Chapter 18
"Percy?" Grover's startled voice rang out into the air. Percy grinned and walked towards him. "Hey, what are you doing in New York? Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" said Grover excitedly, pulling him into a hug.
"I totally forgot, man," said Percy, running a hand through his hair.
"And this must be Annabeth," said Grover, looking behind Percy. "I've sure heard a lot about you, girl-"
"No, he hasn't," Percy cut in sharply, trying to hide the blush that was rising to his cheeks.
"Nice to meet you... Grover?" said Annabeth.
"That's right! So, what are you guys doing here? And Perce, if I were you, I would walk in the other direction if I saw Thomas," added Grover.
"Because Rachael's with him?" guessed Percy.
"Yeah, and that would be awkward, you know, with the new girl, and everything," said Grover cheerfully.
Percy knew that Grover was aware of the fact that he and Annabeth were not a couple, but that did not stop a flush from spreading across his cheeks. "Oh, hey!" said Percy, opening up the map in his hand. "Grover, you knew your way around New York better than I did when we lived here. Have you got any idea where-" He glanced down at the paper, "-Oakland Street is?"
Grover whistled. "That's up near 5th Avenue, where all those rich fools live. I'm just sayin', would it kill them to give to the needy once in a while?"
Percy laughed. "You're not needy, Grover."
"But can you take us there?" said Annabeth anxiously.
"Yeah, sure." Grover shrugged, and started walking down the sidewalk. "Who are you in such a hurry to meet, anyways?"
"An old friend of my dad's, actually," said Percy, hunching his shoulders to show that he didn't really want to talk about it.
"Oh." Grover seemed to get it, but what he understood in guy body language, he totally lacked in girl language. "So, Annabeth!" he said. "Where are you from?"
"Oh, here and there..." said Annabeth awkwardly. Percy winced. He had told Grover about Annabeth, but not about her living situation, or her past. That had seemed like something too personal to say over the phone.
"You ever been to New York before?" said Grover.
Annabeth shook her head. "No, but it reminds me a lot of Chicago."
Grover burst out laughing, a cheerful glint in his eye. Percy noticed that Grover had become more confident in talking to girls than when he last saw him, almost as if he had blossomed in Percy's absence. He felt a tiny pang of sadness at the thought, but he knew the truth; Grover's girlfriend, Juniper, had force him to hang out with her friends a lot, so talking to girls (even stunningly beautiful girls like Annabeth) wasn't so uncomfortable for him anymore.
"You know the major difference between NYC and Chicago?" said Grover, coming up to a halt.
"Well, the smells are different," said Annabeth, though she was smiling.
"Uh-uh," said Grover. He pointed one of his crutches towards a sign on the side of the building. "It's the pizza."
Percy turned and realized suddenly where he was. "Circe's Pizza," he gasped. "No way." He turned to Annabeth, doing his best to make puppy dog eyes. "We went into the library," he said. "Can we please go into Circe's just to get a quick bite? It'll be the best pizza you've ever tasted, I swear."
Circe's was where everyone liked to hang out. It's strange yet popular 1950's look made Percy feel like he was stepping back in time. He and his friends had always gone there before he left. He and his Mom and Dad...
Annabeth frowned. "Percy, we have to take the 8:00 bus from the station. If we stop here, that doesn't leave us much time with Zeus."
"Please?" Percy whined.
Annabeth glared for a minute, but Percy knew she couldn't hold out. She rolled her eyes, and said "Fine. But only half an hour. Then we're leaving."
They stepped into the restaurant and Percy could see Annabeth's face light up out of the corner of his eye. "What did I tell you?" he teased. She just grinned.
Grover walked in behind them and clasped a hand on Percy's shoulder. "Welcome back to New York, Perce," he said. "And the T.A.R.D.I.S.!"
Percy turned around to see an old electric blue Police Call Box on the wall that was actually a photo booth. He laughed. Grover had been harboring a secret obsession with the thing (and Doctor Who) since the seventh grade.
They sat down and ordered three slices of pizza. The more Percy saw and heard and tasted and felt of New York, the more he realized how much he missed it. But also, every time he looked over at Annabeth or heard her laugh, he was sure that it was worth it.
An hour later, they were stepping out of Circe's New York Style Pizza House. Annabeth wouldn't have admitted it, but Percy knew she had loved it. "So, Oakland Street," said Percy.
Grover nodded. "Right this way, my pupils."
Annabeth raised an eyebrow when Grover turned his back to them. "'My pupils?' she whispered to Percy.
He shrugged. "Don't question the G-Man," he whispered back.
They walked for a couple of blocks down the road. Percy did not miss the grimace of pain Annabeth had on her face when she stopped to adjust her shoe, but she pretended it didn't bother her, and he didn't want to push it.
"Okay," said Grover, lowering his voice. "We can get to Oakland way faster if we take this shortcut."
"What shortcut?" said Percy suspiciously. Grover was notorious throughout Manhattan for his "shortcuts".
"Um... Blackjack Alley?" offered Grover tentatively.
Percy blanched. "No way! I'd rather walk back to New Hampshire!"
"What's Blackjack Alley?" said Annabeth, who seemed rather amused at Percy's reluctance.
"It's like a ghetto neighborhood," he explained. "People who are passing it can always here gunshots firing. There's always reports on the news about murders and knife fights that go on in there... and there's Medusa."
Annabeth knit her eyebrows together. "The Greek myth?"
Percy shook his head, but it was Grover who answered. "They're a gang. Everyone make up stories about how they're drug addicts and terrorists, but they're not really that bad," he said, trying to convince them.
"Are you kidding me?" said Percy. "Grover, you and I have both met Snake. They really are that bad."
"Snake?" inquired Annabeth.
"Gang leader," Percy replied grimly.
"And when did you meet this guy?" said Annabeth skeptically.
"When we were twelve, we took a dare to go into Blackjack Alley," explained Percy. "It was the worst experience of my life."
"But we wouldn't get to Oakland by tomorrow unless one of you has got cab fare," pointed out Grover.
Percy and Annabeth glanced at each other. Neither one of them had thought to bring extra money. They only had the ten dollar bill Paul had given them in case of an emergency, and that definitely would pay for a cab.
"Alright," agreed Annabeth. "We'll go through."
"Annabeth!" protested Percy, but he was already following Grover down the street. He sighed. He couldn't let her go in there with a handicapped sixteen-year-old for protection, so he followed.
Percy pushed himself in front of Annabeth as they edged into a darkened alleyway. She retaliated by pushing herself back in front of him. "I'm not helpless," she muttered through clenched teeth. He held his breath as they entered Blackjack Alley. It was dark, damp, and there was a strong scent of what suspiciously smelled like vodka.
"Alright," murmured Grover. "Keep your head down and keep close to me. Come on!" He led them in between the bricks and the cement, crouching in the shadows, trying to stay as inconspicuous as possible. They made their way into a clearing that looked like it had the makings of a marketplace. Woman in old rags sold food and clothes on the side, and the men traded things with each other behind their leather jackets.
Percy didn't understand how Annabeth seemed to be fascinated with all of this. She kept falling behind while studying the items for sale. A few hungry-looking children scuttled in front of him and he had to lean against the brick wall on the side of the alley so that he wouldn't trip on them. He saw that their faces were gaunt and thin, their eyes haunted and tired. When he looked back up for Annabeth, though, she was out of his sight.
A surge of panic shot through him. "Annabeth!" he hissed under his breath, his eyes searching frantically through the throng of people for clean blonde curls and startling blue eyes. "Annabeth, where are you?"
"Hey!" Percy turned around just in time to see a boy who looked to be in his early twenties grab Annabeth by the wrist. He began to run towards her, but before he could get there, Annabeth did something very unexpected. She twisted the hand that they man was gripping around so that she was holding on to his wrist, folded his arm behind his back, and kneed him in the soft spot. The man groaned and lurched over, but Annabeth was ready. Her other knee connected with the man's nose, shooting his face back up. As he keeled over backwards, Annabeth brought her elbow crashing down onto the back of his head. He lay on the damp cement ground, groaning in pain. "Crazy bitch," Percy could have sworn he heard him say.
Annabeth leaned down over him. "And don't you forget it," she hissed.
She walked back over to Percy. "Ready to go?" she said, placing her hand on her hips. Percy stared at her. It seemed like the entire marketplace was watching them.
"Um... yeah," he said, grabbing her hand and leading her out of the marketplace. Grover was waiting for them at the edge of it.
"Where have you guys been?" he said. "I had started to get worried."
"No need to be worried," muttered Percy. He turned to Annabeth. "Where did you learn how to do that?"
She shrugged. "You don't go through as many foster homes as I did without learning a trick or two."
She walked further down the alley. Grover shot Percy a confused look. "What happened?" he questioned.
"Don't ask," said Percy, still in shock. He didn't know that Annabeth could be so downright aggressive.
They trekked in silence down the alley until they came upon a hole in the side of the brick wall. "Straight through here," said Grover. They climbed through it, carefully avoiding the bits of broken brick and glass littered throughout the place.
Percy heard a murmur of voices somewhere inside the dark building. A sudden, terrified scream echoed through the place. Percy stiffened and felt Annabeth do the same next to him. Someone was being hurt. They had to help him.
Slowly, they crept through the building. Percy instinctively put himself between the screams and Annabeth. This time, she didn't seem to mind so much. He peered around the corner, where the sounds seemed to be coming from. A sickening sight greeted him.
A bulky, heavily-muscled man leaned over a teenaged boy who couldn't be older than Percy. "I'm going to ask you one more time, kid," growled the man. "Where's your old man?"
The boy gasped with pain as the man stepped on his hand. "I already told you," he managed. "My dad left me. I don't know where he is!" A memory hit Percy like a tidal wave.
"He left us!" Percy yelled in a rage. "We don't even know where he is!"
"Please, Percy," begged his mother, who was crying. "It isn't his fault."
Percy blinked the flashback out of his eyes. The moment it ended, he knew he had to help this boy.
So the he did the most impulsive, ADHD thing he had ever done. Even though he had no weapon, no self-defense training, and his back-up was a fifteen-year-old girl and a sixteen-year-old cripple, he jumped out from behind the corner. "Hey!" he shouted, steeling his eyes and clenching his fist. "Get away from him."
The big man's eyes lit with recognition. Percy was surprised he had remembered him, as they had met when Percy was only twelve. The man standing in front of him, and the guys surrounding him with their arms crossed, where a familiar sight for Percy. It was Snake and his gang, Medusa.
I know, it's been a while, but I'm traveling, and wifi is scarce:)
I also just saw the trailer for the SoM, and let me just say- Who else is totally phsyced about this? The new director is totally fixing things! I mean, it can never truly be completely repaired, but it's sooooo much better!
Today's theme song is for Percy and Annabeth!
Without the Bitter by Mayday Paradise
Special thanks to Strawtucker for this theme song! Got any ideas? Let me know!
Thanks for the reviews:) They make me happy.
-Rebel