¹Royal Cries, p. jackson

001.

ROYAL CRIES
━━ chapter one

━━ ELISA DIDN'T ENJOY the jittery feelings she'd get around a certain person. She never had. They often spelled bad things for her. Every crush she ever had often ended in disaster. ( More often than not for herself than the person at the receiving end of her feelings. ) So in true Elisa fashion, she decided never to get those feelings for anyone—it sounded a lot easier.

               People always said there was no way to control who you loved. Something Elisa very much agreed with.

               Though, it wasn't like she loved anybody in a romantic sense. She didn't! She loves Nico like a brother, she loves Bianca like a sister, she loves Castor and Pollux as any good younger sister should, and she loves Zoë like a friend. It didn't matter to her that some of the people died, the love for someone never goes away even if they have past on.

               However, the line between friendship and a disaster-crush-waiting-to-happen line was starting to blur between Elisa and Percy. She wasn't sure when it started. Or what changed everything. Perhaps it had been back on the freight train, the turning point in their relationship from complete nuisance to mild nuisance. Maybe it had been when the two bore the curse of Atlas together.

               Or possibly, it was just Percy's stupid—maybe perfect and addictive—smile that drew her in. The way his eyes glinted when he talked about rock music with her, talked about the latest comic book he read, or TV shows he had watched.

               She thoroughly enjoyed the dumb, horrible stick-figure drawings of his previous quests he would give her as explanations instead of writing a letter. The dopey way his letters would ramble on, completely losing track of what the synopsis was.

               Or when he listened to her ramblings on whatever new music artist she had found that week. Or why she thought his theories about whatever comic it was that month were completely ridiculous and made no sense whatsoever. ( He always told her it was a "headcanon" and that he didn't think it was possible, just a fun thing to consider. She had no idea what the fuck headcanon meant. ) Or when Percy agreed to let Elisa teach him some Spanish. She promised to help him in his Freshman year so he'd get an A in his Spanish class.

               Something had changed, but she wasn't sure what, or if it was even mutual, but something had shifted. A line had clouded between them and Elisa wasn't sure what was what anymore.

               And Elisa wasn't the only one who had noticed it. Far from it. It seemed everyone she talked to had picked up on the change. Castor and Pollux would lunge for any letter she got, even if it wasn't from Percy, but instead from Callum. Even Callum had noticed it, constantly writing letters, demanding Elisa to write to him sooner or to Iris Message him quicker. Drew and Silena were having a delightful time, whispering and giggling with each other. Both refused to tell Elisa what was said between them. Annabeth had picked up on it; the daughter of Athena seemed to have a knack for finding out everything.

               But nobody ever listened to Elisa when she furiously yelled at them to leave her alone and let her be.

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There wasn't much Elisa liked about New York City. To be honest, the only thing she liked was the food. She didn't like big cities; she hated the odor, hated the crowds, hated the trash, and she definitely hated how easy it was to get lost. Elisa was horrible with directions. She never understood street signs, she could never remember street names, buildings on the streets, or anything to help her get around. It was horrible.