The Path Of Glory (Annabeth Chase x Male Reader)

7. Trip On A Bus

Argus drove them out of the countryside and into western Long Island. It felt weird to be on a highway again, even more now that he had Annabeth, Ethan, Percy and Grover next to him as if they were all quietly returning from a picnic. After two weeks at Half-Blood Hill, the real world seemed like a fantasy. Y/N found himself staring at every McDonald's, every kid in the back of his parents' car, every billboard and shopping mall.

"So far so good," Percy said. "Ten miles and not a single monster."

Annabeth gave him an irritated look. "It's bad luck to talk that way, Seaweed Brain."

"Why?" Y/N interrupted. "Monsters will pop out of nowhere if we say their names?"

She just looked exasperated.

Traffic slowed them in the suburbs of New York. By the time they got into Manhattan, it was sunset and starting to rain.

Argus dropped them near a bus station. As he got out of the car, Y/N saw one of his eyes in his neck closing quickly—he was sure it was a wink.

Percy and Grover were chatting a little apart. Y/N, Annabeth and Ethan got restless waiting for the bus and decided to play some Hacky Sack with one of Ethan's apples. Annabeth was unbelievable. She could bounce the apple off her knee, her elbow, her shoulder, whatever. Y/N...maybe it was better not to talk about him there.

The game ended when he tossed the apple toward Ethan and it got too close to his mouth. In one mega goat bite, their Hacky Sack disappeared—core, stem, and all.

Ethan clicked his tongue. "Delicious." Y/N and Annabeth cracked up.

Finally the bus came. As they all stood in line to board, Ethan and Grover started looking around, sniffing the air like they smelled something weird.

"What is it?" Percy asked.

"Don't know," Grover said tensely. "Maybe it's nothing."

It was easy to tell it wasn't nothing. Y/N was relieved when they finally got on board and found seats together in the back of the bus. They stowed their backpacks.

Annabeth kept slapping her Yankees cap nervously against her thigh. As the last passenger got on, she said, "Guys."

An old lady had just boarded the bus. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. When she tilted her head up, her dark eyes glittered, and Percy scrunched down in his seat.

Behind her came two more old ladies: one in a green hat, one in a purple hat. Otherwise they looked exactly like the first—same gnarled hands, paisley handbags, wrinkled velvet dresses. Triplet demon grandmothers.

They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two on the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway, making an X. It was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.

The bus pulled out of the station, and they headed through the slick streets of Manhattan. "What's going on?" Y/N asked. "Percy, tell me these grannies are just old teachers you know and you don't like."

"The—the Kindly Ones," Grover stammered.

"All three of them," Ethan shrieked. "Di immortales!"

"I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime," Percy said to Annabeth.

"I said if you're lucky," she said, obviously thinking hard. "The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows."

"They don't open," Grover moaned.

"A back exit?" Y/N suggested.

There wasn't one. Even if there had been, it wouldn't have helped. By that time, they were on Ninth Avenue, heading for the Lincoln Tunnel.