"So, are you ever gonna tell me your name?" Julie asks.
The boy startles violently, knocking the lamp off his desk. He yelps and scrambles to catch it, but only succeeds in scattering the stack of papers off his desk and across the floor. He looks up at her in pained embarrassment, glasses crooked.
She grins at him. "Oh, did I scare you?" Her voice is syrupy sweet, dripping with sarcasm. He huffs.
"No. Of course not. Warrior's reflexes and all." He sniffs sarcastically. He stands from his chair and bends down to gather up the papers he dropped. Julie strides across the room and leans over, focusing hard to solidify her hand enough to lift the lamp off the floor and onto his desk. When she manages it, she steps back and beams at her good work. His scarred lip quirks up in amusement.
"What are you doing up so late, anyway?" She asks. He quirks an eyebrow at her.
"Is 9pm exceptionally late to you?" He counters.
She frowns. "Oh, it's like midnight where I am. We must be in different time zones."
The boy looks over in interest, opening his mouth to respond, but a glazed look crosses his eyes, and he shakes his head. He changes the subject abruptly. "I'm just doing some schoolwork. My cen-t-on's really strict about me keeping up with education, so..."
Julie blinks away a sudden bout of dizziness. Must be because she's so tired. "Got a fancy tutor, huh? I'm going to school for the first time. Who knew 7th graders liked to beat each other up so much?" She jokes (but not really). NYC public schools are rough. He laughs and settles his hands into his lap, swinging side to side in his swivel chair.
"I've never been, so I wouldn't know. You'll have to bring me stories." He says. His eyes crinkle at the corners when he smiles, she notices.
"Oh, I'm sure I'll have plenty." She promises. Julie walks over to the bed and brushes her hand against it experimentally. It passes right through like she's made of air. She scowls. Julie turns back to the boy and settles criss-cross on the floor instead. "So," She starts. She gestures at his entire form sitting at the desk. "Neither of us seems to be in mortal danger. Or excruciating pain. Any idea why this keeps happening?"
He frowns thoughtfully. "Honestly, I have no ideas. I've had demigod dreams before, but they don't usually follow one person. Especially not someone I don't know." He says anxiously. Julie nods.
"Yeah, same. This is the first time I've dreamed of the same person twice like this." She adds. He looks down with a frown, a worried shadow crossing over his face. Something tugs in Juliette's chest, and she has a sudden urge to see his eyes crinkle again. "Maybe we're soulmates." She teases, wiggling her eyebrows up and down.
He laughs (isn't that a pretty sound) and shakes his head. "Maybe. That doesn't explain the weird gaps in our speech, though." He points out. Juliette's eyes widen.
"That's happening to you too? I thought I was going crazy. Or selectively deaf." She exclaims.
He nods. "Yeah, your voice cuts out sometimes. I think there's certain things we can't share with one another. Like we're being censored."
Julie hums in frustration. "Who would-" She cuts herself off, glaring heavenward. "Why would they be censoring us?"
He shakes his head. "I don't know. But, that makes me think it isn't the gods giving us these dreams. We should be cautious."
Memories of Percy telling Juliette about the dreams Kronos used to send him pop to the front of her brain, and Julie scowls at the boy suspiciously. "How do I know it's not you doing this?" She mutters.
He frowns at her in the same suspicious way. "How do I know it isn't you?" He retorts.
Julie narrows her eyes further and holds his gaze. They stare for a minute until Julie gets bored and flops backwards onto the floor. "Ah, well. I have no useful information for you to steal if you are an evil titan or something, anyway. So, unless you're interested in Sally Jackson's blue chocolate chip cookie recipe, you might as well end your evil plot early."
There go those crinkly eyes again. The boy lifts up from his chair and settles on the floor beside her. He looks like he might interrogate her for a moment, but then their eyes connect and his face softens. He releases a light puff of air from his nose and looks down bashfully, rolling a gold coin between his fingers.
"Well, let's hear about those cookies, then."
Percy wakes her up with a pillow to the face right while she's in the middle of telling her dream boy (It's not like that. She just doesn't know his name, okay?) a joke about a cyclops, a satyr, and a naiad. She's a little pissed she didn't get to finish her zinger, but his face was looking more confused the longer she talked, so she has a feeling he probably was missing most of the words in the setup for it anyway.
She giggles to herself. He probably wouldn't have gotten it even if he'd heard the whole thing. He's got a bit of a flat sense of humor.
"What are you smiling at?" Percy grumbles accusingly. Julie looks over at where he's grumpily shoving his feet into socks.
"Am I not allowed to smile?" She questions. He glares at her, which is much less intimidating than he probably hopes since his hair is sticking straight up in the front.
"Not at 6 in the morning, you're not." He grouches. She snorts as he stomps out of his bed, tripping on the twist of covers he'd kicked off at some point in the night, and staggers from the room.
Sharing a bedroom with a teenage boy is not typically a pleasant experience. Percy does his best to make sure she has privacy when need be, and she extends the same to him, but it's still a small bedroom in a tiny apartment, and he walks her to and from school every day too. It's not uncommon for Sally to come home to a full on brawl happening in the hallway because they both tried to exit the room at the same time and refused to let the other go first.
Sally is amazing. She's the first full mortal Julie's ever met, and she can say with certainty that she'll always be her favorite. When she'd first entered the apartment with Percy after his quest in the winter, Sally had swept them both into a tight hug without hesitation. The moment she was certain Percy's limbs were all intact and had been assured that no mom, I did not dye my hair - it's from the quest, she'd cupped Juliette's face between her hands and promised to do everything she could to make her feel at home. They'd gone out and spent some of Chiron's money later that day to get Julie some clothes that aren't camp T-shirts and Aphrodite cabin reject pieces, and now a drawer of Percy's messy dresser is designated to Juliette's growing collection of sundresses, skirts, and cute tops.
She pulls herself out of bed and shuts the door, changing into her preplanned outfit for the day. Her love of clothes has grown exponentially since she moved in with Sally, who has been nothing but supportive whenever Juliette has gushed about her passion. She spins herself in the mirror, admiring the cheer skort and pink top she'd selected for tryouts today.
Percy knocks on the door, and Julie opens it, the two of them switching places in a practiced motion as he heads in to change and she heads out towards the bathroom. At Julie's request, Sally had also taught her the basics of what she knew of makeup, which the woman was embarrassed to admit wasn't much. The next day, Sally had come home from work with an arm full of Cosmo-girl magazines and an Elf beginner's set that she refused to allow Julie to pay her back for. Julie's devoted quite a bit of time to learning how to use it properly so that she doesn't waste any. It's the first gift she'd gotten since Purple Aster, and she's going to take care of it.
She's pulling the rollers out of her hair when the landline rings. Julie hears Sally pick up from the other room, the woman's voice immediately getting lighter and more wistful. Juliette smiles. They're planning on meeting Sally's boyfriend, Paul Blofis, at the school he works at for Percy's freshman orientation pretty soon. Julie had been surprised when Percy told her his mom was dating again (he'd told her in vague terms about what had gone down with his last stepfather), but one meeting with Paul had explained it. Even if Percy is still on the fence, Paul seems like a great guy. If the constant romantic gestures (sweet notes on the coffee table when he leaves, always arriving with Sally's favorite tea from the shop down the block) weren't enough, the way he'd fought at Goode High to make sure Percy is given a chance to go to a real school for his freshman year would have won Julie over entirely.
Julie's currently 12, approaching 13 in a few weeks, so she's been enrolled in middle school since winter. Which middle school she'll keep going to is still up in the air, though. She's been too nervous to approach Sally to discuss if she'll be living with them again after this summer or if she should start looking at boarding schools with Chiron. There is no way she's going back to year-rounding at camp if she can help it. Surprisingly enough, Juliette loves school. Not the learning bit - that part's a drag - but, making friends is surprisingly easy when nobody knows you can turn into a venom spitting monster with acid for blood when you're cranky.
It's crazy how much that changes.
But, yeah, Julie had fit in shockingly fast at her new school. She's gotten into cheerleading and has learned she has an affinity for acrobatics (thanks, Mom) that makes her in demand for cheer coaches even at a high school level, so Juliette's attending orientation with Percy today to speak with the Goode cheer coaches about attending their training camp in the fall. Paul had set up the opportunity. It really is hard not to like that guy.
"Percy! Juliette! We gotta go or we're gonna be late!" Sally calls. Julie hums to herself as she applies a coat of lip gloss. She rears back, nods approvingly at the perfect waves her strawberry blonde hair is falling in (maybe she's born with it, maybe it's sock braids), winks at herself in the mirror, and hurries down the hallway towards the kitchen.
"I'm ready! Oh, shoot, never mind, I'm barefoot." Julie screeches to a halt and jogs back to the bedroom to pull on a pair of tennis shoes. Percy rolls his eyes from the door.
"How do you take so long? I swear all of Cabin 10 is late to breakfast like every morning. Is it an Aphrodite thing?" He grumbles.
Julie pinches him as she walks past and out of the apartment, now wearing shoes. "What, caring what we look like? Maybe you should take a few extra minutes once in a while." She looks him up and down pointedly. "Really? Sweatpants? It's June, and don't you have a date today?" She tuts with a smirk. He turns red.
"It's not a date! We're just going to a movie." He protests.
Sally snorts as she locks the door. "Riiighht. Just the two of you, though, huh?" She asks innocently. Percy looks at his mother suspiciously as they head for the stairs.
"Yeah," He starts hesitantly. "Because we've both been wanting to see this movie."
Julie blinks at him. "Oh, so, that's all? That's the only reason you guys are going? Nothing else?"
"Obviously."
"So, you wouldn't mind if I tagged along, then, right? You know, since we're all friends?" She smirks. Percy stops on the stairs.
"Well-I..." Percy flounders for a moment. Then, he grunts in frustration and keeps walking. "Stop confusing me! It's just Annabeth, and it is not a date!"
Sally and Juliette exchange an exasperated eye roll as they exit the building. They pull up to the school about 20 minutes later, and Percy looks like he's going to be sick.
"Dude, relax. You're gonna make me go green if you keep stirring yourself up." Juliette warns, swiping away the tendrils of anxiety he's sending out irritably.
"Yeah!" Sally squeaks out. She clears her throat suddenly and continues in a much more normal tone. "It's only an orientation tour. But, remember, kids, this is Paul's school. So, try not to...you know." She trails off nervously. Percy gives her an unimpressed look.
"Destroy it?"
"Yes."
Juliette snorts. "Ah, come on, what's the worst that could happen?" She snarks, just to piss Percy off. It works. He looks at her like she just invited Kronos to the movies with him later. She laughs and leans forward to hug Sally from the back seat. "Bye, Ms. J! Thanks for the ride!"
"Bye, sweetie! Good luck with tryouts!" Sally calls as she exits the vehicle.
Julie slings her fuzzy pink bag onto her back and skips up to where Paul is standing by the curb with a red haired girl. "Hey, Paul!"
"Good morning, Julie!" He greets kindly. "You're looking cheery this morning." He teases with a wink. Julie fake gags at him.
"Ew, you are such a teacher." She says. Realizing Percy still hasn't left the car, she rolls her eyes and puts her fingers to her mouth for an obnoxiously loud whistle. "HEY, KELP HEAD! Who's taking forever now?!" Julie calls back to the car.
The car door opens a moment later, and Percy piles out, glaring at her. "I liked it better when you were all cute and excited to see me. Where did that Julie go?" He complains.
"That Julie had to deal with your 90 minute showers in a one bathroom apartment for six months. Bitterness and impatience will do that to a girl." She retorts.
Percy turns then and notices the red haired girl. There's a moment of silence where they look at each other in shock before he turns suddenly and books it for the side of the building, leaving them in the dust. Julie and Paul blink after him in surprise.
"Uhhhh, okay..." Paul trails off, scratching his head. "I guess we'll catch up with him later?" He says uncertainly.
Juliette looks over at the red haired girl suspiciously. She's pretty, with wild firey curls that tangle across a freckle spattered face. Her designer label clothes have paint splattered on them, to Julie's horror, and there's a paintbrush perched behind her ear. She feels pretty human to Juliette. What about this girl could've freaked Percy out so much?
She sticks out her hand pointedly. "I'm Juliette Aster."
"Rachel Elizabeth Dare." The girl is still staring after where Percy disappeared to, but she shakes hands distractedly. The moment their skin touches, emotions flood through Julie's senses. She sorts through them. Confusion. Alarm. Fear. Intrigue. Attracti-EWEWEWEW! THAT'S ENOUGH! She pulls her hand back.
Still definitely feels human. And there's no aggression in there. Julie shrugs it off and decides just to ask Percy later. "Cool. Nice to meet you. Pau-Mr. Blofis, can you take me to find the cheer team?" She requests.
He looks down at her and some of the concern leaves his gaze. "Of course! Rachel, it was good to see you."
The two of them enter the school and Paul points at two teenage girls standing by the side entrance doors. They're in purple and white cheer uniforms and shaking their pompoms aggressively in the face of some poor freshman. "That's...uh...Actually, I don't remember their names. But, let's go introduce you."
The girls are almost arm-to-arm in the doorway, blocking a kid from entering. It only takes a few more steps for Julie to realize that kid is Percy.
"Percy?" Paul calls out. In the span of a few seconds, Julie notices several things.
Percy's hand is definitely clutching Riptide in his pocket right now.
The cheerleaders are empousai. She saw enough on the Princess Andromeda to recognize them.
Unfortunately, they recognize her too.
Percy is once again running away from them - this time into the gym.
"Oh my Gods, Juliette? How are you? I haven't seen you in, like, forever!" Kelli gasps in her valley-girl screech.
Don't get Julie wrong. She often does valley-girl herself after spending time with her Californian siblings. But no self-respecting Appalachian would dare sound like this.
She swallows the wave of terror that has bubbled up from her gut. They're empousai, Julie. They can't hurt you.
Tammi squeals, running up to lace her arm through Julie's, who doesn't dodge quick enough to make refusal seem natural. "It is like so totally crazy to see you here." Tammi agrees. Both cheerleaders turn to Paul, who is looking extremely lost and concerned as he watches Percy disappear into the gymnasium. "Kelli and I can totally take Juliette off your hands, mister. I'm sure Coach would want to meet her like as soon as possible." Julie is still frozen in shock, so she doesn't react quickly enough when they both latch onto her and begin dragging her down the hallway away from a weakly nodding Paul Blofis.
Kelli leans over to whisper in Julie's ear. "I cannot believe you just ditched Luke like that. You're definitely getting punished so bad when we get home. He was, like, fricken pissed."
Tammi hisses in agreement. "For reals. I hope he lets us do it. It's been a while since I've gotten to drain a demigod." If Julie wasn't so scared, she might've made a joke about her blood's placement on the Scoville Scale of spice, but alas.
They reach the gym and start dragging her faster, clearly intent on cutting through the crowd quickly to get to the empty locker rooms. Fortunately for Julie, a buff man with a whistle hanging around his neck steps out in front of them.
"What are you girls doing?! Get in formation! The pep rally's starting!" He turns the whole group of them around, snatches Julie from the empousai's clutches, and pushes Kelli and Tammi forwards into the cheerleader lineup. Before the vampires get the chance to turn back around, Julie bolts. She weaves through the crowd of older, much taller students and tries not to get trampled as she searches desperately for Percy. He takes a surprisingly short amount of time to find. Why? Probably the head of stoplight red hair sitting next to him, scowling.
What's that about? Oh, well, people scowl at Percy all the time.
She takes the steps up the bleachers two at a time, accidentally kicking somebody's water bottle over on the way and sticking out her tongue when they shout at her for it. When she reaches where Percy's sitting, all she's able to get out are wheeze-word hybrids.
"Evil *wheeze* cheerleaders. Wanna *wheeze* drink *wheeze* blood. Luke." She gasps out. He's looking at her like she's crazy until that last word. That last word catches his attention. His eyes widen. In a decision making process that Juliette certainly does not understand, Percy grabs both her hand and Rachel Dare's, yanking them down the bleachers at shocking speed. The three of them peel into the hallway, and Rachel suddenly takes control of their weird little hand holding chain.
"In here!" She hisses. They duck into the doorway she's indicating and are suddenly in a band room. Julie makes for a music stand and jams it under the handle of the door as the redhead rounds on her. "You can see them too?" She whisper shouts.
Juliette turns to her. "You can see them? But, you're mortal!" She replies in confusion.
Percy jumps between them. "Okay, calm down. Look, I can explain this all to you if you just trust us, okay?" He asks Rachel. The girl studies him for a moment, hands creeping towards a music stand like she's going to use it as a shield. Or sword. But, then she nods. "Okay. You're seeing through the Mist." Percy states.
"The Mist?" Rachel asks incredulously.
"It's like this veil that hides the way things really are. Some mortals are born with the ability to see through it. Like you." Percy explains.
At that moment, a bang sounds on the other end of the door, jostling the music stand. Julie springs into action, now focusing on keeping the door shut rather than whatever Percy thinks he's doing trying to explain this to a mortal. She starts piling tuba cases in front of the door, wedging more music stands against it for leverage.
"Uhh, Percy! A little help would be nice!" She calls nervously. He ignores her
"-all the Greek Gods, they're real."
"I knew it!"
BANG. The tuba cases fall over. Julie jumps back to avoid them crushing her toes. "Guys, can we do this later?"
BANG. BANG.
"I'm a half blood. I'm half human."
"And half what?"
BANG.
The door flies open, and Tammi and Kelli step inside. Their arms are crossed petulantly.
"Oh, my Gods, Julie, that took freaking forever. You are, like, so annoying." Kelli complains.
Tammi steps forward with a giggle. "Oooh, you brought Percy Jackson with you. It's time for your orientation." She winks at him.
Juliette almost gags. Rachel seems to agree, but for different reasons. "They're horrible!" Rachel gasps.
Percy looks dreamy, sleepy. Julie wants to throw her shoe at him. "Snap out of it, stupid! They're charmspeaking you!"
He seems to hear her. He shakes his head in an attempt to clear it. "What do they really look like?"
"Oh, forget these two." Tammi giggles, stepping towards him with a smile. Julie growls, moving in front of Percy and allowing some of her power to leach into her eyes, brandishing scales and slitted pupils as a warning.
"Don't you come any closer." She snarls.
"Percy." Rachel's voice sounds nervous but stern behind them.
Percy just releases another dumb sound and takes a step forward. Boys are so friggen useless.
Julie takes a step backwards and stomps purposely on his toes. Probably harder than necessary, but she's nervous, sue her. He yelps and doubles over, but she hears Riptide uncapping, so it must've worked.
"Ugh, Julie, you are so getting on my nerves. We should just kill you here instead." Tammi scoffs. She looks back at Kelli. "May I, mistress?"
Kelli licks her lips at the door. "Go ahead, Tammi. You're doing fine."
Tammi smirks and takes another step forward. Julie tenses to attack, but Riptide is suddenly at the empousa's throat.
"Get back." Percy orders, his voice dark.
Tammi curls her lip in disgust. "Freshmen," She says with distain. "This is our school, half blood. We feed on whom we choose." She transforms then, revealing the hideous, donkey legged form Julie had grown so fond of. So fond of not seeing, that is.
"Ugh, you really haven't gotten any prettier have you, Tammi?" Julie scoffs in disgust. Tammi's face blotches red.
"A vampire." Percy says hesitantly. "A vampire with..."
"Don't mention the legs!" Tammi screams.
Kelli shrieks in rage. "We are empousai! Servants of Hecate, you fool!"
"Dark magic formed us from animal, bronze, and ghost!" Tammi snarls. "We exist to feed on the blood of young men! Now, give me a kiss!" She screams, lunging at Percy.
She doesn't get a chance to connect. Rachel Dare throws a snare drum at her head.
Percy leaps at Tammi with Riptide and the two engage in a very short battle leading to an extremely expected conclusion. Percy looks over at Julie accusingly as Rachel coughs out monster dust, out of breath.
"Jules, are you gonna help?!" He shrieks as Kelli advances now.
Julie throws her arms up. "What, you want me to transform? How much property damage do you want me to cause?" She replies defensively.
He dodges a swipe of Kelli's claws. "There's this awesome thing called a knife?"
Julie huffs. "I didn't bring a knife."
"Why in Hades do you not have a knife?!"
"Um, because I'm wearing gold jewelry?"
"I-So?"
"So, you want me to pair gold and bronze? Are you insa-look out!" She warns. Kelli snaps her teeth at the spot Percy's neck had been just moments before. He rolls over one shoulder and stands to face the monster again, Riptide out defensively.
"I am a senior empousa. No hero has bested me in a thousand years." Kelli growls. Percy grits his teeth.
"Yeah? Then, you're overdue."
Kelli's eyes narrow. She glances pointedly in Juliette's direction, and Percy places himself between them. "Your little friend here did some totally messed up stuff on the ship with us, you know?" Julie's heart stutters. "Are you sure you know who you're protecting, hero?" The empousa taunts.
Juliette shrinks in on herself.
Kelli giggles. "Poor dear. You don't know, do you? You don't know anything that's happening. Soon, your pretty little camp up in flames, your friends made slaves to the Lord of Time, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. It would be merciful to end your life now, before you have to see that."
Voices start to buzz in the hallway, and Kelli's eyes light up. "Ooooh! We're about the have company! Excellent." She picks up a tuba and chucks it at them, making all three kids scatter. The voices in the hall go silent when it crashes through the window. "Percy! Why did you throw that?!" She whines loudly, picking up more instruments to smash.
"Stop it!" Percy yells, panicked. The footsteps are getting louder and faster. Juliette's getting pissed. Oh, okay, they're lying now, huh? Percy steps forward to end the fight, swinging Riptide with all his might.
Kelli smirks at them. "Time to greet our visitors," She sings, throwing open the doors.
The group of freshman, lead by Paul Blofis, stumble back in shock as Kelli falls to her knees in the path of Percy's sword.
"Oh, no, please!" She sobs. Just before the blade connects, Kelli bursts into flames, torching every item within ten feet of her. The room erupts into fire. The sprinklers start immediately, and the fire alarms blare loud enough to make Juliette dizzy. Paul is staring at them openmouthed.
"Percy?" He mutters in disbelief. "What have you done?" Juliette watches Percy's face crumble. His shoulders hunch.
Her heart squeezes, and determination surges through her.
In a situation like this, there's really only ever one option.
She bursts into tears.
An hour later finds Juliette, still damp and wrapped in a warm blanket, surrounded by cooing firemen and school administrators as she sobs her story into her hands.
"-and then, she just attacked me! Percy pushed her off of me, and she just started screaming and throwing things! It was so scary!" She chokes her voice off and wails into her hands again. One of the female teachers wraps her in a tight hug.
"Oh, you poor dear! Thank God you have such a wonderful big brother." The teacher says earnestly. Julie peers over the woman's shoulder at where Percy and Rachel are sitting awkwardly with Paul. She shoots Percy a wink, and he shakes his head with a funny sort of smile. It's part relieved-part incredulous-part excruciatingly grateful. She smiles back.
Sally pulls up then, starting to leap out of the driver's seat so fast she forgets to unbuckle her seatbelt. It yanks her back and she has to grapple with it for a minute before she's able to escape. Juliette watches fondly as the woman races over to Percy and wraps him in a tight hug. Paul's mouth is moving, probably relaying the cover story Julie had woven over the past 30 minutes. Eventually, Sally looks over to where she's sitting and beams at her tearfully. Before Julie can blink, she's cocooned in the arms of Sally Jackson. Fingers run through her damp hair.
"Thank you." Sally whispers. Julie swallows the lump in her throat and hugs back.
"Anytime." She replies. A flash of blonde catches Julie's eye over Sally's shoulder and her heart does a backflip. She pulls away from the hug in a hurry and searches for the source. She's confused by the deflating sensation in her chest when she spots Annabeth. Then it tightens again as she notices the sour way she's surveying Rachel Dare. "Oh, I have to see this." She whispers to Sally, who looks like she's trying not to laugh.
Ignoring Sally's halfhearted advice to give them privacy (yeah, right, Silena will never forgive her if she misses valuable gossip), Julie extracts herself from her crowd of admirers and slinks up next to Paul.
"Hey, Paul, Sally wants to talk to you." She says. The man nearly trips over himself in his haste to comply. Julie grins. Adorable. Now, the show is beginning. Annabeth gestures at the smoking building and crowd of policemen.
"What did you do this time, Seaweed Brain? And who is this?" Annabeth asks, a bit of bite in her question. Percy, Mr. Oblivious, looks delighted to see her.
"Annabeth! Oh, gods, I should have Irised you. Oh, Rachel - Annabeth. Annabeth - Rachel. Um, she's a friend, I guess." He stumbles through. Julie cringes.
"Hi," Rachel greets. She's surveying Annabeth warily as well, but with much less aggression. She seems to shrug the blonde off and turns back to Percy. "You still owe me an explanation."
Percy grimaces. "I know. But, that stuff Kelli said...I have to go somewhere, and, unfortunately, you can't follow."
Rachel frowns. "I want to know more about half-bloods. And monsters. And this stuff about the gods." She grabs Percy's arm, and Julie swears she sees a vessel burst in Annabeth's forehead. Rachel whips out a permanent marker and scrawls her number across his forearm. "You're going to call me and explain, okay? You owe me that. Now get going." She orders.
Percy nods anxiously.
"Alright, kids, let's get moving." Sally calls, waving them towards the car. "Annabeth, you need a ride there too, honey?" She raises her eyebrows meaningfully.
Annabeth smirks a bit at Rachel Dare, who crosses her arms. "Yes, please, Ms. Jackson."
"Call me Sally, love."
They pile into the car, Julie claiming the front seat because she's obviously the MVP of the day and deserves it ("Shut up, Percy. Annabeth is literally taller than you, you don't need the extra leg room").
It takes about four seconds for the conversation to get uncomfortable. Juliette's having the best day ever.
"Okay, so, there were these two empousai. They were cheerleaders, see, and they said that camp was going to burn, and-"
"You told a mortal girl about half-bloods?" Annabeth snaps. Percy frowns in confusion.
"She can see through the Mist. She knew about the monsters before I did."
"So you told her the truth."
"She recognized me from Hoover Dam, so-"
"You've met her before?"
"Um, last winter. But seriously, I barely know her-"
"She's kind of cute."
"I-I never thought about it."
At this point, Sally has her fist in her mouth, biting down to keep her composure. Julie is fully turned around in her seat, watching the conversation like an extremely entertaining match of table tennis. Annabeth's arms are crossed, and she's staring out the window resolutely.
"Well, you didn't show up to the movies, so I figured our afternoon was off. I guess checking on camp is a good backup." She grumbles.
Percy looks like he wants to punch himself in the face from guilt. "I should've called." He says again. He finally notices Julie's staring. "Do you mind?" He snips.
"Not at all. Please continue." Juliette requests.
Sally finally snorts from the driver's seat. "Okay, guys, everybody's friends again, deal? Julie, Percy, I packed bags for you guys. They're in the trunk." She moves the rear view mirror so she can glare gently at her son. "Now, speaking of Iris messages..." She leads.
Percy raises his palms. "I will, I will! Every morning and every night! Dawn and dusk! Every time I eat a meal, or take a class, or-"
"Okay, smartass, that's enough. Just, seriously, keep me updated, please."
Percy smiles and nods. Sally raises an eyebrow at Juliette.
"And I expect to see you in one piece in August, okay? Dead people can't shake pompoms." She orders.
Julie's chest fills with warmth. August.
"You got it, Ms. J."