Annabeth
Sally called out from the kitchen, "Come eat!"
Percy got up first, he held his hands out and pulled Annabeth off the couch. "You okay?" she sternly nodded.
Once in the kitchen, they found their spots at the small circular table. Sally gave them their food, and silently went back to work on dishes. Percy didn't seem very hungry, Annabeth didn't feel like eating, but she knew she needed food.
"So… why were you gone so long?" Sally asked, from the kitchen sink. "Um.. well. We were training at camp. Y'know just normal camp stuff." Percy replied.
Sally stopped. She slowly turned her head to look back at them. "Percy, I called camp, they said they hadn't heard from you two and some other campers for a few months."
Both Percy and Annabeth stared at their food. She felt bad for not responding, but what could she have said? 'Oh yeah! We were on this giant ship with some Romans fighting bad guys, Percy got possessed a couple times. Then, Percy and I fell into Tartarus, we almost died. When we made it out, one of our friends actually died.'
No, no way could they tell Sally and Paul what happened. She wouldn't want to worry his mom after all she did to comfort her in Percy's disappearance.
"We were, uh, just on a quest.. No biggie. Just had to retrieve something." he replied.
"I thought you said you were training and doing normal camp stuff." Crap. She's good.
Percy let out a strangled sigh, and looked to Annabeth for help.
"Miss Jackson, we would rather not talk about it."
Her eyebrows knitted together, "..Alright." Then she turned her head back.
Annabeth looked at Percy and mouthed sorry. He waved her off, and kept eating his food. So she did the same, acting as If everything were fine. As if they didn't have yet, another problem, that somehow involved them. For some reason, it seemed as though they were everyone's favorite demi gods to pick on.
Percy
Everything was quiet. The tension seemed to stretch miles as they sat and continued to eat their dinner. Sally still stood at the sink, scrubbing a dish so long, it looked she was about to break the plate.
Annabeth was finished with her food, but she sat in her chair, motionless. Percy recognized that look, she was on some other planet, reliving things that everyone would wish they could forget.
"Annabeth," he whispered. Across from him, she flinched and looked up at him. "Come on…" he grabbed her hand and led her into his bedroom.
"Percy, if you're going to try and get me to rest, it's not going to work."
"No, I'm not. We just can't really talk about anything around my mom without worrying her."
"Oh… what do we need to talk about?"
"What should we do? Y'know, about the whole thing that happened with the school."
Annabeth's lips tightened. For a moment, he thought she didn't remember until she responded.
"Do you remember falling from the sky? And… hitting the ground?"
Percy nodded. "Gods that hurt." he continued. "But… seeing Estelle.. She wasn't there the first time we came home. So how-"
"I think we were in a fake reality, where we felt pain, but nothing that happened was really real."
"That would make sense."
"Percy.. I'm so sorry you had to go through.. What you did... I'm so sorry- I tried to help but- I tried." Her shoulders started shaking.
"Annabeth, there was nothing you could have done." he pulled her into his arms.
Percy closed his eyes, remembering the life draining out of him. Over… and over again.
Percy
There was a steady tap… one he couldn't place. It was dark, and warm, with a steady beating against him. The tapping got louder and louder until it was consistent.
Percy opens his eyes. Annabeth is lying beside him, almost on top of him. He slowly sits up, cautious not to wake her.
Percy slipped off the bed, checking his pocket making sure he had Riptide. The banging becomes silent.
He uncaps his pen and whips open the door pointing the sword at the dark figures. One has their leg up. "Were you going to break down the door?!" Percy yells, keeping the sword pointed at them.
The figure slowly puts it foot down. "N-no…"
"I told you that was a terrible idea you dolt!" A feminan's voice. She continued, "Sorry to intrude. lumos maxima."
Percy stepped back at the sudden production of light. Before him stood two boys, and one girl.
"You can put the sword down." A boy with strange circular glasses said.
"What do you want?"
"I'm Harry, this is Ron, and Hermione. We have a matter of importance to speak about with Annabeth Chase, and Perseous Jackson."
