."

"But," I'm at a loss for words.

"Let's just eat, ok?" Luke says.

"Yeah, yeah. Ok."

I took the apple, Luke took the chips, and Annabeth took the granola bar. The apple was super juicy and delicious.

"Who'll take next watching shift?" Annabeth asked.

"Me." I say.

"No, you've been up the last 16 hours." Luke points out.

"So, that's not long. I can go a long time without sleep." I tell them.

"How? Why won't you just sleep?" Annabeth asks.

I close my eyes, and it all comes rushing to the front. The pain, the fear, the yelling. "Always in danger." I mutter.

"What?"

"He could get me in my sleep, or I just remember more in my sleep. It's torture either way. Get attacked while I'm sleeping, or be attacked in a dream." I start breathing heavily.

They both looked confused, but then they seem to remember. "Percy, he's not here. He can't hurt you." Annabeth calms me.

Or tries to, it doesn't work. "But anything else can. The monsters, and he could still find me." And suddenly tears drip down my face.