Author's Note: The definition in the title is courtesy of the 1969 volume of Webster's New World Dictionary of the English language. This is the first chapter of a multi chapter story, set during The Lost Hero, about some of the quests lead in search of Percy, other than Jason, Piper, and Leo's. So enjoy, and please review!
He peered through the screen door, finding the person he was looking for still asleep in the bottom bunk nearest to the entrance. She twitched like a dog in her dreams.
Will Solace swung open the door to the almost empty Athena cabin.
"Violet!" He called. "Wake up, it's an emergency!"
She yelped, leaping upwards from sleep only to smack her forehead into the bunk above her.
"What day is it?" She screeched, and then swore, rubbing at a spot above her eye.
"Sunday." Will replied.
"Sunday?" She looked at him like he was a moron. "Piss off. Sleep-in day." She turned her back to him, pulling the sheet up over her head.
"What part of 'it's an emergency' did you not get?"
"What kind of emergency?" She asked, not removing the sheet from her face.
"I won't tell you unless you get out of bed."
She groaned. He knew he had her. She was not a patient individual.
"Come on." She stuck her hands out from under the blankets and he pulled her into a standing position.
"It's fucking freezing." She muttered. "What's going on?"
She was wearing yoga pants and a tank top against the December in Long Island chill.
"Put some clothes on first." He said. She didn't object.
The Athena cabin was empty, having all gone to breakfast, pushed back till nine on Sundays. Violet took the idea of sleep-in Sundays to a whole new level.
She pushed a flashlight, iPod, and cube of rosin off the top of her steamer trunk, and then pulled a couple items of clothing at random. She sniffed a shirt, and deemed it clean enough.
She changed quickly in the cold air. Will did not look away.
"Pervert." She accused in good humor.
"I've seen you naked, Violet, it's nothing new."
She smiled, pulling her shirt down. He leaned down to kiss her gently.
Later, after tying on her Puma sneakers, she asked "What's the emergency?"
"It's movie night and nobody has anything new to watch."
She looked at him. "You asshole! You woke me up on a Sunday to go buy fucking movies?"
He laughed as she lunged forward to punch him. "It was a bet. Also I thought you'd enjoy it. Travis is letting me borrow his motorcycle."
"A bet? With who?"
"That depends what you're planning to do with them."
"That depends who they are."
"The bet was that I couldn't wake you up on sleep in days without sustaining some sort of fatal injury." He grinned cheekily. "I won."
"I'm going back to bed."
"No, now you have to come with me."
"I don't have to do shit."
"But you're all dressed. Come on, I don't wanna go alone." He pleaded with his big brown eyes. He was one of the few Apollo kids who took after their mothers, and consequently did not possess the same sun kissed blonde look of his siblings.
"Oh, fuck you." She let a smile creep onto her lips as she grabbed her coat.
"Love you too."
He lead her out into the camp, blanketed with snow at this time of year. A few kids were milling about, trying to get their body temperature up. Despite the cold, though, the camp was more peaceful than it had been in a long while. Six months had passed since the Titan War, and though there was a constant stream of new campers and continuing construction on the new wing of camp, things were beginning to settle down after the chaos of the war.
The dining hall was half empty, breakfast having ended a few hours earlier. Will waved to a few kids from his cabin, still getting used to being the counselor in charge, as of six months ago.
The Stoll brothers kept their motorcycle, which they'd bought and fixed up themselves, behind the Big House. Specifically, in the gardening shed, the one place Mr. D absolutely never stepped foot in.
Will pulled the keys from his coat pocket, and handed Violet the single helmet.
"I feel like the driver would have more use for the helmet, should we actually get in a crash." Violet remarked, narrowing her eyes at him.
"You wanna drive?" He asked.
"That's not my point. And I've never actually ridden one of these before anyway."
"Really? You're gonna love it, trust me."
She rolled her eyes at his subject change. They kept to the shadows as they pushed the bike down the hill, away from the camp's protection.
"I assume you're armed?" he asked, straddling the bike.
"As always." She held up her left wrist, exposing the vaguely African bracelet, embossed with cowrie shells and and brown, earthen beads. When taken off, the bracelet morphed in Violet's trademark black half swords, which were a gift from her mother.
"Good, because I'm not." He figured the attention attracted from carrying around a bow and quiver outweighed the notion of blending in with mortals.
"We'll be quick."
She swung one leg over the back of the bike, pulling the helmet over her shoulder length red hair, and wrapping her arms around Will's waist.
Convinced Violet had a good grip, he punched the gas and they sped forward. He kept his speed down, partly because of the half plowed roads, and partly neither he or Violet were New York natives, and had a very rudimentary set of directions on how to get to the nearest shopping mall.
Will was seventeen, but spent the first ten years of his life with his mom in Louisiana. For the past few years he'd been living full time at camp. Violet was sixteen, coming to camp at age seven, but until recently had spent the majority of her time in Cincinnati with her dad.
The cold air went straight through their coats, and Will regretted not layering up.
They managed to get where they were going without a couple U-turns. Their destination was a massive outlet mall, complete with food court. They made a beeline for a movie store to their left.
One of Violet's best qualities, Will had decided at some point in the many years he'd known her, was that she had excellent taste in movies, as well as an encyclopedic knowledge of all things movie and TV related. Will stepped back and let her work her magic among the racks of DVDs.
"Can they be R rated?"
"I believe we're accepting all ratings."
"Cool."
She began handing him movies. He glanced at the titles as the stack grew. Fight Club. The Incredibles. X-Men. The Dark Knight. Kick-Ass. Inception. The Simpsons Movie. Serenity. Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
She sighed as she came across a title. "This movie sucks, but I think it's appropriate. Also it's basically lady porn, with all the guys in it."
She handed him Troy, with Brad Pitt and Eric Bana.
"Violet." He said, after a while. "I think we have enough."
"Okay." She didn't look happy about limiting herself. He handed her the pile.
At the register, she pushed the stack of movies on the counter, and pulled out her wallet, which was decorated with music notes. Violet, despite her mother, was less interested in battle strategy, though she very much enjoyed sword fighting, and was more interested in playing her instrument of choice, viola.
"Wanna get some food?" he asked her, as the cashier loaded up a plastic bag with their purchases.
"Sounds good." Violet agreed, her stomach reminding her of the absence of breakfast.
They found a pizza place and settled into an indoor table. After a moment, she felt Will's eyes on her.
"What?"
"Do you think the guy who sold us the DVDs thought you were hot?" He grinned at her, taking a bite of pizza.
"Really?" She smiled, raising an eyebrow.
"You didn't notice?" Will asked. "He was staring at you."
"Was he good looking? I can't remember." She returned his smirk. "Ya know, in case I have to ditch you, I wanna have options."
"You seriously didn't see him looking at you? I was expecting you to look up and give him the death stare at any moment."
"What can I say, I was thinking about Batman."
"You are quite possibly the most socially moronic person I have ever met."
"And you're a hopeless romantic." She tilted her head. "Quite a pair, aren't we?"
They were both momentarily distracted as a woman with an ice cream cone and a ridiculously loud voice entered their vicinity. They were similar, in that like most demigods, they had the attention spans of squirrels.
"We should go." Will said, the humor leaving his face. He had a bad feeling taking root in his gut.
"I agree."
They threw away what remained of their food, and headed as fast they could without breaking into a run toward the parking lot. Back on the motorcycle, they quickly left all signs of society behind them, speeding onto mostly empty roads, and back to camp.
Will stopped at a red light on a deserted street.
"You're not serious." Violet said, raising the visor on her helmet.
"Don't."
"I'm not saying anything."
The light turned green again, and Will pressed the gas just as car came whizzing by in front of them, coming down the cross street at a hideous speed and running the light. Will slammed on the brakes as the car sped past, less than a foot in front of them. Surprised, both ended up flying up over the handle bars, and landing hard in the car's wake.
Will smacked down hard on the concrete and hardened snow, but had the sense to cover his head the best he could. Violet, lying on her side, saw the driver of the car look back to make sure they weren't dead, than speed off.
"That motherfucker." Violet said, pulling off her helmet and giving the driver the finger, though he was long gone.
"That," Will said. "Is why I don't run red lights."
Violet seemed to be okay, except for a torn pant leg and a scrape oozing blood beneath it. Will was worse for the wear, having had no helmet. The ice and snow had cut up his chin, and his coat sleeves had not offered much protection for his arms, now bleeding in several places.
"You okay?" He asked Violet.
"Bruised, but alive. You?"
He pushed himself up onto his feet carefully, running a system check. Scrapes and bruises seemed to be the extent of his injuries.
"I'm okay." he said. Violet came toward him anyway, looking up at the cuts on his chin.
"That's looks like it stings." She remarked.
"I'll live. Do you think we could walk back to camp from here?"
"Definitely. It's only another mile or so." They each took a handle bar, and began to push the bike back down the road.
"Do ya think that guy was a monster?" Violet asked.
"No, I think he was just an asshole."
"Yeah, if he was a monster he would have finished us off."
"Bad luck, I guess."
Forty minutes later, they were back inside camp limits, pushing the bike back into the garden shed.
Will pulled the keys from the motorcycle, and followed Violet as they came around the Big House. They were surprised to see a large group of campers gathered on the porch. There was an urgent tone to the hum of voices, and they soon identified Annabeth at the center of the action.
"What's going on?" Violet asked no one in particular.
"I don't know." Will replied.
