Discussions. I don't like him.
Sitting with the Avengers around the dinner table with my ex and her new boyfriend, was awkward. Especially with Nathan around too. Annabeth and Nathan were eyeing each other suspiciously, and the Avengers tried to start up a conversation. Annabeth's new boyfriend, Matteo, tried to disappear into his chair, which I understood why, because I also wanted to disappear into my chair instead of being here.
I was slowly chewing my meal as I watched silently the eye daggers being thrown between Annabeth and Nathan. I had no idea why they didn't like each other - they had just met. But apparently there was this huge rivalry between them.
"Can you not look at me?" Annabeth broke the heavy silence and narrowed her eyes at Nathan.
"No." He answered shortly and threw a tomato into his mouth and slowly chewed it. His eyes looked intimidating as they were almost black and stared into Annabeth's soul.
"So uhm..." Matteo spoke up. "Since when do you live with the Avengers?" he asked curiously. I looked at him.
"Since they kidnapped me and arrested me."
"Wait what?" Annabeth's hair whirled around as she turned to look at me.
"Kind of embarrassing when you think about it," Tony muttered.
I nodded, agreeing to Tony's statement. It was quite embarrassing.
"Why did they arrest you?" Annabeth asked with a frown on her face.
I shrugged, "Probably because being a demigod means the Mist will find a way for mortals to comprehend all that is happening." I told her, "It's actually the Mist you should arrest," I looked at the Avengers. "The Mist is at fault for all the accidents all around the world. Which means you should also arrest the monsters; they aren't doing a great job at protecting the world either."
"Percy," Annabeth interrupted. I turned to her with a raised eyebrow. "Focus."
"Don't tell me what to do." I crossed my arms.
She sighed and pinched her nose, "Let's just concentrate," she mumbled then looked around at the table. "So, you're saying you keep having these blackouts?" she asked.
I rolled my eyes and nodded, "Yes, I've been saying that for a couple of days now."
"Okay, does anyone have any idea of what could be causing them?" Annabeth's grey eyes bore into each soul sitting at the table, and I honestly felt bad for the Avengers experiencing her piercing eyes.
"Our friends at camp suspects it might be the venti..." I started but Annabeth shook her head.
"No, Piper made them swear to never possess us again." She spoke.
"Wait, again?" Clint's eyes grew wide. "What is Venti?" he asked.
"No time to explain," my ex muttered then continued. "So, it cannot be them. Are there any other beings that can mess with your mind?" she asked.
"I don't know," I replied, "Usually you're the know-it-all." She groaned at my response.
"There might be one..." Tony spoke slowly and eyed Clint carefully. Clint's eyes grew to teacups.
"No." He shook his head. "Please don't say what I think you're about to say."
"Loki's scepter." Tony looked at me. I frowned. Loki's scepter? "It has the power to control a person. Clint was so lucky to try it in the alien attack."
"It was not fun." He muttered angrily for himself.
"That might be it," Annabeth nodded. "I mean, it could be the scepter. I can't remember any mythological being now, that can control people's minds other than the venti."
Matteo glanced at his girlfriend and slowly nodded.
"I mean, there is Hypnos, the god of sleep, the mind, and its mental state. He's also the god if hypnosis. He could be the one to control you and make you lose the memory of doing the things you do during the blackouts." Annabeth brainstormed.
Matteo shook his head, "It's not Hypnos." He spoke. "He has no reason to hate Percy or even make his life miserable. It must be some other god or minor god." He reasoned.
I nodded. "Matteo is right. I don't think I have done anything disregarding towards the god of Sleep."
"I'm trying so hard to understand what you guys are saying," Tony muttered.
"Don't worry," Nathan patted Tony on the shoulder, "You'll get there eventually."
"So, we're saying it's Loki's scepter that's been causing these blackouts?" Annabeth searched everyone's faces.
I nodded, "Seems reasonable." I shrugged.
"Yes," Natasha said. "The scepter is from our knowledge still on Asgard, so I don't see how..."
"We could contact Thor," Tony snapped his fingers.
"Thor?" Matteo frowned.
"Norse god of Thunder, basically a nice Zeus," Nathan explained and shrugged.
"Ah," Annabeth's boyfriend nodded.
"Who's contacting him?" Steve asked, then frowned, "How are we contacting him?" he then asked.
"I don't think the dude has a phone," Clint said, "We should really upgrade him."
"Can't we just yell the name he always yells and then ask that man to contact Thor?" Bruce piped up.
Tony snapped his fingers at Bruce, "Bruce my man, I love you. Let's do that." He stood up and dragged Bruce with him out of the room.
I shook my head at them and smiled. My eyes landed on Annabeth who shot daggers at Nathan.
"Why did you come here?" I asked.
She turned towards me, "You're my friend." Ouch. "I care about you, and it seemed a bit odd that you'd set fire to the stables without a reason. And even if you had a reason, you wouldn't even do it, because of your fatal flaw. Chiron was in the wrong for banishing you, but I understand why he did it." She spoke. I nodded slowly. Of course, I also understood why Chiron had banished me, but it still hurt like Hades- I am so sorry Uncle H. I meant; it still hurt like hell- okay you know what? I'm just going to forget this.
"Annabeth and I wanted to make sure you were okay, and even help you figure out what's happening." Matteo spoke and gave me a goofy smile.
I returned the smile; he was quite nice except for the fact that he was Annabeth's boyfriend.
The whole building shook suddenly for five seconds. I frowned and looked over my shoulder.
"What was that?" I asked.
"Eh..." Steve stood up. "Could that have been Thor's friend?"
"The building doesn't usually shake like that." Clint crossed his arms.
"Exceptions?" Steve shrugged.
"I'm checking it out," I said and stood. I didn't even get to the door before Tony and Bruce walked back into the room.
"Oh, hey guys." Tony smiled, smoke oozed from his shoulders and his hair stood tall into the air. Bruce didn't look much better. His glasses were crooked too.
"What the hell happened to you two?" I asked.
"Uhm..." Tony eyed Bruce then looked back to me. "We called Heimdall... turns out it's only safe for gods or demigods, whatever Thor is." He mumbled and sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Anyway, we got in contact with Thor!" he smiled eagerly.
"And?" Natasha raised an eyebrow.
Thor walked into the room and dusted his shoulders off from imaginary dust. He stopped when he saw all eyes was on him.
"We got him to come here," Tony said.
"Oh, fellow Midgardians!" the god of Thunder exclaimed loudly and opened his arms. "It is good to see you again!" his eyes landed on me and somehow his smile got even bigger. "Perseus Jackson! Good to see you again! How are you? Do you need me to help you escape these morons again?" he asked and tilted his head.
"Hey!" Clint protested.
I chuckled, "No, but thanks for the offer. I'll hold you up on that." He nodded and patted my back. "But it's good to see you again."
"So why have you..." His eyes widened. I followed his gaze to see him looking at Annabeth and Matteo. "Is that the famous lady Annabeth I, see?" he asked and walked over. He extended his hand politely and Annabeth shook it. "A pleasure to meet you, miss." He bowed.
Her cheeks flushed and she drew her hand to herself, "Uhm... Good to meet you too." She stuttered.
"And who is this man next to you?" Thor eyed up Matteo curiously.
"I'm Matteo Kanzuri, Annabeth Chase's boyfriend," he smiled and held out his hand.
Thor's smile slowly faded, and he looked at the hand. "Hm, I liked Percabeth more." He mumbled and turned his back to Matteo. Matteo's smile dropped and he let his hand fall to his side. As if he noticed me looking at him, he quickly put on a smile and looked at me, then spoke quietly to Annabeth.
Thor's eyes landed back on me, "So, your theory is that it is my brother Loki's scepter, that's been causing these blackouts to you?" he asked to confirm what he had been told.
I nodded my head, "Yes, that's what we're suspecting."
The god nodded and itched his chin, "The scepter is on Asgard, heavily guarded in our dungeons..." he spoke slowly. "There is no chance anyone can lay their hands on his scepter." His blue eyes bore into mine.
"But... then what could it be?" I asked helplessly. It was our only theory. It couldn't be the venti. We thought it was Loki's scepter, but now Thor had shot that idea down.
The god didn't exactly help when he shrugged, "I do not know, young hero." He looked apologetic. "Perhaps you should ask your father? He might know."
"I have already spoken to him; he does not know. And I have today to find out what it is, because tomorrow I am expected at Olympus to explain my actions during the blackouts." I stressed.
"Wait, Olympus? You're going to Greece?" Tony frowned.
"No," I sighed and rubbed my forehead, "Haven't I told you? Olympus is currently located above the Empire State Building."
"Oh... You might have mentioned it... I'm not entirely sure," the billionaire mumbled.
"But the point is, I don't have much time left, it's already past four in the afternoon and I am stressing so much about this." I took a deep breath.
"You could say it was Loki's scepter, but I do not think that is the case, young hero. If you are to prove it is the scepter, then they will know you have lied." Thor spoke.
I slumped down in a chair and hid my face in my hands. "What should I do?" I asked no one in particular.
"You could ask Apollo for help...?" Nathan slowly spoke up. He had been quiet for so long that I had forgotten he was even here.
"What do you mean?" Annabeth frowned and voiced my thoughts.
"My f... Apollo is the god of Truth, correct?" he said, gaining a nod from both Annabeth and I. "So, what I'm saying is, you could get Apollo to tell the other gods whether you're telling the truth or not." Nathan elaborated. "You can say you've been experiencing blackouts for some time, and whenever you wake up, you have hurt someone you love or destroyed something. And you have no memory of doing it." Nathan finished.
I stared at him. That could actually work. Apollo would probably be willing to do it, and then the other gods would know I didn't lie.
"What if the other gods don't trust Apollo's word?" Annabeth asked.
Nathan frowned, "Why do you have to shoot down every idea? Do you want Percy to be incinerated?" he asked.
"What? No!" she looked horrified at my bodyguard.
"Then stop saying those things. I know you're only trying to help, but it doesn't help. Right now, we need hope, so shut up snuffer." He huffed.
Annabeth raised her eyebrows at him, "Excuse me?"
"Oh, you heard me." He hissed.
"Well, I..."
"Stop!" I yelled at them. "You're acting like two children right now! And we don't need that right now. Please just... try to work together." I sighed. "I'm trying to work together with Matteo, and I don't even like him, so if I can do it then you two can too." I reasoned. Then I realized what I just had said and turned to her boyfriend. "Uhm... no offense." I tried.
Matteo opened his mouth and closed it again, he just nodded. Great, I just messed up any sort of friendship I could've had with that guy.
I pinched my nose, "Let's just come up with a game plan." They all agreed to it and finally we sat down and began to discuss how to approach this subject.