ANNABETH
We tried all of Thursday to wind up Percy Jackson and Nico di Angelo but Percy never took off the hood and Nico never showed emotion. They never got angry because of their friends. We would push them from behind; trip them (Though they never fell) and stalk them. I was thinking about him and how he kept fiddling with a pen he never uses to write when I bumped into someone.
"What the? Curse you to the pits of hell!" I said angrily looking up to see that it was Percy. Nico was behind him. His legs buckled while Nico's obsidian eyes glazed over. His friends glared at me and rushed to their side with concern on their faces. Many people along with me think my glare is scary but it was nothing compared to this.
"We will not survive…any use hiding…I will never make it out alive…Everyone I know will die." Percy said sobbing. What the hell has he gone through?
"Seeds, the giants…" Nico said standing still and gripping his waist. I thought I saw a hilt.
"We defeated her Percy" Katie said crouching down to him and hugging Percy.
"We saved you from them Nico!" Frank said shaking Nico.
"Call Mr. Blofis now!" Leo growled. He seemed to be more frightening than Katie when she is angry. I ran and called Mr. Blofis.
"Mr. Blofis, Percy and Nico– "I started.
He seemed to understand. By that time Nico was back to himself. They rushed past me and they all comforted Percy. He was writhing on the floor screaming. Finally after 5 minutes he shook awake and looked around and asked them if everything was fine. Why?
"What happened?" I asked.
"I will tell this piece of information to you today, 9:70 p.m. at the corner of 18th and 'never going to happen'." Leo said.
"What Leo means to say is that it does not concern you." Piper said.
After that they went on talking to him as if it was a regular experience and nothing is wrong with him I need to see what it that they are hiding is. One day, I took his phone. There was one picture. It was taken on a ship and had a misty background. It had Katie, Piper, Frank, Leo, Nico and many other people. One boy who really stood out and looked good was a tall, tan and muscular boy with raven black hair and sea-green eyes. I transferred the picture to me phone and sent it to our group.
"Who are the hotties?" – Hazel
"No clue" – Annabeth
"Who are they? The losers in the photo actually don't look half bad." – Jason
"They look happy and confident. Not like them." – Will
"I like the picture. It makes them almost likable." – Drew
"Are they really losers?" - Calypso
PERCY
When we entered the safe house, needless to say, I was impressed. The Hephaestus cabin rocked the place. It covered 2 floors. One had bunkers for people staying over and healing. The next floor was sort of like an empty room covered with grayish-white tiles. Next to the door was a panel. Leo pressed forest out of five locations as we were feeling homesick and we required practice for the games. As we stepped in, it turned to the forests of Camp Half-Blood. It had even a small creek.
"This is the simulator." Leo stated grinning.
"Leo! You are a genius." Katie said.
"Yeah" was all I could say. I missed camp so much. The nymphs, dryads, campers, cabins and everything there was part of me. They all sensed my sadness.
After a moments silence in the center of the room, Frank unsheathed his sword and tried to attack. I sidestepped and this turned out to be a full on battle. I ended up with me on one side and the rest on the other.
The battle was over quickly with me just focusing and melting my worries away. After an hour of battles and negotiations, we went down, showered changed into the clothes there and went back on our bikes. It was a gift from Hephaestus and we loved it. We had taken special permission to use it for post school excursions this year.
Being the Savior of Olympus had its perks. We then went home, grabbed supplies and went and spent the weekend in Camp Half Blood.
JASON
The weekend was normal. On Monday, I focused on my phone while putting things in my locker. Annabeth's picture of the losers and 5 more kids intrigued me. They all looked fit and handsome. The girls were gorgeous.
Piper seemed to be the prettiest. What was I thinking? She is a loser and a nobody. The girl I knew was Piper looked confident and very cute. She seemed to be trying to hide it. Her hair was choppy and she did not wear makeup. But that didn't matter. She was beautiful.
It was a weird thought. I entered homeroom to find Leo, Piper, Frank, Nico and Katie looking worriedly at the door. They were obviously waiting for Percy. When the bell rang, Percy still hadn't come.
My friends and I just sat there bored when Percy entered. His hoodie was hung low but I could see tears in his clothes that looked like a claw. His friends looked at him with rolling eyes and smirks. After apologizing to the teacher and giving a lame excuse of stray dogs, he went and sat in his desk next to the losers.
They all asked something to which he just muttered something
"Shoddy job" Frank replied.
They all nodded except Percy who just pouted. I had to find out something about this.
PERCY
I was delayed all because an empousa wanted to battle the 'great Perseus Jackson'. It cost me time and I am pretty sure the bullies were suspicious. I was also suspicious, if they could see the claw marks, they could see through the mist. After all, I wear my hoodie down in school. No one knows what I look like besides my friends.
When I told them what happened on the way to Greek, they just laughed and shook their heads. I just turned to my bag to see the bullies following us out of earshot. Anger welled inside me. I abruptly turned. This made them stop in their tracks and stared at me.
"Why are you stalking us?" I growled.
"We…uh…" Drew stammered.
"Percy, stop now. It's just adrenaline talking." Piper said. I could feel the charmspeak. I felt calm and composed again.
"Thank you Piper." I said.
"We are there for you any time bro" Leo said.
I turned and headed to Greek class. I just snoozed. That teacher could not teach me anything I didn't already know about the subject. Piper woke me up with charmspeak (I am a sound sleeper!). The teacher had not asked me a question so I looked at her quizzically. She just pointed to the teacher.
"Okay class! For the project, you all will be split in teams of two."
Mumbling began when people fixed their own partners.
"I have picked your partners for you."
Groaning erupted from the class.
"Annabeth, Percy"
I blanched. Anyone but Annabeth. She was the most obnoxious, curious and weird person ever to walk the surface of the Earth. I turned to her to see that she was glaring at me. It was funny.
Later," Frank and Hazel"
Frank wilted. He did not like Hazel. The feeling, given by the kiddie glare she was giving, was mutual.
"Jason and Piper"
Piper hit her head on the table. Jason seemed to stare at her as if to say 'What's so bad?' Piper gave him a small glare and he quickly broke eye contact. He continued the list.
"Nico, Will"
Nico narrowed his eyes at the direction of the teacher. Then he narrowed his eyes in the direction of Will who was 'glaring' at him. He immediately stopped and turned.
Leo was with Katie so they just laughed at us. Frank, Piper, Nico and I gave each other sympathetic looks and turned to the teacher glaring. She had literally cursed us.
"I hate my partner!" I whined.
"Same" Piper, Nico and Frank said. He told us to write an essay on a Greek mythology story or character. The bullies came up to us at the end of class. They gave us a look that made them look constipated. I assume they think it is a glare. Piper and Frank looked at me with my expression on their face – This is what they called a glare? I looked at Nico who was smiling and trying his best to control laughter.
"My father is not home so we can do the project in peace. After school. My house." Annabeth said.
I nodded trusting myself not to speak in my anger. I stormed out with Katie and Leo who calmed me down.
JASON
I looked at Piper. She seemed annoyed by the prospect of us working together. It worried me. I just looked at her and asked," My house after school?"
"Okay" She said following Percy and not looking at me.
I waited for Hazel and Will. She was okay with everyone in school but Frank. She despised him. They used to be best friends. What happened?
"Meet me after school. We will discuss where to go from there." Frank said getting up and returning her stare with more vigor. He walked out and I thought I heard an animal growl.
"I do not like him." Hazel said.
"Say that again" Nico asked softly but scarily.
"Umm...How about your house?" Will asked Nico trying to change the topic.
"Do not think I have forgotten this Hazel. Anyway, I stay with Percy, considering he won't be there, how about we meet after school and go to the library?" Nico asked.
"Sure." Will said. He was surely creped out by Nico's Goth style. Nico walked out not even sparing a glance at us.
We went to our next class. Piper glared at me in every opportunity. Finally, P.E. came around. The losers were already there in their normal clothes. They were at each other's necks.
"Not everyone in our cabin is like mother!" Piper yelled.
I never knew she could yell. She looked dangerous.
"Except for 3, every girl in Cabin 10 is a stalker and is perverted! You are their leader Piper! Do something! Tell them not to put bugs and hidden cameras in my Cabin!" Percy yelled.
The others nodded.
"I never knew about it until now. I will make sure. Though, I think Cabin 9 must take the blame for giving them the cameras." Piper said.
Every loser turned to Leo. He glared back informing them that he did not know about the situation.
Coach Hedge stormed in. We went to the lockers ignoring girls and boys who were glaring or staring. We came out to see that the Coach and the losers were arguing.
"Why can't we use the new prototype landmines?" Leo whined. Landmines?
"No cupcake! It will hinder battleground healers." Coach said.
"You are no fun Coach" Percy said.
"That's why I am the Coach!" Coach Hedge yelled.
They grumbled and sat down in the area where the sick people sit. Percy kept fiddling with his pen. Frank was calming himself down. Piper was feeling her belt. There was something sticking out. Leo was fiddling with scrap metal from his tool belt and Katie was looking outside. Nico was twisting his skull ring.
We were running track as warm up. When we were coming inside we saw a strange thing. 8 dogs as huge as trucks were in our gym. The losers excluding Frank were there. The losers and 2 dogs were fighting 6. It was one bad dog against one person or good dog.
All of them had glowing weapons. Leo had a hammer, Piper and Katie had daggers and Percy and Nico had swords – bronze and midnight black respectively. One dog got hurt and was wailing.
"Mrs. O'Leary! Go! Go play with Chiron! I need the stretch." Percy yelled.
One dog bounded off. Its counterpart bared its fangs at Percy. He was now against two dogs. That fight was over fast. They were jumping, running and slashing with grace. It was like a dangerous yet beautiful dance.
Piper was a goddess. When she got scratched I got so scared. She just frowned and jumped on the hellhound. My eyes left Piper only for a second when she plunged her knife into the beast's back.
I turned back. It turned out that the battle was over. Frank was somehow back and all of them were covered in gold powder. They just went back to the sick area, straightened their clothes and sat down. Piper changed her shirt. She was fit and had scars littered her back. It was sad but she was strong and I felt …proud? They didn't even break a sweat. They just sat there stretching.
I heard what they said loud and clear.
PERCY
"I was awesome" I said. I needed the stretch.
"You had a trump card. They didn't know about you. I saw their expressions" Katie said rolling her eyes.
"Hey! It was two-on-one." I defended.
"Yeah! But you are getting slow" Frank said.
"You are right. No practice has made me slow." I grumbled. You cannot argue with Frank on strategy or performance.
"You are starting to get slow. I might have a chance of winning!" Nico said.
"Yeah! You practiced and taught us all day. In camp and the Argo two while we weren't…you know. You are bound to be rusty." Piper said.
"You taught us. Though Malcolm taught them how to use daggers but you perfected it. I used my hammer wisely after you came along. Plus, sparring with you has improved our reflexes great one!" Leo said grinning.
"I am looking forward to testing that statement out properly this weekend." Percy said grinning.
"I look forward to it. I miss my family." Piper said.
We all sat there in the air of nostalgia remembering the good times until ADHD kicked in. We turned to see the 'Pop Six' at the doorway.
"What was that?" Will stammered out.
"Holographic projections." Leo said grinning. "Life like. Wasn't it?"
"Yeah. Where is the projector and I thought Piper jumped on it?" Jason asked.
"Here is the projector." Leo showed out a box, placed it on the ground and 8 hellhounds leaped into view. They were very life like.
"I jumped on the projector. It stopped the thing. Leo here just fixed it." Piper said.
"How did you learn that?" Annabeth asked.
"We were just pretending. We did not use weapons. The hounds came in. We ran. They bounded off" Piper charmspoke while shaking us. I saw everyone there succumb. Jason seemed unsure but then came as well. I must keep an eye on him.
"Wimps. Ran off as soon as danger came." Will taunted.
We just looked at each other highly amused.
"I bet you have not seen even a small boo-boo" Jason said in a baby voice.
We just looked at each other. We were trying hard to keep our laughter in.
"I died" Leo mumbled.
We all nodded and silently laughed.
"What?" Drew asked.
"I said that I will die if you guys keep torturing us" Leo said as if he was hurt. They bought it. But we knew better than to trust Leo on that front. He would never say that. We walked out of school.