Thank You for the reviews! They inspire me! Yes, I did use someone else's character, so I don't own her. Only her looks, which I made up myself.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own PJO, as much as I would love to.
Warning: This chapter has lovey-dovey fluff-ness! You have been warned. And… I'm not very good at lovey-dovey fluff-ness. And I'm sorry for a few of my chapters being kind of short. It can't be helped, what with school and all…
Anyway, enjoy!
I hurt. A lot. Knowing that Annabeth was dead, and would continue being so unless I found this stupid plant. So Nico, Julia and I went out in search for the plant. We decided to IM Chiron and see if he knew any Half-bloods in this area. We found an empty park with sprinklers going of and, after rummaging through our pockets for ten minutes, we finally found a drachma.
Finally, Chiron appeared.
"What is it, my boy?" He asked me. Then he realized something.
"Where is Annabeth, Percy?" I couldn't answer. I just shook my head, the tears making another appearance. "Julia? What happened?" He asked the girl behind me. The daughter of Apollo stepped forward and, in a shaky voice, told Chiron the whole story. By the end of it, Julia was also reduced to tears, and Nico, being the only one capable of speaking, asked him if he knew any Half-bloods in this area. The centaur looked thoughtful for a moment then said, "Yes… I do know one girl, about your age, Percy, who lives in Brisbane. Dionne Thompson. Daughter of Dionysus." He hesitated. "Percy, this girl… Well… Anyway, she lives at..." He thought for a moment. "27 Coombell Street, In Jindalee." I merely nodded and thanked him quietly, before breaking the connection.
"Percy?" I heard Julia say in a quiet, hesitant voice. "Percy, it's been a really long day, especially for you" I looked at her, not sure as to what she was getting at. "Maybe we should go back to the hotel, and go find this girl first thing in the morning?" She suggested. I wanted to get angry. I wanted to shout at this girl for suggesting that we sleep, when Annabeth was lying dead, when my mother was hurt, both or them with only the creep, Mr James Jameson, and each other for company. Not that Annabeth would know, in her state.
But I couldn't be mad at her. I was too exhausted, too sad, too confused to be angry. So I drove us back to the hotel, where I collapsed on my bed, asleep the second my head hit the soft, feathery pillow.
****
I was walking along a beach. But something was wrong. Every step I took, the scenery changed, ever so slightly. I didn't want it to change; I wanted to walk along this beach forever, happy and at peace with the world. But I something-no, someone was missing from this, making so I couldn't be at peace without them. I pictured her hair, such a pretty shade of blonde, her eyes, startling gray, watching you, analysing you, until she deemed you no longer a threat. The world kept changing, until I was no longer on a beach, but in a forest. The trees were dense, and I could barely squeeze through the gaps between them. I was about to give up, when I heard a soft whimpering, only a short distance away. It was the unmistakable sound of a girl crying, sobbing. The sound itself cut at my heart, breaking my heart. I made my way cautiously to where the sound was coming from. Peeking from behind a tree, my heart skipped a beat. It was Annabeth, curled up in a little ball against a tree. I walked over to her a sat next to her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders. Even though I knew this was just a dream, the contact instantly put me at ease. Annabeth rested her head against my shoulder, her face in her hands. "It hurts, Percy" she whimpered. "It hurts me"
"Shhh… I'm here… I'll stop it hurting" I promised her, rubbing her back soothingly. With every fibre of my being, I wanted to kill that man who had done this to her and my mother. I wanted to ripped him apart, limb from limb; to put him through the pain he was causing Annabeth. But I just sat there, unwilling to move from the angel in my arms.
"I love you, Annabeth Chase" I whispered to her hair. I hoped she could hear me. I hoped she could find comfort in my words; the words that shocked even me as they came out of my mouth. The crying girl looked up at me. Her tear-stained eyes took my breath away.
"I love you, too, Percy Jackson"
****
"Percy, wake up!" I heard someone groan as they hit me in the face with a pillow. I opened my eyes to see a daughter of Apollo grinning like a fool. "What was that for?!" I demanded as I sat up and got out of bed.
"Ew, Percy! Put some pants on!" she squealed, and I realized she was right. I wasn't wearing any pants. Blushing like a school-girl, I grabbed some pants and dashed into the bathroom and hopped in the shower. Yesterdays events came rushing back to me. I felt tears in my eyes as I thought of Annabeth.
And that dream.
Somehow, I knew it was real. It had to be real. It had to actually be Annabeth.
"Percy! Get out of the shower! We have to move!" someone shouted at me, banging on the door. Mumbling to myself, I got dressed and walk into the main bedroom.
"Where's Nico?" I asked Julia, throwing my stuff back into my bag (though I didn't know why it was out of it in the first place) and plopping down on my bed. She eyed me suspiciously, and said, "He's gone out to get us some breakfast. He should be back soon."
Before I could ask why she was acting that way, the door burst open and Nico came in with two brown paper bags that smelt suspiciously like McDonalds.
"I have food!" He announced chucking the bags on the bed. The greasy smell reminded me just how hungry I was.
"Okay" he started opening the bags. "We can have… Two McMuffins each, a hash brown each… And we have one serve of pancakes we can share. Okay?" he looked up at us, both drooling over the contents of the bags. He took that as a yes. "And we have… Three coffees, two cokes and one lemonade" he finished with a proud smile. We didn't answer, just drove in and started dividing the food between ourselves and digging in. I practically moaned as I bit into the McMuffin. The greasiness tasted so good.
After we had finished, I said, "Okay. What time is it?"
"Twelve. Looks like that was lunch, too"
"Okay, now we have to go visit the Daughter of Dionysus. Where did Chiron say she lived again?" I asked them.
"27 Coombell Street, in Jindalee"
"Okay" I said, trying to sound upbeat and not depressed and emo. "Let's go!"
****
"Do we really have to climb up that driveway?" Nico whined as we parked in front of a Two-story Queenslander house. It had orange window and door frames and a veranda on the second level, going the whole length of the house. And the driveway. I swear to Zeus, it was almost vertical.
"I guess we have to" I said, sighing. So we climbed the driveway from Hades.
"That hurt" groaned Julia as we reached the top. I knocked on the door. After a few minutes it opened to reveal a girl, about my age. She was my height, with olive skin and dark brown hair. She was wearing denim short-shorts and a black sleeveless top. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and examined us through tired eyes.
"Do I know you?" she asked me. I pursed my lips.
"Dionne Thompson?" she nodded warily. "I'm Percy Jackson" she stared at me blankly. "Son of Poseidon"
"Oh!" she exclaimed, recognition in her eyes "Yeah, Chiron IMed me telling me you might show up. And you two are?" she asked the younger two.
"Julia Gorse, Daughter of Apollo"
"Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades". Dionne raised her eyebrows.
"A bit dangerous for two children of the Big Three to be travelling together, don't you think? How many monsters have you attracted so far?" she inquired.
"Um, oddly enough, none" I told her realizing this was strange. Dionne raised her eyebrows again, but said nothing, and motioned for us to come inside. She sat us down at the kitchen table.
"So, Percy" she said, eyeing me with a weird expression "what can I do for you?"
I hesitated. "Well… Well, I'll start from the beginning" she nodded 'Okay, so, my mother was kidnapped. Nico, Julia, my girlfriend and I set out to find her"
"Did your girlfriend go to Camp? I might know her"
"Uh, Annabeth Chase" I said. Her expression turned ever so slightly jealous, though I had no idea why. "Annabeth, huh? I knew her. Daughter of Athena?"
"Yeah…"
"Where is she?"
"That's kind of why we're here"
"Fine. Go on."
"Yeah… anyway, well, our search brought us here. We found the guy, and my mother. My mother had some kind of…curse. Anway, the stupid creep who somehow kidnapped her, he told us there was a way to save her… If there was a willing virgin girl in the room, willing to take on the curse."
For some reason, Dionne snorted.
"Virgin? At her age? Still?" she shook her head. I started to wonder what Chiron was going to say about this girl. It also made me angry that she was judging Annabeth.
"What ever. So Annabeth took on the curse, well, half of it, and…" I couldn't say the rest. Not to a complete stranger.
"She died" whispered Julia. "But she didn't actually die. There is a way to get her back"
Dionne looked thoughtful, and then she leaned back, stretched her arms and said,
"How can I help?"
Dionne belongs to Clarisse The Wild. Thank You!
And, once again, that you for all the reviews and suggestions, and constructive criticism!
