"Good morning, Triton," Annabeth said happily, waving at him as she went down the market street.
Prince Triton looked at her with a peculiar expression. Annabeth returned it with a smile.
"You seem happy today," Prince Triton said somewhat suspiciously. Annabeth grinned and nodded, she held up her shopping bag that was full of chocolate.
"Of course I am! Why does everyone think I'm weird or something – is it a crime to be happy? I've just been shopping for my friend's wedding; her father gave me all this chocolate at a massive discount. Isn't that nice?" Annabeth showed him her bag. She held out some beautifully wrapped chocolate fudge. "You want some? I got more than I bargained for."
Triton took the chocolate hesitantly from her hands. Annabeth had literally no idea why everyone thought she was acting different today. She felt incredible, euphoric, amazing!
"Thanks..."
"So how is your training for the Mellay going? Its next week isn't it – apparently this challenge is going to be a brand new one, so the contestants will be taken by surprise."
Prince Triton looked at her weirdly, as if having a perfectly normal conversation was the strangest thing ever. Annabeth will never understand some people. She had no clue as to why Thalia seemed so stressed this morning.
"Yeah...this challenge is going to be a breeze for me – that Persues or Percy...whatever...he was such an attention seeker in that last challenge. The crowd were going bonkers for him all because he managed to kill a dragon...blah, blah, blah," Triton complained, there was a smearing of chocolate around his mouth. Annabeth gave him a handkerchief.
He eyed it warily.
"It's to wipe your mouth," Annabeth prompted.
"Right..." he used his hand instead and gave back Annabeth her unused tissue. "So anyway...that Percy person seems pretty suspicious don't you think? No one knows where he came from or who his family are – and he's only like sixteen, no sixteen year old should be able to use magic that effortlessly. It's not natural."
"He could actually be like a hundred and just preferred taking on the form of a sixteen year old," Annabeth pointed out.
"Hmm..."
"Oh well, I'll see you later – it's been nice chatting to you," Annabeth said, continuing down the market street, with Prince Triton still frowning in confusion behind her.
Percy banged on the old wooden door loudly; he heard light footsteps behind it. A tall woman opened it; her violet eyes gazed at Percy.
"Hello Percy, come in, come in – it's nice to see you again, it's been so long!" Rachel ushered him inside the warm dimly lit house. He looked around the familiar room taking in the potent aura of magic in the air.
"It's only been a few weeks," Percy said as Rachel gave him a big hug.
"Exactly, it's been ages. How are you? Have you been coping alright?"
"Rachel, you're not my mother – seriously."
Rachel pouted, which looked quite comical on her mysterious youthful face. She pushed him into a chair by the fire and sat down in front of him in her own armchair.
"Yes...your mother, hmm..."
Percy sat straight up, his eyes pleading. "What about my mother? Do you know her?"
Rachel laughed. "Well yeah, she was the first of my experiments – ahh, happy memories."
Percy's eyes flickered. "You experimented on my mother?" he growled, staring ferociously at Rachel. She stared back at him, her eyes unwavering.
"It was a good experiment – I had help of course, even though I'm number 1 top soothsayer/witch, I couldn't have done it without my buddies..." Rachel leaned back and sipped a steaming hot liquid from a mug...though it certainly did not look like tea...
"How do you mean? A good experiment?"
Rachel gave him one of her all knowing smiles. "It was a good experiment, except it is unfinished," she replied simply.
Great, very helpful.
"Where's my mother now?" Percy asked hopefully.
Rachel took another sip of her drink, a puff of steam drifted from her nose. "Dead."
"Dead," that single word felt like someone had just dumped a thousand tons of rock on him. "How?" his voice was shaking, maybe from grief or anger. How could Rachel just sit here and talk so calmly about it?
"She made a mistake that was fatal. The price she had to pay was her life. End of."
"I'm getting nowhere with this," Percy trembled, his hands were shaking. "You've kept secrets from me my entire life! I can't just...just live in darkness...this is my life as well. Not just yours. She's my mother, I deserve to know."
Rachel put down her mug on a small coffee table beside her. She looked intently at Percy after his outburst.
"All with come in good time, Percy. Just have patience."
Percy looked away, his fists clenched in frustration. "Fine. As long as I get answers in the end."
"Shall we start again then? What is the real reason you came here? I know it wasn't to shout at me about your mother," Rachel said, breaking the tension like a knife cutting through a veil.
Percy looked back at her, though he avoided her eyes. "I used a memory wipe spell on the princess last night. In the late morning her friend marched right up to me and accused me of changing her, whatever that meant. But I was confused, that's not suppose to happen, right?"
Rachel didn't reply for about ten seconds. A clock ticked in the background.
"No, that is unusual. But it has happened before – it only means that the person has deep affection for you," Rachel winked slyly at him. "Even if they haven't admitted it fully to themselves, the person's soul already has. It turns them into a slightly different person, though it should wear off in a couple of days."
"That princess loves me?" Percy spluttered, choking on the air.
"Yep, completely head over heels," Rachel said happily. "Now we can have loads of one quarter mermaids running around! Won't that be wonderful?"
"You're not serious?" Percy said, still gasping for air. He couldn't imagine the princess as his wife at all. Every single time she met him, she always started shouting at him. To be honest it scared him and her eyes were a very intimidating colour.
"Would I ever lie to you?"
"Possibly," Percy mumbled.
"What was that?" though she knew perfectly well what he said.
"Nothing. When the side effects of the spell wear off, does this mean she'll...um...remember what happened?"
Rachel raised an eyebrow. "What happened? Anything explicit?"
"No! Why does everyone think that? Just answer the question."
Rachel thought about it. "The memory spell will still work, so she probably never will know...what happened..."
"I didn't do anything to her by the way," Percy reminded her.
"Sure, sure...is this the princess of Athane by any chance?" Rachel asked curiously.
"Yeah."
Rachel smiled somewhat creepily. "Interesting..."
"Annabeth?" Thalia said, looking down from her horse.
"Thalia! What did you do to Percy," she demanded rather territorially.
"What? Who's Percy?" Thalia asked, confused. What was she going on about?
Annabeth looked back at her equally confused. "I thought you went off to kill him or something – earlier this morning you started getting angry about him..."
Thalia scrunched up her eyebrows. She really tried to remember but nothing was coming back to her.
"That's right," Luke intervened. "You told me it was going to get messy."
"What he said," Annabeth said, looking up at the two of them, as if only just realising that they were on horseback. "Where are you going?"
"To Atlantia to find a cure for Luke and Leo," Thalia told impatiently, it annoyed her that this was wasting time.
"Atlantia? But that's really far away! It will take a few days for you to get there – you'll miss the third Mellay challenge."
"Do you really think I care about that lame Mellay tournament?" Thalia gave her one of her famous snorts. "I'm saving one of my friends instead of wasting my time with some stupid Mellay."
"I'm your friend?" Luke asked with awe.
"Yes and right now we have to go. So nice meeting you," she waved sarcastically at Annabeth and pressed her heels into the horses' side.
The wind rushed past her as they galloped down the streets, leaving Annabeth standing at the stables open mouthed. Her grey eyes full of an emotion she couldn't understand.
"Yay! I'm going to be an elf again!" Luke cheered into the passing sky. Thalia smiled at his enthusiasm, she only hoped that this Physician knew what he was up to.
Cantering down the wide paved streets, Thalia saw a glimpse of brown through the trees in the upcoming pine woods. Gary came onto her mind. It must be him. Riding off into the unknown...
Thalia crushed the urge to follow him; she could do that another day. She manoeuvred her dark brown horse onto a deserted country road, which wound up and down through the long pale grass. The high afternoon sun shone down onto them, providing warmth on their journey ahead. Thalia's bag of provisions jolted up and down from the galloping horses' speed.
An immense sized forest was drawing closer towards them; it stretched far over the horizon. She could just make out a gate that blocked the entrance to the forest.
"Did you kill Percy then?" Luke said over the noise of the pounding hooves.
"Look, I have no idea what you are talking about. Can we just leave this conversation?"
"But -"
"No buts," Thalia answered firmly. She dug her heels harder in the horses' side and it charged right towards the gate.
"Ahhhhhh!" Luke screamed. "Nooooo! Too fast!"
Thalia laughed at him. "You're not going to fall off, I'm at the back of the horse, be grateful."
The wooden gate approached them rapidly; the horse wasn't making any inclination of slowing down. Thalia pulled suddenly on the reins, the horse reared on its back to legs, whinnying in protest. Thalia gripped harder with her legs in effort not to fall off. Although it was quite hard with a hyper active goblin clinging onto your waist...
"Luke, get off!"
"S-sorry," he squeaked, but he didn't let go. The horse fell back on all fours and shook his mane, getting rid of the knots and tangles.
"Luke, open the gate, would you?"
Luke muttered something dirty about horses and spinach, as he jumped down from the horse and opened the gate.
"Says here 'BEWARE: DO NOT ENTER'" he gestured to a badly engraved sign that was nailed roughly into the wooden fence.
"Ignore it," Thalia said. "It probably means nothing."
Luke shrugged and continued opening the gate. He climbed back on the horse (with a little help from Thalia)
The horse started trotting cautiously into dark overgrown woods. A cool scent of berries and fern leaves wrapped around the air around them.
Birds chirped in the background, through the noise of the rustling trees. Thalia could hear the sound of crisp dead leaves flying with the wind, they twirled around in the air, spinning and falling to the ground.
The trees around them looked like they were holding their breath. Their branches were dark and empty, bare twigs reached out towards each other like outstretched fingers.
A lone squirrel raced across their path, disappearing up a tree on the other side of the path.
"Can you hear that?" Luke whispered.
Thalia listened.
"No," she said just as quietly, though she didn't know why she was whispering.
"Footsteps," Luke replied. "Eyes watching us..."
Thalia swept her eyes around her. She couldn't see anybody...wait...was that a shadow of someone?
"We need to speed up," she said. She lashed the reins, pushing the horse to its limits. Faster, faster...Thalia could sense someone or something following after them. "Hurry up," she muttered to the horse.
Whoosh.
The horse collapsed underneath them. They all went flying over the top of the horse. Luke was screaming his heart to pieces.
Thalia skidded into the path; her clothes scraped up and ripped on the stony path. Her head pounded she tried to stay conscious. Luke landed suddenly on top of her, knocking the air out of her.
Heavy footsteps surrounded them. They were inside a circle of bandits.
"No. Sudden. Movements," Thalia commanded.
Slowly she stood up, facing the dark eyed bandits. She saw her horse lying wounded on the ground with an arrow sticking in its right thigh. Anger built up in her chest. They were outnumbered; she could count a dozen bandits all grinning cruelly around her.
She sniffed the air. Humans. Eww...they smelt disgusting.
"Put down your weapons," the leader ordered. His stubbly face grinned at her in a disturbing perverted way.
Thalia put her hand on the hilt of her sword. Every single bandit pointed their weapons at her throat. Luke clung to her leg in terror.
"You really have no idea who you're messing with," Thalia gave them her best sinister smile. Two of the thieves stared back at her with a dreamy smile, their eyes full of lust. She smiled hypnotically back at them. Drool trickled out the corner of their mouths.
She really didn't like humans.
The leader pointed his sword directly at her heart. "It does not matter who you are, only what you are worth. Although I bet you could sell for a good amount."
Creep. Quick as a viper, she stepped back and drew her sword, charging headfirst at the leader. He blocked her strike, though his arm wavered under the pressure. The rest of the bandits started closing in on her and Luke.
Bang.
"Thalia! I actually managed to use magic!"
"Awesome! Keep going," she yelled, whilst she slashed repeatedly at the bandit leader. She sensed another one coming up behind her, without thinking she kicked backwards and landed her foot in a soft spot.
She heard a scream and was satisfied. This group of puny humans were no match for her. Disarming the leader, she stabbed him right in the gut, twisted the sword and dragged it out. He was shrieking in pain, blood was pouring out his mouth and belly. He collapsed to the ground, writing on the rough stones.
Bang! A burst of light erupted from behind her, sending her flying backwards into a tree, along with several bandits.
"Luke!"
"Sorry!" he called back as he continuously blasted the robbers into tree trunks, denting the fine wood. Five of the bandits lay unconscious or dead on the woodland floor; there were nasty bruise on their heads.
Thalia stood up and blocked a strike from an oncoming bandit; she attacked him relentlessly, hardly even tiring from the effort. Finally he gave in and tumbled to the ground, covered in cuts and bruises.
If Annabeth were here, she'd probably faint from all the blood – although on the other hand, she did survive watching both of the first Mellay challenges...
An arrow was flying towards her, she ducked just in time. Sending a beam of energy towards the archer, he fell to the ground screaming in agony. Ahh...sweet music to her ears...
Luke suddenly yelled in panic. Thalia turned her head in his direction.
Time seemed to move in slow motion. A bandit stood far back on a group of rocks, his hand was positioned as if he had just thrown something. A silver dagger was flying straight at Luke's heart...NO! She couldn't think, only act...
She raced towards Luke, tumbling on top of him. He collapsed under her weight, falling heavily to the ground. Pain erupted in her lower back. Her vision was blurry, a pounding started in her ears. She couldn't hear anything but her silent screams of pain. Her back felt like it was on fire, she really hated humans...
She heard a muffled bang...Luke where was he? She couldn't see anything but black now. Her head hurt too much...she couldn't see anything...
But she saved Luke, didn't she?
At least that was something.
She woke up lying on her stomach, surrounded by a flickering fire light. Blearily, she looked around the night covered forest. Fireflies shimmered between the heavily shadowed trees; a small neat fire was burning next to her.
A familiar looking goblin was sitting next to her...was he crying?
"Thalia! You're alive!" he cried into her, hugging her body.
"Elves can't die, silly," she said light heartedly, but she too felt a tear prick at her eye at his vulnerability. She didn't care if he was getting black snot on her shirt, or tear droplets running down her leggings. It was worth it.
"I – I thought y-you were d-dead," he stammered, his red eyes looked at her with emotion. "You were s-so still for so l-long."
Thalia hugged him back, letting him finish crying.
"You saved me..." he said with wonder.
"It's what friends do, don't they?" Thalia told him. "Get some sleep, I'll be alright."
Luke gave her a drowsy smile and curled up on a small rug by the fire. His chest rose and fell evenly, a peaceful expression on his face.
Annabeth sat on the soft green grass, a sketch book resting on her lap, in her left hand was a lump of charcoal. The new morning sun lit up the distant skyline.
She was sitting in the same place Percy had taken her two nights ago; the landscape had stolen a place in her heart. Her black and white drawing was just as beautiful as the real life scene, it was perfect. Just like the memory of last night.
She remembered sitting on the side of the cliff with Percy, taking in the stunning view...but the memory stopped there. Though she didn't care, it was enough to make her smile.
The sweet salty scent of the ocean filled her nostrils. She scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, the sea was nowhere near Athane, and it was at least a few days horse ride. Atlantia was near there. Annabeth admired the King of Atlantia for building his empire there, since it is a dangerous place to live. Mermaids could easily come from their hiding places and attack the nearest villages; the elves that lived there would have no chance.
"You like drawing?"
Annabeth looked backwards. Percy leant against a tree just behind her, as if he had just taken a stroll through the tall pine woods. He looked freakishly handsome like usual, just like Annabeth memories...
"Yeah...it's so beautiful here, I had to draw it," she said smiling at him.
"Um...ok, how do you feel? Are you...feeling...uh...ok?" Percy sat down next to her.
"I'm fine, though I don't know why everyone is asking me this today..." she shrugged and stared deeply into his green eyes. He had a gentle aura of green emanating from his body.
Percy laughed, it made her smile. "It doesn't matter. Follow me, I can show you real stuff to draw."
Without hesitation, Annabeth jumped up and followed him into the forest. She had no clue as to where he was taking her; she just wanted to be with him right now.
He took her hand and led her through a maze of rocks and swaying trees, she felt so peaceful being led by him...like finally she had found the home she was searching for.
They ran down a staircase of crafted rocks and down to an enclosed part of the forest. A singing stream hummed as they walked past. Annabeth looked around in marvel at the remote deserted rocky stream.
Walls of rock stood either side of her, the light of the sun splitting through the gap at the top. The birds chirped all around her, blending in perfect harmony to the rush of the water.
Percy helped her over the stepping stones and onto the other side of the stream. Every time his skin touched hers, she felt warmth stirring in her chest.
"Over there," he pointed slightly upwards to a glittering waterfall in the distance.
Annabeth's eyes lit up. What a painting she could make from the sparkling colours of the water, all those different textures she could paint...
"It's perfect," she breathed. "Race you there!"
She sprinted over the rocks, her sketchbook placed securely under her right arm. She could hear Percy running after her, slowly catching her. She was laughing, all of a sudden she felt free. Completely free, this was who she was and who she should be. Annabeth now knew she didn't belong in a cold gloomy castle, belonging to her husband. Women are equal to men, and she was going to show the world that she didn't have to listen to anyone else; no one could tell her what to do, what to think, how to behave.
Percy overtook her easily; she laughed anyway and ran faster trying to beat him. She suddenly slipped on a moss covered rock and slammed into the ground. Her back flared with pain, her breath had entirely left her.
Percy stopped running and turned back around. She could hear his footsteps getting closer and closer.
"Giving up already?" he smirked, picking her up in his arms. She didn't object.
"Too...slippery...you're really strong..." she managed to say between her breaths. She looked up at Percy's ethereal features, taking in his strong jaw and straight nose. It wasn't fair that his skin was so perfect...there was not one single flaw on his face. To everyone else he looked handsome and abnormally attractive...but to her...he looked alien. No elf should look this handsome...it was true that the elfish race were more elegant and good looking than humans, but Percy was different. Almost like...almost like... he was a...
"Shall I leave you to draw?" Percy asked politely, setting her down by a rock next to the waterfall.
"No...Stay, I like to have company...sometimes," Annabeth flipped open her sketch pad. Her charcoal flew over the white paper, filling it with a rough picture of the waterfall. When she got back home to the castle, she was going to paint a picture that would be remembered for an eternity.
"Have you ever tried drawing people before?"
Annabeth nodded, remembering sneaking around the palace when she was younger and drawing the random guards around the battlements.
"Although, no one ever seems to want to be drawn. I can't find anyone who has the time to sit patiently for an hour whilst I paint them..." she silently hinted at him under her words.
He didn't seem to realise.
"I'm talking about you, seaweed brain," she giggled. "Please, please, please can I draw you? I've always wanted to do portraiture properly for someone."
Percy hesitated. "Maybe..."
"Thanks so, so, so, so much!" Annabeth said excitedly, a joyous smile was etched upon her face.
"Does this mean I have to sit still for over an hour?" Percy complained. He stuck his bottom lip out. He looked so adorable...
"Yes! Is that a problem?"
"Uh – no..."
"Perfect," Annabeth smiled. Her mind started envisioning Percy's flawless features drawn onto a clean white canvas. It would truly be perfect.
"Is your back ok?"
Thalia rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help but smile at the goblin's persistence. "I'm fine; you can stop saying that now."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Luke still looked down guiltily as they walked to the end of the forest. Thalia's bag of supplies was slung over her back; her bag of money was still safely strapped to her waist, along with her sword and jewel encrusted dagger.
She pushed open a gate as they strolled out of the woods, it creaked eerily with rust. In the distance, she saw a small little town in the middle of the moorland, smoke was rising from chimneys and she could see carts driving and leaving the entrance.
"We will have to stop there for supplies and another horse," she said, leading them down a small trail through the long cricket infested grass.
"Poor horse," Luke muttered sadly.
"Poor horse," Thalia agreed. She squeezed his hand comfortingly, making him look up at her and beam. "You know, if we don't find a cure at Atlantia, I'll still always be here for you. I promise."
Luke sniffed, his eyes opened wide at her. "Promises," he murmured. "So many promises...you don't have to keep any promises for me. We haven't even known each other long."
Thalia gripped his hand tighter. "It doesn't matter about that. You're my friend and friends don't break promises."
The walked on through the grassy sloping hill in a comfortable silence, towards the petite serene village. Luke gazed in wonder as a multi coloured butterfly flew fluttering across their path, he tried to reach out and grab it.
"You are so childlike," Thalia said, though she was smiling.
"But I love butterflies!" Luke told her seriously. "Do you think they'll have peppermint tea in the shops in the village?"
Weird question...
"Probably, you never know – they might even have spinach tea," Thalia said optimistically. Luke's face split into a grin. He clapped his hands together excitedly.
"I love spinach! Although artichokes are very nice as well... My mother would grow them in our garden – along with cabbages and brussel sprouts!"
Thalia wrinkled her nose. "You like brussel sprouts? – Eww."
Luke looked at her like she was insane. "I love them! How can you not like them? I made brussel sprout soup for Leo once, it reminded me of home..." his eyes suddenly went distant.
"We'll get you back," Thalia said encouragingly, although part of her felt a slight pang at the thought of never seeing him again. "You can go back to your proper family."
Luke was silent for a moment. "Will you visit me? You're part of my family now; I've only ever had my mother to live with. My father left me when I was born, he never visited us once," there was a strange bitter edge to his voice.
For a moment Thalia saw a different side to him. His darker broken side, crueller and filled with hatred. She took his hand again, wanting to bring back his old side.
"Don't hold it against him. He made his own foolish decisions, I'm sure one day he'll realise what he put you through."
Luke nodded, his better side returning back to existence.
"We're here now," Thalia said. "Shall we go and find you some peppermint tea, then?"
A bright spark lit up his red irises.
"Yes!" he started running towards the entrance.
"Luke!" she yelled, sprinting after him. He stopped suddenly, almost making Thalia crash into him. She pulled off her cloak.
"You forgot this," she said, wrapping it his shoulders and pulling up the hood.
"It's too big; I can't wait until I'm actually an elf. I hate being so small," he grumbled, treading over the dirt road and into the village.
A flood of noise drowned Thalia's ears; people all down the streets were advertising their wares and sale prices. She could hear talking everywhere, people meeting each other the streets and chatting to each other happily, a busker played on a banjo next to a small café.
"Let's go there! Please, please, please?"
"Sure, but let's not spend too long," Thalia said, wanting to get to Atlantia as soon as possible.
"Peppermint tea all the way!"
Thalia suppressed a groan. She really hated the smell of peppermint.
AN: Bonjour mes amis! Thanks so so so so so much for reviewing, its really nice of you :)
So...now I've managed to include the big fat three teas in my story! Maybe i should include coffee...hmm...difficult...