IMPORTANT NOTICE: if you are a new reader reading this, PLEASE STOP NOW. I am currently editing this story, and I have started changing lots of things. I have not gotten to this chapter yet, so the events that happen in this chapter and in the rest of the story do not correspond with the previous chapters. I also may not have finished editing this chapter, so it will end midway. Continue if you want, but the rest of the story may not make sense and will seem strange. When I am done editing, I will remove the editing warning from the title of this book, so please check in to see when I am done!
PERCY
That night, I didn't get much sleep.
Even as it grew later and later into the night, then earlier and earlier into the next morning, all I could think about was Annabeth Chase.
Call me sappy and cheesy, but every time she crossed my mind, I couldn't help but smile like an idiot.
Even though we hadn't actually said it, Annabeth and I both knew what we were to each other.
We were together. Dating. For real, this time- not as a show to cover up the stupid lie I had told, but as an actual couple.
I don't know what time it was when I eventually fell asleep, but when I did, it felt like only five minutes later that my alarm was going off, waking me up for school.
I let out a low groan as I reached out and aimlessly hit my bedside table, trying to switch off the blaring alarm.
I sat up slowly, rubbing my hands over my face, and very much regretting how late I stayed up the night before. But then, the reason for my little sleep came back to mind, and once again I was smiling like an idiot at the thought of Annabeth.
I staggered around my room as I got ready for school, stumbling through the hallway into my kitchen fifteen minutes later. My mother was sitting at the kitchen table, sipping coffee and typing away on her laptop.
"Morning," I mumbled, helping myself to some coffee in order to wake up.
"You came home late last night," my mom said, looking up at me from over her screen.
"Yeah," I replied through a yawn. "I was at Annabeth's. Sorry, I should have texted."
At the mention of Annabeth's name, my mom perked up, sitting straight up in her chair and holding her mug closer to her. I shouldn't be surprised- my mom loves Annabeth. Sometimes, I think that Annabeth is better friends with my mother than she is with me.
"Annabeth, huh?" she questioned. "How is she?"
I stopped in the middle of sipping my coffee to shoot a look at my mom. "Mom-"
"What?" my mother interrupted, raising her hands in innocence. "I was just asking a simple question!"
"No, you're asking if Annabeth and I are dating, like you always do every time I bring her up."
She raised her eyebrows at me. "Well, are you?"
I looked down at my feet, wanting more than anything to avoid my mother's intense gaze. "If I tell you, you can't make a big deal out of it."
"I promise."
I inhaled deeply, puffing my cheeks as I let it out and finally looked up. "We're dating."
I could tell that it took everything my mother had in her not to exclaim her joy as her lips spread into a wide smile and she picked up her mug.
"I'm happy for you two," she said simply as she sipped her coffee. I almost laughed- happy was an understatement. I'm pretty sure my mother has been rooting for Annabeth and I to date ever since she met Annabeth for the first time when we were 13.
I just rolled my eyes and set my coffee down on the counter. "I gotta get to school," I said, picking up my backpack from the floor and swinging it over my shoulder. Giving my mom a quick kiss on her temple, I grabbed my car keys from the bowl on the kitchen table and headed out the door.
"Say hi to Annabeth for me!" my mother called in a sing-song voice as I was closing the door- and lucky for me that I was, and she couldn't see the blush that had crept onto my cheeks.
The drive to school wasn't long, but as I pulled up into the parking lot, I wished it had been a whole lot longer. School wasn't a place I had always felt welcome, and being expelled from ten schools in ten years didn't help either. And although I had created lots of happy memories during the past year at Goode, there was also my fair share of bad ones. I sighed as I hauled myself out of my car and started towards the building; hopefully, now that Annabeth and the others were here, my final year of high school would be better than my previous ones.
As I walked in through the front entrance, I was greeted by the sounds of excited squealing- not my favourite thing to hear at 8 am. I turned my head towards the source, only to see a group of girls huddled together beside an open locker. And of course, who was standing at the very front of the group?
"Oh, Percy!" Miley chirped, scurrying up to me. I kept my head down and pretended not to hear her, but she grabbed my arm before I could walk away.
I sighed as I stopped walking and turned towards her. "Miley, what do you want?"
Miley started to reply, but I had completely sounded out her voice as my attention focused on something- or, someone else. In the middle of the group of girls stood someone that I knew for a fact didn't go to Goode, because I also knew for a fact that I killed her three years earlier. I could never forget that face, and clearly, she hadn't forgotten mine either, because she was staring me down with a knowing smirk tugging at her lips. I shook Miley off of me and started towards the group, picking up on their conversations as I grew closer.
"Oh my god, where did you get those shoes-"
"-is that your natural hair? It totally looks like extensions-"
"-where did you get your nails done? They're so sharp!"
"-your lipstick is so red, I love it-"
I pushed my way through the girls until I was standing directly in front of her. "What are you doing here?" I hissed.
Kelli simply grinned at me. "Surprised to see me back so soon?"
My heart was hammering in my chest; it had only been three years since I had killed the empousa and sent her to Tartarus, how could she have already regenerated? And how did she find me? "What are you doing here?" I asked again. Even though I was keeping my voice low, every single one of Miley's friends were leaning in close to try and hear what I was saying.
"Percy, you know Kelli?" Miley asked sharply, coming up behind me before Kelli could reply. Kelli's smirk grew wider as she replied, "Oh yeah, we go way back." I could almost see the smoke coming out of Miley's ears as Kelli winked at me and closed the locker behind her. "See you around, Jackson," she said, nudging my shoulder as she pushed past me and began to walk down the hall. Miley followed right beside her, demanding to know how she knew me. The rest of Miley's group quickly followed, with the exception of Brielle, who hung back for a second before reluctantly joining her friends.
Too many thoughts swirled around my brain, trying to come up with a plan to get rid of Kelli; thankfully, it wasn't long before the school bell rang loudly through the hallway, indicating the start of the day. I dragged myself to class, deciding that I would talk to Annabeth about this whole situation; she would know what to do, she always does.
I finally made it to History, only to freeze in my tracks a few feet from the door; Liam and Jordyn were just outside the doorway, holding hands and standing very close to each other. They both had wide, happy smiles on their faces and Jordyn seemed to be blushing about something that Liam was saying. I couldn't help but smile at the sight; these two had been crushing on each other since the day I'd met them, and it gave me some sort of satisfaction to see them finally together.
They were quick to spot me though, as only a few moments later Jordyn's eyes flicked over to me and her face turned even more red as she straightened up and took a step back from Liam. Liam followed her gaze to see me smirking back at them, and also flushed pink and quickly let go of Jordyn's hand. I rolled my eyes as I walked towards them, mumbling "It's about time" under my breath before I entered the class. Jordyn followed a few seconds later, her cheeks still red and her lovesick smile still plastered on her face. She refused to look me in the eyes, which was probably a good decision, as I would have definitely continued to tease her.
Only when the second bell rang a minute later did I realize that the seat beside me was still empty- Annabeth's seat. I looked around the class, but there was no sight of her. I frowned, a strange feeling pulling at my stomach. With the way that Annabeth nags me for just being late to class, I knew that she wouldn't skip school, at least without telling me. I quickly checked my phone to see if she had texted me, but there was nothing. My brain began to overcrowd with thoughts again- was Annabeth okay? Where was she? Why hadn't she texted me? What am I going to do about Kelli? I ran my hands over my face and sighed; I knew I shouldn't be worrying this much, but there was just something that wasn't letting me relax.
I sat through the rest of history, trying to focus on the lesson, but my anxious thoughts made it hard to do so, and my dyslexia and ADHD didn't help much either. Finally, when the bell signaling the end of class sounded, I jumped out of my seat and quickly left the class. I checked my phone again to see if Annabeth had texted me, but to my disappointment, there was nothing. I was almost considering calling her when I crashed into someone walking towards me. My first thought was Kelli, and my hand instinctively reached into my pocket and clasped around Riptide, ready to attack if she did anything.
"Watch where you're going, Kelp Head."
I looked up, regaining my vision, and a wave of relief washed over me as I met Thalia's eyes and her obnoxious smirk. "Sorry," I muttered, letting go of Riptide and relaxing slightly. "Look, we've got a problem."
Thalia's grin was wiped off her face as her dark eyebrows knitted together and she crossed her arms over her chest. "What kind of problem? A mortal problem, or our sort of problem?"
"The latter, unfortunately," I told her. "There's an empousa in the school."
The colour drained from Thalia's face as her eyes widened and her eyebrows arched. "What?"
"An empousa," I repeated, quietly so that the people around us wouldn't hear. "Her name's Kelli, and I killed her a few years ago, but she regenerated and she must be out for revenge."
Thalia groaned and rolled her eyes. "Nice one, Jackson," she said, her eyes were scanning the sea of students around us. "I'll let the others know, we can't have a monster wandering around with all these mortals."
PERCY
I hate mornings. They're useless. I wished that school could start at like, noon, then end at around noon. But I managed to get out of bed, take a shower, get dressed, and drag myself downstairs. When I walked into the kitchen, I found a piece of paper on the counter. Even though my dyslexia was making the paper look like a bowl of alphabet soup, I managed to read it:
Dear Percy,
Paul and I have to go away for the week and won't be back until Monday. I've left a couple hundred dollars in your room for food and supplies, and a few drachmas for emergencies. If you have to, go to camp. Iris-message me if anything goes wrong.
Love, Mom.
I set the note down and did a little happy dance that only Grover knew I did. The whole house to myself for the week? Awesome! I quickly grabbed my keys and backpack and headed to my car. I couldn't help laughing to myself. I don't know why, sometimes I just laugh for no reason. But then I remember something and laughed again. Yesterday, when we were playing Truth or Dare and Jordyn had to kiss Liam. For some reason, I found that pretty funny. When I got to school, I saw Miley, Brielle and some of my other fan girls sanding at te entrance of the school. They seemed to be crowded around someone... Or something. I stretched my neck and saw a head of curly brown hair in the middle of the crowd. Great. I had my fan club here and I didn't even have Annabeth to protect me. Wow, that sounded wimpy. Whatever. I opened my car door and walked out. Miley spotted me about two seconds later.
"Oh Percy!" She squealed. I muttered a curse under my breath. She waved her hand back and forth like an idiot.
"Hi Miley." I said between gritted teeth. The rest of my fan girls move towards me, leaving the girl standing by herself. I caught a glimpse of her face, and my heart stopped. She had dark skin, her dark, curly hair had golden brown streaks in it, and was wearing jeans and a blood red T-shirt. How could she have reformed already? She should still be down in Tartarus! The girl seemed to recognize me too. She walked up to me and smiled evilly.
"Well, well, well. Perseus Jackson. Bet you're surprised to see me, huh?" She asked. I was lost for words. I cleared my throat and my hand crept to my pocket.
"Kelli. What are you doing back here?" I asked the empousa.
"After your little friend Annabeth killed me in the Labyrinth, I spent a year in that pit, Tartarus. And during that time, I planned. And planned. And planned." She was seriously getting on my nerves.
"Percy! You've already met Kelli?" Miley asked and grabbed my hand. I shook it away and stuffed it in my other pocket.
"Oh, I've met Kelli." I said without any emotion. Kelli laughed and I loosened up a bit. She placed her hand on my shoulder.
"Now, now, Percy. No need to be like that." She smiled, and for a split second, she changed. Her hair turned to flames, her dark skin turned a little bit more pale, and her legs turned into their bronze/goat legs. Then she went back to looking like a normal girl.
"You know Percy," she said quietly, "I still haven't forgotten-" the bell cut her off. I sighed with relief. Talk about being saved by the bell.
"Well, I better get going." I zipped past the crowd of girls and rushed into school. I got to my locker, and when I was putting stuff in, I heard loud footsteps. Great, the Kelli had followed me. I pulled out Riptide and uncapped it. I turned around, only to find a pair of icy blue eyes staring at me.
"Woah there, Kelp Head. Don't wanna cut me in half." Thalia said, lowering my sword. I put the cap back on and it shrunk back into a pen.
"Sorry, I thought you were someone else. Anyway, what's up?" Thalia's expression turned sad.
"It's Annabeth. There's something wrong with her." At those words, my heart sank.
"What? What do you mean? What's wrong with her?" I asked. The Hunter shrugged.
"No idea. She won't tell us."
"Why not?"
"Because she won't stop crying! She's been crying since this morning. She's locked herself in her room and won't talk to anyone. Not even me or Grover." At that moment, Grover came running up to us, panting.
"Perce... There's.... There's something wrong with-"
"Annabeth. I know. Thalia told me." Grover caught his breath.
"I've tried everything. I even got the Stolls to pick the lock, but they ended up breaking it."
"I've got go to see what's wrong. Maybe she'll tell me." Grover shrugged.
"Maybe. But do it later. We gotta get to class." I nodded, and started to walk to class, when I saw Silena hiding behind a corner. Her back was faced to me. I tiptoed over to her and tapped her shoulder.
"What are you doing?" I whispered. She jumped and covered her mouth.
"Don't scare me like that!" She whispered back and hit me as hard as she could(which didn't even hurt that much).
"Who are you spying on?" I asked. Silena looked around the corner again. I also looked, and saw Liam and Jordyn together. Jordyn was leaning against a locker and Liam was hovering over her.
"I've been watching them for a couple of minutes. I don't know what they're talking about, though." Silena informed me. I watched the two. Jordyn looked like she was blushing a lot, though I couldn't really tell. They only talked for a few more seconds, then Liam leaned down and kissed Jordyn. Wait-what? Silena gasped.
"Oh my gods what is he doing?!" She whisper/yelled.
"Um... Kissing Jordyn?" I replied.
"I know that, Percy. But he's rushing it! If he rushes things, Jordyn'll feel pressure, and it just won't work out!" After Silena complained for a few for seconds, Liam pulled away. Jordyn said something, then Liam nodded and walked away. Jordyn smiled and started to walk towards us.
"Oh Hades! She's coming! Quick, pretend that we're having a conversation!" Silena said and turned to me. She started talking in Greek about Aphrodite or something when Jordyn came walking up to us.
"Hey Percy! Hi Silena." She said.
"Hey Jord." I said.
"Oh, guess what? Liam-"
"Are you and Liam dating?" Silena blurted out. She quickly clamped her hand over her mouth and turned bright red. Jordyn herself turned a light shade of pink.
"Well, kind of. He just asked me out. And we're going to the dance together so... I guess we are." She brushed her hair behind her ear.
"What?" Silena asked. "There's a dance coming up? Oh gods- I have to find Charlie!" Silena ran away, looking for her boyfriend. Jordyn laughed.
"So, you and Liam, huh?" I asked, poking her shoulder. She slapped my hand away.
"Yeah. So what?"
"I knew you had a crush on him!" I teased. Jordyn rolled her eyes.
"Oh just shut up." I laughed and I started to walk to class. When I got there, I saw the last face that I wanted to see.
Kelli.
She smiled at me and waved flirtatiously. I ignored her and walked to my seat, which was-unfortunetly- right behind her. I was relieved when I saw the rest of my fellow demigods (and Grover and Juniper) walk in. They sat around me and looked at Kelli. Kelli looked at my friends and scrunched her nose.
"Demigods." She said with disgust. Thalia raised her eyebrows.
"How do you know who we are?" She asked. Kelli didn't answer. She looked at Thalia for a couple seconds.
"Daughter of Zeus. Huntress of Artemis." Kelli said at last. She and Thalia had a staring contest. Kelli smirked and looked at me.
"Hm... Two children of the eldest gods in one room. Very dangerous."
"Hey, will you be quiet? There are mortals here!" I hissed. When I said the word 'mortal', Brielle jerked her head in my direction. Kelli smiled and turned back around in her seat.
* * *
School was boring as Tartarus without Annabeth. When school finally ended, I couldn't get out quick enough. I didn't even think about fighting Kelli. I ran to my car and speeded to Annabeth's place. I couldn't think about anything that would make her skip school. Annabeth loved school. Even though I love her and all- I have to say, what a nerd. I think I ran a red light and a couple stop signs, but who cares. Annabeth needs me! When I finally got to her apartment, I was opening the car door before I had even stopped the car. I basically tripped over my own feet trying to get to the front door. Thank gods it was unlocked. I ran upstairs, and could hear loud sobbing before I was even at the door. I got to her room and tried to open the door, but it was locked. I knocked on the door.
"Annabeth?" I said. There was no answer. I pulled a bobby pin out of my pocket and picked the lock. Thank you, Stolls for teaching me how to do that! I opened the door and saw Annabeth lying face-down on her bed, wearing her pyjamas.
"Annabeth, what's wrong?" I asked, sitting down beside her. She kept on crying.
"Annabeth." I grabbed her shoulders and lifted her up. I sat her down in my lap and pulled her close. I wrapped my arms around her.
"Shh... Calm down..." I said soothingly. But there was no change- Annabeth kept crying into my shirt. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it.
"You wanna talk?" I asked. Annabeth started taking deep breaths between sobs.
"Percy..." She finally said. She mumbled something, but I couldn't understand because her face was buried in my chest. I put my hand under her chin and tilted her head up. Tears were running down her face.
"Now can you tell me what's wrong?" I asked. Annabeth looked at me. She blinked and took some more deep breaths.
"M-my dad was coming back from a trip last night. H-he w-was driving home and he... He..." She closed her eyes. I had a pretty good feeling what she was going to say. "He crashed and... H-he didn't make it." I pulled her close. She started crying again. She squeezed my hand like a stress toy.
"Look," I said after a while. "I know that you're really upset. And I understand. I do. But don't worry- it'll be fine. I promise things'll get better." She looked up and sighed.
"I-I guess you're right." She said. I smiled.
"You better now?" I asked. She nodded and wrapped her arms around my neck. She hugged me tightly.
"Thank you, Percy." She whispered. She fell back down on her side and pulled me down with her. I put my hands on her waist and her hands moved to the sides of my face. She kissed me, and it felt like my whole body was melting. I can't even remember how long we kissed for- seconds, minutes, hours. Even though I wished that she hadn't, she eventually pulled away.
"I love you." Annabeth whispered.
"I know." I replied, and leaned in to kiss her again.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hey fellow demigods! Sorry that it's not a lot- this is all I feel like writing right now. And if you guys are wondering, the death of Annabeth's father has nothing to do with the recent events in my real life- I had planned that part out weeks before. Just so you know. Oh, and by the way, could you please leave a comment to tell me what you think of the story?? Cause none of you are commenting and I have no idea if you guys like it or not! :/