Edited 11/14/18
I was playing tennis to the death with floor 19 when Hunding poked his head through the door, dodging a flaming tennis ball.
"Message for Magnus."
I stared at him. Message for me? Someone threw their tennis racket at my face. I whipped my head around and searched my friends.
Everyone still had a racket(Mallory was shrieking with laughter) except for Alex. She had her hands behind her back and rocked on her heels, giving me a big smile.
I sighed, shaking my head, and left the room. I followed Hunding back to the front desk. "There's a Percy Jackson on hold. You know him?"
I raised an eyebrow at the phone. Why would he be calling me? "Yeah I know him," I said. "Okay then, take it away."
Hunding left me with the phone. I studied it for about ten seconds before picking it up. "Hello?"
"Magnus? This is Percy."
"Hey Percy. So why have you called?"
"Um...the kids and I are kinda in Boston right now and I thought of you and...maybe you and Alex want to meet us somewhere?"
At first I didn't know what to say. I hadn't seen Percy in years. I met their first child, Luke, when he was just a baby, but that's the last time I'd seen Percy or the kids. Annabeth came to visit me in Boston every once in awhile though.
After Annabeth died, I couldn't stand to go to her funeral. It was like personal blow to me. She died and now she's in Elysium, and she'll stay there forever. I died and went to Valhalla and I'll stay there until Ragnarok, but I can still visit Midgard and all the other worlds.
It just wasn't fair.
"Sure. Where are you?" I asked him.
"*insert random coffee shop here*"
"Okay, be there in fifteen."
I hung up and ran back to the tennis court. I hadn't stepped a foot into the room when another tennis racket yet again nailed me in the face. "Seriously? The fuck are you doing that?" Alex just shrugged. "Your face is so..." she held up a fist, searching for a word, and punched the air. "Punchable."
I sighed. "Can you just come here?" I asked. TJ hefted his tennis racket onto his shoulder. He was in workout clothes(one of the only times I've ever seen him without his uniform) and laughed.
"You guys sound like a married couple."
"We could be if only Mags would pop the question."
"Oh is that how it is? You just chucked a tennis racket at my face five seconds ago!"
"It's an off and on relationship," Alex said, no longer to me but to Mallory, like she was apologizing for my behavior.
Once out of the room I explained that we were going to go visit my dead cousin's husband and children. "Oh," she got quiet, searching my face for something that would betray my true emotions about the whole situation.
"Let's go then," she said.
I stood outside of the coffee shop, Alex beside me, staring at the sign. I almost didn't want to go in. But Alex pushed me hard from behind and left me stumbling forward as she threw the doors open.
I scrambled after her. I found him no problem. He had been sitting at a table towards the back, facing the door so he could see everyone coming in.
He had been drumming his fingers anxiously on the table, but his head flew up when we entered.
He'd changed a lot since I'd last seen him. For starters, his arms were covered in tattoos. Also, he had two kids instead of one. I knew about the second though, Annabeth told me about her one time.
What confused me though, was the double stroller sitting next to him. I pushed that aside and walked closer. Percy stood up to meet me, coming around the table. He looked like he didn't really know what to do at first before pulling me into a hug.
I guess I didn't know I needed it. He turned to Alex and asked with his eyes if it was okay to hug her. I really respected that, and knowing Alex, I know she did too.
She nodded, looking impressed with his respect and gave him a hug. She hadn't seen him since that summer twelve years ago when he and Annabeth helped prepare us for our quest on the Ship of the Dead.
I can't believe that was twelve years ago. Back then, we all looked the same age. Now, Alex and I were still sixteen and Percy was, what was it, twenty-nine? And he had kids. It was crazy.
"Here, come sit." He led us over to his table. Luke has sure grown since I'd last seen him. He would be six maybe seven at this point. "You must be Luke," I said. He looked up at me with his green eyes. If you looked hard enough you could see the grey specks in them.
His curly black hair hung in his eyes and he smiled at me, missing both his front teeth. "And this is Ariana," Percy said, ruffling the curly blonde hair of a little girl, four maybe.
When she looked up I was speechless. The resemblance to Annabeth was uncanny. The curly hair, the shape of her face, everything but the eyes. Her eyes were a sea green like Percy's.
"This is Magnus, Mommy's cousin," Percy explained, "and this is Alex, Magnus's..."
"Girlfriend," Alex supplied, starstruck by the cuteness of the children. "I like your hair!" Ariana exclaimed, leaning over the table to touch it.
"Ari!" Percy scolded but Alex brushed him off, enjoying the attention. "You like green?" She asked. "Yeah. But pink's my favorite color," Ariana explained. Alex grinned from ear to ear. "That's my other favorite color."
Percy was smiling warmly until we heard a squawk come from the forgotten stroller. I frowned in confusion. There wasn't a baby in there, right?
Percy reached down and pulled a baby boy out of the second car seat(attached to the stroller). He wore a grey onesie with navy blue pants. Percy handled him with such care, it really was adorable.
The baby had curly blond hair and startling grey eyes- just like Annabeth and me. He was super cute. His cheeks were rosy and his eyes were wide.
We heard a second squeak, but it didn't come from the first baby. "Is there another one in there?" I asked in disbelief.
"You didn't—never mind. Yes there is. Here," he handed me the baby. I've really only carried a baby one or twice in my lifetime so I really didn't know what I was doing.
Alex helped me to support him correctly, though he obviously wasn't a newborn and could hold his head up on his own.
Meanwhile, Percy reached into the first car seat and pulled out another baby, this one a girl. My jaw dropped. How the heck did they get two babies? Especially since my cousin was dead?
They were twins, that much I could tell. The girl had straight black hair though, just little wisps on her head. Her eyes were also same Chase grey, her cheeks also rosy. They were quite possibly the cutest babies I'd ever seen. Then I thought of Luke when I saw him as a baby and concluded that my cousin and her husband just made the cutest babies.
"I-I didn't know you guys had twins. When...how?" Percy's face darkened. "She was a month along when they took her. She was kidnapped from our home and missing for eight months. I found her while she was in labor. She gave birth to the twins as soon as we got back to Camp then...died."
I didn't know what to say to that. I just looked down at the baby boy in my arms. My eyes started to water. It wasn't fair, what happened. After everything she had been through, and this is what she got? To be kidnapped, found, and died? Never to watch her own children grow up? Never to be with her love? Not until he too died? It wasn't fair.
But then again, the life of a demigod is never fair. It's really a miracle she lived that long in the first place. It sounded so horrible to talk like that. Like I should be grateful that my cousin made it to twenty-nine. What kind of sick world do we live in that the goal is simply to live to adulthood?
"Can I hold her?" I was snapped out of my thoughts. Alex sat on the edge of her seat, biting her lip. "Sure," Percy said smiling. He stood and leaned over the table, handing the baby to Alex.
Alex was a natural when it came it babies. She held the little girl close to her chest and kissed her forehead. "You're so cute!" She told her. The baby giggled and Alex repeated her statement, using a funny voice and tickling her stomach.
Seeing that Percy's hands were free, Ariana wiggled onto Percy's lap. He wrapped his arms around her middle and rested his chin on the top of her head.
A barista came over. "What can I get you all today?" She asked. We ordered our coffee and she retreated behind the counter to get it.
"So what brings you to Boston?" I asked. "Well, the gods installed portals all around the United States, so we can access the Camps easier and rescue half-bloods or just use them however we need. There's typically one in every state, and we discovered that there was one in Boston. I thought of you guys and decided to give you a call."
"Fun fun. What are their names?" Alex asked, completely blowing off what Percy just said.
"Bianca and Ethan," He said, not seeming to mind Alex's bluntness. "So how's everything going with you guys in Valhalla?"
We chatted for awhile, catching up on everything important and everything not. After about two hours, we decided we'd better head back to Hotel Valhalla and Percy agreed he'd better get the kids home.
We hugged again, gave the babies kisses, and went our separate ways.
Holy crap! That's two chapters in one day that are around 2,000 words! That's pretty good, am I right?
Also, if there's anything you want to see in this book, anyone you want to hear from, comment and I'll see about making it work. You just gotta let me know! I'm super open to ideas!
Have a wonderful day and remember to vote and comment! Love you demigods:)