I disclaim. A/N at the bottom this time. Enjoy.
She starts to believe she'll never see him again.
It's been weeks, weeks and weeks since their chance meeting and subsequent fight for their lives at freshman orientation, and despite the fact that Percy Jackson now has Rachel Elizabeth Dare's phone number Sharpied onto his hand, she has yet to receive a phone call.
So much for hope and answers.
She has so many questions, still, that need to be answered. Why can she see the monsters? She isn't a half-blood- at least, she thinks she isn't. Which god is Percy related to? Why were the empousai threatening him, and what was that camp they mentioned? Are there other people like Percy?
And most importantly- what next? What is she supposed to do with her life, now that she knows these horrors she sees are real? Live the rest of her life surrounded by people who think she's insane? Can Percy help her? In anyway- at all?
She wishes she could ask him, that he would call her, and Rachel regrets daily not asking for his number as well. She's almost terrified-whenever she's seen him, he's been in the midst of fighting for his life. What if this is the one time he didn't get lucky?
Her phone remains silent, and though Rachel keeps her eyes peeled for black hair, green eyes, and train-wreck bravery, Percy's nowhere to be found.
It would be bad enough, not seeing or hearing from him in what seems like forever, if her last image of him wasn't Percy being towed away by that all-too-pretty blonde friend of his…Annabeth, wasn't it? Rachel had no idea who she was, but something in the grey-eyed steely glare of hers told Rachel that Annabeth considered Percy Jackson her property- trespassers not welcome.
She paints a picture of the two as she last remembers them, admires the accuracy of her work, then proceeds to whip out a pocketknife and slash an x right through the painting. It's a strange sort of satisfaction she feels afterwards.
Rachel knew it was stupid and petty, to be hateful towards a girl she had never really met. For all she knew, Annabeth could be Percy's girlfriend- the thought makes Rachel sick with jealousy, and that irritates her. Green with envy doesn't look good on redheads, she knows, so she tries to put the thought out of her mind.
The fact is, though, the more she thinks about him, the more Percy Jackson becomes a bit more than an answer key in her mind. Because not only does he know everything there is to know about this second world she sees, he's also- well, cute. Cute and charming and confident and brave and a bit obtuse but in a lovable way, and Rachel had stopped believing in Prince Charmings until he came along.
She ponders this through six weeks solid of silent phones and desperate hoping, and she's almost started to think he's dead. During the day, she wanders around the city, sketching couples and families in Central Park and riding the subway aimlessly to avoid her parents. She spots a chimera or two boarding the ferry to Staten Island, a few empousai on Fifth Avenue, but she keeps her head low- there's no one there to protect her this time. She ignores the unusual dark clouds surrounding the Empire State Building and firmly tells herself that there are no such thing as flying horses, so there's no way that was a Pegasus she saw in the sky, right?
In the afternoon, she paints her thoughts onto canvases and ignores the knocks on her door and fake concern from her parents, and after six weeks, she's got quite the collection. There's a watercolor of Percy running across Hoover Dam, an acrylic of Percy spotting her on the steps of Goode Academy, a chalk of herself and Percy fighting the empousai, a pencil sketch of the two of them on the bleachers, the aforementioned destroyed painting of Percy and Annabeth, and so many more.
At night, she tosses and turns and dreams of wanderings in underground mazes, a gleaming bronze sword and darkness illuminated by green eyes, an explosion and blinding pain and an island that matches paradise.
And then, one afternoon, her phone rings with a call from an unknown number.
She almost passes out when she hears his voice.
"Percy?" she says, hardly daring to believe it. This can't possibly be real.
"Yeah, it's me. Hi, Rachel," he responds. She pictures him smiling on the other end of the line, and her heart jumps with glee. Then, she remembers he disappeared from the face of the planet for six weeks without bothering to call and decides to let him have it.
"Where the heck have you been?" she shouts into the phone. "Six freaking weeks ago I gave you my number and asked you to call me and what do you do? You freaking disappear. Like it's totally okay to tell someone the Greek gods are real and then explain absolutely nothing. And then you freaking disappeared! And you never bothered to call me! Percy, I- I thought you were dead!"
"You're not alone in that." He sighs. "Look, it's a long story, and I'm sorry, okay? But look, I really need your help. I can't explain now, phones and half-bloods don't really mix well, but can we meet somewhere?"
And with those words she completely forgets her anger at him- the possibility of actually getting to see him far outweighs the six weeks of silence.
"I'm not sure what exactly I can help you with, because you still haven't exactly explained to me what's going on-"
"Rachel, I-"
"But I'm not gonna make you beg, so sure. I'll be in Times Square tomorrow. Two o'clock. I'll see you there."
"Times Square. Got it."
There's a moment of silence, and Rachel isn't sure what else to say. What do you say, to someone you barely know but saved your life twice, and vice versa, but whom you haven't actually spoken to in weeks?
He clears his throat, breaking up the awkward silence. "And Rachel? Thanks."
Click. And he's gone. Again. But this time, it's just a see you later. Not a goodbye.
The next afternoon finds Rachel in Times Square, standing on the sidewalk completely covered in gold, posed like a statue for her Urban Art for Kids fundraiser. Being still for so long gives her plenty of time to search the crowd and look for Percy's black hair and green eyes.
When she finally spots him, a few minutes before her shift is set to end, her heart leaps.
Only to sink just as quickly when she realizes he's not alone.
Rachel knows she should have expected it, really, but she can't help but feel that familiar pang of irrational jealousy when she spots that blonde girl with Percy. Annabeth's arm is linked through his, and to anyone else, the two would look like the average couple, sightseeing tourists strolling through Times Square. Just an average couple.
Maybe they really were. The thought scares her.
Her break ends, and she eagerly leaves the fundraiser and walks over to Percy. Annabeth, of course, shoots her the patented grey-eyed glare, but Rachel ignores it. She's going to have to get used to that.
"Hey, Percy," she greets him. "Good timing! Let's get some coffee."
He smiles at her, and she leads the two over towards her favorite coffee shop, Java Moose on West 43rd. She's not really a Starbucks girl- far too average. Inwardly, she smiles when she notices Annabeth's dropped Percy's arm and is now walking behind them, somewhat awkwardly.
She makes small talk with Percy until the three reach Java Moose, where she orders her favorite espresso drink and goes over to the counter to add cream and a bit of sugar, still wondering at her good fortune. After so long without contact, she can't believe she's here, at a coffee shop with Percy Jackson.
And Annabeth and her freaking grey-eyed glare. She tries to ignore that minor detail.
But from the moment Rachel Elizabeth Dare notices the smile on Percy's face when Annabeth automatically slides in next to him at their booth, she knows she's fighting a losing battle.
She pursues him anyway. Because Rachel Elizabeth Dare's never been one to be intimidated by any glare, no matter how steely and grey-eyed, and after six weeks of silent phones there's no way she's giving up this easily.
(This will be lengthy, I apologize in advance.) So I could give a long list of excuses why I haven't updated in two months, but I did warn you that updates would be sporadic and irregular. In a nutshell, it's nearing the end of the school year and tests and papers and such are therefore piling up, and I also was involved in my school musical-a huge time commitment. In addition, I rather lost my inspiration for this story. Thankfully, said inspiration has been recently rediscovered and Indelible is back! Writing has proved a rather pleasant break from studying for finals, so I will try to have the next chapter up in a week or so. No guarantees, but I'll do my best.
For those of you who are interested, I am currently working on two oneshots (one Percabeth, one Piper/Leo) that will hopefully be finished in the next couple of weeks. Keep an eye out!
Hope you enjoyed this chapter of Indelible, despite its brevity. Your reviews are sincerely appreciated!