Chapter 11
Disclaimer: I do not own the PJ or HoO series by Rick Riodan
I leaped up and tackled him to the ground. It's possible I broke some of his ribs. Mo was just standing there, a look of awe on his face. Once I pulled away I had monster slime all over me, but I didn't care. I had Nico back and that was all that mattered.
"Did Percy and Annabeth get out with Rachel?" he asks, trying to regain his breath.
"We don't know. We've been in here the whole time. We need to find our way out and find them." Mo says, getting over his shock and returning to the glare he had been giving Nico for the past couple of days.
"Yea. I'll be happy to get out of this place." I say, shivering.
Nico wraps his arm around me and together the three of us start making our way out of the tunnel.
When we finally got out, we were all thoroughly exhausted and it was dark out. I pull out my phone and call Annabeth. She said they were at Percy's house already. She wanted to know every detail about the fight with the snake but I told her I'd tell them about it when we got there.
Nico, Mo, and I hopped into a taxi and went to the house. I was overjoyed that Nico was alive. I'd have to ask him how he survived being swallowed.
When we got to the house, we paid the cabbie and headed up the steps. Instead of ringing the doorbell, we just walked in. We figured they'd be expecting us so we didn't bother. Percy's parents had already gone to bed since it was about one in the morning. Rachel was sleeping as well.
It was amazing that we had been battling that thing for so long. No wonder we were exhausted. Percy and Annabeth wanted to know what happened as soon as they heard us walk through the front door but we insisted on taking showers first. The house was huge and had four bathrooms so there was no fighting about who got the shower first. I took the one downstairs and Nico and Mo went upstairs to shower.
I don't think I ever appreciated being clean so much until I had washed all the monster slime off. I felt even better when I changed into the spare clothes I had brought. I went out and found Mo and Nico already sitting on the couch. They were both eating a snack. Percy told me I could raid the refrigerator and I gladly took his offer. I made a turkey and cheese sandwich and got a bottle of water to drink then headed back to the living room where everybody else was.
After we ate, all three of us started telling the story. Percy didn't look surprised his cousin had lived after being swallowed. When we finished telling the story we all decided to get to bed. Percy went up to his bedroom and Annabeth went into the room where Rachel was asleep. Nico and Mo stayed and camped out in the living room while I got the downstairs guest bedroom.
I was plagued with nightmares. Every dream was about the giant snake coming and eating all the people I loved at camp, then laughing in my face. To top it all off, it lunged at me and ate me. I woke up terrified quite a few times during the night.
The last time, I woke up screaming. Nico came in and found me curled in a ball on the bed, rocking back and forth. He climbed in next to me and wrapped his arms around me. It calmed me down a little bit but I was still shaken up. I eventually fell asleep. I didn't have any nightmares this time and slept the rest of the night.
When I woke up, Nico was wrapped around me. Literally. He had his arms and a leg around me. I guess the events of yesterday/last night really wore him out because when I turned over he didn't even flinch. He was cute when he was asleep. His face is peaceful, like he didn't have a worry in the world. He also snores slightly, but not loudly like Lucas does.
I swear, my stepfather shakes the house when he sleeps. I can hear him all the way downstairs with my door closed. I honestly don't know how my mom can sleep.
I was still studying him when he stirred and woke up. He opened his dark eyes and looked at me. We just laid there studying each other until he smiled and kissed me.
"Good morning." he says.
This boy just melts me to the core. "Good morning." I say, smiling.
"No nightmares?" he asks.
"Nope. Not one since you came in." I say.
"Awesome." he says, grinning.
I get up and look at my phone. It was seven. I had a missed call from John. 'That's weird.' I think, 'John never calls me unless he's trying to reach mom.' He left a voice mail so I listen to it.
"Hey Kyra. Callie and I just got back from our honeymoon. Mom called and told me you went to a summer camp. I hope you're having fun and staying out of trouble. Call me please. I need to talk to you." he says.
He sounded miserable. Maybe he finally took all my warnings about Callie being a slut seriously. I doubted it. I decided I'd call him after I ate breakfast. I was starving.
I came out of the bedroom first. Then Nico a minute later. We didn't want our friends questioning us. All we did sleep together. Wait, that sounded so wrong. Let me rephrase that. All we did was rest together. That's better.
I come into the kitchen to find Sally, Percy's mom, cooking blue pancakes, blue scrambled eggs, and sausages. Thankfully the sausages were sausage colored. My mouth was watering. The fact that it was blue didn't really matter because I was so hungry.
"Oh, good morning! You must be Kyra." she says.
"Yes ma'am." I reply.
"Oh, no need to call me ma'am, dear. Just call me Sally. Could you get some plates out of that cabinet for me?" she asks, gesturing to a cabinet in the corner.
"Sure!" I chirp. I was in a considerably good mood after resting with Nico last night.
"Did you sleep well?" Sally asks, a hint of a smile on her lips.
I nearly dropped the plates I was carrying to the table. Did she know?
"Um, yea. A few nightmares, but who doesn't have those when you fought a giant snake just a few hours before?" I ask.
"Yea. I could see how you'd have a few nightmares." she agrees.
I give a silent sigh of relief. We small talked for a while until Annabeth walked in with Rachel.
"Good morning, Sally!" Annabeth greeted.
"Good morning, dear." Sally says.
"Need any help?" Rachel asks.
"Nope. I got it all covered. Would you go wake up the boys though? I think Percy could probably sleep through World War three if you let him." Sally jokes.
"Yea. I'll go wake them up." Annabeth says, giggling.
"Hi, I'm Rachel!" she says, sticking out her hand.
"Kyra." I say, shaking her hand.
"How long have you known Percy?" I ask, curious.
"Well, we first met when we were fourteen. He tried to stab me with his sword at the Hoover Dam." Rachel chuckles.
"Long story." she says, noticing my confused look.
"We met again a few months later at a school orientation and became friends. So, to answer your question, I guess about five years." she concludes.
"Gotcha." I say.
"Breakfast!" Sally yells, so everyone could hear.
After our blue breakfast feast, Sally and Paul went upstairs to get ready for work and Annabeth went to call Chiron. The rest of us went to the living room. I sat down on the couch and leaned against Nico and called John back.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Hey! I saw that you called." I say.
"Oh, hey Kyra! How's camp?" he asks.
I looked over at Nico and smiled. "Oh, it's great!" I say.
"That's awesome! What kind of things do you do?" he asks.
"Um, horse-back riding, art class, canoeing. We also have a camp fire with s'mores every night. It's really fun." I said.
"Horse-back riding?" John asks, surprised.
"Um, yea. The activities director thinks it's good to learn different things." I say. It's not really horse-back riding. It's pegasus riding.
"Oh. Well, um, I kinda wanted to talk to you about something else." John says, nervously.
"What?" I ask.
"Callie" he says.
"Oh? What's there to talk about?" I ask.
"Well, you seem like you hate her." John got right to the point.
I sit up really fast. The others look at me, wondering what the other person on the phone had said.
"Oh, I seem like I hate her?" I ask. Was John's skull seriously that thick? I despised Callie. Anyone who was ever with us when we were together could see that.
"Um, yea." John says, realizing he'd stepped onto a sore spot.
"John, have you not been paying any attention throughout the whole engagement/wedding? I try to not be in the same room with her because I hate her so much! How can you not see that she's just a slut using you?" I cry.
"Watch your tongue! She is not a slut and she's not using me!" John yells.
"Oh yea?! Can you seriously prove that John? If you can't, I can." I tell him.
"I want to see you try." John challenges.
By this time, the whole living room had gone silent and was listening to my side of the argument.
"John, I just don't want her to hurt you. I've seen the way she shows off to other guys. She wears clothes that are two sizes too small for her and struts around town trying to pick up any guy she can find. I've seen it just by walking around with Mo. I've heard her name many times being used in inappropriate ways by guys either my age or twice her age. How do you not see that?" I ask him.
The line was quiet. Finally, he spoke. "I never want you to talk that way about my wife again. In fact I don't want to talk to you again." Then he hangs up.
Those last words shattered my heart. My own brother just told me he wanted nothing to do with me. I put my phone back in my pocket and went outside. I needed some space. I didn't want everybody to see me cry. Mo would be okay because he's seen it before but not the others.
A/N:
Talk about a burn. Man, John just seems like a huge asshole if you ask me.
XOXO,
Mrs-diAngelo25
