The support I've gotten for this story… Wow. It's crazy. I never expected one of my stories to take off like this. Thanks to everyone for the reviews!
The disclaimer has already been written. I'm not going to write like 40 of them. You all know I don't own the book series.
I'm sincerely sorry for not updating sooner. I hope I don't sound like an excuse-making weenie, but I had finals to study for, and then I went camping.
Minerva Chase did not approve of her daughter. She should have gotten a good college education. She should have been sitting in the classroom Minerva was about to enter. But instead, the girl had run away with that friend of hers and become famous. And for what? For money, Minerva supposed.
She hated capitalist society. It was her biggest pet peeve, and that was pretty big considering that Annabeth's fame was her second-biggest pet peeve.
Everyone shut up immediately as Minerva walked into the room. Her class had learned to watch her moods; if you pissed off the professor you'd get a bad grade for the day. Minerva loved this about teaching at Yale: the kids actually cared about their educations, because they'd spent tons of money to get into an Ivy League school and weren't about to go if they didn't want to succeed in life.
But Annabeth was going to Juilliard, just proof to Minerva that her daughter was headed for the dark side: art.
Thalia finished singing her song, and she gave Will the signal to stop the recording. He gave her the thumbs-up. Thalia nearly tripped over the floor, if that was even possible, in her hurry to get back out the door. Will poked around on the computer, then glanced at the sound board in front of him and played back Thalia's singing.
Thalia had thought she only sounded good because she was used to her own voice, but that wasn't the case.
She was quite the singer, even in the recording. She felt faint remembering that she had written and sung this song. Will tapped his chin and poked the keys of a synthesizer next to him.
Thalia made a face. "Can there be, like, guitar?"
Will shrugged. "I guess the song would sound good with anything. Can you play guitar?"
"Yes, Solace, I can play guitar," Thalia said, taking a shiny flying V off the wall behind them.
"Good. Because the guys from One Direction sure can't."
Thalia raised her eyebrows in silent agreement and hurried over to record a guitar part.
Reyna tugged the brush through her relentless black waves. If the two of them were supposed to meet Thalia at one o'clock for lunch, she had to look her best. She growled as she attacked an especially unforgiving snarl and thanked the gods her hair wasn't any curlier than it already was.
The doorbell rang and Reyna tightened her bathrobe tie. It was Annabeth.
"What do you want?"
Annabeth tossed her hair over her shoulder. "I apologize for being such a bitch at the restaurant last night. And also… your mom knows Poseidon, right? Because there was a guy that was with him last night. I want to find that guy."
"I don't talk to my mom much," Reyna said, "but yes, she knows him. She works on the same floor."
Annabeth nodded. "Alright. Anyways, I'll leave you to your getting ready. Are you going to lunch with Thalia and I?"
"Why else would I be up this early?" Reyna asked. She shut the door on Annabeth.
Nico finished spiking his hair just as Ethan wrenched the bathroom door open. "Dude!" he yelled. "You scared me!"
Ethan let out a rather twisted-sounding chuckle. "Aren't I just scary, though?"
"Rather scary indeed," Zoe said.
"Dude!" Ethan yelled, slamming the door in her face. "Use the other bathroom."
"The other one doesn't have a shower," Bianca said, barging into the bathroom and yanking the shower door open. "Now scram, boys."
Nico swore in Italian and stormed out of the bathroom. Ethan was waiting for him in the instrument room, and he plucked a few notes on his bass when Nico walked in.
"So what's the revenge plan?"
"We're going to remake 'Dream On,'" Ethan said, "and they'll have no choice but to put us back at the top."
The two exchanged evil grins.
Will pulled the disc from his computer and put it in a case. "I'll get this out on the wire. Trust me, it'll be a hit before you wake up on Wednesday morning."
"Thanks, Will," Thalia said.
"I know why you wrote it," he said. "It's because you want to marry Nico di Angelo."
"'Marry' is a bit strong for this case," Thalia said. "Perhaps 'date' would be better. And please don't tell Jason, or he'll take the initiative to date Piper."
"That could never end well," Will chuckled.
"Never," Thalia confirmed. "I'm rather concerned about him."
Will smiled. "Well, you've got a lunch meeting to get to, and I've got more recording appointments."
Reyna cursed as she tripped, nearly snapping her purple satin heel. Why did her life have to suck so much? Her self-proclaimed soul mate chose another girl over her, Annabeth had turned stone-cold, and now her favorite shoes had almost been wrecked.
Reyna didn't like Diamond. Not at all. Their music was too autotuned, and their musicians were twats. She couldn't stand the idea of Jason dating one of… them. It was sickening. Maybe she should have tried to get a job like her sister had instead of getting famous and having to deal with idiots. She pushed in the door of the expensive café and marched in on her heels, twirling the purple streak in her hair. Thalia, Annabeth, and Jason were already seated at a table for four.
"Stay out of her way today," Jason said to the others, "because she's in full bitch mode."
"That is it!" Reyna huffed, hearing Jason's whispered comment. "Why don't you just start going out with Piper? It is over!"
Annabeth's face was drawn into a melodramatic oh-em-geez shocked expression as Reyna turned on the spike of her heel and marched out of the café.
"Rey- wait!" Jason said, knocking Thalia's vanilla latte all over her shirt as he pushed his chair out. Reyna, however, was storming down the street, heels clack-clacking on the hot pavement as she pushed past people. She was a few blocks at most from the Empire State Building, which was good, because not only did she have an errand to run for Annabeth, but she needed to see her mom.
Her mom, Bellona or Bella for short, was a retired Army lieutenant who had later scored roles as the bad girl in action movies. Reyna didn't talk to Bella much, but she always seemed to help calm her daughter's moods.
Reyna huffed and stepped on the elevator, poking the button for her mother's floor. She growled at the irritating elevator music, but thankfully she was alone. She was only slightly less pissed as she stalked down the hall. Her heels accentuated every step, which was one of the reasons they were her favorite shoes. Her black dress pants and even her usually clingy purple satin blouse hung damp from Manhattan's humid summer air. She knocked twice on Bella's door, which opened rather quickly.
"What brings you, little praetor?"
"Mom!" Reyna protested at Bella's nickname for her. Growing up, the two of them had been obsessed with Ancient Rome, mainly because Bellona was the name of the Roman goddess of war. (Reyna wondered what in Pluto's realm her grandma was thinking when she named her kid that.) Even now, there was a gold engraving behind Bella's desk with the goddess's sword and torch on it. So Bella called Reyna 'little praetor' and Reyna's sister Hylla 'little Amazon.'
"Don't tell me," Bella guessed, omniscient grin coming over her face, "it's a certain boy."
"Yes, actually," Reyna said. "He wants to date Piper McLean."
Bella raised one eyebrow, scooting out Reyna's favorite chair- purple, of course, from under her desk. "Tristan McLean's daughter?"
"The very same," Reyna affirmed. "She shouldn't be famous. Just because she's got a famous dad-"
"Calm down, princess," Bella said, miraculously not sounding exasperated. "So Jason's dumping you for another girl, who just happens to be Tristan McLean's daughter, singer of 'Fashion' and former star of a childish Disney show."
"Yes," Reyna said, tapping Bella's desk with her purple fingernails.
"Her up against you," Bella said, "you, who are about to come out with a new album containing 'Brokenhearted' and 'Fly Away' and 'Thought I Knew You,' and the to-be star of an ABC Family series about a girl who has to save all of history? I'd say he's making the wrong choice."
Reyna smiled. "You know how to cool me down."
"I'm your mom."
"She looks pissed," Percy said, referring to the girl in purple who had just stormed by in the hall.
"Probably is," Poseidon replied, leaning back in his chair. "That's Bella Canina's daughter, Reyna. Female counterpart of the duet Golden Eagle."
"Am I just going to keep seeing these people?" Percy grumbled.
"It's what being well-known entitles," Poseidon said, spreading his arms. "If only Chasing Waves would fall for you."
"Maybe if I could do something other than look handsome and swim, she would."
"Then maybe we need to do something," Poseidon told Percy.
Percy didn't like the evil glint in his father's sea-green eyes.
Bianca protested as Zoe yanked the bucket of ice cream out of her hands.
"You cannot eat so much sugar!" Zoe chastised her friend. "You will get fat."
"Just shut up," Bianca grumbled. "What do you care if I get fat?"
"I don't," Zoe said. "But I'm sure your brother does. Or, maybe… Wiiiiiiiill."
"Zoe!" Bianca snapped. "Will and I may have been an item for a while, but we're over and done! Don't bring up his name!"
Zoe sniffed. "If you need me, I'm going for a girls' night out with Phoebe and I should get ready."
Bianca returned the sniff and snatched back her ice cream.
Silena neatly placed another pile of plates in the dishwasher just as her phone rang; set to Diamond's latest hit, Call Me Maybe, it was her favorite piece of technology. She checked the call.
Drew, of all the frickin' people out there. Silena pressed the 'Reject Call' button. Silena despised her younger cousin. Drew Tanaka was the world's biggest, most spoiled brat. Her mom, Silena's aunt, was rich as hell, but she never gave a penny to Silena. Drew's dad was the founder of a computer company. He gave Silena new electronics whenever they came out, but that was the limit.
Silena herself had only a dad, and he sold chocolates in Grand Central Station with a woman named Sally and a teenage girl named Lou Ellen. She'd only been able to work in an upscale restaurant because she'd studied as hard as she could in school- and she was still a waitress. Silena was living proof that beauty can't do anything for you- a pretty face doesn't mean a pretty life. She had a little brother who needed taking care of too- Mitchell. And even though she loved Mitchell, a lot, he was a pain in the butt.
Her phone buzzed with a text. She checked it.
Oh my gods, she immediately thought when she saw the number. It's Beckendorf!
She flipped open the phone and read the message.
Meet me at the Russian place three doors down from your restaurant tomorrow night.
Silena had to hold her mouth shut to keep herself from squealing aloud.