Hidden Wisdom and Wizards || PJO x HP

Chapter 21: Ghosts

A strong jet stream of water hit Percy directly in the chest, knocking him backwards onto the ground, causing Samantha to apologize. 

"It's alright. We're just gonna have to take things a bit slower."

"I think I'll just take the rest of class off."

Percy sent her a sideways look. "Are you sure? 

Samantha smiled. "Yeah. Thanks, Professor." She then packed up her stuff and promptly left class-- leaving Percy standing in the middle of the room in utter suspicious confusion.

~~~

Percy did not trust Samantha Green. 

Every fiber in his body clenched in distrust whenever he saw or spoke to her. 

Of course, he knew it was ridiculous to have a secret vendetta against a twelve year old witch. Like, what twenty year old makes a kid his mortal enemy? 

"Hey Percy, here's some special shoes to help with the quest," Luke Castellan said, handing Percy a pair of shoes with wings on them.

He shook his head. Okay, so there's people but still. Percy wasn't going to be a Luke Castellan. 

Regardless, he managed to convince himself to give her the benefit of the doubt (for like the fifth time) all the way up until after he had dinner with Annabeth. 

~~~

Percy and Annabeth sat crosslegged on the sand at the bottom of the lake. 

"I've mentioned this is a dumbass idea before," Annabeth said staring down at her notebook, whilst spinning a pencil between her fingers. 

"Yeah. And?"

"And I can't believe you're freaking going through with it."

"I highly doubt that this is the most unbelievable thing you've experienced."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Let's just run through the plan one more time. So at least when you die, I'll know it wasn't because you didn't know what you were doing."

Percy faked admiration. Slapping his hand to his heart, he said, "The faith you have in me is inspiring, Annabeth Jackson-Chase."

"Shut up."

Percy's entire demeanor changed as he began to reiterate the plan. "You kill me, while I hold the resurrection stone. Because I'll only be partially dead, I'll summon Psyche, and figure out what the hell she wants from me. After, I'll go to Elysium to ensure everyone is there and that their ghosts aren't actually haunting me."

Annabeth nodded along. "This is such a dumb plan. It can go wrong in so many ways."

"But it won't. Cause I've died before with the stone."

She gave a slight head nod in response. "Right well, let's get on with it."

Percy nodded, reaching into his pocket to get the stone.

His pocket was empty.

0.2 seconds into Percy's panic, Annabeth said, "Tell me you didn't lose the stone."

"I didn't lose the stone."

"Bull schist." It took Annabeth a few seconds to fully grasp what she yelled at him about. "You lost it! How!?"

"I don't know! I had it this morning. It never left my pocket! Right next to Riptide! The only time it could have gone missing was when Saman-" Percy trailed. 

Annabeth's face darkened. "What?"

"Samantha," Percy said. "She took it."

"The twelve year old Hufflepuff."

"Yes!"

"Percy-" Annabeth began, doubt creeping into her voice.

"No! Look, I know what you're thinking. But I swear to the gods, I don't trust that kid. Since the beginning I knew something was off. She stole the Resurrection stone."

Annabeth squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Well you can't exactly prove it can you? She's a kid, Perce! You can't just sneak into her room and look for it."

"Yeah, I know!"

"And we can't tell Hermione, Ron, or Harry-- cause then they'll know we took it in the first place!"

"I know!"

Annabeth gripped her hair letting out a small yell of frustration. "This is a mess. How'd this happen?"

Percy shrugged, staring at a school of trout swimming by their air bubble. 

"Annabeth isn't stupid Percy,"  Piper chastised. 

"I know," He replied absentmindedly. 

Piper continued, "She knows something's wrong."

"I know," He said, his voice straining. 

"Psyche might not even be real. She could just be an excuse for you to-"

Percy clutched his hair, squeezing his eyes shut. "Shut up, Piper!"

~~~

Annabeth didn't mention Percy's conversation to him. She knew nothing would come of it. 

She did however, upon further searching in the library, decided that this was all Psyche's fault. It made sense. She was the Goddess of the Soul. And for whatever reason, she was torturing Percy. 

The why wasn't even important. Thousands of monsters and gods and giants and titans have screwed with him just for the fact that they could. To be fair, all of them died as a result... but still. 

It's the how that was bothering Annabeth. How is she in Percy's mind, twisting his view of the world and thoughts? How was Annabeth supposed to fix it?

"Maybe it can't be fixed," A familiar voice said from next to her.

Without even looking up from her book, Annabeth replied, "Well, not with that attitude." The voice registered. Annabeth slowly looked up to see Hazel sitting cross-legged in the chair beside her. 

All Annabeth could do was blink at the ghost of her deceased friend. "No." She shook her head and closed her eyes. She opened them hesitantly. Hazel was still there. "You're not here."

Hazel smiled, and it caused Annabeth's heart to break. "Well, obviously." She continued to smile at Annabeth. "Just let things be. It'll be easier that way."

Annabeth blinked, and she was gone.