Chapter 4: Living Two Lives
Percy
"Uhhh…. Is it a Cyclops?"
It was a pure guess.
As expected, his reply brought about a hopeless sigh from his right side and a suppressed giggled from his left.
"It's the Minotaur, Percy." Her cheerful voice made him gulp.
"Oh." Percy nervously ran his hand through his hair, "Aahaha…"
Subtly squeezing away from her welcoming figure, he had to wonder why she still felt so close.
An exasperated voice found itself in their conversation. In contrast, this familiar voice was much harsher than the angelic red-hair beauty who was doing her utmost best to lift his spirit. Her words carried a rough frankness that made Percy squirm and she wasn't trying to sugarcoat anything either.
Despite scooching over to her side, Percy couldn't help but preferred the angel's approach. He really hoped his girlfriend wouldn't figure that out, not least to prevent his ultimate demise.
"Seriously, seaweed brain, are you even paying attention to any of it?" The petite girl with blonde hair lamented on his right side. Sitting close by while hugging her smooth creamy legs to her chest, she pressed closer to his figure and gestured at the book on his lap, her infectious strawberry scent made him feel lightheaded.
Percy tensed up and tried his best not to stare, though his voice croaked, "W-What can I say, wise girl? This is a lot…"
She pouted, "It's been two hours, Percy. If you can't even learn one thing in two hours, why am I even tutoring you?"
The girl on his left interjected with an angelic smile, "That's kind of mean, Annabeth."
Annabeth huffed and stared right back into her smiling green eyes, "And you are taking it too easy on him, Rachel."
A red hot flare soon lit up behind their gazes.
Percy sat there between them, laughing nervously at the situation he found himself in.
Well, at least it's peaceful up here.
At the famous and prestigious Goode High School for scholarly students, the roof deck had always been restricted after an accident almost happened, yet for some reason, it took Annabeth no effort to convince Mrs. Farron for permission, even a key for access. Percy had a feeling it was related to their mythological world somehow, though he couldn't begin to guess where Annabeth learned that information.
There was no rail guard for the roof, and the only barrier preventing people from falling off a six stories building was a waist-high concrete baluster, thus one could easily find themselves in trouble if not careful.
A huge ventilation unit sat beside the door to the roof deck. The three of them were sitting with their backs against it, feeling comfortably warm as the heavy machinery hummed in the background.
As for the reason why they were on the roof in the first place: Percy had to spend the whole week before Christmas on Saturday studying, and no, he wasn't studying about any academics in his classes. Instead, it was an additional part of his 'specialized training'.
Then, the faint crackling of competing firebolts brought his attention back to the two girls beside him.
Tension grew on both sides and they were ignoring him altogether. Percy knew he had to do something before a literal fight could happen between them.
"Ahem… I never thought you'd love Greek Mythology so much, Rachel…"
Thankfully, Rachel pulled her heated gaze from Annabeth before an ugly battle could take place. She leaned back and took the textbook from his lap.
"I love it. The stories are so interesting, you know?" Rachel flipped to the next page, "It's sort of my hobby if I have some free time to myself."
Annabeth huffed when Rachel backed off, "Hmph."
Percy visibly relaxed when they stopped 'fighting'. Honestly, he thought they had gotten over that already, but given what he just witnessed, it's obvious there were some left-over feelings hidden deep inside them.
"Anyway, thanks for taking your time to help me study…"
Rachel beamed cheerfully, "Of course, Percy. You are my friend, and I do anything to help my friends."
Percy didn't have to look around to sense a cold, temperature-dropping stare from Annabeth behind him. He sighed in defeat.
When Thalia and Jason insisted on them studying about the monster in Greek myths as part of their daily training, Percy never thought it would be this difficult. If anything, he preferred the dry studying of his least favorite class than learning about monsters from another world; well, that's not true because he still hated calculus.
For whatever reason, he couldn't help but always mixed up the monsters and their origins, leaving him even more confused about their individual abilities. Hence, it's why Rachel joined their tutoring lesson because she was so well-versed in Greek mythology, a hidden talent of hers that might even surpass Annabeth in terms of smaller details that they could easily miss.
"Not that I couldn't help my seaweed brain by myself." Annabeth spoke through clenched teeth, "But your help is welcomed, Rachel."
Percy twitched anxiously when Annabeth emphasized his nickname like that. Making her territory known so Rachel knew better not get too close, the girl with red auburn hair didn't seem too bothered which was rather surprising.
More importantly, Percy was surprised too. His wise girl just admitted, however unconsciously, that she needed her help too.
This time, Rachel smiled genuinely without a hint of playful hostility, "Okay, next on the list…"
…
Spending the next hour studying, Percy felt like real progress was made. It was all thanks to Rachel's deep knowledge of the vast Greek mythos and Annabeth's vigorous push that got him through.
Finally, he put the well-crafted encyclopedia about everything Greek Mythology back inside his bag. This book belonged to Lady Athena after all, thus he wanted to take good care of it.
"By the way, you two still haven't told me why the sudden interest in Greek mythology…"
Percy froze when he tried to unwrap the turkey sandwich he got from the cafeteria. Annabeth paused her hand on her sandwich which was exactly the same as his. Rachel had teased them earlier about how cute they were for getting a matching sandwich.
"No reason… We just want to know more about Greek mythology, that's all." Percy took a big bite and let Annabeth handle the rest.
He could feel a dirty stare from his wise girl.
"Anyway, it's just for a study project. Not anything for school, just a sudden personal goal of sorts, you know?" Annabeth calmly explained.
Rachel narrowed her eyes at them, "Hmm…"
Put under a microscope, Percy focused all his attention on his sandwich, the same with Annabeth as they pretended not to be intimidated. Of course, that didn't mean their pretense worked at all on Rachel who was looking at them as sharply as a hawk hunting for prey.
"I know it's not nice to poke around, but where did you get that book? It looked so thorough that I thought it might be some one-of-a-kind limited edition encyclopedia."
"It's my mom's." Annabeth answered without thinking and fell into deep stutters, "Y-You know, she can be a nut sometimes when it comes to collecting really old relics."
"Oh." Rachel tilted her head curiously, "I guess that makes sense… Your mom is a famous architect and a historian too, right? It would make sense why she is invested in Greek mythology."
Annabeth laughed nervously beside him.
Thank Gods, we are saved somehow…
Suspicion over, Rachel took out her lunch too. Kept in a heating container, it seemed her lunch was homemade and it smelled delicious. Percy gulped when Rachel lifted the lit. It was a bowl of beef stir-fry noodles that's packed to the brim with vegetables. Sure, it wasn't the healthiest choice in the world, but Percy couldn't complain how good it looked.
"You want some?"
Rachel caught him looking and shot him a wry smile. Percy almost choked on his sandwich wrap getting stuck halfway down his throat.
"Huhh?"
Unfazed, Rachel smiled innocently, "I don't mind sharing with you, Percy…"
"Ahem!" Predictably, Annabeth coughed so loud it's clear what she meant as she glared at him.
Percy gulped for an entirely different reason.
"Oh my? Is it so wrong that I want to share my lunch with Percy?" Rachel smiled throughout, "I mean, he looked like he wanted some, right Percy?"
An irk expression found a spot on Annabeth's frowning face, "Do you really now, Percy?"
"Aahaha…."
While Percy couldn't deny that he wanted a taste, the daggers drilling a hole in his eyes made all his words disappear. Seriously, he didn't know what he did to deserve being in this type of situation.
"I am good, Rachel." Percy waved his sandwich up and resisted the very tempting urge in his stomach.
Rachel pouted, "Well, if you insist."
Finally, the rest of their lunch break was spent in silence. Admittedly, it was a little awkward after what happened, but Percy was glad nonetheless.
"Oh! By the way, are you really okay? You aren't hurting anymore, right?"
He took another quick bite.
"Oh! Yeah, don't worry about it. I am fine now." Percy shrugged it off with a mouthful, "It's no big deal at all, and thanks for relaying the message to Annabeth that day, Rachel."
Sharing a grateful look with the girl, Percy saw her cheeks heat up red even underneath a bright sunny day. She looked rather shocked at his gratitude and was squirming just slightly.
"Uhh- Hehe… No problem, Percy, though I didn't really do anything that deserves thanks." Rachel insisted while blushing, "Anyway, you shouldn't force yourself, you know?"
There was a damp coldness burning behind him and Percy flinched. Surely, he just wanted to thank Rachel for her help, but instead, a jealous wise girl glared shotgun barrels behind his head, straight through his skull and toward an innocently smiling girl who might just be doing this on purpose.
Not ready for any unnecessary conflict, Percy decided to play it off cool and nodded. But at the same time, there was nothing he could say anyway knowing he couldn't tell her what actually happened; that there was a killer in school who was terrorizing any Greek Half-Bloods and likely working with the Titan King to sniff them out.
"Honestly, I would have stayed home for a month to recuperate if a piece of glass shard was stuck inside my stomach."
It was a lie fabricated to keep peace and order in their school. There was no way students wouldn't panic if they knew how he got his injuries in the first place.
"Yeah, but I am all better now. Seriously, I felt as good as new, so don't worry too much about it."
Rachel still looked skeptical, "You say that Percy, but…"
"But?"
"I don't know… Somethings just don't make sense." Deep in thought, she continued, "I mean, how did you get stabbed with a piece of glass shard when nothing was broken? And you said Jason found you and brought you to the infirmary, but if that's the case, shouldn't someone have seen you two by then?"
She made good points, and just when he thought their excuses were full-proof. Somehow, Rachel was much more perceptive than he first realized.
"I mean, none of the students knew what happened until the official story broke days later, and even I didn't know what really happened until Thalia told me to come to find Annabeth that day. I am just so worried because she told me you'd been stabbed that I didn't think things through."
Her questions left them in an impossible position to respond.
"Don't you think everything is all a little bit strange? I mean, are you sure you are not—"
Beeeep! Beeeep! Beeeep!
Saved by the sudden interruption, Annabeth's phone rang loudly right then. Percy shared a look with his girlfriend and came to a mutual understanding; their other lives were calling for them.
"Sorry, Rachel. We've got to go." Percy got up and dust himself off.
"Yeah. Sorry to ditch and run, but something important just came up." Annabeth got up too, "Just make sure to lock the door when you head back down. Thanks again, Rachel."
Before they could leave in a hurry, Rachel turned to give them a dubious pout, "You two are up to something, aren't you?"
"Of course not!" They said together and blushed when it happened, then Annabeth slipped through the door as Percy waved, "See you around, Rachel."
