Chapter Two

Lucius

"Is she hot?"

"Huh? Who?" My best friend Percy asks me.

I turn my head so I can stare at him. "You're girlfriend."

"Annabeth?"

I nod my head and I notice that his cheeks turn a slight pink colour. "She's not really my girlfriend…"

"Do you like her?" I ask.

"Yes but-"

"Does she like you?" I cut him off as I pretend to check off an imaginary list.

"Yes but-"

"Have you guys kissed?"

His face turns a deeper shade of red as he answers. "Yes but-"

I hold up a hand. "No buts. You're boyfriend girlfriend. You didn't refer to us going to the carnival as a double date for nothing."

He shrugs but I notice that he's still blushing a bit. Rolling my eyes I speak to him from my stool at the kitchen table. "Dude, there's nothing to be ashamed of. From the way you speak of her, she sounds like the goddess Athena herself."

I notice that he tenses beside me a bit, but I dismiss the motion. "I'm sure she's a great girl."

Finally Percy nods. "She is a great girl."

I give him a huge smile. "Better yet, she's your girl."

Percy turns red again and I begin laughing my head off. He pushes me and I fall off the chair onto the ground. I'm still laughing when Percy's cell rings.

"Shhhh." Percy silences me as he quickly digs his cell out of his pocket. I shut up immediately. He never got many cell phone calls, so it was always interesting to see what happened when he got them.

"Annabeth?" Percy says into the phone. I laugh and make kissy faces at him. He pushes my face and makes my blond hair fall in my face.

I sit back on the chair next to him as I watch him talk. His face is funny to watch as he talks.

"Are you okay?" Concern on his face as he waits.

"Well, what's wrong?" Curiosity and then silence.

"We can't? Why not? Lucius is here with me." Curiosity and more silence.

"What?" Disbelief and shock. "What happened?"

"Right, right, right. Sorry. Stupid question." Ashamed. More silence.

"Well, we should probably bring her to Chiron." Pause. "Yes 'we'. I'm coming with you." Determined. And yet more silence.

I take another sip of the Diet Coke I had taken out of the fridge earlier. If Annabeth was canceling on us, that was fine by me but if she was dragging Percy off somewhere else there was no way I wasn't coming too.

Percy sighs. "No, I've never heard of it before. We defiantly need to ask Chiron." Patience. "Yes Annabeth. This means we're going to camp just a little early this year." Amusement and then another silence. "Alright. See you there."

Percy hangs up the phone and then stuffs it back in his pocket. He sighs and then runs his hand through his messy brown hair. Then he stands up and walks into the kitchen.

Getting up with my soda, I follow him. I lean against a wall while Percy writes a note and then sticks it to the fridge.

He turns around and looks at me sadly. "I'm sorry Lucius. You have to go back home now."

"What happened to our day?" I ask him as I finish my soda and toss in the recyclables.

"Stuff came up." He says simple as he tries to walk past me.

I put my arm out and stop him. "You're not getting past me until you let me come."

"Lucius you can't come and that's final. I have an emergency I have to go to." He tries to walk past me again and I put my hand on his shoulder. If he didn't let me come, I was going to make his wrestle me for it.

I don't have to though. Percy jumps back as if he was burned. "Dude! You're hands are on fire!"

"No they're not." I say as I look down on my hands. When I look down though, Percy gasps and I see that he's looking above my head.

Astounded by the amazement in his face, I look above me. A smoky symbol of a half sun is floating above my head. Impulsively, I wave my hand though the substance and it disappears.

I look back at Percy. "What was that?"

"Honestly…" He pauses and gives me one of those funny looks you get from people when put on your pants before your underwear. "I have no idea."

"You know what it means?"

Percy gives me a hard look. "Are you wearing contacts?"

I shrug. "Yeah. Why's that important?"

"Your contacts are blue right?"

"Yeah…"

"What's your natural eye colour?"

I swallow. Ever since I could remember my dad had been making me wear the blue contacts, but I knew what the colour underneath was. "Yellow. Like that symbol."

Percy exhales slowly. "It means that you get to come with me."