A daughter of Death

Chapter 14

----POV CHANGE PERCY----

I followed her. I never should have followed her. I should explain.

When we were riding to Los Angeles she felt off. She didn't talk much. She hardly ate. When we asked questions she gave us short answers. She was acting weird. At first I thought it was nothing. Then I listened in to her conversation with Delta before she sent her off.

I still don't believe you should do this. I also don't agree with your practice tonight. One of the boys may follow you. How will you explain?

"Darling I have to do this. It's the only way to make sure they all make it out of there okay. And when I sneak out I can make sure I'm not followed. I hardly think any of them care enough to bother."

You know that I disagree. Percy cares for you. I can tell!

"Delta he cares about keeping a promise to my brother and that letter explains everything. And who knows what my father will do? The prophecy said that one of us won't go back home, not that one of us will die. I love you darling. I'll see you soon."

I'm holding you to that. You have three days. Understand? Then Nico and I will see you again.

"Of course Delta. Three days. And remember I'm telling Percy how to get you. I expect you to behave." She hugged Delta before letting Delta fly off.

"So I have a question," we were in the elevator on our way up.

"Go ahead Percy." I knew the question that I really wanted to ask but I didn't.

"Can you shadow travel? You and Nico are practically twins so I didn't know if that meant you have the same powers."

"Yes Percy I can. I don't like to though."

"Why not?"

"I'll explain some other time,"there she was cutting me out again. How could she go from drawing on our faces this morning to not speaking at all?

I scrubbed my face for a good half hour before the Sharpie finally came off. I collapsed into bed and pretended to fall asleep. I evened out my breath and even stayed mostly still. I naturally reached out for her and wrapped my arms around her waist. My chin sat on her shoulder. It felt natural to be like this. She pulled away gently when she thought all of us were asleep.

I followed shortly after making sure not to be noticeable. I followed her into the woods. It was hard to see what was happening at first. She was shrouded in darkness. She raised her arm and pure black smoke shot in a steady stream at a tree. The tree shriveled up as she gained energy. She jumped into a shadow and come out a little ways away. She hit a tree there and then shadow traveled away. She finally returned to the original clearing and shot different color smoke from both hands.

I stepped closer. I had an irrational want of being closer to her. I wanted to pick her up and twirl her around even if she was shooting death smoke at trees. As I stepped closer a twig snapped. She snapped towards me and I thought I was done for. She had her hand raised to my chest. She jumped into a shadow and vanished.

I of course couldn't magically teleport. I had to walk back to the hotel and sneak back into our room. Lexi had taken up half the bed but I didn't want to move her. Her red hair looked pure black in the moonlight. She could have been Aphrodite herself and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I hopped into bed next to her and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

***

I woke up to the smell of bacon. Lexi was still curled tightly next to me. Her back was pushed against my stomach and my arms wrapped around her. I felt it odd because typically when me and Annabeth feel asleep in the same bed she was like a stick. Lexi preferred to curl into a ball and cover all her vitals. Travis and Ethan laughed at how we were in the same bed together. I gently pushed Lexi off andpunched them both in the arm. For the first time ever Lexi slept in.

"Hey Lex. If you don't get up we're not going to get to the underworld," I gently shook her.

"Mmmmhhh," was her brilliant reply.

"Lex I'm serious. We're waiting for you."

Her eyes fluttered open and I was still above her. That was a very bed thing. Her legs wrapped around my waist and pulled me onto her. I didn't mind until she pushed her legs up and used the momentum of my fall to launch herself on top of me.

"What is that... 3 times I've pinned you since I met you?"

"That would be correct. Care to let me up?"

"Not particularly," she got up and chugged a bottle of water. "I'm gonna go get dressed. Don't miss me to much."

"Yeah right," I called back. I packed her things for her. She came out five minutes later. "What is it with girls and taking so long in the bathroom?"

"Says the guy that hogged it for 30 minutes last night."

"That was thanks to your little Sharpie prank yesterday!"

"You shouldn't have slept in!"

"You slept in this morning!" I replied.

"You should pranked me. You've missed your opportunity," she chuckled and tossed me a granola bar.

"I will get you back for that."

"Suuuure you will. Let's go check out."

She threw her duffel over her shoulder and went out the door. Her hair was in a french braid. I was mesmerized as she walked out the door.

"Perce you coming?"

"Yeah. I thought I forgot something."

We got a cab in seconds. Probably because Lexi was in yoga pants and a tight t-shirt. I directed him to the place Grover, Annabeth and I went on our first quest. Charon stood at the front desk listening to a couple moan about how they couldn't be dead. He waved them off and we walked forward.

"What do you want?"

"What else? We want to get into the underworld," Lexi said like we were talking about the whether.

"You and everybody else in this lobby."

"Here," she stacked 4 dramachas onto the desk. "That's enough for you to give us a ride, right?"

"Right this way kids. Keep everything inside the ferry. I'm bringing you to the other side and no further."

It was a silent ride across. We got to the gates and Lexi made sure cerberus wasn't a problem. We got just outside the throne room easily.

"Put these on and keep contact with your pearl at all times. No matter what okay?"