Point Place, New York
Thursday Afternoon
4:17 p.m.
Percy Jackson's Basement
Hazel was perched on the back of the couch, tugging at a curl as she watched Frank and Leo standing behind the couch. The social studies textbook in front of her had long since been forgotten in favor of watching her friends. She idly smoothed out a wrinkle on her purple vest; her knee-length, black skirt shifted when she moved the textbook off her lap.
"Are you ready?" Leo asked, positioning his hands underneath Frank's with his palms up.
Frank nodded as he stared intently at his hands. Hazel giggled quietly at his intense concentration. She couldn't help but think he looked adorable in his light pink button-up shirt despite Nico's snide remarks about it.
Thinking of the brooding Italian, she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. He was wearing his usual leather jacket and ripped jeans but for the first time in weeks he didn't have his sunglasses on him. He was watching Frank and Leo expectantly along with Will who was leaning against the side of Nico's recliner in a light gray sweater vest and his ever constant sandals despite the chilly weather. They had been spending more and more time together over the past few days much to everyone's surprise.
Opposites attract, I guess, Hazel thought to herself.
Percy and Annabeth were kneeling on the couch cushions facing Leo and Frank with barely contained snickers. Jason sat in the floor with Piper in his lap, too busy whispering in each other's ear to pay much attention to anybody else.
A sharp smack forced her attention back to the two boys in front of her where she found Frank staring in confusion at where Leo had smacked his hands. Leo sniggered with a triumphant fist in the air.
"Too slow," the Latino teased.
Frank blinked slowly before smiling sweetly. "Oh, I see how this game is played. May I try?"
Hazel tugged nervously at her hair as she worried about the jokes the group was probably going to make at Frank's expense. Leo placed his hands over Frank's with the kind of cockiness that came from years of getting away with pranks. Pursing her lips, Hazel prepared to jump to Frank's defense at a moment's notice.
Both of Frank's hands came up, but as Leo pulled his hands away, those two hands landed sharply on both of the Latino's cheeks. There was a moment of awed silence before Frank smiled triumphantly. "Too slow," he mocked.
Leo's arms flailed around and Hazel swore he would have burst into flames if he could've.
"No, Frank, that's not how you play," Leo griped. To reinforce his point he placed his hands out again. "You're supposed to hit my…"
Frank's hands landed on Leo's with an abrupt smack. "Too slow."
The three on the couch laughed delightedly as Leo threw his hands up in the air. Will slapped a hand over his mouth in a failed attempt to smother his giggling while Nico chuckled quietly beside him. The couple in the floor smiled up at the rest trying to determine what had happened around them.
Leo was on the verge of throwing a temper tantrum when Sally came down the stairs with a plate full of chocolate chip cookies.
"Who wants cookies?" she asked. Instead of voicing a reply, the teenagers groped wildly at the plate. Percy picked out the one blue cookie on the plate, unimpressed by the standard colored cookies. "Oh, honey," she added as she was heading back up the stairs, "I picked out a real snazzy outfit for you to wear on career day."
Percy choked causing blue cookie crumbs to fall haphazardly on his obnoxiously bright orange shirt. Struggling to swallow, he looked at his mother with wide, terrified eyes. "Oh, um, yay?"
Sally fixed him with her cool gaze. "Well, fine, Mister. I - for one - cannot wait to show off my little man at my new job."
A few snickers came from his left, without looking he knew Nico and Will were laughing at him. "You know what? Me neither," Percy said with conviction even as he turned to his friends to mouth the words, "help me."
Sally rolled her eyes but left the teenagers alone.
"Career day, man? That's so lame," Nico snickered.
Hazel scoffed. "You're just saying that 'cause your mother's the lunch lady."
She felt his icy glare on her as he replied grumpily, "At least my mother isn't some phoney psychic."
Hazel opened and closed her mouth before stammering the only defense she could think of, "She's not a psychic, she's a fortune-teller."
"Nico's mom is Crazy Maria?" Piper gasped.
Nico rolled his eyes. "She's not crazy."
"Dude, your mom tried to get a law passed that would outlaw cars and have them all shot off into space," Jason pointed out with a skeptical quirk of his eyebrow.
"She was grieving; it was a difficult time," Nico said defensively. "We'd only been in America for a month before…"
The ending to the unfinished sentence hung heavily on the group as many of them remembered that horrific day. They'd only been seven at the time but it was a day that had changed many of them forever. Piper and Frank didn't know what had caused the tense silence but they felt the magnitude of grief that hung heavily in the air. Will had merely heard stories and rumors about Bianca di Angelo and the tragedy surrounding her. He'd never gone out of his way to figure out her story, ignored anyone who tried to talk about that awful car crash. Having tragically lost two of his own siblings, he knew how hard it was to move on when your peers wouldn't stop reminding you.
A few seconds ticked by and the despondent air lessened in pressure, giving Will the capability to find the words that had died in his throat moments ago. "Hazel, your mother isn't Marie the Marvelous is she?"
He heard a quite scoff from beside him before Nico said, "Is that what she calls herself? I always called her Marie the Mediocre."
Golden curls bounced in the air as Hazel dropped her head into her hands. "How do you know her?" she groaned.
"She threw coins at me last week when I was walking by her store; she said they were cursed," Will explained. An apologetic smile settled on his lips as Hazel's golden eyes filled with humiliation. The more time he spent with this group of friends the more normal his own parents became.
Percy's brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed as they darted to and fro, solving some invisible equation. A hand passed quickly in front of him and he vaguely noted that it was Annabeth trying to get his attention. There were clues all around him, he just needed a few more seconds to figure out what they were clues to. "Marie the French variation of Maria."
"Wow, Perce," Jason chuckled. "Great detective work."
"No, no," Percy hurriedly waved him away and turned to Nico who was shooting him a warning glare. "You said your dad left because…"
Hazel was shrinking in her seat at the same time that Nico was leaning threateningly towards Percy. The boy in the tacky orange shirt was going to toss all their family's drama out into the open and no one was prepared for that.
The door to the basement swung open before Percy could finish his statement. Paul's heavy footsteps sounded angrily through the tense quiet of the basement. Unaware of the dangerous territory his son had been about to ignorantly traipse through, Paul advised Percy to get to the garage immediately.
"One second, Dad," Percy started, "I just…"
"I need you to explain what you did to this car," Paul all but growled.
The color in Percy's cheeks drained away quickly as he rushed out to the garage with a quick farewell over his shoulder.
(***)
In the Jackson's garage, Percy held a flashlight for his father who was trying to figure out what was wrong with the Vista Cruiser. They'd been standing over the hood of the car for what felt like hours. Percy's arm was growing tired from holding the same position for so long, he knew his dad's back had to be killing him, too.
Paul shouted out some orders to his son to hold the flashlight steadier to which Percy groaned even as he did what he was told. He knew he was supposed to be shining the light on the carburetor but he wasn't entirely sure which contraption the carburetor was.
"Not in my eyes," Paul ordered. "Do I look like the carburetor, son?"
With a lopsided grin, Percy retorted, "Not in this light, sir."
A chuckle answered him. "That's one," his dad said with a lukewarm glare over his shoulder and another laugh. "You'd think your teachers would take five minutes out of teaching macrame and show you how to hold a flashlight."
The beam of light trembled as Percy shifted the flashlight to his other hand. "Isn't that what college is for?"
"That's two," Paul stated. With a quick look over his shoulder, he added, "One more and you're out."
Percy smirked at the reminder. His father had told him that if he could go the whole evening without making three snarky remarks he wouldn't have to do any chores for a week. The idea of not having to clean the gutters or mow the lawn for another week was more than enough incentive to keep him from making another retort.
The older man straightened up with a heavy groan of pain as he stepped away from the car's hood. Assuming they were done for the day, Percy flicked the flashlight off and joyfully let his arm fall limp.
Paul wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "The damn thing's shot. I'll have to get a rebuild kit but we should be able to finish this up tomorrow."
"Uh, Dad, tomorrow's Career Day," Percy reminded him. "I'm going to the college with mom."
"Hmm, alright," Paul amended, "I'll fix the car tomorrow. Maybe you'll learn how to hold a flashlight."
Percy laughed as his dad patted him on the back and headed back into the house.
(***)
"This is my office," Sally said with a flourish as if the broom closet with a desk was the most impressive thing she'd ever seen. She'd only been working there for a couple of weeks but her office was already covered in knick-knacks and motivational posters. "My first class is just right down here."
They walked around a bend in the hallway and almost ran into a giant of a man with a mess of brown hair surrounding his head. Percy had to crane his neck back to see the guy's face which towered a good foot over Percy's 5 foot and 10 inches.
Sally didn't even bat an eye as she greeted the giant cheerfully.
When the giant turned to face him, Percy swore the guy only had one eye until he realized it was just his eyes going cross-eyed from staring directly up at the guy. He raised a hand slowly to say hello as he stared in shock at the college student.
"You must be Percy, I recognize you from the pictures," the giant boomed. "Your face cleared up nicely."
Percy's shock turned to full-on embarrassment as he realized his mother had been showing off his awkward middle school yearbook pictures to her students. His mother had the decency to at least look slightly apologetic when he looked in her direction. "Thanks for noticing," he muttered.
"This is Tyson, he takes photographs for the newspaper and his girlfriend, Ella Harpy, is one of the best writers we have right now," Sally explained to her son.
Tyson beamed down at them showing off two rows of crooked teeth.
"Doctor Johnson," called out a voice from behind them. Percy turned to find a short, chubby man who looked like a long-haired Danny Devito and vaguely reminded him of Mr. D of the Big House. "I just talked to the Dean. Why didn't you send him the papers I told you to sign?"
Sally smiled politely. "Because you didn't give me any papers, Dr. Bacchus."
Hippie Danny Devito waved a stack of papers in Sally's face as his face began to redden and his voice raised. "I most certainly did, Jefferson." Sally and Percy's eyes fell to the stack of papers being waved in their direction. Following their line of sight, Dr. Bacchus calmed slightly before thrusting the papers into Sally's arms. "Well, the next time I have something to give you, you tell me."
"Yes, sir," Sally said, flipping through the papers.
"What's his problem?" Tyson asked innocently.
Percy's mom patted the big guy's arm reassuringly as she gave him random excuses for her colleague's mood swings. Despite her reassurances, Percy was fairly certain the real reason had to with the fact the professor reeked of alcohol.
(***)
The school cafeteria kitchen was barely lit by flickering fluorescent lights creating a dull glow along the metal appliances. Nico strolled into the large kitchen with the dread of someone walking to their doom; Will stepped carefully behind him into the unknown territory. Blue eyes flickered quickly about the kitchen appliances in complete awe as obsidian ones glared at the woman in the center of the room.
Standing over a large vat of some form of soup that would be served for lunch later was a middle aged woman with dark, graying hair. The woman turned to glance at the newcomers with her dull, dark eyes before returning her attention on her stirring.
"Maria," Nico greeted coolly.
"Nicolo," she replied impassively.
Will quirked an eyebrow at the name but kept his mouth shut due to the warning glare Nico shot him. The blonde was still meandering around the kitchen while Nico took a seat on a nearby table. "Will, this is my mother. Mamma, this is Will."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. di Angelo," Will said politely with a slight bow of his head.
Maria glanced to her son with a raise of a curious eyebrow. "He's a lot more polite than those other boys you hang around. That Jackson boy is something else I swear."
A red blush spread across pale cheeks as Nico turned away from his mother.
Will felt a momentary rush of bitterness that he assured himself was not jealousy before attempting to change the topic. "Is there anything you need help with, ma'am? I'd be more than happy to help."
Both of Maria's eyebrows went up in surprise. "Are you serious? È serio?"
Nico smirked. "Sì, he's very serious about helping people."
"Well, knock yourself out. I need help slicing those vegetables, just don't cut off a finger or anything. Nicolo, you can start slicing pizza."
"Oh, no, no, no. I am here as an observer, a fly on the wall - one of many," Nico retorted.
Maria turned away from her vat of soup to glower at her son. "Maledizione! Lazy, just like your father!"
Will froze in the process of cutting a tomato out of fear that any movement would set off a devastating chain reaction. There were ten seconds of intense silence before he heard Nico take a deep breath. He continued quietly slicing the tomato with a smile. A few days ago, Will had suggested Nico count backwards from ten whenever he felt his temper getting the best of him; he hadn't expected the Italian to actually take his advice.
With one more deep, calming breath, Nico replied, "No, actually, I'm lazy in a way entirely my own."
The knife stilled as Will fought down a laugh. He glanced over his shoulder at the dark haired boy on the opposite side of the room. When he caught the other boy's eyes, he shook his head with a fond smile. Nico shrugged nonchalantly and turned away to hide the way the corners of his own mouth were twitching up into a smile.
Maria rolled her eyes at her son before thrusting a pair of gloves towards Will. "Well, put these on, Piccolo." Will happily took the offered gloves. She tossed a pair at her son who grudgingly pulled them on. "Grazie, Polpetto."
Nico groaned at the nickname.
"What does that mean?" Will asked casually as he returned to his cutting.
Maria smiled kindly in his direction. "They are terms of endearment in Italy. Piccolo means little one. Polpetto means meatball."
Will dropped his knife as he doubled over laughing much to Nico's dismay.
(***)
The mayor's office was a dull beige hole that drained away any happiness or excitement Jason and Piper may have had before they entered. The overhead lights provided a fluorescent glare to everything in the room. Piper briefly considered parting the heavy curtains that hung behind the large wooden desk but she didn't think Mayor Grace would appreciate her messing with his sacred office.
Mayor Grace's secretary was a quiet, mousy woman with a gentle smile. Piper felt kind of bad for constantly forgetting she was there but the woman was so silent and inconspicuous that she found herself having a hard time focusing on her.
"Mr. Grace will be back in a few moments," the woman informed them. "If you need anything, do not hesitate to ask."
Jason smiled pleasantly. "Thank you, Ms. Hestia."
Once the secretary had returned to her desk and the door was closed, Piper turned to her boyfriend. "She's really nice."
"Yeah, she's the longest secretary Dad's ever had and the only one who hasn't tried to sleep with him, much to my stepmother's delight," Jason said with a sigh. "Honestly, I think this whole town would fall apart if she ever quit. I know Dad would crash and burn without her."
Piper chuckled. "Think we could follow her around, instead?"
"We could've just shadowed your father for the day," Jason bemoaned. "Would've been a lot more interesting than this."
"The school doesn't accept retirement as a career," Piper sighed.
A door along the wall to their left opened suddenly. Jason tensed as his father stepped into the room. His dark gray hair and beard were streaked with sporadic streaks of white causing them to look like controlled storm clouds with lightning piercing through them. Dark blue eyes regarded the two teenagers briefly before shifting their focus back to the files in his hands.
"Children," he greeted gruffly before handing them each a stack of pamphlets. "Spend the day handing these out."
Jason rolled his eyes as Piper stared at the pamphlets in her hands with mild confusion.
"Dad, we're supposed to follow you around and ask you questions," Jason explained as calmly as he could manage.
His father sat at his desk, staring intently at a stack of papers with a pen in hand. "Just have Ms. Hestia answer your questions before you leave. I do not have time in my schedule to babysit the two of you all day, unless you've changed your opinion of my meetings, Jason?"
A shudder ran down Jason's back when he thought of the last two hour long meeting he had sat through. It had been the longest and most boring two hours of his life that he would never get back. He grabbed Piper's arm and guided her back to the lobby where Ms. Hestia sat waiting for them with a knowing smile.
"Come on, Honey," she said quietly. "Let's get you two on your way, hm?"
(***)
The bell over Marie the Marvelous' shop rang out, signifying a new customer. Hazel watched in resigned defeat as her mother called dramatically out to the newcomer while Frank took the whole show in with rapt attention.
"Your mother is rather intense," Frank whispered.
Hazel giggled at the awe in Frank's voice. "Yeah, she can be. She doesn't scare you, does she?"
"No," Frank replied after a moment. "She may be eccentric and different but she did raise you, right? Parents do the best they can to keep you safe, even if you don't see that now, you will eventually."
The solemn tone Frank spoke in caused Hazel to stare slack-jawed. His usually sweet face had hardened and closed off as his eyes took on a far away look. Hazel gently placed a hand on his arm, worrying a little more when he ignored her touch. "Are you missing your parents?"
"I always miss my mom," he replied quietly before startling out of his daze. "I…"
Marie the Marvellous swept back into the room with her customer in tow. As she sat down beside her daughter and activated a hidden switch with her foot, Hazel squeezed Frank's arm reassuringly before turning to assist her mother in her scam.
(***)
In the Jackson's garage, Paul was trying his damnedest to get the carburetor working with little progress due to the lack of light. He heard his son's pyromaniac friend loudly rustling through Paul's tools but elected to ignore him for the time being. There was a smoke detector in the garage and every room of the house for a reason.
The kid's head popped up in his peripheral vision much to Paul's dismay. "Hey, Mr. J, what are you doing home? I was helping mom and dad at the shop but they had to go pick Nyssa and Beckendorf up from school. Three football players got their underwear set on fire or something."
"Right," Paul muttered before an idea occurred to him. "Well, you wanna shine this flashlight on that carburetor there?"
Leo shrugged before picking up the flashlight. The hood of the car was flooded with light, Paul gasped. He turned to look at the young boy in a new light. "My gods, one of you's not useless!"
(***)
Annabeth waved cheerfully in Percy's direction when she caught sight of him in the hallways. He was talking animatedly to his mother and a giant college student but took the time to happily return her wave.
Her father's voice called out for her and she turned to follow him into a classroom. The room was ten times the size of the high school's classrooms with at least a hundred students all turning to stare at her. Well, to stare at her father's hair, but the eyes were pointed in her general direction.
To his credit, her dad valiantly ignored the snide remarks about his hair and walked confidently up to the stage at the front of the classroom. He directed her to sit behind the desk while he strode to the opposite side of the stage where a giant blackboard had been set up.
Watching her father lecture for an hour on the importance of language and grammar gave Annabeth a momentary glance at the serious man that lurked underneath his usual goofy demeanor. The way the students stared intently at their professor, all sarcastic remarks forgotten as they furiously wrote down every word he stated made Annabeth feel an intense pride for her dad.
Once the class was over and her father had finished answering questions, he returned to her side. "So, what do you think of the grand teaching career?" he asked jokingly.
Without missing a beat, she replied earnestly, "I think what you do is amazing."
She noticed his eyes widen in surprise before he wrapped her up in a bone-crushing hug.
(***)
The City Hall's lobby was relatively empty except for Jason and Piper who were quietly drinking coffee while they waited for the last council meeting to end for the day. So far Ms. Hestia had given them a tour, politely turned a blind eye while they drew on Mayor Grace's portrait, and bought them coffees.
"Wonder if I can steal her from your dad," Piper thought aloud. "She's the absolute best."
Jason chuckled. "Yeah, good luck with that. I'm convinced there's no other being alive that could deal with my father that calmly while also having my stepmom's full support."
Piper opened her mouth to reply but the chamber doors swung open before she could.
Mayor Grace appeared with his constant stern, superior attitude. "Children, come along."
"Do you think he's forgotten our names and that's why he just calls us children?" Piper whispered.
Jason huffed out a laugh. "I can guarantee you that is the reason."
(***)
"Question number three," Will read aloud, "was the food service industry your first career choice?"
Nico snorted. "Yeah, 'cause everyone dreams of working as a lunch lady."
His mother shot him a look before answering. "No, Mimmo, I dreamed of being a star. In fact, I was Medea in Medea at the Arena di Verona. Being on stage was simply magical."
"Wow," Will breathed.
"But then I found out I was pregnant for the second time," she continued with a quick glance at her son. "And the father of my children decided it was best for everyone if we all moved to America." She laughed without humor before continuing, "So much for that."
Nico glared at the floor, refusing to look at his mother. "Did you enjoy the story of the time I destroyed my mother's fabulous acting career?"
"I never blamed you, Polpetto," Maria shot back.
Will watched in shocked silence as the two began what was obviously a normal family squabble.
Nico jumped off the table he'd been perched on to point accusingly at her. "You've always blamed me, ever since…" There was a significant pause as Nico struggled to continue. "Ever since Bianca died and dad left, you've blamed me for all your damn problems."
"I suppose you want to blame me, then, for your father leaving?" she replied defensively.
"Hell, he must've been crazy to leave all this," Nico snapped.
Maria's hands flew up in the air as if to swat her son away. "Always a smartass, Nicolo, just like your father!"
Will took a step forward to reach out to Nico before the Italian came apart at the seams but he was a little too late as he watched the raven haired teen's mouth snap closed. Fists clenched, Nico stalked towards the nearest door. "You know the one thing dad did do right?" Nico asked quietly, with a grim determination in his dark eyes. "He left."
With that Nico was gone, leaving his mother simmering in her own anger and Will staring off after him. After muttering a quick apology to the lunch lady, Will took off after his friend unsure of what he was going to say when he finally caught up to him.
(***)
Paul was wiping down car parts when Will and Nico came stomping into the Jackson's garage. He placed the part on his work bench before turning to give the two boys his full attention. "What happened now?"
The blond boy was wringing his hands anxiously while hovering behind Nico who was clenching and unclenching his fists.
"Where's Jackson?" Nico muttered.
Will just barely managed to refrain from wincing. He was determined to get over his pathetic fit of jealousy every time Nico mentioned Percy, it was becoming ridiculous.
"He's with his mother for career day, which is where you're supposed to be. What's the problem?" Paul replied as he leaned against his work bench.
Nico threw his hands in the air with a frustrated groan. "I was at career day! And then damn Maria decided to start riding my ass again about being like my dad, so I just took off." When Paul quirked an eyebrow in his direction, Nico grumbled, "Don't give me that look, I can see the irony in my situation."
A warm hand landed softly on his shoulder. "Look, you and your mom have a bad history and neither of you can nurture the other's self-esteem because of past criticism and shame."
Nico and Will shared a look.
"I've been watching a lot of Donahue lately," Paul explained.
Both boys nodded in understanding. The sound of someone huffing was the only warning Nico got before Leo shot out from under the car holding a wrench. "I'm not sure just yet but I think I found the new joint."
"Bless you, son," Paul laughed.
Leo slid back under the car, leaving Nico and Will to staring warily after him.
(***)
Frank shifted in the uncomfortable folding chair before reading off his paper. "Okay, next question, Madame Marie: What has this job taught you?"
"One thing I've learned, if you're confident in what you say, anyone will believe you," Marie answered as she counted the money in her cash register. "And turns out people pay good money to hear whatever they want to hear."
Hazel scribbled on her paper. "Marketing is important. Know your customer."
Frank read over her shoulder as he copied her response.
"That's not what I said," Marie griped.
"Well, sure it is, Mom," Hazel argued. "It's just a cleaned up, more dignified way to say what you said."
Marie huffed, clearly upset. "Dignified? Are you trying to say you're embarrassed by me? What have I ever done that's embarrassing?"
Hazel glanced around the room, taking in the fake ghosts hanging in the rafters, the fake skeleton dressed like a hippie, and her mother's crazy hair. "Well, Mom, aside from the obvious, you throw things at people on the street and accuse me of being cursed to passersby. Including a friend of mine."
"The more insane I seem the more likely people are to remember me," her mother countered. "Look, honey, I'm doing the best I can with what I've got. I know it's hard for you but I'm doing this so I can help pay for your college tuition in the future."
Hazel smiled. "Really?"
Marie huffed. "Well, honey, I've made more than enough in the last couple weeks that I could easily afford to go buy better aesthetics for the shop but every extra cent is going towards you."
"I feel kind of bad, now," Hazel muttered.
"Oh, no, no one feels bad at Marie the Marvellous' shop," her mother admonished softly. "Unless, you're paying me to pretend to talk to some dead relative."
(***)
Nico was dragged begrudgingly through the cafeteria doors by an out of breath Will. Having to chase down and argue with an irate Nico was not how he thought he was going to be spending Career Day.
There was an awkward moment where the mother and son simply stared at one another before Maria's shoulder relaxed minutely. "Nicolo, you came back."
"Yeah," Nico muttered.
"You don't know what that means to me," she continued. Will nudged Nico to move closer to his mother. "I'm sorry, I'm not a very good mother, am I?"
Nico shifted. "No, but you used to be."
"You're right," she agreed. "How about we do something together after we clean up?"
"Like what?" Nico asked skeptically.
Maria smirked. "I'll buy you a beer, how's that sound?"
Will's smile faded quickly as he realized what Nico's mother was suggesting. "But he's underage! That's illegal."
"So is having a kegger in an abandoned house," Nico said with a sly grin. "Besides, the legal drinking age for an Italian is a lot lower than it is in the states. And I've got my fake ID in case that doesn't work."
"That's my boy," Maria chuckled.
(***)
The gang was finishing up their reports in the Jackson's basement while Reyna watched television. Since her mother worked some classified job and her father was in the army overseas, she didn't have a parent she could shadow. Not wanting to shadow anyone else's parent either, she had convinced their school that she was not going to participate. The school had agreed quickly to keep the peace and let the girl go on her merry way.
"Think I could get away with saying my dad is a farmer? It would probably be a lot more interesting," Jason grumbled. "Also, he didn't even answer any of our questions, his secretary did."
Nico perked up. "Hestia still works there? Gods, she's the best."
Percy paused in his writing. "Is she the one that threw that big bonfire party a few years ago where I almost fell into the bonfire?"
"Yup, that's the one," Jason laughed. "The only story involving fire that Leo wasn't apart of."
Annabeth finished her paper with a flourish. "So, what do you guys want to do when you graduate. I mean, I'm going to be an architect and Will wants to be a doctor. But what about the rest of you?"
"I want to design ships and planes," Leo answered seriously.
The group stared in surprise at him but he didn't elaborate so they moved on.
"Nothing to do with talking to the dead, ever," Hazel grumbled.
Nico scribbled something down before answering, "Maybe a mortician, that sounds fun."
Hazel shot him a look which he effectively ignored.
"To never have to sit through another council meeting again," Jason groaned.
"Frank, what about you? You going to go back to your native land with all this knowledge and rule with an iron fist?" Nico joked.
The Asian boy laughed awkwardly. "Guys, you know I'm from Canada, right?"
"WHAT?"