Hey. Chapter Three!
Sorry for the long update….I am beginning High School in the fall. I have water polo two hours a day, four days a week, softball three times a week, about an hour and a half each time we meet, and of course, summer homework.
"Octavian." Percy snarled. "Finally caught up, I see?"
"Oh, I am so going to enjoy watching you suffer." Octavian dismounted from his horse, his sword pointed towards Percy's chest. "But, who's this? A girl?" Octavian flicked his wrist, and two guards seized Thalia, pinning her arms to her back. "Avenger, did you really bring your girlfriend?"
"I'm not his girlfriend, I'm his cousin!" Thalia snapped.
As Octavian opened his mouth to reply, two other figures in black skidded to a stop in front of the guards. Octavian whipped his head to the side, doing the math. Two teens in all black captured by his guards…two other teens in all black not captured by his guards….
"Get them!" Octavian cried, pointing at Nico and Jason. Nico and Jason shared a look before splitting up, running for their lives. In the confusion, Percy and Thalia managed to struggle out of the guards' grips. They raced for the dark alleys, entering houses and jumping over trash, doing anything to evade capture.
One guard caught Nico by the back of his clothes, tearing the fabric. Nico escaped, writhing out of his grip. He ran, nimbly jumping over a concrete wall in the back of an alley. He mockingly saluted the guard before disappearing over the fence.
Jason climbed the roof of one house, jumping from top to top. A guard almost caught up to him from behind. To make sure capture was impossible; Jason needed to jump across a very large gap. Turning around, he made sure that there was no other way. The guard was almost upon him. Jason took a deep breath, getting a running start. He jumped….
…and made it to the other side. Exhaling in relief, Jason smiled at the guard before dissolving into the night.
Thalia easily ducked into an alley, holding her breath as three guards thundered past. None of them looked into the alley, simply sprinting past it, assuming that she traveled forward. When she was sure every guard had passed, she slipped out of sight once again, embracing the darkness.
Percy had none other than Captain Octavian himself on his heels. Nothing would deter Octavian.
"Avenger!" Octavian panted. "You shall not escape this time!"
"I'll admit, this is the first time you've even come close, Octavian." Percy grinned. "But this is the day you will always remember as the day you almost caught The People's Avenger!"
Percy noticed an open doorway. He jumped inside, trusting that Octavian would follow. Octavian did not let him down. Percy knew that each house had a zip line installed; he had installed each one himself. Each zip line led to a different rooftop, and each zip line could only be used once. So far, this would be the first one that Percy used. He quickly threw off a secret cover on a panel, untying something and tying something else to his waist. Tugging once on the line, he raced outside. Percy clipped his clip onto a line, and whooshed away to a rooftop. Percy wasn't really sure how it worked. His friend, Leo, had designed them. Percy just made sure that he installed them into every single house.
Octavian was left, jaw on the ground, staring as Percy escaped. Octavian decided not to mention this little fiasco to the Queen. She would not be happy with him.
LINE BREAK
"Dude. Nice escape!" Jason fist-bumped Percy. It was early the next morning. The cousins had gathered once again in the restaurant at their normal seat.
"Thanks." Percy grinned. "You guys did pretty good."
"Why thank you, fine sir."
"Told you I could handle it."
"Wait…" Thalia leaned forward. "Jason. What did you do to your nose?"
"Uhhh…." Jason's face burned red. "I was…uh…I was jumping off of a roof and…I didn't land very well and I kinda smashed itbutit'sokaybecauseifixedit?"
"You…fixed it?"
"I cracked it back." Jason winced.
Thalia face-palmed. "Jason! First off, why would you be stupid enough to go on the roof in the first place!? Secondly, everyone knows you don't just 'fix it' yourself."
"Wait, you don't?"
"Not helping, Nico." Thalia sighed, inspecting her brother's nose. "Thirdly, I have no idea how to fix this mess. I mean, seriously! What did you do!? Was it bleeding?"
"Yeah, but it stopped."
"Awesome." Thalia's voice was laced with sarcasm. "You know that it stopped bleeding probably because a bone or cartilage is blocking the blood's path." She carefully probed Jason's nose. He winced wherever her finger touched it. "Okay, I think I know where you broke it. I'm gonna have to break it back…maybe twice." She took a deep breath, setting her thumb on one side of his nose and two fingers on the other side.
"Wait, what-"
Thalia snapped his nose back, and he howled in pain. The restaurant (more often called a bar) was so loud that nobody even noticed. Jason grabbed his nose, breathing heavily.
"The heck was that?!"
"Well…I think I fixed it." Thalia sat back, laughing at her brother's expression. Percy joined her, and soon enough, Nico was smiling. When Nico smiled, you knew he was in a good mood. Jason was still looking shocked, and his nose began bleeding heavily. He grabbed the nearest cloth (his own shirt) and began to attempt to block the steady flow.
Thalia's good mood ended when a certain blond head shuffled into the doors.
"Hey, girl." The bartender growled at the blond. "Don't cause trouble." He knew that the girl was new. The bartender didn't care if new people crawled in. He just made sure that the fights were kept to a minimum and that guards didn't march in like they owned the place.
The girl nodded, surveying the place quickly. When she noticed the cousins sitting in the back, she made her way towards them.
Thalia got up, her fist raised.
"Hey!" The bartender yelled gruffly. "If you have to, take it outside." Thalia had some respect for the bartender, so she didn't hurt Annabeth inside the bar.
"Thalia!" Jason shot to his feet, laying a hand on Thalia's shoulder. "What's wrong?"
"Jason?" Annabeth asked quietly.
"How do you know my name?" Jason narrowed his eyes. Maybe his sister was right. Maybe this girl was bad news.
"Piper sent me. She told me to come to you."
"Bullcrap!" Thalia all but yelled. "Piper would never dare tell you to come here. Not after what you did, you-"
"Thalia!" Percy came to Thalia's other side. She didn't relax her grip on Annabeth. Recognition flashed in Annabeth's eyes. She thought back to the night before, where she ran into a girl and a boy, both in pure black.
"Come on. We need to talk." Percy dragged the two girls outside, ignoring Thalia's protests. "She knows about us. From last night." He whispered into her ear. Thalia stilled, letting go of Annabeth. She took a breath, following Percy outside.
Percy led his cousins and Annabeth to the nearby fence. He easily ducked underneath it, entering the woods. His cousins each did the same. After some hesitation, Annabeth repeated the action.
"So." Percy began speaking when he was sure that the coast was clear. "Explain."
Thalia crossed her arms. "This is freaking Princess Annabeth. She's the freaking daughter of Queen freaking Athena."
Jason's expression changed. He was stunned. "Why did Piper…."
"She's lying, obviously. No way would Piper send her to us. Not after what she did."
"What did I do!?" Annabeth pleaded.
"You cost us our entire life, of course. It's because of you that we have to hide!"
"Hide? From what?"
"Your mother."
"Where's Piper?" Jason asked Annabeth, interrupting the conversation.
"She's okay. She's my servant." It wasn't the wisest thing to say.
"Your servant?!"
"You've just now crossed the line."
"It's not my fault!" Annabeth got angry. "I didn't ask for this life!"
"Yeah?" Thalia stepped forward, her voice dangerously low. "Neither did any of us. It's not the life you deserve. It's the life we deserve."
"My sister is dead." Nico announced. "My mother died a few weeks after I turned four. My father died, protecting the castle's rightful rulers. A few years ago, your mother ordered the death of my sister. She was the only thing I loved."
"My mother died, sentenced to death by your mother." Percy shared. "My father died alongside his father," Percy gestured to Nico. "also protecting the rightful rulers."
"And what are your sob stories?" Annabeth snapped at Thalia and Jason.
"I would love to share." Jason turned to his sister. "But it would endanger everything if we told you."
"I already know that he's the People's Avenger." Annabeth pointed to Percy, annoyed. "And the rest of you are his crew."
"Well."
"That makes things complicated."
"Yeah, not the smartest thing to say, Princess."
"Why not?"
The cousins ignored her, glancing at each other until Percy made a decision. "We won't kill you yet…but you'll only cause us problems if you stay in the slums with us. You can't stay here, because you might run off."
"We can't return her to the Queen; Octavian will kill us. He'll totally recognize us now."
"He won't recognize us."
"He won't, but the next time he catches us he'll unmask us and figure out who we really are."
"I could go to Piper." Jason offered.
Thalia shook her head. "No way."
"But-"
"Too dangerous. Someone could recognize you."
"No-"
"You weren't old enough to remember, but everyone there knows us."
"Everyone where?!" Annabeth interrupted. She had already inferred that Thalia and Jason were talking about the castle, but how was that possible?
"Should we?"
"No. She'll ruin our plans."
"Plans?"
"None of your business."
"I am the princ-"
"No you're not! I am!" Thalia burst. "Didn't you think for just a moment how ruthless and tyrannical your mother ruled?! Are you really that stupid? Or are you just incredibly ignorant?"
Annabeth was speechless. "I don't…"
"Understand? Yeah, neither do I. Why do you think I live in this horrible dump? It wasn't like this before. Now I have to fix your mistakes, Princess." Thalia spat the word venomously at Annabeth. "So what we're going to do is lock you up until your mother is de-throned."
"de-throned?" Annabeth asked, the worry evident in her voice.
"Where are we gonna lock her up?" Nico asked quietly.
Jason gave him a look as if it was obvious. "Under the shack."
"Ah." Nico stepped back, a bit ashamed for asking such an obvious question.
"Wait. Should we lock her up?" Percy asked, hesitating. "I mean, she did come to us for help. And she is completely ignorant about the Queen situation."
"It would be stupid not to lock her up. She's a threat to us alive, but we can't kill her."
"Octavian will be looking for her."
"Exactly why we need to lock her up!"
"But-"
"Percy shut up and let me handle this. You're lucky that I'm not beating her to a pulp right now." Percy backed down, allowing Thalia to take control.
"Okay, Princess. Now, we'll escort you to your lovely room."
LINE BREAK
"LET ME OUT!" Annabeth screamed, pounding on the door to no avail. "I SAID LET ME GO!"
The four Avengers had shoved her in a secret room underneath a small wooden shack in the middle of the woods. Nobody would ever find her. Luckily, they had provided her with enough food and water to last her five years. They had mentioned that they store the stuff in here just in case, but just in case of what situation, Annabeth was unsure of.
Annabeth sat heavily on the floor, giving up for now. She would find a way out, but for now she needed to figure it out.
The punk girl's name was Thalia. The boy with the blond hair was Jason. The boy with green eyes was the original People's Avenger. The smaller boy with the dark eyes was the youngest. They were family somehow. Cousins? Thalia had mentioned that she was the princess, which could mean a few things.
One- She was mentally unstable.
Two- She was Athena's other daughter.
Three- Athena had stolen the throne from Thalia's mom or dad.
Annabeth really hoped it wasn't any of the options. One meant that she was in the hands of crazy people. Two meant that Athena was lying to her. Three meant that not only was Athena lying to her, but she was a crazed power-hungry lunatic.
Annabeth had a feeling that it was the third option, regardless of her protests.
Annabeth sighed as she realized how far her life had spiraled out of control within the last twenty-four hours.
Hey guys. I REALLY REALLY REALLY need ideas for my other story, Kingdom of Olympia. Please read and review on that one!
Also, review! I love reviews! Thanks! I promise that I will try my hardest to update faster next time!