「013. percy should be on criminal minds 」
SALT WATER being splashed on your face is... not the conventional way to be woken up- cadie will say that. after what she assumed was only a quick nap- which apparently was more than that- she woke to percy shaking her awake whilst flicking water onto her face. there was a low muttering, probably one of them telling her to wake up. she looked around, her eyes wide, looking between the two of them and then back to the city skyline- with a pretty sun setting behind it. she looked down at herself, still in the same clothes from circe's island. the pretty dress was torn and ripped at the ends, her hair was probably starting to show her roots- no, she thought to herself, they redid it at circe's island.
"where are we?"
"annabeth says miami," percy said quietly, helping her up, "but the hippocampi are acting weird." and with that, there was a whinnying noise from the hippocampi- and they began to swim around in circles, sniffing the water. after a moment, percy looked back to them, "this is as far as they'll take us. too many humans, too much pollution. we'll have to swim to shore."
cadie wasn't too thrilled by that idea, but it was better than nothing. sighing, she ran a hand through her hair- the world seemed to stop for a moment. you've changed, her mind said to her. but in a good way.
to be honest, she agreed. though she didn't know why she felt so different yet so comfortable. if you were to have told her she'd be one a quest with percy jackson and annabeth chase- she might have just combusted. past cadie would have never thought that percy would even look at her- let alone somehow comfort her in a panic attack, somehow stop it in its tracks before it got real bad.
strangely, the only thing she could think of was that the situation she was in now reminded her of... a coat. before, she had liked her coat. it was baggy- like she liked it, but it was plain. but cadie previously had been okay with it. but now- it was more cadie. it was more her. it was more comfy. and that's how cadie felt with herself. only a bit, that is. but she was a bit more comfortable in her own skin- just a bit more confident (but still socially inept and hopelessly awkward. but that's endearing, isn't it?).
she heard a sob and a sniffle, and she turned to see tyson hugging rainbow the hippocampi before unfastening the makeshift saddle, and taking out whatever he'd salvaged from the birmingham wreck. he hugged rainbow for a final time, and then gave him a soggy mango he'd picked up from the island. it was quite possibly more emotional than cadie had expected it to be.
once the hippocampi's white manes disappeared into the sea, they swam for the shore. the waves pushed them forwards, and in no time- they were in the mortal world. back to reality, and back to... some sort of normal? an excited thought ran through cadie's mind- cam and lily. she couldn't help herself but smile. she was steps closer to her dear friends, steps closer to hugging the shit out of them. but... a part of her did feel sad.
the whole quest- it was a life-changer, sure. she'd added on friends to her very short list of current ones. but a little fear wormed into her mind, what if after the quest- they stopped being friends? what if after the quest... percy stopped talking to her?
you don't need somebody to talk to you to feel valid, lily would say- trying to hype her up. probably would follow with you're a bad bitch!
to which cam would respond, oh yeah- a bad bitch. a bitch who freezes up and has the biggest fucking crush on percy jackson.
shut up, cadie would probably reply.
gods, she missed her friends.
cadie didn't know if she missed bustling city life or not. as they wandered down the cruise line docks, they pushed through crowds of people arriving for vacations. the whole place was [acked, porters bustling around with carts of luggage. taxi drivers yelled at each other, the toneless and dissonant sound of car horns honking as they tried to cut in line for customers. the whole place acted completely mundane, totally normal. as if it were a normal day, and cadie almost believed them. everything seemed so painfully domestic.
and if anybody noticed them- five kids dripping wet and looking like they'd just had a fight with a monster, almost died and the whole sob story packed with bundles of trauma- well, they didn't let on. now they were back in the mortal world, tysons' single eye had been blurred from the mist- sort of like when you look at somebody and never quite catch the colour of their eye; or you feel like you've seen it and you can't quite remember. (if you have experienced something like that- chances are you might've seen a cyclops.... hopefully you haven't been eaten).
grover had put on his cap and sneakers too. even the fleece had transformed from a sheepskin to a red-and-gold high school letter jacket with a large glittery omega on the pocket.
before cadie could even blink, annabeth ran to the nearest newspaper box (glad to know she was fully healed. cadie didn't just sing tangled for anybody and not expect a good outcome) and then proceeded to check the date on the miami herald. she let out the loudest curse- parents around her looking between each other as if to say do her parents let her say that? where did she learn it?
"june eighteenth! we're fucking screwed! that's ten days- ten days we've been away from camp!"
"that's impossible," argued clarisse.
"that means thalia's tree must be almost dead!" grover wailed, "we have to get the fleece back tonight."
clarrise slumped down on the pavement, looking truly troubled. she glared at the ground, her voice trembling, "and how are we supposed to do that? we're a hundred miles away- probably even more. we have no money. no ride. this is just like the oracle said." she looked up, sending the biggest and scariest glare at percy, "this is your fault, jackson! if you hadn't interfered-"
"percy's fault?" annabeth snapped, "clarisse, how can you say that? you are the biggest fucking li-"
"can we stop insulting each other?" cadie found herself saying, her voice slightly coarse, "seriously! ...chill-" she turned to percy, noticing the look on his face (how did she know what he was thinking? had she been staring at his face that much?) "you're thinking something."
"what?" he said, looking back at her.
"you're thinking of something," she repeated, "go on- say it."
"no i'm not-"
"percy i've had enough of this and my ears are ringing," she complained weakly, "say your idea man, let me get something for my ears and i'd like everything over with. i know that face-"
"you barely know me, we only-"
"percy just say it," she sighed, covering her ears, "please. i have a headache. i hate busy cities."
percy looked at her- a bit shocked. as if to say wow, you're weird or something like that- she was getting different messages. but the ringing in her ears was a bit too loud, everything was so much louder now after spending what was now known to be ten days in relative peacefulness. her hearing almost felt normal (sure, she loved super hearing but...). he stared at the ground for a moment, thinking over his idea- probably.
maybe i should stop staring at him, she said to herself, you're getting creepy.
you're getting a crush, cam's voice came to mind.
fuck off imaginary cam- you're mean.
i speak only the truth.
"clarisse," percy said, "what did the oracle tell you exactly? like... word for word- what did the oracle say?"
she looked up, and cadie thought clarisse was going to hit percy or something- at least yell at him, maybe tell him off. something that screamed the stereotype of an ares kid. but instead, she took a deep breath, and she began to recite her prophecy, "you shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone, you shall find what you seek and make it your own, but despair is your life entombed within stone, and fail without friends, to fly home alone."
"ouch," grover mumbled.
in fairness, he was right. the prophecy did seem kind of brutal to cadie- but then (she really needed to stop staring at him, or else cam and lily would get too boastful and start thinking their dumb theory was correct) cadie spotted percy's face. he was thinking something again- something people either feared or... applauded.
"no," he said, "no... wait a minute. i've got it!" and then, he began patting himself, stuffing his hands in his pockets and grabbing fistfuls of nothingness (well, bar a drachma), "does anybody have any cash?"
she and the others shook their heads.
"cash?" tyson asked hesitantly, "...like... green paper?"
percy looked at him, "yeah."
"like the kind in the duffel bags?" tyson ventured.
"yeah, but we lost those ages ag-" he stopped dead as tyson rummaged in his saddle pack and pulled out a ziploc bag full of cash that hermes had included in their supplies. cadie's jaw dropped. "tyson!" percy said in shock, "how did you-?"
"thought it was feed bag for rainbow," tyson mumbled, "found it floating in sea, but only paper inside. sorry."
he handed percy the cash, and cadie peared over his shoulder (which by the way- would have given past cadie a serious heartache. only a mild one now- but goodness why was she more comfortable?). fives and tens, at least... three hundred dollars. suddenly, percy was running to the curb, grabbing a tazi that was just letting out a family of cruise passengers.
"clarisse!" percy yelled back, "come on! you're going to the airport. annabeth, give her the fleece!"
cadie wasn't sure who looked more shocked out of all of them as percy took the fleece letter jacket from annabeth, ucking the cash in its pocket and giving it to clarisse. was it perhaps cadie who had her mouth still open in shock from the many revelations, or maybe annabeth- whose mouth was opening and closing, as if she wanted to say something but was constantly shutting herself up- or perhaps clarisse. who seemed genuinely at a loss for words.
clarisse stuttered, "you'd let me-"
"it's your quest," percy said- making cadie... briefly remind herself of the pedestal she used to put percy on. this is something she thought her idea of percy would do (don't know why she thought of that- bad cadie! focus!), "we only have enough money for one flight. besides, i can't travel by air. zeus would blast me out of the sky and into a million pieces. that's what the prophecy meant. you'd fail without friends, meaning you needed our help... but, you'd fly home alone. you have to get the fleece back safely."
cadie spotted clarisse's mind working faster and faster, and suddenly, she was jumping in the cab, her last words being, "you can count on me. i won't fail."
"not failing would be good."
as the cab peeled out in a cloud of exhaustion, cadie couldn't help but smile. not because she was happy- well, sort of. it was more of a relief to know that the fleece was safe. now all they had to do was find a good way back to camp. if they could saved thalia's tree- that's all that mattered. they could get home at a later time, but if her camp, her friends and her family were safe... she was sort of happy and relieved with that sort of news.
"percy," cadie said, "that was really brave of you."
"i was going to say generous," offered grover.
"i'd just say insane," corrected annabeth, "you're betting the lives of everybody at camp that clarisse will get the fleece safety back by tonight, seriously?"
"it is her quest," cadie argued quietly, "we hijacked it. from the beginning- it was her job. we can't all steal the show away, no matter how much we want to. clarisse... she's not a bad person- even if people think it. sure, scary as fuck. but she's a good person."
"cadie's right," nodded percy before adding, "and besides- she deserves a chance."
"percy is nice," commented tyson.
"percy's too nice," grumbled annabeth.
"come on," percy spoke, "let's just find another way home."
that's when she and percy turned, only to find that percy was not being held at sword point. and surprise, surprise, it was luke. "hey dude," luke said in a welcoming manner (totally fake), "welcome back to the states."
cadie didn't know whether to be offended that luke didn't bother to have one of his bullies to manhandle her and threaten to kill her or being grateful he hadn't. he always had a terrible habit of underestimating people. how wrong of him. sor of. see- if cadie were just a bit more confident, she might've agreed. but then the dumb bit of paralysing fear seeped back into her body. she didn't need to be manhandled or held against her will- her fear was doing that for her just fine. gods, she thought to herself, this sucks, dude!
"percy," luke said calmly as tyson send one of luke's bear-man thugs across the ship and into a pile of luggage, "tell your giant to back down or i'll have oreius bash your friends' heads together."
cadie could do nothing but shake, tremble, her palms sweating and her blood cold- her heart beating faster than it probably should. the bear-man grinned at annabeth and grover, before raising them off the ground, kicking and screaming. not good. not good at all.
she was screaming at herself now, shouting and wondering why she wasn't running to save them. her body and mind fought against each other. her body didn't let her move at all, kept her in her place. fight or flight- whatever you wanted to call it. was stagefright possible when you weren't playing an instrument? she had no idea, but as her mind screamed for her to help to stop luke- her body refused to move still. she was protecting herself from certain danger- something cadie did previously and did really well. so why now was she against the idea?
something percy had blurted out whilst they were on the ship. hermes said we'd help each other in some way. was this the way? making her question her morals and how she used to live and think? change... cadie wasn't always good with that. but look at her now- new hair, some weird small booster of confidence... and arguing with her primary thought of safety above all else.
perhaps in that moment, there were more important things than her own safety. perhaps... losing hope of survival for her prophecy was maybe not the way to live. perhaps... she-
"what do you want, luke?" snapped percy.
"why percy," grinned luke, "i wanted to extend my hospitality, of course."
cadie didn't like the sound of that- yet she found herself not being able to speak. move! her mind screamed, fucking move! your friends could die! her body argued back, a solid, you'll die argument added with, stop being stupid. you never cared properly about other people in danger. unless they're your friends. even then... you never cared this much. what's changed?
shut up! her mind yelled, move!
still, she stood frozen in place.
the beat twins herded them aboard the princess andromeda- but they didn't bother holding her. they shoved her, and her stiff figure moved. yet she still didn't fight. a dozen of luke's assorted goons-snake people, laistrygonians, demigods in battle armor-had gathered to watch them get some hospitality.
"and so, the fleece," luke mused, "where is it?"
he looked over to percy and then at grover, poking the tip of his sword at grover's jeans. "hey!" grover yelled, "that's real goat fur under there!"
"sorry, old friend," luke smiled. though cadie though luke hardly considered any of them friends. just pawns for his little game. bastard, her mind screamed before yelling back, why aren't you moving?! "just let me have the fleece and i'll leave you to return to your, ah, little nature quest."
"blaa-ha-ha!" grover protested, "some old friend!"
"maybe you didn't hear me," luke said, his voice becoming dangerously calm, "where. is. the. fleece?"
"not here," percy said, "we sent it on ahead of us. you messed up. big time."
luke's eyes narrowed, "you're lying. you couldn't have.." his face reddened as a horrible possibility occurred to him. "clarisse?" percy nodded. "you trusted... you have-"
"yup," nodded percy.
"agrius!"
the bar giant flinched, "yes...?"
"get below and prepare my steed. bring it to the deck. i need to fly to the miami airport, fast."
"but, boss-"
"do it!" luke screamed, "or i'll feed you to the drakon!"
the bear-man gulped and lumbered down the stairs. luke paced in front of the swimming pool, cursing in ancient greek, gripping his sword so tight his knuckles turned white. the rest of luke's crew looked uneasy. maybe they'd never seen their boss so unhinged before.
cadie glanced at everybody, her heart still beating fast- her mind still screaming for her body to move. her hand gave a little twitch, like maybe the screaming to move was working. she made fist with her hands. luke considered her vulnerable right now- but he was watching their every move. all the monsters were. if she tried anything...
"you've been toying with us all along," percy said. cadie thanked the gods- whether percy knew it or not, he was giving luke and the monsters a distraction. if she managed to... well- do something, then they might still have a chance. "you wanted us to bring you the fleece and save you the trouble of getting it."
luke scowled, "of course, you idiot! and you've messed everything up!"
"traitor!" percy yelled, throwing something at luke. gold glinted passed her vision as she slowly unclenched her fists, moving slowly to her pocket- looking like she was just adjusting her jeans. the coin (or that's what she assumed it was) sailed into the spray of rainbow-coloured water. "you tricked us!" he yelled, "even dionysus at camp half-blood!"
from behind luke (though nobody was looking now), the fountain began to shimmer and percy uncapped riptide. meanwhile, cadie managed to find her car-keys. they'd make noise if she moved too quickly, so slowly- resisting the urge to just yank them out- she began to lift it out of the pocket of her dress.
luke sneered, "this is no time for heroics, percy. drop your puny little sword, or i'll have you killed sooner rather than later."
"who poisoned thalia's tree?"
she managed to lift it higher.
"i did, of course," he snarled. "i already told you that. i used elder python venom, straight from the depths of tartarus."
"chiron had nothing to do with it?"
"ha! you know he would never do that. the old fool wouldn't have the guts."
it was nearly out of her pocket.
"you call it guts? betraying your friends? endangering the whole camp?"
luke raised his sword. "you don't understand the half of it. i was going to let you take the fleece ... once i was done with it." that made percy hesitate. and it made cadie hesitate too. the keys stayed where they were- and she prayed they made no sound.
"you were going to heal kronos," percy said.
"yes! the fleece's magic would've sped his mending process by tenfold. but you haven't stopped us, percy. you've only slowed us down a little."
"and so you poisoned the tree, you betrayed thalia, you set us up-all to help kronos destroy the gods."
luke gritted his teeth. "you know that! why do you keep asking me?"
clink. she froze- but everybody was too immersed by percy's little interrogation of luke. still, to be sure, she stopped- sweat dripping down her forehead. this was quite possibly the most scared she'd ever been (or it was at least up there).
"because i want everybody in the audience to hear you."
"what audience?" then his eyes narrowed. he looked behind him and his goons did the same. they gasped and stumbled back. above the pool, shimmering in the rainbow mist, was an iris-message vision of dionysus, tantalus, and the whole camp in the dining pavilion. they sat in stunned silence, watching us.
"well," said dionysus dryly, "some unplanned dinner entertainment."
"mr. d, you heard him," percy said. "you all heard luke. the poisoning of the tree wasn't chiron's fault."
mr. d sighed. "i suppose not."
"the iris-message could be a trick," tantalus suggested, but his attention was mostly on his cheeseburger, which he was trying to corner with both hands.
"i fear not," mr. d said, looking with distaste at tantalus. "it appears i shall have to reinstate chiron as activities director. i suppose i do miss the old horse's pinochle games."
tantalus grabbed the cheeseburger. it didn't bolt away from him. he lifted it from the plate and stared at it in amazement, as if it were the largest diamond in the world. "i got it!" he cackled.
"we are no longer in need of your services, tantalus," mr. d announced.
tantalus looked stunned. "what? but-"
"you may return to the underworld. you are dismissed."
"no! but-nooooooooooo!"
as he dissolved into mist, his fingers clutched at the cheeseburger, trying to bring it to his mouth. but it was too late. he disappeared and the cheeseburger fell back onto its plate. the campers exploded into cheering. luke bellowed with rage as cadie managed to bring the key to her chest, mimicking a look of holding her hands to her chest to pray to the gods.
he slashed his sword through the fountain and the iris-message dissolved, but the deed was done. luke turned and gave me a murderous look.
"kronos was right, percy. you're an unreliable weapon. you need to be replaced."
one of his men blew a brass whistle, and the deck doors flew open. a dozen more warriors poured out, making a circle around us, the brass tips of their spears bristling.
luke smiled at them. "you'll never leave this boat alive."
suddenly, cadie clicked a random button on her car-keys and let a golden shimmer of light form as her weapon came into place as she spoke for the first time in a while- her words simple but impactful, "not if i can help it."
rosie speaks!
at last! an update!
yeah— sorry about me
being gone for so long.
but fear not! the writers
block is over !! but yeah
this was fun ngl i missed
writing cadie. so yeah :))
have fun ig :))
thoughts ?? headcanons??
word count: 3,869 words