Just because I'm taking the whole entire month of September and the majority of October off, here's the first chapter in honor of Will's birthday! I do still promise regular updates will resume on Halloween day and then proceed every Monday!
PJOPJOPJO
Alex came in the next day with a bright pink jacket tied around his shoulders in a very classic posh way, wearing a matching polo and green slacks with accompanying colors on his loafers, while sporting rose tinted sunglasses upon his head, at the bottom of the ocean. All of his green hair was swept to one side, and Magnus's heart skipped a beat, his toast falling into his lap jelly first to splat on his pants. Alex would be the most sophisticated guy on the golf course and still somehow make it look like the most useless sport in that getup.
"It's he/ him pronouns," Alex announced as he casually walked to his seat like he was ordering his plate of huevos rancheros for breakfast.
The book had been in the seat beside Magnus, like anybody was insane enough to think of taking that seat from Alex. The plain black somehow accentuated the look when he picked it up. He brushed his hand over the blue four on the spine with hunger to see what was so dark about this one.
"Um, it's my turn to read," Magnus said in a daze, and it was a good thing he'd managed that before Alex looked at him because then he lost the ability to speak. Hopefully it was temporary.
"Well hurry up and eat then," he dropped the book at his feat and dug into his own food, "or I'll happily read twice."
Magnus couldn't figure out why that was a bad thing for a moment, and yet his breakfast vanished faster than Percy's. He pretended the others were laughing at the chapter title and not his idiotic ass as things picked right back up as usual with these strange book descriptions.
Thalia sighed one last time and looked at Jason and the array of books that might contain his past. She really wanted to skip this one, ie delay it permanently by hearing of some of her little brother's times. She was obviously the only one though as everybody turned attention to Magnus for the next part. "I really hope that's not a euphemism for something Percy, or Annabeth's going to be very upset with you," Thalia rolled her eyes.
"I'm just hoping this isn't some elaborate pyramid scheme," Jason grinned, "Percy has enough trouble already."
"Boooo!" Percy called at him, even giving a thumbs down. "Man, that was the worst one yet!"
"Deadly pompoms! I knew those things were no good!" Alex nearly lost half his eggs he was laughing so hard.
Will made a deep noise of contentment, almost a purr to be hearing so much laughter first thing in the morning.
"And here I thought that was number three on your list, at minimum," Jason snorted.
"Percy, there's not a world record for that, nobody's competing with you for this," Magnus agreed with a chuckle, but it was sort of depressing too. The school system was hard enough without this guy blowing literal budget holes in the teacher's planning.
"It has to happen though, remember?" Percy gave them a very sardonic brow. "If it doesn't happen, the world will end early! I still have another year of life!"
"And it won't be a pretty one," Thalia muttered. The Labyrinth was one of the quests Annabeth talked about least. Whatever had happened this summer, she was almost as ill prepared as Percy.
"I still don't speak car," Nico finally spoke up, hesitantly. A part of him still expected everyone to turn and yell at the sight of him.
Percy gave him the strangest, most awkward smile yet, like he had no idea how to even look at him after yesterday.
Then Percy gave himself a sharp mental smack. Nico and his maybe, hopefully not crush that he'd said was gone was ten times less strange to deal with than Alex being...Alex. So he answered almost as casually as ever, "they're 'middle class' cars," he used air quotes and everything. "Not some swanky private school with Maserati's and Porsche's, and not broken windows and running on faith rather than fume cars."
"Ah," Nico nodded his thanks, and sat back in his seat. His arms were crossed low over his stomach, hands in each sleeve like a monk today like he was trying to be as invisible as possible.
But he wasn't hiding behind the couch today to listen in like he'd originally intended. He'd actually spoken at all, which was more than Will had thought he'd do. The only backfiring going on was he'd either missed breakfast or eaten alone, and Will filed that away for when lunch came up.
Thalia and Will exchanged a pitiful look and kind of hoped Percy pulling mad gymnastic abilities or something would kick in soon, for once. Adrenaline distracting Percy from killing them all would be better than this awkward stiltedness.
"What's your record?" Magnus asked into the slightly awkward silence that he'd tried to keep reading through.
"Two weeks," Percy sighed. "In my defense, I really thought that teacher's cat was a demon, and the milk didn't hurt it!"
"Well now you get a chance to do one better, be expelled before you even attend," Alex said plenty cheerfully for all of them.
""Do as I say, not as I do," Thalia nodded sagely.
"Okay mom," Percy rolled his eyes so hard it looked like it hurt, "thanks I really needed that translation."
"Don't mock your mother Percy, she's a good woman," Jason laughed, but Magnus kept reading before that could escalate, these were not the kind of jokes he'd ever find funny.
""Ah, nepotism used for good, that's a new one," Alex said in surprise.
"It was a public school, it's not like he bribed anyone to let me in," but Percy didn't sound that confident. If a Blowfish library wing popped up, he didn't think he could blame the Mist.
"""All relationships go through their own trials," Thalia said with barely suppressed mirth. "This is just a very great, early indicator if Paul's going to last in this family." She knew he did, but that didn't mean she couldn't laugh about it.
"Better than the usual cheating and lying bullshit adults deal with I guess," Percy grudgingly agreed.
"Not a great teacher then," Will looked very disappointed. "He should take his students observations into account, especially these budding adults."
"He actually loves to tell this story about his favorite essay that helped one guy into a great college he never would have applied for," Percy defended, and the ready response surprised him. He paused with a smile at all the memories over the winter and summer of how often Paul had been over, how easily his mom continued to laugh, how Paul never talked down to him like a delinquent from day one. "I think he was just trying to show off he could, though it wasn't nearly as impressive than if he'd gotten me a C in class," he finished with a chuckle Chiron still had the guy beat out on one point.
"How would that conversation even go?" The bitterness in Alex's voice could be missed by no one, clearly that wasn't a happy story.
"Historically, not well," Percy agreed in a quiet, gentle voice. He knew the others all envied him for his awesome mom, but that had come hand in hand with Gabe through the majority of his life. Gabe might not have known the truth, but he'd been a part of it.
"For what?" Will asked. The general question still held a hint of intrigue coming from him, the way he always talked to everybody. Like it was a vitally important question he couldn't wait to know the answer of, Nico smiled.
Percy didn't seem to hear that part, he just glanced at Will with his own proud smile and said, "publishing company. She was done with the first draft of her book, but wanted to check out some of the footsteps before she, um, buffered it? Or maybe buffed it? I'll be honest, I'm not sure what she meant," he finished sheepishly, addressing everybody in general.
It didn't seem to bother Will, and Nico marked that for future reference, trying to scratch off a list in his head of defining what he might have a crush on Percy about, and what he just admired about him. In a group, it was probably weird to expect someone's soul attention.
"""You should definitely build up to something like that," Magnus agreed as if totally off hand. "Try jumping out of the closet at him a few times, maybe a few toned down side quests like trying to get past a murderous dog with a rubber ball, just to see how he takes to it."
"I should start with the one about how Grover got his mango chutney recipe," Percy mock agreed. "Crashing a wedding and piranha sheep are surely the best way to explain, this," he finished with a vague wave around being trapped at the bottom of the ocean.
""Alex laughed raucously Percy said the same thing he did, and he grinned along with him and even offered a high five which he happily air slapped.
""The country ran out of schools and the universe can stop mocking me for this?" Percy sighed.
"There's the bright side," Thalia snorted.
Jason wasn't so convinced that every school would ban him for his record though. He started rubbing thoughtfully at his tattoo, but as always no real memory would connect to that random thought.
"Percy blushed the color of Rachel's hair, but Magnus readjusted the book to hide his slight hesitation over his continuing wasn't snickers like the others. He, stupidly, wanted to offer, something. Some dumb warning of a 'you better treat her like a lady,' when it was obvious Percy was head over heels in love with her from the beginning.
Uncle Fredrick was obviously kind of useless in that department though, and Chiron seemed the next closest thing and obviously had higher concerns. He just thought his cousin should have some family show support, but then, she probably forgot he'd existed already and this was just as dumb as it could be of him.
""It didn't work out with Fredrick again?" The harshness in Magnus's voice was doubled from his own thoughts, and obvious by dropping the familial title.
"She stayed the rest of the school semester with him out there," Percy said cautiously. "She sent me an Iris message every few weeks about the goings on, they were being a lot more understanding when there was a monster attack, and it weirdly didn't happen as much as she thought it would. You know, she just missed Camp and came back earlier, she still called it her home." He finished with a carefree smile.
Will kept the comment to himself she'd showed up at Camp twice. One time had only been through word of mouth, Clarisse had made a passing comment about her being back while getting her ankle wrapped. Judging by her tone, she'd been expecting to find Annabeth in the medical cabin, though Will hadn't seen her. The second he'd only passed her leaving her cabin with a book bag and going up the hill to leave again. Her passing in and out of her home was not exactly his business to share.
Magnus gave a hesitant nod, but Jason wasn't so ready to let it go as he pondered over that. He'd originally balked at the idea of San Francisco being a dangerous place. Nico had said he found another camp in California he hadn't shared with anyone else. The obvious dots being connected only gave him the usual headache, but he still hoped that somehow, someway, he might have made Annabeth's time with her mortal family just the slightest bit easier no matter how foolish it probably was.
""""""She must be really nervous about that job interview," Thalia really was trying her hardest not to snicker. "You're lucky she didn't somehow slip into another baby story about you next." She was doing a terrible job by the end.
"Stories you still owe us by the way," Alex only teased, he knew Percy didn't owe them any of this and could leave to read these alone whenever he wanted.
He showed he wasn't going to be doing anything like that when he only groaned loudly and covered his ears to mock ignore them instead until Magnus kept going.
""No," Alex began in awe.
"Way," Magnus barely finished since his mouth was hanging open quite a bit.
"I mean, we knew you'd have to run into her again eventually," Jason agreed. "Nearly killing her on the Hoover Dam couldn't have been the only time," she'd been perfectly comfortable in here beside Percy and still gave him the creeps with the way she'd watched him and pegged him an outsider. "I just expected her to pop up at Camp."
"Yeah, um, small world," Percy agreed with all the blurry confidence he could.
"""Very believable," Alex snorted. "I think you need to start taking some acting lessons from Rachel."
"I'll get right on that when I'm done freaking out about her existing," Percy sighed.
""""And yet you're going into the exact same place she is," Jason pointed out in exasperation. "I don't get it, are you avoiding her or trying to get her alone to talk?"
"Avoidance, definitely," Percy was squirming in his seat like a burrito was about to be launched at his head. Annabeth and Grover were the only two who had ever overlapped with his normal life. Rachel just popping up like that set all of his instincts on edge like a monster was going to appear any second...wait. Gods, did he help defend Rachel from the cheerleading squad?! Agh, and there was the headache!
"Percy," Will said to him as if in fear he had a concussion for not remembering this. "Your luck is historically the worst."
"Exhibit A," Nico muttered, trapped at the bottom of the ocean with no memory.
"I swear that should have just been the summary plastered on the back of these books," Percy groaned.
"Were they smoking?" Jason asked with weirdly serious concern.
"Didn't smell anything," Percy shrugged. "The blonde one was kind of cute, but way to intense, she had that fake smile that gave me the creeps," Percy shrugged.
Thalia smacked him upside the head, hard, and called him an idiot, while looking at Jason in concern. Beryl had been a chain smoker, but she hoped he wasn't trying to connect plastic girls with the smell of cigarettes in general and he was just being an idiot too.
""Hmm, yes I suppose, but does this girl also make a mean burger?" Alex asked.
"And is she going to have a weird obsession with turning you into a statue," Magnus added uneasily. They hadn't gotten any repeat monsters yet aside from the gorgon coming back, so maybe this was how Medusa looked now and found a way to hide her gaze?
""In New York?" Will couldn't imagine the miles of acres from camp and where he'd grown up cramped around all those buildings.
"We have suburbs you know, it's not all Times Square," Percy shrugged.
"Or maybe her dad owns one of those cop horses, or maybe she can turn into a horse," Alex nodded along. "There's really just no guessing here."
""That's actually a very fair question with a really interesting answer," Magnus grinned like Percy's was a mistake anyone could make. "Classification of what a fish is is so broad most scientists don't-"
Percy used just a tiny bit of his power, but enough he splashed Magnus in the face with just a few twitches of his finger. "Smart ass," Percy's laugh had them all grinning along.
Magnus brushed his damp hair aside and kept going while Will admired how easily Percy could fit in anywhere he wanted. He was positive Percy's internal thoughts of how he never fit in couldn't be too accurate of his time in mortal schools, he just never wanted to fit in there, considering it was the opposite at camp.
""""That is one of my favorite sentences," Alex snorted grandly.
"And I use it without mercy!" Percy pulled it out now and waved Riptide around like a writer on a mission.
Nobody had much more than halfhearted confidence these were just regular mean girls slinking off because a teacher was around. Maybe, if it wasn't for that blasted chapter title they could have fooled themselves for a while longer. Now they all just sat there waiting anxiously for Magnus to get to a half-time show that would probably end with confetti and death to a lot of innocent people.
"First the French guy, now prosthetic leg girl?" Thalia couldn't help but tease, "are you just out here fighting everybody with a disability Percy?"
"I have no problems throwing hands with you," Percy wagged the pen cap dangerously close to her nose.
"Besides, he's never tried to fight Chiron," Will easily slid in to disengage. "I'm just chalking it up to more of his bad luck."
Magnus quickly kept reading before that could escalate anyways.
"""""I've done that too, and I'll take Bianca and Nico over those girls," Percy shivered.
"Um, thanks," Nico muttered in surprise, but then Percy winced and groaned, looking around in confusion, and Nico realized Percy wasn't literally talking about the time he'd talked to Bianca's ghost, but was making a morbid joke in general about them being children of Hades. His usual way of laughing off everything that Nico had always equally admired and been so conflicted about, because sometimes it made him come across as an idiot. He didn't know where to place that on his list.
""Lots of people have bad feelings about cheerleaders," Alex agreed wisely. "Usually because they accuse you of stealing their phone and throw a bucket of piss at you after you got them expelled."
The book fell out of Magnus's hands while everyone felt the awkward silence, but Will got out first, "um, that was a little too specific Alex. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, why do you ask?" He asked casually.
There was only a hint of blood lust in there, but just enough Magnus swiftly decided he heard nothing and nobody was going to get the chance to say otherwise.
"Rachel is a very observant girl," Thalia rolled her eyes at him. "She'd pick you out if you were in the mascot costume."
Percy believed her, and it still kind of freaked him out. The mascot was a roadrunner too, and he still didn't think he'd escape this.
"""""And you're worried Paul's going to run away from you guys," Nico said mildly, just a little more confidant than the first time.
"Wouldn't be fair of me to have him do all the work, here I am putting in effort too," Percy grinned back with an even shorter hesitation than last time.
"I seriously worry about the neighborhood you grew up in," Jason said, with no joke.
Percy had no nice response for that. By the time he came downstairs all he usually found was blood.
"Ugh, I'd get expelled just for getting out of wearing a uniform," Alex gagged.
"Rachel didn't make it look to bad," Magnus said to be fair. He'd trade the stupidest bowtie every day just for a chance at something that kind of routine, normal, mundane.
Alex must have heard the wistfulness in his voice, because his voice went just a hint gentler than usual. "Mm, I've seen worse."
"Glad it's not just me," Thalia raised a hand, the other pressed theatrically to her stomach.
"And we always do what the brochure says," Will nodded saintly.
"Gods, please never give Camp a brochure," Percy muttered, he was terrified what Mr. D would put in there.
"His warm up I guess," Alex said, "most people just do the classic picturing underwear thing, but I never could figure out why that would make you less nervous. Naked people usually cause more stress."
"I can't even begin to imagine what would make you nervous to begin with," Jason admitted, "let alone what you would do. Probably rip someone's head off."
Alex considered for a moment laughing that off, but then in a rare moment of vulnerability, he glanced at the book, and said honestly, "being trapped."
At least Oceanus wasn't trying to take away his identity, but the mystery of why only his abilities seemed gone while among the Big Three's kids bothered him greatly.
The reality still hit them plenty they were trapped. Even if it wasn't unpleasant, that didn't make it great. They all just made it better for each other with laughter instead.
So Alex finished with a snarky remark true to form, "and look at you all, not a single headless person! Let alone nearly headless!"
Magnus snorted fantastically beside him just like always before he kept reading, so the others just let it pass with a light chuckle too.
"How often do you dream of her?" Thalia had tried for sisterly concern, but ended with to much laughter for it to hold.
"Oh gods," Percy buried his face in dread and decided he would have to personally put these books through a shredder and then burn the scraps if he wanted to live when all his memories were back.
""You told her your name was Percy Gotta-go," Jason easily recalled, "I can't believe she'd forget that, it's quite memorable."
"Not everybody always has a toilet on the brain Jason," Percy rolled his eyes.
"I wouldn't have to if your life wasn't trash Percy," Jason smirked.
"Boys!" Will groaned. Magnus very quickly kept reading, and Thalia sighed in relief. They were all getting a little to comfortable with each other down here.
"""""Yeah, okay Perce," Thalia was obviously about to engrave this passage in stone so that Annabeth and Rachel could laugh at him forever with it and he sighed as he knew there was nothing he could do to stop her.
"A reasonable assumption," the eye roll Jason added to that didn't help Percy believe him even before he said, "considering you traveled there from New York!"
"Not everybody travels the country in a week on a magic train provided by a homeless God named Fred," Percy said back in exasperation. "Unless she's some weird, rich version of Annabeth who just sporadically wanted a tour there, it makes sense!"
The others were to busy snickering he'd still managed to bring up Annabeth during this to stop them for a second, but before Jason's chuckle could subside and he did manage Magnus loudly kept going without prompting this time or they'd never finish this one dam chapter.
"That is definitely going to be the next poster for a romcom. Call it Hauling Ass," Alex paused to give a very suggestive look at Percy that made him squirm. "You're a construction worker building the historic monument, she's a southern bell dragged there by her father-"
"Dude!" Percy finally protested. "Write whatever the hell that's manifesting into on your own time! And leave me out of it!"
"I hope this guy's never introduced to fanfiction, his brain would rot," Magnus muttered, making Alex laugh harder than ever, which wasn't very encouraging to Percy. It took every ounce of self control for Alex to suppress the question if Sally ever mentioned that stuff, but when Magnus kept reading, he persevered. He could ask Sally on his own time anyways.
"I bet that guy's one of their girlfriends," Thalia rolled her eyes. "Hope she gives him a thumbs up for sucking up."
"Will gave a little applause just for the girl/ maybe monster being able to do that, it looked hard when he watched others try.
"I swear it's a staple kids will laugh at anything in an auditorium," Nico muttered, the noise always carried and sounded mean no matter who was doing it.
"I don't laugh at everything," Will gave him a very exaggerated pouty frown that Nico fought hard not to grin back at. He lost that battle, and he couldn't say that about many fights.
"All the normal things a half-blood could want," Percy gave a mock yawn to show how much he'd listened to that. "Like volunteer work that looked good on college applications and where the study hall was. I didn't hear anything about where the fire extinguisher was."
"I'm surprised they don't have your name engraved on it just for being there," Thalia agreed.
"You'd have to pull an active miracle to get a college education at your rate," Jason muttered for himself, because he felt bad Percy probably was going to be denied that with his record.
"""Why?"
Percy winced as all six of them yelped that at once. Jason was already winding up for a rant as he began, "do you have any clue how useful that is? She can see through the Mist which you're repeatedly fooled by-"
"Paul," Percy's answer was sharp enough to stop him cold. He really hadn't gone into this trying to make the guy already disappointed in him and his mother look bad and everything that was about to happen because he couldn't have one normal day!
There was a beat of silence. "Sorry," Jason said.
"Yeah, it's fine," Percy sighed, letting it go as fast as it had happened.
"I'm getting, follow her to the ends of the earth vibes already," Alex chuckled.
"Stop writing fanfiction about them," Magnus muttered to him, "Annabeth would not approve."
"I bet she'd get a laugh out of it," Alex insisted.
Percy was wincing and muttering uncomfortably though, and since they had no idea how she factored into Percy's life it was probably safer not to push his buttons about what they did get up to until all was said and done.
"Are these monsters sensitive to noise?" Jason asked eagerly.
"Either that or it's a really good spot to grab lunch," Percy shrugged.
"Or the first place she found, you triangles," Thalia said in exasperation. "She's an untrained mortal!"
"Right," they both agreed sheepishly.
""Obviously," Alex rolled his eyes. "Everybody knows you should hide in the brass section, that's why they're the ballsy ones." He concluded with a wink at Thalia, "and I mean that totally gender neutral."
"I'm sure they've never heard that joke before," Jason scoffed.
"""Magnus had seen in person how much that could mess a person up. It still really bothered him he didn't know what to go back and do with this kind of information. Telling the homeless mortals who went on about metal angels they weren't crazy would only put a band aid on the grander problem.
""""So she's always been that perceptive," Jason murmured in appreciation. Her gift truly was special, he wished he could pin down why he felt like he had a name or something attached to this odd power of perception and sight she had.
"Don't be so down on yourself Percy," Thalia frowned at him in surprise. "You're really not as stupid as we all like to say you are."
"Thanks Thals," Percy rolled his eyes and waved at Magnus.
"Hey," she grabbed his wrist, "I mean it."
He looked at her and saw she really was being serious. "Um, thank you," he was probably blushing just a bit. "I really didn't have a clue what I was doing though."
"Never stopped you from trying to do anything," she released his wrist with an eye roll of her own, resisting the urge to try and smack him in the face with his own hand. No way would she be fast enough to do that in the water.
Percy grinned at her. Coming from anyone else, even Annabeth, he'd have thought they were lying just to make him feel better. Thalia knew exactly how he felt, because she tended to have the same self-doubts.
"""""""We have yet to see that actually," Alex had the audacity to eye the walls in betrayal. "I'm starting to think Chiron and Grover lied to you about that, it's only ever caused Zeus to make thunder at ominous moments."
"Why push my luck?" Percy asked in exhaustion.
"""First Tyson, now her," Will sounded like he was pretty impressed with Percy's ability to help take first steps into this world. "You're blunt and get to the point, but don't try to scare them, let alone impress them. All you're really missing is the orientation video to explain the rest."
Nico snorted in delight beside him and Will smiled with pleasure.
"Yeah, yeah," Percy was shaking his head in exasperation at all the praise. "Been and done the whole TV show routine, not looking for round two."
"One slow news day and I'll bet that reporter will be back around," Will said confidently, mock framing Percy with his hands. Percy flipped him off and said, "show that on TV!"
Magnus loudly kept reading before they got too sidetracked among the chuckling.
"Thalia tugged at the links in her bracelet with the same feeling of uselessness Magnus felt. What were they supposed to do, post a billboard with a number to Olympus Hotline?
She imagined for a moment borrowing these books when they were done with them, maybe giving some mortal a sense of salvation if they read it like this was some fairy tell, Sally apparently might be some help with that. A world they could never be a part of, but at least wouldn't think they were crazy for.
She glanced at Percy with guilt though and decided she might have to tweak a few details.
"""""Half-fish," Alex supplied as if poor Rachel had really been left in the lurch.
"Paul is only his step dad Alex, keep up," Magnus smirked.
"""A blonde, a burnet, and a red head walk into a band room-" Alex began.
"If you make one more joke about this I'll put you in the perconcussion section," Percy mispronounced with a hard look at Magnus not to correct him.
"Who says I don't already know how to play the bongos?" He challenged back.
Percy sighed in defeat, he really should have known better by this time.
"Well those are going to be covered in blood and monster dust here soon," Nico said confidently.
"Don't forget the fire," Will nodded, "he can't leave school without it."
Percy groaned, as much because they were right as his head ached in pain, and because he believed they were right.
""""And we can officially ear mark the moment Percy hit puberty," Jason mock clicked a pen to jot that down.
"When he sees Annabeth again it's officially going to be a, treat," Magnus sighed, gods he did not want to hear his cousin described by a male teenager.
"I can and will make your lives hell without drowning you," Percy pleasantly reminded.
Jason pretended he couldn't hear him and was still scribbling, making sure Percy could hear words like, "needs the talk," and, "date do's and don'ts," so Magnus very loudly kept reading over that before Percy acted on the urge of breaking his fingers like he was obviously considering.
""I hope Rachel didn't have to many nightmares about that," Percy sighed, still fidgeting with the cap uneasily. It took a lot of concentration to constantly remind himself the adrenaline dump was all in his head and there was nothing to kill in here.
""Note to self, nobody spray Grover with roses, then he'll be unstoppable," Thalia nodded for herself.
"Well that would get anyone's attention," Jason rubbed his arm and studied the book in concern.
"Are they vampires?!" Alex's eyes went comically wide. "Are we really about to get vampires up in here?" He looked ready to lunge for Magnus's throat to see for himself.
"Note to self, keep the fangs away from this one," Thalia said in concern.
"That is so cool!" Alex really did reach over to steal the book, but Magnus hugged it close and shuffled as far away as he could on his end of the couch. Alex turned pleading eyes to Percy, "did you at least get an autograph?"
"I'll start a book of monsters just for you," Percy said, rather nonplussed at Alex geeking out over something else wanting to kill him. It really was par for the course at this rate.
""And that somehow made them cooler," Magnus agreed with Alex's yelp. "I'll give them this, it's original."
"They don't need compliments Magnus, they need decapitation," Nico reminded in exasperation.
"They can have both," Will said fairly. "I'm sure Kellie and Tammi appreciate compliments once in a while, it must get exhausting with how popular vampires are now adays to hear themselves described wrong."
"I just hope Percy doesn't ask if they sparkle," Thalia sighed.
"""Then you need more fun in your life," Alex told him, he was still laughing plenty at this development.
"Cheerleader vampires, I'm surprised that's not a book of its own," Magnus agreed.
"""Maybe they shouldn't lead with the gross details of their existence if they want a smooch," Jason frowned, clearly unimpressed as he flipped his coin around.
"Dating is weirdly hard, kudos for trying their own approach," Percy shrugged, "it just didn't work on me."
"Liar," Thalia waved to the book where he'd yet swung his sword.
"I was caught off guard, not considering it!" He insisted.
"Uhhu, that's exactly what I'm hearing, not that Rachel had to save you," Thalia reminded.
Percy tried to splutter some denial together, but Magnus saved him the effort.
"Exhibit A your honor!" Thalia crowed.
"I want this case dismissed! Objection!" That was the only lawyer speak Percy knew though and sat back in his seat with a sigh at the accompanying laughter.
"I would pay all of the money for her to throw a tuba next," Alex said with a disturbing kind of gleam that usually meant he'd be trying this himself eventually.
"You would make a great one man band act," Magnus agreed. Alex would be the only person who could make a guitar riff and then bash a monsters head in and still get a tip.
"""First Annabeth, now her," Jason chuckled. "Does the value of a thank you just not mean anything anymore?"
Thalia stepped on his shoe, and he yelped in pain. She raised a brow at him and asked, "now where's my thank you for shutting you up?"
He tucked his aching toes behind his other heel and decided against answering like the smart kid he was.
"""Anything but math club, anything but math club," Percy crossed his fingers and leaned forward in his seat.
"Technically attempted murder is not math club, so wish granted," Thalia sighed.
"He could start a junior detectives club, help the local police solve crimes," Will grinned.
"They'd arrest me on sight," Percy reminded with a huff.
"""As leader of the squad, you'd really hope she'd be more prepared for the time restraints of multiple responsibilities," Alex said in mock disappointment.
"High school life is hard and stressful enough, Percy will help her balance some of it," Magnus reminded, and by that he meant cut her into evenly squared pieces of monster dust.
Will's adams-apple bobbed as he nervously swallowed. There were a few training scenarios where you had to defend someone on the ground pretending to be unconscious while a 'monster' attacked. Percy got in repeated trouble for those from him and Chiron for always taking more hits than he should.
""The first monster I've heard that seems to have adapted to your ADHD perk," Magnus said nervously. He wondered if it would work on those who wouldn't be naturally attracted to a pretty girl, or was the scent a universal lull no matter the case?
"Gods, please don't start trying to classify us with ecosystems and Latin names," Percy sighed, "I avoided biology as much as calculus."
"Percy's blood boiled at just the hint of that threat, making the water heat up around them all. Thalia tugging at the collar of her shirt caught his attention fast enough and he took a deep breath to settle himself, but that headache was back in full force. Chiron had warned an attack coming this summer on his camp. Whether Kellie knew something about it or was just taunting him, he needed to find out.
"Why is that a good thing?" Nico asked with growing dread. Monsters weren't usually psyched to have a mortal audience.
Percy didn't seem to hear anything at the moment but the words of the book, his attention laser focused and Riptide now fully in hand. They all sat uneasily in place and hoped this fight wrapped up quickly before he lost track of the fact there were no empousa in here to kill.
"You got your tuba Alex," Jason half-heartedly reminded now.
"I wanted Rachel to throw it," he sighed with disappointment. "That's okay, I can imagine it landing on Kellie just fine without the book."
""Oh shit," Magnus groaned, guessing exactly what she was doing. It really didn't seem fair Percy kept getting blamed when it was the monsters destroying the school and he just happened to be there. And he'd thought little of the justice system before this mess.
"""Thalia tightly pinched the space between her eyes with defeat. Once again, she couldn't imagine chastising Percy for doing exactly what she would have done. He really would have made a great Hunter.
Percy still didn't seem to hear what the problem was now. He was tapping his feet rapid fire on the ground, tightening and loosening his grip on his sword with his urge not to swing it on anyone in here.
""Paul," Percy muttered in a daze, shaking his head and finally coming back to himself in here with concern. He remembered Paul talking about some kid who accidentally started a trash fire when he'd tried to stub out a cigarette and Paul had gotten him off with a warning. He'd used that story as a way to assure Sally accidents happened and her accident prone son wouldn't be blamed for something like that.
That fire alarm had been really loud going off and still had nothing on the dread filling him at the shock, the horror on Paul's face. He'd almost rather it be Gabe sneering at him and calling him a freak.
"Percy swallowed the bitter smell of smoke, the screaming and his own self-loathing for all the problems he caused. Paul would probably dump his mom after this, another screw up.
"That's almost a step down from her usual grand entrances," Alex noted with mild disappointment. "I half expected her to show up and stab them for flirting with you."
"I don't know what you're talking about, her timing is still amazing," Percy grinned in delight just like he always did when the slightest exchange between them was revitalized in his mind, but there was something off about it than usual. He didn't glow and straighten up in his seat. He was starting to ask himself what the heck had possessed Annabeth to kiss someone so wholly not at her level.
"The black singes on his shirt and wild look in his eyes probably caught on right about then too, Thalia winced. It was kind of sweet though, that Annabeth always smiled first at the sight of him and then everything else kicked in.
""Why would you call her Annabeth?" Alex asked glibly.
"I have a cyclops who will chase you for a hug and I'm not afraid to use him," Percy answered.
"""""Percy remembered her maroon shirt flapping around her and the slight burntness of one strand of red hair like she'd been too close to the fire too. A part of him wanted to go back in there with her. Maybe for once give Rachel and Paul that explanation they both deserved.
Annabeth was already walking off though. He could see her in his mind, her ponytail whacking him as she stalked away like he'd brought one of those empousa out to introduce instead of a mortal girl who had helped him out because he'd ruined her day too by attracting monsters.
He sighed, and knew he'd followed her. He'd follow her anywhere.
"""""""You didn't tell her about that?" Magnus asked in surprise. "No wonder she's so short with you."
"It was the highlight of the last book," Alex agreed in shock.
"Why would I tell Annabeth about nearly dying on a dam, or on a mountain, or in a museum?" Percy asked in exasperation. "There were evil skeletons chasing us across the country, Nico made them vanish!"
"I'm suddenly grateful somebody recorded your thoughts instead of you trying to explain all this," Jason frowned. "You are horrible at telling stories, including the one you just tried to tell Annabeth."
"I didn't ask for any of your opinions on this!" He snapped and slammed back into his seat.
"This chapter's almost done," Magnus promised, "hopefully, we um, get a change of subject."
""""That was probably the correct response," Alex still gave him a tragic look like he should be wearing a dunce cap. It was sort of funny to Alex, Annabeth was so instantly jealous of the first girl she ever saw Percy around. Weren't the Aphrodite kids at camp all over him? It would be interesting to to see if that was her real problem and it wasn't something else this had just brought up.
"Percy crossed his arms and glared at the cracks in the floor he'd caused. He felt like a shmuck, now ruining everybody's day around him too. There was no more laughter or jokes to be had because of him too.
"It's alright Percy," Will promised, "you remembering this can't be any more fun than the monster attacks."
"Thanks," Percy muttered, trying to unclench his jaw from how instantly stressed he felt from Annabeth being mad at him.
While Thalia shifted protectively beside him, wishing she could tell Annabeth to take a chill pill. The boy didn't know how to flirt, let alone find anyone other than her attractive.
"Magnus handed the book over to Alex with a wince. So much for his concern Annabeth would be the one to need someone in her corner, now he felt like he should be fleeing the scene.
PJOPJOPJOPJO
Here at last! Oh the things to look forward to in this book! My personal favorite is the three parter of the Demon Dude Ranch. Let me know what you're looking forward to?