Sorry, went to Washington DC for a few days and just got back :D
This AMAZING chapter is brought to you by the most awesome Cockapoo! :D Please go bow down to her awesome ASAP! She's actually the creator of the character Alisa (except I kind of changed the character Alisa a bit xD).
Ruerox11: Yes, I'm back! *happy dances with you* And don't worry, Alisa is very, very, very important to the story and she will not make a mess of things. She promises you she will attempt not to threaten anyone's life. And I shall be using that nickname more often then xD
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PJOHPHGlove: Layla is a child of Hades! And yes, people seem to have liked the idea of McSmarty Pants xD
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Cary11: I shall! :D
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Disclaimer: I don't own ANYTHING. PJO owns itself with Riordan somewhere in there. I don't even own this chapter, just my own characters. THANK YOU COCKAPOO FOR SHARING SOME OF YOUR AWESOME!
"I'm hungry," Alisa announces, looking around Fifth Avenue. "Oh, look! Starbucks! Let's go, I really want a frap right now."
"No," Annabeth snaps at her, leaning against Percy for support. "This is not the time to run around getting sugar highs! We need to keep looking. Catch another subway."
"You need a break too," Alisa retorts. "Your ankle is in no shape to be lugged all over New York. You need to sit down and relax, and Percy needs a break from carrying you everywhere. I'm going to Starbucks, you can come if you want or leave without me. Up to you."
"I'll come," I sigh tiredly, knowing that to some extent, she has a point. My feet are achy, and the thought of food is enough to convince me. Besides, when Alisa makes up her mind, she's impossible to argue with. And if she really gets upset then Nico gets angry with whoever made her upset and everything goes downhill from there. I look over at my brother, who's keeping an eye on our surroundings. Paranoid, yes, but he'll probably save our lives one day.
He starts to move and for a moment I reach for the dagger I'm carrying inside my jacket, but then I realize that he isn't responding to a threat only he's seen, he's just following Alisa down the street towards the café.
Percy mutters something and bends down, lifting Annabeth completely off the ground and carrying her after them, Marcus scurrying along with him.
"Coming?" Malcolm asks me. He's staring at me, and I get the feeling he's nervous about something. I look around, but there's nothing, just everyday people doing whatever they do in New York.
"Yeah," I say, giving him a quick smile and walking towards the rest of our group with him.
"Come on, you guys!" Alisa shouts from in front. "You can have your little moment later!"
I raise an eyebrow at her, not sure what she means, but I forget about that when I hear Malcolm coughing.
"Sorry," he says, his face a little red as the coughs stop. "Something got stuck in my throat."
Nodding, I walk into Starbucks as Nico holds the door open for everyone. Percy takes Annabeth to a secluded little booth and she sighs with relief as she sinks into the soft, pale green leather. The rest of us join them, except for Alisa, who after asking us quickly runs up to the counter to order.
"How does she always have so much energy?" Percy asks the table, looking confused.
"It's how she is," Nico chuckles, his laugh rumbling in his chest. "Constantly running haywire."
"So what's the plan?" Annabeth asks, looking at Malcolm. He has this crease on his forehead as he brushes back his hair and leans forward, looking tired.
"The plan is to talk about everything but that," Alisa sings, sliding a tray covered in drinks and pastries down the table. "Let's just pretend we're normal teenagers hanging out."
"Normal teenagers carrying enough weapons to create a mini-arsenal," Malcolm says, and she laughs, climbing over me so she can cuddle into Nico.
"Irrelevant technicalities," Percy mumbles, and I laugh. "What?" he says, sounding defensive. "You date a kid from the Athena cabin and see if you don't end up shooting off bigger words than you normally use."
Malcolm starts coughing again from across the table and Annabeth pats him hard on the back, looking worried. "You okay, Malcolm? Are you falling sick? We can stop by a drugstore and pick up some medicine if you want some."
"Coffee," Malcolm says hoarsely, and downs some of the drink Alisa had brought for him.
"Ouch!" Alisa gasps suddenly, and we all turn to her. She's holding up her left hand, and I can see blood bubbling out from a small cut right on the tip of her ring finger.
"What did you do?" I ask, taking her hand and examining it. The cut is small but it seems to be deep, and already the entire fingertip is covered in blood, which continues to spurt out.
"Cut myself on that!" She points to the plastic cover of her frappucino, which she'd taken off so she could eat the whipped cream off the top.
"It's not that sharp," Annabeth says, leaning forward to pick up the plastic, which has a faint red streak on its edge.
"It's a papercut," Percy says in a bored voice, twirling one of Annabeth's blonde curls around his finger. "Relax. It could be a lot worse."
"But it's bleeding so much!" Alisa practically screams, and Malcolm shushes her as people look around.
"She just got a papercut, it's okay!" Annabeth yells at everyone, and people stop staring.
"You're scared of blood?" Marcus asks, looking surprised. When she shoots him a deadly glare, he cowers slightly and mumbles, "Well, you're a daughter of Apollo. It doesn't exactly make sense."
"It's my blood," Alisa whimpers, ignoring Percy's persistent eye-rolling across the table.
"Here," Nico says. He leans over both of us and grabs a napkin from the edge of the table, wrapping it tightly around her finger and holding it there, pressuring the cut. The brown material starts to turn red seconds after it makes contact with her skin.
"I have a band-aid," Annabeth says, holding one out across the table. "Put that on."
"Thanks," Alisa smiles shakily. Nico wipes as much blood off her finger as he can while the cut is still bleeding and then carefully wraps the band-aid around it.
"Better?" he asks.
"A bit," she says, tilting her finger to examine it. The band-aid was slowly turning red. "I'll be fine."
Taking her hand, Nico bends down to kiss her finger and she releases a silly little giggle, making me want to cover my ears. How my brother can act that mushy I'll never understand, considering that he spends a lot of his time scaring other people – although I'll admit he doesn't exactly do that on purpose.
Across the table Percy and Annabeth have decided to ignore everyone else and are whispering in each other's ears while Marcus tries to stifle his laughter at the sight of them.
"Thaaank youuu," Alisa breathes into Nico's ear, and I start to regret sitting next to them. It gets worse when I see Nico's hands appear – one on her waist and another behind her neck, and then he starts to kiss her.
To avoid watching the girl who's practically my closest female friend passionately kiss my brother, which is a very awkward and uncomfortable experience, I turn to see Malcolm red in the face again. But this time he's laughing and trying to hide it.
"Look," he whispers, pointing beneath the table. Nico and Alisa are still…yeah, and directly across the table from them, Percy and Annabeth are doing exactly the same thing. "It's like a mirror image, only the people have changed," he chortles. "I think Percy tried to copy Nico's technique."
I snort, and he holds his hands up in a don't-shoot-me gesture. If I look closely I can see that he's right, that Percy's almost mirroring Nico's every move, but I really, really don't want to look. We sit in silence for a few minutes, Malcolm staring out the window and Marcus playing with a piece of cake, while I pretend that there's no one else in our booth.
"Hey, Nico," Malcolm says suddenly, turning his head to look at Nico. "Outside, third window. The man in the red hat."
My brother and Alisa stay locked in each other's arms, pressed dangerously close together, for another few moments, and then she pulls away from him, slapping his head playfully when he gives her a confused look.
Staring out the window over Alisa's head, Nico scans the area and looks directly at me moments later.
"We need to get out," he says. "And split up. Everyone take as many roundabout ways as you need to, but we'll meet by the lake in Central Park."
"Malcolm and Layla, you two leave first, you're on the outside seats," Annabeth says, and I can see her eyes turning analytical again. "Marcus…"
"Does he have horns?" Marcus gasped, staring at the man Malcolm had indicated.
"You stay with me and Annabeth," Percy told him sternly. "Nico, you're with Alisa…just no fooling off, okay?"
"Don't worry; I'll keep my hands to myself." Nico rolls his eyes, adding under his breath, "If she wants me to."
"Just because you can shadow-travel away whenever there's any trouble doesn't mean you can goof off all the time," Percy snapped.
"Shut up," Alisa retorts, quickly getting defensive. "Just because you can't keep away from Annabeth for five seconds doesn't mean you have to be so mean."
"Everyone stop!" Malcolm slaps the palm of his hand on the table, glaring around. "If you can't keep your mouths shut and stop acting like children then you won't get to be with your boyfriend or girlfriend! We're trying to keep from getting killed here, not trying to get more kisses in than the other couple! So we're all going to get up and calmly walk out the door and then split up, and we'll meet at the lake in half an hour at the latest. If someone isn't there by then we'll assume something is wrong and go looking for you."
"Why are we splitting up?" Marcus asks, looking a bit scared. I want to comfort him, somehow, but the table is in the way.
"Because I doubt that monster is alone," Nico answers, still scrutinizing the people outside, "And we'll be able to move faster through crowds in smaller groups."
"Let's move, everyone," Annabeth orders, giving Marcus a light push to get him to stand up. "Good luck, everyone. Percy – ow, I –" She sinks against him, her face twisting as she accidentally put too much pressure on her ankle.
"Just carry her," Malcolm tells Percy, "And make sure she doesn't get hurt. You're responsible."
"And you are for mine," Nico reminds him, looking at me. "Be safe, both of you."
"For heaven's sake," Alisa interrupts, "You're all acting like we're going to die. We'll be fine! Stop saying goodbye and get going. And don't worry, Layla," she grins impishly at me, "I'll take good care of Nico for you."
And, still laughing, she grabs Nico's hand and skips lightly out the door, looking to the entire world like a happy young girl with the love of her life, without having to worry about dying as soon as she gets out the door. And I sort of wish she was. Hell, I wish we all were.