Starhunter18: your wish is my command, here you go!
I'll definitely try to keep to my current updating schedule (once/twice a month).
Chapter warnings: Brief mention of blood; temporary character death
Listening to: Halfway Right by Linkin Park
Festus was Happy.
He was also ecstatic. Leo had given him a tune-up to rival Beckendorf's methods and the metal dragon was now perfectly viable to fly a thousand miles from Camp Half-Blood all the way across the country.
Jason felt strangely out of place when it came to Piper and Leo's camaraderie. But it wasn't so bad being their third wheel. Leo easily included him in all his jokes and Piper did her best to chat with him any time they stopped for breaks.
With the Greeks' oracle out of commission (grieving the loss of her familiar) Octavian had proudly stepped up to give them their prophecy for the quest.
Jason hated this part. Receiving cryptic words from the unseeing, unsympathetic Fates ruffled his feathers. But he'd shut his mouth and accepted them. His father and stepmother were missing, along with Jupiter's sacred Master Bolt. Alongside them, Piper's dad had also been kidnapped on account of being a dreamer—someone who dreamed about Pandora.
After they managed an escape from Aeolus's palace flying on Festus's metal, cramped in a demigod sandwich, Jason no longer blushed red while placing his hand over Piper's waist. Now he simply turned pink during the flight.
"We need to make a blood pact," Leo announced over the roar of the wind.
"A what?" Jason asked alarmed.
"Blood pact?" Piper said, just as worried.
"Yeah," Leo said seriously. "No more dropping by ice palaces for funsies."
Jason and Piper laughed. Oh yeah. Khione's homicidal tendencies hadn't gone over well with them.
"I wish!" Jason chuckled. "We need to capture the venti and return them, Leo."
"Yeah, yeah," Leo groaned. "Hopefully this Medea lady's nicer than the ice queen."
Narrator's voice: Leo was wrong.
Camp Half-Blood was bright and loud for this winter day. It was the start of December and Rachel was finally on her feet, dragging herself around with the boys.
They were in the Oracle's cave, straightening things up. Rachel eyed an empty canvas in the corner but no concrete ideas came to mind. She left it alone. She found the toy Octavian had given her and picked it up.
The soft stuffed tiger sat in her hands silently. Rachel hugged it tight and kissed it on its little head.
She was still hurting. But she'd get up and face the day. She, Percy, and Harry were about to head west to the Wolf House to meet up with Lupa and see what the goddess could offer them.
"Technically," Percy insisted. "Triton said we have to go talk to her. He said nothing about her training us."
"It's implied," Harry pointed out.
"Let's just go," Rachel sighed, dropping her tiger back on the bed.
Lupa's training grounds were somewhere south of Camp Jupiter. They'd be apparating them.
You know, as soon as Harry and Percy stopped bickering.
"Still here?" Annabeth called, jogging over to them as they were walking to Half-Blood Hill. "I was worried I'd missed you."
"Waiting for Mr. and Mr. Complains-A-Lot to finish their symposium," Rachel muttered.
Annabeth laughed. She'd been overly happy and attentive to Rachel these last few days and the redhead figured she was feeling guilty for the appearance of the Spirit of Delphi who'd taken over Rachel's body for a fortnight.
She hugged her. "Good luck. Don't let Lupa rile you up. I hear she's the single reason why the Romans have such a militaristic success."
"Joy," Percy said. He leaned over Rachel's shoulder to kiss Annabeth.
Rachel detangled from Annabeth. The last thing she wanted was to get caught up between the couple.
"Time's a tickin'," Harry announced with the worst Texas twang they'd ever heard.
Rachel slapped his arm. "Never again!"
Annabeth walked them to the hill. They came upon a lean boy, petting Peleus under the pine tree.
Rachel frowned at him. He had a soft rounded face, dark eyes, and badly chopped brown hair draped over his head like a wig. His pouty lips made him look effeminate and had Rachel not been in mourning, she might have grabbed a canvas to sketch his features.
Annabeth and Percy stopped to warn the new camper of sitting too close to the poisonous, fire-breathing dragon guardian of the Golden Fleece.
"You think Lupa'll keep us the whole day?" Rachel wondered.
Harry said seriously, "I think she knows more about our immortality than most other gods."
"Why?"
"The way Triton told Percy," Harry said, raising his eyebrows. "He knows Percy'll hunt him down if he gives useless information."
Rachel nodded. Percy was chill most of the time. Triton would have to be a special kind of stupid to tick his half-brother off.
"Peleus is a sweetheart," the new camper promised, scratching the dragon beneath its scaly chin.
"Yes," Percy said exasperated. "He's a sweetheart right up until you twitch a little too close to the fleece. Then you're dragon feed."
The boy just grinned. Rachel took a second look at his haircut. It was worse than she'd thought. It was shorn shot, clumps of it cut close to his head and in stiff lines.
"What happened, dude?" Rachel asked, gesturing to her own head.
The boy blinked. "My hair? Yeah, I got an acid cut. It's all the rage now."
Annabeth made a face. "An… an acid cut?"
"Yeah. Dripped acid onto the tips to shorten it," he said like it was an everyday thing.
"Do not spread that to camp," Percy warned him. "The kids might actually start trying that!"
The boy patted Peleus's great head and got to his feet. Now that he was upright, Rachel realised he was shorter than she thought. Taller than Rachel, but not yet Annabeth's height.
"You're older than thirteen," Annabeth said, her eyes narrowed. "Have you been claimed or—"
"Nah, I ain't no hero," he assured her. "I just wanted to see you off."
Rachel's eyes widened. The boy shot her, Harry, and Percy a grin.
"I'm Destin," he added belatedly.
"The nerdiest name ever, second only to Justin," Harry mumbled. Rachel almost giggled.
"Uh…" Percy said, incredulous. "You can see us?"
"Relax," Destin said, leaning against Thalia's pine tree. "I'm not mortal. Your camp's safe."
That didn't sound safe. Percy's hand went to his pocket.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"I just said my name," Destin said, pointing at him. "You better get going, Lupa doesn't like latecomers."
Rachel swallowed. "She sent you to track us or something?"
"Or something," Destin grinned. Despite the brisk December wind, he stood there comfortably unruffled in his t-shirt and jeans. "Good luck! It'll be fine, you just have to be patient!"
"Patient," Harry repeated unimpressed. "Who are you?"
"I literally introduced myself," Destin sighed. "Or did I say all of it in my head? So sorry, guys! My name is Destin. I'm new here. Ignore me for now."
"Did Lupa send you?" Percy demanded.
Destin hummed. "Well… not exactly. I guess I can give you a message. Should you need to hide, use DJ's room."
Harry advanced, his wand already in hand. "What did you say?!"
Destin held out his palms, a little alarmed now. "Don't stun the messenger, dude!"
"Who sent the message?"
"That's classified, I'm sorry. Good luck!" Destin waved and spun on his heel and walked into the forest. Peleus whined sadly.
"I can stop him," Harry muttered.
Percy and Annabeth shared a worrying look. Rachel stared wide-eyed at Destin's retreating back. She tried to quietly reach out to the Spirit inside her: What d'you think? Is he a threat?
The Spirit of Delphi laughed inside her head. Rachel… He's the very opposite of a threat. He really was here to deliver the message.
She breathed out. "I think he's fine."
Harry scowled. "You sure?"
"Yeah… my Oracle senses aren't tingling."
Annabeth nodded, still uncomfortable. "He must be a spirit sent by Lupa to check on you."
Percy frowned. "He didn't seem Roman. He looked really opaque too."
"Doesn't matter," Rachel said, nudging Harry to lower his wand. "We shouldn't be late."
"Let Chiron know," Percy told Annabeth. "And stay inside the borders till you're sure it's safe out here."
Harry apparated them to the Wolf House.
It was early morning here. They stood in front of a towering log and stone cabin nestled in the trees, deep offroad. They closed the wooden stile behind them, walking silently on the sand.
"This is pretty," Rachel said in surprise, checking out the building. Large stones were cobbled and stacked up to make the durable walls of the structure. The breeze whistled through the trees that danced above them. Despite its reputation, the quiet solace of the place soothed her. She imagined spending summer vacations here to escape the city noise.
"Who'd have thunk," Percy agreed.
A wolf sat just by the door in the shade of the stone arch. It was pale and was about the size of Reyna's metal hounds.
"Lupa," Percy greeted her. "We're starting or what?"
Harry coughed quietly. "Maybe we should be polite?"
"You say it then!"
"Hello, Lupa," Harry said, maintaining eye contact with the pale wolf in front of them. "I am Harry Potter. These are Percy Jackson and Rachel Elizabeth Dare. We are here, as per Triton's request, to seek guidance form you."
The wolf cocked its head at Harry. Then it yawned.
"Excellent speech, Har-Bear," Rachel said.
"Encore," Percy said, mock clapping.
A shadow fell over them and Rachel smelled her.
"You threaten to put my guard to sleep?"
Rachel swallowed, turning her head slowly. Harry and Percy were faster, spinning on their heels to peer up, way up, at Lupa.
The goddess of wolves, the patron of Rome… and New Rome. Lupa was a tall and enormous brown wolf with deep golden eyes gleaming in the sunlight. She smelled of the woods and dirt, forever a force of nature that would track between the trees always out of eyesight and earshot. Only her prey would ever get to see her and they'd be dead in less than a second.
A growl gradually built up deep in her throat. Her eyes scorched them where they stood. Lupa's hackles pulled back and her teeth gleamed against the dark brown of her pelt. Her limbs tensed, muscles tightened as her flanks flexed powerfully.
Rachel's chest seized. Lupa was about to pounce on them and rip them to pieces. There was no hesitation in her eyes—
"Yo," Percy said, nodding. Riptide slipped out into his palm instantly. "We going at it then?"
Rachel's stiff head jerked to the right and she found Harry glaring right back at the goddess, body turned, already defensive. He was armed with his wand and dagger, both of them hidden behind his forearms.
Rachel looked back and felt faint when she saw the goddess glowering at her.
"Hmm," Lupa said. The word fell odd from her wolfish mouth. "Two out of three."
Percy scowled. "Two out of three what?"
"Your score," Lupa said. She relaxed her muscles and sat down, her rump resting comfortably on the earth while his front legs were straight. Her head was tall and imposing, eyes shifting between the three of them.
Rachel had a feeling this was a test and she'd failed it. They were off to a great start.
Lupa was everything Percy had warned them about.
Rachel wasn't a fidgeter. She could stand quite still for a long time. But under Lupa's strict eyes, it was a hard task. Every single twitch came under the goddess's scrutiny.
"I shall be brief today," Lupa announced. "Lord Triton has requested me to see to your training. But I can only offer my knowledge if you choose to accept it."
Her voice was smooth like the sharpened side of a knife that was about to burrow into your guts. It settled somewhere between a rumble and the wind.
Percy, thankfully, undercut the tension. "Or we'll self-destruct in five seconds?"
Lupa's eyes moved from Rachel (oh, thanks gods!) to Percy.
"Are you aware of what your immortality entails, child?" she growled.
"Kinda," Percy nodded. He still held Riptide in pen form, but his voice was light. "We're like cheese."
Lupa stared.
"You know, cheese," Percy said, this time looking to Harry and Rachel. They just watched him dumbfounded.
He sighed. "Cheese! You can grate cheese and get it all shredded. But if you melt it all back, it'll be one piece again!"
Rachel gulped. Lupa looked like she wanted to shred and melt Percy.
"Yes," the goddess said, her voice rattling Rachel's teeth. "Immortality is… cheese."
Her disdain was apparent and Percy seemed proud of himself.
"And like cheese," she continued, menacingly. "I will grate you and pull you apart. I will melt you and boil you till you are puddles of blood and bones on the grass. I will rip you to pieces, eat you, and regurgitate you into proper immortals."
The silence was louder than anything else.
"Can you rewind to the blood and bones bit?" Percy asked.
Lupa lowered her head and looked Percy in the eye. "You speak like a hero."
"Shocking, I know."
"You are no demigod, Percy Jackson," Lupa warned. "Not anymore. You come to my house to be trained and understand what it means to be Immortal."
Percy went tight-lipped. Harry hesitated before saying, "Do you mean to say that Rachel and I are no longer humans?"
Her massive head shifted to face him. "You haven't been a human in many years, Harry Potter. When was the last time you ate?"
He looked surprised. "This morning. Breakfast."
"Why?"
Harry gaped at her.
"Food is vital to mortals. Most creatures on this planet require sustenance of some kind. You three, certainly, do not!"
Percy made a face. "So we can just go without eating or drinking and we'll be alright?"
"And sleeping and breathing," Lupa said.
"Seriously?!"
"Have you never tested it?" Lupa demanded. "Have you never been curious about the brand around your arm, the very same one that offers unthinkable redos and regenerations? Have you never pushed your bodies to see what you can take and what you are capable of?"
Harry fell silent. Percy exhaled. "Well, we have a really strict mom. She wouldn't like anything that you just said."
"Again, Jackson. Using humor to hide your fear and frustrations and cope with the overwhelming truth of the situation is a demigod tactic. Not an immortal one."
"... I have demigod friends, I don't think they mind."
Lupa tilted her head. "What are you afraid of?"
Her voice was soft. It was more terrifying than her threats.
"Pain," Rachel whispered.
Lupa's eyes flitted to Rachel's. "Pain is temporary. You can heal yourself, fix any aspect of your body."
"Hurt," Rachel suggested. "Things can hurt on the inside."
"Why do you let the truth hurt you?"
Rachel frowned. "We don't let things hurt us. Sometimes life just sucks."
Lupa eyed her silently. Rachel swallowed again, her throat going dry.
"Is it life that sucks, or is it certain enemies managing to win a battle, leaving you with terrible losses?"
Rachel didn't have an answer. Was Lupa insinuating that it was Rachel's fault for allowing Bolt's death to hurt her?
How dare this second-rate goddess talk about Bolt that way?! Rachel had half a mind to grab her blue hairbrush and shove it—
"What are you afraid of?" Lupa asked, head moving to catch Percy and then Harry's gazes.
"Um," Percy said.
"Nothing," Harry said.
Lupa focused on him. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," Harry said, meeting her eyes easily.
"Jackson, Dare. Will you confirm his answer?"
Rachel jolted. She and Percy shared an alarmed look. Were they supposed to agree with Harry or outright refute him?
Harry frowned at them. "Back me up."
Percy exhaled. "Well, sometimes you… you don't like going to the cemetery."
"Yeah," Rachel said. "And you don't like talking about… about DJ."
Harry stared at them in disbelief. "I generally don't do those things, doesn't mean I'm afraid of them!"
"You've never gone into DJ's room," Percy said and Harry shut up.
It was harsh but Percy was right. Harry avoided DJ's room back in Frost mansion. Rachel had once caught him staring at the door, but he'd refused to go in. There was a lot of resentment and regret that Rachel wouldn't even know how to unpack. Destin (a stranger who they've never interacted with) had barely mentioned DJ's room which nearly set Harry off.
"How about we share what you're afraid of?" Harry told Percy, furiously.
"I'm not… I mean, I didn't say I'm not afraid," Percy sputtered. "I'm scared of normal stuff… you know, great big monsters that could level buildings—"
"Personal fears," Lupa corrected him.
Percy dropped his gaze and concentrated on Lupa's paws, burning red. He had to have been thinking about his own powers and how Percy could level buildings himself.
"You are sixteen," Lupa said, now addressing all of them. "I will tell you right now, you have unlimited time to learn everything that makes you immortal. But your allies cannot afford that. They cannot wait for you to take your time to figure out your shortcomings and weak links; your fears and debilitating issues."
The goddess stood up on all her four paws, her stare blazing down on them. "I trained Cassandra, Iphigenia, and Ajax a long time ago; spent three years wringing the mortality out of them before sending them to the Earth Goddess. We cannot afford three years. The most we have now is a year before Olympus accepts that we're at war with the earth."
She lowered her snout and locked eyes with each of them in turn. "If you cannot handle what I have to teach, leave."
Harry bristled. He didn't like anyone assuming he couldn't do something. Percy was still stiffly staring back, scowling at the thought of training this way under Lupa.
And Rachel wanted to turn around and run away. She wasn't a hero, she was no fighter. She was supposed to be an oracle, a seer. The Champion Seer, in fact.
But had she known how to fight decently, she could have perhaps knocked out Ajax, grabbed Bolt, and run. If she hadn't frozen up there, Bolt would have been alive today.
Percy asked, "How exactly do you wring mortality out?"
Lupa prowled around them carefully. They followed her body, slowly spinning in place. Maybe this whole conversation was a trial.
Although, recalling the strange boy from camp, perhaps Lupa's been testing them since morning.
"How many times have you died?" the goddess asked. Her voice echoed through the trees. Rachel stepped back, pressing her arm to Percy's side.
"Five," Harry said in a low voice.
Lupa eyed him. She seemed incredulous. "That's it? How long have you had the bracelet?"
Harry blushed. "11 years."
Lupa shook her head. "Pathetic. And you two?"
Percy and Rachel shared a look. He said, "One each for us. I've had the thing for 11 years too, and Rach's had it for almost a year."
Lupa sighed. "No wonder you're still clinging to mortality. You think death is quote-unquote bad."
"First-world problem," Harry muttered under his breath. "Death."
"Are you afraid to die?" Lupa demanded. "You regenerate every time, you don't remember the death much. You won't recall the pain. What, in the name of all the gods, are you afraid of?!"
"It's not that simple! Our deaths affect others, okay!" Percy shouted. "It's easy peasy, lemon squeezy for us, but everyone else will remember us, and they'll be royally effed by the whole thing!"
Lupa didn't like his answer. "So you live like humans to avoid hurting others?"
"That's… you're just twisting things—"
"You've had the bracelet for more than a decade and you've died only once, Perseus Jackson, because you fear it," Lupa rumbled. "You ask me what I have to offer you. I answer: you will learn far more only when you embrace everything your immortality has to offer you. Will you accept my training?"
Percy held up a finger. "Excuse us."
He caught Harry and Rachel's arms to pull them to the side. They obliged.
"I don't like this," Rachel whispered. "We can learn from Chiron, can't we? How different can her training be from a regular hero?"
"You heard her," Harry insisted. "There's a major difference in mortal and immortal lessons. Percy and I had the bracelets for so long and we have no clue what else we can do. All those things she said about not having to eat or sleep or… or breathe?! I want to learn how to do all that!"
"You believe her?" Percy asked.
"Yes," Harry said. "When I just started Hogwarts, I was feeling all kinds of homesick and it took me a while to get used to the food. I went some days without meals. And I didn't feel like I was starving the way most people say!"
Rachel frowned. She had skipped some meals too, right after she'd woken up and learned about Bolt's death. The scary part of that was she hadn't slept well either but her body hadn't been totally craving food or sleep even after several hours of neither.
She'd thought at first that it was deep shock and grief that distracted her from physical needs, but now, thinking about it in hindsight…
"Ajax can do that," Percy realised. "Remember Sciron's story from '97? He said he'd caught Ajax in a water sphere and held him like that for 10 minutes. But Ajax woke up soon after. He'd held his breath the whole time."
Harry nodded, wide eyed. "I don't think most humans can do that. This cinches it, we need Lupa's training. She worked on him, Cassandra, and Iphigenia all those milliennia ago. She knows how their bracelets work. Maybe there are differences in Gaia's magic versus what Nyx gave us. Lupa might be the only one to know about all this."
Rachel held back a groan. "Then can we skip her training and just get her to explain about the things they can do with their bracelets and what we can do with ours?"
"What if she can teach us to fight them?" Harry asked. "Personally, I would like to bite Ajax's head off. Literally. Lupa seems like the one goddess who would encourage that."
Percy turned back to look at Lupa. She was seated beside the pale wolf who seemed like a small toy next to her.
"Rachel's got a point, I don't like her either," Percy said. "But Harry's right. She knows way more than us and a lot of other gods. She personally dealt with Gaia's trio when they were new and coming up. And she'll push us beyond human limits, which is something I think we actually need."
Rachel grimaced. "But Percy, you both have been training me up until now. Why can't we just continue that?"
"Because Harry and I know how to use our magic the way we were taught," Percy said patiently. "We didn't learn much about the bracelets. It brings us back and then what? We have these twelve charms on our band that Ajax and the others don't. Mom said most are to throw enemies off our tracks, but we really know the bare minimum. We have a year to figure this out. Let's do something about this. Lupa's right. Our friends can't afford for us to spend our sweet time tryng to figure all this out."
Rachel gave in. When Harry and Percy agreed on something, that was usually the way to go.
They approached Lupa.
"We accept," Percy said, unsmiling. "But you need to keep us in the loop and explain everything about the bracelets and the primordials."
Lupa raised an eyebrow. It looked odd on the wolf's face. "I have your word then?"
Harry nodded. "Yes, I'm in."
Rachel leaned back on the balls of her feet before agreeing, "Yeah. Sure."
Lupa raised her snout. "Very well then. Our sessions will begin the day after Jackson wakes up."
Percy frowned. "Wakes u—"
Rachel saw a blur from the side of her eye. The wind blew her bangs off her forehead as Percy was already stumbling back.
His blood sprayed over the side of her face.
Harry shouted, uncontrolled and loud, his words a garbled mess as Percy fell back, a deadly arrow impaled deep in his neck.
Her voice was caught in her throat as his blood spurted onto the mud. Percy's eyes rolled back and the light was gone even before her brain caught up to what she was seeing.
It had been years since Percy'd succumbed. He'd tried his damdest to avoid being murdered by monsters, titans, rogue demigods, death eaters, Tom, random magical creatures, and mortals. But it turned out a goddess would be the one to catch him off guard.
Life sucks and then you die.
Harry heard the twang of a bow and the whistle of an arrow. But he didn't see the actual projectile.
(That's Rachel's job.)
Blood kept flowing from Percy's neck even after he was dead. Harry tried to stem the flow, his mind screaming and his heart stuttering, threatening to stop beating along with Percy's.
Hot liquid coated his palms, drowning his fingers in Percy's blood. Harry went light-headed. He'd seen Percy this pale and bloodless only once before.
Something growled in the back of his mind.
"No!" Harry stiffened. "Rachel, catch him!"
Rachel jerked back, still on her feet, wild eyes darting from Percy to Harry.
"What—"
Haydn manifested himself out of Harry's side. He grew from a small five-year-old to a large, long limbed wraith, white skinned, rubbery and menacing.
It snarled at Lupa and leaped at her face.
Rachel kicked it mid-jump. Her foot landed right in its face, slamming it back into the ground several yards from them. The wraith rolled back to its long limbs, hunched over like a starving gorilla, knuckles brushing against the ground.
"What the hell?!" Rachel shrieked, deafening everyone. "What the absolute f—"
Haydn stopped and curled over the ground, transforming back into a small child. He threw his hands over his ears and huddled over himself, quaking under Rachel's screaming.
They stared at it dumbfounded.
"How'd you do that?" Harry asked, stunned.
"Do… what?"
"You got him to stop?"
"I kicked him by accident!"
Harry didn't have the brain power to understand it all. Percy's blood was noticeably cooler than before. The flow was sluggish and Percy'd long since stopped twitching.
Haydn had curled into a small ball of sniffles at Rachel's feet now. She stood up, facing away from Percy's body.
"Bloody bitch," Rachel whispered. Lupa had already gone into the stone house so Rachel's words went unheard. But she hoped the sentiment was delivered anyway.
"Rach," Harry said, "It could take him days to wake up."
She flinched.
"Or weeks," Harry swallowed.
She continued swearing under her breath.
"I knew it!" Rachel hissed. "This was a bad idea. She was a bad idea. You saw how chill she was the whole time? She was planning to kill him. Just to make a point that she knows more about us than ourselves. What if she kills him again next time? Or me? She might want to equalize us before starting warm-ups!"
Harry could almost pretend he couldn't smell Percy's blood in the air. It was a miracle no monster was hunting them down right now.
Maybe they were too scared of Lupa. That made sense.
His hands shook. There was no point stemming the blood flow now. Harry sat on the ground, almost collapsing. His hands were covered in blood. Rachel's face still had the first jugular spray.
"You know…" she began. "Percy told me that… when Petunia shot you, your blood disappeared after a while."
Harry looked up at her. He stared hard at the bloody dots over her right cheek and temple.
"What do you see when you're dead?" she asked, out of the blue.
Harry looked down at his hands, which was a mistake. "I see Lily and James."
He'd said this once before, so it wasn't a huge shock to her. In return, Rachel had revealed that she'd been in a strange desert where she'd seen mass graves and pyres.
"What do they say to you?" she asked.
That was the rub. Dying stripped them of the memories. Harry was able to use occlumency to focus and retrieve flashes of what he'd seen. Whispers of their words that had been taken away. But it was far too difficult to permanently get back those moments. All he knew was that Lily and James were in Elysium and Harry could visit them when he was dead.
And that he could hear Elpis.
Hello, Elpis said, intrigued.
Harry sighed. Not now.
"Well?" Rachel asked.
"Er," Harry hesitated. "I only remember one thing."
"What?"
"They ask about you."
Rachel glanced over at him, unblinking. He wondered if she'd start shouting, interrogating why he never said that to her before.
Instead, she said, "What d'you think Percy'll see now?"
Neither had an answer for that.
Harry sat up suddenly. "Rach… you remember what that nerd said?"
What nerd? Did he mean Destin? She frowned for a moment before inhaling sharply.
Should you need to hide, use DJ's room.
Keep reviewing to let me know what you think of the story. Stay tuned for more goodness down the line!
Cabba.