Hi.
Cinder luna-Hmmm idea is quite unique. Me like-y. But I'd probably trash the idea, but I'll think about it.
frostfeatherthewriter-I now know why everyone hates writers block. *sigh* it's the worst. Anyway thanks for the idea! I used some of it to write this.
Artemis Izzy-Thanks for the ideas! I took inspiration from some of your ideas! Thank you!
Mickey-o14-The hands thing were a spire of a moment, as well as this whole chapter.
Poppyohare-Oh my God! Yes, I'm so using the idea! Ahahahaha! Yes I have played an instrument, I used to play the flute.
Percabeth4ever-Love the ideas thanks! Sadly with the I set this up, I don't think a revolution is possible. I just don't know. I have ideas but I'm not sure which to pick.
POV-Malcolm
Dropping off Rachel, Danielle and Austin was hard. We all had to say goodbyes to each other when we don't know if we'll ever see each other again. I'll really miss Rachel, she's been my partner through me being a spy and has helped me out of so many pickles. It really hurts to know I may never see her again. More than I thought it would.
Austin and Danielle say they will get married check with some other full time spies and maybe they'll see us again but they are unsure.
It was tough on all of us. Tyson was sad because he really liked Rachel. She was one of the only ones who managed to calm him down when he goes on crying about missing his big brother. That his big brother promised to never leave him. That his big brother is going to come home.
It shatters all of us.
Getting the whole crew together isn't easy either. I know major topic jump but stay with me. Getting the whole crew, spies included, to try and do something for Athens people is hard. Percys gone and we aren't organized at all. It's been making me want to pull my hair out at how hard it all is. Trying to do Percys job is hard, it's doesn't make anything any easier.
The four first mates, Thalia, Jason, Frank and Grover, have been trying to make since of Percys thousands of documents and letters and the way he categorized everything with little to no avail. The way he walked around his office and how he could just pluck a document or piece of paper with suck ease made it seem easy, but once you see the drawers in person, you'd think Percy just shoved each paper into a random cabinet.
We used to make fun of him being disorganized and throwing everything into a single pile but his actual organization skills are far to complicated that I think we would have some better if he just threw everything into random cabinets.
Not to mention Percys not so good handwriting makes the documents we do find hard to read, the details at times are vague and he has documents on every single incident that has ever happened on the ship. I didn't even know he did that. There's record on if they met someone important or a potential new crew member.
Heck there is a thirty page story (front and back) on his perspective on my first time on the ship and some get even longer than that!
I swear the amount of thoughts and ideas plastered in his head on everything is enough to fill several dictionaries.
He has a sort of diary cabinet that holds his nightmares and his thoughts on them. Some get so detailed and... I read one and I don't ever want to read another.
We can see each lie he's ever told, every single thought he's ever had in the past six years, every single reason for feeling guilty, and it made so much since!
'I couldn't protect myself with just my bare hands when they all had swords and daggers. And if I couldn't protect myself, there is no way I'll be able to protect my crew... I heard every word the guard said and it hit me hard. He was not going to kill my friend. Just the look on Leo's face was enough to make me want to throw up... 'Everyone single one of your pathetic crew is going to die, I wonder who they'll blame?' The guard whispered in my ear. I didn't like the stupid guard. But I felt like I was being thrown into a volcano. Is it true? Will they think that? God not this again.'
We never really knew what happened the night he saved Leo and almost died, just the bare basics. Add his thoughts in, then gods almighty I think a few of us cried.
We know more about Perseus Jackson now then we ever had, and he's dead. Of course, typical, purely typical! I swear we all thought we knew him pretty well, as soon as we started reading his notes and pages and entries every night at dinner it's like we've uncovered another layer of dirt and dust to uncover a jewel.
I thought Percy was secretive before, I never Imagined it to be this big. I wish we could ask some unanswered questions but we'll never see him again. All we have is his notes, and pages and entries, now. I hate it.
I cried when many people I have known died, especially at the hands of my father. I don't think I've ever shed so many tears on a single person before. I think it's because a close friend is dead and because my sister is the one who killed him.
It just hurts more.
Everyone isn't really happy and some may say Percy's ship has fallen into depression. To be honest, whatever floats your ship.
It's almost like the very soul has been sucked out of everyone, but... I don't... I don't even know anymore.
I really just can't wait to get to Montauk, tomorrow. That's where we'll be staying. It's in Olympia about forth miles away from New York, I can't wait to see it because Thalia said its one of the most beautiful private beaches in the whole world. There is lost of history there and it's away from people. It sounds perfect to me.
POV-Annabeth
"Another twenty miles." I say out loud to Percy who's ten feet ahead of me. Another twenty miles till we get to Cepeop?- no. Another twenty miles and we'll be out of aristocratic territory.
We've been traveling by foot for five days, we have eight more to go till we get to New Romes boarder, plus half a day to travel from the boarder to town because we need to take the long way, so we don't get spotted.
Percy is a nervous reck and the few times he has gone to bed, I wake up from his panicked screams and hits in the arm and torso from his violent thrashing. I don't think the purple bruise on my side is helping his nightmares.
I told Percy we should stop in Yoque, it's a pretty decent town, I've been there, and it seems to have a big offense against my father. I asked if he ever had an alliance with them and he just said no, but it does sounded familiar. So we'll be stoping there for a few minutes.
The reason I want to stop there is because all its money comes from making and selling potions, for really cheep. I said maybe we could barter for a few anxiety potions since the lack of sleep isn't doing Percy any good.
He said it was a bad idea, I told him, so was lying to me. He shut up pretty quick after that.
I just want Percy to relax, he's already got enough on his plate, he doesn't need a sixtieth portion.
I just wish Percy was happy for once in his life! Why is that so hard to ask? Because it seems to me everytime something seems to be going good in Percys life, it just comes crashing down. Yet here I am. In more ways than one.
I sit and think back to my mother, I imagine how she first saw Frederick, but most of all I imagine her never even batting an eye lash in his direction. I try to think of everything that would be different.
I wouldn't have Bobby and Mathew, I would've been made queen years ago by now, my mother would be alive, I would think differently. Athens wouldn't be in trouble.
But then I look on a larger scale.
Percys mother would still be alive, the crew wouldn't have met or gotten together in one place, most would be in jail, Percy would have been a sailor or a knight, Thalia might have never found Jason, her brother. The same there's the biggest one...
My mother was big on marring someone with power, even if it's just a little. I always thought it was weird since she married my 'dad' but now I know she married Neptune first, and Frederick's family owned a popular publishing company, so they had quite a bit of money. So Frederick had power, and status even it its just a tiny, tiny, bit.
Percy had no status or had any power. He may have been a knight(maybe) but my mother would flip if I said I wanted to marry him. If he was a sailor then my mother would have sent me away to test my sanity. Then there's the fact I may have never met him, period. I don't like that thought at all.
My head hurts from thinking to much. I can't change the past, even if I could I don't think I would, simply because I don't know if I would ever meet Percy. I guess I'm just happy I'm with Percy, no matter how grim our situation is.
"Which way?" Percy asks, looking at at the split in the back road we found. I look at our map we kept from the cottage and look at our compass.
"Left, then right, right and we can stop by a river off the trail about a quarter mile after that." I say, heading in that direction with Percy at my heels. "We can rest there for the rest of the night. We should make it to Yoque by noon tomorrow..." I was going to continue when Percy stops and cuts me off.
"Hold on. We never agreed to go to Yoque." Percy voice sounds a bit panicked, and my thoughts are confirmed once I turn around to look at him. His eyes are wide and muscles tense. I frown and cross my arms with the map in my left hand.
"Well we are. We need to get you an anxiety potion before you get to tired to eat. Let's go." I'm about to keep walking but Percy his hands on my arm.
"This is a horrible idea, Annabeth. What if we get spotted?" I push his hands off me and glare at him.
"Then we run and hope for the best." I glare with my voice firm. His eyes narrow into a glare. I hate his glares, they are horrifying.
"Yeah, like I'm putting your life in danger. I'll be fine without any potions." Percys voice is hard and stern, in a final warning type of voice. I stand tall, I'm the only one that can win this type of fight with him. I think, I hope.
"No you can't. I'll be fine, we're wasting daylight out here, let's go." I spit and grab his hand to pull him along. He shakes my hand off and steels the map from me. I shout at him but his height and long arms and better fighting skills give him the advantage to keep the map out of my hands.
He starts walking back the way we came which leads me to call him some colorful language. He gulps at my last words and I regret speaking at all. I hate it when I forget his sensitive state right now.
"Percy we might find help in Yoque!" I yell and try another grab for the map. Percy pushes me back a little and grabs both my hands, looking right in my eyes. All I can say is, fear. That's all I see.
"And if we don't?" His voice hard and stern again. "If we get caught and I get arrested and killed on the spot for kidnapping you? You get taken back to the palace and brainwashed again?-but this time you never remember? If we don't find any potions? Do you have answers now Annabeth? Because I can list a million reason why we shouldn't go." His eyes soften. "I just don't want you to get hurt again, okay. I'll be fine, stop worrying about me for once." I stand there for a few seconds a bit shocked, till my eyes harden and I glare right back at him.
"If I don't worry about you then no one will. How about this Percy? Stop worrying about the people around you and think about yourself for once? Just this once. Because I'm going, with or without you." I forcfully take his hand off mine and walk away from him.
I know he won't let me go on my own, I know he'll call me insane but screw him! If there is even a tiny chance that we can get help, get word on the crew or get places faster, I'm taking it.
I heard Percy sigh and walk after me while mumbling things under his breath. We walked quietly for the rest of the way till we get to the river. It's slow compared to most but it's high and there is a water fall around half a mile away so the water is crystal clear. I look down at myself and think.
I am filthy. My dress is stained all over. I am covered in a thin layer of dirt and dust. I haven't taken a bath is five days because all the water we've passed up until know had been to polluted to even think about cleaning myself in. We have stop by a few fountains and wells for water but that's about it.
I need at get clean. Then get dressed in my spare clothes.
I turn around and see Percy looking at the water with a soft, sad smile. He misses the sea, the ocean. So do I. The smell the sound of waves. I'm sad we both haven't seen it in so long.
But that's not what I need to say right now.
"I'm really filthy." I motion to my dirt covered self. Percy looked over me and did almost a double take like he never realized it. "And I think we should use this water to get clean." I hint that I want him away from here. He looks at me and his cheeks turn bright pink and he nods and heads away from me. He sets my bag down with my clothes in it and goes behind some trees.
I make sure he's far away, I'm sorry but I don't trust his clumsiness or forgetfulness, before taking off my clothes an getting into the cold water.
It takes me half an hour to get all the dirt off so I don't feel so gross and I quickly get dressed.
Now I'm in a loose T-shirt I'm pretty sure there men, black, pants. The shirt is too big, more for a much larger man. I honestly think I grabbed the wrong clothes when I was packing, or Percy is going to find some too small clothes in his bag.
not really carding though, I use the same techniques tthey used on the ships to make shirts and pants smaller. By tying the shirt in knots at the back and doing the same with the pants. I honestly think I grabbed the wrong clothes when I was packing, or Percy is going to find some too small clothes in his bag.
I look like a pour idiot. My hair doesn't feel as heavy as before but it's still messy and tangled and feels gross. Percy is going to look at me like I'm an idiot and question my sanity for attempting to wear a stupid getup.
But instead in drowning in my insecurities for wearing something so masculine (I wore pants and shirt before but nothing so big on me) I walk down the river to find him shouting his name.
He calls back after a few minutes and he says to be careful looking because he was just getting dressed. I managed to find him right as he was buckling his pants. He didn't have a shirt on though. The scar on his chest took up everything, and then some.
I've seen him without a shirt on, (no not in any way you are thinking) the last time I did I remember him being very well built, muscular and not skinny or big. His skin on the inside of his shirt as dark and beautiful as the outside.
It really breaks my heart to see him now. I have given him his privacy when he was getting dressed but I definitely regret it now because I would have already done a lot.
The scar he got when he almost died on the ship stands out bright pink with mixtures of grey and tanned skin. It's an ugly, scarring just by look at it, type of scar. I've never seem It in person before and he's going to get an earful just on that alone. But he's skinner than I remember, okay I'm lying to myself you can just about see his ribs.
What muscle he had is almost wasted from lack of sleep for weeks and not doing smithing for double the time. His chest is significantly paler compared to his arms.
Thank the gods he covers his torso with his shirt before I go and rant. He looks up and turns bright red. It's sort of funny.
He waves and asks how long I've been there. I tell him the honest answer.
Percy relaxes but I don't.
"You need to eat." I say seriously and grab my bag so I can dig around for food. Percy protest of course but I don't give him a chance to say any of it.
After I go on a bit of a rant about him hiding his obvious hunger from me and a few other things, Percy says sorry and start setting up camp.
It's about ten pm. It's dark except for a large fire Percy built in the middle of a small clearing that we decided to rest at. The fire is warm and inviting but the cold breeze makes it almost unbearable.
Im freezing and the blankets aren't helping. I scoot closer to the fire to try and get warmer but it's not working. Percy is to my right but he's not right next to me. He pokes at the fire with a stick and uses the same one to draw in the dirt.
We haven't really talked in a while. It's just we don't know what to say, at least I don't.
I seriously wonder what is going on in Percys head sometimes. Okay all the time. It's impossible to know what Percy is thinking because he thinks so broadly. He thinks about everything and anything and decides what is best, considering multiple things at one time.
You can get hints here and there and guess if you go back and think about what just happened but you never know exactly what he's thinking or what he's thinking about. It drives me crazy.
For me the silence turns awkward, I just need to say something but I have nothing to say. The cold temperature isn't helping at all either.
I wrap the blanket tighter around me and move closer to the fire.
"You cold?" I hear Percy asks in a shaky voice. I look at him and notice he's slightly shaking too. I nod and he motions with his hand for me to come closer. I do and he wraps his blanket around mess were sharing his. I ignore his plans and wrap my arms around his torso.
Percy is warm like the fire is supposed to be. He isn't freezing cold like the air. I feel safe.
Percy plants a kiss on my head. It makes me think of something I'd rather not think about. It sends my stomach into the ocean and turns and twists as bile tries to escape.
Im still legally married to Luke. Technically this is an affair, yet I do not care. I don't care if I lose my status, I don't care if my mother would approve or not, I don't even care if Athens falls or not because it doesn't matter to me anymore. I just care about my friendship with Percy. I don't care if we end up together for better or for worse or not, I will always make sure that we are at the very least friend who can stand to be in the same room with each other. That's all that I care about.
'Once you start caring about someone, you can't stop.' After all. I can't live without him in my life in some way romantically or not. I'll be happy if he's just my friend, whatever makes him happy. That's all I want.
But it's still a sickening thought that I married to the same man that started this whole confusing mess between Percy and me. And it caused me to almost forget about him forever, to lose him once and for all.
I almost lost someone I love.
It makes me grip his shirt tighter and pull myself onto his lap. Percy seems to get the point because he hugs me tight and put his head on mine. (This is familiar.) I burry my nose into his shoulder.
I truly think I love Percy. It's not a shock like it was when I realized my fascination with everything Percy did was because I liked him, no it's not a shock at all because it's been poking at my head for such a long time. Back when I forgot my head would start to hurt whenever I thought of the man from the ship because my subconscious was trying to inform me what I thought about him, not just my time on the ship.
I care about him, love him. It's the same thing over all.
"Do you think," I start to say. "They'll have grey ink in Yoque?" I've never marked myself as a pirate from Percys crew before. The way you do that is by putting a streak of grey dye or ink through your hair. Even on the ship I never did it because I didn't think I need to. (Percy used to have a grey streak but it's faded now.) Now I kind of realize why they did it.
It wasn't just to mark themselves as Percy crew it was also to admit they trusted him with all they had. That they were ready to risk their whole lives and soul in him. It was out of respect, out of trust, out of loyalty, out of kindness and generosity. To say Percy, I trust you with my life and then some, here's the proof.
Well I trust Percy with everything I have and am. I guess it's time to show it.
"Maybe." Percy answers. "Why?"
"I want to put a streak through my hair." I admit. Percy stiffens and pulls back with a worried expression.
"I don't think that's a good idea." He says slowly. At least he knows he walking on rough terrain. I roll my eyes with a smirk.
"You think everything is a bad idea, except for the really bad ideas." I tell him. He frowns and opens his mouth but I shut him up with a kiss.
I quickly pull back and smile. He hums and rest his head against mine.
"Want to know why I want a grey streak?" I say. I'm bold, I'm strong. He doesn't have to say it back. That's not how it works. He just deserves to know. I say to myself.
"Depends." Percy answers in a whisper. "Is it good or bad?"
"Depends," I mock. "On how you look at it." I can feel his gears Turing in his head. He doesn't answer but Percy looks at me with the question in his eyes.
"I want a streak in my hair because I love you." I admit. I say it so casually I think to myself, did I say it all? but the way Percys eyes go wide and the way he stiffens is good enough for me.
He sits there for a few seconds and a soft, tiny, smile spreads across his face. He kisses me, hard. His hands traveling up to tangle themselves in my hair and make me laugh into his mouth. Percy pulls away from me laughing to hard.
"And I, you." He whispers softly. He kisses the corner of my mouth and my cheek. I tangle my fingers in his hair.
He is mine and I am his.
Now I just need a streak of grey hair to show it.
I didn't want to get up this morning. I just wanted to sleep for the rest of the day. But Percy made me. In return I didn't bother to tie my shirt so it looked smaller on me, so the sleeves are falling down my arms so they look strapless and expose my shoulders and the tip of my chest. Then I cut holes in the pants just to annoy him.
Percy protested, a lot. He sounded like what my mother probably would sound like if she were still alive but I said it was either this or sleep. He lost and chose my outfit.
Walking is hurting my feet, my shoes are getting to worn down and uncomfortable so I think our stop Yoque might be longer then we thought.
I'm pretty sure I'd like to eat something hot as well. Percy has stopped arguing with me, which is smart of him.
Walking along the back path we found is silent, Percy is right behind me at my heels like a little puppy. I'm pretty sure he'll never leave me alone again, not that I mind.
I look down at our map and check the compass. Two more miles.
We walk down the path for another half hour. That's when we hear horses and wheels rolling on stones and dirt, loud and clear. I hear shouting and panic begins to build slightly.
We are going to stand out here, in a city we won't, out here we will. Especially since we are traveling by foot, I'm wearing a large shirt and ripped pants, and about a million other things about us that will stand out on a deserted road.
Percy thinks ten steps ahead of me and pulls me away from the path and behind a tree. But darn those people because they see us and the one driving the horses shouts at us.
I suck at everything. This chapter sucks and I am just blaaaaaahhhhh!
I don't think it's good but whatever! I spent all day writing this and I'm not letting it go to the trash can!
Thank you all for you ideas, more would be appreciated! This chapter was based off the ideas from, Mickey-o14, frostfeatherthewriter and Artimis Izzy.
Im sorry if I misspelled any words. I'm sorry for grammar mistakes, I'll see you later.
bye.
-kayla