[act four; chapter one - puppet]
Do you ever get the feeling that you have no control over your life? Like no matter what you do, someone else is pulling the strings, like you're the puppet and they—whoever they are—are the puppeteer.
Well, that's how Andromeda Storm has felt most of her life. Like she's had, realistically, a very small amount of choices in her life that, you know, have a major impact on anything. Because, let's be real, the Fates are some possessive ass old ladies who think it's fun to mess up her life again and again.
But really? Sending a bunch of monsters after her right when she's finally began to live a semi-normal life?
That's just messed up, man.
Andromeda is currently, if you're wondering, running through the streets of New York. Why, you ask? Because she is forcing Annabeth to be a third wheel so that she can watch a movie with Percy.
What a great friend, right?
Did she expect to spend the end of her summer like this? Nope. No, she did not. But has anything ever really gone her way?
Again, no.
"Shit!"
With a wave of her hand, roots from any plant nearby sprouted from the ground, coiling themselves around the legs of the monsters chasing her, bolting them to the ground. The redhead ran as fast as she could, hoping to reach Percy's school without being eaten or something like that.
She and Annabeth had plans to meet him there once he was done with some orientation thing for his new school, but neither of them were holding their breaths.
Finally, the school came into view.
Haphazardly Andromeda runs face first into another person. She catches a whiff of a familiar smell and a blur of curly blonde hair, a squeal leaving her lips as she throws her arms around the neck of Annabeth Chase.
The two pull away and Annabeth grins, "This will be interesting."
Interesting indeed.
—🧵—
"Just relax." Sally Jackson didn't sound relaxed. "It's only an orientation tour. And remember, dear, this is Paul's school. So try not to, ...you know."
"Destroy it?"
"Yes."
Paul Blofis, his mom's boyfriend, was standing out front, greeting future ninth graders as they came up the steps. With his salt-and-pepper hair, denim clothes and leather jacket, he reminded Percy of a TV actor, but he was just an English teacher. He'd managed to convince Goode High School to accept him for ninth grade, despite the fact that he'd been kicked out of every school he'd ever attended. He tried to warn him it wasn't a good idea, but he wouldn't listen.
Percy looked at his mom. "You haven't told him the truth about me, have you?"
She tapped her fingers nervously on the wheel. She was dressed up for a job interview—her best blue dress and high-heeled shoes. He thought she looked very beautiful.
"I thought we should wait," she admitted.
"So we don't scare him away."
"I'm sure orientation will be fine, Percy. It's only one morning."
"Great," he mumbled. "I can get expelled before I even start the school year."
"Think positive. Tomorrow you're off to camp! After orientation, you've got
your date—"
"It's not a date!" Percy protested. "It's just Andromeda, Mom. Jeez! And Annabeth is going to be there, too."
"She's coming all the way from camp to meet you."
"Well, yeah."
"You're going to the movies."
"Yeah."
"Just the two of you."
"Annabeth is going to be there, too!"
"But still, the two of you. In a small space. Together."
"Mom!"
She held up her hands in surrender, but he could tell she was trying hard not to smile. "You'd better get inside, dear. I'll see you tonight."
Percy was about to get out of the car when he looked over at the steps of the school.
Paul Blofis was greeting a girl with frizzy red hair. She wore a maroon T-shirt and ratty jeans decorated with marker drawings. When she turned, he caught a glimpse of her face, and the hairs on his arms stood straight up.
"Percy?" his mom asked. "What's wrong?"
"N-nothing," he stammered. "Does the school have a side entrance?"
"Down the block on the right. Why?"
"I'll see you later."
His mom started to say something, but he got out of the car and ran, hoping the redheaded girl wouldn't see him.
What was she doing here? Not even his luck could be this bad.
Yeah, right. He was about to find out his luck could get a whole lot worse.
—🧵—
Sneaking into orientation didn't work out too well. Two cheerleaders in purple-and-white uniforms were standing at the side entrance, waiting to ambush freshmen.
"Hi!" They smiled, which Percy figured was the first and last time any cheerleaders would be that friendly to him. One was blonde with icy blue eyes. The other was African American with dark curly hair like Medusa's (and, believe him, he knows what he's talking about). Both girls had their names stitched in cursive on their uniforms, but with his dyslexia, the words looked like meaningless spaghetti.
I should ask Lea later about why she can read so well, he thought to himself.
"Welcome to Goode," the blonde girl said. "You are so going to love it."
But as she looked Percy up and down, her expression said something more like, Eww, who is this loser?
The other girl stepped uncomfortably close to him. He studied the stitching on her uniform and made out: Kelli. She smelled like roses and something else he recognized from riding lessons at camp—the scent of freshly washed horses. It was a weird smell for a cheerleader. Maybe she owned a horse or something. Anyway, she stood so close he got the feeling she was going to try to push him down the steps. "What's your name, fish?"
He didn't really like people calling him anything having to do with fish unless their name happened to be Andromeda Achillea Storm.
"Fish?"
"Freshman."
"Uh, Percy."
The girls exchanged looks.
"Oh, Percy Jackson," the blonde one said. "We've been waiting for you."
That sent a major Uh-oh chill down his back. They were blocking the entrance, smiling in a not-very-friendly way. His hand crept instinctively towards his pocket, where he kept my lethal ballpoint pen, Riptide.
Then another voice came from inside the building: "Percy?" It was Paul Blofis, somewhere down the hallway. Percy had never been so glad to hear his voice.
The cheerleaders backed off. He was so anxious to get past them he accidentally kneed Kelli in the thigh.
Clang.
Her leg made a hollow, metallic sound, like he'd just hit a flagpole, which, by the way, he had done before. Several times.
"Ow," she muttered. "Watch it, fish."
He glanced down, but her leg looked like a regular old leg. He was too freaked out to ask questions. Percy dashed into the hall, the cheerleaders laughing behind him.
"There you are!" Paul told him. "Welcome to Goode!"
"Hey, Paul—uh, Mr Blofis." He glanced back, but the weird cheerleaders had disappeared.
"Percy, you look like you've seen a ghost."
"Yeah, uh—"
Paul clapped him on the back. "Listen, I know you're nervous, but don't worry. We get a lot of kids here with ADHD and dyslexia. The teachers know how to help."
Percy almost wanted to laugh. If only ADHD and dyslexia were his biggest worries. Seriously, he knew Paul was trying to help, but if he told him the truth about him, he'd either think he were crazy or he'd run away screaming. Those cheerleaders, for instance. Percy had a bad feeling about them...
Then he looked down the hall, and he remembered he had another problem. The redheaded girl he'd seen on the front steps was just coming in the main entrance.
Don't notice me, he prayed.
She noticed him. Her eyes widened.
"Where's the orientation?" Percy asked Paul.
"The gym. That way. But—"
"Bye."
"Percy?" he called, but the son of Poseidon was already running.
—🧵—
To say Percy had a very eventful, er...orientation, was an understatement. A vast one at that. It involved Rachel Elizabeth Dare, some vampire cheerleaders with donkey legs, and an exploding music room.
Yeah, crazy.
So, to make matters worse—well, not really worse, but more complicated—he just had to run into Andromeda and Annabeth on the street just outside the school.
He ran straight into Andromeda.
"Hey, Perc, you're out early!" She laughed, grabbing his elbows to keep him from tumbling into the street. "Watch where you're going, Fish Face."
For a split second she was in a good mood, so was Annabeth, and everything was fine.
Her red hair was long, reaching her lower back in messy curls as always. She was wearing a simple forest green long sleeve that was tucked into a pair of baggy black jeans and a pair of black boots. He didn't miss the small silver star that had been added to her Camp Half-Blood necklace. Next to her, Annabeth was wearing jeans and an orange camp T-shirt and her clay bead necklace. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Her grey eyes sparkled. They both looked like they were ready to catch a movie, have a cool afternoon hanging out together. Then Rachel Elizabeth Dare, still covered in monster dust, came charging out of the alley, yelling, "Percy, wait up!"
Annabeth's smile melted and immediately turned into a grimace. She glanced at Andromeda whose expression had gone from a smile to emotionless. They both stared at Rachel, then at the school. For the first time, they seemed to notice the black smoke and the ringing fire alarms.
Annabeth frowned at him. "What did you do this time? And who is this?"
"Oh, Rachel—Annabeth. Annabeth—Rachel. Um, she's a friend. I guess. Lea, you remember Rachel, right?"
Percy wasn't sure what else to call Rachel.
"Hi," Rachel said. Then she turned to Percy. "You are in so much trouble. And you still owe me an explanation!"
Police sirens wailed on FDR Drive.
Andromeda rose her hand slightly, "An explanation for what, exactly? You know, I like to be kept in the loop here."
"Percy," Annabeth said coldly, linking her hand with the redheads, "we should go."
"I want to know more about half-bloods," Rachel insisted. "And monsters. And
this stuff about the gods." She grabbed his arm, whipped out a permanent marker and wrote a phone number on his hand. "You're going to call me and explain, okay? You owe me that. Now get going."
"But—"
"I'll make up some story," Rachel said. "I'll tell them it wasn't your fault. Just go!"
She ran back towards the school, leaving Annabeth, Andromeda, and Percy in the street. Annabeth stared at me for a second. Then she turned and took off. Andromeda, now more angry than confused, glared at Percy, scoffing, "You told her. You told her the one thing you weren't supposed to," and she turned and followed after the blonde.
"Hey!" He jogged after them. "There were these two empousai," he tried to explain. "They were cheerleaders, see, and they said camp was going to burn, and—"
"You told a mortal girl about half-bloods?" Annabeth chided.
"She can see through the Mist. She saw the monsters before I did."
"That was well established from last year." Andromeda chipped in, neither stopping.
"So you told her the truth."
"She recognized me from Hoover Dam, so—"
"You've met her before?"
"Um, last winter. But, seriously, I barely know her."
Andromeda leaned towards Annabeth and whispered something in her ear. She turned to Percy and her amethyst eyes narrowed, "She's kind of cute."
"I—I never thought about it."
They kept walking towards York Avenue.
"I'll deal with the school," Percy promised, anxious to change the subject. "Honest, it'll be fine."
Annabeth wouldn't even look at him and Andromeda was straight up ignoring the world. "I guess our afternoon is off. We should get you out of here, now that the police will be searching for you."
Behind them, smoke billowed up from Goode High School. In the dark column of ashes, Percy thought he could almost see a face—a she-demon with red eyes, laughing at him.
Your pretty little camp in flames, Kelli had said. Your friends made slaves to the Lord of Time.
"You're right," he told them, his heart sinking. "We have to get to Camp Half-Blood. Now."
First chapter! It's super short, but it's fine. I'm so excited to be writing this part specifically for ✨reasons✨ but it's going to be super good.
Hopefully.
Anywho, there will possibly, maybe, I'm not sure, another chapter here soon!