There was some general notices and other stuff that I wasn't really paying attention to, and then the meeting was dismissed and Hazel took me under her wing. Literally, she put her wing over me and lead me away from the room, to who knows where, I couldn't see. She finally lifted her wing and I could see we were, and that was what I assumed to be their room.
It was quite large, closed in, and the Twelve were already there, in various different positions, except Percy, I noticed.
'Stop it, brain, seriously?'
The room was decorated with posters, paint, spoils of war, souvenirs, photos, paintings, scribblings, and even a mirror with all sorts of drawings and such on it. There was a couch, or what I assumed used to be a couch, covered in clothes, lolly wrappers and who knows what else. The floor was much the same, I could see the occasional wood flooring but apart from that it was mostly sleeping bags, clothes, weapons, you get the idea.
"Well, welcome to our cabin. I thought you'd like to crash with us, you know, because, but if you don't want to, never mind, uh, so, do you wanna live here?" she asked, wings tinging pink at her embarrassment.
"It'd be an honour." I replied, smiling warmly and setting my dagger down on the arm of the couch, Piper rushing over to clear the stuff away.
"Sorry, we're a little messy in here, just put your stuff where you can find it and if you want to change, you're welcome to anything you can find."
"Except mine, stay away from mine," Reyna called, and as I looked to where her voice came from she was already back to talking with Thalia.
Piper stuck her tongue at Reyna's back, then started picking up clothes, wrinkling her nose at some and handing me the others. "Here, go get changed into these. The bathroom's near that set of drawers over there, if the door doesn't open someone's probably in there, so just wait until they come out. Calypso'll run and get you some toiletries and underwear and stuff. Won't you, Cal?" She said, turning to face the chestnut haired girl with a raised eyebrow, to which Calypso fluttered gracefully out of the room.
I gave my thanks and made my way over to the door, trying to not step on anything important-looking and succeeding. I tried to turn the door handle, but it got stuck on the drawers, so using my wing I shoved the drawer out of the way at the same time that I pushed the door open, causing me to lose my balance and fall face-first, my wings spreading out and somehow catching me before I fell to the white-tiled floor. I pushed myself up, dusting myself off, and came face-to-face with his green eyes. I lowered my gaze as I found his observing getting me flustered, and that's when I saw that he was shirtless, his bottom half wrapped in a towel. I could feel my face burning and I turned away to hide that small fact (and so I wouldn't stare at him. Come on, I had been locked up my whole life, how was I supposed to NOT stare at his toned chest). I felt a shove at my back and I toppled over again, only this time out of the bathroom. Needless to say, I didn't catch herself this time.
Lying on the floor, I was vaguely aware of the bathroom door closing.
"ANNABETH!" I jerked my head at the sudden noise and flapped my wings in alarm.
"Sorry for frightening you, that looked like a nasty fall. You okay?" Jason offered me a hand, which I readily accepted as he easily pulled me up from the floor, Percy's stomach muscles still flashing inside my eyelids as Jason picked up the clothes and stuffed them in my arms.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just startled." I said breathlessly, turning to face his baby-blue eyes.
"Don't worry, you're not the first and certainly not the last. Percy never locks the door, I've even walked in on his abs a few times too." He said, smiling knowingly which made me blush even more.
"Yeah, what's up with him anyway? Is he always this...?" I struggled to find the right word. "Socially inept?"
Jason laughed. "He's socially inept when? What does 'inept' even mean? Why-"
"You know what, never mind."
"Okay. Percy, you done yet bro?" Jason called, Percy emerging from the bathroom with a mask of perfect calmness as if nothing had happened. I tried to copy, but ended up looking meek and subservient, but it worked well enough as I entered and triple-checked the door was locked, and started looking at my clothing selection. I wanted to look- I had no clue. I picked out an orange shirt out with some ripped jeans, taking some high-top shoes, a cap and putting my holster back on, tucking the rest of my clothes in my arms as I opened the door, stepped out and looked about for Piper.
I heard squealing and I faced the noise, seeing Piper barrelling towards me, and accepted her hug as best I could.
"You look amazing."
"T-thanks!" I stutter, once again checking to see I hadn't been dramatically made-over. No, no such luck.
"So…. Do you like… puzzles?" Piper asked awkwardly after what seemed an eternity of frozen smiles, wincing at her own horrible attempt at ice-breaking.
"Uh, never tried one. The idea sounds really boring, though."
"Oh yeah, you haven't…. right. You're right, they are really boring, but we all have to endure because it's one of the few things Calypso likes."
"Cool," I said, looking at my feet and moving them about a little.
"You know what? Tonight's going to be Girl's Night In. We're going to kick the boys out of our cabin and have a sleepover." She said suddenly, a genuine smile forming on her pretty facial features. "Ooh, I can see it now! Everyone's lying down, chatting, a game of truth or dare, pyjamas, a movie… It's gonna be awesome! I'll let everyone know at lunch time, but for now, I introduce you to all our friends." She said, grabbing my hand and leaving me to stumble along as Piper speed-walked through the corridors with practiced ease.
We were wandering around for who knows how long, meeting what seemed to be thousands of new people. Names and faces were bouncing around like bingo balls, and I could barely match up names to faces. Beckendorf, Silena, Connor, Clarisse, Travis, Clovis, a pair of black wings, a deadly-looking spear, a cheeky smile flashing by. I looked at a watch I had picked up along the way, black leather straps fitting comfortably around my wrist. Twelve o'clock, which seemed about lunchtime, I reasoned as I made my way to the dining hall, only bumping into seven people and getting lost twice. I seated myself at a table, alone, wings fluttering nervously. Thalia sat down beside me, nodding regally before picking up a fork from her tray.
"Darn it," I muttered out loud, and Thalia looked up. "What's up?"
"Oh, nothing, just forgot to get a meal. I'm still getting used to this whole thing, it's so big and overwhelming, there's so many people!"
"I know. To me, it seems really small, but then again I know everyone and I've been in with many more people."
"Oh. Yeah, I feel really pampered and new compared to all of you guys. Like I've grown up wrapped in cotton wool or something."
"No, don't worry about it. We all grew up that way, it's just soon after the cotton wool was exchanged for poisonous daggers, only some of us got out alive."
"Wow, yeah." That's all I could say in response, and I realised I was hovering uncontrollably again.
"Excuse me one moment." I said, and grabbed my hands either side of the stool and forced my butt onto it, only I realised a few moments too late that the floor was going farther away and that I was rising, hands still clamped on my chair as I rose above the mess hall. One by one, every head in there turned to face me and my rising stunt, causing me to blush furiously. I was saved from further humiliation by Thalia, who flew up and grabbed the stool and my hand, flapping hard to ground me. I planted my feet on the ground and tried to recreate my 'invisible chair stunt' of breakfast, but ended up in a pile on the floor instead. As a last resort, I hovered, upright beside the table, still the main attraction of many.
"Hey, don't you guys have anything better to do?" Thalia crowed, and the crowd turned their heads back to conversations immediately.
"Idiots," she muttered, placing a tray of pizza in front of me. "Sit on the stool, and I'll tell you a story to ground you. It works for me, so here goes." I followed her instructions and she got into a trance almost, focusing on something over my left shoulder.
"There was once a little girl in a normal house, with the ability to fly as she pleased. Her parents didn't care about her, but whenever she tried to run away, the doors would lock and she would be forced into her room by robot droids, kicking and screaming. She tried every escape route she could think of, windows, skylights, underground, through the ceiling, locked doors, you name it, she tried it. After she tried each escape, she would be forced into a smaller and smaller part of the house, until she was confined to her room.
She scratched the days on the walls, and days turned to months, months into years. She grew up, and then she reached her thirteenth birthday. I was always excited about my birthday, because it was the only day of difference in my calendar. I woke up that day, but I wasn't in my bed. I was lying on a bed of concrete, and as I tried to move the straps over my limbs constricted more than necessary, crushing me. I spent two days like that, screaming in pain, thrashing as much as I could, essentially crushing myself to death.
I was released then, and I got up to see I was in a glass room, two metres by two metres. Surrounding me was other glass rooms, nearest to me a girl, dark haired with dark purple wings, her glass container filled almost to the brim with water, head pressed against the roof, struggling immensely. I ran over to pound on the glass, and she merely looked over at me and smiled weakly, losing concentration as she went under, taking a while before resurfacing. I moved on to another side, where a skinny, scruffy boy was surrounded by flames, wrapped in a tight circle. He looked like he was choking, the only reason I could see him was because he was still hovering, inhaling the smoke, two lines below his eyes making the only clear paths on his body. I turned ninety degrees to see a suntanned, blonde boy, holding his eyes, wincing, still flying, in a room filled with light. He let go for a second, showing me red, bloodshot eyes and tears streaming down his face before covering them again. I rotated once more to meet the sight of a frizzy-haired, small girl, curled up in the centre of the room, hands over her ears. I could just hear a piercing noise, and as I pressed my ear up against her wall it got stronger.
Suddenly, the noise stopped, and the fire had gone out, and the water had disappeared, and the light had dimmed, and the walls disappeared, leaving everyone to congregate around me. 'What's your name?' Frizzy asked, 'Thalia,' I replied, and the rest offered their names and explained why they were here. 'Today's changeover day. We get out of our torture, force-fed, and a few hours of socialization before it's back to normal.' After Hazel said that, all the other Sky-Soarers came over, and we mostly sat in silence, leaning against each other, waiting. True to what Hazel said, a few hours later droids came and ushered us to a separate room, and we were strapped to chairs and forced to eat whatever, I couldn't tell. The droids took us back to the approximate areas of our glass rooms, the glass coming down from the ceiling. I knew I couldn't stand being alone for days, so I yelled out for everyone to take off their shirts. They all looked at me, so I took mine off and stuffed in under where the glass was separating Leo and I, everyone nodding in understanding and doing the same, the word spreading until everyone had bare backs and slightly open walls. That was a big mistake. Will's container started filling with water, and it leaked into my room, spilling across the floor. It didn't stop, water was knee-high everywhere. It just kept going. And going, and going, until everyone was having to hover with heads against the ceiling, water waist-high even then.
It got worse. The water was literally one centimetre from the ceiling, everyone was trying to breathe as much air as possible, when the rest of the tortures started. There was a blinding light from somewhere, and someone else's blood began to seep as everyone went under, bursts of sound and light and blood and screams everywhere. I opened my eyes and looked up to see little things poking out from my ceilings, and a millisecond too late I realised that water conducts electricity." She sat silent for a few seconds, and I could see the black starting to seep out of her wings before she collected herself.
"The room exploded and we all would have died if it wasn't for the people who came to rescue us, there were healers who made us better and took us to Camp, those who survived, anyway. And that's my story, with everything left in. The end."
I came back out of Thalia's past and into the present, realising I was sitting on the seat and the dining room had cleared out, bar a few still talking. She nodded at me, then got up and left, disappearing down a corridor that I forgot what it lead to.
I was left alone at the table for a few minutes, trying to process what I had just heard. Everyone has such incredible masks, and I only just caught a glimpse of Thalia's true form. She seemed lost in the story, reliving all those horrible memories.
"Hey Annabeth, what're you still doing in here?" I turned and faced Percy, a mischievous glint in his sea-green eyes. Seeing that glint reminded me of the Percy that I had first met, full of energy and fun instead of a robotic monotonous leader with no emotion whatsoever.
"Thalia just told me a story." The mood visibly dimmed, and Percy's shoulders slumped.
"Did she tell you that she got the worst of the electricity, and she can't fly either?"
"No, she didn't." I said, looking at my feet.
"Well, yeah. That's what happened. Now, let's get outta this depressing mood and have some fun!" he said loudly, causing the remaining stragglers to look over at Percy in surprise. He ducked, pulling my shirt to drag me down, causing me to fall to the floor and giggle a little.
"Come on!" he whispered, and started running away, down a hallway leading off the mess hall. I followed, trying to keep up with the athletic male, only ever catching a glimpse of his gorgeous, ever-shifting wings.
"Percy, wait up!" I called, raising a hand out as I started slowing down, panting rapidly. I heard a slam up ahead, a string off cuss words following as a dazed Seaweed Brain made his way in, rubbing his head as I breathlessly chuckled at his wincing face, starting to laugh harder as he looked bewilderedly at me.
"What? No seriously, please stop laughing. I'm really confused." That only caused more laughter from my party, until we were both leaning against each other, struggling to breathe and wiping tears from our eyes.
"So what- what was so funny?" he questioned, turning his head to face me.
"You," I stated bluntly, wiping the trails of wet down my face.
"Oh, okay. I see how it is." He said, turning around and facing the other direction. My face fell as I realised I had seriously offended him, and I went to put an arm on his shoulder.
"Look, Percy, I didn't mean-"
"HA! Got you!" he said, whipping around to face me.
"Percy, I am going to rip you limb from-HEY! Get back here, you!" I cried, seeing halfway through my sentence he started flying away. I followed suit, flapping my wings harder and harder as I banked hard left, catching sight of Percy flying up towards the ship's deck. I sped up as fast as I could, managing to grab his shoelace just before he flew out, whooping happily. There was a small tug-of-war as he tried to fly away, but his shoe came off as he went soaring into the sky, and I threw his shoe, frustrated, off the edge of the ship, waiting for him to come down again. He was sitting up the crow's nest for about twenty seconds before zooming down, whimpering quite loudly.
"What now, Seaweed Brain?"
"My foot's really cold. Hey, where's my shoe?" I looked innocently skyward and motioned my thumb starboard, when he looked at me with eyes greatly resembling a baby seal's.
"Annabeth," he whined, pouting "You're a meanie!"
"I know I am. Now, if you don't want to live the rest of your life with a cold foot, you're going to have to race me down, and if you win, you… umm…"
"Can make you do anything for a day."
"Half an hour."
"Twelve hours."
"Forty-five minutes."
"Thirteen hours?"
"Idiot, bartering is meant to go closer to the other until you meet a reasonable price. Final offer of three hours."
"Deal. Now we fly."
"Aren't we meant to shake first?" I asked
"Winner also gets a handshake. Ready, Steady, Go!" He yelled, diving over the edge.
"Hey! No fair!" I yelled indignantly, shaking my head before following suit, wind blowing my hair back as I plummeted through the air, wind making my eyes water. I looked around after a bit and couldn't see Percy, which was slightly concerning.
"Per-oof!" I exclaimed, the wind being taken out of me as a lump landed on my back, doubling my descent speed.
"PERCY GET OFF RIGHT NOW OR YOU'RE GOING TO KILL US BOTH!" I screamed, but Percy, or who I assumed was Percy, put their hand over my mouth. I screamed into their hand, we were going way too fast and I was going to die. I was going to die. I was dying, it was too late.
I closed my eyes tight as whoever it was lifted off my back, and I was paralysed in fear. My wings wouldn't, or couldn't open, and I was nearing my death. The impact of the ground never came, though, I hit a warm mass of body and we tumbled to the floor, the person underneath me groaning.
"Shhh, Annabeth. Get down and shut up." Percy's voice said, barely a whisper. I curled up under my wings, Percy doing the same beside me, and I willed my wings to be a dusty orange-brown, like the ground. It worked, miraculously, and I felt fine, not drained or anything like normal. We sat like that for what felt like days, I needed to pee, my left foot was going numb, I had a really bad itch on my back and I felt like sneezing.
After an infinity more, I heard the faintest rustling from Percy, I think he was looking outside with those sea-green eyes of his… 'Annabeth, not the time!' I mentally chided myself, waiting until I heard Percy's 'all clear'. I retracted my wings and stood up, walking over to him and noticing out of the corner out of my eye my wings returning to normal colour.
"What was that about?" I asked, then sneezing twice and itching my back, tongue unconsciously sticking out as I strained to reach the spot.
"Here, let me," He offered, standing behind me to itch the exact spot where my itch was, and I only just managed to stop myself shivering with ecstasy.
"Better?"
"Much, thanks." I replied, sighing in relief.
"You're really cute when you sneeze."
I was just about to open my mouth when Percy cut in.
"Did I really just say that out loud?" I nodded in response, and he groaned and face-palmed.
"Anyway, the reason that just happened was-" He was interrupted by his walkie-talkie crackling loudly.
"SEAWEED BRAIN COME IN THE TWELVE OLYMPIANS TO SEAWEED BRAIN PLEASE COME IN!"
"No need to yell, Leo. We're right here."
"YES THERE'S A NEED TO YELL! YOU WERE NOT RESPONDING FOR A DUCKING HOUR, WE THOUGHT YOU HAD BEEN CAPTURED! HAZEL WAS IN TEARS, PERCY, TEARS! What happened to you?"
"I was just showing Annabeth how good the invisibility feature was from a distance when I saw some scientist ships, so we both hit the ground and covered up, waiting until they were gone. You know how they are, Leo, always check over one area like five times."
"True. Fine, you're off the hook, but come back. In advance, you're in for it, I'd bring earplugs."
"Thanks, Leo. Seaweed Brain and Wise Girl out."
Percy clicked the off button and the faint background static cut off.
"So, we better get back up there, hey?"
"Yeah, let's get heading." I said a little resentfully, we had spent one full hour crouching in fear. I almost wanted to get us captured so we could get to know each other better without that ever happening again. And know each other's screams. No, bad idea.
I started flapping and instantly I was off the ground, and I ascended, slowly for a few metres, then waited for Percy. As usual, he was running his way off the ground, doing a one-eighty and increasing his altitude swiftly, coming level.
"You still owe me a race," he said, eyebrow quirking
"You're on, Seaweed Brain." I said, flashing him a smirk before giving my wings a powerful beat, sending me into the sky. I continued flapping my wings, determined to win. I could hear Percy's wings a beat behind mine, and I fluttered faster and faster, finally spying the tell-tale bronze hull of the Argo II. I heard his laboured breathing growing closer, and I put on a last burst of speed to get me over the edge, shouting a victory cry as Percy unceremoniously flopped on top of me.
"Get- off me, lump! Can't- breathe-!"
"A lump- am I?" he panted, before attacking my abdomen with his slender fingers. Unfortunately, I was extremely ticklish.
"STOP PERCY STOP PLEASE!" I squealed, before laughing loudly and writhing incessantly.
"What's the magic word?" he said, leaning close over my face.
"PLEASE?!"
"Nope, try again." He said, and I could feel his warm breath caress my nose
"PERCY IS THE BEST? PLEASE STOP!" I yowled, and he stopped, finally.
"Correct, Wise Girl. For the record, I let you win."
I pushed his solid stomach and rolled the opposite way, toppling the raven-haired teen.
"Don't get too cocky now, Seaweed Brain, you owe me a handshake AND three hours of you doing whatever I want. I think I'll cash that in soon, you just wait-"
I was cut off by the sound of leather wings rattling and feathers rustling.
"Not interrupting anything, are we?" A cold voice inquired, and I instantly got up.
"S-sorry Reyna," I mumbled, wings going a pink-red and paying close attention to my shoes.
"Annabeth, I thought you were smarter than this. On the other hand, you're yet to have a walkie-talkie, but you, Percy, know better." I turned my head to face Percy, whose head was straight ahead, face an emotionless mask.
"I apologise Reyna, I lost track of time. I hope Leo has told you the circumstances?" She nodded stiffly in response, obviously Percy was very close to equal with the leader.
"We are moving tonight, far away from here. Leo, you've mapped where the houses are?" Leo nodded quickly, and stood up a little straighter at Percy speaking his name.
"Right, Reyna, what news did you have for us?"
"We have a large problem, as you know, Percy. Scientist's technology is advancing daily, and they are recruiting many more. Also, we have to travel at least a day away from our main Sky-Soarer keep, and every time we break in their defence gets a little stronger. We also have no clue where they are keeping the grown Sky-Soarers, and surely they have gained many from the new program. Based on all of this, we have decided, without you, that we need a quest."
"What kind of quest?" I whispered to Percy, still a little confused.
"A bad one, Wise Girl. Very, very bad."
{AN: Helloo cutie-kats! Hope you enjoyed this quite different chapterm seriously, Percabeth, ominous quest and some back stories all in one! HUGE HUGE S/O / THANKS TO MY BAE NamesAreFutile! She is my beta and editor, love her to bits. Still waiting for couple ideas, guys, just state the ship and it will sail! Any story ideas, even just 'they should watch a movie' are highly appreciated! ALSO MASSIVE S/O TO NoTearsFalling, she is an amazing person and she's the best idea-tester/internet friend a fangirl could ask for! See you all next chapter!
~myawfod