Disclaimer: Riordan owns it.
Town Half-Blood – Chapter Eleven
Percy was dancing with Liana, stepping on her toes as they swayed. And every time he did, Percy would laugh nervously, and Liana would do the same, but it was bitter laugh. He didn't step on Annabeth's toes when they danced. But that was because Percy wanted to try his best to impress her, and Percy's mind wasn't into the dance with Liana at all. He was thinking about Annabeth the entire time. "Dancing with Annabeth was more fun," or "Annabeth looks a billion times more beautiful on the glowing dance floor." And whenever Percy tells her one of his stupid jokes, Liana wouldn't understand it at all.
"That was supposed to be a joke," Percy told her when she wasn't laughing at it. He was unsure if she found it funny, or doesn't get it at all, but Annabeth always did.
"Oh," Liana said, and then pretended to laugh, but Percy knew it wasn't a real one.
"Why did she have to ask me to dance with her? Why didn't I just refuse? Mom told me to be a gentleman though. Maybe I should've stayed with Annabeth. Ugh, this is so boring," Percy thought to himself, but he pretended to keep smiling as if he was enjoying himself. And boy, he was a pretty good actor because Liana thought he like her. And Annabeth was watching them afar.
Percy looked around, searching for Annabeth in the small crowd of people at the snack table as he danced with Liana. She wasn't there anymore. He looked around the district but there was no sign of Annabeth at all. He started to worry and panic, wondering what might've happened to Annabeth.
"Don't worry, she's probably in the washroom," Percy reassured himself. "Make up or something? That's what girls do all the time." But he knew Annabeth wasn't that type of girl.
That is, when he heard someone shout Annabeth's name, he knew something was definitely wrong. It could've just been his imagination, but he had to make sure.
"Uh, I need to go somewhere. I'll see you later, Liana!" Percy said hurriedly, and sprinted towards the person who he thought had screamed for Annabeth. He was also pretty relieved to run away from Liana's grip.
As he left the district, he was certain that there was something wrong, because he heard Silena's voice.
"Annie!" she shouted.
"Over here!" I heard Thalia yell.
I followed their voices, hoping to find Annabeth, and praying to the gods she's okay.
Chiron's POV (Never guessed that, now did you?)
I stood there talking to Malcolm in front of Athena's district, number six.
"Annabeth's settling in alright?" I ask.
"Yeah, perfectly fine," he grumbled.
"Is something wrong, Malcolm?" I asked politely.
"It's that Poseidon boy I'm worried about," he admitted, sighing exasperatedly. "Mom would be so angry at her. Annabeth seems like an awesome sister, but I don't want her to get in trouble, you know?"
"I see…" I mused to myself.
"Annabeth!" a random shout came out of nowhere. Funny how we were just talking about her. Malcolm and I shared a concerned look, wondering what could be wrong. "Annabeth!" he shouted again.
Malcolm's eyes widened. "That's Percy! I mean, the son of Poseidon!"
I recognized the voice now. "There could be something wrong. Hop on," I told him.
Malcolm jumped onto my back and I galloped over to the voice calling for Annabeth.
"I sure hope that son of Poseidon didn't do anything to her," I heard Malcolm growl under his breath.
I thought back on how Malcolm called Percy by his first name, then correcting himself to call him the son of Poseidon. I wondered why that was.
I've decided ignored his comment for now and galloped on the dirt pathway. We found Percy, not so far from district six, near the seventh district, the Apollo's. He spotted us and quickly ran up to us.
"Chiron! Malcolm!" Percy panicked. "Have you seen Annabeth?"
"No, is something wrong?" I asked, getting a bit worried.
"I'm not sure…" Percy started.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Malcolm says. "You were calling for Annabeth, and you don't know why or what happened?"
"You heard me? Never mind. I heard Silena and Thalia call for her. I thought something was wrong," Percy said.
"I'm sure she's fine, Percy," I calmed him down. "No monsters can enter this place." I avoided letting him know that monsters can enter when summoned…but I won't tell him that since it'd seem like he'd explode if I did right now.
"Why are you even worried about her, Poseidon boy?" Malcolm sneered. I knew that being stuck up was not anything like Malcolm, and I could tell he was acting even if Percy didn't.
"Look, you might hate me, but Annabeth's my friend, alright?" he says coolly, running his fingers through his hair, his fingers a bit jittery as if he doesn't have time for this. "I need to go find Annabeth. Thanks for trying to help, Chiron," he said sincerely. "Bye Malcolm!" And he ran off.
Malcolm frowned. "Is he oblivious that we're supposed to hate each other?"
"He probably just wants to try and make as much friends as possible here," I answered.
"Hey, Chiron?" says a voice that most definitely does not belong to Malcolm. Malcolm and I was a bit startled at first. I turned to see Nico hiding in the shadows. "Have you seen Thalia? I've been looking for her."
"Percy's looking for Annabeth. Maybe you should follow him. Thalia could be with Annabeth for all I know," Malcolm replied.
"Thanks. Bye Mal; bye Chiron!" he says, and shadow travelled away.
I sighed and shook my head. "If that boy continues to overuse his powers like that, he's going to pass out really soon," I said.
"But that's Nico. The guy that likes to show off," Malcolm smiled.
"From what I've heard from Silena and Katie so far, Percy seems to be quite the show off himself," I chuckled.
"He acts immature," Malcolm retorted.
"You need to think about it, Malcolm," I said. "Percy could be a great friend to you. Keep your friends close; keep your enemies closer."
Malcolm put on his thinking face and thought for a moment. "I can't be his friend, Chiron," he says.
"That's what you think. You can be his friend, like how Annabeth is Percy's friend," I said. "Her mother is Athena as well. You can't always use your brain for everything. Sometimes you need to follow your heart."
"I'm not an Aphrodite child, Chiron," Malcolm pointed out.
"Think about it, Malcolm." I scowled to myself.
"What's wrong?" asked the son of Athena, hopping off my back.
"Hm…Nothing. It's just that there're three different children from the Big Three, and they're all here at once. Something dangerous is stirring."
Malcolm nodded slowly. "I have to agree on that. We'll need to keep a close eye on them."
"I'll leave you be now," I decided. "I need to meet with Mr. D."
"Alright, bye Chiron," Malcolm said, and I headed towards the Big House.
Something is wrong. And having all three children from the Big Threes, that's just not right. Not right at all. I need to check with Apollo, the god of prophecies, and pray that the future won't be disastrous.
Malcolm's POV (I bet you're just dying for Percy's point of view now, aren't you?)
Chiron walked off leaving me by the Apollo's district. I thought silently of what he'd said. Should I be friends with Percy though? Mom would get angry. It's not the wisest choice. I then heard something nearby a tree. And there are a lot of trees out here. I walked over to the largest pine tree, and each step closer I take, the more crying I hear.
"Shh, shh, it's okay," I heard a voice.
"It's not okay, Thalia!" I heard Annabeth hiccup.
Who knew? Percy was right. Something was up. I moved through the bushes to see Annabeth, Silena and Thalia crouched down behind the huge tree.
"What happened?" I wondered, knitting my eyebrows together.
Annabeth shook her head, and wiped the tears away from her eyes, sniffling a bit. "It's nothing, Malcolm. I'm fine."
A rustling noise came from the bushes behind me, and we all turned to see who it was.
"Whoa," says Katie, throwing her hands up as if she was innocent. "I didn't know we were having a secret party behind a fat tree."
Thalia gave her a friendly glare, and gestured towards Annabeth, who hung her head down. You could literally feel the aura of depression around her.
"Oh. Annabeth? What's wrong, Ann?" Katie asked in a gentle voice. It's weird how girls can change their emotions so quickly.
Annabeth shook her head as if she doesn't want to talk about it. But for some reason, Thalia, Katie and Silena shot a look at me.
"Well?" Silena wondered.
"Well what? If Annabeth doesn't want to talk about it, then she won't talk about it."
"No, you doofus. Leave. This is a girl's situation here," Thalia rolled her eyes.
"Go! Shoo! Shoo!" Silena whacked my arm.
"Ow! Women are so weird," I muttered.
"He acts like Percy," Katie sighed. And that's a horrible insult to a son of Athena. Why in the world would I act like that – that – that fish.
Annabeth seemed to have heard and tears rolled down her cheeks again. I scowled.
"It's that Poseidon boy wasn't it?" I asked. "Is he the reason why you're crying? No wonder he's out there looking for you! Probably trying to make you feel worse, or –"
"Wait," Annabeth's voice cracked. "What'd you say?"
"Percy, I mean that son of Poseidon. He made you cry, right?" I said.
"No, after that," she replied.
"That he was looking for you?"
Annabeth stood up, but her legs were still a bit wobbly, so she held onto the tree trunk for support. "Why?"
I shrugged. "He says that he heard Silena and Thalia call for you, and thought something was wrong."
Annabeth wiped her tears again. And gave me a weird look. Then everyone else joined in.
"What? Why do you keep looking at me like that?" I complained.
"Go! Shoo!" Silena said again. "We need a girls talk."
"Leave already!" Thalia groaned.
"Girl's party! Bye-bye!" Katie says, and then shoved me off.
"Okay! Don't kill me!" I said after Katie pushed me away from the tree and down to the dirt path. I stood up and dusted the dirt off me and I walked away from their little group and towards my district. Sheesh. Who knew they could be such devils? My arm hurts.
I wondered if I should tell Percy where Annabeth is. He would want to know. But should I tell him? The girls want to talk about something private, which I shouldn't even know about, and I'm a son of Athena. I shouldn't be interacting with the son of Poseidon. Psh, no. That's weird. Mom would be angry…
"Malcolm!" shouted a voice, and I flinched. The last person I wanted to talk to right now.
I turned to face Percy, and I put on my best frown.
"What?" I asked, sounding irritated.
"Have you seen Annabeth?" he asked me again. He was still fidgety and had a concerned expression on his face.
Nico popped up beside him. "Where's Thaalliiaa…?"
I looked over at Nico, then back at Percy with a questioning look.
"He got drunk on the way here," Percy sighed.
"Hermes' party?" I wondered.
"Yeah," he nodded his head. "I went to check if Annabeth was there, but she wasn't. The place was horrible. You won't believe what the Stolls did there. They–"
"I don't even want to know," I cut him off.
"Nice choice," he smiled. "But really, have you seen Annabeth anywhere?"
"Okay, choose now, Mal," I thought to myself. "Either tell Percy or-"
"Yeah I saw her," I blurted out. Why did I say that?
Percy's and Nico's face lit up. "Really?" they asked.
"Was Thalia there?" Nico wondered. How'd he snap out of that drunken state so quickly? And without a hangover? This guy's strange… You know what? Big Three children are strange.
"Yeah, she was there," I answered.
"Well where are they?" Percy asked hopefully.
"Actually, they said they're having a 'girl talk' and shoved me off," I groaned with air quotes.
"Yeah, girls," Nico mused to himself.
"Nico, Thalia's a hunter," I said. "Why're you looking for her anyways? She had sworn off boys."
"Uh, you know. Cousins. Doing cousin stuff. With cousins," Nico stuttered. He peered over at Percy and pointed at him. "Yeah. You know, Thalia, Percy and I. Cousin stuff with cousins, my little nephew."
At this point, I was grossed out. "Please don't bring in our family tree," I begged.
"Our family has a tree?" asked Percy as if he doesn't understand, but I could tell he was kidding. "Ooh! Is it a Christmas tree?"
"You do realize that we're Greeks? We don't celebrate Christmas?" I asked.
"I do. We celebrate so that we get to eat a huge feast and open presents. I got a horse. Never rode on it until about a week ago, I think. But it ran away for some reason…" Percy says sadly.
"A horse ran away from the son of Poseidon? That's strange. Something's wrong," I said thoughtfully.
"Yeah. Strange. The horse man had his horse running away from him," Nico laughed.
"Chiron would be so angry at you for talking behind his back," Percy warned jokingly, and I couldn't help but hold back my laughter. Chiron's part horse? His back? Ran away? Got it? Ah, never mind. I don't expect you to.
Percy beamed. "See? I can be funny," he proved to Nico.
"You're funny because you're stupid," Nico countered.
I laughed harder. Hey, it's true.
"Pfft, oh yeah? Well you're stupid too. Yeah, that's right! I called you stupid!" Percy says proudly.
I rolled on the floor as I laughed at his horrible comeback.
"Stupid? Ooh, is that it, Seaweed Brain?" Nico smirked as Percy scowled. I laughed even harder if it was possible at what Nico called him. It was a good one. Creative at that too. "Oh right. I can't use that nickname because it's the pet name Annabeth gave you. Isn't that right, Lover Boy?"
Okay, I officially stopped laughing. I stood up and scowled.
"Lover Boy?" I asked.
"Annabeth's a friend," he defended himself. "And it's not a pet name."
"Aw, yes it is," Nico says in a baby voice. It doesn't suit him though. It's weird. "You have a pet name for Annabeth too! What was it? Wise Girl?"
Percy's cheeks flared. "That's not a pet name. It's a revenge name. Annabeth called me Seaweed Brain, so I'd call her Wise Girl."
I was staring at him in awe. "You fail," I said. "Who are you? Grover?"
"Is Grover known for being the worst nicknamer?" Percy sighed.
"Yeah. Who name's their sheep Coffee or Enchilada or any name of food he ate for breakfast?" I chuckled.
"No wonder people keep saying that," he said. "Wait, enchiladas for breakfast?" Percy wondered.
"Yeah, that's Grover alright," Nico nodded.
"Say, weren't you at the Hermes' party before you came to the Apollo's?" Percy asked Nico.
"I hate Luke," Nico growled under his breath.
"I thought you said he was an awesome guy," Percy retorted.
"I changed my mind," Nico decided. "He's evil."
Percy and I exchanged looks. "Dude, what happened?"
"Luke…Thalia…Kill him…" was all I heard Nico mutter out.
"I think it's best to ignore him," Percy suggested. "He's in his delicate state right now," he whispered jokingly.
"I heard that!" Nico snapped.
"Now he's in his angry–"
But before Percy could finish, Percy was being strangled by Nico.
"Ack! Let go! Gahhak! Can't breathe!" Percy choked out. "Malcolm! Call 911!"
"We can't get the police here," I said watching, very amused. They put on a good show.
"Malcolm! Call Mr. D!" He corrected himself, and Nico hastily let go.
"I'm innocent," Nico declared.
"Says the guy who almost choked me to death," Percy scoffed. "What? Do you want me to live with your daddy? I sure as Hades don't!"
I stifled a grin. "Okay! Sheesh! You two bicker so much. Now what's with you and Annabeth, huh?"
Percy cocked his head to the side. "What'd you mean?"
I mentally face palmed myself. Is he acting or is he serious? I never thought there'd be anyone so stupid in this world.
"You and Annabeth. What are your status? Are you sure you're 'just friends'?" I asked.
"Wha? No! I mean, yes! We're just friends!" Percy blushed.
I looked at him skeptically. In denial. I see…
Travis Stoll's POV (Don't you just love me?)
Katie left to go back to her house since it was getting late, and she didn't have dinner yet. I wanted to walk her back, but she says she'd be fine. Darn it, I wanted to follow. I love eating the food Katie makes. Her fruit salads tastes the best.
But since Katie suggested she walk back alone, I was stuck with Conner making out with Liana. Can somebody say "Ew…"? I thought so.
I coughed for Conner's attention, but he was still busy. So I coughed louder. He didn't seem to hear that either.
"Conner!" I shouted in his ear.
He looked up to me from Liana and blinked. "Oh hey, Travis. How long have you been here? What's going on?"
I rolled my eyes at him. Typical. So I went straight to the point. "Want to check out the aftermath of our destruction at our district?" I smirked.
"Oh yeah," Conner grinned.
"Why on earth would you destroy your own district?" Liana asked in disgust. I can't believe Conner was with this girl. Probably some sort of magic Hecate children did to charm him? They probably have the same skills as Aphrodite children, since that's how they get to Conner. Can somebody say "Ew…"? I thought so.
"We're just awesome like that," Conner says proudly.
"Well," Liana started in a supposed flirty way.
But before she could continue, I cut her off. "Let's go!" I said loudly, sounding enthusiastic, and quickly dragged Conner out of the party zone.
"Dude! What was that for?" Conner asked.
"Dude? Really?" I scoffed.
"Whatever. I can't wait to see Luke's face when he sees us!" Conner said excitedly.
"Probably gonna kill us, but this'll be so freaking awesome!" I added in.
Conner and I raced to district eleven, excited to see our leader's face. Ooh, this is going to be good. Who's our leader? Luke, obviously. Heh heh heh…
I'd like to say I won the race, but then I'd be lying. Stupid Conner. He beat me by a few seconds. It's unfair. But hey, at least I'm taller than him.
"Whoo! I win!" he rubbed it into my face, but I shrugged it off.
And the moment we stepped into the Hermes district, we burst out laughing. You wouldn't believe how wicked this place looks.
"Travis! Conner!" Luke fumed. "What did you do?"
Now, let me give you a short description of the place. Hilarious, disastrous, mess up, dirty, broken pieces of buildings scattered all over the floor, ruined, all except for mine and Conner's house. Our place was spotless. Okay, so yeah. We share a house. But it's big enough and that's all that matters. But that's not important. The important thing was that spiked punch and beer were spilt over the ground and dents were found in the houses. Bricks had been scattered everywhere.
"Well my dear brother," Conner started, and Luke glared at him. And he started to cower. "It's all Travis' idea."
"Oh, sure it's all my idea. You were the one who suggested pranking this party," I countered.
Luke glowered at the both of us. "You two are not staying in this place tonight, got it? Go to some friend's place to crash or in the woods for all I care. You are banned to come back until this place is completely spotless!" he snapped.
"Whoa, dude. It was just a couple of Greek fire," I held my hands up in surrender.
"More like fifteen, but still," Conner chimed in. Nice going, Bro.
"Out! Chris will inform you once this place is clean," Luke growled.
"Okay, okay. Sheesh. See ya later, Bossy Pants," Conner rolled his eyes.
And with that happy note, Luke shoved us out.
"He's a really nice half-brother," Conner commented as we walked away. "Where should we spend the night?"
I shrugged. "I'm going to ask Katie if I could stay with her," I said.
"Cool! Let's go!" Conner said.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. No way. Katie would most likely let me stay if it's just me. If you tag along, the chances are zero," I disagreed.
"What? What about the Bro Code?" Conner whined.
I rolled my eyes. "Go ask Liana if you want."
"Hey, that's a pretty good idea!" Conner nodded his head. "See you tomorrow, Dude! School's gonna start too. You gonna ditch?"
"Nah, I'm walking to school with Katie," I decided.
"You're lame. Bye!" Conner said, and then sprinted away to find Liana.
I shook my head and headed towards district four. As I passed district seven, I found Percy, Nico, Grover, and Malcolm chatting.
"Hey!" I called out to them. They turned their heads to me and they all grinned except for Malcolm. He scowled.
"Is this another prank?" Malcolm asked, obviously irritated.
"What? No. Actually, I'm heading over to Katie's place. I got kicked out by Luke," I admitted.
"Dude, it's the Greek fire, isn't it?" Nico smirked, and we high-fived each other.
"You bet," I nodded. "Luke wasn't happy one bit.
"Say, where's Conner?" Grover asked. "Isn't he always with you?"
"Yeah, but I'm staying over at Katie's place until district eleven's spotless. Conner's going with Liana," I gagged.
Percy laughed. "I feel sorry for him," he says.
"Well, he seems to like her. I think it's magic. Hecate children. You can never be too sure of them," I said.
"Agreed," everyone else said in unison, and we all laughed.
"So, where'd the girls go? I thought Annabeth was always with you," I smirked at Percy. It was obvious that they like each other. They're practically flirting with each other every day.
Percy blushed. "Not always," he tried to counter. I could tell he's in denial.
"Annabeth's with Katie, Silena and Thalia," Malcolm told me.
"Huh? She's not at home?" I asked.
"No, she came across them and started hanging out," he shrugged.
"You know where they are? I need to ask her if I can stay at her house. I didn't exactly eat dinner yet either. Her salads are tasty," I grinned.
"Yeah, but I think they want 'girl time' with each other. They pushed me away for 'girl talk'," Malcolm frowned.
"Eh, who cares?" I rolled my eyes. "Lead the way."
"I'm not certain if they're still there though," Malcolm warned.
"Doesn't matter," Nico says. "Let's just find them. It's almost eight," he looked at his watch.
"Really? I didn't eat dinner yet either," Percy sighed. Then as if on cue, our stomach growled.
We all laughed at the perfect timing.
"Looks like none of us ate dinner yet," Malcolm says.
"Um, I may have had dinner," Grover said sheepishly. "I want some enchiladas!" he added.
"And coffee?" Percy offered.
"And coffee," Grover agreed.
"Dude, it's like, at night. And you want coffee? Do you want to stay up the entire night?" I chuckled.
Grover shrugged. "It tastes good."
We all shared another laugh until Malcolm decided to show us where the girls were. He took us to this huge tree by the Apollo's district and we walked behind it, finding five girls talking about gods-know-what.
"Hey," Percy greeted them, and they turned around to notice us with huge happy faces.
Alright, I'm curious now. What on earth were they talking about?
Whew. I finally finished :D
And yeah, I didn't edit again. Sorry xD
But don't you just love the cliffhanger? The next chapter's going to be on the girl's point of view :)
I'm starving, I didn't have lunch yet...and it's like 5pm.
Over 4500 words excluding author's note :D
I'm so awesome :3
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