Percy's Pov:

I have to admit the first 5 minutes was awesome. I could feel the wind in my hair, Festus was surprisingly comfortable considering he was made of metal. Everything was going great, until I looked down... and everything went worse... much worse. 

When I looked down, at first I was relaxed. I could see little people down below and little houses! We were nearing the city and I could see the tiny little buildings coming closer. I was actually enjoying myself until it dawned on me that I was in Zeus' domain. The place where I'm most vulnerable, up in the air. I started panicking, quietly. Ok, fine maybe not completely quietly but I wasn't screaming or anything. What? Don't look at me like that, I was not crying, I wasn't!

Anyways, I was desperately looking down for some place to land and then looking up worriedly to see if Zeus was in a cranky mood, if he was then I probably had a one way ticket to the Underworld. Apparently Annabeth noticed, that I tensed up. 

"What's wrong?" she asked. I turn my head to face her. "I just realized that we're in the air. In Zeus' domain" I explained, trying to keep my voice normal. "I'm a bit scared, Wise girl" I add whispering loud enough for her to hear but too quiet for Leo to eavesdrop. "Aw, Seaweed brain!" Annabeth laughed quietly, rubbing my back in reassurance. "I wouldn't worry, after saving Olympus twice, I doubt Zeus will dare to lay a finger on you" I stay silent but smile in thanks.  Annabeth gives me a quick hug from the back and continues looking down gazing at the scenery. I turn back and look ahead. 'I'm not scared' I think to myself. 'I'm not! We're not even that high!' I convince myself. I sigh, and take out riptide from my pocket, still in pen form. And careful to not to drop it, I fiddle with it. I start thinking the most random stuff.

That's when it happened, the clouds started rumbling. Oh no! You might all think, how scary the clouds are rumbling! Ah! The world is ending. 

 Yeah, ok. I sense your sarcasm but honestly that was a sign from Zeus. Telling me that he was not happy. 

The clouds started rumbling louder and louder, making the sky turn a dark grey and covering the sun. Rain started pouring uncontrollably from the sky, drenching us instantly. In only a matter of seconds from a bright sunny day, it had turned into a nightmare.

"Uh, Percy. Did you say anything lately that might have made old Thunderpants a bit angry?" Leo asked turning around for a second to face me with a frown on his face, but then turning around straight away to lead Festus out of the storm. "What, me? No! Of course not!" I exclaim indignantly,  why did he immediately think it's me?  Anyway, I have a bad feeling that by Leo calling him 'Thunderpants' well, it certainly hasn't helped our situation. "You sure about that Seaweed brain?" Annabeth asked raising an eyebrow. 

"ZAP!" A sound came from all around us, stopping me from replying.  Everyone jumped, which wasn't exactly safe considering we're hundreds of meters up in the air.

Lightning flashed around us, illuminating the sky. "LEO! I THINK YOU MADE HIM EVEN MORE ANGRY!" Annabeth yells getting bumped up and down as Leo and Festus desperately try to find a good place to land. Leo doesn't respond, probably too concentrated on making out of this storm alive.

"ZAP!!" An even louder sound vibrated around us. The rain is getting harder and harsher, refusing to let anything stay dry. Lighting strikes all around us, almost as if chasing us. It's a miracle where still alive and not struck by Zeus. 

"EVERYONE! HOLD ON THIS WILL GET BUMPY!"  Leo yells. "LEO! WE BETTER SURVIVE THIS!" I yell back. "NO PROMISES!" he responds, I can just see his smirk on his face after saying that. "ON THREE! ONE! TWO! THREE-" 

"AHHHH!" we all scream in unison

Festus which was currently flying straight ahead plunges down to the earth in incredible speed. My eyes threaten to close but I force them open, I have to be alert and try to see what's happening. "LEOOOOO!" Annabeth and I scream. I grab on to Festus' back tighter and Annabeth hugs me tighter. Then suddenly Festus does a sharp right and plunges down even faster in to a nearby forest "AHHH!" I can hear Annabeth scream getting wacked in the face by tall branches. I grab on to Festus' sides even tighter but then he does another turn and I lose my balance. I find myself dangling off Festus' side, both hands in front of me holding onto his back. I am slightly behind Leo, still in front of Annabeth the only problem was that: 

One. I was dangling off a dragon, hundreds of meters in the air and 

Two. I was really close to the left metal wing, flapping extremely hard, trying to fly as fast as possible  and always threatening to hit me in the face when it swept down.

"PERCY!" Annabeth yells, she tries to give me her hand but I can't grab it. As we start to slowly descend,  tree branches hit me on the sides and legs.  "LEO! SLOW DOWN! PERCY'S ABOUT TO FALL!" Annabeth tries to tell Leo but her words get caught in the wind. "Huh?" he turns around and his eyes go as big as saucers. "PERCY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE?" he asks "WHAT DO YOU THINK HAPPENED?" I yell back. "OK, I'LL TRY TO FIND A SPOT TO LAND" "WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE THEN?!" Annabeth asks. No reply. 

The rain has been going on for a while, still as aggressive as ever. I think it even has begun to hail. Chunks of ice/rain fall on us and on Festus making little ping sounds as they hit the metal. Some pieces of hail hits my fingers, still clutching onto Festus. I can see my knuckles turn white from holding on so hard and my fingers keep threatening to let go after every hit from the ice. I readjust my grip, determined not to let go. "Hold on, Percy, just hold on" I can hear Annabeth mumble, I'm not sure if that was to reassure me or herself. 

Leo steers Festus to lean to the right so I can try to get back onto his back but as I lift my hand to pull myself up, another burst of hail come upon us. Lots of tiny, little pieces of hail attack my other hand which was the only thing stopping me from falling. "Gahh!" I exclaim as the ice bites my fingers. I try to put my other hand down again but I miss. Both my hands slip and I look up to see Annabeth's eye's full of fear, almost knowing what was going to happen. Time seemed to slow down as I fall backwards now without anything to hold onto, my hands grabbing nothing but air. "NOOO!" I hear Annabeth scream as I close my eyes as I fall into nothing.

I fall down and down, accepting my fate. 'Well, that's it' I think to myself. 'Saviour of Olympus and survivor of Tartarus killed by a hail storm and a fall from a dragon. Can't get lamer than that'. After what seemed like an eternity of time. I suddenly felt something, not the hard ground against my back that I was expecting but something in my hand, something warm. I realize that I'm holding onto a hand. I open my eyes and see two beautiful grey eyes stare back at me. "I'm not going to lose you again Seaweed brain, I promised." Annabeth says tears filling her eyes. I realize what happened. When I let go, Annabeth leaned forward and grabbed my hand saving me from falling certainly to my death. She saved my life yet again. I smile gratefully at her, as I grab onto Festus with my free hand and clamber onto his back once again with her help. 

We all stay silent as Leo slowly flies Festus back to the ground. The hail had stopped a while ago and the rain seems to have quietened down the moment we landed. We don't say anything after Festus walks onto the forest floor and then stops to take a rest. Our shoulders are still tensed up from what had just happened and we are stilling sitting down in the exact position we were since the storm started, our hands and knuckles still white from clutching onto Festus. I notice that the storm had disappeared and the lightning and thunder are also gone. It is still lightly raining now, just slowly dripping from the leaves of the tall trees onto the forest floor. The only sound apart from our own breathing, that I can hear, is the sound of a rushing river nearby, some crickets and maybe a frog or two farther away from us. 

Then, Festus creaks and cracks as he stretches his wings, shaking us out of our silence. We all look at each other silently and suddenly Leo jumps off from Festus and exclaims "That... was... AWESOME!" grinning widely. I clamber off as well. "Oh sure! It was so much fun nearly falling off a dragon. I can't wait to do it again!" I remark sarcastically. "Hey! It wasn't my fault! I tried to help" Leo retorts back. "Guys" Annabeth says quietly. We ignore her and keep arguing. "Guys!" she shouts louder. We both go silent because we know not to mess with Annabeth when she uses that tone. "Listen" she whispers. 

We all listen quietly, and I realize that something is off. I can still hear the rain softly pattering and the river faintly rushing by, but I can't hear the crickets anymore, and I was sure there were some frogs before. But now it's silent. Come to think of it, when we came here, I didn't see any birds flying for shelter under the trees, actually, we didn't see any animals. Nothing. From when we stopped talking and started to actually listen to our surroundings, I realize that the forest became unnaturally quiet... too quiet.

Annabeth silently climbs off Festus' back, taking both mine and hers backpacks. She quietly hands me, mine and puts her on her back. We stay in silence for another minute listening to the quiet forest. Slowly, Annabeth draws her dagger and we all go in the defense stance back to back. Leo lights his hands up, ready to shoot a fire ball, and I reach for Riptide. But I'm interrupted, by Annabeth saying "Something's off, it's too quiet here" "I agree" I mutter. "I don't think there's anyone here though." Leo states and we realize he's right, no matter how silent and tense the forest feels now, there really is no one here, meaning there is no danger. Yet. We turn around facing each other again, leaving our battle stance, thinking on what to do next. 

"Uh, guys" I say. "I think it might be a bad timing but..." I pause and put my hand in my pocket and come out empty handed. 

"I think I might have lost Riptide..."

A/n:

Hello everyone!!!

I had so much fun writing this chapter, and I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. 😁

I did want to update faster this week, but I hope that this longer chapter makes up for it!

What do you think will happen now? Percy lost his sword, now they have to find both Riptide and Apollo's notebook. And what was up with that forest?!

Write in the comments what you think, and vote if you liked this chapter!😊

Have a great day, booklovers!

~sweet_bookishtiger 👋