It All Started With The New Students... And The Murder

Chapter 27 : 3 Sad Bois

"Honestly, I get really fucking bored sometimes, but I didn't find this place. Artemis did." Percy replied with a small laugh. "We need to get to that island."

"Why?" Travis and Leo asked in unison.

"Because, for some reason, Reyna's dogs can't track scent onto that island." Percy explained. "Which is important if we don't want to be found. Also, there's no cell service there, which means we won't have to ignore calls."

That was all well and good, but something in that explanation hadn't sat right with Leo. "Wait, back up, Reyna might send her dogs after us?"

"Yeah." Percy answered. "They're great as pets, but they're also incredibly good at finding people, living or dead, and seeing as Annabeth currently has one of my hoodies, I wouldn't be surprised if Reyna decides to use them."

"That's not worrying at all." Travis said sarcastically. "How do we get over there then? You better not say we swim."

Percy laughed loudly this time. "We don't need to swim, or get wet for that matter. We'll get to Delos using this boat."

"Delos?" Leo asked as Percy grabbed a chain that was lying in the water and started pulling on it, his muscles rippling.

Whatever he was pulling was heavy. Very heavy.

"Delos," Percy grunted. "Is the name of the island, and, if I remember correctly, is also where Artemis and Apollo were born."

"So they know about this place as well?" Leo asked, knowing that if Will's father knew about the place, there would probably already be about a bajillion crap haikus about it and where to find it.

"Artemis does, but seeing as she's currently out on the ocean for the Navy, that won't be a problem." Percy replied. "As for Apollo, well he's said on multiple occasions that he has no earthly idea about the place, and being him, if he did he'd constantly be boasting about it."

Suddenly, a small boat shot out of the water, drying incredibly quickly.

They all got in and Percy grabbed another chain that was lying inside the boat and began pulling again, and, somehow, the boat started moving.

Leo listened carefully, trying to recognise how the system worked through hearing, as the water was too murky to see through. Or at least, it was for a while.

As they were within about 15 meters of the sandy shore of Delos, the water turned crystal clear, as if the island had some sort of magical border around it.

Moments later, they arrived at the shore and hopped off. Percy tied the chain to a pole and Leo knew why. It was a last ditch effort to keep them isolated, as with the chain tied up, the boat couldn't be hauled back to the other side.

"Welcome to Delos, boys." Percy announced proudly, spreading his arms. "The most relaxing place I know." He added, sitting down in the sand.

He wasn't wrong about the relaxing part. Delos was as good as silent, with the only noise coming from the water from the lake gently lapping against the shore, or occasional gusts of wind.

"What do we do now?" Leo asked, his ADHD kicking in.

"I was gonna say sit back and relax, maybe talk about something, but I'm sure you can build something from the stuff lying around here, MacGyver." Percy laughed, gesturing around them.

"Why do you and Reyna always call me that?" Leo was genuinely confused. He never understood the nickname.

"Wait, you've never watched MacGyver?" Travis sounded genuinely astounded.

"No I haven't, why?" Leo asked.

"Ok, I don't know when, but we are so binging that at some point, then you'll see why we call you that." Percy replied.

"You know, if he's Mac, doesn't that make Piper Riley?" Travis asked Percy, a small smile growing on his face.

"I don't know, I mean I still think that mac and Riley would make a perfect couple, so no, not really." Percy replied. "But Jason is definitely Jack."

Travis suddenly burst out laughing, nodding his head.

"Wow guys, thanks, I feel so involved in this conversation." Leo said with fake hurt in his voice.

"Can you build a TV here?" Travis asked, ending his laughing fit.

"No, of course not." Leo rolled his eyes.

"Dam, and we can't even get a signal here." Percy sighed. "Otherwise we'd watch it on my phone."

Leo couldn't help but laugh as well. "Hey, maybe I'll watch it when I get home."

They continued to sit in the sand in silence, with Leo deciding that he'd build a massive sandcastle to deal with his ADHD

"I know why you're doing this." Leo almost jumped into the water as Travis suddenly spoke up after almost an hour of silence.

"And what would that be?" Percy asked, sounding like he was about to fall asleep.

"You want to know why I've been acting the way I've been acting." Travis replied.

"I don't want you to tell me if that's what you're thinking." Percy said. "Because I already know what happened."

"How?" Leo and Travis asked simultaneously.

"It's not too hard for me. You have that look in your eye... I've seen it many times. Reyna has it, Nico has it, I have it, hell, even Leo has it. You lost someone."

Travis sniffled, nodding, as Leo watched in shock.

"I don't want to be insensitive, but if I had to guess, I'd say your grandma." Percy said.

"Y- yeah. H- how did you know t- that it was h- her?" Travis asked, stuttering as tears began to well in his eyes.

"As I said, you have that look of someone who lost someone the were close to. I knew it wasn't your mother, because you always told us how she was closer to Connor, and when you were talking this morning, you seemed a lot more affected than he was." Percy explained.

"I don't blame her for p- preferring him. He's younger, smarter, funnier, kinder, better looking." Travis choked out. "He- he's a better me."

Leo's heart threatened to break at how defeated and broken his friend sounded.

He looked over to Percy and they silently made their way to Travis, sitting down on either side of him.

"F- for some reason, m- our grandma seemed t- to prefer me." Travis continued, tears now streaming down his face. "S- so I- I decided that if I c- couldn't have my mother's preference, I'd l- live with being g- granny's favourite. B- but n- now I'm going to have to w- watch how the one family member w- who truly loved m- me get lowered into a- a grave."

Leo remembered the pain he'd felt as he watched his mother get lowered into her grave after she'd burned to death in a fire he'd caused.

"I'm not gonna lie to you Travis, it's not gonna be easy." Leo told him. "But I promise you, you'll regret it so much if you don't go to the funeral."

"He's right Trav, and if you want, I'll be there." Percy assured him.

It went without saying that Leo would go as well. He and Travis were close friends and something like this was exactly what friends were for.

"T- thanks. Just p- please don't t- tell the others." Travis was fully crying now. "E- especially not K- Katie."

"Your secret is safe with me Travis." Percy promised.

"Same here." Leo agreed. "And when you're ready to tell everyone, let us know and we'll stand by you."