Chapter 28: Santa Monica
A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!
Percy and Co. make it to Santa Monica, but not without having a chat first~
-x-X-x-
Percy doesn’t really have that much time to consider the pros and cons of stealing the truck and letting Annabeth drive. In the end, they have to make their decision quickly, because the actual owners of said truck won’t be held up by the zebra’s escape for long. They didn’t seem like the types to chase a zebra through the streets of Las Vegas forever and ever so…
“A-Alright. Let’s do it.”
Annabeth gives Percy a cheery grin, clearly pumped that he was willing to put his faith in her. But then to be fair, Percy trusted Annabeth. He trusted Clarisse and Grover too. This might have been his quest, but they were a team all the same. If he couldn’t count on them to tell him the truth about their skills and capabilities, what COULD Percy count on?
The four of them all quickly move to the front of the truck, preparing to pile in… only to realize that not all of them will fit upfront. Fortunately, it’s one of those trucks that has an overhang of sorts for sleep times, and Grover volunteers himself for slipping up top to take a nap.
“Slept horribly anyways, knowing about the conditions those poor animals were in… so if you all don’t mind…”
Percy just smiles and shakes his head, noting how Annabeth and Clarisse exchange a glance. It doesn’t surprise him that as soon as they’ve gotten the Kindness International Truck on the road and Grover has slipped away and begun snoring, that Clarisse is already climbing into Percy’s lap.
“I’ll… keep you warm. As a proper maid. Sir.”
Percy just huffs as Annabeth keeps her eyes forward, on the road. The young woman looks smaller than she ever has before, sitting in the big driver’s seat of the truck. But her feet can reach the pedals so at least there’s that.
“Did you sleep well, Percy? If you want Clarisse to back off, just say the word.”
The Daughter of Ares throws Annabeth a betrayed glance, but the Daughter of Athena doesn’t spare her a single look. Annabeth is a very focused driver, from the look of things. Even as they pull out of Las Vegas and into the Mojave Desert, heading for Santa Monica, she keeps her eyes forward.
“No… I’m fine. I just… I guess it was a nightmare?”
His confusion takes both Annabeth and Clarisse back, with the latter looking at him in concern.
“You’re not sure whether it was a nightmare or not?”
“Well… it was one of those things that started slipping away the moment I woke up. And then we were in a pretty dire situation immediately so I didn’t even have a chance to remember much if I’m being honest. But it felt like it might have been more than just a dream. And I thought… I thought I remembered my mom at the end. But also a name. No… a title?”
Looking from Clarisse to the side of Annabeth’s head as she continues driving them down the road, Percy breathes out a shuddering breath.
“Have either of you ever heard of ‘The Crooked One’?”
Clarisse’s response is honest confusion. Annabeth though, she very nearly jerks them off the road with how hard she jolts, only the fact that she jolts upwards instead of side to side saving them from a bad accident. And the truck being so large and unwieldy, Percy supposed.
Once she has it back under control, Percy peers at her closely.
“… Annabeth?”
“You… Percy, you’re sure? You have to be sure. You’re absolutely certain you heard that title? Not… not the Silent One? Or the Rich One m-maybe?”
He considers for a moment, wanting to actually be absolutely certain… but in the end, he has to nod.
“Yes. It’s one of the few parts of the dream I remember clearly. The Crooked One. Why? What do those other two mean?”
Annabeth lets out a shuddering breath as she collects herself for a moment.
“The Silent One and the Rich One are both titles of Hades, God of the Underworld. It would honestly almost make sense if he was behind all of this. If the Sky and Ocean go to war, everyone loses… but not the Underworld. If a dominant winner doesn’t arise from your father and the Skyfather’s upcoming conflict, then Hades would be best positioned to step in and take everything for himself.”
Oh. That did make a lot of sense, actually. But then…
“Okay so who is the Crooked One then? Not Hades, I assume?”
His Wise Girl bites her lower lip, eyes still focused on the road in front of them. But now Percy gets the idea it’s not just because she’s such a focused driver, but also because she really doesn’t want to confront this.
“… Maybe it was just a nightmare. A dream. Maybe it didn’t have any other meaning.”
She clearly wants that to be true. Desperately so. But Percy doesn’t think it is.
“How could it be, Annabeth? Whoever this Crooked One is, I don’t know them. And yet I still heard that title in my dream, clear as day. How is that possible unless it was more than just a dream?”
In the face of his impeccable logic, Annabeth nods her head tightly.
“You’re right. It’s just… it shouldn’t be possible. And if it is possible, things are a lot worse than I initially thought.”
She’s still slow rolling the reveal, but Percy can tell she’s working herself up to it so he stays quiet. Clarisse shifts back and forth in his lap, her impatience leaking through in a fashion that makes the crotch of his pants somewhat tight, but she too remains silent. Until finally…
“The Crooked One… is an epithet given to Kronos, the Titan of Time, Evil, and Harvest. Kronos, the King of the Titans and father… father to Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia.”
Percy’s eyes widen at that as his brain makes the connection to the myths he’s read.
“The one who ate all of his children until his wife replaced Zeus with a boulder and Zeus made Kronos spit them all back up?”
Nodding her head slightly, Annabeth bites her lower lip.
“T-That’s the one.”
Furrowing his brow, Percy grunts.
“But… didn’t that story end with them cutting Kronos into a thousand pieces so he could never return?”
“… It did. But Gods and Titans… they don’t work on the same level as us. Cutting Kronos into a thousand pieces didn’t kill him. It just immobilized him and massively weakened him. Still, he’s supposed to be imprisoned. I think… well, I don’t know what to think truth be told. But the moment we can, we need to tell someone about this. Preferably one of the Olympians.”
He can’t help but snort a little at that.
“Which one, exactly? The one who tried to blast us with lightning? Or the one who sent us knowingly into a trap that could have been fatal if we hadn’t handled it the right way? I mean, I guess I could try to pray to my dad…”
Annabeth shakes her head.
“No. That’s not safe. If you pray to Poseidon, all of the Gods will be able to find us. Honestly, just talking about them as much as we have is probably a bad idea, but since we’re constantly on the move right now, it should be fine. In fact…”
Annabeth glances at their surroundings and then at the truck’s speedometer.
“… I think Ares blessed this truck back when he made us climb into the back of it. We shouldn’t have been able to drive across the entirety of the United States as fast as we did. And even now we’re making incredible time.”
Percy scowls at that, still not trusting Ares one bit. But before he can say anything more, the Daughter of Ares in his lap suddenly shifts, rubbing against his engorged cock.
“Ah… Master… this worthless maid has created a problem. Please allow her to fix it.”
Annabeth snorts while Percy sighs at Clarisse, grabbing her by the hips as she shifts so that she’s facing him instead of sitting sideways atop him.
“You’re not worthless, Clarisse. But… alright. Go ahead.”
The Daughter of Ares wastes no time in reaching down between them and hastily freeing his cock from its confines. Then, she just as hastily exposes her own crotch, kicking off her panties and simply tucking her panties to the side before sinking down onto his member with a groan. Percy covers her mouth with his palm before she can moan too loudly, giving her a meaningful look that tells her not to wake Grover.
Understanding perfectly, Clarisse nods and keeps quiet as she steadily begins to ride him. From the driver’s seat, Annabeth doesn’t exactly watch them… but Percy does see the side of her face getting redder and there’s no doubt she’s enjoying what little of the view she can get from her peripheral vision.
Well, better this than passing the ride in silence, Percy supposed. Trapped with his own thoughts running round and round, he might have gone mad. Would explain why there were so many bouts of recorded madness in Greek Mythology, wouldn’t it? The Gods really were a bunch of fuckers at the end of the day.
Letting out a sigh, Percy pushes his head back on the worn headrest behind him, letting his eyes drift shut. At the same time, he holds Clarisse by the hips and helps her bounce up and down on his cock, even as she buries her face in the crook of his neck to muffle her eventual moans. And so they wile the time away while driving their stolen truck across the desert, all the way to California…
-x-X-x-
“We’re here.”
Percy opens his eyes, having wound up taking a short nap after all once he and Clarisse had been finished. At the same time that Annabeth’s voice rings out, the truck’s engine suddenly begins to sputter and the truck slows to a crawl. Annabeth frowns and looks over everything before sighing and shaking her head, twisting the wheel and steadily bringing them off the side of the road so they’d be out of the way at least.
“Truck’s dead. I guess Ares really did bless it… we probably shouldn’t have been able to drive all the way here without stopping for gas, especially since the previous drivers didn’t have a chance to fuel back up before we took it. And yet… here we are.”
Yep. Here they were. Percy looks out and sees the sun setting on the horizon… a horizon dominated by water. Not just any water either, but the Pacific Ocean. The Kindness International Truck had gotten them all the way to the beach in Santa Monica. There was a massive pier off to one side with carnival rides up and down it, and behind them palm trees lined the sidewalks.
Out on the beach itself, with the sun beginning to set, Percy could see that most people had packed up and gone home for the day. All that were left among the sand dunes were homeless vagabonds and surfers waiting for the perfect wave.
The sea… calls to him.
“What now, Percy?”
“I think… I think I go in.”
They all clamor out of the truck, making sure to bring all of their belongings with them while they do so. And then Percy, almost as an afterthought, hands off his belongings to Annabeth and Clarisse for safekeeping. His shirt, socks, and shoes as well, though he keeps his pants and boxers. Technically, he knows he could go in completely clothed and come out completely dry… but it feels right to do this instead.
Giving his three companions a reassuring smile, Percy nods.
“Wait for me. I’ll be right back.”
They all look varying degrees of nervous, but if Percy really has anything to fear from the Ocean… then he’s already dead. He can’t fight both his father and Zeus, after all.
Walking into the surf feels right. Better than right, it feels good. Nobody else on the beach seems to notice him disappearing further and further out into the water, save for his companions. Giving them one last wave… he slips under the surface.
It’s so easy, walking underwater. He quickly finds himself among the shoals and even though he can’t actually SEE with how murky and polluted the water is, he doesn’t have to be able to see. He can feel everything. From the geography to the sea life, any and everything touched by water is available to his senses. Which is why he’s not at all taken aback when a mako shark rubs against his leg.
He’d seen the thing approaching, of course… but he’d felt a sense of affection towards it that made it impossible for him to be frightened. Now… now the damn thing is acting like an excited puppy as it nuzzles him. Chuckling underwater is an interesting experience, even as he reaches down and pets the mako shark’s fin. And then the thing bumps into him, as if asking him to grip down.
Ah. It’ll take him where he needs to go. Is that it? Nodding to himself, Percy takes hold of the shark’s dorsal fin with both hands and it immediately takes off, pulling him deeper out to sea. In short order, Percy finds himself hundreds of feet underwater, standing on the edge of the sand bank where the ocean itself begins. From there, it’s nothing but darkness, a huge chasm.
It should have terrified him, but it didn’t. The pressure should have been crushing him, but it wasn’t. This… this was his home. The Ocean was where Percy belonged. He lets out a shuddering breath as he feels power coursing through him. Was this how his father felt all the time? No, Poseidon probably felt even better than this, didn’t he?
“Hello again, Percy Jackson.”
Out of the darkness comes a glimmering shimmer. Finally, a woman’s shape crystallizes before him. Riding on the back of a majestic, giant seahorse, she has gorgeous black locks, a silken green dress, and a body and face so beautiful it would have left Percy’s mouth dry if he wasn’t underwater and that wasn’t entirely impossible.
Still, Percy doesn’t know what to say for a moment, struck speechless by her beauty. She waits patiently after dismounting and sending the seahorse off to play with the mako shark.
“You… you’re the Nereid from before, right?”
“I am a Nereid, Percy, yes. And I am the one you spoke to before. I am sorry I could not be of more use to you, but that far upriver, I was only sustained by my freshwater cousins, the naiads. Now… now I am whole. As are you, hm?”
Yes. Yes he did feel whole. He felt… Percy blushes as the Nereid approaches and runs her hands along his arms.
“We have things to discuss, Percy. You have questions, I’m sure… and I have information for you. But what form would you prefer the following conversation to take, precisely? Say the word and I am all too happy to make myself… available to you.”
Wait, seriously? What was with women, monster or human, all wanting a piece of him?! And yet… was he really going to pass up the opportunity?