Chapter 5: Time is a curious thing

Jason

"So, haven't found them yet?" Piper asks as she sits down besides me.

"Nope, not a sign of them. Percy's the last person who has seen Hazel, and nobody remembers the last time they saw Annabeth… They still got half an hour before we have to meet at the messroom."

"I know, but … Where could they be?" Piper murmurs. I don't really believe she expects me to answer that question. I stare at the horizon in silence. Piper lays her head on my shoulder and closes her eyes.

"I hope they noticed we agreed to hold a meeting. They should still be on the ship, it's not possible for them to have left. Not at open sea," she whispers.

No, indeed, it's impossible, unless they magically disappeared. But I also consider that as an option, being a demigod in a demigod-world. "Are the others still looking for them?" I ask Piper.

"Hmhm, Frank and Leo are. Leo's kind of having fun, he acts like he's Sherlock Holmes. He's been calling Frank 'Dr. Watson' all the time," she replies. I smile. Good old Leo, always taking things less serious than the rest of us.

"Leo should be more serious about those things."

"Don't blame him for his silliness. At least he gives us a reason to smile, from time to time. As you are sitting here, looking like a guy who's auditioning for an Armani commercial, I don't think you are really worried either."

To be honest, I'm not. Ever since Percy and Annabeth fell into that pit in Rome, everyone has been acting different than before. To begin with, all of us needed some more alone-time, so I'm used to disappearing crewmembers. I'm actually quite impressed by the hiding skills of the others, especially Hazel's and Nico's. It's really a mission impossible to find them when they don't want to be found. I guess it's a Pluto/Hades thing. Thinking about Hades …

"Where's Nico?" I gaze at Piper, whose head's still lying on my shoulder. She opens her eyes and looks up at me.

"Eating toast, probably. He went back to his room a while ago. He said he was tired of searching."

"Ow." I wanted to make a remark on about Nico's laziness, but then I realize, I've been sitting here for some time without looking for the others too.

"Anyway, they should have showed up for dinner half an hour ago. We need them at the meeting." I gently push Piper away from me and struggle to my feet. "I'm going to look downstairs, maybe Hazel and Annabeth already showed up." I reach out my hand, in order to help Piper up. "Are you coming?" She shakes her head, "No, not yet. I'm going to enjoy the sunlight some more, while I still can." I nod. Sunlight is a rare thing to be seen lately, as the weather has become very unpredictable. One moment, the sun is shining, and the other gets dark and starts raining cats and dogs. "Fine, see you later," I say a little disappointed.

Back at the dining room, I find it to be deserted. Or at least, I thought it was, until I spot Percy, staring out of the window. The sunlight is reflecting on his pale skin, which makes his appearance almost ghostly. During his time in Tartarus, he did not only lose his tan, but also several pounds of weight. Instead, he has gained a lot of scars and bruises, which cover almost all of his body. Most people in his situation would look sickly, but to my surprise, Percy doesn't. His torn up appearance makes him look like some war veteran, someone people should look up to. Probably that's also due to his attitude. He's no longer as cheerful and rebellious as he has always been – something I totally understand - but he traded those traits for some more mature ones, or so it seems to me. Even though I often spot him looking terrified about things I cannot see, or watch how he's trying hard not to break down, he's been keeping up his mood all week. Even when we all avoided him, he was brave enough to walk up to us with a smile and offered us a way out of our miserable non-talking situation. I'm really thankful that Percy found a way back to us, cause I have no idea where we would have ended up without him.

"Enjoying the view?" I walk around the table until I'm right next to Percy.

"I'm just taking my time to realize I'm actually really here," he says quietly, "I haven't seen the sun for about a month."

'A month'… When he says that, he makes it sound like that month had lasted a thousand years.

"The earth mother will rise in a month" a voice in my head says. That month is almost over, or at least, it should be. If my calculations are right, it should be June 29th by now. But people on the news keep saying it's only June 10th. Someone must have messed with time. I'm not sure who it was and why he or she did it, but my feeling tells me Percy and Annabeth know something more about it.

"Clocks slay time... time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life."

I heard Annabeth whisper those words in her sleep one night, a week after we found her. I Googled it, as it sounded like some quote from a book she read. It turned out to be a line from a book written by a Nobel Prize winner named William Faulkner. But I'm sure that it has a deeper meaning.

"Euhm, Percy. I'm not sure you already now but time …"

"Has been messed up," he interrupts, "I know."

"How do you know? Hazel told you that?"

"No."

"But…"

"I'll explain, later. But I can't exactly explain how all of this happened. Annabeth will have to fill in the gaps of my story."

"Or maybe I'll just tell you the entire story?" a girls voice demands, taking me by surprise. I did not hear any one coming, but when I turn around, I look straight into Annabeth Chase's stormy eyes. It's like she just materialized out of thin air, right in the middle of the room.