Wasabi? How you doin'? IT'S 2013! Why can't I write numbers in caps? You won't know I'm yelling. How will you know if I'm yelling? Writing 2013 on my papers in school will be weird...guess what? I survived the alpaca-lips. Yeah, I lost count of how many times I survived the end of the world. So what did you get for Christmas? I got books. And a guitar. And more books. I'm tired. And hungry.
I took out the box from my drawer. These boxes held the rest of my memories of my childhood. Most had already returned, but there were pieces missing. I wasn't even fully positive I wanted all the memories back. What if there was something that could make things awkward between Annabeth and I? What if there was some horrible memory I had wanted to forget? But...Athena said that there were things that would help me.
I put the box aside and went to get the photo album instead. I wasn't ready for the box just yet. I flipped to random page. There was a picture with everybody hugging an annoyed me, with a Christmas tree in the back. Another picture showed my mom holding up a new eReader.. I remembered that the rest of us, Thalia, Nico, Tyson, Bianca, Annabeth and me, had saved up our money and combined it to get it for her. Another picture showed Annabeth and I sitting on the couch, with me holding up two fingers behind Annabeth's head.
I continued flipping through the pages. I couldn't believe how much things have changed. I barely see Tyson, Thalia doesn't fully trust Nico or I, and vise versa, Bianca's dead, and Annabeth and I seemed to be practically strangers. Mom had been alive, happy, and safe. I wished I could just go back to that time, where I didn't have any problems.
I took out the key Athena had given me, and set the box in my lap. I took a breath and put the key in the keyhole. I heard a click and I lifted the lid.
I saw my shark-tooth necklace and the friendship necklace sitting at the top. I slipped on the shark-tooth, and set the friendship necklace aside. There was also a small piece of red coral. I saw the image of Annabeth crying in a corner, and me finding something on the sea shore. Mini-Percy ran up to Annabeth and gave her the piece of coral. The memory faded. I picked up a ragged looking, stuffed owl. There was a small clump of dirt stuck in its fur, and I took out what I could. I continued looking through the items, remembering small bits with each object. By the end, I had a small headache from all the new memories.
The last thing in the box was a Rubik's Cube, and I set that aside, so I could use it for the last piece of proof I needed. I remember what my mom had said when Annabeth first got it. "You're a natural. Even if you got amnesia and became a completely different person, you'd be able to figure it out. It's in your blood." I knew my mom had been joking when she told her this, but right now, it was what I needed.
Athena had told me that she left some helpful gadgets of sorts in the box. I inspected the box a bit, looking for any kind of dent or something. I gave a light tap at the base, and it sounded hollow. I reached in the box and dug my fingernails into the edges, trying to lift it up. It must have an extra storage space. After a few minutes of picking (my fingernails were short, after all) I had managed to pry off the base. There was an ordinary looking USB, but there was a small note taped to it. In fact, for each object there was a note. The one for the USB said it could hack any computer, no matter how strong the firewalls were. The next thing was a fake nail with a small needle coming out from it. Luckily it was a short fingernail, rather than a long, womanly one. It was a tranquilizer needle. There were also a pair of contact lenses, which would allow me to have night-vision, and to tell if someone was lying. The note also warned that it would irritate my eyes for a bit, but I shouldn't rub them. There was a small skin-coloured sticker sort of thing I had to stick somewhere on my ear, the closer in the better, which would allow me to hear what Athena would be telling me from the other end. The last thing and a small mic that attached to the inside of my collar on my shirt. It would pick up a voice easily, and wouldn't be muffled, unless it was covered by a pillow or something. To turn it off or on, I just needed to press a small button with my finger.
LINEBREAK
Annabeth was pretty much avoiding me during school, which made the start of my plans so much harder, but I manage to catch her during lunch.
"Hey Annabeth!" I called. She turned her head slightly, but continued walking. I grabbed her arm, which forced her to look at me.
"Oh hey Perce, haven't seen you in a while."
"Yeah. Hey, my mom got me this Rubik's cube last night to keep me occupied. I've been trying to solve it, and it's sort of starting to bug me. Could you try? Or maybe give me some tips?" She held out her hand, and I put the cube in her hand. She started turning the parts, and after about five minutes of me watching, she managed too get the red side solved. She handed it back and shrugged.
"Sorry."
"No problem. Thanks for trying." I walked away. I had the proof that I needed.
I'm going to skip to the end of school, because let's face it, school is boring. Like I said before, Annabeth had been avoiding me, so of course, I decided to follow her until I had an opportunity to o what was needed. Before I left though, I put on some of the gadgets. I put the hearing device thing on the concha part of my ear. I put the mic where needed, but kept it off. The USB and contacts were in my pockets.
I was keeping a close eye on Annabeth. Soon, we'd be alone. Obviously, my luck just doesn't stretch that far. A man came and slung his arm around my shoulder, causing me to stop.
"So Percy, long time no see, eh?"
"Hasn't been long Luke. Get your arm off of me." He removed his arm, but put his hand on my back, pushing me, telling me to walk with him.
"Do you want to hear an interesting story?" He took my silence as a chance to tell it. "So a couple nights ago, Friday night to be exact, I was just hangin' with a few of my buds, talking and stuff. Now normally, people don't like it when people eavesdrop and like their conversation private. Especially when it's inside their home. However, someone was upstairs, listening to us. When my friend went upstairs, he didn't come down. Then, we heard something in the hall. The door opening. Obviously, we went to check it out, but someone was already running away. All I remember seeing was black hair and a black leather jacket. We were thinking of maybe shooting him, but it would attract too much attention. Later, we found my friend, the one who went upstairs, unconscious in a room. Know anything about it?" So they figured out it was me. No point in lying.
"Can you blame me? I see you walking with Annabeth. I mean, Annabeth's my friend, and I don't want her to be in danger."
"The ever loyal hero," he mocked. "Your loyalty will get you killed. Just a heads-up: you can't save everyone. Now I want to know exactly how much you heard and saw." He rammed me against a wall."
"I was too far to hear everything. I also got distracted a few times by the designs of the house and missed parts. I barely saw anything. It was too dark except for a very dim light in the room you were in." I put on my best, honest, believable face I could as Luke studied me before letting me go. He turned to leave, but I stopped him.
"Hey Luke, wait. I have one question." He nodded, urging me to continue. "Why are you even against us? I mean, both of our groups have the same goal, sort of. I mean, is it just because Kronos was paranoid and thought his sons were trying to kill him?" He rose an eyebrow.
"That's what they told you? That he was psycho and ran away from his sons who took over?" His eyes turned angry, but it wasn't directed at me. "What did they tell you?"
"That's it." He sighed.
"Okay, I'll tell you the story. Let's start with Kronos's dad-"
"Let me guess, Ouranos?"
"Actually, his given name was Cameron, but he was really into Greek mythology, and changed his name later to Ouranos, and named his son Kronos. It was Ouranous who was a bit wacko in the head. I can't remember which brain disorder he had, but it caused him to go on a killing spree. He was arrested and was supposed to get executed, but he escaped the prison.
"He set up some camp underground where he raised his family. His wife wanted to leave, but he didn't want her to sell them out. Eventually, he killed her, in front of his kids' eyes. They were like, three I think. He had a son and daughter. The son being Kronos, and I always forget his sister's name, because in the myth Kronos also had a bunch of kids, so I don't know what Ouranos chose.
"Anyway, he raised his kids to believe murder was the answer to all their problems. Kronos's sister got really curious and asked a lot of questions. By the time Kronos was eighteen, his father had enough of the curiosity, got paranoid about her escaping and giving him up, and killed her. Kronos loved his sister, and when he saw what his dad had done, he took his dad's old knife and killed him with it. It was his first chance to go out to the real world, because Ouranos locked them in and wouldn't let anyone leave. He found the keys and went out. He disposed of the body, and had his own kids and tried to raise them properly, but he didn't know how. Rhea, his wife, died giving birth to Zeus, so he had six kids, with Hades being the oldest at six. He didn't want to abandon them and leave them, so he tried raising them. To make a long story short-"
"Too late," I muttered. Luke gave me a glare.
"Kronos raised his kids the way his dad raised him, so the outcome wasn't too different. His kids plotted to kill their dad, because they thought he never loved them and were directing them the wrong path. They did want to stop killing, but they weren't careful enough. People found out. They didn't want to be put in jail. Cowards, really. Kronos happened to hear them discuss killing him. He ran away and tried to find people who would be willing to protect him. Of course, this somehow led to bloodshed, and here we are, still killing."
"That's not what the Olympians told me."
"They're liars."
"How do you know Kronos wasn't the one lying?" I shot. He shrugged.
"Who knows the real story. But I can tell you this: the MoA can't be trusted. They'll turn their backs on you when you need it." He almost sounded concerned, and what he just said sounded familiar for some reason. Luke left, and I was left by myself. I may as well kill time by looking for Annabeth. I still had something to do.
I was wandering the streets (maybe buying a hotdog or two) looking for Annabeth. I tried her house, the house I had broke into a few nights ago, the park, and basically everywhere I could think of. Turns out, Annabeth was the one to find me.
"Percy!" I turned around to see her jogging up to me. "Hey. I was looking for you." I hid my suspicion.
"Were you avoiding me at school?"
"What? No 'Hello Annabeth, nice to see you'?" I gave her a fake, sheepish smile.
"Hey. So, were you?"
"I just had to think about some stuff."
"What stuff?"
"None of your business," she told me teasingly. I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, I have to talk to you."
"What about?"
"Not here. Somewhere more private, maybe?" Well, that would definitely make things easier. I nodded, and she dragged me into an alleyway. It's always an alleyway. I casually leaned against a wall, and asked her what she wanted to talk to me about. She bit her lip and stood across from me. What she said sort of surprised me.
"Well, ever since I met you, at the beginning of the year, I've sort of liked you." She looked down, slightly blushing. "At first I thought it was a silly crush, but when you were with Rachel, I don't know. I got jealous. Something churning in my stomach, feeling angry at for no reason at Rachel, you know?" That sounded like what I felt when I saw Annabeth with Connor. I frowned slightly. Had I really been jealous? Of Connor? She chuckled lightly. "I guess I'm taking a bit of a chance here, but..." I pretended to be slightly nervous, pulling at the collar of my shirt, pushing the small button on the mic to turn it on. I didn't expect what she did next, but I was surprised. She kissed me. My teenage hormones sort of took over, and I started kissing back, the entire time thinking how wrong it was. By the time my senses kicked in, it was too late. Annabeth pulled back, holding two knives: one to my throat and the other to my stomach. She smiled cruelly at me.
"Tonight, you die," she warned. I smiled back at her, and for a moment, she looked confused. I used this to my advantage, and twisted her wrists, causing her to drop the knives. I can't say I wasn't hurt though. There was a small cut on my stomach, and the blood started to stain my shirt. At least, it felt that way, but I had my jacket on, with my hoodie underneath. I flipped our positions, so she was against the wall. My forearm was pressed to her throat, and Riptide was pushing a bit on her stomach. I looked at her fiercely, and she looked...panicked.
"I think you got it wrong. Tonight, you die."
Raise your hand if you saw that coming. *raises hand* Anyone catch the Clue reference?
Amy's Mischievous Little Owl – Sure, I'll check it out if I have time, or if I'm bored. Does this count as a surprise? Unless you've been expecting it or...
Jay- That's the first time I've been called a nerd (unless people call me one behind my back...nah) My friends usually call me an idiot. I agree with them. We're all idiots. In a good way...and if you called me stupid, I don't care. I have a comeback anyway. Trust me, I have tons of mistakes. I recently read it over, and stared at each mistake for thhirty seconds. Let's just say it took me a while to get through. Don't worry. I'm the one providing a story ;)
ElmoDaHorse – Thanks. I will.
The Innocent Little Human – well...they're not really enemies anymore...maybe a bit though.
SonOfTheOcean – How'd you guess? I wouldn't recommend overestimating me.
Misty's psyduck - Now...when you say "Real Annabeth"...
Mayhaah – Don't know how to take that sigh. I'm writing...I'm writing, don't worry. Thanks :D