Chapter 10: Peter's Friend Gets Claimed
(Andi)
I jerked awake and looked out my window to see a tired and dripping wet pair stumbling towards the cabins. I ran out. "Peter!"
The next thing I knew I had my arms around him and the salt water of my tears mixed with the seawater from the sound. I was getting wet, but I didn't care.
I cried happily, "I was so worried about you. Where were you?" I pulled away to look at Peter's face and only then did I realize that I had hugged the wrong boy.
Percy had an amused expression on his face as I let go of him and went to grab Peter.
But Peter took a step back. "Hey," he said, furtively, "Could you keep it down, Miss Sunshine?" He was glancing around at the other cabins.
I frowned at him, "What for?"
Peter looked like he was in pain.
"Are you okay? Do you need Nectar? I always have some in my cabin," I said worriedly.
"No, no. I'm fine, so is Percy. I just don't want everyone in camp to know we were out late."
He didn't want everyone in camp to know they were out late?
I laughed, but I was not happy. "It is a little late for that, Peter. I think even Mr. D. has noticed you were gone, since it's been over two weeks since you disappeared."
"Two weeks?" Percy repeated.
Him and Peter exchanged one of their annoying shared looks.
I nodded and said chastisingly, "Over two weeks. 19 days, 4 hours, 11 minutes, 58 seconds and 12 jiffies to be exact.[1][2]Or didn't you two notice? I organized a search and everything. People thought that…well they stopped searching."
Peter looked like he might faint again. It looked like he was finally getting it.
"But I never stopped," I added proudly. "Nico said you weren't dead so I hoped and here you are." I smiled. It was true. He was here. He was safe. I had not lost him.
"Yeah," Percy agreed, "Here we are."
"Gosh golly, I was ever so worried. Where were you guys?" I asked again feelingly.
"Oh, we got lost," Peter said, suspiciously.
"In the sound?" I asked incredulously. Grover and hippocampus had said as much, but that did not mean it made sense. Peter was the son of Poseidon. Even with Percy as a handicap, the idea of Peter getting lost in the ocean was…beyond screwy.
Peter nodded, suspiciously.
I glanced over at Percy. He gave me that crazed look. Like he'd seen things he should not have.
Then I turned back to Peter. "Hmm… yeah sure," I said, not buying it.
Boys and their secrets. If mystery wasn't so hot, I'd have been angrier. Instead, I just said lecturingly, "Well, just remember: this is still both yours and Percy's first summer at camp. You can't just go off on your own for days at a time. People will worry about you. I will worry about you."
Percy seemed affected by my words. His shoulder shook and he covered his face but Peter just stared at me blankly. He didn't understand. I had already lost Luke. I couldn't lose another…not even weird and grumpy Peter.
I was crying again and hard. There were three whole tears on each cheek. I wiped them away.
Peter took another step back. "Alright, alright, don't start crying again. Percy and I have learned our lesson. We won't disappear like this again. So, just calm down, okay?"
I nodded. I hadn't meant to start crying again, but I was glad I did.
Between sniffles, I asked, "So does that mean you'll stop going into the woods for hours at odd times too?"
Peter narrowed his eyes at me. "How do you know about that?"
I shrugged and whistled unsuspiciously. I couldn't tell them Grover was keeping an eye on them for me. Peter might think I was spying on him which I totally wasn't, so I cleverly deflected his suspicions by saying, "Who can say?"
For some reason, Peter scowled while Percy raised his eyebrows but before either of them could say anything else, Chiron came and herded them to the Big House to give them a lecture of his own.
Apparently, a small crowd had formed around us as we had been talking. Grover made his way through the crowd and smiled at me, "I fetched Chiron as soon as I saw them," he said proudly.
"Thanks Grover," I said, indifferently.
"Anything for you Andi," Grover said, happily.
I nodded. It had been a long couple of weeks. All I wanted now was some beauty sleep.
A couple days later, it was the end of summer break. I was so relieved because it meant Percy was leaving. I had decided that he was a very bad influence on Peter.
It was a godsend that tonight was Percy's last dinner. I went to my table to sit in my usual place with Nico and Grover.
Before I started on my food, I looked over at Peter at the Poseidon table. He had refused to my invitation to sit with me again, so I knew he would be at his own table alone again, except he wasn't alone. Peter and Percy were standing by the Poseidon table. Peter was whispering something to Percy who looked hesitant.
"I knew I shouldn't have told him about your claiming," Grover whimpered, pathetically.[3]
"You did what?" I asked, glancing over at him.
Grover just shook his head and continued to whimper. I looked back over at the Poseidon table. Peter had sat down and now he was gesturing for Percy to sit down too.
Suddenly, the two of them had the whole camp's attention, even Mr. D's. Percy frowned at the table bench. He wasn't really going to do it, was he?
I started to get up but Nico stopped me.
"No," he whispered.
"But it could be dangerous," I hissed in protest. Peter was trying to get Percy to sit at his table. It went against camp tradition to have people from another cabin sit at your table. The only reason Nico could sit with me now was because I had asked Daddy's permission.[4] Poseidon was not Daddy. He was very territorial.[5]
"They have done worse," Nico whispered, mysteriously.[6]
I was about to ask Nico what he meant when the world shifted and I fell back onto my table's bench. Apparently, while Nico and I had been arguing, Percy had decided to sit down and now Poseidon, God of the sea, earthquakes and horses was angry.
"Duck and cover!" someone shouted.
I ignored them and stayed where I was, but all around me, people dove under tables.[7] The earth was quaking like Jell-O, but I sat firm in my seat which meant I was one of the first people to see the sea green hologram of a curved trident with its prongs pointed downward and straight at Percy Jackson's head.
"Isn't that Poseidon's symbol?" I whispered to Grover and Nico who were coming out from under the table. The appearance of the hologram had stopped the earthquake.
"I dunno," Grover said, unhelpfully, "It's not supposed to be upside down, but maybe Poseidon was feeling lazy?"
"I doubt it," Nico muttered. All around us people were whispering and having similar conversations.
Peter's voice carried over all the whispers. "I don't understand. It shouldn't be like that. It should be— You have all the powers. I was positive." He looked up to Chiron and Mr. D.
We all did.
"He's the son of Poseidon," Peter told them, desperately.
They just shook their heads.
Peter looked back at Percy who had stood up. Peter looked heartbroken. I'd never seen anyone look so sorry.
Percy stepped away from the table and spoke. His voice was hard. "There's only one son of Poseidon here, Peter. And that's you." [8]
Then Percy turned and ran. I thought that Peter would go after him, but he seemed frozen, like his world had just broken in two.
Footnotes
[1] Yes, I looked it up. A jiffy is a real unit of time. It is either 1/60th of a second or 1/50th of a second. It is also thought to be thieves' cant for lightning, so that's cool.
[2] Uh…I mean PJO Percy has like a perfect sense of direction. Why shouldn't Andi have a perfect sense of time? Time is usually based on the sun, moon, and planets i.e., the sky.
[3] In the Lightning Thief fic, it was a big deal to have Andi verify her god parentage by sitting at the Zeus table. She got officially claimed. Along with a lightning bolt hologram, there was thunder and lightning. And afterwards, Zeus actually showed up and ate with her that day.
[4] In the Sea of Monsters fic, they also made a big deal of sitting at the correct table. Nico got electrocuted for trying to sit with Andi in the beginning of the fic. At the end of the fic, Andi finally got Zeus' permission to let all her friends sit at her table and everyone was very impressed with her negotiation skills. This emphasis on sitting at the correct cabin table makes more sense when you remember that the Sea of Monsters fic came out long before Trials of Apollo where Will Solace and PJO Nico easily broke the table rule with a "doctor's note" and a veiled threat.
[5] Andi met Poseidon in the Lightning Thief fic, briefly.
[6] This is indeed mysterious and never really explained. Does Nico know where Peter and Percy disappeared off to? I mean Peter and Percy were in the underworld. And if he did know, for how long? Maybe he learned after the fact or... (Warning: Conspiracy theory territory) maybe Nico knew the whole time and was keeping it secret from Andi because he didn't want Peter to come back and maybe he's holding Andi back this chapter because he is hoping that something bad will happen to Peter. Or maybe not…I don't know.
[7] PSA: Don't be like Andi. Practice proper earthquake safety!
[8] More on this later.
A/N: I want to thank march4fun (Delta R) for all his comments and support. We're old friends and we beta read each other's work. I highly suggest his stuff, especially:
Puddin - The Adventures of the Demon Demigoddess based on the DBZ abridged series.
Though it's in a different fandom, I'd say it has a similar feel to this. It's very funny and offbeat which means the emotional moments hit that much harder.
Beyond that, we're already on Chapter 10 and I haven't heard from anyone else…
I was looking forward to posting to the PJO fandom because it's really big and active now. I wanted to see what a modern-day audience thought of this refurbished fic. I know this is an adopted story so you might think I don't deserve feedback, but proofreading and editing is hard guys, especially since the chapters are going to start getting longer. (Chapter 11 is over 5k words!)
All I'm saying is that I'm putting effort and time into this, so I'd really love if I got some more reviews.
Also, data shows that I post faster when I get reviews. It's a motivation thing.
See you when I see you.
- Sincerely Annbe11