Demigod~
Chapter 3: In Which We Kidnap a Superstar
Annabeth
We were taken to a lounge where was Justin was supposed to go after his concert for interviews. After that he would be heading out of town again in his tour bus.
I spent the time thinking of how I would say these things. Calm, authoritive, persuasive. And scary. Then Percy and I started playing games with the plumbing.
The time seemed to fly by in the few hours when we had nothing to do but pretend we weren't in danger. That's why we were both surprised when the latch clicked. Percy raised his eyebrows at me. We hadn't known the door was locked.
Justin entered the room, soaked in sweat. He gave us a halfhearted smile, barely recognition, and slipped into a side room. A crowd of reporters, hangers-on, and security fallowed him in and crammed into the suddenly tiny room.
The hangers on chattered together in high-pitched, nervous voices while glancing around at the expensive furniture and high-tech entertainment systems. The bodyguards glared at people with their game faces on, but frequently rolled their eyes at each other and smirked when they thought no one was looking. The reporters crowded in close to the door Justin had gone into, chatting with each other politely but hugging their notes close to their chests and glancing at us with curiosity, and at security with suspicion.
About fifteen minutes of this went on, and then Justin opened the door, freshly showered, hair recently blow dried, wearing a new outfit, and a refreshed smile on his face. The reporters instantly pounced and security instantly checked them. Justin grabbed a drink from the stainless steel refrigerator and calmly settled into the couch across from us.
Everyone else immediately packed in front of him like he was a news camera, each jockeying for recognition. No one noticed us, except when they tried to sit on us. And even they're apology's were distracted.
Percy leaned over and whispered to me "Are we wearing your invisibility cap?"
I shook my head. "It's just his powers."
We watched as everyone questioned him and scribbled down or recorded his answers while security hovered protectively. He placed his right ankle over his left knee and jiggled his right foot over the edge, smiled charmingly, and performed his strange hair flip at regular intervals.
He was handsome, he was charming, he was funny and graceful. How? How could he be this way? His skin looked soft and luminescent…I just wanted to touch him…
"WHOOOOOAAAA!" Percy stage-whispered, grabbing the back of my shirt and pulling me back. I closed my eyes, breathed deeply, and tried to focus.
PERCY
When security told everybody they had to go, they got some protests, but not much. I personally wouldn't have protested at all. Demigod or not, those guys were scary.
Security tried to hang around but Justin told them to leave. Then it was just us, standing around, looking at each other. Well, sitting around.
Annabeth was sitting straight up, everything about her screaming nerves and seriousness. I, on the other hand, felt laid back. At least he hadn't freaked out yet.
After a long stretch of silence, he reached out his hand toward the coffee table and flicked on a radio. He accidently knocked it over as country music started blasting, and he scrambled to right it and change the station at the same time. I couldn't help laughing.
"Percy!" Annabeth hissed, hitting me. He looked startled for a second, then he laughed too. Then I knew I could like this guy. He was cool. He got to radio to an acceptable station and turned it down so we could talk.
"So…" he stopped, as if he was sorting through questions and landed on the safest one. "If you guys are real," he said "who's Rick Riordan?"
I answered."My pen name, my editor, and my step-father."
He nodded. "Cool. So…" he looked a little apprehensive. The expression looked out of place on his face. Just to look at him: hair in place, cool-looking clothes, and confident smile, and then look into his eyes and see that anxiety and fear there…it just didn't fit.
He choked out, "What's happening to me?"
This was Annabeth's specialty: emotions. Actually, not really. Her specialty was explaining stuff. I leaned back and let her do the talking.
"What' happening is that you're powers are developing. Do you know who you are?"
"Justin Bieber…?"
"Son of Ate, goddess of Obsession, Temptation, and Destruction."
He tried to make a joke. "Wow, my mom sounds like a bad chick."
"Quite the contrary, dear."
Annabeth and I winced. Why had we thought Ate would keep out of this? We looked to the side, and there was Ate, drinking champagne and wearing glitter, skinny jeans, heels, and some drape-y Grecian top.
Justin stared at her. We all did.
"Listen darling," she said to him, lasering him with her eyes. He looked hypnotized.. "What they want is to take you to some BORING camp you'll have to give up your career for, where you'll have to train ENDLESSLY to develop a bunch of boring battle skills and never learn the extent of your powers. If you stay with me, sweetheart, you can travel the world and sing, without fear of danger because I'll protect you, and we—you –will be able to…experiment. Think about it." And then she disappeared.
Annabeth immediately pounced "Justin, whatever you decide, you still need to come to camp half with us—"
"But I'm not half-blood." He shook his head, as if trying to clear it.
"I think we just established that you are. And don't say "HB" fully, at least not until we get you to camp. Justin, your mother can't protect you as much as she thinks. You need to be at the camp."
He took a deep breath, then smiled a glint of danger entering his eyes that made him resemble his mother. "Okay. I'll come with you."
O0O
Justin grabbed a bag and stuffed some things in it. He dressed like a regular teenage boy: Hollister t-shirt , ripped jeans, and Chuck Taylors. No oversized fake glasses, baseball caps, or bright colored shoes. There wasn't much they could do about his hair, so they had to be content with a beanie. However, he was still recognizable, so he wore dark sunglasses and they boarded a bus as soon as they found one.
He left a note, but when he wasn't in the room, housekeeping assumed he had gone already. She threw it away.
Soon they were in the back of a greyhound with their packs on their laps, driving from Atlanta to New York in the dead of night.
Sitting in the middle of then, Justin suddenly thought of something."Hey, Percy, in the books, didn't you not find out who you were until you got to the camp so that monsters wouldn't find you?"
Percy nodded, peering out of the window into the night intently.
"So why didn't you wait until we got to the camp to tell me?"
"Do you think you would have come?"
"No."
"That's why."
"But monsters will be after us now."
"Why don't we just put a sign over your head that says "DUH"." Percy snapped.
"PERCY!" Annabeth growled.
"Sorry. I'm just so nervous…"
"So we're not safe?" Justin asked, just to be clear.
"Nope." Percybeth answered in unison.
Justin groaned. "Perfect. Just great."
That was about the exact minute when all Hades broke loose.
