"The best way of keeping a secret is to pretend there isn't one." ~ Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
High school. Zeus Grace hated high school. He hated it for the last three years of his life and this year, he was determined to be something. It's senior year after all and it is suppose to be the best year of your life.
"To senior year!" Poseidon cheered as he stepped into the hallways with Hades and Zeus. Zeus scowled, it was the same old hallway he walked past for the last three years. Nothing changed. Zeus wasn't surprised. It wasn't like the school announced some huge renovation of the hallway. The hallways were suppose to stay the same but how can Zeus make senior year the best year of his life when nothing changed at all. He needed something to change so he can go along with it and make high school a great place.
"Oh look, it's the Populars." Hades pointed at a crowd coming towards their direction. The Populars isn't exactly a clique name or anything but since it consists of the group of most popular kids in New York, people just called them the Populars. It was a rather small and exclusive group. How did they become popular? Nobody knew exactly. They just were. They were just a bunch of incredibly hot, pretty, rich, famous kids that everybody wanted to be apart of. Everybody wanted to be their friend and everybody knew what they were up to. Nobody cares if a perfectly average student cheated on his girlfriend (which would be huge news if they were popular), the gossip of Goode High would include something like somebody who's apart of the popular group adopted a dog. For almost all his life, Zeus laughed at how superficial and stupid the Populars are alongside Poseidon and Hades. Ever since he came to high school, something changed. Poseidon and Hades were still the same but Zeus wanted to be apart of that superficial group he hated.
Zeus forced a laugh as his friends started chuckling. "Oh god, haven't you heard how they had a road trip all across America during the summer and did all those stupid things that could have gotten them arrested?" Poseidon rolled his eyes. "I seriously can't believe nobody caught them and they're all going to Ivy League Universities next year. I don't even know how they do it. Their grades are horrible!"
"Yeah. Agreed." Zeus lied. Yeah, he heard about those things the Populars did led by Hermes, the school prankster. He wanted to be apart of it. Throughout high school, they did every prank you can imagine. From hacking into the school system and changing everybody's names, changing pictures to celebrities, to TP-ing the whole school (sometimes with a few surprises like cow shit) everywhere. They have somehow got the whole school in 'terrorist mode' when they pretend to have seen somebody (which strangely resembles Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street) around the school. They have turned the whole school into a country barn one time by breaking in the night before to put hay everywhere and somehow rented horses, chickens, other farm animals to roam around the school. They even changed the school bell to some country song sang by an artist who can barely sing. Hermes claimed they paid a group of street artist to record that track. They crashed a teacher/staff party and bought loads of random people they picked off the street with them. They told the teachers they heard it was one of those parties anybody could just show up in. They called in a real estate agent to sell the school. It was ridiculous but that wasn't it. They did loads of things outside of school too and Zeus wanted to be apart of it.
He remembered how last year Aphrodite hated school so much, she had Hermes help her forged a note from the Principal saying she didn't have to go to school for 2 weeks (exam weeks, of course) and it's not because she's in trouble. They even stole the stamp the Principal stamps on documents to make it official to stamp on her forged note. Aphrodite's mother got worried so she took the note with her to the school office when the Principal got super confused since he never gave such note to Aphrodite. Aphrodite lied and said somebody gave her the note when she was between classes. They got the police involved to find this 'person' but never found him.
He remembered how Hermes and Tristan McLean broke into Walmart one night and messed up everything. Police were involved but they never found out who did it.
Poseidon and Hades aren't into big pranks like these. They like minding their own business and laughing at other people. Zeus used to be like that but he knew he changed.
"So are you still seeing Persephone?" Zeus turned to Hades.
Hades nodded. "Yeah, why?"
"Just wondering." Zeus shrugged. "Does anybody other than us know?"
"No!" Hades cried. "Don't tell anyone! It's a secret, okay?"
"Is something wrong, Zeus?" Poseidon raised his eyebrows.
"Nothing, why?"
"You're just not yourself." Poseidon replied.
"So do you want to swing by my place after school to hang out?" Hades offered.
Poseidon shook his head. "Sorry, swim practice."
Hades sighed. "Really? The beginning of the year? Come on! We're don't even hang out anymore! Are we even friends?"
Perfect, Zeus thought. If only Poseidon would say-
"Of course!" Poseidon said quickly. "We've been friends forever!"
That was not the answer Zeus was hoping to get. He should have known. He watched longingly as Tristan McLean walked past him with his friends. If only he was apart of them.
"Which room is Sky in?" Piper asked the hospital receptionist.
The receptionist stared at Piper blankly. "Are you his friend? Relative? Family member?"
Piper blushed. "Well, I don't know exactly. We're friends but also more than friends. Like a Valentine Dance date, if you know what I mean?"
Jason looked around. He know he's jealous that Piper had Sky but he wanted to be a supportive friend. He didn't want to be that jealous bastard which ruined everything.
The receptionist focused on her computer screen, typed in a few words and bit her lips. "Have you visited him before?"
"No, I was away in California." Piper explained. They just got back from California a few weeks ago and they would not believe how many things have changed over the period of time. Fair enough, it is New York. Everything is always changing in New York.
"I'm afraid I can't allow you to visit him." The receptionist stated firmly. "I'm really sorry, Ms.."
"McLean." Piper filled her in. "But please! I'm so worried about him! I haven't seen him in ages! He took the bullet for me! I have to see him."
"Tragic but I can't allow that."
"Why not? Please! I thought he's gradually recovering anyway. Last time I heard, he got out of coma and is recovering really well."
The receptionist narrowed her eyes. "Who told you that?"
"My friends. Leo Valdez and Reyna Jennings. They visit Sky quite a lot. I get them to send him flowers and stuff when I was in California."
"They're good friends of yours, you know. Keepers. They really care about you." The receptionist muttered.
"Excuse me?"
The receptionist blinked. "Oh right. Uh, sure. Yes, Sky is getting along quite well and it's crucial we give him privacy, which means no visitors at all, until he fully recovers."
"When will he be fully recovered?"
"Might take a while." The receptionist shrugged. "We can contact you if he ever does."
Jason stared at the receptionist. There was something not right about her. She was..lying. Jason could tell. She wasn't a great liar but Piper obviously haven't spotted that yet. "Wait, that's a lie." Jason said coldly. "What are you hiding?"
"Jason." Piper nudged him. "Don't embarrass us."
Jason shook his head. "No, I could tell. What are you hiding? Piper deserves to know and you're working for a hospital for god sakes! You're not suppose to hide information from people!"
The receptionist sighed. "I guess it's no point hiding it anymore, is there? I'll let you know something if you promise to keep it a secret. Don't tell anybody. It's confidential and trust me, the hospital is trying to get it straight."
"Deal." Piper nodded.
"Sky has been missing. This have been going on for quite a while, before summer. Only Leo and Reyna know this. We had them sign confidentiality contracts as this is huge. We don't know what happened to Sky. One second, he is on his hospital bed in coma, the next he's gone. We tried everything. There were no eye witnesses and the security cameras have been tampered with. It was the same video footage played over and over again. It showed Sky still in bed, in coma, even though he is obviously gone. We got our best investigators tracking down Sky right now." The receptionist whispered.
Piper's face was priceless. Jason would have laughed if it was a different situation. "Oh my god." Piper cried. "Does his parents know?"
"Not really." The receptionist admitted. "We tried contacting them but we couldn't exactly reach them. We assume that they believe he is back in college."
"I can't believe Leo and Reyna have been hiding this from us!"
Jason gave his friend a hug. "They were only trying to protect you. They knew you would get so worried if you knew Sky was missing. They probably thought it was a face to face thing to tell you but never got the chance to. Besides, they signed a confidentiality contract and those things are serious. If you blab, it could lead to many years in prison." He tried reasoning with her.
Piper rubbed her eyes. "I guess but still." She murmured weakly.
"Happy Birthday, Perce!" Grover jumped into Percy's view when he walked out of his door groggily. He just woke up and he was definitley not expecting his best friend to pop out of nowhere. It was his birthday though. Percy knew he should have been expecting something like this.
"Hey, G-man!" Percy tried to look bright but it was almost impossible judging by the fact he is still rather sleepy.
"Hazel, can you hand me the bowl with blue icing? It's next to the fridge." Percy could hear her mom even though he was nowhere near the kitchen.
"Here, Mrs. Jackson." Hazel replied politely.
Percy could imagine her mom shaking her head in that moment. "Please call me Sally! Really, everybody just calls me that."
"Okay..Sally."
"Is everybody here?" Percy asked his best friend.
"Yeah, of course! It's your birthday!"
"I'm not even changed yet!" Percy protested. "It's early morning!"
Grover laughed. "9am? Early morning? Come on, it's your big day!"
"Happy birthday!" Leo shoved his present right in front of Percy.
"Leo! You're not suppose to give the presents yet!" Reyna scolded him. "Jesus, do you ever listen?"
Just as Percy was about to intercept the poorly wrapped box, Leo snatched it right back. "Sorry Perce. You'll get it later when everybody gives their presents. Honestly, Rey, I really don't see the point of this."
Reyna sighed exasperated. "Leo, that was rude. You already gave the present, whatever."
Percy chuckled. If there was only one person who can actually control Leo, that would have to be Reyna. Reyna was the natural leader that made everyone compelled to follow her, even Leo. There's something about her that really makes you feel intimidated and you know you don't ever want to get in the wrong side of her. "Can I go back and uh, change?"
"Too late." Nico flashed one of his rare grins as he snapped a picture of Percy in his boxers. "This is going on Facebook."
Percy frowned. "Is that suppose to make me embarrassed? Nico, you know I'm not embarrassed of my boxers."
"You look like you're wearing the Pacific Ocean." Nico told him. "All I can see are fish on you and you're shirtless. Do you know how many girls would download that photo and put it as their screensaver?"
"Percy!" Annabeth felt her cheeks going warm that instant. What is she suppose to do? They aren't really friends anymore but they still sort of are. Their relationship is so awkward, Annabeth didn't know what to do. She felt like she should hug Percy or something but won't that just be awkward? She thought of giving him a handshake but that's way too formal. It's not a business meeting. She wanted to sound casual and confident like she knew what she was doing. She wanted to make Percy think that it's completely normal for her to do whatever she was about to do next. "Happy birthday." She said quickly.
"Happy Birthday!" Sally Jackson walked out of the kitchen with a blue iced cake on a fancy silver plate and beamed at the sight of her son. "I would give you a hug if I weren't holding the cake."
"Happy birthday, Percy. Sorry, Frank is running late" Hazel said following Sally out.
"It doesn't matter and thanks guys." Percy smiled and gave his mom a quick hug. "Where's dad?"
Sally bit her lips. "He couldn't be around."
Percy felt disappointment wallowing inside of him. Sometimes, he felt like his dad wasn't there for him. He's always busy with something. All Percy wanted was to spend time with him. He knew his dad couldn't make it and it wasn't on purpose. He should respect it but he couldn't help feeling disheartened at times. "Why not?"
"Oh, just work. Busy." Sally said quickly.
"Happy birthday, bro!" Jason grinned as he saw the birthday boy.
"Percy! Happy birthday!" Piper smiled and gave him a hug. Percy smiled fondly back. Piper was like the little sister he never had. It's good to have her around.
"Anyway, cake's here if anybody wants it." Sally said laying the cake on the table.
Grover was one of the first ones to reach it. He quickly cut himself a piece and shoved it inside his mouth hungrily. "Man, this is really good! It's nothing like enchiladas but close enough."
"Is that a blue birthday cake?" Nico asked, raising his eyebrows as he eyed Grover's piece.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Annabeth asked Piper. Despite the confidentiality contract Piper and Jason had to sign eventually, Piper told her best friend what happened. She couldn't keep it to herself and she didn't feel like letting Leo and Reyna know that she also knew about Sky disappearing.
Piper shook her head. "I don't know. I can't do anything though. I wish there's something I could have done. I mean, it's all my fault. Justin was going to shoot me and he protected me. Now he's gone. Oh god."
"Why did Justin even want to shoot you? You're his sister's friend!"
"Cat doesn't know either. It's Justin. He does crazy things when he's drunk." Piper explained miserably. "I just want Sky back."
Annabeth patted her friend on the shoulder. "I'm sure he's fine."
Piper shook away the tears and manage a small smile on her face. "Come on, it's Percy's birthday. Let's not turn this into some sob scene. How's Percy?"
"It's his birthday. I hope he's having a great time." Annabeth said bluntly.
"No, really, Annabeth. Come on, you broke his heart in Valentine Day and you guys are pretty much still friends. Don't you find it awkward or something?" Piper prompted her.
"I guess! But what can I do?"
"Ask him out again. It's his birthday. I bet he still likes you. That'll be like your present to him." Piper giggled.
"But I already gave him a gift!"
"You can always give him another one." Piper smiled slyly. "Oh my god, please do! I ship Percabeth! Everybody does!"
"Percabeth?" Annabeth crinkled her nose. "You guys!"
"Look, here he comes. Talk to him, okay?" Piper whispered and got up.
Annabeth glared at Piper as Percy came closer. Piper just beamed at her and walked out. She whispered something to Percy which sent him walking over to Annabeth.
"Piper said you wanted to tell me something." Percy told her.
Annabeth frowned. "Okay um." There really is no getting out of this. "I just wanted to say I'm really sorry about Valentine-"
"It's okay." Percy interrupted. "I mean, let's forget about it. I'm cool with it. Can we not talk about it? You don't have to apologize or anything. I understand."
"No, it's not okay!' Annabeth took a deep breath. "I broke your heart on Valentine Day. and I'm so sorry. That was the dumbest thing I've done in my life and I've never done anything stupid before. Both of my parents are wise, I inherit their intelligence. I admit it was dumb but I had to do it."
"Exactly, I understand! Can we just not talk about it? I've over with it, done."
"It's Luke." Annabeth told him, ignoring his request. "I just can't do this to him even though he will never.. But then I did it to you, I can't believe."
Annabeth didn't know why but she started telling him about Luke again. How she had a crush on him since they met. It was every girl's dream to date Luke Castellan. He was the hottest thing in New York. She told him how her heart shattered when there were rumors about Luke and Silena dating. It turned out to be false of course, Silena was with Beckendorf. However, Silena and Luke always had this flirting thing going that made Annabeth worried. Annabeth knew Luke was much more into Silena than he was into her. Luke and her were friends, not the type of friend you would date. Silena was gorgeous, the most beautiful girl in New York. Everybody wanted her even if she was dating Beckendorf. Annabeth knew Silena wouldn't cheat on Beckendorf but she was scared that Silena would break things with Beckendorf with Luke. Then, she realized Luke and Thalia were dating. Both of her best friends. It wasn't even fair. She loved Luke all her life and all she ever wanted was him. That was all before Percy. It was okay for a while until Luke disappeared. Annabeth didn't know what to do but she would always have a soft spot for him and would always like Luke. Annabeth even told Percy how she still like him, but she also liked Luke. She told him how confused she is.
Percy wasn't a great listener. What are you suppose to do when your ex-girlfriend tells you all that kind of stuff. Sit there and go 'I support you'? He didn't want to complicate his relationship with Annabeth at the moment and even though he knew he still liked her, he would much rather stay as friends. He didn't really want to date Annabeth knowing that half of her heart pretty much belongs to Luke. As Annabeth went on, Percy looked around awkwardly finding excuses to get out of there but was unsuccessful.
Suddenly, the door creaked open revealing Frank who instantly started blushing after seeing Percy and Annabeth.
"Uh, everyone is wondering where you guys are." Frank glanced at Percy and Annabeth one last time and turned away. "Sorry, uh, should I just-" Frank slammed the door behind them.
"I swear, we did nothing! We aren't even touching! We're just talking! Friends. Talking." Percy called after him. "He didn't hear me, did he?"
"I'm guessing everybody else is now talking about us." Annabeth said.
"Reyna?" Mitchell murmured opening his eyes slightly.
"Do you mean that brunette girl who's been here at least once a week to see you?" Somebody asked him. Mitchell blinked and found a doctor looking at him.
"Does she have an aura of confidence around her that suggests you don't mess with her?" Mitchell asked weakly. The doctor laughed and nodded. "That would be her."
"She's not here right now but would you like me to contact her? I think she left her number with the receptionist in case you want to see her. Is she your girlfriend?"
Mitchell blushed as the memory of him holding her hand came into his mind. "Uh, um, well-"
"Well that's something you'll have to figure out now you're awake." The doctor smiled.
"What's the date?" Mitchell asked eager to steer the conversation away from Reyna. He knew he would have to find out what that night meant but if he's been unconscious for a long time, who knows Reyna is up to now. She could be dating Leo. Mitchell always knew there was something between them.
"August 18, 2013." The doctor confirmed.
Mitchell propped himself up against his bed. There was a moment of silence. "Wow." He managed to say. "I've been gone for the whole summer and I just have to wake up right before school starts."
"Don't be too excited. You might be missing a fair amount of school since we'll have to keep you around to make sure you're okay and you're not suffering from anything first."
Mitchell nodded as he pretended to be listening to the doctor as he rambled on about how somebody could drop schoolwork for him and how the hospital volunteers can help him catch up. He knew he had to sort out loads of things like how is he suppose to explain to his parents why he got shot. He didn't even know why he got shot. With Drew gone not too long ago, his parents might lock him up in the attic to keep him safe. Drew, oh god. Mitchell frowned. If anybody looked through his room when he's been unconscious in the hospital, he's screwed. Not only him, everybody is. Everything Drew has on everybody is in his room. It's not even safely hidden. And Reyna, why is it always back to her? Mitchell liked her, but now thinking of it, he didn't really like like her. He couldn't even understand why he held her hand that night. He was afraid he gave her the wrong impression. How could he tell her it was nothing now? Shit, Mitchell sort of wished he was unconscious again. Being alive and living in this world isn't really that great when all you have are problems that you don't want to solve and issues that you don't want to encounter.
"Hey, one last thing, can you uh, not let Reyna in?" Mitchell whispered.
The doctor mused. "Sure, figure everything you have to figure out first. Would you like me to put off visitor hour?"
"No thanks. Just make sure it isn't visitor hours whenever she comes to visit. Yeah, I definitley have to sort things out beforehand."
The next day, Jason decided he wanted to take another step into solving the investigation. He couldn't bare not knowing the truth especially when it connected to him so much. After he came back from California, he realized his friends didn't really take another step towards the truth. They weren't exactly certain of what to find out and what's even happening. They tried asking the victims of the Shooting but everything they know had already made newspaper headlines when the Shooting happened. Nobody had any secrets or any information nobody knew yet, or they just didn't want to tell.
If there was one thing Jason learnt from California and Percy's dad's behavior was that this Shooting had something to do with the past. It definitley wasn't some psycho who decided to go on a shooting spree because they felt like it. There was a motive, one that had history. It could be revenge for a friend. The Shooter didn't even have to be around the past to feel all the anger and resentment they had when Jason's dad was still in high school. Jason knew when his parents were in high school, it was so messed up, it could have led to anything. Even though the past is complicated and the motive could lie somewhere there, the Shooter doesn't have to feel the motive. The Shooter could be an employee of some mastermind. Jason had many guesses on who the Shooter is but he didn't have an accurate clue. It could be the boy who sat next to him in Biology in Grade 5. It could be the girl who's sitting next to him in English. It could be Ms. Setton, who's teaching him Physics. It could be anyone. It doesn't even have to be Goode High. It could be somebody who had something against the dead victims of the Shooting. The school was just a perfect setting to kill them off.
Jason was lost. He needed answers and he knew he would need all his friends together so he called them up.
"A lot can happen over the summer." Leo told them. "My aunt got married over three summers ago with a person she met the exact same summer. If any of you are wondering, no I wasn't stalking my aunts. She sent me a card telling me I'm not invited to their wedding and that I'm not to show up at all."
"Nothing happened this summer." Reyna argued. "And wow, that's just cold."
"Eh, it's alright." Leo shrugged. "I showed up anyways to piss her off and cutting the long story short, the wedding ended horribly. It doesn't matter anyway. They had a divorce like five months later."
"Sky got out of the hospital but Mitchell is in. At least he's alive. Whoever that shot him either didn't want to kill him or couldn't because they accidentally shot the wrong place." Piper recounted. "Something did happen."
Annabeth sighed. "You're right but that's not exactly the action we're looking for. It's almost like the Shooter disappeared, or whoever that is behind all those attacks."
Hazel offered. "Maybe it's done. Maybe everything the Shooter wanted to do is over so there doesn't need to be any attacks."
Annabeth laughed. "No way. I can bet anything against that. It couldn't be this simple. Even if it's over, which I'm pretty sure it isn't, there got to be an explanation about everything that have happened."
"Then explain why nothing happened over the summer." Percy demanded.
"Maybe the Shooter is on vacation?" Frank suggested lamely. "You know, people like getting away for the summer. Whoever that's behind all of this might suddenly want to spend sometime in rural France or something."
"Frank, you should join the CSI." Leo laughed as Frank's cheeks burned red.
"It's..valid." Annabeth said slowly. She knew Leo likes teasing Frank and generally gives him a hard time but they can deal with their own matters in their own time. Annabeth didn't want to see Frank to get too embarrassed right now.
"Okay, so if the Shooter decided to come back from the Caribbean, what is the next step?" Percy asked curiously.
"Kill somebody? Stick a dead corpse somewhere?" Leo guessed. "This shooter is driving me nuts and I'm already crazy enough."
"Fucking hell, Cat! I still can't believe you burnt bridges with that Di Angelo kid." Justin shouted. "Have you guys made up?"
Cat gave her brother an exasperated look. "Honestly, Justin! You've been going on about that all summer and again, the answer is no! We haven't even talked all summer. I seriously can't stand that little bastard. If you're really into him, you should send him chocolates and flowers until he agrees to be your ally. I'm not teaming up with him. Now Mitchell woke up and the first thing that comes to his mind is probably 'oh god, I'm not dead yet. this could be my last moment.' and Jesus, he just woke up!"
"Are you sure Nico told him about being the next victim?"
"No?" Cat reminded him. "We don't talk but I don't know, I really hope he didn't interfere!"
Justin shrugged. "If his father taught him anything, I'm sure he won't."
"His father is dead and god, let's stop this okay? We can do this ourselves." Cat grumbled.
"Yes. Yes, we can." Justin said slowly, his eyes twinkling as if they were amused.
Cat immediately paid attention to her brother. "You know who the Shooter is, don't you? You know the truth. I know you do."
Justin laughed. "I guess you can say that I'm acquaintances with the Shooter. Not even the Facebook buddies acquaintance. The type where we know each other exists and that's about it."
"Tell me who it is." Cat demanded.
"Ask Nico Di Angelo. I think he knows by now too."
AN: Hey guys! I'm so sorry I haven't updated in such a long time! My laptop broke down and we had to fix it. When I got it back, I didn't have time to write another chapter and update it since I went on vacation pretty much the whole summer break. I couldn't bring my laptop with me when I'm traveling so I have to come back and finish this chapter. Unfortunately, school started for me which meant I'm also quite busy. Don't worry though, I'm going to try and update this as soon as possible! xx
Ooh, and have you guys seen the Sea of Monsters movie or the Pretty Little Liars Season Four Summer Finale? Ugh, PM me or something if you have! I'd love to talk to you guys about it (: Again, I am soo sorry for not updating in such a long time!
~Kisses, Emily