"You're still a prick and I still hate you but I forgive you because that's what friends are for. We forgive each other for being fucking douchebags" ~ Thalia Grace
Chelsea Tait missing.
That's the headline of April 2nd. Apparently, after she slipped away from the group, she haven't been spotted by anyone else and just vanished. She was suppose to meet up with her friend Kaylee later but when she didn't show up, Kaylee got worried and phoned her parents. Her parents haven't heard from her in a while and got seriously stressed and went to call the police. Overnight, the police have been searching for Chelsea all across New York but is unsuccessful.
To be honest, Annabeth wasn't even worried about her. From what Chelsea did yesterday (and assuming Jason and Piper's story is true - yes, she should trust her friends but lately Annabeth isn't sure who she can trust anymore, including her best friends), Annabeth is sure Chelsea can survive on her own. She probably disappeared on purpose. Maybe planning another April Fools prank on somebody else.
Annabeth suspected that Chelsea's parents didn't know Chelsea as well as they would like to. They probably think that Chelsea is their perfect little angel or some other crap like that but that's like all parents. They think they know their kids but all they know is the top layer, the layer kids want to show their parents. Chelsea is much more than that. She's much more capable of things people don't think she can do which she hidden well in her many layers. Nobody had studied her and got underneath all those layers to see who Chelsea really is. However, that Chelsea is the real Chelsea. She probably has something up her sleeves.
Annabeth sort of missed Thalia. Since their fight, they haven't been communicating for a while and Annabeth missed that. Thalia is the only person who would take her seriously when she tell her all her crazy hunches like the fact that Chelsea is probably okay and laughing at all those people worried about her across the country or where-ever she's at. Thalia would understand and try to help her dig into that hunch to see if it's reality or not. She wanted to just call Thalia but she wasn't sure how she's going to apologize or would Thalia even pick up her call.
Okay, maybe she kind of stole Luke's phone number off Thalia and called Luke without Thalia's permission. Okay, she might have told Luke that she knew about him and Thalia which Thalia specifically told her not to. She can't help it. Luke is like her crush. Even though she was dating Percy, she still wanted Luke. Don't get her wrong, Percy is great but he's not Luke. Luke is just so perfect it actually hurts that he belongs to her ex-best friend. That was what her fight with Thalia was about. Luke. It was always Luke.
Hopefully Thalia forgave her. Annabeth is still hurt by those mean insults she threw at her during their fight but it's nothing compare to the pain of losing Thalia. Thalia had once risked her life to safe Annabeth's for heavens sake. That is really brave of her.
Besides, Luke is kind of too old for Annabeth. Although, when Luke came to her house before he ran away to San Francisco and kissed her..it was perfect. It was heavenly. Something Annabeth wanted since well..forever. It was a gentle kiss on the lip and Annabeth was sure nobody took a picture of it but now, she realized it's Thalia. Of course. Luke is dating Thalia so Thalia must have been pissed at her for kissing her boyfriend even though Luke made the move. Thalia left the picture on purpose for Rachel to find which she did and send it to Leo which eventually got through the group. Sometimes, Thalia is too smart even for Annabeth. Her plan is always flawless.
Now, Annabeth wasn't even sure where Luke is. Thalia had once told her that he's in San Francisco but he probably moved around. You can't stay in one place for too long and somehow not attract attention. Thalia probably knows though. Damn her.
Quickly, Annabeth grabbed her phone and put in Thalia's numbers and press 'call'.
"Hey, you reached Thalia's voice mail. I'm either smoking pot or screwing some stranger at some dodgy pub. Just kidding, why the hell would I do that? But yeah, I'm busy so leave a message after this beep. Oh yeah, before the beep comes, if you're some annoying shitty advertisements, hang up. If you're my parents, press 1. If you're Jason Grace, press 2. If you're Annabeth Chase, press 3." Thalia said.
Annabeth didn't wait any longer as she pressed '3'.
"Annabeth Chase!" Thalia voice came over the speaker again which made Annabeth missing her even more. "I know why you called. You're going to apologize, tell me that you're my slave for a month and all that kind of shit, right? I know you too well, Annie. Your answer is no. I'm not accepting your apology, You were a fucking prick and I hate your guts. Okay, just joking. You're still a prick and I still hate you but I forgive you because that's what friends are for. We forgive each other for being fucking douchebags Even if your'e a goddamn motherfucker, I'd still have to forgive you which you kind of are. Anyway, sorry you can't reach me now. I'm busy as I mentioned before and please don't say anything after the non existing BEEP because I'm not interested in further apology but I do like the part where you're going to be my slave. Don't worry, we can negotiate that when we meet up. Call me in another week or so and maybe I'll be around."
Another week? Annabeth sighed. What the hell has Thalia got herself into? It's a relief that Thalia forgave her even though she's now a motherfucker, a prick and a douchebag according to her best friend which isn't exactly encouraging.
Annabeth scrolled past her Facebook news feed again thinking of ways to contact Thalia when she came across a picture of Rachel in her new boarding school in Switzerland. She kind of had a bad ending in New York confessing to work for a certain 'boss' and faking her friendship with the group but Rachel has definitely made the right decision She convinced her father to let her go to a boarding school in Switzerland for the rest of the year for a 'fresh start'. It's smart, at least the group doesn't have to worry about her anymore. Besides, Rachel seems at eased and happy in her new school. From her Facebook pictures, she made quite some friends and they have lots of fun together.
Annabeth really hoped that Rachel had a fresh start. She left New York in a pretty bad state and even though she sort of hurt her, Annabeth thinks that she deserve a new start. She isn't all bad. She's still pretty cool.
"Goddamn planes." Piper grumbled. "This is like the third time I've been on one in this fricken months."
"They're not that bad." Jason shrugged. "Despite the fact that there isn't TV or good food or interesting newspapers or clean blanket or pillow or..It actually sounds pretty shit doesn't it?"
Piper laughed. "Yeah. We don't even get a fucking window seat because our booking to Malibu is last minute. It's not my fault that we got tricked by Chelsea to come back to Malibu and Nico ordered us to leave one day after getting to New York."
"Watch your language!" A mother of two boys who looked about seven years old tutted. "Everybody can hear you swear."
Jason bowed his head respectfully. "Sorry, ma'am"
"Dude, it's a stranger." Piper whispered. "Why are you so damn polite?"
"We already got her pissed. Besides, do you want to sit next to an angry mother? I think not." Jason reasoned. "Angry mothers are the worse to deal with. Even worse than cranky elderly, trust me."
Piper laughed. "What happened? How did you manage to get a mother mad with being polite? Did you say 'please' too often? And how did you piss off an elderly? Maybe you said 'excuse me' too many times? Or is it 'pardon me'?"
"Shut up." Jason flicked his fingers irritably at her. "I'm not that nice."
"Yeah, you are. I never met a teenager this nice." Piper told him. "You look like you're like some kind of a forty year old gentleman which came right out of Jane Austen novel."
"I don't wear a suit and offer to hold a petite umbrella while walking around with some girl in a nicely trimmed park." Jason retorted.
"What made you think of that?" Piper raised her eyebrows. "Did you watch Pride and Prejudice or something?"
Jason shrugged. "I'm pretty sure I saw some movie posters like that. You know, the type that looks like something Jane Austen would write."
"I'm still betting on the fact you watched the movie or read the book."
"Not true!" Jason insisted. "That's for people like you."
"Hey! I don't read or watch that kind of sappy stuff. You know me."
"I won't either." Jason said firmly. "I seriously won't. It's not like they look appealing in every way although the cover for Sense and Sensibility was kind of intriguing so I picked up a simplified version of it and it was okay..It was only the simplified version, okay? It wasn't like it's 400 pages long or more than that. I did not spend a week trying to read the full version of Sense and Sensibility secretly after reading the simplified version. I don't know anything about the Dashwood sisters though I must say Marianne is a very interesting character - that is not the point."
Piper shook her head and said sarcastically. "Sure. I totally believe you. It's cool, bro."
"It was a pretty interesting book!" Jason muttered defensively. "You should read it sometime."
"I see the sense in that book haven't taught you not to tell me to read any Jane Austen books already. Maybe you should read that book again."
Jason looked at Piper intently. "Do you even know what it's about?"
"Uh..no?" Piper frowned.
"You should. It's a classic. It's like you probably know the plot of Harry Potter before actually reading the books or watching the movie. You should at least know what happens in the book."
"Spoiler alert!" Piper cried. "Anyway, I was reading Harry Potter before it became such a success."
"Come on, was it ever not famous?" Jason argued.
"Shush!" The mother glared at them. "Tim was about to fall asleep."
"Coke?" Cat offered the boy who accompanied her a can.
"Thanks." Nico took the coke, popped it open and took a slow sip from it. "Nice house."
"Yeah, it's pretty rad." Cat agreed.
Nico's brown eyes stared at the cool wooden wall behind Cat. "Do you know where Chelsea is?"
Cat shook her head. "And here's the worse part, I've been getting a bunch of phone calls from Brittany, Kaylee, Kerri and London asking about Chelsea."
Nico laughed dully. "You aren't forced to hang out with them, you know. It's the fact that they will lose it after you're gone and reveal everything without meaning to you're afraid of isn't it? I'm assuming you helped Kaylee when she killed Drew for money? I'm guessing you're the one who helped Brittany the ninja when the police almost caught her knocking Piper out last Halloween?"
"How did..how did you know?" Cat frowned and sighed. "I really underestimated you, Di Angelo."
"Everybody does." Nico smiled strangely. "That's the best part of things. They think I'm only the son of Hades Di Angelo. A figurehead to carry on the family name. Nobody views me as a threat."
"And they should." Cat cocked her eyebrows. "You're one of the most dangerous people I know and I like it. Frankly, I think you're just as good as your dad."
Nico was caught off guard with that compliment comparing him with his dad. Was he really this good in the game to be compared to the legendary Hades? If this was Harry Potter, Nico felt like..Neville Longbottom. A supporting character in the main plot. Even if he's that good, he would only be stuck with being Harry Potter. However, Hades is like Dumbledore. He seems to know everything and know what he has to do in order for things to play out the right way. "Um..thanks." He said slowly.
Unlikely bond isn't it? Between Nico and Cat. That's exactly what they chose to work together. They both knew how powerful each other were and knew they can solve this if they put their puzzle pieces together. Oddly enough, both teenagers decided to trust each other despite being doubtful of almost everything. It was that gut feeling they know they have to work together. If you ask their brains, it would be telling you that it's a bad idea but they felt like it wasn't. Of course, they realize they can't give out everything so easily to their friends like Piper, Jason, Percy, Annabeth, Hazel, Frank, Leo, Reyna or whoever else wanting to solve the mystery as well but with their help, the group can solve it themselves. Cat and Nico knew better than to be the ones who told the world everything. They both knew somethings are meant to be kept a secret if you're not as pure as they seem to be.
People like Percy and Piper would have a better and less risky chance exposing the Shooter than Nico or Cat. It's best for them to do it. Imagine this whole story to be like a book (AN: kinda ironic since it kinda is one..:P), the group can be like the main characters solving the story but Nico and Cat are merely the readers who are also solving the mystery at the same time but couldn't really help the characters in any way. Even though you really want to yell at the book to tell them some kind of monster are behind them or something, they can't hear you, it won't work.
"Mitchell's helping Reyna." Cat prompted him. "You know, Mitchell Tanaka. Drew's step brother?"
"Oh." Nico groaned. "You know he is going to be the victim of the Shooter, right? As you said so, he is Drew's step brother. He's not far off the Shooter's kill list."
"Shit! We can't lose another person!" Cat cried.
Nico raised his eyebrow. "What are you going to do? Hide him in some special wine cellar you have around here? Maybe you can shield him from the Shooter but you know he'll just find another victim to compensate Mitchell. Mitchell isn't even that important. He's just close to Drew so the Shooter wants him dead. To be honest, he didn't even like Drew. It's just because they lived together. Pretty unfortunate, I must say."
"The Shooter is fucked up." Cat told him. "Seriously fucked up."
"Tell me something the whole world doesn't know." Nico rolled his eyes. "You're like saying 'grass is green' and I'm indicating the healthy kind you see in postcard pictures, not that dying yellow grass."
Cat flicked her hair like she was in a shampoo commercial. "You're a pain sometimes, Di Angelo."
"I know." Nico retorted. "I do have a sister to tell me that already. Except, what do you mean by sometimes? What am I the other times?"
"Just Nico." Cat grinned. "A sick-minded genius who really belongs in some asylum."
Nico narrowed his eyes at Cat and said hastily. "Anyway, those fucking police are after me again, especially that Leah bitch. Still offering me a hundred bucks. She obviously learnt that I don't do business for merely hundred bucks. I would only consider if you make it a thousand but seriously, a hundred. She got to be joking."
"How about those McDonalds happy meals she offers everybody below the age of 18?" Cat giggled. "Free food is pretty awesome but information like this ain't worth a happy meal."
Nico slapped his face with his palm. "Oh god, those. I mean McDonalds happy meal are only good for offering it to the dead. The dead loves McDonalds and since happy meals are usually for kids, the dead likes to eat sometimes kids normally eat to feel young again."
"Where the hell do you get that?" Cat stared at the pale boy. "Are you those freaky people who are like obsessed with dead people?"
"I like to be." Nico shrugged. "As you say, it freaks people out. It creeps them out and I'd like that."
"You're weird. Weird and twisted, boy." Cat shook her head and laughed. "That's good for this project. I would need a super creepy kid next to me."
"Shit." Frank swore as he quickly ran away from a street.
"What?" Hazel frowned as she had to quickly hurry behind him. 'Why are you running?"
Frank hid behind a tree and constantly peeked outside and whispered. "Isn't that Jason's doctor? Doctor Marshall?"
"Yeah, so?" Hazel raised her eyebrows. "I think we should say hi."
"He doesn't know who we are." Frank reminded her.
"He kinda knows me." Hazel shrugged. "I went to his house with Leo for that questionnaire."
"Shhh.." Somebody hissed behind them.
Hazel jumped behind Frank, using him as some kind of a human defensive machine.
"Hey!" Frank tried getting Hazel in front of him but failed as he looked around him nervously. "He..Hello? Is uh..anyone there? If you're an alien, we came in peace, although you're the one who's suppose to come in peace. Please don't kill us. I mean, if you're looking for tasty humans, Hazel tastes better. She uh.. taste like breadsticks. Behind me!"
"Shut up." Clarisse growled as she gave up her hiding spot. "You sound pathetic, prissy."
"Yeah." Hazel agreed. "And I certainly don't taste like a breadstick but Clarisse, what are you doing here?"
"And I thought prissy is only for Percy!" Frank added in.
Clarisse ignored Frank's outburst and looked at Hazel expectantly. "What are you doing here? Probably doing the same thing as me? Spying on Mr. Brad Marshall. What else would I be doing, duh!"
"We aren't spying." Frank spluttered. "We're hiding."
Hazel frowned. "Why are you even stalking him? There's nothing that special about him. He's your typical doctor."
"If he's your typical doctor, why are you hiding then?" Clarisse pointed out. "Even you know he isn't that normal. I have conducted my research for years, obviously I know he's something."
"What do you know about him?" Frank demanded.
"He's a fucking retard." Clarisse rolled her eyes. "He's obviously a druggie, a dealer, a fraud, a liar, a minion, a mindless chipmunk, a-"
"Wait a minute." Hazel interrupted. "What do you mean by a minion? Like I would ask why for the others too but minion, that's not a word people use often."
Clarisse sighed. "Elementary, prissy. He's working for somebody, duh! Why on earth would he want to do what he did to Jason? He's working for somebody which I'm suspecting is the Shooter."
Frank nodded. "I suppose that can make sense in a way. I didn't know you were trying to solve the case though."
"Chris fucking died in that Shooting when he got shot." Clarisse growled. "When I find that prick, I'll personally stab them."
"I wasn't there during the Shooter or saw anything but police report did mention that Chris was only shot in the stomach but probably died of fright or something." Hazel protested timidly. "If he died of fright, the Shooter didn't really shoot him."
"Does it matter?" Clarisse questioned. "He still died because of the Shooter. The Shooter is probably so ugly it scared the hell out of people."
"Glad to have you on our team." Hazel smiled trying to sound positive. "We're also trying to basically find the Shooter so yeah."
"We think the Shooting has something to do with Brad Marshall." Frank explained to Clarisse.
Clarisse sneered. "No shit, Sherlock. I figured that out ages ago. Haven't you been watching his actions? He's all dodgy and careful. He got to be into something and the Shooting is the only thing you can relate him to. New York isn't the city of crimes. If there are many things happening, I can bet that they're connected to each other. New York is pretty darn small, everything's related."
"This stuff is pretty old." Jason commented as he looked through boxes of Poseidon Jackson's high school items. "Look at this photo, it's all faded."
Piper took a glance at it and laughed. "Oh my god. That really isn't a good day for class photo. I mean, my parents look okay but Percy's dad's hair looks as if it's dripping wet. I think he didn't even bother drying it after he went for a swim practice or something. Oh gods, do you see Nico's dad? His hair is obviously gelled."
"They can't beat my dad." Jason told her. "He looks ridiculous in pinstripes."
"He doesn't look pleased either." Piper took an interest in the photo and sat down to inspect it. "He's like on the verge of tears. People are probably bullying him because of his pinstripes."
"Bullying him?" Jason repeated. "Oh no. Dad never gets bullied. You should really hear him boasting about teasing other people instead."
"Why else would he be crying then?"
Jason thought for a while. Why would a strong teenage boy be crying? "He didn't make it to the football team?"
"He doesn't even play football."
"Hmm..I got it! He lost his phone and my grandmother is going to kill him!"
Piper laughed. "Keep guessing Jason. I'm still going with the whole bullying idea. It is high school."
Jason shrugged as he took out another item from a cupboard. "Are these socks from high school?"
Piper swatted them away. "Ew! He really has to clean this place up."
Jason took the sock and threw it to a corner distastefully. "Agreed."
They spent the whole day digging up anything they found interesting in the apartment which there are many things. They found pictures which they stored in a file, diaries which they plan to take to Piper's mansion to study, posters of old bands, dirty jerseys, swimming trophies…
"Aww, look at this!" Piper cooed as she showed Jason a picture. It was a photo of Poseidon Jackson and a pretty brunette with green eyes. Neither Piper or Jason could recognize the girl but they seem to be on a date.
Jason smiled as he saw the picture. "Piper, you sound like your friend Lacy. When did you get excited above all this love kind of stuff?"
"I guess it rubs off on you." Piper shrugged. "But seriously, do I sound really bad? That would suck, you know."
"I like it." Jason replied. "It's a fresh change for you."
"Um..thanks."
"You really did love him, didn't you?" Reyna jumped from her bed as she turned around and saw Mitchell.
"Dude! It's 10pm. What the hell are you doing here? How did you even get inside my house or my bedroom?" Reyna cried. "What the fuck?"
Mitchell laughed. "Your backdoor is never locked. Your parents are already in bed and your sister isn't here. I know my way around this neighborhood."
"Okay, that is just creepy." Reyna shuddered. "Have you been coming in like every night without me knowing or something?"
"Nothing like that." Mitchell reassured her. "Besides, I don't stalk you or anybody in particular. I found this map in one of Drew's make-up bags this morning. It's pretty neat. It has like every single house drawn carefully on it with annotations of how to get it, what room there is, who lives there and all those kind of things. Look, it says that your parents usually go to bed 10 o clock, but midnight on Saturdays for your dad."
Reyna frowned. "Okay, I'm creeped out. That girl scares me. She's like so damn right."
"Back to you." Mitchell gestured at the photos Reyna was holding. The photos were all pictures of her and Jason. She missed Jason. Sure, she had tried convincing herself to move on but it's like her heart goes right back to Jason. She did have a small crush on Sky before Valentine Day but really, she's got an even smaller chance with him and he isn't as cute as Jason. "He is something, isn't he? Got chicks running around for him. You, Piper."
"Piper?" Reyna raised her eyebrows. "Isn't she dating Sky? Even though he's like half-dead?"
Mitchell shrugged. "Love come and go. I don't know how long they'll last."
"Forever, probably." Reyna replied. "They both seemed really into each other."
"How about Jason then?" Mitchell challenged. "It looks like he's free for you."
"He likes Piper!" Reyna reasoned. "You can't date a guy who likes one of your best friends! I don't even know what kind of logic is that."
Mitchell smiled. "You'll find your match. There's this belief in Ancient Greece where there's always somebody for you no matter what you're sexuality is. It's said that men were actually born with like two sets of everything but they grew unpredictable so the gods chopped them in half. That's why you spend your life finding the other person, your other half. There's always somebody for you, Reyna." (AN: Idk..I read this somewhere but you might have heard other versions of it...)
"I hope there is." Reyna laughed bitterly. "I can seriously imagine myself being alone forever. The one in the sidelines just not getting anything."
Mitchell looked into Reyna's dark brown eyes intently. "Look at me. I'm single but I have hope. I know somebody is waiting for me and that's what you need. Hope, to believe in yourself. Okay, maybe neither Sky or Jason is your perfect match - they might be but nobody knows, there could be some other cute guy waiting out there. You might have already met him or haven't yet."
"How do you know?" Reyna sighed. "I'm sick of hearing all those kind of crap like there's always somebody for you, because there isn't. Nobody's there for me. I'll be the one throwing lame single parties every year and the one spending New Years Eve, Valentine Day, all the couples holidays alone with my laptop or something. I don't need love, Mitchell. There isn't hope for me. I'm strong, I can do this alone."
"Reyna, everybody needs love." Mitchell answered passionately. "It's a fundamental thing. It's like how you need food to survive. Love is something special, you'll cherish it when you meet the right person. You just haven't met the special him yet."
"It's alright." Reyna shrugged trying to persuade herself and Mitchell. "I don't really care. Love is just messed up emotions to me. I can live without it. Okay, maybe you can't or other people can't but I'm special, I can live without it. That's who I am."
Mitchell shook his head, half-smiling. "You can't hide from love. Drew tried that but it obviously didn't work. You can try but you won't succeed."
"Drew?" Reyna echoed. "What happened to her?"
"That's between me and her. It's a step-sibling thing. I can't tell you but I can tell you that I'm right someday. Maybe next month, you would come running and tell me that I'm right."
"Haha." Reyna said bleakly. "Yeah, if I ever fall in love."
AN: Ugh..breaks over and back to school :( Yeah, I really miss the holidays. I just hate waking up at like 6am in the morning and having sit through boring stuff like maths. It drives me absolutely nuts. I hope this chapter is pretty good, sorry, I'm really tired just focusing on getting back into the school schedule I haven't got as much time to write this as I did with my other chapters.
Yay! Reached 100+ reviews! Thank you so much guys! I never thought I'd ever reach it but asdfghjkl; it's amazing :) I just love it when you guys review my work so I know which stage I am for the next chapter :P Thank you so much! xxx
~Kisses, Emily