𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐞𝐧 || Percy Jackson

Sixteen

"What's hurting?"

"Nothing, I'm fine." Aurora mumbled back to Percy, continuing to look around through squinted eyes and ignoring the pain in her head. "Humans are odd."

She'd just given a false statement to a news reporter, just going along with the story they'd told the public as she stood hand in hand with Percy.

The civilians were moved by the boy's story that they raised money for their plane tickets.

"Marcie-"

"I'm fine, Percy." Aurora ground out as they sat in their seats, her eyes nearly closed with how much she was squinting.

It wasn't that the light hurt her eyes, it was that the sight of everything made her nauseous. She wanted to curl up under her clean covers after a nice shower and just lay there until she felt better.

But she was on a flight to New York, hoping that Zeus didn't strike their plane down.

She missed the way Percy flinched at her use of his common nickname. He was so used to her referring to him as 'Seus' that it felt like he did something wrong.

But she was still holding his hand. So he knew he wasn't the problem.

Hesitantly, he pulled her hood over her eyes. And she relaxed, her grip on his hand loosening as her lip wobbled.

"....I wanna go home." She whispered, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"We're almost there, Marcie." He mumbled back, laying his head on hers.

They stayed quiet together, though Percy was praying that Zeus didn't actually strike the plane down the entire time.

Aurora was somewhere in between being awake and asleep, quite peaceful despite the risk they were taking at the moment.

"I thought you wanted to go home?" Percy softly asked when he turned and saw Aurora still there, the girl shrugging.

"Someone's gotta make sure you make it back." She mumbled, kicking at the ground. Percy hummed, flagging down a taxi and letting her get in first.

They drove to Manhattan in silence, Aurora drifting off. She wouldn't let herself fall asleep, not with seeing her siblings first. She wouldn't sleep knowing how close she was to home.

"Are you-"

"Percy." Aurora firmly cut him off, huffing and glaring at him. "If I wanted to go back, I would have. I'm making sure you don't chicken out, and that Zeus doesn't strike you down."

"Okay, Aurora." He rolled his eyes, following after her since she knew the place better than him.

"Six hundredth floor, please." She requested to the person at the front desk, who was staring unapprovingly at Percy.

There was no doubt in his mind that he looked homeless, with his tattered clothes and messy face. He was quite jealous that Aurora looked so put together, despite the last few days they've gone through.

"No such floor, kid." The guard replied, going back to his book.

"We need an audience with Zeus." She tried again, straining herself to be polite.

"Sorry?" He gave them a blank smile.

"You heard me." She snapped, flames erupting from her hands and scorching the desk as she smiled tightly at him.

"No appointment, no audience, kiddo. Lord Zeus doesn't see anyone unannounced." The guard wasn't phased by her flames, flicking another page in his book.