If you're lost you can be found
Follow me until you hear the sound
Young Blood/Bea Miller
Percy dialed the number with shaking fingers. He didn't know where it had come from, but he was sure it was important enough to beg a (pleasantly friendly) stranger to use their phone. At least he hoped it was. He was so, so, sure that this was Annabeth's number, but, then again, he could be wrong. He didn't think he had ever wanted to be more right in his life. He wasn't trying to get his hopes up though, because was this girl that he saw in his head even real?
His finger hovered over the last number for a moment. What if she didn't want to see him again? He wouldn't blame her if she were so upset that she wouldn't want to keep dating him. Most of his memories of her involved him being an idiot, so he guessed that he hadn't changed much.
The train jolted slightly, and his pointer finger smashed into the keypad. Oh well, he thought to himself. That was Fate.
One ring.
Two.
Three.
Fou-
Percy jumped a little when he heard the little click, which meant that someone had picked up. Hazel looked at him reassuringly, so Percy took a deep breath and steadied himself.
"-just saying, who calls at three…fifty-seven in the morning?"
A muffled voice responded back. "Jason, you can't talk, you're up at 3:57 too."
Percy could imagine whoever was on the other end of the line rolling his eyes. He was silent for a few moments as a clattering sound erupted on from the other end.
"Is she there?" Frank asked tentatively. He and Hazel were waiting with bated breath right next to Percy. He hadn't told them much about her, but they knew enough to realize that she meant a lot to him.
He shrugged nonchalantly. (On the inside he was screaming). "Some guy named Jason."
The two Romans exchanged glances and Percy was about to respond when a voice spoke.
"Hey? Whoever you are, you're on speaker. What do you want and who are you? I'm busy."
This definitely wasn't Annabeth.
"Oh, I'm Percy," he said hurriedly. He hoped his voice wasn't trembling because he felt like he was going to cry. Really? This was the one thing he wanted to be real. "But I think I have the wrong number, so-"
"Stop!"
Percy froze. He was pretty sure his eyes were bulging out of his head, and that the phone was going to break under the pressure from his sweaty palms. He knew that voice.
The boy that had been speaking earlier groaned. "What, Annabeth?"
Percy nearly dropped the phone. Across the aisle, the friendly stranger was giving him a less-than-friendly look.
"Annabeth?" he wheezed. He pushed away from his seat, nearly knocking Frank over in the process, and stumbled unsteadily to where no one could hear him. "Oh my-Annabeth?" He heard more clattering, and someone shouting, and he took a deep breath. "Are you okay?"
Percy could have been crazy, but he swore he heard someone crying. Maybe this wasn't Annabeth, because she never cried.
"Am I okay?" Her voice came out choked, and a little muffled, but it was her. Percy took a seat right where he was in the middle of the aisle. "Oh my gods, you're so stupid. Percy, you've been missing for nine months and you have the nerve to ask me if I'm okay?"
"But…are you?"
She laughed, and Percy could've just closed his eyes and died right there. Her voice could carry him across the world. "I'm fine, now that I know you're alive. Stay in New Rome, okay? We'll be coming to get you soon."
"Ah, the thing is-" Percy paused, staring at his beat up Converse. A while ago he had found the initials R.E.D. drawn on them. Annabeth was silent. He could feel her nervousness through the phone. He sighed. "Um, we?"
"Just a couple of new campers," she said after a long pause. Her voice was laced with suspicion, and he knew they were going to have a talk about this later. "They're important. They're with me right now, if you want to talk to them."
"No!" A woman with a crying baby glared at him for his sudden outburst. "Sorry, no, please don't. I want to talk to you."
He wished he could see the smile that she was wearing. "Okay."
"I missed you," he whispered, and it was suddenly like all the pent-up emotions that he had been hiding from Frank and Hazel and Reyna and the entirety of New Rome were released with those three words. "I missed you a lot. Please don't cry." The last part was a little to her and mostly to himself.
It was too late, because he could already hear her shaky breaths, but he decided that the tears running down both of their faces were ones that he could handle. They were good.
"I missed you more," she insisted. He had to smile because that was just like her. "But I think Tyson missed you most."
Percy chuckled. "Remind me to say hi to the big guy after…after this is over." He cleared his throat. If this is ever over.
"I can't wait to see you again." Annabeth sounded like she was walking. "And kick your ass," she added.
"Looking forward-"
"Excuse me."
Percy glanced up at the man with a scowl and a shiny head that was holding out his hand for his phone. "My cellphone? I have places to be, boy."
"I'm sorry sir," Percy stuttered. He supposed he was never that good at talking to adults. Annabeth was asking what was happening on the other line, but it was distant. "Uh, a few more minutes?"
"The train leaves soon," the man warned. "I have an interview now. Give me my phone so I can leave." He made a grab for it, but Percy jumped to his feet.
"I can't," he explained desperately. "This is my girlfriend. I haven't talked to her in nine months."
"Too bad," the man sneered. Percy clenched his teeth. "Call her later, and give me my phone." He snatched it out of Percy's hands and sprinted out of the nearest exit.
"Stop!" Percy yelled. Before he went running for the man, he felt someone grab his arm. Frank looked curious, and Percy wished he could've just punched the man in the face, or said goodbye to Annabeth, or even died as soon as she called him stupid. He tasted salty tears. "She's gone."
"We'll see her again," Frank reassured him, although he had no idea what Percy was blabbering about. "Just…right after we get back. We have to do this first, Percy."
He was going to pitch himself off a cliff if that was what it took to see her again. "Okay."
See you soon.
