Chapter 20

Piper's p.o.v.

I slowly walked into Annabeth's room. It looked exactly the same as the rest of the house. Perfect. Every single book was sitting in the bookshelf, neatly packed. I chuckled at the sight of it.

"So, we're working on the Holocaust, right." I asked her. She nodded and walked over to her bookshelf.

"Hold on, I think I have some books on it in my bookshelf." She told me, while looking for books to read. Okay so how am I gonna get away from her.

Once Leo tells me where the books are I'm gonna have to be able to get away from her. But how.

"Okay. I have the poster in my bag." I went to my book bag and grabbed the rolled up poster. I unrolled it and laid it flat on her bed.

A few hours later, after hard work on the project I finally heard my phone buzz.

Bing!

I grabbed my phone from my pocket and turned it on, eagerly.

Leo- K, so I found out where the book is. I sent out the directions to your phone. Use your GPS on your phone. It'll lead straight to Book E.

I smiled. He did it! I knew he could. He may be a screw up sometimes, but when we really need him, he's put his best effort into it.

Piper- Thanks!

Leo- Good luck getting away from Annabeth.

Piper- Yep I'll need it.

I clicked the link that Leo sent me and it sent me straight to Google Maps. Okay, now that I know where the book is, how am I supposed to get away from Annabeth?

I swallowed and turned to her.

"Um, where is the bathroom?" I asked her. She looked up from her book.

"Down the hall, to your left." She told me, and went right back into her book.

I walked out of the room, looked at my phone. Okay, so the GPS is saying to go downstairs.

I slowly crept down the stairs, praying that no one else was home. I mean, Annabeth didn't have a father right? But they might have a maid? Nah, I can't imagine Athena and Annabeth having someone else do their work for them. I gotta hurry up and find this book before Annabeth finds out that I'm actually not using the bathroom.

I followed the GPS a hallway and it pointed me to a door. I tried to open it. Damit! It's locked. Please tell me that I didn't leave that magical key that D.T. in my bookbag.

I dug into my pocket and felt a key! Yes!

I gazed at the key in awe as it slid into the lock and magically transformed itself to fit with the lock. It still shocks me that that's even possible.

I walked into the room. It was. Athena's study. Of course it was just like the rest of the house. Neat and perfect. The room smelled like roses. I followed the GPS to Athena's desk. There was nothing on the desk. I opened the drawers and searched through them. Nothing. Where is this book. Maybe it's under the desk?

I crouched down and looked under the desk. Nothing.

I took out my phone and texted Leo.

Piper- The GPS is saying that the book is in on the desk. But there's no book here

Leo- Did you look inside the desk? Under the desk?

Piper- Yeah. I don't see it.

Leo- Well it should be there. There is a magical item on the desk.

I looked at the desk. There was a trophy on the desk. What if…

I picked up the trophy. It wouldn't budge! I tugged on the trophy and finally it came off the table. I examined it.

There was glue sticked to it. I fixed my gaze at the stop where the trophy was sticked to. Is that a key hole? There was a key hole in the spot where the trophy was glued to. Why would Athena have a key hole in her desk. I studied it, carefully. What if I use the key?

I took the magical key from my pocket and stuck it in the keyhole.

Suddenly, a drawer opened and a secret compartment slid open. And there it stood. Book E.

I smiled and picked it up. I took my phone and sent a text to Leo.

Piper- I got the book.

Leo- Good, now get out of there.

I took the book and shoved it into my bag. I took the magical key from the keyhole and shoved it into my pocket. I closed the drawer and walked to the door. Okay so now I have to make an excuse to get away from… Oh god!

I opened the door to see Annabeth Chase standing right in front of me with her arms folded, and her cold gray eyes staring into mine.

"What are you doing in here?"

Percy's p.o.v.

Calypso hovered over my shoulder to get a closer look at the worksheet in front of me. Her brow furrowed for a moment and I couldn't stop myself from thinking about how beautiful she was.

"It is quite simple, actually. You must utilize the binomial theorem to solve this problem."

"Binomial what?" I questioned. I definitely wasn't good at math and instead of trying to use my boyfriend's brain to the best of my ability, I was staring at him and thinking about how much I wanted to kiss her right there and then.

"Like this." Her arms reached around me to grab my pencil and she began to write out numbers on the worksheet, but I still wasn't paying attention to my homework. She was just too damn distracting.

When she was finished, her dark almond eyes flicked to me and she sighed. "Percy, you're not paying attention."

I gave her a silly smirk. "Can't help it. You're much more interesting than

Pre-Calculus."

I could see the hint of a smile threatening to make itself known, but she tried her best to keep it at bay. "You have a test tomorrow, Percy."

I swiped my tongue over my lips and slowly worked my hand to the nape of her neck, bringing her closer to my face. "Can't we take a little break? I need to clear my mind."

A low groan bubbled in the back of her throat and I knew it was because she was trying to fight her urges. "We will not stop until you solve this problem."

I lifted my face to hers so that my lips were barely brushing against hers. "Just five minutes, I swear," I whispered softly.

Her eyes darkened with lust and I took joy in the fact that we both knew she couldn't resist me for long. But just as she leaned down to kiss me, my mum entered the dining room, clicking her tongue in disapproval. "Calypso is right. You need to study."

I let out a dramatic groan as I pulled away from Calypso and stared up at my mother. She was dressed rather comfortably with black sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt. Her slightly disheveled short black hair fell around her face, still managing to frame her rosy cheeks. She gazed back at me with tiresome, pale grey eyes, with one hand placed on her protruding hip and the other clutching a coffee mug.

"You're being a cockblock, Mom." I rolled my eyes and snatched my pencil from Calypso's hands.

Mum slid into the seat opposite me and brought the mug up to her lips, taking a sip. "Call it whatever you want, Percy, but you better not fail that test tomorrow."

"Okay, whatever." My eyes drifted to the worksheet set in front of me, which looked like nothing more than gibberish. "Calypso, how are you so good at this, anyway?"

She let out a slight chuckle as she took his seat beside me. "I like math. There is always a definite answer."

Mum beamed at her. "That's really touching," she breathed, and then she flicked her attention to me. "Calypso is a good influence. She's a definite keeper."

Nicolas laughed. "Thank you."

She opened her mouth to respond, but a loud cough erupted from her throat instead. It sounded like a dog's bark and it sounded like it hurt, too. She clapped a hand over her mouth. "Excuse me," she apologized quickly.

"You okay?" I asked as my eyes narrowed, concern plastered across my face. "Yeah." Mum waved her hand to dismiss me. "I've just been feeling under the

weather, lately. It's nothing."

"You sure?" I questioned, as I raised my eyebrows.

She took another sip from her mug and nodded. "I'm sure."

"Where Philip? I'm sure he can pick up some medicine."

Mum shook her head. "No, no, Philip's in a meeting. I don't want to bother him."

"Fine, then I'll go run to the store real quick and get you some." I offered.

She tucked a stray wisp behind her ear, only to have it fall again. "No, you need to study,"

I sunk back into my seat and crossed my arms over my chest, pouting. "That's not fair. I need a break, anyway! All this studying has given me a huge headache and I can't focus with a headache. But it'll only take five minutes to get there."

I knew she was gonna say no, but before she could, she coughed again. This time it sounded worse and it took her quite a while to recover from it. "Ok fine, but you two come straight back, understand."

I grabbed Calypso's hand, and led her to the front door. "We'll be back soon." I called, as we walked into the dark night.

When we arrived at the nearest convenient store, it was mostly empty beside a mother and her three young children. The three boys raced around the store, chasing each other, no matter how many times their mother told them to stop.

I breezed into the medicine section. Omg why are they so many different labels and different flavors. Which one should I choose? The last time I had a cold, I was in middle school because Mum and I rarely got sick. She said it was because I was blessed with her strong immune system.

"How about this?" I turned to see that Calypso was holding a bottle of NyQuil, but I was quickly distracted by the ring on her finger. Is that a ring on her finger? Oh wow…

"Who's the lucky man?" I asked her

"Huh," She was confused for a moment, but when I pointed to the ring, her gaze lowered.

"It was my mother's," She told me. "It's one of the only things that she left for me." Oh shit! That's right, she's an orphan. Shit, I messed up. I felt a slight pang of guilt in my chest.

I brought my hand onto her cheek and stared into her eyes and smiled. "I'm sorry."

She smiled back and hit my face.

"Oh, don't think you're getting a kiss from me, mister." She laughed. I love seeing that smile.

"Awe, I was looking forward to that kiss." I pouted. She chuckled.

"We probably should get some DayQuil, too. And Tylenol." I nodded as she began to search the shelves for the items, placing them on the cart when she found them.

On the other side of the store, the family was really going at it. One of the boys wanted a toy and begged his mother to buy it for him, but she responded with, "It's too expensive. If I buy one for you, I'll have to buy one for your brothers, since you guys don't know how to share." The boy's shoulders slumped as he put the toy back and followed his mother out of the shop.

I remember how hard it was for me and Mum before we met Philip and all his money. I remember how many times I walked in the store and saw so many toys that I wanted but knew to ask for because I knew Mum probably had better stuff to do. I

I just had the sudden urge to make that little boy smile. Without giving Calypso an explanation, I jogged over to the toy section, searched for that airplane that the boy wanted, grabbed three and rushed to the checkout to pay. As the cashier rang me up, Calypso gave me a confused look.

As soon as the cashier was finished, I grabbed the toy airplanes and practically ran to get there before the family left the store. Thankfully, they were getting in their car.

She lifted her eyes to me, confusion written all over her face. "Excuse Miss. I think you forgot these."

She took one look at the toy airplanes as a small smile grew onto her face. "Bless your heart, young man."

I handed her the toy airplanes and watched as she handed them the toys to her sons. I caught a glimpse of the boy who really wanted the airplane and he practically lit up with excitement.

When the mother turned to me, she said "Thank you so much,"

"It's no problem." I flashed her a quick smile and watched as she settled her kids into the backseat. I backed up as I watched the mother climb into the driver's seat. I waved as they drove out of the parking space.

A good feeling spread through me. I don't know, I felt like I contributed to a greater purpose, greater good.

When I returned to the shop, Calypso was waiting for me in the medicine aisle. She didn't look confused so I'm guessing she saw the whole.

"That was nice of you." She praised.

"Thanks, I like kids, which says a lot since I really haven't had any experience around them.

Calypso studied me carefully. "Do you want kids?"

I looked at her like she'd ask the dumbest question ever. "Of course! Two to be exact. I've wanted a brother or sister to fight with, since I'm an only child."
She nodded, processing that information. "Two kids. Boy and girl?"

"Both," I answered. "One girl, one boy but I'll be happy with whatever I get."

"That's really cool. I've never really thought about having kids. My plan was always to get out of this town and go to Culinary school."

I pushed the cart as she walked next to me. "You want to go to Culinary school?"

She nodded. "Yeah, it's been my dream ever since I was a little girl to go to one of the top Culinary schools in the country. I've worked so hard all my life, saved up my money just in case I don't get a scholarship but hopefully, I do,"

I nodded. We stopped at the cash register. Calypso folded her arms and leaned on the cart as I grabbed all the items from the cart and handed it to the cashier.

I took my wallet from my pocket and handed it to the cashier."Well if you're as good as you claim to be, then you gotta cook me some dinner sometime,"

"It'll be the best meal of your life," She told me, with a smirk.

We left the store and started the walk back to my house.

"So… what about you?" She asked me. She swung the shopping bags back and forth.

I gave her a confused gaze. "What do you mean?"

"What do you want to do after high school?"

I nodded in understanding. "Oh! Um…," I honestly don't know. I mean I've never really thought about what I'm gonna do after high school. I mean there was one thing but…. "I kinda always wanted to be a detective," I told her. "Like my dad."

Calypso gazed at me carefully, considering her next words. "Really." She chuckled. "I could see it now, Detective Jackson. Saving the world every case at a time."

I smiled. "I don't know, I've just always found a good mystery to be interesting. I love reading them. I love solving mysteries. They intrigue me. The idea of an adventure."

She looked at me, like she wanted to ask me something. "What happened to your dad?"

I bit my lip and stared at her as a wave of sadness enveloped me. "He disappeared on my birthday. He was supposed to be at work but he didn't go today. It was like he just vanished off the face of the earth. No note, no nothing. He was just gone. We spent months searching him but nothing came up. I don't want to believe that he left us… but I guess... " For some reason my words were failing me.

"Oh Percy… I'm so sorry." She said as she wrapped her arms around me in a hug. Silence lingered between us as we lay in each other's arms. My cell phone chimed in. I glimpsed at the caller ID. It was Mum.

"Hello." I said into the phone, as soon as I answered it.

"Percy," her voice sounded strained. "I need you back home." She wheezed. "Now."

"Mum?" I questioned, growing rapidly concerned. "Mom! What's wrong?"

"Just…" She took a deep breath. "Come… home,"

I turned to Calypso, who gave me a concerned look. And then I was off. I raced to the house, leaving her. Mum, please be okay! I can't lose you too!

I rushed up the steps and grabbed the key out of my pocket. I fumbled to get the key into the lock. Come on, come on!

Once the door was open I sprinted into the living room. I gasped when I saw her laying on the floor, with a spilled coffee mug beside her.

"Mum!" I cried, as I rushed to her side. "Mum, what happened?"

"I think I contracted something." She managed to get out. "An infection, or a disease, something." She stopped to cough and grabbed my arm. "I feel like my throat is contracting. Please take me to the hospital."

Even through all the obvious pain, she was still acting calm. "Mum, you're not gonna die, are you?" I hadn't even realized I was crying until I heard myself speak.

She tried to smile, but it looked more like a grimace. "I'll be fine." She reassured me.

I turned to Calypso and saw that she had the phone in her hand and was on the phone with 911.

She gave me a look of reassurance as she continued talking to the ER.

Mum said she would be fine.

I really hoped she was right

Because I couldn't lose another parent.

A/N

Hey guys! I had so much fun writing this chapter!