Earth 6
As soon as we got to the earth Chaos appeared too. It was dark outside so his aura was really bright compared to everything.
"I believe that is mine." He said.
I handed him the ring, "Can you like.. I don't know, give us a clue for these rings cause they're really difficult to deal with."
"Don't worry, I've manipulated the mist to make others believe you guys are new students at a highschool where the rings will be found."
"Oh great, school." I muttered sarcasticly.
"Percy, it's not that bad."
"Well, you better get ready, it's your first day tomorrow."
He vanished and I finally took in my surroundings.
We stood in a small house.
"So, I guess this is where we'll be living." Annabeth said.
I looked at the phone that was still in my hand, I opened it to see a playlist.
"This dude." I said grinning.
"What?"
"He gave us some unreleased songs." I said, "Wanna listen?" I asked.
"Listen to your voice more than I already have to? No thanks." She said grinning.
I pouted, "Mean."
I gave her an air pod and connected the phone.
The album:
Pompeii
Dandelion
Paris
Line without a hook
Nothing even matters
Boyfriend
Riptide
Achilles heel
Gold
Trust fund baby
Atlantis
Cars outside
"Wow, he left us quite the selection, huh?"
"Yep." I said.
I quickly removed the contacts, never wearing those again.. hopefully.
We lied down on the bed and listened to the songs, slowly, I started falling asleep.
The next morning I woke up to an alarm that I swear wasn't on the phone before.
I got up yawning, "Morning, beautiful." I said.
"Morning seaweed brain." She said, "This nickname doesn't feel appropriate anymore, you've grown smarter."
"Thank you." I said grinning.
I got up and wore my regular black shirt, jeans and hoodie. Annabeth wore a crop top, jeans and her hoodie as well. Since it was raining, I know, I can't get wet but I can still get cold.
We walked out of the small house, "Where do we even study, Chaos never gives us enough instructions."
"I think he said Hawkins high, but you weren't listening."
"I wasn't?" I said scratching my neck sheepishly.
We saw a crazy haired guy and ginger girl walk by us, "Um, by any chance do you know where Hawkins high is?" I asked the crazy haired guy.
He eyed me weirdly for a moment, "Yeah, I'm going there right now, you guys want a ride?" He asked.
"Sure." I said.
We hopped into his van.
"I'm Eddie by the way, Eddie Munson."
"Percy Jackson."
"I'm Annabeth Chase."
"You guys aren't from around here right?" He asked.
"Why do you say that?" I asked.
"Well, I've never seen anyone dressed like that." He said pointing to our clothes.
"Huh? There's something wrong with our clothes?" I asked confused.
"Uhh, no, it's probably just a thing here." He said.
Annabeth kept the phone since she was more responsible than me and she hogged the earphones claiming that I could just go to the bathroom and sing for myself, plus she was sick and my voice helped her calm down.
I looked out the window as we drove, everyone was wearing some weird stuff, like old stuff.
"What grade you two in?" He asked.
"Seniors." Annabeth said.
He nodded, he dropped us off and parked his van.
"You two should probably go to the principals office to get your stuff checked." He said.
"Can you lead us there?"
"Uhh, I don't think he'd appreciate seeing me very much.. let's go." He said.
The place was pretty much empty except for a few students and everyone had very odd haircuts.
Eddie knocked on the door.
"Principal Higgins!" He exclaimed, smiling like a madman.
"What do you want?!" The man said sternly.
"Oh, nothing, I've just come to bring you your students, see? I'm not such a bad person, am I?"
"Get out." He grumbled.
"Whatever." He said flipping off the principle as he walked off.
The man grumbled something about uncultured bloodlines and wore a smile when he saw us.
"You two must be Annabeth and Percy. Here are your classes and schedules."
When I looked at the papers the smile was wiped off my face.
"We have no classes together?!" I asked, frantic.
"Uhh, yes, the schedule is quite tight so we couldn't fit you into the same class." The man explained.
We got out the room and i walked Annabeth to her class.
"Οὐχὶ δύναμαι κρυφίως εἰσελθεῖν; ἤδη γὰρ ἀνέχεσθαι τοῦτο ἀδύνατον, ἐὰν μὴ μετὰ σοῦ ὦ, θανῶ." I tried to convince her. (Can't I just sneak in? This stuff is already unbearable, if I can't be with you, I'll die.)
"Percy, we'll meet at lunch time, you'll be okay."
I pouted, "Says you, you're smart, I'm just a dyslexic mess."
"Πέρσι, θα είσαι καλά, επιπλέον δεν χρειάζεται ούτε καν να προσπαθήσεις, απλώς πρέπει να βρεις το δαχτυλίδι." (Percy, you'll be fine, plus you don't have to even try, you just need to find the ring.)
"But what if the teacher calls on me and embarrasses me, I don't need more problems."
"You'll be fine, okay?" She said pecking my lips.
"Okay." I sighed.
The halls were empty, which meant all the kids were in class which also meant that I couldn't sneak into mine without dragging attention to myself. I scowled at the thought.
I walked to my class and knocked, a lady opened the door, "Oh, you must be Mr Jackson." She said politely.
"Uh, yes."
"Well, class, this is Percy Jackson, he is a transfer from Manhattan." She told the class as I stood there awkwardly.
Chaos had refilled our bags but didn't mention the fact that we'd stand out so much.
"Percy, take a seat near Jason over there." I perked up at the mention of Jason.
Someone called Jason couldn't possibly be bad.
I froze a little when I realised he was an athlete, athletes at school are always bullies, I didn't make the rule, don't ask me.
I sat down and the teacher gave us group work.
I sat there awkwardly as everyone else got into groups.
"Hey, Percy, right, wanna be in our group?" Jason asked.
"Uhh, yeah, thanks." I said.
I scooted my chair closer to his table where a blonde already sat.
"I'm Jason, this is Chrissy." He said, "My girlfriend."
"Hi, nice to meet you." Chrissy held out her hand.
"I'm Percy." I shook her hand.
"Okay, so, we have to do the questions from page 234-236." Jason said.
Of course, the universe hating me and wanting my life to suck as much as possible made my first lesson English.
"Uhh, I can't read." I told Jason.
His eyes furrowed, "Like.. you never learnt?" He asked.
"No, I- I'm dyslexic." I explained.
"Oh, well, no worries, I'll read it for you then we can answer together." He said.
I thanked him.
POV ANNABETH
I felt sick, I want to throw up, but I had to stay strong, for Percy.
I kissed him and waved him off. As I entered my class, I saw the messy haired guy, Eddie.
"Class, this is Annabeth Chase, she is a transfer student from Manhattan."
I smiled at the class, "Annabeth, you can take a seat next to Nancy, there." He said.
Everyone dressed weirdly, their hairstyles were odd too.
I sat down next to Nancy, I smiled at her, she seemed nice.
I pushed in an air pod and covered it with my hand so the teacher wouldn't tell me to remove it, in all honesty, I had to interest in studying right now, most of this stuff was easy anyway.
The teacher put us into groups. I was in a group with Nancy and Eddie.
I finished my work quickly and zoned out, again, I was taken to my dark thoughts.
"-ebth, Annabeth?" Nancy said shaking my shoulders.
"Huh, what?" I asked confused.
"You okay?" She asked.
"No, I'm, yeah, no, I'm fine." I said quickly.
She smiled at me and I smiled back.
"Beth, where's Percy?" Eddie asked.
"We have no classes together." I said sadly.
"That principle just has something against happiness, I swear." He muttered.
It was time for the next class, I made my way to the bathroom.
I felt eerily watched. Like I wasn't alone.
"Hello?" I called.
No response.
I quickly shook the thought away and splashed water in my face, since I started taking the pills, my headache had decreased significantly but I still felt.. weird.
Another girl walked into the bathroom as I took the pills.
I recognised her, she was the same ginger who walked past us.
She had headphones in so I didn't bother her or anything and I don't think I would've anyway, I was way too out of it today to interact with strangers.
As I walked out I bumped into someone, "Oh sorry." He said helping me pick up the books.
"No problem, it's my fault." I said as I grabbed the books from him and walked off.
I felt an odd tug coming from him and looked back, he was a blonde guy, he looked like Jason, well, without glasses that is.
POV PERCY
The next few classes were a bore, what can I say, I couldn't even do anything about searching for the rings while cooped up in that class.
Another very odd thing I learnt was that this earth was in the year 1986.
"Hey, if you don't have anyone to sit with during lunch, you can come to our table." Jason suggested.
"Thanks." I said.
He was nice, he helped me while I was struggling with math and read to me whatever I couldn't read.
Soon it was sports time and I was relieved to get out of that blocky and uncomfortable chair.
"You any good at basketball?" Jason asked as we walked to the gym.
"Good? I'm great." I smirked at him.
He put an arm around my shoulder, "Let's see new boy." He said as we opened the doors to the gym.
We quickly got into teams, Jason had picked me.
"What position do you play best?" He asked.
"Well, I can't shoot but I can steal the ball really easily." I said.
The others snickered but Jason glared at them which I was appreciative of.
"Okay, you can be the center." Jason patted my shoulder.
I quickly got into position and stole the ball every single time it came close, of helped that I was not too exhausted after running alot since the ball came from all directions.
In the end I even managed to score a few points for us.
"Percy, that was amazing, are you considering joining the team?" Jason asked.
"Uhh, not really, I'm not too interested."
"Well, you'd be a great addition, just think about it." He said.
"Thanks but I really don't have time for it, sorry." I said.
"Bummer, no problem though." He said.
We walked back to class where we studied history. I got help from Chrissy to finish the assignment and talked with Jason and his friends, Patrick and Andy.
As soon as the bell rang, I almost sprinted out of the room but I heard crying from the bathroom. I was afraid, what if it was Annabeth.
I wanted to wait for the person to get out but Jason pulled me along with him so I decided to check later. Maybe it wasn't even her.
We all walked into the cafeteria along with another player, Lucas.
"Hi, I'm Percy." I greeted him.
"Oh, I'm Lucas." He smiled at me but his smile faltered when he saw a girl walk by. The same ginger girl.
I put an arm around his shoulder and walked alittle slower than the others so we could talk. "You okay?" I asked him.
"I- no, I- I'm fine." He reassured.
"You sure man, I know that look."
"No, I'm fine, but thanks." He said.
"Anytime man." I said patting his shoulder. He was like 3 years younger than me but he was a cool kid.
We opened the doors to the cafeteria and most of the heads turned to us.
My smile grew when I saw Annabeth but her head was turned to me so I left Lucas's side and walked over to her.
"Annabeth." I said putting a hand on her shoulder.
She jumped a little and before I could even blink again she grabbed my arm and judo flipped me.
I fell to the ground I didn't even feel any pain. I was scared, why was Annabeth so startled, it's really difficult to scare her, I mean, without spiders of course.
Her eyes widened, "Percy, oh, no, I'm so sorry." She said.
She gave me a hand and pulled me up. I looked at her confused, "You okay?" I asked her.
"I- no, you just scared me."
I raised an eyebrow at her, "I scared you?" I questioned her.
"Yeah, it's nothing." She said.
"Dam, blondies got moves." A familiar voice said from a table to our right.
It was Eddie, he was with people I didn't know.
I put my hands on her shoulders, "Are you sure you're okay?" I asked her.
"No, I'm fine." She said.
I nodded and put an arm around her shoulder leading her back to Jason.
Everyone still watched in shock, I could tell because it felt like my back was being lasered by their stares.
Lucas looked at us in shock, "What just happened?"
"Oh, I startled her."
"Are you okay?" She asked me.
"I'm fine." I smiled at her.
We sat down next to Lucas.
"Guys, this is Annabeth. Annabeth, this is Lucas, Andy, Patrick and Jason."
"You seriously befriended another blonde Jason?" Annabeth asked.
I shrugged, "What can I say?"
She rolled her eyes at me.
"You two are dating?" Patrick asked.
"Yep." I smiled at her.
"Sadly." Annabeth said.
Everyone looked at us surprised but I just chuckled, "Don't worry, she's joking."
"Hmm, what if I'm not?"
"Then I'll be very sad." I pouted, holding her hand.
"Uhh, are those rings?" Lucas asked looking at us wide eyed.
"Yeah," I said.
"But- but they're on the ring finger."
"They're promise rings." I nodded.
"Oh, what promise?" Jason asked.
"That we'll stay together."
"So.. basically wedding rings?"
"I guess."
I noticed the airpods in Annabeth's ear, "σοι τὸν φθόγγον μου τοσοῦτον ἀρέσκει;" I whispered. (Do you like my voice that much?)
"σιώπα" She said, looking away. (Shut up.)
"ἔλθε, ἐμὲ τοσοῦτον φιλεῖς, τί κρύπτεις;"
I smirked at her. (Come on, you love me so much, why hide it?)
She hit my chest playfully, "Yeah, no." She said.
"What're you guys saying?" Lucas asked.
"Oh, nothing, nothing at all." I smirked at Annabeth.
"Ἔχεις ἀκέφαλον; Ἔλαβες τὰ φάρμακα;" I asked her seriously. (Is your headache okay? Did you take your meds?)
"I'm fine." She said.
I nodded and we went back to eating.
I reluctantly had to leave her to go back to class.
"You two look good together." Jason told me.
"Thanks." I said looking at the ceiling dreamily.
"Yeah man, I'm trying to find something like that." Patrick commented.
"I'm real lucky that she liked me back." I said.
We all walked to the next class which you had to pick, either debate, the school newspaper or art and for some reasons Chaos picked the school newspaper club for me, like do I look like I can write? I mean, I'm not that good at art but Rachel taught me a couple things and I was improving so this was an absolute no brainer. Apparently not though.
My shoulders were slouched the whole time I walked to the room alone since no one in their right minds actually takes this class, no offence to anyone who enjoys this but, this over art? Seriously?
I opened the door and the head whipped to my direction.
I awkwardly sat down at a table not really knowing what to do.
"Hey, you need help?" A girl asked.
"Uhh, I'm not really sure what I need help with, I don't know what to do." I explained.
She looked at me curiously, "You didn't really peg me as a reporter."
"I'm not, I couldn't read the options." I said.
She raised an eyebrow at me, "I'm dyslexic." I explained.
She nodded. "How's your back?" She asked.
"My back- ohhh, no, I'm fine, it's not that big of a deal." I shrugged.
"I'm Nancy." She said.
"Percy." I smiled.
"So.. you don't know what your doing here?" She asked.
"Pretty much."
"Okay, well, I'm working on the upcoming basketball game, are you a player?"
"Oh, no, I don't have the time." I said.
Another guy walked up to us, "Nance, I- oh, hello, is your back okay?" He asked.
"Does everyone know?" I asked.
"Well, it did kind of happen in the cafeteria.. at lunch time."
"Well, I'm fine." I told him.
"I'm Fred." He said.
"Percy."
"You and Annabeth are dating right?"
"How'd you know?"
"Just a gut feeling you know, like a reporters instinct."
"Oh, well, yes we are." Is aid smiling.
"How long?" He asked.
"Fred, quit interviewing him." Nancy said.
"I can't help it." He said.
"No, it's fine, I don't mind. We've been together for about a year." I said.
"Only a year?" He asked.
"Yeah,"
"Is that a ring?" He asked, pointing at my hand.
"Yeah."
"You're married?"
"Yeah."
"With Annabeth?" Nancy asked.
"After only a year of dating?" Fred added.
"Well, I've known her since I was 12, we were best friends.. kind of."
"Kind of?"
"Well, she hated me when I first met her, she took every opportunity to criticise me."
"Aww, she had a crush on you then too?" Fred asked.
"Is that how girls flirt?" I asked them looking astounded.
"Yeah." He nodded.
"No way. I'm like.. originally very oblivious so if someone Flirt's with me like that I'll just think she hates me."
"Well, at least you have her now. When was your first kiss?" He asked.
"Uhh," I said rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly, "We were 15."
"But that's two years ago."
"Yeah.."
"And you didn't date afterwards?!"
"I kinda didn't know if it was a friendship kiss or something else.." I said.
"How could someone be that oblivious, she kissed you and you didn't know?!" He said looking at me frustrated.
"Yeah?"
"My god."
"I told you that I was oblivious."
"I didn't think anyone could be that oblivious."
"Well, I almost died right after so I thought she did it to calm me down or something."
"How did you almost die?"
"I.. um.. tripped?"
"Okay.."
"Yeah."
"What about you two? You guys got partners?" I asked.
"Nancy's got a boyfriend who isn't coming to meet her for the summer."
"Fred, I don't want to talk about this."
"Come on Nance, you deserve someone who'll be there for you."
"He's busy!"
"Too busy for his girlfriend?"
"Yes."
"More like not prioritising you, you deserve better." He said.
"Who's the absent guy?" I asked.
"Jonathan Byers."
"Oh, where is he?"
"California."
"He's that far away and he didn't come to see you while he still can?" I asked.
"Exactly!" Fred exclaimed.
"Are you sure he's not.. uh" I said.
"No, he's not, he wouldn't." Nancy said.
The bell rang signifying the end of school.
I quickly stood up.
"You going to see Annabeth?" Fred asked.
"Yep." I yelled, running out the door.
I waited outside the debate club. A few girls looked at me oddly which was uncomfortable.
Annabeth finally came out and my smile faltered when I saw her, she was sad.
"Hey, you okay?" I asked her.
"I- I'm fine."
"No you're not, what's wrong?" I asked.
"Can we go home?" She asked.
We walked in the same direction as the ginger girl again.
"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked. "Are the meds not working?"
"No, they're working, I'm fine." She said.
"Annabeth."
"Percy, I'm fine." She said.
I hugged her closer to me, "I'll get Will again okay?"
"Percy, they don't know what's wrong with me, it's probably just a headache anyways."
"I know but.. what if they found something?"
"Don't disturb them."
"Annabeth."
"I'm fine." She said.
"Okay, I trust you, but if you're not, tell me, okay?"
"Okay, but I'm fine." She said.
We finally made it back, the ginger girl lived right next door to us.
"Lie down, you need rest. I'll order food." I said, "Wait, we can order food in the 80's right?"
"We have to go buy."
"No, we're not going anywhere, you need rest, I'll cook."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm not that bad of a cook."
She nodded and I tried to look up a tutorial but I forgot we were in the 1980's
"Shit." I said, panic slowly settling in when I realised Annabeth will be expecting food when she wakes up.
I just grabbed a bunch of random ingredients, garlic, beef, eggs, chilli powder, onion, and mixed them up and managed a decent looking and excellent tasting meal.
"Annabeth, you ready for food?" I called from the kitchen, no response."
"Annabeth?" I said walking into the bedroom.
She was shaking again.
"Annabeth." I called trying to hug her to no avail.
She looked frozen.
I grabbed the air pods from the table and put them in her ears.
"Annabeth, please, relax, you're okay." I told her.
POV ANNABETH
I fell asleep as soon as Percy went to the kitchen, in a weird way, I felt like I wasn't alone in the room even if I was. This has been happening all day, my mind was going insane.
In the dream I was.. in there.. again. This place seemed to haunt me every time I felt even a little bit weak so my confidence plummets more.
There was a voice, a voice I haven't heard before. It was deeper than that of Hypnos and in a weird way scarier than that of Kronos.
"Annie.." it called from behind me.
A shadowy figure stood in the thick fog.
"Annie," the voice started distorting.
"Annie." A familiar voice called from the same direction. "Annie, help me." It pleaded.
"L-luke?"
He was badly injured, like the time he tricked me into taking the sky from him.
"Annie, please." He begged.
He had scratches all over and his scar opened up again.
"Annie, you have to save me." He said but I stood there in shock, too scared to move. His fear immediately switched to a confident smirk.
"See? What did I tell you? You never cared for me." His demeanor completely changed, "You never loved me, you always said you did but deep down, you hate me more than you admit."
"No."
"Yes, you know that I could've been saved, I could've lived longer but you let me die!"
"Stop!"
"No, you always listened to your brain yet your intelligence is depleting, what would Percy need you for if he became more aware than you?"
"No!"
"He's become smarter, learning. You? You will rott away after he leaves, the only reason he stayed was because he would literally die without your aid but now? Now he doesn't need you."
"He need me!"
"No, he really doesn't, he's handsome, charming, smart and you.. you're just too much trouble to handle. The trauma, the midnight shrieks, the constant depression. No one wants to be involved with that. You really wonder why Hellen didn't want you?"
"Percy!!"
"Oh, Annie, sweet oblivious Annie, you have no purpose anymore. What's an Athena kid without brain's?"
I tried to run.. when I looked back Luke was gone. In his place stood a man. He looked like roots and had uneven arms.
"Percy!" I yelled. I wanted to leave this place, I wanted for him to tell me it's not true but deep down, I began to wonder. Does he really need me?
"Percy!" Tears fell from my eyes as I looked around at the mess around me. It kept flickering from a burning home.. my burning home to a burning camp to everything bad in life.
I balled myself up, wishing to be back in Percy's arm.
Then I heard something. Something comforting. It wasn't the raspy voice that called my name every once in a while. It was Percy's.
"How could I let you fall by yourself,"
"While I'm wasting for someone else?"
"If we go down then we go down together."
"They'll say you could do anything,"
"They'll say that I was clever."
"If we go down then we go down together."
I hadn't felt so relieved to hear his voice in so long. I ran. I didn't care about the man following me. I didn't care that there was a possibility that what he said was true. Right now, all I cared about was Percy.
If we go down, then we go down together.
He's my lifeline.
To be continued: The Cursed, Chapter 1, The Sleepless