I opened my eyes and looked around, momentarily confused. All I remember was a gold light hitting me, then a feeling like acid washing over me, burning away my body. Suddenly, the memory of the quest returned. I patted my pocket and felt three things. Riptide, the bronze disk, and the vial, which now formed a two inch lump in my pocket. Remembering Apollo's advice, I uncorked it and drank it in one gulp. It felt like electricity was traveling through my veins into my skull. Suddenly, I heard voices.
'We can wait. I feel like all the boys forgot or something.'
'Just be patient. Males are forgetful creatures.'
'Creatures?' I interrupted.
'Percy! Thank the gods. Where on earth are you?' Annabeth sounded frantic.
'Not sure. Did you guys check the thingys Athena and Hephaestus made?'
'Hey, is this working?' Jason's voice joined us.
'I think so. Where is everyone? They didn't mention this.'
'Oh wait a second. Leo? Is that you over there? No, turn to your left. The other left. Yeah, just past that building. You see me?'
'Wait, why do you get to be with Annabeth, Leo? Not fair,' I complained.
'Well, I see Thalia,' Frank said. Hazel gave a slight grunt of annoyance.
'I don't see anyone. Is anyone in a really dirty place with cement buildings everywhere?' Piper asked.
'Yeah. It smells like fish here,' I replied, looking around. 'I don't see you guys though.'
'Check the discs. They explain a lot,' Annabeth advised everyone. I pulled out mine.
The map side was empty right now, just a flat blank circle. The other side located everyone.
District 1 (Gems): Hazel
District 3 (Tech): Leo and Annabeth
District 4 (Fishing): Percy
District 5 (Electricity): Jason
District 6 (Transportation): Nico
District 8 (Clothes): Piper
District 10 (Livestock): Frank and Thalia
(A/N: I wanted Foxface in this so Thalia's not with Jason)
'Livestock?' Thalia asked, disgruntled.
'Transportation?' Nico said at the same time.
'Fish deaths?' I yelled in my head. 'Do the gods think this is funny?'
'At least you're not in the clothes district,' Piper complained.
'But that makes sense for you,' Thalia argued back. 'Aphrodite and all, but Zeus and Artemis have nothing to do with livestock!'
&Stop complaining and read step two! I'm assuming you're all just sitting on the sidewalk staring into the distance,' Annabeth said. I looked around. True to her word, I'd just been staring at nothing for the past ten minutes.
I sighed. Then a thought struck me. 'Wait. Does anyone see other people?'
'No... Wait. There's this big crowd that way.'
'Check the disks.'
'A bunch of people are walking this way.'
'Check the disks!'
'My place is normal, but it's kind of quiet. I see people though.'
'Check the freaking disks!' Annabeth screamed.
'Geez Wise Girl, chill.' I flipped the disk over again and a new set of words appeared.
You have been teleported to your district on Reaping day. Attend the crowd, and follow along. If you name gets called, go up. If it doesn't, for your gender, volunteer. For those whose districts aren't reaping yet, wait until they go. The times will be different.
'Oooooh,' we all said at once.
'Well, see you guys later, I guess?' Piper said hopefully.
I squinted in the direction of the crowd. They seemed to be wearing a lot of simple clothes. I glanced down at myself. I was wearing a plain, raggedy, white shirt and some jeans. Probably Aphrodite. I hoped I wouldn't stick out.
'Here goes nothing,' I thought to myself and headed over. When I neared the crowd, some people in white outfits grabbed me.
"Why aren't you in the reaping? You could be executed for this!" One shouted quietly at me. After jabbing my finger with what looked like a really chunky shot (man, I hated getting those in the doctor's office), they shoved me toward the crowd and I headed to a group of people seemingly my age. Some gaped at me for 'being late', but went back to the boring people at the front.
"And now it's time to draw the names of our fantastic tributes!" The male in the front with the neon clothing said. I noticed that he seemed to be the only one with color in the entire place I was in. The tension in the air thickened, and I could hear a few people inhale sharply. This must be a big deal.
"Ladies first!" The man said happily, flashing teeth the same purple shade as his hair. He went over to a large fishbowl-like glass container and thrust his hand in. After a few moments, he drew his hand out with a piece of paper in it.
The man cleared a phlegm-y throat. "Allie Traident!" A freckled girl held her head high and walked slowly up the stairs. Her erect posture gave the impression of a determined person, though I noticed the minuscule tremble that she his well. All the other girls sighed with relief. Maybe this wasn't such a great thing.
"Now for the gentlemen!" the man cried. His hand went into the fishbowl and quickly drew out another paper. "Lawrence Peters!"
The bronze disk grew warm in my pocket. Volunteer as tribute it seemed to whisper into my mind. So I did the logical thing.
"I wanna go!" I shouted and walked up the stairs. The man looked at me in surprise.
"You wanna go?" he repeated incredulously.
"Yeah, I wanna go," I said again. Honestly, how hard is it for these people to understand?
"I believe that is in order," he said, still staring at me like I was an alien. "What's your name, young man?"
"Percy Jackson," I replied, catching myself before I could do the full son-of-Poseidon title.
"Let's hear it up for our two tributes this year, Allie Tridint and Percy Jackson!" The neon man yelled enthusiastically. I grinned at the crowd before those people in white led me to another building.
'So... I'm assuming that was the "Reaping"' I thought as they shoved me into a room.
'Probably. Wish me luck, I'm going up.'
'Here's a tip, Piper, don't shout 'I wanna go'.' I could just hear Annabeth rolling her eyes.
'Hey, I'll have you know I made it into the Hungry Games just fine!' I defended.
'Okay, what do I say again?'
'Um... hang on... oh yeah, 'I volunteer as tribute!' That's the normal volunteer method.'
'Now you tell me...'
"Time's up, kiddo" the female in white entered the room and looked at me sympathetically. "Don't have a family? Or friends that want to visit you?"
"Uh... sure. Yeah." I wondered vaguely what she meant.
"Well, show them wrong, won't you?" The lady smiled encouragingly before pushing me out of the building. I walk through the path that the many many people have made for me, all taking pictures and videos and such. I feel like a celebrity.
'Ugh... no... no more cameras.' Piper sounded unusually disgruntled. She must've been at the same stage as me.
'Just get to the train and you'll be safe,' I told her.
I gave a lopsided smile at the cameras clicking away, and stepped into the train behind Allie.
The soundless doors slid shut, cameramen still clicking away. Allie turned without a word away from me and stalked down the train as if she owned it. I glanced around before following her.