Somewhere Only We Know - Ch. 2

Hi everyone, it's me again. Thank you for all the support I've received from chapter one. It's really helped me get through the ever mounting exam pressures and motivated me to get another chapter done. As always, all characters and major plot elements belong to Rick Riordan, and I hope you enjoy.

"I found two," Grover's suddenly whispered words cut through the turmoil of my thoughts, distracting me from my grumpiness at my mentor and trainer.

"What?" I asked, causing Annabeth to facepalm and mutter something that sounded suspiciously like "Seaweed Brain" Under her breath.

"Two Demigods? In Maine?" Thalia asked, choosing to ignore my cluelessness for once. Grover nodded, a grim expression on his face.

"A brother and sister. Powerful too," He said, glancing up at me and Thalia, who were walking slightly ahead. "Almost as powerful as you two. I'd put the difference down to age though."

Annabeth let out a whistle, betraying her shock at the fact that there weren't monsters swarming over the school. I was confused however.

"Hang on," I interjected. "For them to be that powerful, that must mean that one of the big three broke the oath again."

A silence descended over the group, our minds reeling from the implications of that bombshell. I glanced to my right just in time to catch the dark look on Thalia's face at the idea that her father had been unfaithful again. It was the kind of look that made me want to run away from her screaming in terror.

Soon enough, we reached a set of double doors with a sign above. I couldn't be bothered trying to read the sign as I probably wouldn't be able to anyway, but I inferred (from the loud music and chatter emanating from the other side) that it must be the gym.

I reached for the handle, but before I could swing the door open, Thalia stopped me by grabbing my arm. I looked at her and our eyes met once more. She blushed and dropped my arm, looking down at her feet and giving me a strong sense of deja vu from the moment she woke me up back in the car.

"Umm, Grover," she mumbled, attempting to cover her embarrassment. "When you asked us for a rescue, you made it sound like there was a big danger to the kids. Is there a monster we should be aware of?"

"Oh yeah," Grover replied, as if it had just occurred to him that we might want to know about the bad guys wanting to dismember us. "You just met him: Dr Thorn, the vice-principal.

-Line Break-

We stumbled our way through the crowd, my friends and I unsuccessfully trying to blend in with the other teens and children dancing and singing there. For a bunch of kids at a military academy, they sure did like to let loose at a party. There were black and red balloons all over the gym floor, and several games were being played involving the balloons being kicked at high speed into other people's faces. Across the room, I could see one guy clinging to the back of another, seemingly attempting to strangle him with one of the papier mâché streamers (that had been) taped to the wall. I couldn't decide whether they were just having a bit of fun, or whether the boy with the streamer was genuinely trying to kill the other person.

Choosing to not get myself caught up in that mess (Annabeth must be rubbing off on me) I caught up to the others who had come to a halt up ahead. After dodging a couple of girls with strappy tops who came charging past, and doing my best not to stare, I got close enough to my friends so that I could hear what they were saying, and could see the two kids that seemed to be the focus of their attention.

"There they are," Grover was saying, gesturing towards the bleachers where they were sitting. "Bianca and Nico di Angelo."

The girl wore a floppy green cap, like she was trying to hide her face. The boy was obviously her little brother. They both had dark, silky hair and olive skin, and they used their hands a lot as they talked. The boy was shuffling some kind of trading cards. His sister seemed to be scolding him about something. She kept looking around like she sensed something wrong. Looking at them, I felt a pang of envy. They seemed to be so comfortable and used to one another. They made me wish that I had a sibling - though maybe not on the godly side: that would introduce complications.

Again, drawing me out of my thoughts, Annabeth cleared her throat and asked Grover: "Do they... I mean, have you told them?"

Grover shook his head. "You know how much more danger it would put them in. Once they realise who they are, their scent'll become so strong we wouldn't have just Dr Thorn to worry about.

He looked at me and I nodded, not totally understanding his words, but I knew that somehow monsters became more attracted to you if you knew you were a demigod. The more powerful a demigod you became; the more you smelled like a monster-sized snack.

"Let's grab them and get out of here," I said, already starting forwards. Before I could get more than a few paces, Thalia put her hand on my shoulder. Dr Thorn had appeared from behind the bleacher and was staring at us coldly. His eyes glowing a slight blue colour. "Guess he wasn't fooled by your trick Thals," I mumbled, turning away to avoid suspicion as much as I could.

"We'll have to wait for an opportunity to grab the kids," Annabeth strategized. Her nature as a child of Athena seemed to have kicked her mind into overdrive as she thought up a plan to rescue the siblings. "Try to blend in," she ordered. "You two are insanely powerful, you should confuse his senses. Try to mingle, act natural, do some dancing..."

"Dancing?" Thalia questioned, raising an eyebrow. "You expect us to dance? To Jesse McCartney?" She added, pulling a face that made me want to start giggling.

Grover looked hurt, and more than slightly annoyed. "Hey, I chose that," He protested.

"Oh my gods, Grover. That is, soooo lame. Can't you play like, Green Day or something?"

"Green who?"

"Nevermind." She rolled her eyes at me. "C'mon Jackson." She said, grabbing my arm and pulling me away from the group.

-Line Break-

Thalia seemed to lose much of her confidence as soon as we escaped the others. She kept glancing at me and then looking away the second she caught my eye. I figured she was stressed out from the rescue operation, and consequently tried to help her out.

"We'll be okay," I said, causing her gaze to snap over to me.

"What?" She asked, her bright, blue eyes staring at me in confusion.

"With the demigods," I clarified. "We'll make sure they're safe."

"Oh... Right." She almost seemed disapointed with my answer, biting her lip and looking away.

She sighed, the tension in her shoulders which I hadn't noticed previously seemed to ebb slowly away, and she looked back at me with a smile on her face. It completely changed the way her face looked and the light which suddenly caught her face as we emerged from behind a large group of people seemed to give her an almost ethereal look. In short: she was so beautiful that I completely missed what she had been talking to me about and made myself look like a blithering idiot once more.

"Sorry, what did you say?" I asked, blinking dumbly at her expectant expression.

"She rolled her eyes, an exasperated look coming over her. "You're such a kelp head," she stated, fixing me with a half-glare, half-pout which was so totally un-Thalia, it caused me to immediately burst out laughing.

She blushed, which only made me laugh even harder. "Shut up." She said, but there was no bite to her words and her expression (if possible) heated even further. "Are we going to dance or not?" She asked, trying to change the subject.

I opened my mouth to tease her, but I suddenly caught sight of the scene behind her, making me freeze in place with my mouth hanging open like a goldfish out of water. "They're gone," I whispered, still staring over Thalia's shoulder.

"What?" She asked, suddenly attentive and scanning the room around us for any danger.

"The kids... They're gone."