Celestial - a Percy Jackson fanfic [BOOK ONE]

Chapter eleven

That night was pretty miserable. We had to camp out in the woods in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties. There were crushed soda cans and food wrappers littered all over the ground.

We had found some food and blankets from Medusa's warehouse, but we didn't dare light a fire. We didn't want to attract anything or anyone else to our whereabouts.

We decided to sleep in shifts so that someone could keep an eye on things while everyone else slept.

Percy took the first watch. Annabeth shared a blanket with me. I didn't mean to cuddle her, but she was so warm, and I was so cold. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the blanket.

——

I dreamt about Zeus. He was dancing with another woman, who looked quite regal looking. I assumed it was Hera. They both wore togas that draped off of one shoulder. Zeus was how I had imagined - huge, bulging muscles, Grecian nose, long white hair with a beard to pair. Hera had a small crown on her head, her brown hair swept back into a low bun. She was beautiful.

Zeus turned to me, smiling. He held out his hand, reaching out to me. I took it. He pulled me closer, resting one of his large arms over my shoulder.

Sansa, he said. Please, be careful in these times of war.

Hera reached out cupping my face. You have much to learn. You are more powerful than you know.

I wanted to ask them questions, but my voice couldn't seem to form words. And suddenly, I was being ripped away from them. Skeletal hands grabbed at my arms, pulling me into the ground. And yet, I couldn't even scream.

——

When I woke up, I straight up rigidly, startled. I was breathing deeply, almost panting.

"Hey, you okay?" I heard Annabeth ask.

I looked up as she tossed me a bag of corn chips. Percy was sitting next to her.

"Grover went exploring," she said. "Look, he found a friend."

I looked at where she was pointing, seeing Grover sitting on a blanket next to a tree with a small pink poodle in his lap. A poodle?

Percy noticed my confusion. "Grover can speak to animals. There's a $200 dollar reward for returning the dog. She's our ticket west."

"So we turn in Gladiola-" Annabeth said, referring to the pink poodle, "we get the money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."

"Not another bus," I groaned.

Annabeth pointed downhill, toward train tracks that I hadn't been able to see in the dark of the night. "There's an Amtrak station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the west-bound train leaves at noon."

Wow, we're really about to take directions from a little pink poodle.

——

We spent two days on the Amtrak train. The views were nice. We went through hills, over rivers, past fields of grains.

We weren't attacked once. It was oddly serene to go so long without any hiccups.

When I read the newspapers on the train, I realized that there was a manhunt for Percy. His step-father had talked so much smack about him and was telling everyone that it was Percy's fault that his mother was missing. There was even a picture taken by someone from the Greyhound bus. There was a wild look in his eyes and his sword was a blur, but it looked like a baseball bat rather than a blade. It gave a description of the incident on the Greyhound bus- how it exploded after he had fled the scene. There was even a picture of me included - holding an old cell phone rather than my weapon. I sure looked beaten up. It was taken right after I had realized about Zeus.