(OLDER) PERCY'S POV (cont.)
Who knew our undercover secret mission would be blown by my newest sister-in-law? Around noon, Annabeth and I bumped into Blair – literally. But this time, we weren't trying to track the little quest group (Silena and – well, us). We were just going on a fully deserved date at a restaurant.
Quickly, I racked my brain for a reasonable explanation for being here, thankful I had already eaten. (I could never think on an empty stomach.) For all my sister-in-law knew, we were still at her house. Or at least that's what she thinks. Then again, they were us… only younger. Man, this was confusing.
"Hi, Blair," Annabeth managed to stammer out. "Fancy seeing you here, right? I can explain everything." She squeezed me hand tightly out of nervousness.
Without a word Blair dragged us to her car and drove us to the Chase's house. No one spoke the entire trip, and the tension was suffocating.
The moment Matthew saw us his jaw dropped, and couldn't utter a word out until Silena caught sight of us and tackled both of us, talking a mile a minute.
"Mom! Dad! I knew you guys would come back. Guess what? I'm on my very first quest, and we already caught the monster. It's in the back yard right now. Oh, and," she whispered into our ears. "There's two other people in the group, and they claimed that they're you two."
Hm… so we already told her. Now for the tough part: to convince her that it's true. I wished I could remember everything so that I could prepare of this.
"I thought you two were upstairs," Matthew said, and I just shrugged.
At that moment our younger selves ran downstairs, and all Hades broke loose. I scarcely remembered what happened but I did remember that the younger Annabeth didn't faint; the younger me did.
After we revived my younger self I found myself sitting on the couch with everyone hanging to every word Annabeth and I said. We quickly established that our younger selves would be referred to Alena and Paul while we were Annabeth and Percy. It would be way too confusing otherwise.
With a little help from my interjections, Annabeth explained that we were Silena and Luke's parents, but we were also Alena and Paul at one point. Right after both of us died (-the original Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase as in the ones on their first lives-), we came back as Alena and Paul. Of course, both of us went on a quest with our future daughter, and etc. We skipped the part of how we went thirteen years back in time, but we did tell them that we did. And by going by the names of our first lives, it would seem like Annabeth and Percy escaped Death again, never really died. After that, we lived our lives for thirteen years, and ta-da. Here we are, telling our younger selves our story. My wife was especially careful to not tell them that I couldn't remember some parts of our second life and that she could barely remember anything although, technically, we're still on our second life.
Silena, who was sitting on my lap, stared at me with wide, intelligent, and innocent eyes that were so much like her mother's even with the green color. Alena and Paul were stunned. My younger self looked like he was part ghost, and I could almost see the gears turning in Alena's head.
Did she really look that pretty back then? 'Snap out of it, Jackson,' I thought.
"So they were telling the truth when they said they were you two?" Although Silena coated her quiet voice with as much innocence as she could, I could still hear the bitterness behind it. One of these days, her pride would get the best of her.
"Yes, sweetie. Now apologize to them," I said. My daughter stared at me in shock, and my wife glared at me.
"But Dad," she wined. I gave her the 'don't-mess-with-me' look that I just discovered I could do.
"I'm sorry for not believing you," she muttered. Alena and Paul nodded absentmindedly, still deep in thought. Matthew and Blair watched the scene fold out in front of them, not bothering to comment, just observe.
As for Annabeth, she frowned disapprovingly at me, and for a moment, I could almost imagine what she was thinking in that genius brain of hers. Her stormy grey eyes said it all. That was unnecessary, Percy.
For the rest of the day Paul and Alena stayed as far away from each other as possible and only speaking when it was absolutely necessary. Matthew and Blair went about their everyday business, and Silena, although a bit mad at me, stayed at our side constantly.
After dinner, we all decided to travel to California that night, despite protests from Alena. The monster could only be destroyed there. The sooner, the better. "And," I added, "Annabeth has had thirteen years' worth of research to find that information. It's not fair to delay it any further." No one had questioned how we were going to get there.
Everyone -except for the Chase family, who already said their goodbyes- stood in the backyard half-an-hour later waiting for our ride with backpacks stocked with ambrosia, nectar, and an extra pair of clothes, and the monster was still tied tightly and at gun point. The day had faded to a starless night by then.
Steam started to flow quietly into the yard, and soon, a dark steam engine rolled into a stop in front of us. The words 'The Ghost Train' painted in gold letters in the language of the dead glowed on the sides of the train. As usual, there were no windows on the cars.
A man jumped out and walked slowly to us. "Hello, again," said the conductor.
Silena stiffened next to Annabeth, and Alena and Paul gasped. "You again!"
"I believe my name is Mr. White, you filthy, bloody git unless your brain capacity's too small to store all of that information," the skeleton growled and then added to me, "No offense to you, sir."
Once Mr. White had ushered all of us into a car, he announced that we would be stopping at California by before dawn. The rest of the late-night ride was uneventful and boring. Alena and Paul still refused to look at each other, Silena had finally gotten tired of our company, the monster made no move to do anything of any sorts, and Annabeth had fallen asleep.
That left me with only my thoughts. What would happen if Uncle Mark found out? How would he react? What would happen now? I didn't remember anything about an older me approaching me although I knew the Fates had deleted some of my memories. Still, I worried. What happened if I messed up the time line?
That led me to my next thought: what if I had caused Paul and Alena to hate each other? I promptly banished that thought. There's no way that could happen, right? Annabeth and I were happily married, and sooner or later, Paul and Alena would forget it.
All of the questions and anxiety started to get the best of me; Annabeth was the one who handled the stress better.
I blinked slowly, trying to stay awake. Just before I fell asleep though, another thought drifted its way into my head. How would Alena and Paul react when they knew we were going to the Underworld?
Gah! I can't escape the cliffhangers! My editor's convinced that I'm trying to drive all of you guys mad. ^-^"
Since this is the twentieth chapter, I guess this would be a good time to say a well earned and long overdue thank you. I wouldn't have gotten this far if it wasn't for all of your support. So... THANK YOU, GRACIAS, MERCI, CÁM ƠN, Благодарю, σας ευχαριστώ, bene facis, and all the rest!
And for all of you guys that still don't know how it's possible for Silena and Luke to exist (since there's a reason why I'm not cut-out to be a professor) I'd made a time-line of Annabeth's life. I like her better so I'm doing her, but Percy's would almost be identical if I were to do his.
1) Death; 2) Rebirth as Alena C.; 3) Discovery of the gods, the quest, etc.; 4) Finish the quest (13 years after her second birth); 5) Somehow went back 13 years in time with Percy/Paul [You don't really think I'm going to tell you before you're supposed to know do you?]; 6) lived her life for another 13 years (includes college, marriage, etc.); 6.5) Re-meets with their younger selves.
See? I'm not crazy! XD
Anyway, thank so much for reading, and I hope you guys enjoyed it. Review and comment!
~Sepharim