Ch. 10 I Get Catcalled

Percy was used to strange, weird, and downright scary dreams. It came with being part-god. This one was no different. Like usual, he recognized that he was dreaming, but couldn't move or speak like in real life. He stood in a cave. Covering the walls were all sorts of paintings and drawings. He glanced outside and saw grass and blue sky. He frowned. Where had his dreams taken him now?

A girl with really curly red hair and an orange T-shirt walked in. Following her was a centaur wearing the top half of a suit. His bottom half was a large white stallion.

"What is it that you want to show me?" The centaur asked.

"I'm not sure what it is, Chiron," The girl said, "But recently I got the urge to paint these symbols together, and I feel like it's important."

The girl gestured toward the wall. Three symbols were painted in a line. On the left stood a teal trident. The right, a gray owl.

And in the middle, a golden lyre.

The centaur, Chiron, apparently, stroked his beard, "Do you think the lyre is the one-?"

"Annabeth and the others are searching for?" The girl finished, "I don't know. But," She pointed at the owl, "If it is, then this could represent Annabeth. But if that's the case…" She gestured toward the trident.

Annabeth? As in, the Annabeth that Percy knew? How did these people know who she was?

Percy got a better look at the girl's shirt. It was hard to read, dyslexia and all that. It looked like it said "Camg Halfdloob" which probably meant "Camp Half-Blood." Were these two from there? They sounded like they were friends of the Argo II crew.

"We don't know for sure," Chiron said, "Prophecy is quite a tricky business, as you know better than most."

"I know," The girl said, "I'm just worried. If the trident represents…well…anything to do with him…then it can't be anything good."

Him? Who did she mean by that?

Oh, Percy thought, Probably Poseidon.

"I know," Chiron sighed.

Suddenly the girl went rigid. Percy started, wanting to go help her, before realized he couldn't do anything and wasn't actually there. Her eyes glowed green and her feet lifted off the ground. She started speaking, but it sounded nothing like her. The voice was significantly more ancient and sinister:

"The liar shall board the boat of old,

Seeking the lyre constructed from gold,

The Son of the Sea, an ancient fight,

And a decision to make, to the hero's plight"

The redhead dropped to the ground. Chiron knelt to check on her, but within a few seconds she opened her eyes and pushed herself up.

"Are you alright?" Chiron asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said, "But I need to go write that down before I forget it."

The Son of the Sea, a decision to make… That sounded an awful lot like Percy's current situation. Had that been a prophecy?

"It seemed abnormally vague." Chiron pointed out. "Most prophecies, if a little twisted, will often tell us what the Fates have in mind."

Okay, so definitely a prophecy. That made Percy's heart beat a little faster.

"But this one seems like it hasn't been decided yet. It feels off," The girl pulled at a piece of her hair, "I hate to say it, but it's like even the Fates don't know what will happen."

Percy blinked. He knew prophecies often twisted the meanings of things, but these two were right; there was no ominous twist, no hard to understand line that could be interpreted many ways. It merely stated facts; there was a son of the sea who had a huge choice to make.

And somehow Percy knew he was the one it was talking about.

Chiron stroked his beard again, "I believe this quest is going to have a more major outcome than a simple lyre being returned."

The girl nodded, "I think so too."

Percy hated the uneasy looks the two were giving each other and started studying the symbols again. Before he really could though, his dream shifted. Now he stood in a cabin very similar to his own on the Argo II. Annabeth sat at her desk, looking at something absently on her laptop. A knock came from the door. She told whoever it was to come in.

It was Nico.

"So did you find anything?" He asked, shutting the door behind him and leaning against it.

Annabeth frowned, "About what?"

"You know… Pietro."

Well, so much for Nico being less suspicious of him.

"Oh." Annabeth looked at the floor, "Not really, I guess."

"Well, I talked to him, and Annabeth…he-" Nico caught himself, as if hesitant to bring up their little back and forth death threat match, "He seemed like such a good fighter on Circe's island -like too good- and I asked him where he'd learned how to do that, but he seemed to be avoiding the question."

Annabeth hummed slightly, looking down at the ground, acknowledging Nico but not really responding. After a moment she looked back up at him, "I don't know, Nico. I think you're looking into it too much."

Nico blinked, "What do you mean?"

Annabeth hesitated, "I don't think he's being completely honest, but…I've talked to him a few times now too, and he doesn't seem like he has some ulterior motive. Maybe he's hiding something smaller, something that's not as big of a deal, and that's why he comes across the way he does."

Percy frowned. Annabeth was… defending him?

Nico sighed, "Annabeth, I get where you're coming from. Really, I do. He saved my life today and said it was because it felt like the right thing to do. He acts like a perfect happy-go-lucky adventurer most of the time, and I really started to believe him today. But I think it's all an act. I talked to him last night," Percy held his breath. Nico continued, "I can't say everything because he made me swear on the Styx to keep my mouth shut, but he threatened me, Annabeth. Would an innocent person do that?"

Percy grit his teeth. He'd hated himself for threatening Nico. At the time it had seemed like the only option. Now Nico was using it to turn Annabeth against him, whether intentionally or not.

Annabeth faltered and stood up, "He did?"

Nico nodded. Annabeth said nothing.

"How do I know you're not just making that up?" She ended up saying, "After all, you do seem to have it out for him for no apparent reason."

"No-No apparent reason?" Nico sputtered, "I'm only doing this because I had a bad feeling about the guy and now I'm discovering I'm probably right. I didn't want some monster infiltrating our ship and causing problems. So sorry I'm in defensive mode. Annabeth, I've been your friend for years. Are you really going to take his word over mine?"

Monster. That hurt. Percy wasn't a monster; he didn't want to hurt anyone. He was only on this stupid quest because his dad had made him.

Especially not Annabeth. He'd destroy all of Atlantis before it came to that. Maybe Nico though, if he kept pulling stunts like this behind his back.

Percy then reminded himself that, to Nico, he probably was someone to be suspicious of. After all, Percy was supposed to be working against him and the others. The whole ship would most likely disown him if they actually knew who he was.

Suddenly Nico's head jerked around, "Someone's here."

Annabeth looked at him, confused, "What do you mean, someone's here?"

Nico spun on his heels and looked directly at Percy. He pointed at him.

Percy's felt his heart pounding. How did he know?

"Right there," Nico told Annabeth, "They're dreaming. I don't know who it is, but something feels-"

Percy shot up in bed, back in his own cabin.

What had that been? What had any of that been? First a glimpse of that camp the others kept talking about, then some sort of prophecy that most definitely involved him, then Nico and Annabeth trying to figure out his secret, then Annabeth defending him and Nico getting upset-

Annabeth had defended him. If that whole conversation had really gone down, then she didn't hate him, at least, not as much as Nico did.

Which just made Percy feel worse. If she was defending him, then that meant she trusted him, at least in part. Gods, why did everything have to be so complicated? He didn't want to betray her for a stupid piece of gold, no matter how powerful it was or how much his dad wanted it.

Luckily, exhaustion allowed him to return to sleep soon after, releasing him from his churning thoughts. He didn't dream of anything that time.

Ooooooooooo

Annabeth didn't know what to make of her conversation with Nico. On one hand, he was right; Pietro still acted off and was hiding something. But Nico had seemed overly aggressive toward him. That night when they'd played Smash Bros for hours, he'd seemed so chill and nice and adorable and-

What? No, that wasn't what she'd meant. She shook that from her head. He'd been chill and nice and not like a cold-hearted monster or anything. Not like what Nico seemed to believe.

Annabeth blinked. When Pietro had first come aboard the Argo II, she'd been almost as suspicious as Nico. Why had that changed? He'd done nothing to clear his name, and after what Nico had told her, there was even more evidence against him.

So why did she care so much? And who had Nico seen while they'd been talking? He'd said he was extremely in touch with the dream world before. But who had seen them?

Annabeth tried to dismiss the whirlwind in her head as she got out of bed, stretched, and made her way to the mess hall. Nico, as usual, was absent, as were Hazel and Jason. Annabeth figured they were all still asleep. Everyone else sat at the big table, eating breakfast. Piper and Leo were in an intense conversation about Pokemon; Frank randomly nodded and pretended like he knew what they were talking about.

Pietro was also there next to the three. He poked at a plate of pancakes that were weirdly blue, which Annabeth decided not to ask about, but he stared off at a wall, not talking to the rest. Annabeth wondered what his problem was. And also why did he always have to look so cute?

Annabeth grabbed one of the magical plates and eggs and sausage appeared on it. She sat down across from Pietro (sitting next to him would be weird.)

Why would it be weird? He was just another person in the friend group now, so why did it matter so much?

Shut up, she told herself as she forced a smile.

Jason came in soon after and sat down. Hazel eventually appeared, though she didn't look great. The whole seasickness thing seemed to be really getting to her. Nico finally showed up about forty-five minutes later.

"So, Pietro, how much longer before we reach the island?" Leo asked.

"It shouldn't be much longer, maybe a day or so," Pietro said, "That is, if we keep on a straight path. There's just one problem with that."

"Which is?" Annabeth looked at him.

"If my calculations are correct, then we should be nearing The Sirens' island. The safest option would be to go around it, but it would take us a lot longer to reach Wadelisle."

The Sirens' Island. Annabeth had read everything she could about it. The sirens would lead sailors to their deaths by showing them their greatest desires. It'd been a secret dream of Annabeth's to be able to listen to them. If you survived, you gained a lot of wisdom about yourself. She wanted to know what they would use to tempt her. She already had a plan and everything. They needed to go by it.

"Couldn't we all just stay below deck until Festus gives the all clear?" Jason asked.

That was closer, but not what Annabeth wanted. She'd have to speak up.

"We should go by it." Annabeth said. The whole group turned to her, "I've always wanted to know what the sirens' would show me."

All she received were blank stares.

"And how are you going to do that without the whole "death" part?" Leo asked.

"Easy." Annabeth explained, already pulling out her knife and setting it on the table, "Disarm me and tie me to the mast. Make it so I can't escape. I've been planning a way to do it for years now."

"Are you out of your mind?" Nico stood up, "Way too dangerous. I know you're the smart one, Annabeth, but there is no way in Hades that we are gonna let you do that."

"I agree with Nico," Hazel said, "It's too risky, Annabeth."

The others nodded in agreement. Maybe they were right. There were a lot of ways it could go wrong.

But no. She wouldn't accept that. There had to be a way. She'd been on a quest for knowledge since she was a little kid, and what better opportunity would she get than this?

"Then have someone up there with me with their ears plugged," Annabeth said, "That way if something does go wrong they can help."

"Do we even have any ear plugs?" Piper looked around the room.

Leo pointed toward the cabins down the hallway, "I've got a whole bag of extra-strength ones. Some of y'all sound like vacuum cleaners with hay fever when you sleep."

"In theory, it could work," Jason said, "But wouldn't you just be putting someone else in danger then?"

Annabeth's heart sank. She knew he was right.

"I'll do it!" Pietro said. The whole table turned to him this time, "I've done way stupider things in the past. Besides, I'm an expert at tying knots." He frowned as he realized how weird that sentence came out, "I have a lot of boating experience."

"Oh, so we're supposed to trust you with Annabeth's life?" Nico seethed.

"I mean, you guys trusted me with Scylla and Charybdis. I promise I would never do anything to hurt any of you." He looked at Annabeth directly as he said that last part. Annabeth felt her heart flutter. She willfully ignored it.

"You do have a point." Frank said. Leo and Piper agreed.

"I mean, I still think it's a bad idea," Jason added, "but I know nothing's gonna stop you, Annabeth, so we might as well do it in a safe way."

"I guess it's settled then," Pietro said, "Leo, I'm going to need some of those earplugs."

Leo snapped and pointed finger guns at him, "You got it. Don't worry, you won't be able to hear a thing." He paused, "Should we be worried about leaving you two alone?" Annabeth gave him a death stare and he shrunk back, "Never mind then," and then he left the room.

Annabeth locked eyes with Pietro quickly before looking away. In truth, she was a little scared to know her heart's deepest desires. She had an idea of a few, but she certainly didn't want to admit it to herself, let alone anybody else.

No, that was ridiculous. It couldn't have anything to do with that. Those were all just intrusive thoughts.

…Right?

Oooooooooooo

A few hours later, Annabeth and Pietro stood on the deck of the Argo II. Annabeth triple checked to make sure she had no weapons on her. Looking ahead, she could see a small island floating on the sea. It wouldn't be long before they got in earshot of the sirens.

Pietro looked scared out of his mind. Annabeth didn't know why. Nico had taken him aside to "talk" before they'd come up. She didn't know what he'd said. Hopefully he hadn't been too harsh.

She knew Nico was, at least in part, correct. Pietro was definitely hiding something from the rest of them. But now the kid had gone and straight up villainized the guy. Annabeth doubted whatever Pietro was hiding could be that bad.

"So," Pietro said, looking at the rope in his hands, "Better get ready, huh?"

Annabeth blinked. Right, they had a job to do. The two of them walked over to the mast. Annabeth helped Pietro by holding the rope as he wound it around her again and again.

"You better not mess this up." Annabeth cringed as he pulled the rope tighter. She'd told him to make the knots as tight as possible, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

"Okay, wise girl," Pietro said sarcastically finishing tying the rope and putting his hands up in defense, "Says the one who is willingly listening to sirens."

Annabeth cocked her head, "Wise girl?"

Pietro shrugged, "I dunno, it just came out." He smiled, "Sorry."

Why was his smile so freaking adorable! Annabeth smiled, "Don't be. I like it." She thought for a moment, "I don't think I've ever had a nickname other than Annabeth. Well, that and Leo's dumb ones, but those don't count."

Pietro laughed, his anxiousness seeming to lighten a little, then turned to look at the island.

"We're gonna be within earshot any minute." He said, "You ready?"

Annabeth nodded, although it was a little hard to breathe under all the restraints. Then she noticed Pietro was missing something.

"Don't you need to put your ear plugs in?"

Pietro turned to her wide-eyed and pulled them out of his pocket, "I almost forgot. That would've been bad." Annabeth noticed that he didn't make eye contact as he said that. He also didn't seem too concerned about putting those ear plugs in. That was odd.

He put them in. Annabeth yelled, "Can you hear me?" And he just looked at her in confusion. Hopefully that meant he couldn't hear a thing. He just gave her a thumbs up.

Annabeth barely had time to regret the whole decision before her world went dark.

Oooooooooooooooooooo

Percy really hoped nothing went wrong. Nico had given him a less-than-friendly reminder of what he'd do if someone got hurt on Percy's watch.

With that on his mind, he watched as Annabeth's eyes grew unfocused. No doubt she was seeing a vision of her greatest desires, whatever those were. She also began to claw at the rope. Percy didn't know what she was saying but he could see her mouthing words like "get me out of here!" And "let me go you asshole!" She probably didn't even realize she was doing that.

Percy had to turn his eyes away. Seeing her desperately pull at the bonds trying to get free was too much. He knew those knots wouldn't come apart no matter how hard she tried. Percy had a knack for anything boat-related, including tying ropes. He even knew the exact latitude and longitude of the ship at all times.

Percy had to restrain himself from blushing as he looked away. Gods, Annabeth was pretty. And smart. And funny. And so strong. Percy sighed; why couldn't things be different? Why couldn't he live in a world where they had a chance together?

What was he thinking? There was almost no chance she felt the same way. She'd been so awkward around this whole time. It was probably because she knew he liked her and didn't know how to turn him down.

He turned his thoughts back to the ocean. At this point they were pretty much parallel with the island. Percy glanced over and, as he expected, saw three siren girls sitting on rocks a few hundred feet from the ship near the island's shore. Curious, he pulled one of the earplugs out. He wasn't too worried about being manipulated because… well…

He wanted to know what song they were singing. Different songs would often produce different effects; some created more happy visions, others were more fueled by anger or rage or lust. He recognized the song as one of the first he'd learned in Atlantis, although the name escaped him. It was haunting, yet beautiful, and definitely one that would create visions of pure bliss.

Annabeth's wailing was hard to listen to though. He thought it was bad enough to see her facial expressions, but being able to hear it made it ten times worse. It was almost too much to bear. She sounded like she was just in total pain. Percy wondered if that was part of the siren's spell. It didn't just affect the person who heard the song; it affected everyone around.

She wanted to do this, he thought, and besides, she probably doesn't even know she's doing that. Right now; Annabeth was probably having the time of her life in her own mind.

If only it could be that way for Percy.

He was about to put the earplug back in, to keep up appearances and all that, and also to block out Annabeth, when he noticed something. Of the three mermaids, two were unfamiliar, but the third one-

Gods of Olympus was that Coral?!

Oh gods it definitely was. What in Hades was she doing here? She should be back in Atlantis, and oh no she definitely recognized him, though from that far away he had no idea how-

Coral stopped singing. The other two continued as she waved.

"Percy!" She yelled in a singsong voice. Percy cringed and hoped no one else below deck could hear her, "What are you doing all the way up there? Come down here and help us! The water's plenty nice, and I've missed you so-"

A giant wave knocked her off the rock and cut her off as Percy flicked his wrist. The other two looked at her in the water but didn't stop singing. Coral's head poked up out of the water. Percy didn't know if she could see it or not but he grinned and put his ear plug back in, subtly telling her "I don't care so leave me alone," then went back to wondering what Annabeth was seeing and trying to dismiss his swirling train of thought.

Oooooooooooo

Annabeth felt weird, like she was in a dream. This had to be the siren's vision. She took in her surroundings. She stood on a stage in front of a Greek temple. A crowd sat and clapped in front of her. She frowned. Where was she?

Wait. She'd been here before. Only once, years ago on a field trip. This was Mount Olympus.

But something was off. Why were all these people cheering? And they all seemed to be looking at her.

She turned around to inspect the temple again. That's when she noticed its design. It looked exactly like something out of her dreams. She'd designed that.

"We congratulate Annabeth Chase for this monumental feat," Said a voice from off to her right. Annabeth turned to find Zeus standing tall. He seemed to be…was he smiling?

Ok, this definitely wasn't real. Forget everything else, Zeus would not be smiling on any occasion.

Regardless, Annabeth continued to take it all in. She saw her dad, stepmom, and stepbrothers in the front row of the crowd. She waved at them. All her friends were also in the front, yelling her name excitedly.

She sighed in contentment. The siren's visions were no joke. This was perfect. She could live in this moment forever.

It's not real, she told herself, you can't forget that.

Even with the logical inaccuracies though, it was to tell herself this was all fake.

She did absently wonder what she was doing on the Argo II right now. Was she begging to be released from her bonds? Was she acting out her dream? Was she completely unconscious? Whatever the case, Pietro had promised that she'd be safe, and she trusted him.

Annabeth paused. Since when had she trusted Pietro?

You know why, Annabeth thought, but didn't want to admit. No. It couldn't be that. Before the quest, she'd been moping about because she hadn't found a significant other yet. Just because a random cute and super sweet single guy around her age showed up on the Argo II certainly didn't mean anything-

As if to prove herself wrong, she turned to her left. Standing there was the same green-eyed adventurer she'd seen moments before the vision.

"Well, wise girl, you did it," He said, grinning ear to ear.

What was he doing here? He shouldn't be here! He shouldn't be standing there, looking handsome as ever for no apparent reason and-

He kissed her.

Annabeth didn't really know how it worked, since this whole thing was only a figment of imagination, but it felt real. Of course, she'd never been kissed before, so maybe that wasn't how kisses actually felt. She wasn't sure.

Regardless, her whole body felt warm in an instant. Could she just stay here forever? No stupid quests or monster attacks, just happy memories with her family? With her friends?

With Pietro?

"...abet….nabeth…Annabeth…ANNABETH!"

Annabeth came back to reality. Just like that, her perfect world was gone. Right. It'd never been real in the first place.

Pietro was inches from her face, a worried expression plastered all over his.

Noticing she was with it again, he backed up and apologized. Annabeth's mind flashed back to seconds ago in her dream. No. That wasn't real.

"Sorry," He said, "We passed out of earshot of the sirens a few minutes ago. You weren't snapping out of it, and I didn't know if something was wrong."

Annabeth shrugged, "It's fine, you were just trying to help," She wanted to say more but feared what might come out. Had her heart always been beating this fast? "Can you just help me get untied?"

Pietro blinked for a moment until it finally registered, "What? Oh…yeah, of course."

Pietro cut the rope off and Annabeth was freed. She cursed herself as she definitely stared at him for way longer than socially acceptable. He just stood there awkwardly. Was his face turning red? She knew hers probably was.

Soon enough though, Pietro motioned for them to give the all clear and head back below deck. Annabeth followed.

This was going to be hard. Annabeth knew she'd been in denial about Pietro for a long time now, but finally admitting it was so much more difficult. She didn't know the first thing about crushes, or relationships, or anything like that. She was going to need some help.

She was going to need Piper.