Stay Right Here

xxiii

Ultimate Mario Kart

🌊 🌊 🌊

Hadley woke up to the feeling she was under attack. A weight on her legs and an arm wrapped around her stomach nearly sent her into a frenzy, she was about to kick the attacker off and run them through with her sword until she recognized the figures next to her.

Somehow during the night, the three demigods had formed a pile on the floor. Hazel's head rested in Hadley's lap, her legs laying over Percy's. The boy in question had an arm draped over Hadley, in their sleep, they must have moved closer to where her head had been resting on his chest.

Then she remembered what happened the previous night.

"Bigfoot!" Hadley shouted as she jolted upright.

Hazel shot up, her hair framing her face like a lion's mane. She looked around frantically before her eyes landed on Hadley. "Huh? What time is it? What's going on?"

"Bigfoot wants to kill us and that's why he's in the woods."

Outside, the ogres could be heard. They shouted incoherently like a particularly rowdy group of fans Hadley had seen at one of her dad's games. They'd yelled and jeered at the players and in the direction that she'd been sitting. Hadley had only been five, but she remembered that they hadn't been wearing the same colors as her. She'd been kept at the center of a circle of protective team wives and girlfriends and immediately handed off to her dad once the game had ended. 

But now Hadley couldn't be escorted away from danger by her father.

"Oh gods," Hazel sighed. She pushed her hair out of her face. "Did they get closer?"

"Probably. Percy wake up!" Hadley grabbed his arms and pulled him so he was sitting up. 

His head fell to the side and Percy tensed as he opened his eyes. He fought Hadley's hold on his arms for exactly one second until he realized it was only her and relaxed into her touch. He let his head drop again, this time resting it on her shoulder and closed his eyes. 

The butterflies from last night returned to Hadley's stomach. It was very inconsiderate of them, Hadley would have to scold them later.

"Hey," Hadley took his face in her hands to make him look at her- even if his eyes were still closed, "quit that."

"Five more minutes," he drawled.

"No more minutes."

Percy grumbled under his breath but his eyes fluttered open.  He straightened and rubbed the tiredness from his eyes. Another round of shouting turned their attention to the window. The ogres outside were gathering boulders as close as they could come to the house.

"Anyone know where Frank is?" Percy asked.

Hazel looked mortified by the thought that she wasn't the first to ask. "Maybe he's downstairs. We need to get something to eat too."

The ogres cheered as if they could hear and agreed about the importance of breakfast. A loud BOOM echoed as they added another boulder to the pile.

The trio went downstairs, hoping to find Frank already waiting for them. Instead, they found his grandmother standing in the kitchen. Very awake and not seeming like she was on the brink of death.

"There you are!" She exclaimed. "I thought you'd be sleeping all day. And when there's work to be done too!"

The three demigods shared a look.

"Um, sorry," Percy said.

"No matter," She waved them off. "Those ogres are out there making a ruckus and you need to get rid of them."