Chapter 2: The Mists
Annabeth
Hiding in the corner of the bathroom hallway, what I wouldn't give to disappear off the face of the planet right now. Seriously, my life was already revolving around a mythological world, right? There had to be some kind of magical spells that could make a person invisible.
Because five minutes ago, I could have really, really, really used one!
Then his footstep approached…
"Go away! I am not in the mood to talk!"
"It's just me, wise girl."
I hated him.
"I hate you! Go away!"
Knees hugged to my chest, I buried my face all the way into my thighs and wrapped myself around. I've basically turned myself into a human ball.
"Stop being unreasonable, wise girl…"
I felt my nose twitch. It wasn't me that was being unreasonable. It was them! All of them! I hate him! I hate everyone!
"Come on, I think you are being a little over-dramatic."
A gasp left me and I snapped to stare at him. He wasn't kidding when he said that, and now I just hated him even more.
"Or you could have stepped in back there and helped seaweed brain!" Once words spilled out of me, I couldn't contain my embarrassment anymore, "Gosh, the only reason you are fine is because they kept teasing me. Ugh! It's so humiliating!"
Percy stood before me with a soft grin.
"Come on… you know that's going to happen anyway."
He made a good point.
Last night, I had a feeling that something like what happened at breakfast was inevitable, but I still followed through with it. After all, it was my first time with a boy as sweet as Percy, and I trust him more than anyone else to be vulnerable with him. But now, I couldn't help but lament. It was my own damn fault for letting myself succumb to an irresistible web that was my lovable, sweet and affectionate, handsome, and absolutely perfect seaweed brain.
For a second, my own brain turned into mush.
I regain my focus with a hard bite on my lips, my goosebumps riddled skin suddenly tingled with the wonderful joy of last night and I shivered, "And it's all your fault."
Blushing red, I couldn't say anything more. It was a fact that the teasing would continue if I step back into the living room, hence hiding beside the bathroom was my own option.
"You are not going to budge, are you?" Percy sighed before me. His voice filled with gentle hopelessness for me being a total child.
I shook my head and curl up into an actual ball. My mother would have called me stubborn, but I didn't care. There was no way in hell I would subject myself to the same torture I felt ten minutes ago.
Percy sighed again.
"Well, guess that means I'll have to stay with you too."
He made a move and sat down beside me. My head lifted as I stared at him, but no words of complaint left my mouth. He was free to do what he want, and honestly, I wasn't so sure I wanted him to go back and leave me all alone.
In the end, Percy sat alone with me in an empty hallway, his body so close I could almost feel the heat of his warmth sinking into my own. My heartbeat immediately climbed a few levels, I felt every part of me glowing red and a stifled, heavy breath drifted out of me. These innate reactions, I couldn't help with any of it.
"Did you… perhaps not like it?"
Those words spilled out of his lips at a moment when I was least expecting it. It was so random that I didn't have a response at all. I stared at him blanked.
"Did I do something you did not like? Perhaps I was being too pushy?" Percy was looking down at his feet as those wild baseless thoughts escaped him.
Why in the world would he think that?! I… I… If anything, I was so elated that we finally took another step forward that I'd do it all over with him given the chance. It made me so happy I wanted to find some time where we can be alone without supervision.
So why?
He continued, "I don't want to do anything that you don't want, Annabeth. So if you aren't comfortable about last night, then please tell me honestly. I don't want to hurt you, so…"
I grabbed his hands and made him stop talking.
Out of instinct, I reached up to cup his cheeks and turned him to face me. I looked into his mesmerizing eyes and found some hints of doubt in them. In the next second, I knew exactly what I have to do.
I sealed our lips with a passionate kiss.
Percy met it with brief hesitation, but his lips slowly sink against mine. Eventually, he grew more and more confident, his lips moving with unthinkable motions to melt my head.
I let out a little moan.
The temptation was too strong now. Neither of us could ignore the sudden desire welling up. I leaned in with my body as he moved in response, our kiss going soft and slow for one moment and heated and fervid the next.
All I could think was how intense this was.
Kissing like there's no tomorrow, doing it all alone in the hallway just a few steps away from the living room… Just how bold could I get in the future? But as long as I was doing it with Percy, I knew everything would be fine.
And at long last, I began to drown. My already depleted oxygen level was running dangerously low on fumes. Slowly, I pulled away and immediately missed the taste of his soft lips on mine, heavy and ragged breaths escaped my ready-to-collapse lungs while I pulled my own lips together and suck them in.
I bit my lips characteristically and looked at Percy with dewy eyes.
Percy looked at me in the same way, though he was in a state of half-shock.
"W-well…" Embarrassed, I turned away from his gaze, "Now you know how I feel, and it's not like…"
My squirming body was well on the edge of running away again. I held my blushes in as best as I could and whispered, "— it's not like I didn't enjoy it last night..."
"Because it was with you…" I mumbled out that last part.
The air was filled with nothing but silence for the next minute.
Gosh! Say something, seaweed brain! Not when I've said something so embarrassing! Ahhh! I want to crawl in a hole and die!
"Annabeth…?"
Percy finally said something to my relief. He tilted his body around and leaned in for me. I snapped back wildly as he drew close, unable to look away and was shocked at his gesture. Oh my God! Is he about to kiss me again? Right after the kiss I just gave him? Huh? How? Am I—"
"You are so adorable." He whispered just before he kissed me, stopping right where I could feel his hot breath tingling my whole body.
My heart racing rapidly went through a double-take and tanked like an atomic bomb dropping high in the air. It was such a dirty tease on his part that he left me dumbfounded. Me, who wasn't one to easily be speechless and taken for a fool!
I smacked him erratically with no mercy, "You are insufferable!"
"Haha- Ow! Hehehe…. Hey! Hey! You— Oww! Hahaha… you are being mean, wise girl!"
"You are the one being a meanie, JERK!"
That went on for more than a minute yet I wouldn't calm down. I hate him, but at the same time, I loved that I hate him. Loving someone really was scary…
"Wow… I don't even think I've words for what I'd just witnessed."
That voice belonged to neither me nor Percy. It was Piper, and she found us!
Shit… Of course it's her…
We froze wordlessly and could do nothing but stared at her amused gaze, but in the next second…
The atmosphere around us dropped like a heavy fog coming out of nowhere. Even the temperature chilled me to the bones. I shivered, but it wasn't because of a pleasant feeling.
Piper looked at us dead-serious as if behind us was a monster hiding in plain sight. Any happiness I felt earlier was overcome by worry.
"Wha–"
Her tone sharp and clear cut me off, "But that doesn't matter right now. You two need to come and see what's happening…"
Replaced by graveness in her voice, Piper was already two steps ahead as she led us back. To suddenly see a change in demeanor like that, something bad must have gone down.
I shared a look with Percy. He nodded at me, giving me the courage to face my family again. Still, the possibilities were endless as I wondered what could have happened in only fifteen minutes since I was gone. The look on Piper… Whatever it was, nothing about it would be good.
Then I heard someone talking beyond, and judging from the stuff they were saying, it sounded like a news broadcast on the television.
"What's going on?" Percy asked beside me. I could tell he was a bit anxious.
"It's better if you two see for yourself."
The voices grew louder.
"As you can see, the damage is on a scale we've never witnessed before…"
"Behind me, you can see heavy military personnel working around the clock to figure out… Government officials told me this incident happened last night at around eleven pm last night…."
"Some individuals I've spoken to said they never heard anything that suggests…."
"There were no witnesses… No one heard nor seen anything…"
"Most neighbors living around the neighborhood told me it was a quiet night… Nothing suspicious ever cross their mind…."
As I got closer to our open living room, the different voices began to drown out one by one. It seemed like just about every news station was turned on, leaving a mixture of voices blaring in the background.
"I've got them, Lady Athena."
Piper brought us back to a scene I wasn't ready to see. Everyone in our family was drawn to a super-sized hologram depicting every news channel around the city. It was hard to capture just what each one was saying, but the message was clear.
I finally realized what was going on.
"It is clear that whoever was capable of this type of damage is still out there, and— Uh, yes. I see. I've just got word that government officials have prepared a press conference to explain this mysterious phenomenon. It's unclear whether we'll have any answers for this destruction, but it should provide some sort of explanation… Okay, here it is."
The camera cut away for a brief moment.
"Wait, this happened last night?" Paul said shakily, "But you said Percy and Annabeth were at school last night when—"
Sally tried to reassure her husband, but before she could, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he slumped forward. Luckily, someone pulled him back from smacking his face on the table and rest his head against the chair.
"Lady Athena! What are you—?!"
"Relaxed, Percy." Athena gestured at Hanna and Illya who was suddenly behind Paul, Matthew, and Bobby holding weird-looking injectors, "I've knocked them out with a powerful sedative. They are not harmed in any way whatsoever."
"But still…"
"Percy," Sally made eye contact with her son, "It's okay. It's not the first time, and we should focus on what's happening for now. I'll make sure to take care of your father and your brothers when this settles down."
Percy grew quiet beside me. I held his hand for reassurance which seemed to make him feel better.
"Anyway, this is…"
Athena sighed and passed both of us a glance, "It was planned from the very beginning."
Then the conferences started.
"Lady Athena, shall I cut all other broadcasts?" Owlfred materialized in his orb form.
She nodded, and Owlfred proceed to leave only one hologram in place. There was a man in a white lab coat as he reached the podium with a mic extended toward his lips.
"Uhh… Is this thing on?"
The man seemed to be in his late forties. He seem unassuming at first glance, and that's probably because his gaze was always downcast. There was an odd aura about him though, like there was always something he knew more than he's letting on. Just his presence alone brought a mysterious vibe.
"Ahem… I apologize. Anyway, so my name is Doctor Walter Elizabeth Dare. You can call me Dr. Dare for short."
Dare? Elizabeth Dare?
"I am the head research scientist part of a specialized task force funded by a secret government project titled Archime Research of Mystic Knowledge Division. You can just refer to us as AMK."
"There are many reasons why our organization was kept a secret from the public, but as you are all aware by now, the destruction behind me is the main reason for our foundation."
"In essence, our main job is to identify, study, and acknowledge the existence of supernatural beings hidden within our world, or what we called Half-Bloods."
In just one second and one word alone, the blood in our veins froze.
"There are people living among us that are direct descendants of divine beings from another realm. Yes, it is real, an existence beyond our world. They live among us. They walk among us, but make no mistake about their seemingly human appearance, they are extremely dangerous and pose a threat to our society as a whole."
"As for why their existence had been hidden from us for so long, it was because of what we called the mist. In its most basic form, it exists as a veil across our world, and that veil clouds signals in our brainwaves, blocking our receptors from seeing their reality. It's the sole reason why no one had perceived anything out of the ordinary last night, and why this mist is so dangerous."
"Ever since our establishment, we've made great process in studying their world, we've identified and captured these individuals with incredible power, learned to harness their biology, and made great strides to keep them from wreaking havoc across the world."
"That said, we weren't able to prevent this one tragedy from taking place, but my team and I are working diligently to identify the Half-Bloods involved in this incident and will take immediate measures to properly capture them for interrogation."
"As such, we'll be handling any and all future incidents reported to the local enforcement. My team will meet with each and everyone in the local departments and ensure a smooth transition of power, not until these criminal Half-Bloods are captured and safely kept away from causing any more panic and destruction."
The crowds, us, everyone who was watching the broadcast went silent.
"That will be all, no further questions will be taken from this press conference."
Just as he finished, a roaring crowd behind him began to split questions one after another. It was total chaos which was only abated by the presence of military personnel holding huge rifles. The man walked off the stage, fading into the background of other men with bulletproof vests and white lab coats.
Owlfred blinked the hologram out of existence. His tiny micro-orbs oscillated as he spoke, "What are we going to do now, Lady Athena?"
Everyone was stunned. Our maids were no exception. We all turned to give our Goddess a hard glance. I was sure they were some kind of contingency for a situation like this. After all, I was her daughter, and I always leave plans for backup plans. There had to be some kind of—
"Heh..." She chuckled, but it sounded more self-deprecating than a show of strength, "I am sorry, but I don't have a plan for this. Right now,"
She gave me and Percy a hard look, then what she said next didn't surprise me, "I want you two to find out as much as you can about Rachel Elizabeth Dare. As for me…"
She passed her glances at everyone else, "Guess it's time for me to stop hiding."
