PAUL'S POV
(Matthew Chase's house – Texas)
Someone poked me on the cheek. Irritated, I waved the hand away and hugged my warm pillow tighter. My back and neck ached a little but who cared? I've felt worse, and I was dead tired (no pun intended).
No one was going to get me out of bed except myself. Then again, I was already out of bed and on the couch. I guess I fell asleep while I was watch duty. Oops. Oh well. I hoped the monster didn't do anything.
Again, the hand poked me. "Go away," I groaned. "Five more minutes."
"Humph. Fine. I'll make my own breakfast, but don't blame me if the house burns down," the so-called poke monster answered. "How does his mom deal with him?" she grumbled, walking away. I recognized the voice as Silena, but I could have cared less right now.
Relieved that I wasn't going to be interrupted anymore, I buried my nose into the pillow. Surprisingly, it was a bit hard yet soft at the same time. As a bonus, it also smelled pretty nice.
The pillow shifted a bit and groaned. I finally noticed that it was moving slightly the whole time and that it was warm – very warm. The last time I checked, pillows did not move on their own and are not that warm.
Bewildered, I opened my eyes to see a bunch of yellow hair.
"AAAHHHH!" Out of instinct, I pushed whatever it was away from me.
"Oomph!" Thump.
The next thing I knew, I was staring down at a furious Annabeth. She had narrowly missed hitting the coffee table and now was sprawled on the floor glaring up at me.
I couldn't help but laugh hysterically, and knowing Annabeth, I might as well be asking for a death wish. Hopefully though, she was feeling more like Alena than Annabeth seeing that Alena was less violent, but then again, I'm pretty sure Annabeth can't live without me… I think.
"Who are you laughing at?" She sent me her death glare but the corner of her lip slightly turned upward betrayed her. "Let's just get some breakfast."
That was good enough for me. Luckily when we went into the kitchen, Silena didn't set anything on fire, but she almost did. I got a hit on the head from Annabeth for letting her try to cook her own pancakes.
Matthew and Blair came downstairs, and we all had breakfast. Once Blair went to work, Matthew turned back to us. "You have to get rid of that monster. It's worrying her to pieces. Can't you just kill it and get it over with?"
"Don't worry Matthew. We'll be going later today –" Annabeth reassured him.
"We are? How come I didn't know? Why do I have to be in the dark?" Silena scowled and if looks could kill, then what's left of her pancakes would dead times three.
"We're telling you now aren't we?" Annabeth shot back. "Anyway, we can't kill it, because if we did, then it would release a disease, and we don't need another Black Death or polio outbreak."
Matthew held his hands us. "Wait a minute, sis. Why would it? Don't monsters usually turn into dust or something or am I just getting old?"
"Yeah, they do, but this monster wasn't always a monster. Before it was one, it was a demigod."
My brain went dead at this. So if this monster used to be a demigod could I turn into monster too when I die my second time?
"According to the scrolls in that underground kingdom, the demigod has to be a descendant of Hades, Nemesis, and Nyx and killed by a Nosoi, a spirit of disease, during a new moon. It's really, really rare for this type of monster to appear, but apparently," she said gesturing to the backyard where the monster was still tied, "it's not impossible.
"We'll bring it to camp to for it to be studied and to find a way to destroy it without having a huge outbreak."
"What about my parents? We're going to look for them aren't we?" Silena looked like she was going to burst. "Paul promised." She turned to me and was relieved when I gave her a little nod.
"Annabeth and I agreed to send the monster back to camp while we go to California," I explained.
"Whoa, whoa. Hold a second. How could your parents be missing?" Matthew looked genuinely confused and turned form Silena to us and back to Silena.
"Silena's parents disappeared about a day before we learned about the gods and went to camp."
Matthew now looked even more confused. "But you're right here!"
"They're not my parents!" Silena hissed.
Now it was my turn to be confused. What was he talking about? I turned to Annabeth for help, but she refused look at me at all and her face seemed like it couldn't decide if it wanted to turn bright red or void of all color. Finally, it decided on the red.
"Ok, what's going on here?" All of this thinking was getting me frustrated.
Instead of answering me, Annabeth said to Silena, "You're last name is Jackson right?"
She nodded, suspicious all over again.
"And two of your grandparents are Poseidon and Athena?"
"Yes," Silena answered slowly.
By now I thought I know where Annabeth was getting with this, and it scared me to the Underworld. Matthew was still confused, and Annabeth seemed to be slightly shaking.
"Are… are your parents Percy Jackson and… and Annabeth Chase?"
"Of course! Who else?" She glared at Annabeth and me. "I don't know what you're playing at, but you two can't be my parents! And I don't care how much you guys look like them or how much you act like them. You'll never convince me otherwise!" Silena crossed her arms and had an expression on her face that somewhat resembled a grumpy badger.
(A hotel in Texas not far from Matthew's house)
"This is absolutely frustrating! We shouldn't just be sitting here doing nothing." I continued to pace around the room.
"Well there's nothing we could do. Believe me, I don't like it either, but we have to let ourselves solve it by ourselves." Annabeth took another bite of whatever it was she ordered from food service. "Mm… Stop worrying and have a bite of this."
"I'm not worried about us. We could take care of ourselves just fine. I'm worried about Silena. Knowing her, she'll freak." I thrust my hands into my pockets. "Are you sure you don't remember how she reacted?"
Annabeth sighed and placed her fork down to give me her full attention. "I told you about a million times, I don't remember anything! You're the one with the memories. Trust the Fates to give it all to the Seaweed Brain," she muttered.
I sat down on the bed, putting my head in my hands. Not even the Second Titan War or the Giant War seemed as threatening. Now that my only and youngest daughter was in the direct line of fire, she could easily… go, and I couldn't do anything about it. I never felt so hopeless.
Seeing my distress, Annabeth got up and hugged me.
"It's going to be fine. You'll see. She's half of the greatest demigod I have ever met. I know it's your job to be the relaxed and optimistic one here but seeing that your fatherly instincts are kicking in I guess it's up to me. You know what? I can't believe I'm saying this but just stop thinking." And with that Annabeth pushed me to a chair. "Now start eating, Captain. How would all of your fans back at camp react if their leader suddenly turns into a stick?"
Suddenly, the food started to look pretty good.
I've decided to keep the Paul's and Alena's Pov since it would be too confusing to me.
This chapter was supposed to be on by the Fourth of July, but I couldn't make it so... Happy Late Fourth of July! And for all of you guys who don't celebrate it, Happy Late 185th day of the year! To my part time editor, Happy Late Fifth of July! ;)
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and that it wasn't so confusing as my other chapters are. Comment and review, please! Also, if you didn't know already, constructive criticism is welcomed.
~Sepharim