AN: So here I am, back again with another chapter, better some of you didn;t see that coming! That said, I am happy I did come back. The idea is interesting I think, and although probably not unique, what is as far as fanficiton goes, it is still fun to play around with and has plenty of room for exploration and development. That, and I was happy with how popular the first two chapters seemed to be, a lot of people seemed to buy into it, that or they were willing to give it a go at least and see how it plays out.
Either way here is the next chapter, I hope you enjoy and please do leave a review! Also fun little tidbit for the PJO nerds out there, today, the 18th August, is apparently canon Percy Jackson's Bday, so that's a thing!
Another thing while I am at it, is this. I am a part of a discord group, there's tonnes of others there, plenty of writers, admittedly mainly PJO, but other stuff too. Feel free to pop along and say hi, I'm always happy to chat about the stuff I am writing. So if you fancy it please do to join by sticking '8rp5uActfK' this into discord, or using the link on my bio.
Thanks for reading and please do leave a review, that or feel free to PM, I am usually much better at answering those!
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson.
( - )
(Last Time)
Forcing out a laugh at that, Percy just shrugged. "Yeah sorry, stupid I know, but to be fair I only just woke up, like an hour ago, and I had a long night, the night before."
"Excuses, excuses." Thalia shook her head.
"Maybe that's it." Annabeth muttered, her stormy grey eyes once again boring into him. "I think you should get some sleep on the way up to Maine. This job is important, we all need to be at one hundred percent."
"Right, sure thing." Percy nodded.
Annabeth however, merely continued to watch him expectantly for a few seconds, as if hoping for something more, before she then sighed and looked away.
Frowning at this, Percy was about to speak again. However, before he could, his mother came back into the kitchen wearing a coat, with her car keys in one hand and a rucksack in the other.
"Well come on then, the sooner we set off the sooner we'll get there. Next stop, Bay Harbour, Maine."
( - )
Chapter 3
( - )
(With Percy)
It took them almost eight hours to drive from Sally's apartment in New York to Westover School in Bar Harbour, Maine.
It was a long time for anyone to be cooped up in a car, more so when the people you were cooped up with were two former enemies turned apparent friends and an unfamiliar woman who was now your mother.
Suffice it to say there had been several long stretches of awkward silence during the car trip as they intermittently listened to the early noughties music blasting out of the radio - there had been a lot of Linkin Park - even as sleet and snow pounded the highway making their already slow and uncomfortable journey both slower and more uncomfortable.
From what he understood from the limited conversation he had engaged in. Annabeth and Thalia had been in regular contact over the last few months. Apparently, they went to the same school in New York.
Despite the proximity of their school to 'other Percy's' apartment, however, neither of them had seen the 'other Percy' in all that time. Meaning that for them it had been nearly five months since they had last properly spoken to him. Ironically he had seen his version of the two girls more recently and more often than they had seen his counterpart, which was especially amusing considering the vastly different relationship he had had with his version of them.
Unfortunately, despite the obviously close relationship between the two demigoddesses, neither of them had stepped in to fill the long silences that had sprung up throughout the journey. As far as he could tell they were most likely too nervous to talk much. That or there were some underlying thoughts and feelings at play that he wasn't quite aware of.
Thankfully, when the silences became too strained his 'mum' stepped up to the pitch and hit a home run. Apparently, Sally Jackson was the type of person who talked more when she was nervous or feeling uncomfortable.
Both fortunately, and also unfortunately, what Sally had to say revolved almost entirely around Percy, or at least the Percy she knew and the one his spirit, soul, mind or whatever you wanted to call it, had replaced.
Now in some ways, this was beneficial as it gave him more insight on who the imposter Percy, the one who was the son of Poseidon, was and how he acted.
But in other ways, it also meant he got secondhand embarrassment from the tales Sally was spinning. Especially since, by the time they finally got to Westover Hall she'd told both, Annabeth and Thalia, his former foes, every embarrassing baby story there was to tell about 'the Percy that was'.
Thankfully, as with all things the interminable torture that was the car journey ended.
Pulling up to a set of open, wrought iron gates, he looked back from the front seat and watched as Thalia wiped the fog off the car window and peered outside. Her lips noticeably twitched upwards to show a sliver of her pearly whites as she took in the scenery in front of her.
"Oh, yeah. This'll be fun."
Looking out of the window too, Percy could easily see what had Thalia so excited. Westover Hall looked almost like an evil knight's gothic castle. It was all black stone, with towers and slit windows and a big set of iron-studded wooden double doors. To add to it's imposing and creepy atmosphere. The building also stood on a snowy cliff overlooking a big frost-covered forest on one side and the grey churning ocean on the other.
It was almost amusing how cliché Westover Hall looked. It was almost as if it had been specifically created to be a set piece in a cheesy 1960s horror film.
And yes, he was aware of cheesy Hollywood films, as despite his childhood under the sea, and the brutal training regime his father had insisted that he follow, he was more than aware of popular culture. Soon after the titans had started to rise he'd been sent to the surface to gather support and organise and lead the grassroots rebellion that was taking par. During that time he'd binged on mortal culture and entertainment, like a starving man gorging himself on food.
"Are you sure you don't want me to wait?" Sally asked as he opened the car door and stepped into the cold wind and sleet.
"No, thanks," Percy replied his normally brusque tone giving way to a softer one as he looked back and gave her a smile. Sally Jackson was a good person and one of the few thoroughly decent mortals he had ever met. She was kind, and generous and seemed to really, genuinely care about him. It was a novel experience, short though it had been, and one that he would almost certainly want to explore more if and when he had the chance. "I don't know how long it will take. We'll be okay."
"But how will you get back? I'm worried, Percy." Sally pressed.
Smiling at her concern, Percy leaned down and looked back at her through the open car window- deliberately ignoring the snickering Thalia he could see in his periphery- as he instead sent her a crooked smile. "It's okay, I'll stay out of trouble."
"And if not then I've always got his back too Mrs Jackson," Annabeth added from behind Percy's shoulder.
Sally seemed to relax a little at the daughter of Athena's words. Apparently, she had more confidence in Annabeth's assurances than in his own. It was slightly irritating. But then again maybe it was just an overprotective mother thing?
"All right, dears," Sally spoke up again, oblivious to his thoughts as a smile spread across her face. "Do you have everything you need?"
"Yes, Mrs Jackson," Thalia said with a smirk, her hip cocked as she sent Percy a smug look. Apparently, Thalia at least was content with the amount of dirt she had farmed on the 'other Percy' during the drive. "Thanks for the ride."
"Extra sweaters? You have my cell phone number?"
"Yes—" Percy started to say, his expression slightly bemused. She was being overprotective, it was sweet. It gave him a warm feeling in his chest.
"Your ambrosia and nectar, Percy? And a golden drachma in case you need to contact the camp?" Sally pressed on, overriding his previous response before he could finish assuaging her of her worries.
"Yes, we'll be fine. Thanks for the lift, and once this is all over I'll IM you to let you know how it goes." Percy replied patiently, a smile still playing across his face, even as he gave Sally a nod and a slightly wider smile before he turned away and looked back at the Hall. "I'll see you later. Now come on, Thalia, Annabeth, let's get this over with."
Nodding, Annabeth and Thalia followed behind him as he started walking away from the car and towards the nearby wrought iron gates. Amusingly this was the first time he had been driven to a battle in a family car by a parental figure. Hopefully, it didn't become a regular occurrence.
Continuing forward, he easily ignored the wind as it blew straight through his coat like icy daggers. He was used to colder temperatures than this. After all, he had lounged about in the deepest depths of the ocean. A little cold wind didn't compare to the frigid temperatures of the ocean floor. Annabeth and Thalia though were already shivering from their exposure to the wind. This was despite the warm, thermal layers they were using.
Once Sally's car was out of sight, and they had made it through the gates, Thalia turned to him and said, "Your mum is so cool, Percy."
"She's pretty good, yeah," Percy nodded. A part of him wished she was actually his mum, and that it had been her that raised him, and not his father and stepmother. "What about you? What's your mother like?"
He'd asked the follow-up question out of propriety. Someone asks you something, and in turn, you reply and then ask them something back. From his experience, it was how awkward small talk went. That was one reason he'd asked anyway. The other was because there was part of him that was quite curious about Thalia. In his lifetime he had only known her as an enemy. She had been relentless, powerful and deadly. More than that he had been the one to kill her. Right here and now it felt only right to try and learn more about his one-time foe while he had the chance.
Unfortunately, the sentiment did not seem to be shared and his attempts at small talk were also seemingly unappreciated. Almost the moment the words had left his lips, Thalia gave him an evil look - and yes from experience he had already known she was good at those. What with the punk clothes she tended to wear, the ripped-up army jacket, black leather pants, chain jewellery, black eyeliner and her intense blue eyes. Thalia had always been very good at giving nasty glares.
"If that was any of your business, Percy-" Thalia began to say, her lip curling upwards in a snarl.
Fortunately, before she could get going on what would no doubt be a vicious and cutting rant, she was thankfully interrupted by their other companion.
"We'd better get inside," Annabeth interrupted. "Grover will be waiting."
Thalia sent him one more cold look, before turning back to the castle and shivering. "You're right. I wonder what he found here that made him send the distress call."
Percy stared up at the dark towers of Westover Hall. "Presumably he picked up on the scent of monsters lurking around, and powerful ones at that since these demigods need an emergency pickup."
With that said, he stepped up to the heavy oak doors and pushed them open. The hinges made loud a groaning noise as the door swung open, and the three demigods stepped through the doorway and into the entry hall in a swirl of snow and cold air.
"Cool…" Thalia muttered, breaking the silence as all three of them looked around.
Taking in his surroundings, Percy couldn't help but agree with the sentiment. The place just looked cool. The entrance hall was cavernous. Its walls were lined with battle flags and weapon displays: antique rifles, battle axes, and a whole load of other weapons and armaments. Westover had really leaned into its identity as a military school. In some ways, it had almost gone over the top in trying to exert its identity. It was bordering obnoxious.
The overkill decorations aside, there was also something wrong with the place. Something dangerous. At his side, he could see Thalia nervously rubbing her silver bracelet, her favourite magic item. By the looks of things, both of them were thinking the same thing. A fight was coming.
"I wonder where-" Annabeth started to say.
Only to be silenced as the door slammed shut behind them.
"Ominous," Percy muttered, before looking sideways at Annabeth. "Alright let's get started with Plan A."
"Yeah, go invisible Anne and scout out ahead. But remember, don't go too far as we don't know what we're dealing with here and having you around but unseen will be a pretty handy trump card. Me and seaweed breath over here, we'll go on ahead, meet up with Grover and get the 411 on what's happening. After that, we'll identify just what we're up against, and if it's trouble... well we'll cause a scene whilst you go in and evacuate the newbies. Grover will be your backup." Thalia jumped in, a note of confidence and expectation in her voice as she recited the agreed-upon plan and then looked around at the two of them.
"Right," Annabeth nodded, her stormy eyes locking with his own for a moment. Her expression was slightly uncertain, almost as if she was on the brink of saying something. Only for her to say nothing in the end as both her eyes and the rest of her form completely disappeared from view as she donned her baseball cap. The magic item rendered her completely invisible to the naked eye, but not to other senses. "Go make a scene, and try not to get killed."
"So basically a typical Saturday night," Thalia smirked, her blue eyes meeting Percy's green.
Tilting his head to the side slightly, Percy looked at her levelly for a moment before nodding. It was weird to be working with the girl, both because of his history with her counterpart, and also because of how standoffish she had been to him literally minutes previously. But still, adaptability was always one of his greatest strengths.
"Let's stick together." Percy nodded. "We're still not sure what we'll be facing, and with there being so many mortals… well I honestly don't want this to turn into a bloodbath."
Some of the excitement faded from Thalia's eyes. "Talk about being a buzzkill."
Ignoring her response, and tuning out Annabeth's footsteps as he heard her breaking away from their group and prowling off ahead, Percy focused on the music he could hear echoing from the other end of the hall. It sounded like cheesy dance music.
Stashing their overnight bags behind a nearby pillar - Thalia had taken Annabeth's after she went full invisible woman - they shared one last look and started off down the hall. Slowing his pace, he made sure they walked side by side as they did so. At his side, he could see Thalia still playing with the silver charms on her bracelet, even as he toyed with his newly acquired ballpoint pen.
He did not yet know the name of his counterpart's magic sword. But he at least had a good idea as to how to use it. It was a ballpoint pen, and presumably also had an enchantment that let it turn into its true form after the lid had been removed.
Continuing down the hallway side-by-side the two of them had barely made it a half dozen metres before they heard footsteps on the stone floor up ahead. Two pairs of footsteps to be precise, both of them walking in concert with one another, with the footsteps belonging to people much heavier than Annabeth was.
Holding out his arm to stop Thalia, and gaining a baleful look from the girl in response, Percy stopped and watched as a man and woman marched out of the shadows and intercepted the two of them before they could make it to the main hall and join in with the festivities.
They both had short grey hair and black military-style uniforms with red trim. The woman had, amusingly enough, a wispy moustache and a mole on her chin, and the guy was gaunt-faced and clean-shaven. It was almost ironic that the woman had a better moustache than the man. Approaching the pair of demigods both teachers walked stiffly almost like they had broomsticks rammed up their backsides.
"Well?" The stern-looking woman demanded. "What are you two doing here?"
"We're running late," Percy stated bluntly, his expression hardening as he met their stern expression with a cold one of his own. He didn't like being pushed around or bullied and these two teachers, he presumed, gave off the impression of bullies who enjoyed throwing their weight around. That, and he got the distinct whiff of a monster from one of the two. He had spent enough time among monsters to recognise the foul stench of Tartarus when he smelt it. "But now we're here, we'll just head in…."
"Ha!" The man snapped loudly, his eyes narrowing into slits as he glared directly at Percy. "Visitors are not allowed at the dance! It is for students of Westover Hall only, you will both leave! Now!"
He had an accent, French maybe. He pronounced his J like in Jacques. He was tall, and very pale, with an angular hawkish face, far too severe to ever be called good-looking. His nostrils flared when he spoke, which made it really hard not to stare up his nose, and his eyes were two different colours -one brown, one blue- like an alley cat's.
Clenching his hands into fists - one of them around the ballpoint pen in his pocket - Percy felt a familiar tugging sensation in his gut. At the same time that this sensation occurred, he also instantly became aware of all the water in the area, most of which was flowing through pipes in the walls and under the stone slabs beneath his feet. Additionally, he also felt the flesh beneath his coat writhe in preparation as small spines started to form along the tops of his fists, even as the texture of his palms became more fibrous, with small barbs jutting out of his flesh.
If a fight was about to break out he would make sure to hit first and hit fast. He would try and minimise collateral damage and mortal casualties if he could help it. But if either of the two 'maybe monsters' made a move on him, they were going down. Thankfully, Celestial Bronze only worked on monsters, so hopefully if one of the duo was not a monster then they would only be slightly traumatised and not dead after having a bronze blade shoved through their chests.
Fortunately, before things could escalate, Thalia stepped forward and brought the situation back under control.
Raising her hand, Thalia snapped her fingers. The sound was sharp and loud.
"Oh, but we're not visitors, sir," Thalia said confidently. "We go to school here. You remember: I'm Thalia. And this is Percy. We're in the tenth grade."
The male teacher narrowed his heterochromatic eyes, identifying himself as the most likely one to be the monster as he seemingly saw through the Mist.
Only for him to hesitate as he broke eye contact with Thalia and instead looked at his colleague. "Mrs. Gottschalk, do you know these students?"
The woman blinked in response like someone had just woken her from a trance. "I… yes. I believe I do, sir." She frowned at the two of them. "Thalia. Percy. What are you doing away from the gymnasium? Have the two of you been out canoodling, you know that that kind of contact between students is forbidden!"
Before either of them could answer that awkward statement, Percy heard more footsteps approaching.
A distraction.
Looking over the two teacher's shoulders, Percy watched as a pasty-skinned, freckled, ginger-haired teen hobbled breathlessly over to them. "You made it! You-"
He stopped short when he saw the teachers. "Oh, Mrs Gottschalk. Dr Thorn! I, uh—"
"What is it, Mr Underwood?" The male teacher snapped irritably. His tone made it clear that he detested the boy who, Percy assumed, was Grover, their contact. "What do you mean, they made it? These students live here."
Grover swallowed. "Y-Yes, sir. Of course, Dr Thorn. I just meant I'm so glad they made… the punch for the dance! The punch is great. And they made it!"
Dr Thorn glared at the trio. He looked like he wanted to pitch all three of them off the castle's highest tower. But then, before he could say or do anything else, Mrs. Gottschalk spoke up abruptly, "Yes, the punch is excellent. Now run along, all of you. You are not to leave the gymnasium again, and Percy, Thalia, I'll be watching you, I don't expect to see any funny business happening. Keep it strictly PG. This is a school remember, and not some tawdry bordello."
Thalia flushed deep red at the teacher's parting remark and the insinuations it held, even as Grover pulled persistently at their sleeves and urged the pair of them to follow him.
Glancing over at the satyr, Percy gave him a curt nod and then with a perfunctory 'yes sir' and 'yes ma'am' to the two teachers, he grudgingly allowed Grover to hustle both Thalia and him, down the hall and in the direction of the music.
Feeling the teachers' eyes on his back as he walked, Percy sidled closer to the slightly red-faced Thalia and asked in a low voice, "You did pick up that one of those two is a monster, didn't you?"
"Yeah," Thalia muttered quickly, the pink slowly leaving her face as she nodded. Her previous embarrassment seemed to be forgotten for the moment as she instead focused on the here and now. "My money is on it being Thorn. You saw the way he reacted to the Mist, right?"
"Almost like he completely shrugged it off, and then backpedalled when that other teacher fell for it." Percy agreed. "Do you reckon we should try and take him out?"
"We could try. But I'm not sure what he is, or how powerful he is. As you said before, I don't want this turning into a bloodbath. Not when we're in a school full of innocent kids." Thalia muttered back, her expression intense and annoyed. "It's just too risky. As much as I hate to say it, we'll need to tread carefully and make sure to keep an eye on Thorn."
"You're the leader," Percy nodded. He didn't like her presumption from before that she was a better leader than him, and could as she put it: 'run rings around him', he had the personal experience that proved that to be shark shit. But he could at least acknowledge that she knew more about the current situation than him. Especially considering he had just woken up in a different version of his own world and as a different version of himself after apparently dying.
Suffice it to say, he was not in the right headspace to lead. Nor was he cognizant of all the facts. Which is why, for the moment, he was happy to let her continue to take the lead. He was being magnanimous.
Allowing Grover to hurry him to a door that had GYM written on the glass, Percy took another moment to look the satyr up and down. He had never seen this one before. Annabeth and Thalia had both been familiar and had been very similar, or at least physically, to their counterparts, though noticeably younger. In terms of personality, they were a lot less hostile and outright adversarial to him. Which was a definite bonus. Grover though. He didn't know who his counterpart was. His name was unfamiliar, as was his distinctive appearance.
"That was close!" Grover said after a few moments, a sheepish grin spreading across his face as he looked between them. "Thank the gods you got here! Where's Annabeth though?"
"She's wearing her hat and scouting ahead," Thalia said as she moved to hug Grover. Her expression then turned slightly serious as she proceeded to rattle off, quietly, the agreed-upon plan again for Grover's sake.
Giving the satyr a nod, Percy was forced to also give him a high five as the goat boy held out his hand expectantly.
"It's great to see you again, Percy. It feels like it's been ages." Grover said enthusiastically.
"Yeah, it's been a while." Percy allowed, once again forcing a smile.
"Are you alright, you seem different?" Grover replied, a slight frown furrowing his brow as he seemed to lean forward as if to have a closer look at him. "And you smell a little differently too…"
"Hah," Thalia snorted. "Maybe you should have had a shower before we left fishboy!"
"Should I be offended?" Percy asked, ignoring Thalia's cackling as he sent Grover a curious look. He knew that satyrs, like monsters, could smell demigods or in his case, demi-titans. But he had never worked out what the 'scent' they talked about smelled like, aside from 'good' or 'delicious'. The 'scent' as it was called, from what little he did know or had guessed, seemed to give an indication of both divine blood, the strength of the demigod, and of what domains the demigod in question was potentially connected to.
"Bahaha," Grover brayed, "No, no it's nothing like that. Your demigod scent is just stronger, and… well the smell of the sea is more intense too, you just smell a lot... fishier than before…."
Thalia broke out into a full-on laugh at that.
"Thanks," Percy replied dryly, even as Grover clumsily tried to justify his previous remarks. "So anyway I thought this was an emergency, where are the demigods you found?"
"In the hall," Grover said sheepishly gesturing to the gymnasium behind him.
Percy hummed in response.
Now he thought about it. He could understand why Grover had requested three demigods, two of whom were children of the Big Three, as backup. Putting aside the heritage of the two demigods. They were still a rare find. After all, finding one half-blood was rare enough, let alone two, as there weren't all that many demigods in existence. More pressing than the deficit of demigods in general, however, was also the fact that the Camps were in desperate times.
At around this time in his timeline, the Camps were steadily losing campers. Some were dying as the monster population soared due to the 'Great Stirring', others were changing sides. While still others saw the possibility of war and fighting ahead and ran for the hills and went into hiding. The Camps were desperate for new campers right now, which is also probably why this mission had been given such a priority.
"A brother and a sister," Grover continued. "They're twelve and fourteen. I don't know their parentage, but they're strong. We're running out of time, though. I need help."
"Monsters?" Thalia asked abruptly.
"One as far as I can tell." Grover looked nervous.
"Thorn?" Percy cut in expectantly.
"Yeah, he's the vice principal and I think he suspects what they are. I don't think he's positive yet, but this is the last day of term. I'm sure he won't let them leave campus without finding out. It may be our last chance! Every time I try to get close to them, he's always there, blocking me. I don't know what to do!" Grover replied, looking at Thalia desperately.
Frowning, Percy once again played with the ballpoint pen in his pocket, even as he pensively stared ahead at the door to the gymnasium. He was pretty confident he could probably take down Thorn, especially if he was able to strike first. But again there were issues of them being in a school, and thus being surrounded by innocent kids. Collateral damage was acceptable in some forms, but he personally drew the line at knowingly endangering innocent, harmless children. Or at least he did when there were other ways to proceed.
"Right," Thalia finally said. "These half-bloods are at the dance?"
Grover nodded.
"Then let's dance," Thalia said looking between the two of them.
( - )
The gymnasium was packed. There were black and red balloons all over the gym floor, and similarly coloured streamers and bunting along the wall. There were also more than a hundred middle school kids in the gym, all of them wearing either dressers or smart shirts and trousers. Some of the girls looked like they had made a real effort, and were made up nicely. Likewise, some of the boys were also in suits, with their hair gelled and a cloud of cheap aftershave rolling off them.
Overall, the place looked chaotic. Music was banging out of some speakers, with some older kids dancing away to the beat. Whilst the younger ones tended to clump up together at the edges of the gym, in groups made up of their own gender.
It all made for quite a strange and novel scene, especially for Percy, who prior to this had never even been in a school before, let alone attended a school dance. It looked like fun, and were things different he would probably take a minute and try and enjoy himself whilst he was here.
Unfortunately, they were on a mission, and despite his stake in this mission being very low, he still had to keep up appearances. Or at least. he did until he could think up something better. After all, it is not every day that you wake up in another world and in the body of someone very similar, but also very different to you. It was the kind of shit that happened in films, not in real life. Then again magic, monsters, and actual gods. Those too were pretty fantastical, and for most mortals would be things they would also expect to see only on the big screen.
"There they are," Grover spoke up, breaking through Percy's thoughts as he nodded toward a couple of younger kids arguing in the bleachers. "Bianca and Nico di Angelo."
Looking over at the pair Grover pointed out, Percy quickly caught sight of the annoying pair of pests. They both looked like younger, more obnoxious versions of the brats of Hades he knew. The girl wore a floppy green cap like she was trying to hide her face. The boy meanwhile was short, and obviously her little brother. They were both very slim and had dark silky hair, dark eyes and olive skin.
Focusing on the familiar-looking boy, Percy quickly noticed that he was shuffling some kind of trading cards. His sister, Bianca, who he also recognised from the battlefield, seemed to be scolding her brother about something. On top of her lecturing though, Percy also noticed that she kept looking around, almost like she could sense something was wrong.
"Have you told them what they are yet?" Percy asked.
Grover shook his head. "You know how it is. That could put them in more danger. Once they realise who they are and what they are, their scent will become stronger."
Percy nodded. He knew what Grover meant. The more powerful a demigod became the more they smelled like a monster's lunch. Which of course made it slightly odd, or at least in his opinion, that satyrs were able to smell the scent of a half-blood. Did that mean they were a form of monster and not nature spirits? Did it also mean that they would take a bite out of a demigod if they got hungry enough? It was food for thought.
"So let's get on with it then. We'll make a distraction, whilst Annabeth grabs them and gets them out of here," Percy said looking over at Thalia.
"But will she know what they look like?" Grover asked nervously.
"Yeah, Anne is a smart one. She's probably already scoped out the hall and then came over to listen in to what we were saying the moment we entered." Thalia snorted. "She'll be fine."
The invisible hand that Percy could feel poking him in the cheek seemed to back up Thalia's confidence.
"She's right, now let's get started." Percy nodded.
Unfortunately, before either one of them could do a thing, Thalia let out a sudden hiss and nodded her head over in the direction of the vice principal, Dr Thorn, who chose that exact moment to slip out of a doorway near the bleachers, where he then went to stand near the Di Angelo siblings.
Meeting his gaze, Percy watched as the monster nodded coldly in his direction. His blue eye seemed to glow. Almost at once, Percy knew they had been rumbled. Thorn knew who they were, no doubt it was the little trick with the Mist and their scents that had clued him in. It meant that he was now waiting to see why the 'three' of them were here. Judging by the way he positioned himself though, he likely already knew.
"Don't look at the kids," Thalia ordered quickly, also catching onto what was happening. "We need to pretend we're not interested in them. Throw him off the scent. We need to draw him away so Anne can make her move."
"How?" Percy asked.
Subterfuge had never been his forte.
"We're two powerful half-bloods. Our presence should confuse him. Hopefully with the 'scent' we give off we can mask Anne and the two kids' scent. So mingle. Act natural. Do some dancing. But keep an eye on those kids." Thalia replied.
"Is this where the distraction comes in?" Percy pressed his gaze resolutely not on Thorn. He was a warrior, not a spy. But one thing he thought he'd probably excel in, was creating a distraction.
Thalia nodded. "Do you have something in mind?"
"I'm sure I can think of something," Percy muttered before he took a step back and pointed his hand at Thalia, raising his voice theatrically as he did so. "What do you mean you cheated on me with Mike!?"
"What?" Thalia hissed back, her eyes suddenly going wide as she felt many gazes shifting in their direction. "Who's Mike?"
"I thought we were in love! I thought we were going to be together forever!" Percy shouted, raising his voice further as he quickly became the centre of attention. A part of him was enjoying hamming it up a bit. That and, petty though it might be, he also enjoyed needling Thalia a bit. His erstwhile enemy and now ally had been a thorn in his side for quite a while before she died. In a way, it was therapeutic to see the way her pale face went red with anger and embarrassment.
"Percy…" Thalia growled, "What are you doing?"
"Making a scene," Percy muttered back, before raising his voice as he continued his performance. "What! Have you got nothing to say? You rip my heart out by fucking my best friend and all you can do is sit there and stare!"
From around the room, he could hear the muttering of the other teens and kids. All of them were leaning forward as they tuned into the ongoing drama with horrified fascination.
"Me! You've got some nerve! You're the one who cheated first! I saw you, behind the greenhouse, making out with Derrick!" Thalia shouted back at him, reaching out and shoving him slightly. Feeling the shove, far weaker than he knew she was capable of, Percy deliberately stumbled back a few steps.
"Really, that's the direction you want to take this?" Percy muttered, his own cheeks going a little pink as the audience seemed to lean in even closer. They had now become the main attraction, trumping both the music and dancing as over three-quarters of the hall tuned into their showdown.
Thalia smirked back at him.
"Nothing happened between me and Derrick. That is just you being crazy and deliberately misinterpreting things! You've been watching too much TV! No, this is just you making up shit to try and excuse your lying and cheating ways. Was he the first?" Percy shouted back.
"The first? He wasn't even the seventh!" Thalia retorted. "But hey, it's not my fault you can't perform properly. It's not my fault you have a tiny penis!" To add insult to injury, Thalia chose this moment to raise her left hand and wiggle her little finger at him.
A chorus of 'ooohs' and 'ahhhs' went around the watching crowd now.
From the periphery of his vision, Percy could see Mrs Gottschalk had just entered the room, her expression practically livid, even as Dr Thorn stared at them in confusion.
Likewise, he could see that the Di Angelo kids were gone, as was Grover.
"It's not tiny!" Percy shouted back, shifting his attention back to the smirking Thalia. "It's just smaller than yours Thalia. Or should I say, Theo!"
Thalia had to hold back a snort. "Well, it's not hard!"
"I'm glad because it would be awkward if it was right now!" Percy returned fire, loudly and exuberantly.
"That is enough!" Mrs Gottschalk finally intervened, storming over, her eyes blazing as she seized both Percy and Thalia by their upper arms. "There will be no more of this foolishness! This is a dance, not a place for you to air your inappropriate and entirely unacceptable grievances against one another! You will both come with me now so I can sort out your punishment!"
With that said, she firmly steered them away and out of the dance floor, past the bleachers and out the door. The crowd of watching students, parted around them like the red sea as they were forcibly escorted out of the gym. Many of the students muttered or whispered to one another as they passed.
"Vice Principal Thorn, if you would please keep an eye on the rest of the students, I will see to these reprobates myself!" Mrs Gottschalk continued, her attention momentarily shifting onto the hawkish Vice Principal as she strode towards the side door.
"Yes, of course…" Thorn nodded, his voice as accented as ever, even as his mismatched eyes bored into both Percy and Thalia. "I will certainly look after the students…" He continued, turning away from them and looking back at where the Di Angelo students had been earlier. Only for him to freeze as he saw that they were gone!
Smirking to himself at the poleaxed expression on Thorn's face, Percy waited until Mrs Gottschalk had steered both Thalia and himself out of the hall and in the direction of what he assumed was her office. Before he reached up with his free hand and grabbed the hand she had clasped to his other arm.
With a sudden cry of shock, Mrs Gottschalk jerked away from him, her arm twitching violently, only for her twitching to come to a sudden stop as she stopped moving entirely and instead collapsed forward and landed on the floor at his feet in an unmoving sprawl.
"What did you just do?" Thalia hissed, her eyes wide as she knelt beside Mrs Gottschalk's unmoving form. "Did you kill her?"
"No, just unconscious and paralysed. I only gave her a low dose, so she'll probably be able to shake it off." Percy replied. His attention was no longer on the teacher but instead on the door to the gym. He very much doubted Thorn would give up, not when there was still a chance for him to catch up with the Di Angelo siblings.
"A low dose of what?" Thalia snapped back at him from where she was knelt down checking Mrs Gottschalk's pulse.
"Venom." Percy shrugged, raising his hand and showing off the tiny barbs that covered the palm of his hands. "I've never been good with the Mist. So do your thing so that when she wakes up she won't remember what happened. Then we can head off and rendezvous with Annabeth and Grover outside."
Thalia scowled. Though whether she was scowling at the fact he was giving her orders, or because of his actions, he wasn't sure. Either way, she did her little trick with the Mist and then the both of them started jogging back to the entrance hall where they had left their bags, and where the main door out of the school was.
"You should have just let me use the Mist on her. Knocking her out like that was uncalled for." Thalia finally spoke up after a half minute of silence.
"Yeah, but this way she is unconscious, which means Thorn won't try and torture answers out of her and then kill her. The Mist is not perfect, nor is it mind control or completely memory erasing. With enough effort, its effects can be broken." Percy replied bluntly.
Thorn might be petty enough to kill her anyway, but honestly, Percy didn't see it. The monster was obviously careful and calculating. If he had been patient enough to hang around the school long enough to be certain of who and what the Di Angelo siblings were. Then chances were he wasn't the kind of being to be reckless or rash. He probably wouldn't just kill out of spite. Not when doing so would slow him down. But if he could gain something from it though, like information from torture and murder, then he might.
As far as Percy was concerned, by taking her out of the picture using his venom he had made her a non-factor. She wouldn't be much use to anyone anytime soon, which most likely meant that Thorn wouldn't bother with her, not when she would just slow down his pursuit of them.
"You don't know that," Thalia replied.
"Not for sure, no. But I know monsters, I know how they think and what they would most likely do in any given situation." Percy shot back.
Thalia grunted in reply. "So what was that back there, that stupid argument?"
"You wanted a scene, I caused a scene. Mortals and monsters both love entertainment, and what is more entertaining than needless drama?" Percy answered a slight smile once again playing around his lips as he jogged along next to the daughter of Zeus.
"There are a lot of things more interesting than that! I was thinking we'd dance or something! You know, liven up the party that way..." Thalia muttered back.
"What, like in the Footloose film?" Percy snorted.
"Shut up!" Thalia blushed. "And anyway, since when could you use venom?"
"Child of the Sea remember, I… recently learnt how to manipulate my own body to mimic the biology of different sea creatures," Percy replied hesitantly. Technically he had learnt to do that a decade ago, when he was seven, and had honed and practiced it for all the years since. But he couldn't just come out and say that, not when Thalia would likely mention it to Annabeth, who from what he had gathered had known him for a couple of years at this point. Long enough to know what he was and wasn't capable of, or at least before the summer which was when she had last seen him.
"Well, that's kinda bullshit," Thalia muttered.
"You can control the wind and throw lightning..." Percy deadpanned back as they rounded the corner and made it to the entrance hall.
"True, I am pretty awesome," Thalia smirked.
Neither of them slowed down as they ran through the entrance hall, scooping up their own bags and Annabeth's as they went.
According to the plan they had outlined, Annabeth and Grover would use the distraction to get the siblings out of the building and then head for the school gates, where both Percy and Thalia would meet them. After that, they would head to Camp Half Blood as fast as they could via car - according to Thalia she was pretty certain she could hotwire one of the teacher's cars.
Making it to the main doors the two of them were just about to throw them open when they were stopped by a fast-moving projectile.
Reacting quickly, Percy managed to avoid the projectile by leaping to the side, his preternatural hearing allowing him to pick up on the slight whistling sound the projectile made as it moved through the air.
Thalia, however, was not so lucky, as she had only just managed to turn around when she was struck by the projectile, and, as if she had been yanked backwards by a huge hand, was slammed back first into the door. The black dagger-like projectile had pinned her to the door by her coat and shirt, even as a small amount of blood trickled down her arm from where it had obviously cut her.
"Thalia!" Percy snapped as he turned to look at her, his eyes widening as he saw the pained expression on her face even as she tried to free herself.
It was an odd feeling to suddenly feel concern for a former enemy. But, despite only knowing her as an ally of sorts for all of nine hours, he did somehow feel genuine concern and anger at her being attacked. The feelings, they felt almost… alien, like they were not his own but were instead implanted in him unconsciously...
"I'm alright," Thalia gasped out as she tore herself free of the spike pinning her to the door, her jacket and shirt were both ripped as she succeeded in freeing herself and then fell down onto one knee. "It was just a scratch."
Shaking his head and pushing his strange thoughts away, Percy spun back to face the entrance hall, just in time to uncap his pen, extending it into a glowing, leaf-shaped bronze blade, even as he used the flat of the perfectly balanced sword to slap away another fast-moving projectile.
"Thorn," Percy stated bluntly blinking his eyes as he manipulated their biology to mimic the eyes of one of the many deep-sea fish he knew of, allowing his gaze to cut through the dark with ease. In response to his biological manipulations, the colours around him became brighter and more vivid as he focused on his foe.
A cold laugh echoed through the hall.
"Hello, Perseus Jackson," Dr Thorn said. His accent mangled the J in the word, Jackson. "Yes, I know who you are. Tell me, did you think yourself clever, did you think you could trick me with your little sideshow back there? It didn't, I'll be catching up to your friend Mister Underwood shortly. But for now, let me just thank you for leaving the gym of your own volition. I hate middle school dances."
Tightening his grip on his sword, Percy cast the pained-looking Thalia another glance of concern, before he turned back to Thorn.
Beneath his coat, he could already feel segmented chitinous armour forming. It was the same armour a crab might have, only scaled up by more than a hundred. It tended to afford him a great deal of protection against most foes.
From elsewhere he felt the water in the pipes around him start to shift. The pipes themselves rattled and groaned as the water within expanded and began to break loose from the copper piping.
WHIIIISH!
A third projectile shot from behind Dr Thorn. With his enhanced eyes, Percy could see exactly what the source was, it was a long, barbed, scorpion-like tail.
Moving his sword, Percy once again batted what he now realised was a tail spine, away.
"You two might as well give up now," Dr Thorn said. "Thalia Grace over there, she is already feeling the effects of my venom, and as she said, she only had a scratch. Tell me, do you want to test out my accuracy and potentially find out what a full dose will do, Perseus Jackson?"
Gripping his sword tighter, and moving into a sword fighter's stance, Percy gave Thorn a flat look. "Do you really think you stand a chance against me?"
( - )
AN: So what did you think? I'll admit I stray relatively close to canon here with some of the things that happened, but like you might have noticed in the chapter things started to change. This will become more and more noticeable as things progress, as this Percy is different to canon Percy, both in personality and abilties. All of this will become clearer as the story continues, including more of Percy's history, his Oceanus's based abiltites, and also other things, including his character development etc. I hav ea lot of things I want to play around with and explore in this story, so I hope you all continue to enjoy and read. If not, well I'll still write it, so it doesn't really matter in the end does it.
Either way, thanks for reading and stay tuned for more. Please do leave a review etc. your feedback helps, be it positive or negative. If it is negative though, please do make sure it is constructive, as otherwise I won't be able to improve.
Thanks for reading, and catch you all later.
Greed720.