Apparently, I'm Dead

Chapter Nine

This is pretty unedited, so it's probably not the greatest chapter. Sorry!

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize. 

MAGNUS

Percy looks confused. "Who's your father?"

Sam takes a deep breath. "Loki." She seems to be preparing for Percy to spit in her face and walk away, forgetting that he already knows that Alex is also a child of Loki.

Percy nods, ignoring Sam's nervousness. "Okay. So I killed your niece or nephew? Sorry 'bout that."

Sam lets out a shocked laugh. "I suppose. Maybe it's the snake you killed. Or one of the multiple snakes you killed. A son of Jormungandr, maybe?"

"Um, guys. Please remember that I'm Greek. I don't know your crazy Norse myths." Percy's face looks annoyed, but I can see that he's just teasing.

"Jormungandr is a son of Loki. He called the World Serpent because he literally stretches around the entire world. If he wakes up, then the apocalypse is about to happen. That would be bad. So, I suppose one of the snakes you killed would be the son of Loki's son. And Jormungandr is, for some reason, awake. And we need to put him back to sleep before he destroys the world." I say.

Percy blinks at me. "How in the world? You know, that is really not fair. I've been doing this so much longer than you, but you know a ton of stuff about your mythology, and I just get all my information from An-." He stops abruptly, his face closing off. His expression shows about as much emotion as a rock expresses on a daily basis.

I feel a twinge in my chest. He was obviously about to finish that sentence with my cousin's name. I still haven't told him about how I'm related to Annabeth. I take a deep breath.

Percy eyes me suspiciously. "What? Spit it out. I can tell you want to say something, so say it."

I smile sheepishly at him. "So, you know Annabeth?"

I immediately know I haven't worded that well. His eyes grow cold, their normally swirling depths going scarily still.

"Yes. I knew Annabeth," he says. I wince at the particular emphasis on the past tense. "Why did you want to know? How did you know her?"

"She was my cousin."

A beat.

"What?" Percy's voice is barely above a whisper. He slams his palm against his forehead. "How could I have been so stupid?" His voice raises.

I shrink back from the amount of power Percy is exuding. I think he's mad at me, but then he says, "Annabeth Chase. Magnus Chase. I don't think Chase is that common of a last name. I'm such an idiot."

I hold back a snicker at the look on Percy's face. Alex doesn't, and he gets treated to a playful glare from Percy.

Percy abruptly changes the subject. "Okay. So we need a yellow boat."

I cringe. "Ah. Yes. About that..."

Percy whirls on me, eyes bright with expectation . "Wait what? You actually have a yellow boat? When can we go?"

I try to drag out the conversation to avoid the embarrassment of the bright yellow Mikillgulr. "What's the hurry?"

Mallory gives me a you're-such-an-idiot look. "We're trying to save the world here, Beantown. That's pretty important, hmm? We should get on that," she drawls in a voice made for kindergarten teachers.

"Not only that." Percy's eyes burn with a desperate, almost manic light. "Didn't you hear? They said- the Norns said that 'If I succeed, I could see her once again.' 'Her' must be Annabeth. It has to be." His voice cracks, and I see all at once how deeply Percy loved my cousin.

I take a breath. "Come on. I'll show you the Big Banana."

I turn before I can see Pecy's confused face and head down the elevator to the docks. I pluck the handkerchief from my pocket and throw it down into the water. It expands and becomes ship-like until it reveals Mikillgulr in all of its glory.

Percy whistles. "Beautiful ship. Nicely made. Um... Not going to ask about the color. How fast does it go?"

I smile at him, grateful that he isn't mocking the color. "Pretty fast. We just need to pick up Hearth and Blitz, and then we're good to go!"

The news of the delay twists his face into something foul, but it's gone in a millisecond, disappears so fast that I think I might have imagined it. "Fine," he grits out, "let's go."

We board the boat, and I'm about to ask Halfborn to start rowing, but the boat starts moving on its own. I jerk backwards, almost falling off the boat in surprise. "What the Hel!" I shriek.

Percy waves his hand lazily. "Son of Poseidon. Got some weird powers, including boat powers, for some reason. Probably has to do with my dad being god of the sea, because I've never been specifically told that he's the god of boats. Where are we going?"

"Beacon Street, in Boston."

Percy nods. "Um. Problem. This is a boat. We can't just sail into the middle of Boston."

"Just take us to Boston Harbor."

Percy shrugs and thrusts his hands in front of him. The boat turns and heads towards the Harbor. The wind picks up, ruffling through his black hair. Wait. There's something else...

"Percy, what's that?"

He looks at me confused. "What's what?"

"That gray, in your hair."

"Ah," he sighs. "That was from holding up the weight of the sky and going through the deepest pits of hell."

I blink. "What?" Did he just say the deepest pits of hell? "You're going to explain that a bit more, yes?"

"It was what, my third quest? Annabeth fell off a cliff and the goddess of the hunt was captured by a Titan-"

I interrupt. "Start from the beginning. How did you know you were a demigod?"

He blows through his lips, disturbing a strand of hair that was flopping over his eyes. "Well. This is a long, long, long story. You'd better sit down."

I sit and he thinks for a moment, gathering his thoughts.

"I guess it started on this field trip..."

I swear, everyone in all 590 floors of Valhalla could hear me as I shrieked, "YOU DID WHAT?!!" millions of times in that two or three hour period. His story is insane.

THANKS,

ATOTALMUSICALNERD