A Stormy Nightmare
Percy opened his eyes abruptly as his surroundings shook violently from a storm that could literally be heard right beside his ears.
His gaze was lethally dangerous, carrying a brutal bloodlust that could be seen in the intense gleam within his eyes, which for a moment seemed to change. But only for a microsecond before returning to normal.
Percy breathed for a few moments to calm his anger while looking around.
Several rows of seats filled with people in complete panic, with everything shaking violently.
He was inside an airplane.
While the most brutal storm could be seen outside through the windows, completely displaying Zeus's fury as lightning bolts passed dangerously close to the plane, always only a few inches away.
Percy couldn't stop himself from giving a sarcastic look for a moment before closing the window curtain.
Sitting beside him was Grover, who was covering his ears and wearing a sleep mask while rapidly muttering every compliment he knew for Zeus, trying to calm his anger. But realistically, it was very unlikely that would help.
Since the reason Zeus was so furious was because of the person sitting beside him. The one Zeus had strictly forbidden from approaching the sky, with a direct threat that if he did, he would strike him down with a lightning bolt.
But thanks to the rule that forbids any god from harming the champions, Zeus had to be furious, throwing storm bolts left and right without being able to touch him.
That only improved Percy's mood slightly.
Percy looked at Grover for a moment and then followed his gaze toward Bianca, who was completely pale and stiff, trying to endure the fear with her eyes as wide open as possible while tightly gripping the armrests.
Next was Thalia.
She looked fairly calm for being inside a plane in the middle of turbulence. She even seemed more afraid of riding in a car than being inside a plane over thirty thousand feet in the air.
She seemed to feel Percy's gaze, so she turned to look at him. And instantly gave him a hard stare.
Ever since their fight on the beach she hadn't said a single word to him. And honestly, she couldn't really be blamed entirely for that.
Percy, when he uses the tiara, really does become a self centered bastard. Or according to Annabeth's words, a show off idiot.
Percy still hadn't found a way to apologize.
But to be fair, she attacked first.
Percy let out a tired sigh while pushing away the emergency oxygen mask that had dropped down at some point.
"Don't worry too much. No matter how many tantrums Zeus throws, he won't bring the plane down. After all, he can't hurt me while I'm a participant in the trial. Besides, his daughter is on board too," Percy said toward Bianca and Grover, trying to calm them down.
"Didn't you say Zeus would be happy if both of you died?" Grover asked while lifting the mask for a moment. But another violent shake of the plane made his body wobble like jelly and he quickly put it back on, as if following the saying out of sight, out of mind.
"Oh. Right," Percy said after thinking about it carefully. "In that case..."
Percy was about to make a joke, but after seeing Grover and Bianca's pale faces he really kept it to himself.
Percy especially felt a little more guilty toward Bianca, since out of everyone there she was technically the most normal one. And she still ended up following them on this trip while Clarisse and Malcolm split off for a special mission.
Percy briefly scanned the surroundings, looking at the people around them, who just like Grover and Bianca were pale and praying to whatever gods they believed in to save them.
Even the flight attendants weren't paying attention to the passengers as they clung to their seatbelts with complete panic on their faces, showing just how violent the turbulence really was. To the point where even the people who were supposed to calm everyone else down weren't calm at all.
Which made Percy feel a little guilty, since these people should've had a pretty comfortable first class trip and instead ended up earning lifelong trauma just from boarding a plane.
And after noticing nobody was paying attention to him, he slipped his hand into his magic bag, rummaging through his things before pulling out a somewhat thick jacket whose hood for some reason was incredibly furry, with what looked like flashy golden fur, making it resemble a lion's mane.
"Here," Percy said while tossing it onto Bianca's legs, causing her to flinch for a moment when she felt the weight fall over her before turning toward him in confusion, still with panic all over her face. "It's my armor. It has pretty high defense. I still haven't tested exactly how much and I don't know if it'd survive a fall from this height. But it's something my teacher gave me and he likes you, so... I'll lend it to you for a while," Percy said.
Which made Bianca open her eyes a little wider as she looked at the jacket, which felt surprisingly warm in her hands. And also really durable.
"Thank you," Bianca told him softly, calming down a little as she looked at the jacket with a faint smile.
Percy lightly scratched his chin, somewhat embarrassed, while glancing sideways at Bianca, feeling like it really wasn't that important.
But for a moment his gaze automatically drifted above her head when he saw how the small thread above it, which had kept twisting around ever since he met her while flickering on and off as if it were malfunctioning, suddenly started pulling violently.
To the point it looked like it would be ripped straight out of her head at any second.
Percy stared at it for a moment before looking away, watching Bianca smile while putting the jacket on.
Before closing his eyes again, waiting for the plane ride to finally end.