ANNABETH
Annabeth was ready to punch Leo in the face.
Just one trip! Was that too much to ask for?! One normal non-demigod trip with no stupid prophecies or quests or monster attacks or Egyptians or Norse demigod cousins or anything! One freaking trip!
Then she sighed. It really wasn't Leo's fault. Nope, it wasn't his fault that he just had to go and find some apparently huge thing that she and Percy had to check out right away, and no it couldn't wait until after their trip...
Scratch that. It was completely his fault.
Annabeth glanced at Percy, who was looking up at the street signs, trying to find the address that Leo gave them. She forgot the exact details, Leo has been talking way to fast, and she had been half asleep at that point anyway. She had crashed in bed later that night; she hardly even remembered getting into her pajamas. Now if Leo didn't have an actually good reason for all this-
Annabeth cut herself off. There had to be a logical explanation to all of this. Leo was probably just pulling another stupid prank and when she and Percy finally got there he would have some type of ginormous surprise party or something. He wouldn't interrupt something this important for nothing.
Speaking of getting there...
"Where are we Percy?" She asked, elbowing him.
"Of course I know where we are. Why are you asking?" He grumbled, looking up at the street sign. "Stupid dyslexia."
"Oh great. Now we're completely lost on top of everything else. What's next, a monster attack?" Annabeth grumbled, and when Percy opened his mouth she cut him off.
"Don't answer that. Wait, what does that sign say?" She asked, tripping over the curb when she looked up at the sign. "Di immortales!"
"Hey, that's my name! Percy! We're on Percy street!" Percy exclaimed, and Annabeth had to laugh at the delighted expression on his face.
"That is awesome! Maybe we'll find an Annabeth street next!" He continued, and Annabeth grinned.
"Doubt that, autocorrect still doesn't recognize my name. I think we should be getting close though. Isn't that smoke in the distance? Probably Leo." She said, smiling slightly.
Percy grinned, and started walking down the street towards the smoke, and Annabeth caught his hand and walked alongside him. She tried to enjoy just walking through London with Percy, admiring the architecture and scattering the pigeons on the sidewalk.
"So what do you think Leo found?" Percy said, and Annabeth glanced sideways at him.
"I don't know. Maybe he's just arranging a surprise or something?" She said, glancing towards the pillar of smoke.
"No, I know Leo. He was honestly surprised or scared about something." Percy said, looking up at the sky. "Besides, Leo knows how much work this trip was, he helped me arrange it. He wouldn't interrupt it unless there was an actual emergency."
That's one of the things Annabeth loved most about Percy. He always tried to find the best in people, and he brought out the best in everyone around him.
"I guess so." Annabeth said. "But we have determined Leo can lie, remember?"
"Gods, don't remind me." Percy groaned. "That kid is the best actor ever to walk the earth, I swear."
Annabeth sighed, remembering the horrible crushing feeling that had come with losing Leo. She really hadn't realized how important he was to the Argo II, with his sense of humor and his constantly bright outlook.
"Is this it?" Percy asked, interrupting her thoughts. He pointed across the street to a run down pub with black smoke billowing from one of the windows on the second floor.
"Probably. Either it's him, or someone needs to call the fire department. Possibly both." Annabeth said, and cautiously looked both ways before stepping out onto the street, Percy following behind her.
Annabeth pushed open the door, and squinted in the dim candlelight. Hadn't these people heard of electricity?
She looked around, noting the unusual dress of most the people in the room. They were wearing long robes, some of them in vibrant colors. Some of the women had pointed hats, almost like the storybooks Annabeth had read when she was little.
She heard Percy whistle behind her, and she glanced back. Percy was staring at the ceiling, where a huge scorch mark was still smoldering, red embers glowing in the dim candlelight.
"Yep, Leo was here." Percy grinned, and walked over to the counter where an old man was polishing a glass.
"Umm, hi!" Percy began, causing the man to look up, a smile already on his lips.
"I was wondering by any chance a boy came here around dinnertime yesterday, responsible for the explosion that caused that?" Percy continued, gesturing to the still-burning ceiling.
"He's kinda short, looks like an elf?" He added, and Annabeth rolled her eyes.
She walked up besides Percy, and continued. "His name is Leo."
The man nodded quickly, and he let out a short laugh.
"Yes, I know Leo. He asked me to look out for two people, a scary blonde girl and her pet Percy." He said, laughing again, and Annabeth made a mental note to either kill or thank Leo.
"Yes, that's us." She said through a smile, and he grinned back.
"Of course. You're American too, are you three related?" He asked, and Annabeth almost laughed.
"In a way. Leo is my cousin, and this is my boyfriend Percy." She said, and he nodded.
"Of course. Would you like me to take you to his room? My name is Tom, by the way." He said jovially, and Annabeth nodded.
"That would be great, thanks." She said, and they followed Tom up the stairs. Annabeth's ADHD was going crazy, making her notice all the strange objects scattered everywhere, from strange vials on the shelves to random sticks she saw sticking out of people's pockets and sleeves.
"Here we are!" Tom announced, and they stopped in front of a wooden door. He knocked smartly, and the door swung open, revealing a grinning Leo.
"Finally! Took you guys long enough to get here!" He exclaimed, and turned to Tom.
"Thanks for bringing them up!" Leo said, and Tom nodded, and replied "Of course. Anything to help out. Let me know if there's anything I can do for you three before you leave for Hogwarts."
Hogwarts? What the hades was that? Annabeth shot a glance at Leo, who smiled quickly at Tom and said "Definitely."
Tom winked at Annabeth and turned to go back down the stairs. Annabeth watched him go, still puzzling over all the strange terms he used.
"Come in!" Leo said quickly, and Annabeth looked back at him, and Leo pulled Annabeth and Percy into his room. Leo walked over to the window and flicked a switch on a small black machine clamped to the windowsill.
Percy followed behind, and Annabeth watched him take in the room. It was simple, with a bed, wooden dresser, and a big mirror. It was all kind of old fashioned, not something Annabeth would expect to see in the middle of present day London. Percy walked past the mirror to go look out the window, but halfway was intercepted by one of the craziest things Annabeth had encountered yet.
"Have you ever tried a comb?" A voice came, from the mirror, and Percy jumped back, staring wildly at the mirror.
"Did that thing just tell me to comb my hair?" He asked, and Leo ran over to the mirror.
"Ok, did it address you specifically? Did you step on a certain point to activate it?" He asked quickly, running his hands around the mirror frame.
"Umm... No?" Percy said uncertainly, and Leo dropped his hands and dug around in his tool belt.
"Yeah, I figured as much. This place has no rhyme or reason. I'm going to go insane!" He complained, but Annabeth could tell his heart wasn't in it. There was a glint of maniacal excitement in Leo's eyes, and a smile was tugging on his lips.
"Wait. Hold up. Did that mirror just talk to me?" Percy asked, leaning forwards until his nose almost touched the glass.
"That's close enough dear." The same voice came again, and Percy jumped back.
"What the Hades?! Leo, what was that?!" Percy exclaimed, and Leo grinned.
"You get used to it. So far I've been told to eat more because I'm too skinny, to try sitting still for once, and to get a haircut. I've learned to just ignore it." Leo said, rolling his eyes. He bounced back onto the bed, then sat up quickly.
"Ok, so explanations. So when I was tracking down celestial bronze, there were signals that were making my machine go crazy. It ran me all over the city, until I found this place, and it promptly exploded." Leo's hands caught on fire, but he went on with his story, oblivious.
"So I came in, and that barman, Tom, he wasn't even surprised or anything when my machine exploded, he acted like things like that were a daily occurrence. It was like Nyssa whenever I-"
Annabeth cut his ADHD tangent off quickly. "So what did you find that made you call us? Besides the talking mirror, which I still want explained. If it doesn't run on mechanics, then how did it know Percy needs to comb his hair?" She glanced over to Percy, who was staring down his reflection in the mirror, as if daring it to tell him to comb his hair again.
"Oh. Yeah. Right." Leo said, grinning. The fire had spread up to his elbows now, and his ears were igniting, convincing Annabeth that Leo was way too excited to be in a wooden room.
"Leo, calm down." She said, worriedly glancing at Percy, who was still having a stare down with his own reflection in the talking mirror.
"I am calm!" Leo protested, and Percy finally tore himself away from the mirror to glance over at Leo.
"Oh holy-" He yelped, and quickly Annabeth heard a clang from outside the window, and the drain pipe promptly deposited a bucketful of water on Leo's head, efficiently putting his fire out.
"Hey!" Leo protested, shaking his head, dislodging some of the water. He quickly heated himself up, his clothes crinkling as the water evaporated.
"It was necessary." Annabeth said, sitting down besides Leo, hoping that her presence besides the fire user would cause him to be a bit more conscious of how frequently he was spontaneously combusting.
"Fine." Leo grumbled, but quickly a smile crept back onto his lips.
"How about I just show you what I found." He said, jumping up and stepping towards the door.
"And just wait until I tell you the best bit Annabeth." Leo continued, turning and facing Annabeth and Percy.
"They can do magic."
***
Umm... Hi! Not dead!
You know, I planned not to do any more annoying author's notes, but I need to apologize. I haven't updated in almost two months now, and when I did update it was a crappy filler chapter. I would want to strangle me if I were you guys, but I hope that you will use that self restraint I never possessed.
So, my sincerest apologies. Although it probably means nothing to you guys, but I'll say it anyway. Sorry!
On the bright side, I already have the next chapter outlined and half written, so there shouldn't be some crazy wait like this one.
Cheers!