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chapter six ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
006. A Positively Precious Pink Poodle

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CASSIE FELT ENERGIZED, BUT HER FELLOW QUEST MATES WERE PRETTY MISERABLE.

She wasn't happy of course, just more entertained by the fighting they had done.

Annabeth was getting on her nerves as usual, but she didn't want to fall asleep.

They had found a place in the woods to stay for the night. It was where all the kids came for parties apparently, due to the flattened ground and left over trash.

There was very little lighting as none of them risked making a fire. It would attract more monsters. Plus, the Furies and Medusa were enough for one day.

Percy offered to take the first watch so the others could sleep.

Annabeth was out as soon as her head touched the ground.

Cassie was standing, staring at her sword while leaning against a tree.

Grover flew up to a low branch on a different tree and rested there, staring at the sky.

"Go ahead and sleep. I'll wake you if there's trouble." Percy told them.

Cassie shrugged but mustered a thankful smile. Grover nodded but his eyes stayed wide open.

"It makes me sad, Percy."

"What does? The fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?" Percy quipped earning a laugh from Cassie.

"No. This makes me sad." Grover pointed to the trashy floor. "And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They've polluted the sky. This is a terrible time to be a satyr."

"Oh, yeah. I guess you'd be an environmentalist."

Grover glared. "Only a human wouldn't be. Your species is clogging up the world so fast . . . ah, never mind. It's useless to lecture a human. At the rate things are going, I'll never find Pan."

"You make it sound like we're aliens." Cassie joked as she sat down. Her sword disappeared in a red flash.

"Pam? Like the cooking spray?" Percy asked stupidly.

"Pan! P-A-N. The great god Pan! What do you think I want a searcher's license for?" Grover corrected.

"Tell me about the search?"

Cassie listened to their conversation, refraining from speaking. She was busy thinking about her friends, siblings, and . . . possibly her father. Not that she'd ever admit it.

"How are we going to get into the Underworld? I mean, what chance do we have against a god?" Percy changed the topic.

He punched Cassie's shoulder lightly, bringing her back to reality. She glanced up at him unimpressed.

"I don't know. But back at Medusa's, when you were searching her office? Annabeth was telling me-" Grover spoke.

"Oh, I forgot. Annabeth will have a plan all figured out." Percy retorted.

"Don't be so hard on her, Percy. She's had a tough life, but she's a good person-" Cassie scoffed, rolling her eyes as Grover continued.

"After all, she forgave me . . ."

"What do you mean? Forgave you for what?"

Cassie lightly smacked Percy, shaking her head. She sent Grover a small smile which he was grateful for.

Percy didn't listen. What a surprise!

"Wait a minute. Your first keeper job was five years ago. Annabeth has been at camp five years. She wasn't . . . I mean, your first assignment that went wrong-"

Kelp head actually had his smart moments.

"I mean have you seen her. She's definitely gone wrong. Athena would agree." Cassie muttered as the sky rumbled in warning.

"I can't talk about it."' Percy could tell Grover was on the verge of tears so he didn't press. "But as I was saying back at Medusa's, Annabeth and I agreed there's something strange going on with this quest. Something isn't what it seems."

"Well, duh. I'm getting blamed for stealing a thunderbolt that Hades took." Percy deadpanned.

"That's not what I mean. The Fur-The Kindly Ones were sort of holding back. Like Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy . . . why did she wait so long to try to kill you? Then on the bus, they just weren't as aggressive as they could've been."

Cassie pulled a face. "So, you wanted them to be more aggressive? I mean, yeah, Mrs. Dodds would've done us a favor killing Percy sooner, but Grover I didn't expect you to admit that."

She gave Percy a sympathetic look and burst out laughing when he shoved her.

"They seemed plenty aggressive to me." Percy said.

Grover sighed at the two. "They were screeching at us: 'Where is it? Where?'"

"Asking about me." Percy replied.

"Maybe . . . but Annabeth and I, we both got the feeling they weren't asking about a person." Grover informed.

"I don't remember this conversation. Probably wasn't paying attention, but they did say, 'Where is it?' It's like they're talking about an object." Cassie added,

"That doesn't make sense."

Cassie shrugged at Percy.

"I know. But if we've misunderstood something about this quest, and we only have nine days to find the master bolt . . ."

Grover and Cassie stared at Percy as if he had any answers. The son of Poseidon thought for a bit.

"I haven't been straight with you-" Percy started.

'You don't have to be straight around me,' Cassie thought to herself, but she didn't dare say that aloud.

"I don't care about the master bolt. I agreed to go to the Underworld so I could bring back my mother." Percy confessed.

Cassie was first to reply.

"Well duh." She mocked him.

"I know that, Percy. But are you sure that's the only reason?" Grover questioned, friendlier than Cassie.

"I'm not doing it to help my father. He doesn't care about me. I don't care about him."

"We never said anything about your dad, Percy" Cassie pointed out in a sing song way.

It went silent and Grover spoke up softly.

"Look, Percy, I'm not as smart as Annabeth or as fierce as Cassie." He got a grin from the girl.

"I'm not as brave as you. But I'm pretty good at reading emotions. You're glad your dad is alive. You feel good that he's claimed you, and part of you wanted to make him proud. That's why you mailed Medusa's head to Olympus. You wanted him to notice what you'd done."

Cassie glanced over at Percy. She knew what he was feeling but she was too stubborn to admit it.

"Yeah? Well maybe satyr emotions work differently than human emotions. Because you're wrong. I don't care what he thinks." Percy grumbled harshly.

"Okay, Percy. Whatever." The satyr didn't believe him.

"Besides, I haven't done anything worth bragging about. We barely got out of New York and we're stuck here with no money and no way west." Percy reasoned.

"Mhm, sure. We'll figure it out in the morning. Go to bed, Gro." Cassie demanded.

"I could say the same to you."

Cassie didn't reply and Grover snuggled up into the tree.

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Percy and Cassie sat in a peaceful silence, when Percy remembered his unanswered question.

"So . . . why do you and Annabeth, you know . . ." Percy asked carefully, as if it would anger Cassie.

"Act like we want to slice each other's heads of all the time?" Cassie suggested.

"Uh, yeah, that."

"It's how we've always been." She shrugged.

"You mean, you've never gotten along? Not even when you first got to camp?" Percy inquired, watching her reaction.

"That was four years ago. I was only eight back then. I don't really remember when . . . actually yeah I do."

Percy perked up intrigued.

"It started when I got claimed before a game of capture the flag. I wasn't the friendliest kid, growing up alone. And sarcasm practically flowed from my mouth whenever I spoke."

"It still does now." Percy declared with a playful smile on his lips. Cassie shushed him and went on.

"I grabbed my sword and was about to put on my helmet when a red glowing orb with a white helmet in the middle appeared over my head."

"Ares." Percy muttered.

"Then a voice from behind me said, 'Oh great, another daughter of Ares.' I whipped around and there Chase stood, crossing her arms."

Percy nodded to show he was listening.

"I made some rude remarks of my own and then it was history. We'd never talked before that so, yeah we've never gotten along." Cassie informed. The scene played in her head.

She had turned around and met the most stunning pair of gray eyes. They looked directly into her green ones and knocked the air out of her lungs.

Quickly regaining herself after realizing what the daughter of Athena said, Cassie retorted, "Don't sound so happy about it, blondie."

Annabeth was shocked by the pretty brunette, but her mom hated Ares, so she hated his children. And Cassie just so happened to be one of them.

"Don't call me that. My name's Annabeth Chase."

"I didn't ask, Chase."

"Whatever, Carter."

Cassie didn't question how Annabeth knew her last name, but if the blonde was going to be rude to her, Cassie would be mean back. From the then on the two hated each other.

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"You should get some sleep. I'll take first watch since I'm not falling asleep any time soon." Cassie offered Percy.

He wanted to protest but the look on the brunette's face showed she wasn't going to be swayed.

He fell asleep and Cassie was left to her thoughts. She remembered another interaction between her and Annabeth when they were young.

One time, Cassie was in the infirmary after a nasty fall from the rock wall.

Annabeth walked into the building and took one look at Cassie before her smile dropped. "I didn't think you were that clumsy and dumb, Carter."

"Oh, leave me alone Chase. Not every has the brains of your oh-so-wise and powerful mother." Cassie threw her hands up while talking in a mocking fashion.

"Well for a daughter of Ares, you'd think you would be better at fighting and climbing."

"What does climbing have to do with Ares? And who was I fighting?"

"It doesn't matter, but you should at least be good at something other than failing."

"Says the girl who lost to me in a duel last week."

"Well, I don't want to waste my time around you anymore."

"I wasn't the one who started this conversation."

"You kept it going."

"You want me to just sit and nod while you insult me? Alright, Chase."

"It would be better than hearing your annoying voice."

"Whatever, blondie. Go memorize a dictionary or something."

With that, Annabeth finally left the infirmary and an annoyed Cassie behind.

Cassie sighed at the memories but focused on keeping watch until Annabeth took over.

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Cassie woke up to see Annabeth and Grover talking. She looked over to where Percy was and noticed he still asleep.

"Who wants to wake him up?" The brunette rubbed her eyes, adjusting to the brightness.

Annabeth volunteered and started shaking Percy. Cassie snapped a photo, chuckling.

The boy's eyes opened and Cassie smirked.

"Sleeping Beauty's alive."

Percy seemed nervous and Cassie quirked an eyebrow.

"How long was I asleep?" Percy asked.

"Long enough for me to cook breakfast." Annabeth replied. She chucked a bag of chips to him. Cassie had grabbed one for herself.

"And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend." Annabeth finished.

Cassie glance over at Grover and saw the pink poodle on his lap. Percy noticed it too.

The dog barked and Grover said, "No he's not."

"Are you . . . talking to that thing?" Percy questioned.

The poodle snarled in response.

"This thing is our ticket west. Be nice to him." Grover scolded.

"You can talk to animals?"

"Percy meet Gladiola. Gladiola meet Percy. Oh, and this is Cassie." Grover introduced them, remembering that the poodle never met Cassie.

Percy looked to Annabeth first, but she want laughing. Her face was dead serious.

Then, he turned to Cassie who he thought wouldn't listen to Grover. He was very surprised when she did.

"Sup Pinky," Cassie waved her hand once in greeting. The poodle barked happily.

Percy stared at her shocked and shifted his gaze to Grover.

"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle. Forget it." Percy said.

"Percy, I said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle." Annabeth ordered in her normal stern way. Normal for Cassie at least.

Gladiola growled and Percy said hello.

Grover explained the plan which consisted of returning Gladiola for a $200 reward.

"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" Percy asked.

"He reads the signs. Duh." Grover answered.

"Of course. Silly me."

"So we turn in Gladiola, we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple." Annabeth summed up in her strategy telling voice.

"And you've jinxed it, Chase." Cassie pipped up.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Shut up."

"Not another bus." Percy thought aloud.

"No." Annabeth shook her head.

Cassie had been inspecting the now bright land around them. She saw the train tracks in the distance and realized their plan.

Pointing behind her, Cassie spoke up.

"Apparently there's an Amtrak station about . . ." Cassie hesitated, estimating the distance. "half a mile that way?"

Annabeth sadly nodded in agreement. "According to Gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon."

"Great." Cassie muttered and her sword crackled, appearing in her hand. She crossed her arms and stared off in the direction they were heading.

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ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ author's note

Short chapter so I had to sprinkle in some young Cassibeth/Charter . . . (whatever you wanna call them) moments.

- Just Another Overthinker