A/N- I finally motivated myself to update! Yay!
Six Years Later…
Things had changed a lot in the past few years. Ever since they started sending Allele to camp during the summer, I've gotten very limited time to visit her, yet I love watching her grow. Percy and Annabeth had a baby boy named Darien. (Apparently, the name has something to do with the ocean… according to Annabeth.)
One cloudy fall day in the middle of September, I was on my way once again to the familiar red brick house. I knock on the front door, knowing what to expect. I stand straight as I wait for it to open, and when it does I am faced by eleven year old Allele.
"Hey Aunt Rachel!" She says with a cheery smile on her face. She has let her hair grow out and has curled the ends of it. She wears kaki capris and a light green tank top.
"Hey, Allele, can I come in?" I ask. She suppresses a childish giggle.
"Of course you can. My mom is in the kitchen. She's cooking spaghetti for dinner with homemade sauce and everything! I helped her make it." She says, seeming very full of excitement. I smile and step into the house. Even with two young children, the house was clean and tidy. As I took off my shoes, Annabeth came to the front of the house to greet me.
"Rachel! So glad you could come!"She says, her blond hair is pushed back in a headband. I smile.
"Oh, you know I'm always happy to see the kids." I say. As I look around, I notice something is missing. "Where's Darien?" Allele answers.
"He's upstairs playing with his new guitar. Daddy got it for him once he had earned the money." She smiles confidently. Annabeth sighs.
"Yes, he is quite the little rockstar." She turned her head towards the stairs and shouts "Darien! Aunt Rachel's here!" In a few moments, a little boy with black hair and gray eyes is running down the stairs, sporting an ACDC sweatshirt.
"Hi!" he waves. I wave back.
"Hey Darien, I hear you have a new guitar." I say. He nods up and down rapidly.
"Yep! I just got it! It's super cool. It's like red and white with black lining! You wanna come see it?" He asks. I smile at him.
"In a little bit, Darien." I say. He shrugs and runs back upstairs. Once he left, Annabeth leads me into the kitchen where it smells of tomato sauce and garlic bread. Allele followed us, begging her mom if she could taste the sauce, and Annabeth telling her to wait till dinner. I look into the post of steaming red sauce, its delicious smell filling my nostrils.
"Looks delicious, Annabeth." I compliment. Allele jumps up from the kitchen table.
"Yeah, I wonder if it tastes delicious! Oh, I know how we can find that out! Maybe if I-"
"Allele, I said no!" Annabeth scolds. Allele sits back down and sighs. Annabeth looks to me.
"So Rachel, how have you been? I haven't seen you for half the summer." She asks. I lean on the island in the middle of the kitchen.
"Things have been okay. I finallygot out of the office." I answer. Just as I would have known, Annabeth asks questions.
"Oh really?" What are you doing now?" She asks.
"Well, I'm selling my artwork online, and I'm applying for a job as a set designer for plays and stuff at the community college." I say. Annabeth smiles.
"That's great, Rachel. I hope that works out for you." She says genuinely. Allele sighs and leaves the table. She goes to the drawer and brings out a white object, about the size of a picture frame. I immediately recognize it. It's a kindle. She walks back to her seat and starts fiddling around with the buttons until she is contently reading something. Annabeth turns back to me. "So how is the online dating thing working?" She asks. I blush.
"It's going okay. I mean, I've met this one guy named Keith. He's nice and all, but I mean…" My sentence trails. Annabeth frowns.
"Sorry, Rachel, about the dating thing. Usually finding that special person takes awhile.
It didn't take you too long.
Five Years Later…
Typical end of the day at the set shop, I was covered, head to toe in paint. I was at the shop alone today, but all I really had to do was finish up the trees for the middle school play. Once those were done, I was free to go.
I walk out of the school to my car and get in, just like normal. I slip the key into the ignition, put the car in reverse, and pull out of the parking lot, just like normal. As I head out of the lot, my cell phone rings. I reach down and put a headset in my ear. "Hello?" I answer.
"Rachel!" It is Percy's voice, and it is very urgent. That is definitely not normal. Almost right away I sense something is wrong.
"P-Percy, what is it? Is something wrong?" I ask. Percy hasn't even said anything yet and I am already jumping to conclusions.
"Yes, something is very wrong." He pauses and takes a deep breath. "Listen, can you come down to the house and watch Darien for us?"
Us .
"Um, sure, but what's so urgent?" I ask, already re-routing myself. Percy takes a few seconds before he answers.
"Listen, I'm honestly not sure yet. It… it's about Allele." He says, his voice heavy. My heart is racing right now, and I don't know what to think.
"Oh, okay." Is all I can say.
In a few minutes, I find myself with Darien, alone. A lot has changed since he was little. I guess he's sort of rebelled against his parents' wishes. Knowing Percy, he would want his son to be heroic and brave. He was pale and skinny as a stick. Annabeth wanted him to be smart no, intellectually advanced. As far as I knew, he had three failing grades. He let his hair grow out so it covered his face and had a wardrobe filled with t-shirts of different rock bands. Guitar had been his passion since he was six and man was he good.
"Darien, are you hungry or thirsty at all?" I ask him as I pour myself some water in the kitchen. Questions are running through my head and both Percy and Annabeth are gone. Darien was sitting on the couch listening to Percy's Ipod.
"Huh?" He looks up at me, taking out one of the ear plugs. I sigh.
"Darien, why don't you come here for a minute and talk to me. Leave the music there." I say, sitting at the table. Darien groans as he makes his way over and sits down.
"What?" He mumbles. I look up at him. "You look funny." He says. "When was the last time you washed those clothes?" I sigh.
"Darien, what is going on with your sister?" I ask. Darien leans back in the chair and fiddles his fingers. He doesn't look me in the eye.
"I don't know. Dad said there was an attack at her school but it had nothing to do with her being a halfblood." He mumbled.
"Oh…" My voice trails. Darien continues.
"Dad said he'd call when he finds out what happened." He says. When he was done, ironically, the phone rings. I let it ring once and let Darien dive for it. He takes a look at the caller ID and hands it to me.
"Dad." He mouths as I answer the phone.
"Percy?" I say into the receiver. What I hear shocks me. It's the voice of Annabeth, and it is wracked with sobs.
"R-Rachel!" Her voice is just as urgent as Percy's had been.
"What? Annabeth, what happened?" I say, my voice getting louder by each word.
"There has been a-a sh-shooting at… at Allele's school… Allele…." Her voice stuttered and was soon overcome with sobbing. There was a short pause over the phone until she came on.
"Listen, j-just get over here now. Bring Darien with you." She says and hangs up the phone.