Chapter 3: Hired?

For some, life is a burden. For some, it is just a phenomenon that they endure. For some, it is a rocky path with its ups and downs. For some, it was a walk in the park. And finally for some it was the ultimate party with a huge chocolate cake.

Percy Jackson certainly belonged to the last category.

Spoiled by super wealthy parents, he wasn't used to the answer 'No.' He was accustomed to getting everything he wanted, served on a silver platter. And naturally, with luxury came pride and a bit of conceit. Termed as the troublemaker by many of his friends, he had tousled raven black hair and mesmerising sea green eyes with a chiselled jaw line and well toned body. He was the son of nobles Poseidon and Sally Jackson which explained the high status. But as proud as he was, he wasn't a snob and quite loyal to the ones he knew and loved.

Currently he was in his room in the family mansion, sitting on his bed rubbing the sleep off his eyes. A teenage boy like him certainly didn't deserve to be woken up at six in the morning when his classes didn't begin until ten. He debated whether to or not to wake up, but his cousin Jason bustling in the room didn't leave much of a choice for him as he slipped off the bed to greet his cousin.

"Happy Birthday Percy!" Jason said grinning as wide as a human version of the Cheshire cat. He was Poseidon's nephew and was termed the golden boy topping each and every academic course they studied though he still was a bit weak at fighting when compared to Percy. With hair a bit darker than sandy blond and his eye an electric blue buzzing with energy, even his looks screamed golden boy

"You realize my birthday is next week, right?" Percy said in a monotone. "Let me guess. Thalia told you it's my birthday. Didn't she?"

"Yeah. That's more or less it. But why would she lie?" The former asked while a sheepish grin appeared on his face.

"The girl has been doing that for five days now. She sets up a person to wish me a happy birthday every morning at six. You sure she can't charm speak? Also don't you remember my birthday Jason?" Percy said frustration evident in his voice with a hint of amusement and sarcasm. He seriously needed to speak to Thalia. A boy needs his sleep after all.

"Not sure. So, when's your birthday?" Jason asked rubbing his neck.

"Exactly one week from now, I'll be seventeen." Percy told him.

"Oh," he said. That guy was certainly a great conversationalist. "By the way, are you coming?"

"Where?"

"For a walk in the garden." Jason told him.

"You make it sound as if we're dating or something." Percy said, his usual grin which screamed troublemaker adorning his face yet again.

"Which reminds me how's Calypso?" The blonde asked referring to Percy's girlfriend. Percy was a chick-magnet with around fifty girls who were ready to date him. It was only fair that the boy took a little advantage of that.

"She's fine. She's a lot into gardening and makeup. That's all she does I guess." He replied offhandedly. It was evident he wasn't feeling the love but you according to him you didn't have to love someone to be in a relationship. If it were so, he still would be single.

"You're coming?" Jason asked.

"Nope, you go. I'll get some sleep."

"Ok then. See you at class."

"Bye."

Percy, true to his word jumped on his bed the moment Jason stepped out but soon realised he was not able to sleep. After an hour of tossing and turning, he got up from his bed and got dressed in a simple blue round neck and some jeans.

Leaving his room, he decided to visit his mom before going to meet his friends before class started. Believe it or not, his classes were tiring. Two hours of mythology and civics, one hour of maths, one of science and three hours of sword fighting and defence could give anyone a migraine. He was about to enter when he found his parents in a deep conversation. He was about to leave when he heard his name and the mention of his birthday. Usually, he wasn't the one to eavesdrop, but the little demon inside him won the internal war he was having with himself and he stayed to hear snippets of the conversation which went something like:

"Do you really think we need to get him a personal caretaker?" Poseidon asked his wife.

"I think so." Sally said.

"Hiring an inferus is to be Percy's slave wouldn't be good for him I think."

"But someone needs to keep him in check."

"You think an inferus would be able to do that?"

"Yeah. Let's try this for his birthday. I'll go to the orphanage tomorrow and see."

This was weird. Percy had had servants, many of them but his personal one- Never. The idea both thrilled and disgusted him. Having someone to bow down to every single command of his- cool. But the fact that he was basically enslaving a person, destroying his/her life, made him uneasy.

xx-xx

Piper was at Annabeth's side yet again. The person who was basically her family, the only one was lying there unconscious, pale and burning up from fever and all she could do was to sit there and stare at her and shed tears feeling helpless.

Yeah, that pretty much summed it up.

Piper and Annabeth knew each other since they were three. Piper's parentage was itself a mystery to her. All she knew she was the result of an inter-community marriage and when her father died, she was sent here as a punishment and was forbidden any contact with her mom. Who were they? She didn't know.

Her back-story…pretty gloomy. For all she knew, she couldn't handle any more gloom at the moment.

"Prep up, girls. Fast." Bethany shouted. "People are here."

And this was just additional proof that her life officially sucked. S-U-C-K-E-D.

All she could hope for that she wasn't hired this time due to the following reasons:

Annabeth was in no condition to work and they had always got hired together. So naturally, if she was hired this time, she would be alone and she couldn't imagine it much less experience.

She couldn't leave Annabeth alone in this condition.

She was sick and tired of all this mess, to put it simply.

As much as she hated those nobles calling them shallow and snobbish, she couldn't help but envy them sometimes. And here was another one of them wanting to make one of them miserable by giving them the honour of staying in their company.

The lady, Sally Jackson came in the infirmary where Piper was sitting beside her best friend. Crossing her fingers, Piper prayed to every single god that existed wishing she was there just for a tour or a look at the girls or anything else. Just not to hire anyone of the two. As fate would have it, Annabeth chose that very moment to wake up or atleast make her presence known by opening her eyes and muttering something she couldn't comprehend.

Piper couldn't help but fuss over her best friend and the women standing in the doorway smiled. She was a bit astonished– scratch that- she was completely and utterly shocked on hearing that both of the girls were educated, even more than her son was. She wasn't the one to judge by looks but these two were seriously beautiful, the blonde had a regal aura around her and even in her injured state looked majestic while the brunette could be described more as cute.

She smiled again knowing who was she hiring and left the infirmary to tell the owner.