Sophie's POV
Before I could even reach the front door, the distinct voices of two of my friends emerged from the thick woods of the forest. They were clearly arguing about something, but stopped when they spotted me.
"Is that an astronaut?!" Percy called out, sounding absolutely astonished.
"No, Seaweed Brain, that's your sister," Annabeth scowled at him, smacking the back of his head none too lightly.
"I was kidding, Wise Girl!" he exclaimed as they walked right up to me, Percy massaging the back of his head with a pained and regretful expression.
"Hey, guys! I-."
"Why do you smell like seaweed?" Percy cut me off mid-statement to ask.
"Well, there-."
"You sure it's not just the smell of your seaweed brain malfunctioning?" Annabeth asked Percy with a snide smile.
"I find that very offensive," Percy claimed, smacking a hand onto his chest while feigning hurt. It actually looked like it hurt to do that.
"The truth only offends those who live outside of it," Annabeth stated chirpily, highly contrasting her usual composed and cold demeanor.
"Stated like a true dictionary," Percy snorted, shaking his head.
"Perce, that doesn't even make sense," Annabeth frowned, looking actually concerned.
"It was another joke!" he exclaimed, sounding more desperate this time. It was then that I knew: he was not joking. "Anyways, what happened?"
I had been crossing my arms and tapping my right foot on the ground impatiently the whole time. As they both continued to stare at me expectantly, I raised an eyebrow.
Then, I turned and pushed open the doors as intended when I had marched over to kick a certain Shade's butt.
Before either of the demigods even knew what was going on, I'd slammed the door and redid the safety precautions to lock them out.
Apparently, Tam had taken them off during the time I had spent outside. He couldn't even tell there was a Blue Man out there?
Anyways, I stomped all the way over to the boys' corridor, ignoring all of the pounding on the front door from outside.
When I got to Tam's door, I knock twice and then yanked the door open.
I do have manners, you know.
He was lounging on his bed, staring up at the ceiling with his hands folded on his stomach.
"You!" I screeched, flinging myself at his relaxed figure.
He didn't even glance at me when I pounced right next to him, hand up to slap his shoulder or something. Instead, I narrowed my eyes and inflicted a bit of pain on him, causing his head to snap right in my direction.
I leaned back on my heels with a smile of satisfaction.
"Oh, Sophie! This is a surprise!" he shot upright, a huge fake smile dawning on his face. "I haven't seen you all morning!"
I narrowed my eyes at his cheeky smile, one that Tam only had on his face when he was outsmarting someone.
And just like that, a light bulb turned on in my head.
"I haven't seen you either," I replied, a huge smile working its way onto my face, causing his to falter slightly. "I was going to grab something from my room a little while ago, but the door seemed to have been having problems functioning properly.
"So, I just met up with Biana without my Imparter," I finished, still grinning from ear to ear. His reaction to the b-word was priceless, his smile brightening and then dimming within the same second.
"Of course, I did mention that you were the only one here and had probably been messing with me," I added on, making my way over to the door as Tam sat rigidly against the headboard of his bed. "She didn't seem too happy about that."
I quickly made my way back out of his bedroom without another word and all but ripped the Imparter from my pants' pocket.
Running down the halls, I made my way to my room, rushed inside, and closed the door abruptly behind me. I hailed Biana as swiftly as the device would allow and waited for her to accept the call.
"Soph, what's up?"
"You need to act absolutely infuriated with Tam," came my insistent reply.
". . . Ok. Why?" Her eyebrows were deeply slanted, effectively showcasing her great confusion.
"Because he locked me out of the hideout for a bit and I was attacked by a sea monster."
"He did what?!" Biana screeched, her face mimicking one of disbelief. "I'm coming right now!"
With that, she ended the Imparter call and I drew in a deep breath of air.
At least I can always count on Biana.
Unknown POV
She left us in the dark for too long.
I was all about letting others get their hands duty and leaving the more glamorous work for myself, but this was too far.
All I knew was that the location where she stayed had changed and I didn't have the full clearance to visit.
The audacity!
And to think, I'd actually volunteered to be a part of this organization.
Now, I'd have to wait for information to come to me, like always. The giants and titans were getting impatient with me. They didn't see my importance in all of this and wondered why I was still even breathing.
Of course, I was aware of the predicament I was in with the mythological beings and made myself compliant for them. Whatever they demanded, I did, as long as it didn't get me killed.
Betraying someone always outweighed death, in my world, especially when it came to survival.
I kicked the foot of my bed once more in absolute frustration. I couldn't very much find answers on my own, but I could stage something that would give me more access to the inner group.
This morning, I had released Silveny from her place at the Sanctuary to visit Sophie, knowing full well that Silveny would lead me straight to Sophie Foster.
But, Greyfell had blatantly refused to take me to follow after Silveny. She was flying over sea, as well, and no boats were in my name, so I resorted to believing my plan had failed.
Now, I trudged over to my small desk in my room and slumped into a comfy chair that seemed to sink underneath me.
What to do? What to do?
The main question that never strayed too far from my thoughts had overwhelmed me at the moment. I had so many ideas running through my head.
Before, I had focused on plans that wouldn't involve or affect me in any way. But then, I realized that I could purposefully get hurt and have an excuse to be closer to the gang.
Dex's POV
He stopped breathing.
Edaline and I stopped breathing.
Even the bird at the corner of the block stopped breathing.
I closed my eyes shut tightly, trying to block out the reminder that my invention hadn't been enough.
This is why they never take me on missions-.
My eyes shot open at the sound of a wheezing intake of air, coming from the pale elf sprawled out on the ground. For further confirmation, I looked to his chest and breathed out in relief when there was a steady rise and fall.
"What happened?" Brant croaked from his spot on the ground.
When Edaline chose to stay quiet in her shock and surprise, I stepped a bit closer to the hostile-looking elf. "Fintan tried to kill you and Jolie isn't here."
"What?!" Brant yelled, trying to push himself up off the floor and wincing as he did so.
"Stop it! You'll only make it worse!" Edaline finally shook herself out of her stupor and bent down to gently push Brant back down.
Brant huffed and squinted his eyes up at her. "What happened to Jolie?"
"The blue capsule-like thing - that you said had her in - was empty," Edaline bit her lip as she said this, still kneeling next to Brant.
"Blue?" Brant's features twisted into undeniable confusion.
"The thing she was held in was a pale blue color," Edaline reaffirmed, looking down at Brant with creasing eyebrows.
"It was white!" Brant exclaimed, looking between Edaline and I in alarm.
"No, it wasn't," Edaline whispered to herself, her voice getting a bit more hoarse.
"You received the wrong container, but how?" Brant rested his head against the hard floor and screwed his eyes shut. His expression was every bit as pained as his voice sounded.
I made a noise at the back of my throat that came off as an unintended squeak. Clearing my throat, I asserted, "Fintan must've known you had something planned."
Brant's eyes opened and shifted to me like he'd just realized something enlightening about me. "You patch me up, kid?"
"Of course," I beamed at him, then realized that now was probably not the best time and he didn't really care if I was proud of my work.
"Good job," he said quickly, clearing his throat after a couple of awkward times.
I shifted on my feet uncomfortably, then jumped back into the previous topic, "Did Fintan hint at knowing what you were going to do at all?"
"Yes," Brant snorted. "He told me that he knew right before he tried to kill me."
"Wait, you can remember that?" I asked, thinking it a bit odd that he'd recovered his memory of the incident so quickly.
"Yeah," he drawled out, finally breathing out deeply and sitting up with an audible groan. He rolled out his shoulders and eyed the hasty stitching on his torso.
At least he didn't make a snide comment about my work.
Then, when no one else said anything, Brant sighed again and pushed himself onto his feet. He staggered a bit, almost falling straight back a couple of times, but managed to get into a standing position.
"Here's the plan," he grunted, walking over to me.
Edaline was still on the ground, small sniffles coming from her. But, when she heard us whispering slightly, she stood abruptly and marched over to us with conviction.
"I hope you didn't plan on keeping me out of the loop," she crossed her arms and glared fiercely at Brant.
Brant just shrugged; seemed like he'd been dealing with Edaline all his life, with the way he acted around her slightly intimidating self.
"Of course," he smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes at all. And, by the way he was looking at us, he wanted us to believe it was fake, too. "So, here's what's going to happen."
A/N: not my best but school is kicking me butt right now (and yes, you should read that in an irish accent)