Percy's Pov:

"Oh well, it will come back sooner or later" I respond, referring to Riptide. "Now who knows where Festus is?" I ask...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We all look at each other.

"Uh, I think he's this way!" Leo says pointing the way he came from.

Annabeth and I look at each other and shrug, hopefully he's right.

We follow him ducking under branches and stepping over fallen tree trunks. Wow, the storm really was ruthless to this forest. I wonder if the storm reached Camp Half Blood, I hope everyone's okay.

"Okay, I think he's somewhere nearby!" Leo whispers. We keep walking until he suddenly stops in front of a really low branch, so it kind of looks like a curtain of leaves and branches. I quickly stop myself to avoid bumping into him.

"Uh Leo? What's wrong? Why did you stop?" I ask moving quietly next to him. He gives me a glare and very nicely says "SHHH!!!"

"Wha- dude! I just asked why you stopped" I exclaim, I'm a bit hurt by his sudden mood change.

"Seaweed brain, shh! Listen!" Annabeth says apparently catching onto what Leo stopped for. I stand still and listen carefully. I'm so confused right now, why did we just stop in the middle of a silent forest to listen to... well, silence!

I cross my arms and open my mouth to ask them what on Earth they're hearing that I can't hear, and that's when I hear it... voices.

Very quiet whispering voices, my eyes widen and I close my mouth. The noise is coming from behind the branches in front of us. I step forward and slightly move the leaves so we can all peek out and see who's talking.

Annabeth gasps as she sees who it is or more who they are. I lean in closer to look, and oh no!

Dracaenas.

They must have been the sound I heard when I was alone. It wasn't my imagination at all! I think. I notice that they're all seated on logs around a fire, almost like they're camping, I'm sure that at least one of them brought marshmallows with them. Hmm, I hope they can give us some too...

'Ah! Percy, focus!' I scold myself quietly. We all lean in to listen to what they are saying.

"I honestly think that it'sss nonsssenssse! Who would even think it'sss posssible?! It'sss already been done before, twice to be precissse!" one of the screeched.

"Shhhh! You mussstn't ssspeak ssso loudly, I sssaw one of their sssymbolsss around here..." her friend chided her looking around her but unable to see us since we're hidden behind the branches "Plusss" she continues "I think it'sss posssible, they are organized quite well"

The third dracaena which was silent throughout their argument, scoffs. "Yeah, ssso I'm guesssing your planning to join them, huh?" she asks in a particularly annoying and scratchy voice. The others look at her in surprise, probably not used to her joining in conversations like that.

"What? No!" the second one exclaims "I wasss jussst ssstating what I heard" she says glumly.

"Well Sssofia" the first one speaks again, emphasizing the "So" part of the name. "You mussn't believe gosssip, you know. I think it'sss jussst a rumour, nothing more"

All three go silent, probably contemplating what the first one said, since they only have 2 brain cells to think so they need time to process it. I'm still confused with what they're talking about it's probably some gossip from "The All Amazing Snake Ladies Magazine! The Bessst Mag, You Will Ever See!" but it doesn't seem important. Not now at least. 

My leg starts to have pins and needles, I look down and see that it's because I'm in a rather awkward position; leaning in close to the leaves to peek thorough while only balancing on one leg. I put my other foot down and just my luck, I just had to step on a twig! 

"Crack!" the sound echoes through the now once again not so silent forest. All 3 dracaena look up sharply, examining their surrounding, knowing they were no longer alone.

I sigh inwardly, honestly can't twigs just get out of my way! Like, I'm trying to be quiet here! Go bother someone else! Oh well. I look around to see Annabeth and Leo both grimacing, knowing that if we make a run for it they will surely catch us up but if we stay where we are they will surely find us sooner or later. I sigh again, why do we always have to get in these situations?

"Come out, come out wherever you are!" The first snake lady says in a toxic singsong voice. 

"Yes, there's no point in hiding, we know your there" the third one says in her scratchy voice. 

"Uh ye-yes! We- we'll kill you!" Sssofia says not very convincingly. 

"Honessstly Sssofia, can't you ssseem a bit more intimidating?" the first one says again annoyed.

"Uh sssory Sssamantha! I'll try harder next time!" Sssofia apologizes.

All three of us look at each other, they don't seem to be that dangerous, we can handle them. We all nod and Annabeth mouths "On three!" we nod again. 

One... I count quietly in my mind, 

Two...How will I attack without a sword I ponder,

Three!  We all run out from behind the branches and surround the 3 snake ladies, Annabeth draws her dagger and points it at the nearest dracaena which happened to be Sssamantha, Leo lights up his hands and aims his fireball to Sssofia, while I try to look intimidating to the third dracaena. I wonder if the stream is nearby, if I could just get closer to it, I might be able to hold them off...

"Ah! Should of thought they were meddling demigods, they always stick their noses in other people's business" Sssamantha says coldly. 

"Uh, we don't mean any harm!" I stammer out.

"Really Seaweed brain?" Annabeth asks raising an eyebrow "How could you possibly say we don't mean any harm while we're holding them at knife point?" 

"Hmm, good point, but what I meant to say if you don't attack us, we won't to you" I answer trying to clear things up, I really don't want to have to fight again, I'm done with fighting especially after two wars.

"Well, let me think about this, hmm, how about... NO!" the third dracaena says scowling. 

"You asked for it!" Leo says throwing his fire ball towards Sssofia, she dodges but it hits Sssamantha. 

"Aghh! How dare you!" she says looking up from her burnt arm "You'll pay for what you have done!" Sssamantha shows her claws and attacks Leo, while Annabeth seems to have switched partners with him and fights with Sssofia.

"Well? What about you son of the sea god? Have you got nothing to protect yourself with?" The third dracaena asks in a teasing voice. 

"Actually I have a lot more than what you think" I say smirking, even though inside I have absolutely no idea about what I can do. I can hear the stream a bit further ahead, if only I can get past all three of them and reach to the water I would be able to help... "Leo!" I yell, he looks over at me and remembers that I don't have Riptide, he nods slightly understanding that I need a distraction.

"Hey! Snake lady!" he calls to Sssofia "What?" she says acidly, looking a bit irritated from all the dodging of the fire. 

"Catch this!" he yells throwing another fire ball.

"Ahhh!" she screams and ducks even though he didn't aim at her but aimed at my dracaena. Not knowing that he was aiming for her, the dracaena realizes too late and ducks too late. She was hit right in the middle, she staggers backwards clutching her stomach.

"Curse you Fire boy! May all the gods curse you!" she yelled waving her fist. She falls to the ground from her effort.

I quickly make a run for it, leaving Leo and Annabeth behind for a second. I can feel the water nearby, giving me the reassurance that I can control it. I feel a familiar tug in my stomach and I raise my hands. 

A wave of water towers above the two remaining dracaenas, they both cower at the sight. I see Annabeth and Leo both step back a bit to avoid getting hit from the water and I release it, drowning the two monsters at once. It seems that Annabeth and Leo weren't saved from the water though as I see them dripping wet once the water clears. I pull it all back drying our surroundings and dump it back into the stream. 

 I walk over to both of them remove the water from each. "Thanks" they both mutter, still annoyed from taking an unplanned swim.

I turn around to exam in the area and I see that the third dracaena which was hit from Leo before was still alive. She was creeping behind Annabeth raising her hands with her long claws reaching out to stab her. "Nooo!" I scream suddenly and run forwards and put myself between them. Annabeth and Leo turn around from hearing me shout, they see the dracaena and gasp. The dracaena doesn't seem to mind to have to kill me first, so she runs forwards about to stab me, just when I put my hand in my pocket, and pulled out Riptide!

I quickly click it open and fight sword with claw against the dracaena, a scowl permanent on her face. We fight for while, I'm not sure how long it took but it seemed like forever either one of us not wanting to give up.  Both of us circling each other in incredible speeds allowing Annabeth and Leo to stand on the side watching us but not being able to step in, incase they might hit me instead.

After what seemed like an eternity later, I spot her undefended arm, I strike her quickly before she moves. "Ahh!" she howls, clutching her arm.  I step back catching my breath while Leo steps in and throws one last fire ball towards her, causing her to disappear and in place leave a small pile of ash.

We stand still, recuperating from the sudden fight. Listening to the now once again silent forest. After we recovered, Leo says "Come on! This way, we have to get going!" heading to the opposite side of the clearing. Annabeth and I  follow him and eventually finding Festus. We all climb on and Annabeth lays her hand on my arm to draw my attention.

"Thanks Percy, by the way" she says smiling, "For saving me" she adds, I just smile back. "But how did you know Riptide would be in your pocket?" she ask confused.

"Well, I didn't actually know. But I guess it was just a habit of mine to put my hand in my pocket and to reach  for Riptide, so I guess it had just appeared when I reached in" I tried to explain what has been puzzling me too this whole time.

"And just in the nick of time!" Leo adds.

"Mhm" I agree. I give Annabeth a quick peck on the cheek and get ready to move. We're leaving this creepy forest once and for all...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time skip~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a while of traveling on Festus (not in the air, but just walking/running on the ground, thank gods for that!) I get bored. I pull my backpack off my shoulders and shuffle things around, looking exactly for my distraction.

Hmm, Ambrosia? Nope! I dig further in. Nectar? Nope again! I stuff my whole arm in and look for it. Where is it??? I search around for a couple of minutes more, until I realize it's in the smaller pocket of my backpack. Whoops! I can feel my face growing hotter in embarrassment. Thank gods that Annabeth and Leo are both too busy to have noticed!

I pull out my prize and grin, my phone! I immediately open my test messages and I'm surprised to see that no new messages have come from Andrew. Well, apart from the 50 messages from when we spammed each other, a few days ago at least I think it was few days ago. I feel like it was already a week since we left but it probably wasn't. I decide to text him, maybe he can keep my entertained.

Percy's phone:

Percy:                       

Hey Andrew!

Helloooo

You there?

Can we chat? I'm bored.

Come on dude!

Pls!

...

Okay fine, you're not active

Text back as soon as you can tho!!!

Bye 👋

P.S

I'm still the better spammer 😉😁😎

Percy's Pov:

Why isn't he active? I sigh. Oh well I guess, I'll just have to look at the scenery until we stop. 

How fun!

A/N: 

Hello... I feel terrible, I didn't update. I'm sorry!!

Okay from now on, I will try my absolute best to update on time! I promise, I'll try!

On a different note, how are you all? All good? I hope so 😁

Next chapter we might be getting a visit from a special someone, hmm I wonder who it could be...🤔😆

Please vote and comment if you guys liked this chapter!

And have a great day booklovers!

~sweet_bookishtiger 😊