Piper's POV
I was laying on the sofa at the Grace household, flicking through the TV channels.
Now, before you get the wrong idea, I should probably introduce myself.
I'm Piper McLean, daughter of Queen Aphrodite, which means I'm a princess and heir to the throne.
But I'm not an ordinary princess. Since I was born, I've been training with my friends Thalia and Percy, before Jason started training. I left to be trained in private and now I'm the bodyguard of Jason Grace, the future king of Thebes.
I threw the remote on a cushion, waiting for Jason to finish getting dressed. We were going to the movies, but not as a date! I have to follow Jason everywhere as his protector.
Well, accept a few places.
I looked at my watch. It had been twenty minutes since Jason had left, so I got up and made my way upstairs to the bathroom. I reached Jason's bathroom and probably put a dent in the door from knocking.
'Jason! Stop pampering yourself, before I hit your 'oh so pretty' face! We need to get to the cinema!' I called through the door.
No answer.
'Fine, I'm coming in!' I shouted, kicking down the door and hoping he wasn't shirtless.
Gods, that would be embarrassing.
The room was empty, but the window was open and the curtains were pulled down from the rail and tied together as a rope.
'Clever prince. Well, at least until I get to him.' I muttered menacingly. I grabbed my phone and texted the soon-to-be-dead prince. I got a reply in an instant.
At Thal's house? :D
Oh, of course he was! We were supposed to go the movies before school started again, which was tomorrow!
It was about 2:30pm when he arrived back to the castle. We had a very quiet tea party with the king and queen, which pretty much consisted of me glaring at Jason.
I woke up the next morning with a beeping sound ringing in my ears. I was defeated by the deafening sound and jolted awake, throwing off the covers and taking a quick shower.
I put on a long sleeved black blouse, a peach skater skirt, black full-length stockings, brown ankle boots and a black hooded trench coat.
As I walked past Jason's room, I caught a glimpse of someone moving around in the dark room. I entered the room and turned on the light switch, only to find maid searching through Jason's drawers.
'Excuse me, can I help you?' The maid froze and slowly turned around to face me.
'Oh, I was just cleaning.' She said nervously. 'The, uh, prince told me to tell you that he went to school early with Percy.' I could tell by the look in her eyes that she hated being a maid and was only trying to get closer to Jason.
That wasn't gonna happen honey.
I clenched my fists. First, Jason sneaks out, and now he leaves early in the morning without me! I raced downstairs and grabbed my bag. Rushing out to the door, I hopped in my Audi and left for school.
As I stepped out of the car, I covered my face with my hoodie and walked through the doors. I needed to look inconspicuous.
A boy pushed me up against the lockers, but I kneed him in the stomach and walked swiftly down the hall. I hid my faces deeper into my hoodie and went to find the prince of Thebes.
The swarm of heads blocked my view from anyone on the sides, and I felt like I was in the crowded fields of Asphodel. Finally, I spotted a familiar blonde head of hair.
'Jason Michael Grace! You are never allowed to do that again! You know that you're not supposed to leave my sight, because I'm-' I was cut when I felt a warm and soft pair of lips crash into mine passionately.
Jason Grace was kissing me.
And, oh my gods, I was kissing him back.
To be honest, it was complete Elysium until Percy interrupted.
The rest of the day was just a blur, with reuniting with Thalia and Annabeth, the rush of the first day of school and keeping up with Jason. But then lunch came.
After Drew came over, invited us to her costume party and made out with Percy, I instantly ordered Annabeth and Thalia to meet me at the gate at the end of the day. We were going costume shopping!
So then we ended up at the mall that afternoon.
'What should we go as?' Annabeth asked while scanning the costumes on the rack.
'Let's go as something different and non-cliché. I don't want to be dressing up like Drew and the rest of her evil clique.' Annabeth and I laughed at Thalia's name for Drew's friends. An idea suddenly came to me.
'How about we go as Greek goddesses?' I suggested. We had always loved Greek mythology as kids.
Brilliant idea, Pipes!' Annabeth exclaimed. I grinned and took a mock bow for my brilliance.
After much arguing on who should go as who, Thalia decided on Artemis, goddess of the hunt, Annabeth went as Athena, goddess of wisdom, and I got a costume for Aphrodite, goddess of love.
As we walked out of the store, we sadly bumped into Drew and her clique, as Thalia would call them, and saw they got their costumes from the most expensive store in the mall. Drew may be mean, but I know under that pile of makeup, she is a caring person.
I mean, I should know. I am her half sister after all.
Piper Pov
We arrived at the party about an hour later. The mansion was practically bouncing from the loud music and deafening shouts coming from inside.
Jason (dressed as Superman) opened the door, picked me up and spun me around. Thalia and Annabeth smirked at me and quietly slipped past. I blushed and rolled my eyes, but something was off with Jason. He wasn't picking a fight. I could tell he had had alcohol.
And maybe a bit too much.
Jason let go of my waist and dissipated in the crowd, leaving me with a boy dressed as Batman. He glared at the spot Jason had been and then turned to me.
'I'm Nico di Angelo, a friend of Jason's. Sorry for his behaviour, he said he needed to 'escape his protector' or something.' The boy introduced himself. I chuckled.
'Well, turns out I'm his protector, but he'll never escape me.' I said. Nico nodded seriously, smiled and disappeared with a flick of his cape.
Him and Thalia would be cute together.
I shook my head and pushed my way through the crowd. There were a few couples kissing, but I ignored them all and made my way to the snack table. Drew was walking around and chatting with people chirpily, being her fake self.
I turned to the punch, but bumped into a pair making out. I was about to slide past when I realised I recognised one of them.
Jason.
My throat suddenly hurt and my nose itched. A warning that I was about to cry. I was jealous. I had a crush on Jason Grace, my employer. And he was kissing someone else.
I studied the girl. She had long, ebony black hair that was held back by a gold crown with a red star. She was dressed up as Wonder Woman.
Wow, ironic.
Their lips moved in sync with each other, and the girl's hands were weaving through Jason's hair.
I've always wanted to touch Jason's hair. Now this girl, who I didn't know, was attacking it.
I let out a cough, and Jason pulled away and turned to me. He reached out and grabbed my arm, but I shook it off.
I hated him and that wonderwomen isn`t gonna be able to kiss anyone when she meets my fist.
Nico's POV
As I left Piper, Jason's crush, to herself, I sighed. Even though I may be an introvert, I still wish I could find someone to chat with and relate to and just-
'I'm so sorry! Are you okay?' A voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked up and was mesmerised by a goddess.
Literally.
The girl was dressed in a one sided off-the-shoulder toga, a silver belt and silver gladiator shoes. Her jet black hair was pulled back into a braid.
'-atman?' Her melodic voice shouted. I stared at her, confused, and realised she had been talking to me.
'Uh, yeah, I-I'm f-fi-fine.' I stuttered. I internally facepalmed at my stupidity. The girl stared at me as if to say 'are you sure you idiot dressed as Batman?'. I sighed and cleared my head.
'Let's start again. I'm Nico di Angelo, aka. Batman.' I said confidently. The girl rolled her eyes at me and shook my outstretched hand.
'Thalia Grace. Now, are you sure you're okay? I practically knocked you unconscious.' She asked, genuinely concerned.
We suddenly launched into a full fledged conversation. She told me that she was Jason's sister and I recounted Jason's many rants on how beautiful Piper was and how he was practically obsessed with her. We teased the deranged dancers and gossiped about our favourite bands which were Green day. Soon, we were sluggishly sitting on the couch, laughing hysterically.
'Hey, honey, are you a campfire?' I said randomly. Thalia stopped giggling and stared at me quizzically. ''Cause you're hot and I want s'more of you!' I cried. Thalia cracked up and I joined in.
Then I realised.
This is the last time i will be able to see this goddess because of the secerts i hide.
Percy's POV
I groaned. My mouth tasted like carpet.
Wait, what?
I pushed myself off of the floor (how did I get there?) and stood up If my father saw me i wouldn`t be allowed in the castle for a week. A muffled giggle came from in front of me, but my vision was blurry. As it cleared, I saw the figure of a girl. A beautiful girl now i must be dreaming.
She was dressed in a white toga that had cut out sleeves on the shoulder. A red silk ribbon was tied around her waist, and she was wearing black gladiator sandals. Her curly hair fell around her shoulders, and a hand was covering her mouth.
Has my vision became clear enough to regonise the face i was shocked as Annabeth was so gorgeous without even trying.
I stumbled and almost tripped over again, but Annabeth caught my arm and steadied me. I grinned dopily at her.
'I love you!' I exclaimed. Annabeth laughed and took my weight as I lost my balance again.
'That's nice sweedbrain.' She answered, helping me sit on the couch. 'Now, how about you sit down?' She suggested. I nodded sleepily and before i closed my heavy eyelids i saw the scar that was on her shoulder which made me feel gulity but soon the room went pitch black.
Annabeth's POV
I glanced at Percy's sleeping figure one more time before leaving the room. I bumped into a blubbering Piper and lead her to a chair. She explained what she had saw and I comforted her.
When she got over that, we talked for a while and set off to find Thalia. We passed Drew, who was dressed as a bunny rabbit, like Elle Woods in Legally Blonde. I rolled my eyes and pulled Piper towards the sound of Thalia's guffawing. We pulled our friend away from her 'not-my-boyfriend' and went in search of the exit.
On the way, Thalia was retelling a story about Jason when a red-headed girl approached us. Her hair was straightened and her skin was pale blue with stitch marks painted on. She was wearing a colourful patched dress and black ankle boots, completing her costume of Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas.
Behind her, a tall figure was dressed in a black pinstripe suit, his face painted white with black skull markings. He was obviously with the girl, because he was dressed as Jack from Nightmare Before Christmas.
'Hi! I just wanted to say that I love your costumes!' The girl said in a chipper voice. 'I mean, your Artemis costume is on point, and I love your Athena-style toga!' She continued, addressing Thalia and I.
She then turned to Piper, who was wearing a cream toga, that crossed over at her chest. It had gold outlines and she wore a gold wing headband on top of her donut bun. Her gold gladiator sandals and gold armbands brought her outfit together.
'And are you Aphrodite?' She squealed. 'That costume is just perfect!' We all grinned at the girl and she beamed back. She handed me a card and walked away, the person dressed as Jack following her.
The card read:
Rachel Elizabeth Dare
Model & Fashion Extravaganza
2025-150-351
476 Clove Boulevard
We all stared at the card. This girl had just introduced herself to us, and practically made friends with us in under a minute. I grinned at Thalia and Piper, who reciprocated the gesture.
We walked out the door and headed home.