[Y/N's POV]
Everything was dark, and tense. Not just me. The entire camp.
But this had happened to me a lot over the last year.
I couldn't see anything, but I knew I was floating, because it felt weightless. I couldn't even see my own hand in front of me. I wasn't in control but there was that voice again. The demon from inside of me. Its voice was a whispered growl.
"What do you not understand? You can't hold me out for much longer. You will falter..."
The voice trailed off. I wanted to scream. I couldn't. I tried to. But nothing came out, and my throat was being torn up because of my attempts.
A knot in my stomach grew and it felt like even the abyss around me was shaking. It was as if someone put me in a water bottle and threw it around.
"This body will be mine. As it was meant to. You're only keeping it warm for me." The voice chuckled. It was an evil, unsettling laugh that rattled me deep to my core.
Finally, light shone onto my face. I was still floating in a void and the only light was that of the silver wisps of moonlight passing through my window. My eyes blinked, and my body stood up.
I knew this feeling. A total lack of control.
It was the same thing that happened every time this demon took a place in the driver's seat. I tried clawing my way up to the view but it only felt like I was sinking deeper and deeper. Something was weighing me down.
My body towards the mirror in my cozy room in the big house. I had a bed, a functional sink, also a few chests to put clothes and other things. There was a mount on my wall for my sword, and the all important bathroom. Toilet, shower, and whatnot.
That's not really what's important here though. When my feet dragged me toward the mirror, I saw it's hold on me.
It had gotten worse. So much worse.
My eyes were still entirely blank. The teeth had gotten sharper somehow, and the black pulsing veins had multiplied since last summer. There had once been only a few sprouting up my neck and creeping onto my face. Now, they had sprouted up all over. It was on my arms, all the way down, and my legs. I started laughing.
Well, not me, but me. That doesn't make any sense. It was the same laugh I had heard in my head, but this time it was coming from my own mouth.
It spoke.
"It is only a matter of time, boy. The prophecy says enough for you to know by now that your fate is sealed. I will pave the way that was always meant to be!"
It laughed, evilly, and I saw the foundations around me shake as though the house were scared too.
Suddenly, everything stopped. I felt a harsh pulling in my stomach. The demon stopped smiling and grimaced. My body started shaking. I heard the thing yelling "NO! NO!" and suddenly I was slingshotted back into control.
In fact, I was thrown so hard, my head went crashing straight forward and into my mirror, shattering it into a million glass shards. I felt warm. Blood started flowing in my veins and I could finally breathe again.
My body slumped to the floor, back slamming against the foot of my bed. There was hardly any time to process all of the pain of glass stuck in my face.
The demon was getting stronger every day. And any attempt to fix it that I made, it stopped me. Whether it be trying to magic the issue, or take myself out of the equation, nothing worked.
It had finally gotten to the point where I had to speak to Chiron about it again. I couldn't keep pretending this was manageable, so back in December, right after my first semester of real school, which by the way, I hadn't been doing too poorly in.
I actually wasn't failing anything, and with Annabeth and Percy's help throughout the year, I was able to land an A in one of my classes.
Now, the problem was, I had set the bar too high, so my friend from the Athena cabin, as well as the centaur who raised me, had higher expectations. So, that's fantastic.
This second semester had gone alright, but not as well, seeing as... I'm getting off track.
I had spoken with Chiron and Mr. D about this initially last summer before I started class. And then again last winter, and they had given me suggestions and some help. But first, the idea was thrown out that I should take this to Olympus. In the end, we decided not to. I didn't really want to go back there for the second time in as many years.
Twice was enough. Mr. D and Chiron did their best to help, with the head of camp continuously denying that he actually wanted to help.
But I overheard him saying once, "The boy has been here so long, I've grown-"
"Fond of him, perhaps?" Chiron asked.
"Oh Zeus no. He's just become more tolerable than the other children here. Though I'll never tell him that."
Anyway, eventually, they had gone to the campers that were good with magic, so I ended up with Lou Ellen Blackstone twice a week while she tested all the magic she could on me.
Lou Ellen was a daughter of Hecate, so I had no real choice but to trust her. Still didn't mean I was comfortable with the idea of becoming a magical Guinea Pig. And honestly, she could probably turn me into a real Guinea pig if she wanted. That was what worried me.
So, that and school had been my day to day since December. Once the semester started back up, I was still attending a decent middle school in Long Island. Surprisingly, I hadn't been attacked by anything yet.
As it turns out, I think that my scent gets covered up by my... well, my parentage. Artemis' whole thing was nature and the forest. I'm not sure what I looked like to monsters, because I had seen them. But they never seemed to see me.
I tested this a few times. Most memorably, when I walked right by a giant scorpion in the woods, but it just kept moving past me. I wish I had known this before, because in the past, I just charged in, figuring I was gonna die if I didn't. But, apparently I wouldn't. Not if I didn't make a noise. Then I was safe.
I finally felt the pain of my head's impact into mirror. I screamed, struggling to pull some of he shards out of my cheeks. My body started shaking again, but I was still in control. I grabbed my head and knelt on the floor in pain.
"One day, boy. One day soon. You'll be nothing but a passenger. Prepare for an eternity of silence." Then it faded away.
I collapsed onto the floor, hit tears flowing from my eyes. "Just..." I choked out. "Just leave me alone... please..."
My chest was heaving, lungs pumping, ribs aching. Eventually, I calmed down a bit, but I knew I couldn't go back to sleep again tonight. I don't need to sleep a whole lot, but whenever it was needed, I was out like a light.
Instead, tonight I decided to take a stroll under the moonlight. This was always when I felt the most comfortable anyway.
I strolled around, evading some of the dormant monsters around the borders and eventually strayed back near Zeus' fist. I continued walking around until the sun came up.
***
Once the sun had taken its firm place in the sky and I was sure Apollo wasn't just screwing with me, I made my way over to the Hephaestus cabin. I slammed my fist on the door, and waited as I heard a few small explosions sound from the cabin. I stepped a few feet back and waited, as the door opened.
In the doorway stood the head of Cabin 9. Charles Beckendorf. Beckendorf was a tall, thickly built dark-skinned man. He also happened to be one of my friends. Granted, it mostly happened because I bugged him beyond belief, until he agreed to help me with a personal project in the past. And since then, he's been my go-to gear guy. That's why I was there.
When Charlie saw me, he sighed and stepped back into the cabin and rustled around audibly in some pile of metal scraps, finally emerging with a case of tools.
I hurried up the steps to the cabin and grabbed onto a few of the tools sticking out of the kit. He grunted as we made our way down to the camp forges.
It had been since yesterday afternoon that the forge was lit, but it was still really hot in here. I dropped my button up off my shoulders and hung it over some of the aprons, not really caring about it getting dirty, and really just ready for what I was helping Charlie with.
He lit the forge and immediately it got hotter. The flames were fanned and finally reached their full height. He directed my hand to the pile of precious metals, and I eventually just decided to reuse the same type as before. Celestial bronze, but this time I wanted a different design, and I had a few ideas in mind.
I grabbed a handful of bronze and set it on the work table. I grabbed a hammer and another tool I wasn't sure how to use. I was still ready to use them though, but Beckendorf grabbed them out of my hands. He guided me to the molds and had me select the one I wanted to use. I picked them out, and watched him hammer away at the metal, shaping it, separating it into the measurements we were going to need.
"I wish you'd let me use the tools once, Charlie. " I joked at him. He laughed for a second before hitting the metal again. "Last time you used the tools here, Y/N, you almost set the forge on fire. " He kept hammering away and eventually grabbed onto the pile of metal, dumping it into the kiln. "Fan the flames for me, would you?" I nodded and grabbed onto the vat, fanning the blaze.
"I told you, already Beckendorf, that wasn't my fault. That was Jake. He was screwing around." I reasoned, trying to make sure I didn't get burnt again.
"First of all, Jake wasn't even at camp yet when that happened. Second of all, I know it was you. There was a distinct Y/N shaped mark on the wall where there would've been ash otherwise."
He looked at me with a raised brow and a knowing smirk. I raised my hand to start making a point, but quickly realized there wasn't one that was reasonable.
"Whatever..." I went back to the flames while he just chuckled. Eventually, the bronze had melted down, and Beckendorf had grabbed the mold. He led me, and I poured the molten metal into the cast, then the other. We waited around idly, for the metal to cool and form.
While we did, we talked shop. I mentioned how I finished out the school year, he mentioned that he had a crush on someone, but he wouldn't quite tell me who. Didn't matter though, as he told me the metal was done cooling. He handed me a hammer, and told me to get to work on breaking the bracers out of the rock hard cast.
It took very little time though as I beat them like they owed me money. The bracers were out and in the open, steaming and shining. I slid them over to Beckendorf and he grabbed a box of other things. He pulled out leather straps and buckles, along with different tools. Once everything was constructed, he slid them over to me.
I took the pleasure of adding my own touches. I had convinced one of the satyrs to grab me a few cans of magic coating, and with a few shakes of a goats tail, I had given my new armor a fine temporary shield. I polished them, and with a quick durability test from Beckendorf, I was good to go.
They fit perfectly, and I put my hands up, pretending to box Beckendorf. I gave him a tight hug of appreciation. Then I realized we had been working in there until it was noon.
"Oh dang it. I gotta go. " I waved goodbye to Charles and raced down to the Big House porch. It was a Tuesday and that meant it was the first trial of the week. I met Lou Ellen on the steps. She shook her head at me. "You're late."
Lou Ellen was a girl around 13, shorter than me in height, with dark hair and emerald green eyes. Just like her mother Hecate. She was the one who had been experimenting on me with spells up to this point. I did have an idea though, but I hadn't brought it up yet. "Doesn't matter." She said, grabbing her spell book. "Let's get to work, Y/N. If you're up for it anyway." I nodded.
"Hey, before we start, Lou Ellen. I wanna ask if you can do me a favor." She wiped her long hair out of her face, and looked up at me from the steps. "What is it?"
"I was wondering if you could enchant these?" I asked. "Like, make them indestructible?" She tilted her head in thought. I waited with baited breath, hoping to get a pleasant answer. She looked at the bracers strapped to my arms.
"Yeah, I can try to do that. I just need to keep hold of them for a while." My eyes widened in surprise, and I hastily unbuckled them. "Yeah, yeah yeah. Here." I handed them to her and she started walking towards the U shaped alignment of the cabins. I just stood there, not really thinking about much. "Well?" She stopped and turned to me.
"Well, what?" She looked at me like I was a fish climbing a tree. "Well, are you coming? We still have to test some new ideas. " That jogged my memory. "Oh... Oh yeah! Yeah, I'm coming. "
***
After a few hours, I was laid down on the ground, my shirt and hair singed, and my will was faltering. It was fortunate to hear familiar hooves trotting up towards me. Chiron made his presence known with a cough. Lou Ellen and I looked at him, and he smiled at me.
"Miss Blackstone. Mr L/N. I hope your trials have been going well. " he said.
I patted out a flame that burst up on my shirt. "Yep. Perfectly fine. No complaints. " I said, squinting at Lou Ellen. She just stuck her tongue out at me.
I didn't have the energy to do anything in response, so I just let my head thud back into the dirt. Chiron handed me a small vial of nectar. I drank it hastily, and almost immediately felt much better. I flexed my arm and stretched my legs. I got up to my feet and Chiron patted me on the shoulder.
"Miss Blackstone, I hate to do this, but I need to pull Y/N from you for the day. Is that alright?" She nodded and grabbed my bracers and her book. "That's okay, Chiron. "I'll get these back to you soon, alright Y/N?" I nodded.
We separated and Chiron walked me back to the steps of the big house. On the porch, there was a bag bursting with supplies, and my sword. Not even going to ask how that got here, but Chiron quickly realized what I was looking at.
"Ah, yes. That is what I needed to ask you about." He trotted over and grabbed both things, then moved back over to me with them in his hands. "I sense Annabeth is in trouble. I would like to request your help in retrieving her. "
"Are you asking me to run an errand Chiron?" I laughed. He said, "Well..." and his arms drooped, sighing. I smiled and grabbed the items from him. "Of course. If Annabeth's in danger, somebody needs to help her. Might as well. I think they finished up that pack of scorpions earlier."
He nodded, patting me on the shoulder again. "Now would be the opportune window. Be safe, child."
I hugged him and turned to walk up the hill, but immediately remembered something. "I have no idea where she is." I told the centaur. He nodded. "I have an idea. But it'll be a lengthy journey."
Afterwards, I walked up the hill, past Thalia's tree. As always, I put a hand on it and whispered a silent prayer for her. Now, more than ever she needed it. The barrier was weak and the roots of her tree were darkening and withering.
Then I was on my way.
***
[Annabeth's POV]
Moving for days if not a week is not a good idea. And let me tell you, going from Virginia to Long Island New York was not easy. I had to be somewhere in New York by now, right? I had lost track of the days, because I had barely slept since I left home.
I had tried to stay hidden, in the shadows, in alleyways, and whatever I could find to help me, but after a constant barrage of random monsters here and more random monsters there, I was exhausted, and I felt like I could barely walk another step.
Sliding down the wall of an alley, panting, I raked my grimy blonde hair out of my face, only hoping nothing found me. I had faced a wide array of monsters to this point, giant scorpions, telkhines, dracanae, and others who I was too tired to remember the names of.
My dagger clattered to the ground, while I tried to stretch out my arm. My whole body was in pain, and all I could do was catch my breath. Unfortunately, my brain was going all fuzzy due to the constant moving that I've been doing. I've barely stopped to even get a thought in, and that was what might get me killed.
I didn't hear the footsteps sneaking up on me in the alley, and I barely felt the hand wrap around my arm, lifting me up into the air. It didn't take a long period of time for my instincts to kick in when I realized I was being held up in the air by a giant. I screamed, and started flailing. I reached for my knife, but realized it was still on the ground.
Help was not likely to come, so all I could do was fight until the last ounce of strength left my body. I wasn't planning on dying at 13, but there wasn't much I could do. I scratched the giant's arm and it groaned dumbly in pain.
It dropped me hard on the concrete ground, landing on my back and knocking most of the air from out of my lungs. This time I heard the lumbering footsteps. Two pairs of them. There was a giant on either side of me.
I scrambled back to my dagger and held it up in front of me, hoping I could maybe intimidate the giants into running away. It didn't work. They just stared at the blade in confusion for a moment, before one of them grabbed me by the wrist, twisting the blade out of my hand. It clattered loudly to the ground again, and I felt my body leave the ground.
Most of my senses were exhausted, and all I could feel was what would my friends' reactions be to hearing I was found dead in an alley, or just not found at all.
"Maybe we can stew her?" One of the giants muttered. The other one smacked him in the back of the head. "No you idiot, we don't have enough time. One of those other demigods is probably nearby. We should just skin her and eat her here."
"No!" I cried out. Have to come up with a plan or something. "No, what?" one of them asked me.
"I mean... I mean you can't just eat me. You'll get... sick. Yeah. You'll get sick." I told them. Not my best work, but it was something.
"How would we get sick? We've eaten worse than god-spawn before." The other one said.
I thought for a moment. "Well I've got things you've never even heard of. Stuff that'll even make the gods sick." They looked at each other quizzically. "How do we know you're not lying to us?" One of them asked.
"Well why would I lie about being infected?" I told them, acting disgruntled at the question. The giant put me down.
From way above them, on the balcony of one of the buildings that made up the alley, I saw something bronze glinting in the sunlight.
The light flashed in a sequence, and I took a deep breath and nodded, understanding what the flashing was signaling for me to do. It's a good thing I taught him Morse code. Or else this plan, whatever it was, wouldn't work.
I kept the giants talking. "I've got tons of parasites, all crawling around. It'll hurt you, real bad. And it doesn't go away. You'll have them forever. It's kind of ludicrous." I told them, pointing emphatically. One of them gasped.
"I don't want parasites." it told the other. "Neither do I, dunce, and we won't get any. The girl is stalling for time." the second giant said. It grabbed me, but I heard a battle cry from above. So did the giants. "What was that?" one of them asked.
He jumped off the balcony, and crashed down, stabbing one of the giants and causing it to erupt into a pile of dust. He landed roughly into the pile, disappearing for a moment, before rising like a phoenix from the ashes.
Except, Y/N wasn't exactly a magical fire bird. As soon as he stood from the pile, the other giant smacked him through a wall. He vanished once again in an eruption of dust. Only this time it was because he disintegrated a few bricks on his way through the wall.
The giant laughed. "Godspawn have become so much easier to deal with over the years." It turned to me. My eyes widened. I went to grab my dagger again, but found that my wrist was broken from the giant grabbing me. I tried to cry out to my friend for help, but my throat was sore and strained.
This was it. I was going to die. I felt the giant's hand wrap around me. The giant hand squeezed around me tightly, pressing down on my lungs, and then my vision went fuzzy too. I heard a violent roar. The giant seized and dropped me.
The giant groaned in pain and its chest shook. Something burst through the giant's chest, and then another. The pair of... hands retracted, and the monster collapsed to the ground. But the giant didn't turn into dust like the other one. It just heaved on the ground.
Behind it, I saw Y/N. But not the Y/N I know. This one had white eyes, black pulsing veins covering up his face and sharp teeth. A deep, rumbling laugh erupted from him, and whatever the thing that was controlling my friend was, got to work. It ripped off the giant's arm, and started beating the giant over the head with it.
Blood started spraying everywhere. The giant's head had been reduced to nothing more than a bloody pulp. The thing kept going. It was disgusting, and I wanted to puke, but I'm not sure I could at this point. My eyes were wide as could be.
Finally, the beatdown stopped. Y/N's body went rigid. He dropped the arm, seizing like he'd been magically tied up. His eyes rolled up into his head, and random, strangled clicking noises started coming from him. I managed the strength to grab my dagger and stab some part of the giant. It turned into dust. The blood, the other parts. All of it had vanished, like it wasn't there in the first place.
I was wary about it, but I took a couple of cautious steps toward Y/N, hand wrapped tightly around my dagger. I thought about it, and choked out his name.
"Y/N?..." His head snapped towards me. Those pale eyes and black veins were prominent, and it startled me a step back. The body stopped seizing, and relaxed. I was hopeful that this meant my friend was back, but it charged at me, lunging and knocking me back down onto my butt.
I dragged myself back until I hit the wall. He kept approaching me. There was foam dripping from his mouth now, and he took slow, terrifying steps toward me. I could see my reflection in his empty eyes.
Our faces were inches apart.
Suddenly. He stopped. He blinked. The beautiful bronze eyes speckled with silver that I knew returned. He took a shuddering deep breath. He looked into my eyes with a worried expression.
Now that I got a close look at him, I could see that he had grown up a little more, no longer being that average sized kid. He looked more athletic, and his wavy (H/C) still always looked like he'd just gotten out of a wind tunnel. But in a good way. His metal-colored eyes shone captivatingly in the sunlight. My face burned as he stood over me like a confused cat.
His pupils flitted around. I only just realized how fast my heart was beating. He looked around the alleyway, sighing, and muttering "no no no not again with this... " he slammed his hand into the wall.
I was glad to see my friend again. I dug deep into my memories and recalled what that woman at the arch said. This must be what happened with Echidna and the Chimera last year.
I tried to slow my breathing but it didn't work very well. At least my face stopped burning when he left the alley. But he quickly returned with a backpack. He kneeled down in front of me, rifling through it until he whispered, "Alright. Okay. Okay. Alright.
[Y/N's POV]
It was a good thing Annabeth taught me Morse code because it was either that or yell the plan out loud and get caught up here.
Sure, it wasn't my best plan ever, but the strategist between us was stuck between two rocks and a hard place. Well, more like two giants and a brick wall, with no weapon. I did my best Tarzan impression, and... well, what happened happened.
It wasn't surprising that the demon showed up, seeing as it usually kicks in when I've been injured or feel otherwise weak, but I've been hurt much worse than that before and it didn't bother helping then.
It's just been getting stronger and it probably couldn't be controlled for much longer. I was terrified that I might've hurt Annabeth, so I went around to the building I jumped off, and grabbed the bag Chiron gave me before I left. As far as I know, we were somewhere just outside of New York. Pretty sure I saw a sign that said: Matamoras, Pennsylvania.
Anyway, I took a few sparing glances at Annabeth. Her hair was greasy and all over the place. She had torn up clothes, cuts and scrapes covering her, and first and foremost, she looked terrified.
There was panic in her eyes, and I wanted to do whatever necessary to help with that. So, I looked around in the bag for the vials of nectar Chiron sent, and when my hand passed over glass tubes, I let out a relieved breath.
I grabbed a few, and shuffled over to kneel down next to Annabeth. I handed her a vial, and though she was visibly skeptical, she took the vial and drank it in one go.
I nodded, and reached into my bag for a banana and ate it, while Annabeth caught her breath. Once I was done with the fruit, I found the nearest trash can, and threw the peel away. Along with a few other scattered pieces of garbage.
Stuff like this is what really ruins nature for everyone else, and I wanted to fight people that litter. But that wasn't where my anger was directed at the moment.
I thought and hoped that Lou Ellen would have an answer for this damned monster inside of me soon, while I made my way back to the alley where Annabeth was recovering. Once I got there, it was clear that she looked a lot more energetic already, so I grabbed an ambrosia square from the bag and tossed her one.
She caught it out of the air and wolfed it down in just a few bites. I couldn't help but laugh. She looked like she would starve to death at any moment. It looked like she hadn't stopped moving even just to eat in a week. And the bag that was on the ground by her looked like it would turn to dust with a slight breeze.
"Slow down, Einstein. I've got more. They're not going anywhere."
She looked at me with her usual unamused expression, and stuck her hand out for another one. I gave it to her, and put the rest away for later. If she was as smart as she claimed to be, I knew she wouldn't ask for another one any time soon, unless she wanted to die here and now. And seeing as I just saved her life, I hoped she didn't want to just yet.
She went to stand, and I extended a hand, pulling her to her feet. She looked me over. She was analyzing me, and I hope she didn't think too hard. But a look on her face told me she knew what was up.
"How long has this been going on?" She asked. I sighed a deep breath, looking around in the bag for a little while longer, trying to occupy my hands while my mind came up with an answer.
"Since last year, really. A couple weeks after summer ended. It's gotten a lot more frequent since winter though." I replied. "And you didn't think to tell me?" She asked, annoyed. I ran a hand through my hair.
"Well, you clearly had enough to deal with." I muttered. She scoffed. "And? I could've still tried to help you."
"You helped enough with the school stuff, Annabeth. I've got a plan to figure this all out, okay? Now can we move on from the subject? I can tell you're hungry. And I know I am." She looked dejected, but didn't ask again. I found another fruit in my bag.
"Hey, catch." I told her. I tossed the apple her way, and her eyes widened like it was a monster coming her way. She yelped, and zipped out of the apple's path. It landed harmlessly on the ground. I looked at her in confusion.
"What are you, a doctor?" I asked. She was looking at the apple with fright in her eyes.
"What?" She muttered. "Well, they say, an apple a day keeps the doctor away..." I joked. She just glared at the fruit. "That made more sense in my head, alright?" I groaned and dusted off the fruit, tucking it back in my bag.
"I've got orange slices. Want some of those?" I looked at her. She shook her head nervously and I sighed.
"Alright. Come on. I saw this grill place around here. Looks good." I gently grasped her wrist and dragged her toward the direction of the restaurant. She resisted for a moment but eventually came along.
[Annabeth's POV]
Didn't he know what throwing someone an apple means? And if I caught it? I don't want to imagine what that would've led to. Not yet at least. I let him pull me to the restaurant. We got seats, and ordered.
Not before questioning how we'd pay though. Y/N showed me a roll of mortal money he had stowed away in the bag, "Always come prepared" he said, so I nodded, and ate my food. It was good food, but I didn't much care about that.
He pulled a deck of cards out of his bag and shuffled, telling me to pick one. I did, memorized it, and watched him shuffle again, pulling out the ace of spades.
"Is this your card?" He asked. I shook my head. He swore in Greek and slapped the deck of cards down in the table.
I don't really remember what either of us got to eat, but the food arrived, and I gratefully dug in. What I cared about, was that my friend had found me somehow, saved me from monsters, just to turn into some monster himself.
He was giving me a look that read, 'Don't even ask' I didn't, so I decided to ask about something else.
"How were your grades in the second semester?" I hadn't spoken with him or Percy much since winter, so there wasn't a whole lot of information about each other from then on. He swallowed a big hunk of food stuck in his throat, and thought for a moment.
"They're off the charts." He said. That was pleasantly surprising. I imagined he would struggle in the second semester without a lot of help. "Granted, my charts are like half the size of yours." He added.
Nevermind.
I let out a wistful sigh. "You know you can do better in school, Y/N. Why didn't you try harder?" I asked him, probably a little more aggressively than I meant to, but this was also some pent up anger from a previous altercation with someone else in my life.
He looked taken aback. "Jeez, Annabeth. You sound like what I imagine a decent mom would." he said, putting down his fork.
"Well, the reason I didn't do as well is because camp has been a little bit of a mess, as well as the fact that I've been trying to wrangle a demon inside of my own head the entire time. Just small stuff like that." he grumbled, signaling the waitress.
"What happened to you?" he asked. "I thought you were living with your dad again?" He sounded disappointed. I put my head on my hand, rolling my eyes. "I was." I said, quietly.
"So, what happened?" he asked. I sighed. "Pretty much the same stuff as before. They treated me like I was a ticking bomb. Didn't want anything to do with me."
His face dropped. "I'm sorry to hear that." he muttered. "Don't be. At least now I know I'll be wasting my time trying that again in the future." I looked down at the table. "Where's Percy?" I asked him. His head tilted like a dog given conflicting commands.
"Oh. Um... I'm not sure. I haven't talked to him a lot since winter. You either for that matter-" I slid out of that booth and briskly walked for the exit, leaving Y/N stammering while paying the bills.
I made my way to a roadmap stand nearby and oriented myself. He caught up to me, taking deep breaths and trying to tuck things back into his bag hastily. "Can you at least tell me why you're so against standing still?"
"Percy's in danger." I told him, taking off down the street and toward New York. "Percy's always in danger. What's different with him this time?" he said, trying to not outpace me.
"Even if something is really wrong, are you really going to walk all the way to New York?" he asked. I nodded. His shoulders slumped.
"You sure you don't want to go to camp first?" he asked. I shook my head. "If we wait, he could get killed."
"And if we don't wait, we could all get killed. Just... how about this?" he suggested.
"How about, we stay back, until it's clear something is gonna happen. How's that sound?"
I thought it over. It wasn't the worst idea he'd ever come up with. I let out a breath and nodded. He smiled and asked, "Hey, by the way. What does ludicrous mean?" and then we were on the way.