Running Through Water (UNDER REVISION)

10: N

"Arriving Central City folks," the driver of the bus announced, making Annabeth close her Greek version of The Fault in our Stars. She sighed. She just got to the part where Augustus, Hazel and Hazel's mom landed into Amsterdam. Talk about irony. Annabeth, Sally and Paul had just got into Central City. The sad news was that she was there to find her boyfriend, Percy, not to see the sights with him and maybe meet former Star Labs people just like the couple in the book she was reading.

Sally and Paul were waving at her near the doors, beckoning her to focus and come with them. They were sitting near the exit. Of course, they would get there first. Annabeth hopped out of her seat and swung her green and gray backpack to her shoulder. Percy gave her the bag after the Giant War. Annabeth had a suspicion that he chose those colors to symbolize the colors of each of their eyes, Annabeth's gray and Percy's green, and to represent them being together. She told him this and he blushed, mumbling in Ancient Greek. She loved her Seaweed Brain. He was always that thoughtful, even if he made dumb decisions sometimes.

Annabeth grabbed her second rucksack—which was from Camp Half-Blood--with her stationary and a few books (Hamlet in Latin, The Crown in Greek). She headed down to meet Sally and Paul.

Sally's brown hair with streaks of gray was tied up in a loose ponytail, which was a great look. She had a pink knit sweater and jeans with Sketchers. Paul wore a gray long-sleeved shirt also with jeans and Sketchers. They really liked their Sketchers, don't they? Annabeth noticed. She shook it off.

"So, ready to step in a new land?" Paul joked. Annabeth and Sally snickered.

"You bet we are," Sally replied. And together,the three went down the bus stairs and stepped into the city of the Flash. 

--

They all settled down in hotel near a coffee shop named Jitters and a Big Belly Burger. The hotel was a small one and it didn't seem occupied. The people who ran the hotel were generous and gave Annabeth, Paul, and Sally a free room on their account.

At first, Annabeth thought the hotel was ran by monsters but her Monster-Detecting device begged to differ. Harley, an eight-year-old son of Hephaestus, made each of the Seven—or six now that Leo's gone—a creature tracking machine that alerts the demigods if a monster is nearby.

"Beckondorf wanted to make something like these someday. Leo found his blueprints and tried to translate them, but now he's gone too...I wanted to make some of them my own. You guys helped defeat Gaea and I just wanted to say thank you," Harley said as he gave them the devices. Too bad they weren't trackable to demigods. Percy had one as well.

Annabeth decided to just explore the city to pass the time. She already unpacked her belongings, as did Sally and Paul. The couple went to a nearby restaurant (that wasn't Belly Burger) and they insisted that Annabeth should accompany them, but she politely declined. She didn't want it to be awkward and going to restaurants with them would remind her of Percy, and that was just enough to make her heart ache.

The weather was breezy and cool; the bustling Central City was lit up with lights from buildings, stores, lampposts and cars making it glow in the night. People were coming from in and out of complexes, traffic was not in sight.

Annabeth walked down a few blocks to the city's own special café named CC Jitters. The place wasn't that packed, which surprised her because to what she read, it was basically Central City equivalent to Starbucks.

The coffee place's aura smelled of (obviously) coffee and bagels. Mocha, Cappuccino and other kinds of coffee and new baked goods were assorted in a glass box next to the registers. Banners of signature treats hung from the ceiling.

She walked to the nearest opening barista and asked for a flay white expresso.

"Visiting?" the barista asked while preparing her coffee.

"Yeah," she replied. "How did you know?"

The barista shrugged. The server had dark skin and curly brown hair that went to her shoulders. With her Jitters uniform, she had a black leather jacket. Annabeth couldn't help notice something odd about this girl. Not that she was a monster or anything. The barista had some ancient godly aura around her. Not Greek. Annabeth couldn't just place what was so different about her. Annabeth waved away the excess thought and focused on the present.

"I guess I just had a hunch, that's all," the barista answered. The barista finished making the expresso and handed it to Annabeth. "Besides, I never saw you here before so my options were you were an oldcomer or a newbie. I've just moved to Central City months ago anyway."

Annabeth's eyebrow raised. "Really?"

"Yeah. It's just something about this place...it's kind of drawing me in, you know?" the barista said. "So, do you want to pay?"

Annabeth snapped up from her stupor. "Right. Sorry. Gods, this is just one of the times where I act like a klutz. Here you go." She put her dollar in front of the girl.

"Nice knowing you— "Annabeth looked at the server's badge. "—Kendra."

"No problem," Kendra nodded. "Have a great visit."

--

Annabeth ended up staying at the café, just to admire the atmosphere. She sat down at a table near the café glass window that overlooked the central square of the city. (ay, puns) She saw people of all races order all types of goods for their pleasure, and Kendra was taking those orders like a pro. Not bad for a few months' employee.

At one point, she saw a couple walk into the café, immersed in their conversation. Annabeth decided that they didn't know that the two were a couple; they were oblivious to it. The woman of the pairing had wavy long hair, and was more well-kept than Kendra's (sorry Kendra). She had a lipstick red sleeveless blouse with a brown leather jacket. Her pants were tights and the girl had Mary Janes on. The male of the couple had brown hair and he had typical jeans and converse. He wore one of those professor-like collar type long sleeve shirts on, kind of like the ones her dad always wore. The guy without saying anything basically read, "Hey I'm a nerd but I'm also one of those guys who could kick your butt and I also could get the girl before you."

Oh shoot. I'm stalking them, she thought, but then she countered herself. No. I'm a daughter of Athena not a child of Aphrodite. I'm observing them. For information.

She pretended to look at her Fault in Our Stars book and sipped her now-cold-but-still-great coffee. You know, not to raise suspicion. After a while, she looked up again. This time she tuned into the couple's exchange.

"—that's who we're trying to look for. So far after that video, nothing. No leads. No clues. Nada. Cisco couldn't even get a vibe or vision," the nerd guy explained.

"God, a guy that young?" the woman said. She stepped into the coffee line with her significant other. (references, references) "Caitlyn is probably devastated."

That name created a glowing lightbulb into Annabeth's head. Cross-referencing all the names she had heard on her search for Percy, she stumbled across the valuable information.

Caitlyn. Dr. Caitlyn Snow. Percy's cousin. Here, in Central City.

She would've did a little jig, but she was too busy thinking. What were the connections that the couple before her have with Dr. Snow? They were close friends? They were also trying to find Percy? There was a freaking video?

Annabeth didn't notice that the guy caught her staring at them with shock. Once she did, she cursed at herself.

Here we go.

--

A/N Hey guys! I finally decided I wanted to be productive for once! I would've updated a lot sooner but I had the flu last week. I'm better now, thanks for asking.

--readingisapriority

P.S. What do you think of my new profile pic? Bonus points for anyone who knows what SHOW it's from.