A/N I AM SO SORRY! THis is sooo late, and I know, and I'm sorry. I won't bore you with my life story but let's just say I got busy and didn't have time to write. But hey, ITS SUMMER VACATION! Which means faster updates ;)
Percy POV
Annabeth and I walked in a comfortable silence towards the apartment. I raised my face up as a couple of snowflakes fell down on us.
"Well isn't this a Lifetime movie moment?" She joked.
"Not quite…" I said mischievously. She was about to ask me why, but I interrupted by picking her up by the waist and spinning her around.
"There!" I said triumphantly, setting her down on her feet again but with my arms still around her, "Now it's cliché." She laughed and put her arms around my neck.
"You sir, are cheesy."
"But you know you love it."
"Mmhm," She said quietly, eyes on my face. We both leaned in closer at the same time…
"Eek!" A girly voice squeaked, "You two are too cute! Oh I did good!" We jumped, and saw our path home blocked by the one and only Aphrodite.
"Lady Aphrodite," I said with respect. Annabeth didn't say anything, which was actually a good thing considering all of the insults probably going through her head.
"The two of you are my absolute favorite soap!" She squealed again. "So much drama, so much love. Oh I just love it!"
"Uh… thanks?" I said slowly. Annabeth grumbled under her breath. I reached and squeezed her hand in support. Unfortunately, Aphrodite noticed and started squeaking again.
"I simply cannot wait for the wedding!" We both blushed as she started babbling about flower arrangements and things.
"Lady Aphrodite," I cut in, "Why are you here?" I asked. The goddess snapped her fingers.
"Right! Right, I'm here. Well you see, I came to warn you." She said.
"About what?" Annabeth asked, her anger at the goddess not forgotten.
"That's the problem… the Fates forbid me from telling you exactly from what." Gee, how helpful.
"You know, that's fine. We've had enough help from you." Annabeth said boldly. Oh dear, prepare to be vaporized…
"Excuse me?" Aphrodite's voice was so calm I was scared. Annabeth swallowed, but held her ground.
"You've been interfering in our relationship all year! I love Percy, and I don't want to have to go through all of this with him anymore because some goddess decides that our lives are just too dull for her to continue to spy on anymore!" I winced and briefly considered grabbing Annabeth and trying to outrun Aphrodite. Those heels didn't look too good for running, but you never know with goddesses…
Aphrodite's eyes glowered with anger at Annabeth.
"You, my dear, have made a mistake." She spit. Snow whirled around the goddess, and she was gone.
No matter how much Paul tried to make English fun, it just wasn't without Annabeth. I'd never tell him this, but his class had turned into one of my most boring classes. Calypso and her friends were always teasing me about kissing her because of that Romeo and Juliet thing.
You know you liked it, Percy!
Why don't you two just go out already?
You two are sooo a couple!
Ugh, I was ready to barf by the time I got home to Annabeth every night.
Leo and I sat in the back row tossing a bouncy ball back and forth between us. It kind of reminded me of that one time Annabeth, Grover, and me had played hacky sack with an apple.
"Hi! I'm new." A bubbly voice hissed at the door. I dropped the ball and twisted in my seat to face the door at the same time Leo did.
Kelli the empousa, complete with her cheerleader outfit, stood in the doorway.
"Dibs," Leo hissed in my ear. I smacked his arm.
"She's a monster." I whispered back. Leo rolled his eyes.
"Of course she is. Why are all of the girls I like are either monsters, hunters of Artemis, or evil ice queens?" He muttered. I elbowed him in the ribs.
"I'm so sorry Mr. Blofis I—I—Ah!" Rachel skidded to a stop in the doorway and let out a little squeak at the sight of Kelli. "Er… I was just looking for Percy." She eyed me, then Kelli, then me again. I nodded.
"Well, there he is." Paul said suspiciously. Rachel grinned a fake grin.
"Great, well then I'll just go find Piper and Jason and…" She trailed off and rushed down the hall again.
"Oh, we can't have that, now can we?" Kelli said perkily. Her eyes flashed red at Leo and me. Gulp.
"We can show you to your locker, Kelli." I said in a high-pitched voice, "Right Leo?" He nodded fast. Kelli cocked her head and grinned evilly.
"Oh no, that won't be necessary." She reached out and closed the door. The other students must have seen it as her closing the door, but to us it was a menacing gesture.
I think Paul was starting to catch on to what was going on. There was the tiniest amount of sweat on his forehead.
My hand felt in my pocket for Riptide. I gripped the metal as Kelli walked down the aisle to the empty seat in front of me that belongs to Annabeth.
"Watch it, Percy. We wouldn't want Annabeth to hear about you flirting with the new girl." One of Calypso's friends mocked me. Oh, Annabeth would be the first to know about this. This must have been what Aphrodite was warning us about the other day.
"Annabeth?" Kelli's eyes glinted, "Spunky blonde with an attitude?" I didn't answer. "She's adorable, at least, Luke thought so." I swallowed. I wouldn't let her get to me.
Kelli examined her nails as Paul continued with his lecture. Leo was staring at her with drool starting to come out of his mouth. I kicked his shin.
"So where is she?" Kelli whispered to me, "Annabeth I mean. Did she dump you? Leave you for someone else?" Kellie grinned maliciously and leaned a little closer to me. She smelled like horse.
"Or maybe you left her in Tartarus?" Kelli's eyes twinkled with evil. "You know, Tartarus? That place you stranded her when you let go, where you put her in danger! You know your scent was so strong that every monster within a hundred feet of you came hunting. It was your fault she got hurt! The best part is that you know it, too!" Kelli taunted. Anger started building up in me.
"Oh yeah? Well why don't you tell me if my smell's still there when I send you to Tartarus!"
I uncapped Riptide, there in front of the entire class and held it in front of her face
I blame my ADHD.
Kelli hissed and her hair burst into flames. Everyone started screaming except Paul and Leo. Although from past experience, I'm pretty sure they all saw me about to hit a cheerleader with a baseball bat or something.
"Go ahead, Perseus, do your worst." She taunted. Leo ran and blocked the door so that nobody would leave the room and miss their Mist treatment.
I swiped my sword and she ducked down. I gulped when she slowly straightened up again.
"Oh, Percy. You don't want to hurt me." She said soothingly. Half of my brain said no, the other half said DO IT MAN!
"I… uh…" I stuttered. Kelli bared her fangs and stalked closer.
"Just put that pretty sword down…" She cooed. My hands started to loosen their grip of their own accord.
Kelli opened her mouth and started leaning forward to bite me. I couldn't move!
Suddenly, she gasped, and fell to the floor. Piper leaned down and plucked her dagger from the monster's back.
"Boys, so easily tricked by an empousa." Piper said dryly, giving me an amused expression.
"Can we not tell Annabeth about this?" I squeaked. Piper rolled her eyes.
"Let me charmspeak those cowering mortals over there." She pointed to the students all screaming in the corner. "Jason! Get ready for a little Mist magic!" He nodded and ran over.
"B-b-but Percy! Percy just… and then she…!" Calypso stammered. I smacked my forehead.
"Everyone calm down! You did not just see us attack an ancient Greek monster!" Piper told them, "You saw a mean cheerleader beating up Percy, and then me coming in and telling her off! She ran home crying." Piper said proudly.
"Gee, thanks Pipes. Way to make me seem like the weakling here." I said sarcastically.
"You want me to tell Annabeth how you got suckered in by a bloodsucking monster?" Piper asked.
"… Continue." I groaned. Jason snapped his fingers, and everyone got a glazed look in their eyes.
"What happened?"
"Why am I standing over here?"
Slowly, everyone started to return to their seats. Well, almost everyone.
Calypso remained crouched in the corner, looking up at all of us with fear. Jason continued to snap his fingers, and Piper just kept talking to her.
"Why isn't it working?" I asked. Piper just shook her head in fear.
"I—I don't know. She just isn't getting affected at all!" Calypso's mouth was frozen open in terror. Her eyes rolled up into her head and she fainted. The students were starting to come out of their daze and notice…
"Mr. Blofis!" I called, "Calypso fell and hit her head, we need to take her to the nurse." I gave him the this-is-demigod-business-and-I-really-need-to-leav e look. He just nodded.
Jason hoisted up her feet and Piper grabbed her arms. Leo held the door, and the five of us walked down the hall, and out the front door.
"Get her in my car. We need to get Annabeth. Someone text Rachel, Frank, and Hazel and have them meet us at home after school." I said, strapping myself in.
"She is notgoing to be happy to hear about this." Leo muttered.
"I really don't want to be there when you bring Calypso home." Jason shuddered.
"We are all going to be there. I need witnesses!" I said. Piper pursed her lips in fear.
We rode back to my apartment where Annabeth was in silence. Calypso still hadn't woken up yet, but she was obviously stirring.
"Come on, someone help carry her inside." I said as we parked. Leo took her arms and Piper grabbed her feet. Hopefully nobody sees us carrying a body to my apartment. The last thing we need right now is for her to tell the police about me attacking a cheerleader.
"Why isn't she getting affected?" Piper asked in distress, "Even before she got a little bit dazed!"
"I don't know, but I have a pretty good feeling it has to do with Aphrodite." I grumbled. It was a bad idea to make a goddess angry.
Jason held open the door to the apartment as we dragged Calypso in. Annabeth and my mom rushed in from the kitchen with shocked expressions.
"Oh my gods! What happened? Is she dead?" Annabeth asked, crouching down next to Calypso's sleeping body on the couch.
"Just fainted. Annabeth, we might have a problem." I said, "Please don't get mad." I squeaked. Her eyes narrowed.
"What happened?" She demanded. I gulped.
"Kelli the empousa came and tried to kill me so Piper showed up and killed her." I decided to leave the part about me getting hypnotized out, "We tried, but the Mist didn't work on her. Neither did charmspeak." Annabeth wined dangerously.
"Percy. Your room. Now." She growled.
"Can't we stay where there are witne—ow!" Annabeth grabbed my ear and dragged me down the hall. She threw me in and slammed the door behind her.
"Percy," She said, eerily calm, "What were you planning on telling Calypso when she woke up?" I hadn't exactly thought that far ahead.
"Would you rather I'd left her in a classroom filled with mortals?" Huh, that was actually a good response…
"You could have taken her to the nurse and told her she fainted. You could have taken her to her house to convince her it was all a dream, you could have dumped her at an asylum, or in a garbage can for all I care!" Annabeth yelled, "She is going to wake up in your apartment with visions of Greek monsters in her head, and we're going to have to tell her the truth since, apparently, the Mist isn't working!" And Annabeth wins… like always.
"Annabeth I'm sorry. I panicked! I was kind of about to get killed by an evil she-demon." She rolled her eyes.
"You got distracted by her, didn't you?" It's times like these that I hate being such a bad liar.
"It happens to all guys! I couldn't help it!" She pursed her lips angrily.
"Ugh, forget it. The point is that Calypso is here, and she's about to find out the truth, and it's your fault!"
"It is not! It's yours!" Annabeth raised her eyebrows.
"Oh, is it?" She spit.
"Yes, it is!" I yelled, "You angered Aphrodite, and then the next day the Mist and charmspeak just stop working on Calypso. This is your fault, Annabeth! If you could have just bitten your tongue we wouldn't be having this problem!" She grit her teeth. Annabeth was smart, but she was also stubborn. Instead of admitting that I was right and she was wrong, she turned on her heel and stalked out of the room.
Ok, so I felt bad about fighting with Annabeth. Now isn't exactly the best time to dwell on that, though. Right now, there were a lot more pressing matters that I had to deal with.
I followed an angry Annabeth back into the living room where Calypso was shuffling even more in her sleep. Jason, Piper, and Leo were all looking down at their feet to avoid catching Annabeth's death glare. Rachel looked straight at me with sympathy.
"She's gonna wake up any time now." Annabeth said flatly, "And we're telling her everything when she does."
"Are you sure? We could call one of the gods to…"
"No gods," Annabeth interrupted Piper, "They're the ones who put us in this mess in the first place." Thunder rumbled outside. Annabeth ran to the window and threw it open to stick her head outside.
"You heard me!" She shouted upwards. Rain started to splatter down onto the street as she slammed the window shut again. For a second I was scared she was gonna break the glass.
"Hmph… mm… wha… wait… what?" Calypso started mumbling and blinking her eyes, "Where am I?" There was fear in her voice and recognition in her eyes as she stared around at us. She remembered.
"My living room," I answered when nobody else did. Calypso pointed her finger towards Piper.
"You! I saw you kill a… a thing… she had fangs, and her legs…" She shuddered. Annabeth breathed out heavily, and sat on the couch next to Calypso.
"I need you to listen to me very, very carefully." Annabeth said quietly. "What I am about to tell you cannot be repeated. Ever. I don't care who it is, this information cannot be shared with anyone else." Calypso winced and cowered a little bit. Annabeth closed her eyes for a long time, and then opened them again.
"Everything from Greek legends and myths, like the Minotaur and Narcissus… it's all real. The gods are real." Annabeth said in a surprisingly calm voice, "What you saw today was called an empousa. She is a monster from Greek mythology." Annabeth turned to look at all of us, "All of us, except Rachel, are demigods. One of our parents is a Greek god and the other is mortal." She turned to look at Calypso again.
"So… all those kids from last year… they were…?" Annabeth nodded. Calypso's eyes flickered to Rachel. "What about Rachel."
"I'm the Oracle, like a psychic only a lot creepier." She explained. Calypso bobbed her head slowly with her mouth hanging open.
"Um… wow ok… uh…"
"It's a lot to take in," I said awkwardly, "So you should go home and sleep or something." She nodded.
"Um… yeah. I should… yeah." Annabeth stood up with her.
"Before you go, you have to promise not to tell anyone anything, you hear me? Not about the monsters, not about the gods, not about us, nothing. You just fainted in class and they helped you home. That is all, ok?" Calypso nodded absently.
"I-I promise." With that, she walked right out the door. Annabeth pushed her hair behind her ears and picked up her backpack.
"I'm going home, I have to call Chiron." She muttered.
"Annabeth—"
"I'll see you later." She said without looking at me. Without even a second look she walked out the door.