A/N: I do realize that the beginning of this (or even the entire story, perhaps) comes off a bit OC centric, but that really isn't the point. It's more a story about what a normal girl thinks of the Jackson's as her life goes on and what she discovers by being so closely involved with them.
This does, by the way, take place in the future when all of the characters are , this will be split into three parts due to the fact that they're each epically long.
Please enjoy!
I've known the Jackson family for most of my life – I can honestly say that meeting that family not only changed me and my life forever, but it was also the best thing that ever happened to me.
July 15th, 5 years old.
I vividly remember the first day I met the Jackson's.
I was carrying a brown, cardboard box full of possessions over to the elevator. There I would embark on my first ride up to my new apartment.
You could say that I wasn't all too excited about the move. And even though we were only moving from the east side of New York City to the west, it felt like we couldn't be moving any further away. Central Park was a large, green wall separating my old life from my new one – one I wished that I didn't have to live.
I got inside the elevator and its doors shut almost immediately, leaving me alone inside of it. It took me up about five floors before it stopped, and the doors opened once again.
Right outside them, a man stood. He didn't look frightening in the slightest, but out of instinct I scrunched myself into the back left corner of the elevator car.
He looked up at the sign on the elevator, and noticed that it was going up, "I guess I'll just go for the ride," he muttered to himself, and then stepped inside and stood on the other far end of the elevator.
When we were passing somewhere in between floor seven and eight, the unthinkable happened. My bottom of my box opened and the contents of it began to spill out onto the floor.
First, I just stood there. Completely in shock, I watched as my old alarm clock, my case of CD's, and a few other items from my old room hit the floor with a large thud.
I was still standing absolutely still, holding my empty box, when the man in the elevator began to talk to me. "Here," he said, "Let me see this." He took the box out of my tiny hands, and began to toy around with it, in attempt to try and fix it.
He eventually succeeded, and began to pick up items on the floor. I joined in immediately, trying to get all my stuff back in the box before the elevator arrived at my floor.
Sadly, my goal was not met, and when the elevator arrived on floor seventeen, I still had a few things scattered around the elevator floor.
My parents, who had been waiting for the elevator to arrive so they could go back down and get more boxes, noticed me instantly.
"Carla?" My dad asked, "What happened?"
"The box broke," I said, on the verge of tears. It was too much for me to take in one day.
"Aw, sweetie," my mom said, hurrying to floor to help me and the stranger with the stuff, "It's okay."
In a matter of minutes, the three of us managed to get everything back into the dead box.
I got to my feet and said, "Thank you," before running off into the apartment without turning around once.
I could still hear my mom and the man talking from inside the safe walls of my apartment, thanks to the open apartment door.
"I'm sorry about my daughter," my mom said, sighing. "She's been a bit apprehensive about the move."
"That's okay, I'm sure it's a big change for her," he said. "My name's Percy, Percy Jackson. Did you and your family just move into the building?"
"Yes," she said, "It's nice to meet you Percy." I looked to the hallway and saw her shaking hands with him. "I'm Jenny Hart, and my husband, Robert, is inside. And my daughter, who you met, is Carla."
"I'm sure my wife would agree with me in inviting you and your family over for dinner," Percy said.
"That would be lovely, if it's not too much trouble for you," my mom said, politely.
"Not in the slightest," he said, "Is tomorrow evening alright?"
"Sounds great," my mom said.
"How old is your daughter?" he asked, "I actually have three children of my own…"
"She's five," my mom replied.
"That's great! I have a five year-old daughter too, named Hannah. There's no one in the building who's her age, and she's always looking for someone to play with."
"That's wonderful," my mom said, "I'm sure Carla will be excited to meet her."
"Well, I leave you to your business," he said, "If you would like help moving in or have any questions, here's my number." He handed her a business card.
"Thank you so much," my mom said, handing him her own personal business card.
A minute later, my mom was inside the apartment and was approaching me at full speed. "Did you hear that, Carla?" she asked, patting me on the shoulder. "That man has a five year old daughter too for you to become friends with!"
I gave the best smile I could. I'd never been good at making friends, so maybe this setup wouldn't be that bad.
July 16th, 5 Years Old
I stood right behind my parents as the large, green door swung open, revealing an apartment quite similar in size and shape to ours. It was the people inside who were different.
My family in general is quite calm, relaxed, and peaceful. This family, on the other hand, seemed like the exact opposite. Through the small space between my parents, I was able to see absolute chaos.
The first thing that caught my eye was the girl clutching on to what I assumed was her brother's back. There was a little toddler who was just running around in circles around their living room.
"I'm sorry about the mess," the wife said. "I'm afraid some of them ate a little too much sugar today." I assumed that she was referring to the girl who was on her brother's back two seconds ago, and had moved on to doing cartwheels.
"Hannah!" Percy screamed, "Stop! We have guests over."
"But Papa-"
"No," he said, sternly, "Hannah, calm down, please."
"Fine," she said in defeat, and walked over to where we were standing.
"You must be Hannah," my mom said.
"Yes," Hannah said, providing a toothy grin.
"We have a five year old daughter, Carla," my dad said, grabbing my hand and pulling me out from behind them. "Carla, meet Hannah."
"Hi," Hannah said, "Want to come with me to my room?" I recoiled behind my mother's leg, unused to such enthusiasm. Most of my friends were calm and quiet, like me. A nudge from my mother got me going, though.
"Sure," I said as quietly as possible. She still heard me, and grabbed my arm, beginning to pull me across her apartment.
"You just moved here, right?" she asked, dragging me past the kitchen.
"Yeah," I said, "We used to live on the West Side, but then we moved so we could be closer to Daddy's business."
Her mouth formed an 'o' shape, and then we walked in silence, until we approached the toddler who I had seen before.
"This is Zoe," she said, pointing to the little girl. "She doesn't understand much since she's two, but it's a lot of fun to feed her goldfish crackers. She loves them."
Zoe stared at me for a few seconds, studying me with stormy gray eyes, until she spoke in a soft, gentle voice. "Goldfish?"
"Later, Zo," Hannah said, tightening her grip on me and giving me a hearty yank forward.
We eventually reached a door in the back of the apartment; it had a sign on the door that read, "CHASE AND HANNAH'S ROOM".
"This," she said, pausing to open the door, "Is my room." The room was practically split in two. One half was filled with blue things in every corner, while the second half was filed with lighter colors like yellow and peach colors. The blue half was filled with cars and other toys, while the other side had books all over the place.
On the bed in the blue half, sat the boy who I saw earlier. He looked at me with a questioning look, like he was trying to figure me out. He had curly black hair and the same gray eyes as the little sister – they must run in the family or something.
"And this," Hannah said, letting out a very large, exasperated sigh, "Is my annoying older brother, Chase. He's stupid, ignore him."
"Hi," Chase said, jumping off his bed. "Are you Carla?"
"Yeah," I said quietly, nodding.
"Go away, Chase!" Hannah said, giving Chase a large shove towards the door. "It's time for you to leave us alone."
"I wouldn't want to hang out with you girls, anyway," he said, and walked out the door.
"Sorry about him," Hannah said, sitting down on her bed. "But didn't I say he's annoying?"
"Well…" I started to say, but I was cut off.
"Do you like to read?" she asked, twirling some of her blonde hair around her finger.
"Uh, yeah," I said, fudging it a little. I liked to read, but I hadn't read many things.
"So do I," she said, looking down at the piles of books on the floor, "It's my favorite thing to do when I'm bored."
We then sat in silence for a few minutes, just staring at each other – trying to figure the other one out..
Chase walked in a few minutes later, a blank expression on his face.
"What did I tell you about getting out?" Hannah screamed, stomping over towards him.
"I'm just here to tell you that it's time for dinner," he said, before turning around and walking back towards the living room.
"Let's go." Hannah said, grabbing me by the wrist once again and leading me off.
***
At dinner I found out a few things about the Jacksons. The parents had met at a camp when they were little, and had eventually become great enough friends to get married.
I turned out Chase was actually their mom's maiden name, and that the deal between the parents was that she'd give up her old last name if their first son would be named Chase. And now there is Chase.
I also found out that the school that I was going to be attending this year was also the same school that Hannah and Chase went to, and that we'd all be on the same bus together.
Another fact that I found out was that one of the gigantic buildings that my parents were always admiring was actually designed by the firm that the mother worked at, and that she was one of the leaders of the team.
After dinner, I played video games with Chase and Hannah (who, by the way, continued to get into arguments with one another) until we had to go.
"Bye," Hannah said, when we were standing by the door.
"Bye," I returned, "See you soon, I guess."
"Yeah!" she exclaimed. A large smile arrived on her face, along with a twinkle in her bright green eyes.
"So, what did you think?" my dad asked me, once we were safely inside.
"Loud." I replied, and my parents just chuckled.
June 22nd, 7 Years Old
Hannah and I were having a play-date at her house, when her mom arrived home from work early.
"Hi girls," she said, putting her purse down on the table. "What are you doing?"
"Being bored," I replied. The two of us were sitting like lumps on our coach. For a while we were brainstorming ideas on what to do, but after not being able to agree we just gave up and sat there.
"Well, we're going to have to fix that," her mom said, coming over to me and giving me and Hannah each a little pat on the shoulder, "It's so hot out today… Oh, how about we go to pool?"
"Where is there a pool?" Hannah asked, looking back and forth between her mom and I.
"At the heath club a few blocks over they have a great pool for you guys to swim in. How about it?" her mom asked.
I considered my options. I wasn't really in the mood to go swimming, but this was a once in a lifetime offer. Her mom rarely offered to take us anywhere (since she was always working), and my mom didn't take me swimming, either.
"I'm not sure…" I answered.
"C'mon, Cars," Hannah said, giving my arms a shake, "Let's go! It'll be fun."
"Fine, I guess." I said, "I haven't gone swimming in forever."
"Neither have I," Hannah said, nodding.
I ran up to my apartment, changed into my suit, and ran back downstairs to find Hannah and her mom all packed and ready to go.
The second we arrived at the pool, Hannah jumped right in and began swimming back and forth like she'd been swimming her entire life.
"Cars – come in! There water's warm!" Hannah yelled, swimming over to where I was standing. I glanced back at her mom, who was sitting in a beach chair – blackberry glued to her hand.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," I said, sliding on my butt into the freezing cold water. "What are you talking about, Han, the water's like ice!"
"You're always cold," Hannah said, grabbing my arm and pulling me away from the wall. Suddenly, the second she touched me, I felt heat course through my body. And then the second she let go of it, the warmth disappeared completely and I was left shivering in ice water.
After swimming around the pool for a while (which did include Hannah needing to challenge every boy in the pool to a race – which she always won by a lot), Hannah decided to try another game out.
"Let's have a breathing underwater contest." Hannah said.
"That's where you have to hold your breath for as long as you can, right?" One of the boys, named Roy – I believe, asked.
"Exactly," Hannah said, a devilish smile on her face.
"Ooh, I think I'm good at this!" I said, recalling being told that I was good at breathing by a swim instructor years ago. I'm not very good at swimming fast, so I decided not to swim in the races against Hannah and the various boys.
"Great," Hannah said, giving me a warm pat (still, even though I got used to the water, whenever she touched me I felt warm inside), "On the count of three, we all go under. Got it?" All of the boys and me nodded, "Okay. One, two, three… under!"
We all shot under the water. Suddenly, the sounds of the noisy pool area went silent, and I found complete peace.
I looked around at the different kids. Two of the boys looked like they were gasping for air – and two seconds later they went up.
The last boy seemed to loosing air, but much slower than his friends. After five or so more seconds, he bobbed to the top. Leaving Hannah and I underwater.
Hannah, unlike everyone else, looked completely calm. She even looked like she was breathing or something – her chest continued to rise and fall. She was lying down towards the bottom of the pool, and she seemed absolutely fine.
I wanted to win so badly. Hannah always seemed to win at everything. At school she got better grades. In gym she was always picked first for teams. And to top it all off, it seemed like she not only won everything, but she also got everything as well.
I got so distracted in my thoughts, hat I forgot about holding my breath, and I ended up taking a huge gulp of water. I began to choke, and sink towards the bottom of the pool quickly.
As my chest continued to tighten, I was sure that this was going to be the end of me. I was going to drown in the public pool – it'd be all over the New York Times. GIRL DROWNS IN PUBLIC POOL DURING A BREATHING CONTEST would be the headline, and that's how I'd get my fame, for my epic death.
Suddenly, I felt a hand latch onto mine. I suddenly felt like I could breathe – I wasn't quite sure how, seeing as I was still underneath the water. I looked up, and saw Hannah dragging me up to the surface. Her face was looking up towards the surface of the pool, until she looked at me for a second and her expression told me all I needed to hear, it read, "You'll be okay. I'll make sure of it." That's Hannah, always out to save everyone.
Soon enough, we reached the surface on the pool. Hannah's mom lifted me out of the pool and lay me down on the pool deck. I immediately began to sputter and throw up water. Hannah was right next to me, looking at me carefully.
"Cars?" she asked, "You okay?"
I couldn't reply. I was too stunned and in awe of Hannah's amazing save to say anything. So, instead I did what I could get out – I began to cry. Big, heavy, tears poured out of my eyes.
We left right afterwards and, as Hannah promised me under the water, I was okay in the end.
As usual, Hannah received the spotlight. She got a medal of sorts from the lifeguards for saving me. She also received a million 'thank you's' from various different people. It's not like I was ignored or anything, though. I had people surrounding me, asking if I was okay. But no, I wanted what Hannah had: the glory.
March 8th, Age 8
My first sleepover in my entire life took place at the Jackson's house. I came over to their house, sleeping bag in hand, prepared for everything. I'd seen the movies with sleepovers, but I'd never had my try at one. I was nervous and excited all at once.
"So," Hannah said, leading me towards her room, "You're going to sleep in Chase's bed."
"Then where's Chase going to sleep?" I asked. As we'd been getting older, I'd had less and less to do with Chase. It's not like we were every really hanging out or anything like that (besides, Hannah would never, ever allow it – the two hated each other), but he just seemed to be around less.
"On the couch," she said.
"Does Chase know yet?" I asked, nervous about what the answer was going to be.
"Nope," she said, confirming my fear, "We're going to tell him right now."
"He's not going to like it," I warned as we pushed open the door, exposing her room. Chase was in fact inside, sitting on his bed playing his Nintendo DS.
"That's the best part," she said, an evil grin on her face.
"What is?" Chase asked, looking up from his game of what looked like Mario Kart.
"That we're kicking you out of your room tonight." Hannah said, her tone sounded so relaxed like it was no big deal."
"And in 'we' she means 'I'. I had no say in this at all," I said, dropping my heavy load onto the floor.
"What?" Chase said, snapping his DS shut.
"You heard me," Hannah said, grabbing Chase's DS, "Grab your stuff and get out. Cars' going to sleep in your bed tonight."
"Why?" Chase demanded, "Why doesn't she sleep in your bed with you. You two could easily fit."
"We could," Hannah said, looking down at her hands, "But it'd be more comfortable if she could have your bed. Plus, do you really want to have to hang out with us girls while we stay up late till 11?"
"I would rather that then sleep on the couch where I can hear dad snoring all night."
"Too bad," Hannah argued, "It's one night. Deal."
"Mom!" Chase screamed, opening the door wide.
"Papa!" Hannah called, and within a minute, both of the parents were standing in the door. I could see Zoe from behind the parents, trying to see what was going on inside.
I slowly inched towards Hannah's bed where I sat down to enjoy the show.
"Mom," Chase began, pointing his index finger at Hannah, "Hannah's kicking me out of my room."
"Papa! Chase's being mean to our guest!" Hannah argued, throwing her own finger out at Chase.
"Relax," Percy said, stepping in between the siblings, "What exactly is going on here?"
"Well," Hannah began, taking in a large gulp of air, "To make sure that Carla is really comfortable tonight, I promised her that she could sleep in Chase's bed tonight. And when I told him this, he freaked out."
"She kicked me out without asking!" Chase argued.
"Chase, just think about it," Annabeth said, trying to rationalize with her hysterical son. "You can watch TV as late as you want tonight if you sleep on the couch in the living room."
He tipped his head to the side, as if contemplating if his mother was just tricking him into it, or if it was actually a good option.
After what felt like ages, he muttered, "Fine." He grabbed a few of his items (such as all of his pillows and blankets - thus leaving me with none) and stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
"Hannah, I understand your point and everything," Annabeth said, putting her arm around her daughter's shoulders, "But could you try to not to taunt him? It only starts disagreements."
"But-" Hannah began, only to be cut off.
"Promise us, please." Percy asked, his expression completely serious, contrary to his usual goofy grin.
I didn't want to say anything but I, too, agreed with her parents. While their fighting was hilarious most of the time, but whenever it was about me or involved me it wasn't as funny. This time, for example, fit into this category perfectly.
"Fine," Hannah agreed, "But it won't work. He hates me."
"Your brother does not hate you." Annabeth said, "You two just disagree."
"Besides," Zoe said, talking for the first time. She was by far the quietest of the family and while she never was really with us, she was always around. "I will always love you, no matter what Chase thinks."
"You know I love you too, Zo, right?" Hannah asked, approaching her sister and giving her a large bear hug.
"Uh huh." Zoe said, grinning. Hannah's parents joined in the hug shortly, thus making it an almost complete family moment. I began to feel more awkward than ever, and it wasn't only because of the part of me that wanted to join the hug and become a member of the family I'd been envying for years. Even though Chase didn't know what was going on, I felt a sort of compassion for him. Being on the outside of the circle hurt - especially when you're supposed to be part of it.
After playing in Hannah's room for a few hours and eating dinner, we retreated to her parent's bedroom to watch a movie (Chase was still occupying the TV in the living room). After twenty minutes of indecision, we finally agreed to watch Father of the Bride.
"That was funny," I said once the movie began to roll credits.
"Yeah," Hannah replied, seeming a bit lost. "It was."
"I think that there's a sequel," I said.
"Really?" Hannah asked, "We should watch it next time you sleep over."
"Definitely."
We sat in silence for a few minutes and I began to stare at the ceiling. It was a plain wall that was painted light blue and only had a few cracks in the paint.
"You know what I think?" Hannah asked, eventually.
"What?"
"My dad would totally act like that."
I thought about that for a few seconds. Percy? The gentle man who helped me? I'm not sure. I always got the feeling that he was hiding something – what it is I'm not quite sure. Maybe he could. He does seem a bit more protective then Annabeth.
"Yeah," I agreed, "I guess I can see that."
Hannah just nodded.
10 Years Old, December 14th
When Hannah turned seven, she was forced by her parents to take an instrument, and she chose the piano (after Chase's disastrous experience with the trombone, she decided against brass and she didn't like the sound of string instruments). She'd been having recitals ever since, but with her perfectionist attitude about everything, she'd never let me see her play at her recital until this year.
Annabeth had a very important call to make during the time of the recital, so she wasn't able to go. Chase, being himself, didn't want to come. And Zoe, who enjoyed copying her sister, was also performing. This left me alone to sit next to Percy throughout the entire thing.
It started out okay – absolutely silent. But then, he felt the need to begin a conversation.
"So Carla," he began, "Are you excited for Christmas in a few weeks?"
"Yeah," I said. My family had bought our tiny Christmas tree yesterday, and with the tree came the spirit.
"Excited for presents?" He guessed, his usual goofy grin on his face.
"Yeah," I said, giggling slightly, "Do you get presents too, Percy?"
He burst out laughing, making me feel quite uncomfortable, "A few," he said, "Annabeth always gets me two or three, Hannah and Chase tend to get me small things – like an ornament that reminds them of me, and Zoe just gives me a homemade card."
It seemed so different from my family, where I thought about my parents, who gave each other as many presents as they gave me. It just didn't seem fair that Percy and Annabeth didn't get nearly many presents as I knew the kids did (Hannah always told me about the boat load of presents she received each year).
"…That's nice?" I said – even though I meant it as a statement, it came off more as a question.
"I've had Christmas in so many different places…" he mumbled, more to himself then me.
"Really?" I asked, "Like where?"
"Oh…uh," he said, "Just all over."
I nodded, not quite sure what to say to that.
"So," he said. I could tell that he felt the need to make conversation with me, even though he absolutely nothing to say, "Have you been liking 5th grade so far?"
"Yeah, I guess," I said, "Mrs. Levin is really nice. It's too bad that I'm not in Hannah's homeroom, though."
"Yeah, she complained about that all the time when she first got her class list." Percy said, twiddling his thumbs.
"We both did."
"You guys really are best friends," he said, "Aren't you?"
"Yeah," I answered, a tiny bit peeved that he needed to ask, "Why?"
His shocked expression told me that he wasn't expecting the question at the end of it, "It's just that I didn't make my best friends until I was twelve."
"Your best friend was Annabeth, right?" I asked. Normally I'm way too nervous to talk to people, but for one reason or another I was able to talk to Percy. It was awkward, but I was still able to speak – which is a huge improvement.
"Yeah," he said, "And my friend Grover too."
"Is that the one with the red hair and with the - ?" I patted my own leg, trying not to say the word aloud. It was true though, Grover had even hairier legs than my daddy.
He instantly looked confused, "What?" He asked, "Oh yeah, that's him."
"He seemed nice from the two seconds that I spoke to him," I said, giving a small smile.
He was about to reply when the lights shut off and the recital began.
December 25th, Age 11
I was sitting in my room searching the Internet when the phone began to ring. My mom wasn't in the house and my dad appeared to be glued to his laptop, so I decided to answer the phone myself.
"Hello?" I said into the phone.
"Cars! Good," It was Hannah, and she seemed to be excited about something, "Guess who's coming over?"
"Jake T. Austin?" I asked. The two of us have had crushes on him ever since we can remember. When Annabeth found out, she laughed and told us that she remembered when he was a kid.
"I wish," Hannah said, "But this is almost as good."
"Who?"
"Uncle Nico!"
"Really?" I'd always heard stories about when Uncle Nico visited. According to Hannah he was a ton of fun, and loved screwing with the parents as much as we did. I'd been eager to meet him for years, but his visits were rare and I always managed to be busy during them.
"Yeah, he's going to be here in an hour." Hannah said.
"I'll be over in 5 minutes." I said, as I began to shove some of my things into a bag.
"Good," she said, before hanging up the phone.
"Dad?" I called.
"What?"
"I'm going over to the Jackson's!"
"On Christmas Eve?" he asked, looking up from his laptop.
"Yeah, they're uncle's visiting!"
"And they want you there?"
"Yes!"
"Have fun!" he called, but I was already out the door.
I took the elevator down and was there in a few minutes. I burst through the door, panting. The nice thing about being friends with the Jackson's for 6 years is that when I burst through the door, it's nothing to be shocked about.
"Good," Hannah said, running up to me, "You're here."
" Yup." I said, following her.
"Chase?" Hannah called, "Cars's here!"
I heard a "Good!" come from the other side of the apartment.
"Since when is Chase glad that I'm here?" I asked, genuinely surprised, "Let alone, when do you to talk to each other this much?"
"We've been planning." Hannah said.
"Planning what?"
"Schemes," Chase said, by this time we'd reached their room, "We've been coming up with ideas to suggest to Uncle Nico. Pranks."
"Oh," I said, "Who are we going to prank?"
"The entire building," the two of them said simultaneously, the same devilish grin on their faces.
"Okay…" I said, thinking of my poor unsuspecting parents.
"Nothing too harmful," Hannah assured.
"Just something big." Chase said.
"Does your uncle Nico know this?" I asked.
"Not yet," Hannah said, "But we always pull pranks with Uncle Nico. He's the mastermind behind all of them, though."
For the next forty-five minutes I helped them come up with possible pranks.
Eventually, the doorbell rang and in came Nico – who instantly got hugged by the entire family.
"And this," Hannah said, finally getting to me, "Is my best friend Carla."
"Hey, Carla," Nico said, smiling, "I'd give a warmer welcome, but Zoe is currently preoccupying my hands." Zoe had jumped into his arms the second he got here, thus making it harder for him to do everything else.
"Nico, Nico!" Chase said, grabbing his free arm, "Let's go!"
"Go where?" Nico asked.
"To our room!" Hannah answered.
"Okay…" Nico said. He put Zoe down on the floor, and followed two inches behind me.
"We have a plan." Chase said, once we reached the room and has safely closed the doors.
"Good," Nico said, "Let me hear it."
"We were thinking that we could shut the entire building's water off," Chase said, "If you go to the basement, there are some levers that you can fool around with to turn off all the water."
Nico remained silent for a few minutes, seeming to be thinking it over, "That could work, and all we'll have to do now is to just have to work out the kinks. Good planning, you guys."
"Carla actually came up with the plan," Hannah said, giving me a large slap on the back, "We were thinking about shutting off the building's power, but her idea is so much better. Isn't it?"
"Yeah," Nico said, his dark eyes glimmering. He was dressed in all black, and the only thing that wasn't was the blue skull on his shirt. However, he looked happy, which seemed to contradict his wardrobe, "Good idea, Carla."
"Thanks," I said, quietly. I felt my cheeks instantly get warm and bright red. Nico was so talked about among the household, that it felt like a celebrity had just complimented me.
"Okay," Chase said, picking up the papers on his bed, "Let's go to the basement."
"Not yet, we have to wait until after dinner." Nico replied, walking towards the door.
"Why?" the three of us said simultaneously.
"Because," he began, "I'm hungry, and without water there won't be any dinner."
None of us could argue that.
***
I'd only been to the basement once before, and I sure didn't like that one trip. It was very steamy and hot down there, and it smelled heavily of detergent and oranges.
"There," Chase said, pointing to the other side of the room, "That's where all the levers are."
Hannah was the first to run over, and began to look at the worn out labels on each lever.
"I think that this one changes the temperature of the water," she said, pointing to a large dial, "Which means that this one, here, must be to shut off the water." She was holding onto a large bright blue lever that said "WATER – DO NOT TOUCH WITHOUT PERMISSION" on it.
"Are you sure that we should do this?" I asked, just as Nico and Hannah were going to pull down on it, "What if we get in trouble?"
"Oh, we will," Nico, said, a maniac smile on his face, "But that's the fun of it." Normally, I'm not one to break rules, but on some level I trusted Nico to cover us up.
"On three!" Chase announced, "…One, two, and three!" Nico and Hannah pulled down on the handle at once, and a rusty sound was heard.
Suddenly, half of the sound in the room stopped, "Good, now let's go back upstairs," Nico said, "Remember the plan, guys, I was teaching you how to do the Mentos in the Coke trick. Okay?"
"Yep."
When we got upstairs, everything seemed to be going as usual, and it didn't seem like people had noticed anything yet.
"You're back quickly," Annabeth said. She was standing near the sink, wine glass in hand.
"It's a really short trick," Nico said, covering for us, "But very affective."
"I'm sure that your father would love it," she said, rolling her eyes, "You should show it to him sometime."
"He's already seen it," Nico said, grinning, "We did it back at camp years and years ago. Remember the time when you walked in on us in Percy's cabin?"
"Yeah," Annabeth said, putting her empty glass into the sink, "And you guys were acting all strange. That's what you were doing? I thought you were plotting to shadow travel into the Aphrodite cabin again."
"That too." Nico said. Aphrodite cabin? What type of camp has Greek Gods as cabin names?
"I'm assuming here that Percy didn't go in with you," Annabeth said, beginning to pile the plates in the sink.
"Don't worry, he didn't." Nico said, sitting next to us on the counter.
Annabeth turned the knobs to the sink, and as expected, the water didn't come out. Nico and Hannah began to snicker, why I tried to do my best to cover my small smile.
"The sink isn't-" Annabeth started, but was cut off by the loud raging waterfall that had begun in their house from the floor above.
"What's that?" I asked. The water was going straight from the floor above to the floor below. It was coming through the ceiling and it was leaving from the floor. The thing was, it never seemed to end.
"What did you four do?" Annabeth shrieked.
"We told you," Nico yelled, having to talk over the raging water from behind, "Just the thing with the Mentos!"
"PERCY!" Annabeth and Nico screamed. Sure, he was the man of the house, but what exactly could he do with this?
"Guys, what's that loud noise-" Percy started, only to see the water, "Oh. My. Gods. What happened?"
"We aren't sure!" Nico screamed, "It just began all of a sudden…"
Percy let out a large sigh, and then began to close his eyes and hold out his hands.
Suddenly, all the water stopped mid speed, and went all the way back up through the floor and the ceiling and everything became dry – including my soaked clothes.
"Phew," Annabeth said, going over to hug her husband, "Good job." No one else besides me seemed stunned about what Percy just did. Hannah and Chase were just grinning, while Annabeth, Nico and Percy looked relieved.
"What did you just do?" I asked quietly, but no one answered. I was too afraid and shocked to ask again, but I knew something was up. This wasn't an ordinary family, and I didn't know why. The family was too good to be ordinary, and the supernatural powers only enforced this.
This was the day that I decided that I thought the exciting Jackson family was better then my boring, peaceful Hart family.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading through part 1! I hope that you liked it!
I would love to give a quick shout out to my awesome friend, Abbie (WindowChild), for beta-ing this story for me! Thanks so much!
Reviews are very much appreciated, so please leave them! I greatly appreciate all feedback!
