Rachel likes him the instant they meet.
As in like likes him. Of course, she was an artist and she couldn't possibly be love because they hadn't even talked yet.
The weirdest thing is, she is just blowing her nose and he whirls, almost killing her with three feet of bronze—namely, a sword. The tip is still aimed at her, deadly and gleaming, and she gulps. Had just gone through her? There isn't enough time to wonder.
"Oh my God! Do you always try to kill people when they blow their nose?" She's scared at first, but decides he's harmless even if he is holding a weapon. The boy looks around her age, she supposes, but what really catches her are his eyes.
They are a deep vibrant green, but have a crazed look to them similar to a cornered animal's. They are eyes that she wants to draw, but has no paper or pen. Those eyes dart for a second before they land on her. She struggles to keep her gaze.
He lowers the sword. "You're mortal!" The words freak her out, because he says them like...like he's not. She frowns.
"What's that supposed to mean? Of course I'm mortal! How did you get that sword past security?" She knows she's bombarding with questions by this point, but she has to know.
"I didn't—wait, you can see that it's a sword?" He was crazy, she decided, but didn't turn to walk away. Besides, she'd always been able to see strange things and maybe this boy could help her understand why.
"Well it's either that or the biggest toothpick in the world." He looks at her strangely. "Why didn't it hurt me? I mean, not that I'm complaining...and what are you wearing? Is that lions fur?"
He looks at his sleeves, as if confused. "You don't see a sword." His fingers snap. "You see a ballpoint pen."
At this point Rachel is almost ready to call the loony bin.
"Um, no. It's a sword, weirdo."
They exchange conversation, and she tells him her name though her instinct tells her it's a bad idea. He seems hurried for some reason.
But then she looks over his shoulder, and her eyes widen. Three security guards are heading their way, wearing gray camouflage suits and carrying guns on their waists. But their skin is gray, too, translucent and shining. For an instant she is confused why everyone else looks so at ease.
And then one turns and stares right at her. She swears she died a little inside. It's face..it's face was a grinning skull. Bones shimmer through the skin like fog, and she makes a noise in the back of her throat. "Oh my gods," she whispers, and she doesn't know where the extra 's' came from.
"In the bathroom!"
"What?"
"Now!" She shoves him in, and he doesn't come out.
They chatter at her, not noticing the boy. She swallows hard. Bile rises in her throat and she refuses to let terror consume her. Behind her, there is a gasp. It is like the boy knows exactly what these…things are.
"Oh my god! Did you see that kid? He tried to kill me! He's got a sword, for gods' sakes. It's about time you got here! You security guys let a sword swinging lunatic into a national landmark? I mean, jeez! He ran that way, towards the turbine thingys. I think he went over the side, or something. Maybe he fell."
They chatter, and her heart stops for maybe a second.
Then they are moving away, clattering off. The elevator is clear. She pokes her head inside the boys bathroom, where Percy still stands. "All clear," she says but her voice is shaky. "But you'd better hurry." He looks like he is about to do just that.
"I owe you one, Rachel Elizabeth Dare." The boy is already turning away, and Rachel will not let her only source of information go.
"Wait! What were those things? They looked like—"
He turns again. His eyes darken into a hurricane, and he finishes her scentence. "—skeletons?" She nods. "Do yourself a favor," He says, but it's a pleading, a pleading for her not to get involved in his life. "Forget it. Forget you saw me. "
"Forget you tried to kill me?" She tries to inject a sliver of humor into their conversation. He smiles, but it is bitter.
"Yeah. That too."
"But who are you?" She never knew the boys name, she realizes. He shrugs.
"Percy—" His eyes catch on the skeleton, which have turns. They widen. "Gotta go!" He dashes off, and she yells after him.
"What kind of name is Percy Gotta-go?!" But he doesn't answer, for he is already gone.
She wants to take his advice, to forget everything. But somewhere she also wants to keep the memory.
A gut feeling tells her if she chooses to keep, her life will change forever. Well, life isn't that great anyway, she reassures herself.
She chooses him.
They meet again the next year.
Rachel sees him at her school, and calls out to him. Percy looks away like he doesn't want her there, and a flash of hurt tugs at her before she calls out again. This time, he does turn. His eyes widen in disbelief and then surprise and finally, maybe a little regret. He runs.
Why? She isn't sure she wants to find out.
Of course, she follows.
She catches up to him at the orientation. "What are you doing here?" he turns to her. His expression shifts to pure horror, and the hurt tugs harder. But he blinks, and then the horror is gone.
"Rachel Elizabeth Dare." He remembers her name, she thinks giddily. Then she remembers his expression and the giddiness disappears. She glares at him.
"And you're Percy somebody. I didn't get your full name last December when you tried to kill me."
"Look, I wasn't—I didn't—" he seems to realize that his excuses are useless. "What are you doing here?" She mentally snorts, at his stupidity, but oddly finds it endearing. He is still staring at her and waiting for an answer.
"Same as you, I guess. Orientation."
"You live in New York?" It seems to come as a shock, and she rolls her eyes. Like I live in a national landmark, she thinks, but doesn't say it.
"What, you think I live at Hoover Dam?" Someone behind her nudged her hard, and Rachel turned to glare.
"Hey, shut up. The cheerleaders are talking!" She wants to wipe that sneer right off his face, but the glare Percy gives her tells her this is not the time. She doesn't know why she listens, but she does. Reluctantly she shifts her attention to the cheerleaders.
"Hey guys!" Tammi's voice is way too bubbly, almost poisonous. And was her hair…on fire? Rachel peers closer. "And this is, like, Kelli." The second girl does a cartwheel, and she narrows her eyes. Her hair was definitely on fire.
Something ripples in her eyesight, like one of those force fields she reads about but never actually sees because they don't exist.But then she sees things clearly, and both of them are monsters with fire for hair and pointed teeth and mismatched legs, and she squeaks.
Percy glances at her, as if he doesn't notice. She clamps her mouth shut and grips his wrist, dragging him through the bleachers. People murmur as she steps on them , but Rachel barrels through without caring.
Kelli smirks at them from the corner of a red eye. Rachel runs faster.
She bursts into a darkened room, full of drums. Hurriedly crouching behind one, she is relieved when Percy does the same. He asks what she sees, but she is afraid to tell him. He will not believe her. She knows he won't.
All her life she has been the lunatic. But he nods, like understands, and he believes her. He tells her about the Greek myths, and suddenly it all fits together in her head. He is the son of a Greek god. That's why you're so handsome, she thinks, but she doesn't tell him.
Then the doors burst open, and the three…demons burst in. She learns his last name, but it doesn't matter.
Percy's eyes glaze. They smile, and flirt, and no matter what she does she can't fully break him from his trance. But then they change, and his sword lifts in a matter of seconds. "You're a vampire!" He exclaims, seeing them as they are for the first time. "Uhh…a vampire with…"
She wants to smack him for his stupidity.
Tammi lunges, and Percy's sword hisses through her. Rachel chokes on monster dust that sprinkles over her like flour. "What—"
"Monsters do that when they die," he says. "Sorry." He doesn't sound very sorry.
"You killed my trainee!" Kelli howls, and she forgets about Percy. The cheerleader lunges, and Rachel throws a drum at her head. Blame her, but it was the only thing around that would actually hurt. But the demon dodges and it smashes into the wall. "Percy! Why did you do that?"
She's playing victim, Rachel realizes from her past bullies who batted innocent eyelashes at the teachers. Kelli swipes an entire stand of instruments to the floor, and as the teachers rush in she cowers.
"No, please! No!" Percy's sword reaches her. She erupts in flame.
The teachers stand stunned. "Percy…what did you do?" Mr. Blofis cries, but she drags Percy away.
They run, far, far away until they reach an alley. He crashes into someone, and that someone wraps her arms around him. When she pulls back, Rachel gets a good look at her. She is beautiful.
Her gray eyes are shining with happiness, and for a second Rachel thinks that she is his girlfriend. "Hey! You got out early? Watch where you're going, Seaweed Brain!" His eyes glaze a little, too, and this time it's not from the trance. Rachel's heart falls.
Then the girl catches sight of her, and then her eyes harden. "What did you do this time? Who is this?" She asks carefully.
"Rachel—Annabeth. Annabeth—Rachel. Um, she's a friend, I guess." They make small talk for a second, which is hard with Annabeth glaring daggers at her. Against her instinct, she scribbles her number on Percy's arm and runs off, promising to clear things up.
The teachers don't believe her. No one has ever believed her.
No one but Percy Jackson.
A month later, in the tunnels, he apologizes. "I'm sorry. Annabeth…she isn't usually like this. I don't know why she's acting this way."
And Rachel knows exactly why. "Are you sure you don't?" Is how she responds, and from expression, she thinks he gets it, maybe a tiny bit. She turns away before he can catch the heartbroken expression on her face.
Rachel knows he doesn't like her the way she likes him when she talks to him the next year. He is almost sixteen them, facing a prophecy that may change their lives. She offers him a way out. A way to avoid everything.
He doesn't take it. His face turns red when she suggests something, and she knows she's pushing it too far, but maybe, just maybe…
Her dreams don't come true.
She kisses him before he can reply, relishing the feeling of his lips on hers. It's a split second, and then it is gone. He is pulling away. Green eyes—they're beautiful, she thinks dreamily—stare at her, utterly confused.
Then he hops onto his horse, and he and the other boy ride away. Rachel waves until they are gone.
She shouldn't have been able to hear them, but she's always had sharp hearing. The wind buffers their voices back to her.
"I'm guessing you don't want me to mention that little scene to Annabeth?" It's hard to hear, but she hears it. Her mood sinks. She slips from her high.
"Oh, gods. Don't even think about it."
And with just those seven words, he shatters her heart like glass.
She forgives him anyway.
She becomes the Oracle, sworn for maidenhood, but she'd break the oath in a second for him.
When she catches sight of Annabeth, hand in hand with the boy she loves, bitterness fills her to the brim. She will not let it consume her.
Her joke is halfhearted, but Annabeth laughs. "Well," Rachel says. "You two be good to each other." Her eyes send a message: I let him go for you. Don't make me regret it. And Annabeth smiles softly and nods.
Before she can look back, she turns and races down the hill.
She sees him again, in a dream, after he disappears. The Argo II has sailed away, and he and Annabeth are talking. Their voices are blurred, but she hears one thing. "I love you, Annabeth."
She smiles, and they kiss. Her dream fractures and disappears.
The next day, she hears yelling. Her cave is damp from dew and she finds tear tracks on her cheeks. The yelling gets louder, and Drew Tanaka stumbles into her cove. Her mascara is running and her eyeliner is staining her cheeks.
"Rachel," She says, her voice cracking at the end. The Queen Bee is breaking apart. "Percy…he fell into.." She sobs. "He fell into Tartarus."
And then in a flash, Rachel knows. Drew's next words confirm her suspicions. "He did it for her." She doesn't have to say who she is. Rachel already knows.
Then Drew is stumbling forward and collapsing into her arms, and they sob together for the boy they could never have. Rachel wants to blame the Daughter of Athena so, so badly, but she can't bring herself to.
They cry in silence.
It's after the war that she asks. He is twisting a lock of Annabeth's hair, looking down at her sleeping face with a loving expression. Rachel takes a deep breath.
"Percy, do you love her?" It's painful that he doesn't even have to ask who her is. He just knows. His mouth pulls upwards, and sea green eyes glaze in thought. She bites her lip, wishing that she had that kind of love.
"I do," he says in a heartbeat of silence. "She's…she's like my drug. I need her, you know? I need her. I can't live without her."
"I know," Rachel whispers, and she really does. For Percy is her drug, too, and she can't bear to let him go.
Then Annabeth opens her eyes, lifting her head. A smile flits by her face and their eyes meet, and in that second, she knows Annabeth understands.
Rachel backs away. "I'll leave you alone." And she directs the words to them both, but it sounds like they are just for him.
For he is like a sculpture Rachel can love but never touch or feel or have. To her, he is just another part of an unattainable life, drawn with wistful touches on an artist's easel.
A/N: I do not own PJO or any quotes from the books. Thanks for reading!
~Johanna