Author's Note - I apologize for how long it took to get this second chapter out to you all! It's been a crazy year so far; with the virus, work, and just life in general. I just didn't have the right motivation to just sit down and give this story the time it deserved. I haven't been in the mood to write up until recently, and after a few days of looking back at my notes for this story, I finally was inspired enough to sit down and start writing again for it. I hope you enjoy it! I'm already working on the third chapter as well, so I'm definitely sure that it'll be posted up much sooner than this one! Thank you so much for your support. I hope you continue to read my stories!

AN1m3I0ve - Yes, I'm definitely continuing it! I'm just a slow updater at times depending on what's going on currently in my life.

UseFistNotMouth - I'm glad! I've been trying to work on my style a lot this year - just making things sound smoother and flow better and things like that, so it's good to hear that it's been working.

Soulfulkarma668 - Haha, I thought the same when I wrote it! I actually had considered making a reference to it when I was writing it, but I thought that it'd be a little too cheesy. :P

Chapter Two

When the next morning came, Percy was slightly surprised to find that he was the first one of the three of them to wake up. For a while, he laid there – staring up at the ceiling to allow himself to wake up before he pushed himself upright. He reached over to his phone, turning it on for a few moments to check for any missed messages. He wasn't too surprised when there was nothing and he turned it back off, setting it back on the nightstand. Not wanting to wake up his mother and Paul, he tiptoed past their bed, grabbed a change of clothes, and slipped into their room's bathroom for a quick shower. Like always, as soon as the water hit his back, it seemed to wake him up even more and he gave an appreciative sigh.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but when he stepped back outside of the bathroom – both of them were still asleep, so he decided to head downstairs to check out what kind of breakfast the hotel was offering. As soon as he stepped into the dining room, the warm aroma of pancakes, eggs, and bacon made his mouth water. He went ahead and served himself two blueberry pancakes and a few slices of bacon and as he glanced around the room for somewhere to sit, he found that it was, for the most part, empty apart from two other guests. He settled on a table that was close to one of the windows and started digging in.

Paul joined him when he was halfway through his second pancake. "Mornin', Percy." The older man offered a smile as he sat down across from him. He too had opted for the blueberry pancakes.

"Mornin'," Percy replied, taking a sip of his water, "is Mom still asleep?"

"Nah. She was waking up while I was getting dressed," Paul answered as he cut into his pancake, "she said that she'll be down in a bit after her shower." There was a brief silence between them as they continued eating, but eventually, Paul spoke again, gazing over at him curiously. "What do you think about all this, by the way? I hadn't gotten the chance to ask you. Sally seems pretty excited about it."

Percy shrugged, "I'm mostly happy that Mom is happy. I guess I'm kind of used to the whole "oh, you have more family by the way" thing. I'm a bit curious since it's my mom's family, though – I don't know much about that side as I do my father's."

"Makes sense," Paul nodded, "also, if there's anywhere you'd like to stop along the way, feel free to ask us. This is your vacation too."

"Thanks, Paul," Percy grinned, "honestly it's been great so far. Last night was the first time I've had a good night's sleep – so maybe it was a good thing to just get away for a while."

Paul frowned, "Do you still have quite a few nightmares? Even when you're away from the camp?"

"Yeah – I don't think it really matters where I am, though. It's more of a side effect of being who I am if anything. At least I haven't had many recently."

"Good morning, you two!" Sally's voice made them both look up. She was smiling with a full plate in hand, "mind if join you?"

It didn't take long for them to finish up their breakfast after that and pack up their things. It was ten minutes to ten by the time they were off. Paul made good time with driving – only stopping occasionally for gas and bathroom breaks. Thankfully, it seemed like today was a good day to be out on the road – because so far they hadn't had any run-in's with heavy traffic or road work. Three hours seemed to pass by rather smoothly, and before too long they were already in Wisconsin stopping at a Texas Roadhouse for their lunch. While they were waiting for their food, Percy snuck his phone out once more. One message was waiting for him.

How's everything going? [Sent 10:45 AM]

Annabeth.

Not too bad. We're in Wisconsin right now. Stopping briefly for lunch. [Sent 12:55 PM]

Be careful. Tell Sally and Paul I said hi. [Sent 12:56 PM]

Her reply came surprisingly quick, but he felt his lips twitch and he typed back a quick 'I will. Be careful too' before shutting the device back off. "Annabeth said hi." He said, noticing his mother's and Paul's curious looks.

"I hope she's doing well," his mother smiled, but then frowned, "though I worry about you both. Isn't it dangerous to be using a cell phone so much?"

Percy leaned back in his chair, "Yes – if we're not careful, that is. Annabeth and I have found out that if we keep our exchanges very brief, it's usually okay as long as if we turn off our phones right after. That's why you never really see us texting back and forth. We usually don't have our phones on at the same time."

"Makes sense," Paul mused thoughtfully, "though I do wonder if it'd be possible to create a phone that you guys could use more frequently."

"We're a special case – most of the time there's not really a need for phones. The others are satisfied with Iris Messages." Percy stated, "though I do agree that having another form of communication would probably be useful."

Their conversation was briefly interrupted at the moment as their waitress returned with their food. They finished about an hour later and as they returned on the road, his mother started talking about making a stop once they were in Minnesota. Apparently, she was really curious about visiting the Mall of America, which neither him or Paul were opposed to since it was already in the direction they were heading anyway. It was nearly five in the evening by the time they reached the mall. It didn't close until seven, so they had plenty of time to browse around. Percy personally wasn't much of a shopper, but it was still interesting enough to explore a bit. On top of that, they didn't have to go too far for dinner since the mall itself had places for them to stop and eat. "Do you think you'll sister like blue too, Percy?" His mother wondered, holding up a baby shirt, "or should I try another color for her?" Percy had wandered into the baby section she was currently at.

"Uh," He glanced at the clothes around him, "I kind of feel like she'd like purple for some reason, actually..."

"Hmm… purple," She placed the shirt back on the rack, searching through some of the clothes until she found one that was purple, "that is pretty cute too."

"She might get tired of seeing blue all the time anyway," Percy grinned, "I do go a bit overboard with it."

Sally laughed, "That's true. Where did Paul get off to?"

"He said he'll be right back. He's grabbing a hot pretzel for you both to share," Percy lifted up his own soft pretzel for her to see, "I grabbed one real quick while we were walking and he ended up deciding to go back and get one for you two."

Just as they were leaving the store, Paul joined them, a huge pretzel in hand, and they ended up finding a place to relax for a while to eat. "I was thinking that since it's already fairly late, we could just check into a hotel for tonight. I was looking through Google Maps and there's quite a few nice hotels around here – I went ahead and booked a room at a nearby Hampton Inn."

"That sounds good to me," His mom smiled, breaking a piece of the pretzel off, "I am starting to get a bit tired with all this walking around."

The mall was closing up by the time they left and it wasn't too much of a drive to the hotel. It was just down the street. When they entered the hotel, he did a double take as they approached the reception desk. The guy who was at the desk definitely had horns on his head. They were mostly hidden by his curly hair, but still visible if one knew what they were looking for. He decided not to comment on it as they got themselves checked in. His mother didn't say anything either, but he wasn't sure if that was just because she had decided to ignore it herself or was simply too tired to notice. As they turned to head up to their room, though, he felt a slight tug on his sleeve. "Hey, wait—" The receptionist had stepped out from behind his desk. "You're Percy Jackson, aren't you?"

Sally and Paul had paused when they had noticed that he wasn't following them, but he waved them on before he turned to the guy, giving him a wary look. "Depends on who's asking."

The guy chuckled. "Don't worry, I'm not a monster or anything – just a local satyr. I was actually just wondering if I could have your autograph. My sister's a huge fan of yours and her birthday is coming up soon."

Percy blinked. I have fans? "Um, sure…"

"Really? Thanks man – let me grab some paper real quick." The satyr hurried out of sight for a few moments before returning with a sheet of paper. Percy signed it and handed he handed it back to the satyr. "You're honestly a lifesaver – I had not idea what to get her for her birthday and I accidentally forgot it last year," The guy rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "she was pretty upset about it – so hopefully this makes up for it."

"No worries," Percy chuckled, "I'm kind of surprised that I have fans all the way up here in Minnesota though."

"Word travels fast amongst us satyrs," The other laughed, "though I do think my sister is a bit… of a fanatic. She keeps up with the gossip more than I do. Anyway – I have to get back to work. Be careful out there. This area is relatively safe, but there have been a few monster sightings a few towns over."

"Thanks for the heads up."

His mother and Paul were already settled in bed by the time he rejoined them, and as he sat down on the other bed, his mother turned to face him, seeming slightly concerned. "Who was that?"

"Oh, don't worry – it was just one of the satyrs that live in this area. He recognized me and wanted an autograph for his sister."

"That's really sweet of him."

"I didn't realize that satyrs had jobs like that." Paul glanced up curiously from the book on his lap.

"A lot of times they do if they're trying to blend in," Percy yawned, "my bet is that there's a few demigods in the area that he's keeping an eye on. He mentioned that this area was safe for the most part."

"Interesting." Paul had replaced his book with a small notepad and seemed to be sketching out a few notes now and seemed lost in thought.

Percy leaned a bit closer to his mother. "What's that?" He whispered to her. She giggled.

"Ever since he found out about you, Paul's been super interested in Greek mythology. Whenever he learns about something, he takes notes now. I think he's trying to learn as much as he can so he understands it better and can help you." She murmured back, glancing over at Paul. He still seemed focused on flipping through his notes. "That and I think he's thinking about quizzing his students on Greek mythology soon."

He felt a bit touched at that. "Maybe some time I should spend the day with him and talk more about it." Hopefully his students don't hate me too much for inspiring him to make more quizzes for them.

"I think he'd really like that."

He must have fallen asleep soon after that discussion, because when the sound of a phone ringing woke him up, it was already light outside. It was still a bit dim, though – signaling that it was likely earlier in the morning. He heard his mother shifting about, and then there was a sleepy "hello" from her and then silence as she listened to whoever was on the other side of the line. "Oh, hi, Charlie – how's everything going?" Another pause. "That's good to hear – we're doing well too. It'll probably take another day to get there, but we're planning on driving fairly straightforward after this stop. I think my husband had one more place in mind up in North Dakota, but that's the only major stop that I can think of." Pause. "Sounds good. I'll call you once we're in Washington." Pause – though it was much quicker than the others. "Thank you for checking in. I hope you enjoy your day as well." There was a soft thump as she set her phone back down.

He fell back asleep after that, but not for too long. Paul shook him gently awake a couple hours later so he'd have a chance to have some breakfast before they left. As they were leaving, the receptionist gave them a friendly wave. It turned out that there was an old bookstore that Paul wanted to stop in at. While most of its contents were old, used books – there was also a selection of rare books he wanted to check out. The town the bookstore was in reminded him of those small towns one would always see in movies. It was much different from Manhattan. While Paul was busy looking through all the books, Percy and Sally eventually wandered off to the homemade ice cream shop across the street from it. It had a nice, small area out in front of it for them to sit and enjoy their ice cream. "I wonder how Paul heard about this place. It wasn't even on the map when I peeked at his phone."

She chuckled. "He's really thorough when it comes to trips. He probably happened to come across it by chance."

"He seemed like he was in book heaven when we first stepped into the store," Percy snickered, "I'm glad we were able to stop here, though."

Surprisingly, though, when Paul finally met back up with them, he had only bought three books. "I was tempted to buy so many more," the older man sighed, glancing down at his bag. "But I was afraid if I let myself loose too much, I'd end up spending all of the money we set aside for this trip. So, I limited it to only three." He still seemed happy though. "I was able to get a great deal on these though – they're all first editions! I can't believe I was lucky enough to stumble across this place."

"That's awesome," Percy couldn't help but grin at the excitement in Paul's voice, "you should try some of their ice cream too. It's really good."

Since their plan was to drive straight to Washington after this, they stayed a tad bit longer in town – enjoying its small shops for a while before heading off once more. As he situated himself in the backseat again, Percy was secretly glad that he had made the choice to drive along with them instead of riding Blackjack all the way there. While he was used to riding the pegasus, he bet his backside wouldn't be thanking him at this point. Car seats were much more comfortable. "This morning I heard you talking to Charlie. What did he say?" He wondered.

"Oh, he was just checking in on us. His daughter and her husband are excited to meet us. He told me that they're planning on having a barbeque ready for us when we arrive. His granddaughter was asking him to check on us." Sally smiled back at him.

A barbeque… that did sound good. The last time he'd had one of those was back at Camp Half-Blood. "What were their names, again? I caught Charlie's name and his daughter is Bella, right? But I'm not sure if I caught the other's names…"

"Yes, it's Bella. Her husband's name is Edward and their daughter's name is Renesmee. He didn't go into too much depth on them – but in one of our previous conversations, he did mention that Edward's family lives nearby and would likely want to meet us as well."

He found himself gazing out the window for a while after that. It was between the sound of the car and the hum of his mother's and Paul's voice that eventually caused him to become drowsy. He didn't fight it, though. It wasn't like he much to do otherwise, and this way – the trip would likely go much quicker. He quickly regretted that choice, however, as he drifted off to sleep. As he slipped further into sleep, he felt the familiar tug upon his mind, causing him to groan internally. Please not a dream…

Of course, whatever forces out there didn't grant his wish and suddenly he found himself standing in the middle of a forest. It was very green and misty as he looked around. He didn't recognize his surroundings, but wherever it was – the forest seemed very thick. He couldn't see too far through the trees. He was about to move forward, when he heard the snap of a twig break the heavy silence, causing him to turn quickly to his right. At first, there was nothing there, but the moment he blinked, a wolf was suddenly standing several feet away, its eyes locked on him. Both of them remained motionless as they stared each other down. After a few moments, he was convinced that it must be a statue or something, since it never moved, but suddenly – it's ear flicked and it turned its head, almost as if something had called for it, and just like that – it was gone and he was left alone again. For a while, he remained in that spot. It seemed like he was rooted there for some reason because whenever he tried to move, he wasn't able to go more than a couple paces—

"Percy?"

A voice jolted him awake. He was suddenly back in the car, and he opened his eyes in time to see the "Welcome to Washington" sign pass by his window. How long had he been asleep? He felt like he had only closed his eyes for a few moments, but as he glanced down at the car's digital clock, he realized it'd been hours. He grimaced. He'd slept at an odd angle too, and now his neck was a bit sore.

"Are you all right?" It'd been his mother that had woken him up.

"Yeah, I think so. I just had a strange dream, that was all." Percy rubbed his neck. He had no idea what that dream was now, though. That was a bit strange. Usually when he had vivid dreams like that, he'd remember them. All he could remember was green and the blurry imagine of a something gray. "Can't remember what it was about, though. How far is it to Forks yet?"

"It'll be just a couple more hours. Charlie called again while you were sleeping, and he said that we're free to check in at the local inn there tonight. He'd been a bit worried about his house being a bit too small for all of us, so Paul and I decided that'd be for the best." She explained as he stretched his arms.

Now that they were finally in Washington, he was ready to stay off the road for a while. He was glad that they were staying for a couple weeks and not turning right back around again. It was strange, though, when he gazed out the window, there was forest on both sides of the road. That wasn't really the strange part, it was the color that was weird. It was the same green that he'd seen in his dream. He frowned, trying to recall it once more. He had little luck. Must have not been too important if I can't remember it. I'm sure it's fine. Somewhere, that small voice in the back of his mind was trying to pipe up again, but he quickly pushed it away before it had a chance to.

Just one peaceful vacation. Please.