Smiles Burn In The Styx: Thanks for the review! hopefully it wasn't bad...this story is definitely going to be going in different twists no one's going to expect.

thedarkwhiteangel: You have no idea how bad she got it...thanks for the love! I'm glad you enjoy the guitar, too.

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THE ROAD – CHAPTER TWELVE

Percy

It took a while before I was able to set my small encounter with Annabeth aside.

I couldn't help it. I just felt extremely guilty for getting her worried like that. No matter how many times she told me everything was okay over the course of 3 days, I still felt bad. After those 3 days, the guilt started disappearing, fortunately for me. We had a talk, and Annabeth promised she wouldn't talk about Tyson's situation until I was ready to talk about it myself. I told the rest of the band a few days later. They all took it well, unlike others I've told, and expressed constant support while showing as little pity for my brother as they could.

When I came back to the studio with Annabeth and showed the rest of the gang the gear I had designed, they were in awe. Not to mention we jammed together for hours to practice for the live playing that was coming.

But even though this was behind me, my mind was still racing. Our tour was starting soon and our album was just released to the world. I was glad critics took it well. Reviews came in praising absolutely everything: Frank's mind boggling bass playing, Leo's genius on the drums, Nico and I on guitars, and Annabeth's gorgeous voice. Media attention, much like Piper had warned me, came in massive but rapid waves. We were constantly getting phone calls to do commercials, interviews, press conferences, and even fashion photo shoots.

But none of us had the necessary amount of space or time to do anything. Our tour was starting very soon. I wasn't around for preparation, being with Rachel and all, but the guys helped me pack all my things.

After many days and hours of anticipation, it was time.

As we moved all the gear out of our studio and onto the trucks waiting outside all I could think of, despite the chaos, was how great the feeling was. For one of the first times in my life, I felt pride in myself. I was playing music for a living, and now it's going to take me all over the country. After all our instruments, despite a few we kept on the bus for warm-ups and practices, we got in.

The inside of the vehicle was amazing. It was very spacious, considering it was a bus, and allowed us all movement space. The sets for some of our shows were already prepared, and I was pleased and surprised I had a solo section all by myself halfway into the show.

"Hey" Annabeth called from the doorway to the bus. I put down the magazine I was reading and looked up at her.

"Hey" I replied as we smiled at each other, "are we all set to go?" I asked.

"Yeah, we just have to wait for the other lunatics" she said and added a small laugh afterwards which I joined in on. I can't deny it anymore: I enjoy Annabeth's company. She's one of the most pleasant people I've ever gotten to speak to.

"Oh!" Annabeth said suddenly and looked and felt around her collarbone in panic, "How stupid can I be?"

"What's wrong?" I asked, but before I could answer, her back was turned to me.

"I'll be right back!" she called from the door of the bus. I got up from my seat and moved to the front where I could look out the window. Annabeth was running full speed toward the studio building, nearly knocking over multiple people, one of them being Leo. He grumbled and look displeased as he walked toward the bus. I was already sitting back down with a guitar when he came inside.

"Man, you know what's wrong with Beth?" he asked me. My eyes moved from the piece of paper I was writing and up to Leo.

"Not really. Why, you upset you nearly got knocked over by a girl?" I joked.

"You saw that?" he asked, a little embarrassed. Being the great friend I am, I burst into laughter.

"Hey, that's not funny! She's strong, you know" Leo defended. Unlike me, I knew he wasn't joking. I got slapped on the arm by Annabeth multiple times.

"Strong she is indeed" I answered with a smile as I looked back down to the piece of paper I was using before. I started writing down a few notes when I felt a punch to the arm, making it shift and messing up what I was writing.

"What'd you do that for?" I asked Leo as Nico, who had just gotten inside, burst out laughing. I gave both of them a short glare before going back to my music. A few minutes later Annabeth got back on the bus along with Frank. We searched through all of our cabinets and drawers, making sure we have everything for the journey we were about to begin together.

"Do we have everything?" I asked Annabeth, who was holding pieces of paper full of items we needed to check for. Her grey eyes scanned the papers up and down.

"Yeah, everything's set" she said cheerfully.

And we were off.

The first few hours on the bus were turbulent, to say the least. None of us were used to walking, lying down or playing our instruments on a moving vehicle, but we managed after the first hours passed. Everyone, besides Annabeth and I, were sleeping when I noticed her lying on the couch of the bus, watching TV and playing with the beads of a necklace around her neck.

"That's what you went to get?" I asked her and pointed to the necklace.

"Yeah" she said and straightened herself up.

"Is it special? Like a good luck charm?" I inquired again.

Annabeth took a look down to the beads as she spoke, "It is. I got it from close childhood friends of mine before I left San Francisco. I don't go anywhere without it. They even put some special carvings on it."

She said and moved next to where I was sitting. She took the necklace off and put it into my hand. She pointed to the first carving of a lightning bolt, "That's from Thalia, and this other one" she said and shifted her finger to the carving of a winged shoe, "That's from Luke" she finished.

"Why a bolt and flying shoes?" I asked her as I gave her the necklace back. She fastened it around her neck again before answering.

"Thalia's nickname used to be Sparky when we grew up. She always had that sort of edge to her. And the flying shoes are because when we were growing up Luke joined the track team. He was the fastest runner there so we gave him Hermes' flying shoes."

"Isn't it supposed to be Mercury?"

"That's Hermes' Roman counterpart, Seaweed Brain." She answered with a smile, which proved just how clueless I was about mythology.

A few hours later when we came to our first stop everyone was up, awake and excited.

Why? Tonight was our first show.

We, along with some of the crew in the venue, unloaded all our gear off the trucks and busses and moved it into the arena. The place was gigantic on the inside, and this was the first time I got to be in the backstage area of a venue. Besides some restrooms, a locker room to change, and a green room to relax, the place was littered with gear. Cables, pedals, guitars, speakers, basses and amps were all over the place. Leo had a second warm up drum set backstage with us while his other drums were being set up on the stage. Nico, Frank and I had big tour cases for all our instruments. I had the dilemma of selecting what guitar color scheme I wanted to play each song with.

We were dropped off in the arena about 4 hours before the show, just to make sure we have enough time to set up all our gear and warm up properly. Those 4 hours felt like 4 minutes. Time flew by incredibly quickly, and it was soon time to go out on stage. All 5 of us were in the green room, trying to breathe and relax. Annabeth was warming up her voice, while Nico, Frank and I warmed up on our respective instruments. Leo was tapping his feet on the ground and his fingers on his thighs, trying to keep them warmed up.

"5 minutes until you guys go on" One of the employees popped his head through the door and said before disappearing just as quickly.

"Let's do it!" Leo jumped from his seat and exclaimed happily. Nico stood up next to him slowly, only to have Leo's arm wrapped around him and then Frank.

"Bring it in, guys" he said and motioned for Annabeth and I to join. Soon enough we were in a circle, hands around each other's shoulders, as one.

"We go out there and smash this show, you hear me?" Leo said. Just his words were sending additional chills of energy through my spine. I was already ready to jump out of my shoes, and the anticipation was unbearable.

"Let's go have fun out there" Frank added.

Everyone stepped out the door, instruments and drum sticks in hand as we headed out to the stage, signaling the start of our journey.


A/N: I apologize for not updating for so long. I know this isn't as long as others and i'm sorry. As I've said, a lot of things have been happening with me over the past 2+ months, and I hate saying this but i'm pretty sure i've slipped into depression. I'm losing motivation in a lot of things. I've tried my hardest to find that spark that I used to find when I wrote before all this bullcrap happened to me. But that's not saying it's been all bad. My new (and first) girlfriend has been trying her best to help me out of this hellhole, but it's incredibly hard when you're beginning to lose hope. At least when i'm with her I forget about the pain.

I'm not planning to end this. I have some wild ideas and hopefully, but it's going to take some time. I really do appreciate the people who've stuck around until now. Thank you guys.