Disclaimer: I don't own PJO, plot is mine.
Piper's POV:
"How did you get out?" Piper said.
Annabeth shrugged. "I couldn't miss the camping trip! And even though my mom is missing"- her grey eyes filled with sadness and fear-"I deserve to be let out of the house."
Piper nodded. "Of course."
"They barely let us out of the house," Percy said.
Jason nodded in agreement.
"Enough about depressing things," Leo said, fiddling with some gear. "After all, Leo is in the house now."
"We're on a bus, Leo," Annabeth said matter of factly, brushing her blond hair out of the way. She wore a grey shirt, a denim jacket, black leggings, and sunglasses.
"Not anymore!" Lacy said, as they pulled up to the camping site.
Piper's first impression, as they unloaded off the bus, was: wow. The campsite was beautiful. But not in the sleek utilitarian of buildings, but the simple beauty of nature. The cabins(maybe mansions were a better word?) were expensive looking, sure. But the lake was serene, rippling softly, while the trees swayed in the slight breeze.
"That's Thalia's tree," Percy said, pointing to a pine.
"Her tree?" Piper heard Jason say.
"Thalia used to spend hours up there," Annabeth said. With them, the populars, moving into uncharted territory, Piper fell in with Lacy, who wore a tie dye sweater, and several scrunchies on her arm.
"Which one's our cabin?" Piper asked.
Lacy pointed to a pink mansion, complete with a hot tub and glass windows.
"Really?" Piper said.
Lacy nodded. "Yep. It's pretty much the whole cheerleader team."
Piper opened her mouth to ask another question, but the teachers called for attention, and sorted them into groups of three to explore the campsite.
Piper was paired with Percy and Rachel, which wasn't exactly ideal. She didn't really know them very well. Percy was Annabeth's boyfriend, and of course Piper would kill if him if he dared hurt Annabeth. He was Jason's cousin and best friend, but besides that? Practically nothing. According to Lacy, Rachel had dated Percy, but Annabeth and Rachel were friends, as evidenced by their hug, but Rachel was still part of Drew's cliche.
Never the less, Piper forced a smile. "So, um, do you guys know your way around here?"
"Yeah. Um, I guess we can just go through the camp cabin by cabin?" Percy said.
Rachel nodded slightly, and Piper responded with a "yes!"
And so they went off, the trio of them, starting at the blue mansion.
"This is the big house," Percy said.
"It's certainly big," Piper remarked.
"No, it's literally called the Big House," Percy said.
Piper's eyebrows shot up. "Oh."
"This is cabin 1," Percy said. "Jason's the only one who lives here."
Cabin 1 was certainly extravagant. It was not as wide as the others, but the white building was tall, and had several balconies.
"This is my cabin, cabin 3," Percy said. "I'm the only one here, but the swimmers and the most funny people alive."
Piper had to laugh at that. Even Rachel cracked a quick smile.
Cabin 3 had a giant pool, and was very blue.
"This is cabin 5," Percy said, making a face. "The worst cabin ever."
Cabin 5 looked like a bunch of books, but with glass, red, and black. So maybe not exactly books.
"Why don't you like it?" Piper said.
"Clarisse's cabin," Percy said.
"I see," Piper said, though she really didn't.
"Cabin 7," Percy said, gesturing with his hands. "The musicians and the doctors."
Cabin 7 was a cream colored house, with bright illumination that lit up the whole place.
"Cabin 9," Percy said. "The engineers."
Cabin 9 certainly looked like it was designed by engineers. It was a mansion that looked like it sank into the ground, yet still kept going. Several spinning gears decorated the front.
"This is Leo's cabin," Percy said.
"Of course," Piper said. She didn't know Leo that well, but she could tell that cabin was definitely him. He always seemed to be building something.
"Cabin 11," Percy said. "The pranksters. I was here for one year, but apparently my personality changed."
Cabin 11 was a white modern looking house, but through the glow of the windows, Piper could see many twists and turns; many places to hide things.
"Cabin 13," Percy said. "Nico's cabin."
Cabin 13 was the most dreary looking cabin. The modern house was pretty flat, with dark walls, and a single window.
"This is cabin 14, the center of pride," Percy said. "The artists."
Cabin 14 was easily the brightest cabin, but a less fancy one. It had old style to it, and was painted like a rainbow. It looked like a living pride flag.
"Cabin 15, meditation and nap center," Percy said.
If cabin 13 was the most dreary, then cabin 15 was the most simple. It was still pretty nice: a cute building with a big patio, a polished wood roof, and glass doors that opened into a bunch of bedrooms.
"Cabin 16," Percy said. The sun was starting to set by now. "Jealous people live here."
Cabin 16 was a red house, with several arches.
"Jealous of what?"Piper said.
Percy smirked and pointed to himself. "My sass."
Piper chuckled. "Sure."
"Cabin 17 has the most competitive people alive," Percy said.
Cabin 17's walls of glass showcased a bunch of equipment, and a pair of twins arguing.
"Cabin 18 has the youngest people," Percy said, gesturing to a young looking teenager.
Cabin 18 had large windows on the wooden paneled walls.
"Cabin 19," Percy said. "The luckiest people alive. Never bet against them."
Piper nodded, tucking the information into her mind. Cabin 19 was a mismatched grey building, with a weird tower, triangle roof, and glass walls.
"This is cabin 20," Percy said. "The..well, I'm not really sure."
"The weirdos," Rachel muttered.
Piper was so surprised to hear her actually speak that it took a few seconds for what she'd said to sink in.
"The weirdos?"
Percy gave Rachel a quick glance like 'what are you doing?' "They're not weird. They're just really good at acting."
"Oh, so they're theatre people," Piper said, realizing that she might have seen a couple of them at auditions.
"Yeah!" Percy said.
Cabin 20 was a simple brick building, but the bricks were purple.
"This is cabin 12," Percy said.
"Wait, why are the numbers all weird?" Piper asked.
Percy shrugged. "I don't know. It's kind of strange like that. But the cabins after cabin 12 are all new, so they just kind of shoved them into this back wing."
Piper didn't really get that, but okay? Cabin 12 looked like those flat houses she generally saw in the Wine country, when she lived back in California.
"This is cabin 10," Percy said. "Um, your cabin, I think."
Cabin 10 looked just as pink as before.
"Home to the cheerleaders," Piper said, making a face.
They moved on to the next building.
"This is cabin 8," Percy said. "Nobody from school ever has gotten in here. The sorority Thalia's in, the Hunters, run by Artemis, are the only ones to ever get in. There you get free archery training, and all of the rejuvenation thingies from Artemis's company."
"For free?" Piper said. That certainly sounded cool.
"Well you also have to swear off of boys and all romance whatsoever," Percy said. "And us boys are marvelous, so why would you ever want to leave us?"
He struck an overdramatic pose. Piper wondered, if all of the other people saw the populars doing the goofy things they did, if they would be so scared of them.
Piper laughed. "Yeah, maybe not."
Cabin 8 was an abstract building with light grey walls. It looked pretty empty.
"This is Cabin 6," Percy said. "Annabeth and Malcolm's cabin, I think."
Cabin 6 was a simple grey building with a roaring fireplace and a comfortable looking set of armchairs on the wooden patio.
"Cabin 4, home to the gardeners," Percy said.
Cabin 4 was a simple wooden building, surrounded by nature, and a small pool.
"And cabin 2," Percy said. He grimaced. "This one is empty too. And it was funded by Hera."
"Jason's stepmother?" That was all Piper really knew about her.
"Yeah. She's not the nicest. We have some...bad blood," Percy said.
A grin twitched across Piper's face. "Like the song?"
"Yeah," Percy said, laughing.
A strangled gasp interrupted their laughter. Rachel looked withdrawn, her green eyes filled with fear. She slowly inched closer to the cabin.
"Rachel?" Piper tentatively said.
But Rachel seemed like she was in a trance, walking into the cabin, and shutting the door.
Piper and Percy exchanged a look, then followed her.
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Cabin 2 was rather spooky. It was pristine, still freshly cleaned, but in her run, Rachel had not turned on the lights, and every shadow was scary. Especially after the kidnapping and all the paparazzi things, Piper was extra terrified.
Eventually, Percy found the light switch, and it looked a little bit less creepy. Well, maybe not. The walls were covered with paintings of peacocks and photos of couples staring at them. Yeah, definitely still creepy.
"Rachel?" Percy called out.
"Where are you?" Piper said.
Crash!
"What was that?" Piper said.
Percy's face was a bit pale with fear. "I don't know."
They followed where they'd heard the crash, to where they saw Rachel. Rachel, who was hunched over, which made her green top hike up ever further up her stomach. Not that that was important.
"Rachel?" Percy said softly.
Rachel stayed where she was.
Piper gently tapped her on the shoulder, which in retrospect, maybe wasn't the right move. Rachel jerked her hand off and turned towards them. And that was when things went weird.
Rachel shrieked and then tried to kick Piper. Luckily, the few sessions of self defense had taught her how to duck, and Rachel was slower than Annabeth was.
"Whoah, Rachel," Percy said, managing to catch Rachel.
But Rachel was far past that. Her green eyes were a window to her soul, and what Piper saw there.... madness, fear, despair, and grief, all stemming from deep trauma. Piper had seen all those emotions across different people. Madness in a crazed fan, fear among everyone, despair in Annabeth's eyes, and grief etched in her dad's features. One of those emotions seemed to be way too much. But all at once? No wonder Rachel was so....this way.
Rachel screamed again, this time louder.
"Rachel, calm down," Percy said, barely holding her back.
Piper steadied Rachel. "Rachel, listen to my voice. Look at me. Snap out of it. This isn't you."
Something must have gotten through to her on that, because Rachel's breathing slowly evened out, and she collapsed.
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Jason's POV:
After hearing what happened from Percy, Jason felt pretty good about his day. He'd been paired with Annabeth and Leo, and while the two fought the whole time(read: Leo made a dumb joke, annabeth almost killed him, Leo cowered in fear), it was still pretty fun. Meanwhile, apparently, Percy and Piper had to restrain Rachel during a panic attack. Wow.
Dinner was okay. They were sorted by their cabins, meaning they had to eat with their cabin mates, and considering he had not cabin mates, Jason was alone. Percy was too though, so they shouted at each other from their nearby tables the whole time.
The food was delicious too, which was a definite bonus. They were served by waitresses who were rather flirty, but still nice enough. And, they gave him his favorite meal, angel's hair covered in tomato sauce and just a sprinkling of cheese. He wasn't sure why he liked it, but at the moment, he was hungry and that was all that mattered.
And then, by campfire, that was when things got interesting. First, everyone changed for some reason. Jason wasn't really sure why, but they did. He just put on some sweatpants and a loose shirt, which he figured was good enough.
He sat down on bench, with Hazel on his right, and Piper on his left.
Piper leaned forward. She wore a blue tank top, a grey cardigan, and black leggings. Small gold hoops hung from her ears. "Do you think we have to sing?"
Jason shrugged. "I'm not sure. Why do you ask?"
"I don't like singing in front of people," Piper said.
Jason was baffled. "Why? You have a beautiful voice."
Piper blushed, a pink tint lighting up her cheeks. "That's nice of you to say, but... I don't know."
Jason was surprised at her modesty. If he had her voice, he'd be shouting it to the rooftops.
"Hazel, does Piper have a good voice or not?" Maybe Hazel could convince her.
"Well, I haven't heard Piper sing...." With a pointed glance from Jason, Hazel hurried to cover it up. "But I'm sure you're good from how much Jason talks about you." Maybe a little too much.
Luckily, before the conversation spiraled even more, Chiron called for attention. "As usual, our favorite songs will be on today......"
While he was talking, Leo snuck in behind him.
"Where were you?" Jason whispered.
"I'll explain later," Leo said, with a smirk.
Chiron was still talking. "First, our all time favorite: Leaving on a Jet Plane."
For some reason, Rachel paled at that.
Everyone started singing, as a boy started to strum on a guitar.
"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go.
"I'm standing here outside your door.I hate to wake you up to say goodbye.But the dawn is breakin' it's early morn'The taxis waitin', he's blowin' his hornAlready I'm so lonesome I could die.
For some reason, Rachel seemed to be having trouble breathing, her green eyes fixed on the campfire.
"So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for meHold me like you'll never let me go.Cause I'm leavin' on a jet pla-"
Rachel screamed. Somehow, the words must have triggered something, because the panic attack that followed, was not pretty.
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Piper's POV:
Piper was trying to sleep. But she couldn't. Her thoughts drifted to Rachel, who'd had two panic attacks. The first in Cabin 2, and the second at the campfire. She was slowly putting the pieces together. She figured that Rachel had been in an accident or something. Something to do with planes, and the Olympians. Something had to have made her almost attack everything with such power that Percy, Jason, and Annabeth had to hold her back.
Oh, and poor Annabeth. Piper knew that her mother's kidnapping was affecting her. Their family wasn't the best at relationships apparently, but she was still family. Family was family.
The creak of the door interrupted her musings. Lacy peeked her head in
"What's going on?" Piper hissed.
"We're playing truth or hair-I mean dare- in Cabin 3," Lacy said. "C'mon."
Piper wasn't really sure what to say to that. She always tried to follow the rules... but she couldn't sleep anyway, so she might as well.
"Oh, and wear something nice," Lacy said. Piper could see she was wearing a satin pink dress in the dim light.
It took Piper a couple minutes to find something suitable to wear, as she didn't really have many nice outfits packed(they were camping after all), but she eventually found a black dress Jane likely packed. Since she was getting dressed in the near dark, Piper didn't really realize how.... totally not her style it was until later. She brushed her hair with her fingers and fastened her favorite gold necklace.
In cabin 3, it was mostly the populars and the cheerleaders and the jocks. Somehow they had all made it there alive, without being caught by the 'harpies,' additional chaperones of the trip. Everyone was gathered around the pool.
To her dismay, Drew and Khione were there. To her happy surprise, so were Annabeth and Jason. They didn't really seem like the type to break rules, but Piper wasn't complaining.
Annabeth gave Piper a quick hug, and led her and Lacy to chairs. She wore a dark blue dress, and the most makeup Piper had seen her wear, so really, just a bit of lip gloss.
Once everyone had sat down, Khione started out the game. "Nancy, truth or dare?"
The redhead pondered for a second. "Dare."
Khione somehow wore a light blue top, leather pants, stilettos, and several necklaces, which made Piper wonder how long it had taken her to get ready. She said, "Kiss the person to your left."
Everyone oohed, as Nancy blushed furiously, and kissed the person on the left, who was some jock that Piper didn't remember the name of.
Nancy surveyed everyone. The short skirt of her matching with Rachel sequin dress was hiking a bit up her knees, her blue eyeshadow was ridiculous, and her lipstick was a bit messed up, but she was rather scary. After all, Piper now knew what they could do.....she figured she'd always choose truth.
Nancy's gaze ended up on Annabeth. "Annabeth, truth or dare?"
"Dare," Annabeth said.
A wicked smile played across Nancy's face. "I dare you to break up with Percy."
Everyone fell silent. How dare Nancy break up the best couple?
Annabeth sighed. "Fine. I break up with you Percy."
Percy looked confused.
"Truth or dare, Percy?" Annabeth said.
Piper immediately got Annabeth's plan.
"Dare," Percy said.
Annabeth smiled. "I dare you to go out with me."
Everyone cheered(except Drew's crew, of course).
Percy grinned. He seemed to understand now. He pecked her cheek. "Of course."
"Um, Grover, truth or dare?"
Grover, a ginger kid who was a bit scrawny, said, "Um, truth?"
"What's your favorite thing about Juniper?"
Grover looked happy to have an easy question. "Um, I love how she and I agree so easily, because we have so much common ground."
The girl Piper assumed was Juniper kissed him softly. Everyone awed.
"Leo, uh, truth or hair-I mean dare?"
Everyone chuckled at that, but no one more than Leo. Leo puffed out his chest. "Well, my hair is amazing, yes indeed, but um, truth."
"What's your deepest darkest secret?"
Leo thought for a second. "Um..... probably that I was the one to turn all the cheerleading uniforms pink."
"What?" every cheerleader all but shouted. Piper figured it had happened last year, but pink? Why?!
"Do you know how long it took for us to get out the paint?" Drew said.
Leo waved it away. "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, uh, Drew, truth or dare?"
"Dare," Drew said.
"Let someone in the room do something on your phone for a minute."
Drew paled, and shoved her phone towards Khione. When the timer was up, everything seemed the same.
Drew looked around. "Um.....truth or dare, Piper?"
Piper had really hoped she wouldn't be chosen. "Um, truth?"
Drew wore a pink tank top and a leather jacket: a strange combination. But it certainly gave her an air of rebellion as she said, "Who's your father?"
Piper's mouth tasted sour. No. She couldn't tell them that. "Um....."
Annabeth placed a hand over hers. "Drew, you can't ask that!"
"Why not?" Drew said. "It's not in the rules that I can't!"
Annabeth gave her a helpless glance. Piper's fingers twitched. Oh, how she would love to use her dagger right now. But, no. Violence wasn't the answer.
"Um, my dad is... Tristan Mclean," Piper said.
Piper looked down as the round of shocked gasps began. She waited for it to pass then said, "Um..... Rachel, truth or dare?"
Rachel seemed back to normal now. "Um, well, dare obviously."
Everyone laughed. Piper struggled to come up with a good dare, and eventually just said, "I dare you to.....give someone a makeover."
Rachel shrugged. "You, then."
Piper internally groaned. She hadn't thought of that! "Um... sure."
Rachel led her to the bathroom, and did all sorts of weird things. She did makeup similar to what Drew had done before: bright red lipstick, shimmery highlighter, and way too much foundation. When they came out though, the look on Drew's face was more than enough to make up for it.
Rachel sat back down. "Truth or dare.....Khione?"
Khione smiled. "Truth."
"Who's the most attractive in the room?" Rachel said.
Khione hungrily searched the room. "Jason."
Jason looked confused. Poor, clueless, Jason.
"Jason, truth or dare?"
Jason's head shot up. "Um... dare."
"I dare you to down that whole bottle," Khione said, gesturing to a bottle of beer. How had they got it in?
Jason shook his head. "Sorry... no I-I can't."
"You have to do the dare," Khione said.
Jason continued to shake his head. "No, no, I can't end up like her."
Percy put a hand on Jason's shoulder. "You don't understand. He literally won't ever."
"Why not?" Khione said.
"He can't," Annabeth said. "Why don't we play another game?"
"Sure!" Drew jumped in. "Seven minutes in heaven it is."
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Jason's POV:
Jason felt embarrassed. But, no. He would not have alcohol. It brought back too many memories.
Drew spun the bottle. The first pair to go in was Leo and Calypso. When they came out, Leo's face was withdrawn.
"What happened in there?" Jason whispered.
Leo leaned in. "Tell you later."
Drew spun the bottle again. This time though, it landed on him and Drew. Just great.
The closet was rather dark, and well, being with Drew all alone? It was kind of daunting.
Drew immediately tried to kiss him, but Jason pushed her away gently. They fell into an awkward silence.
"Why couldn't you take the dare?" Drew eventually said.
Jason sighed. "My mom was an alcoholic. I never want to touch a bottle again." Why had he told her that?
Drew nodded. "I understand."
They fell into silence again, but more of a solemn silence.
"Why are you so mean?" The words were out before he realized it. He scrambled to make it be a softer blow, "I mean, why do you act one way around some people, but so nice to me?"
Drew looked away, a tiny ray of light highlighting her face. "My dad spoiled me, I guess. My stepmother Psyche doesn't really like me...and I don't have a perfect life at home like you do."
Drew thought he had a perfect life? "I don't have a perfect life."
Drew scoffed, crossing her slender arms. "Please. You have the money, the picture perfect family, the real friends."
Jason supposed that was mostly true. "Money doesn't solve all problems. And my family definitely isn't perfect. My friends... well my friends are real, I guess. Are yours not?" He genuinely was wondering that.
Drew turned back to him, her dark hair lit by the last embers of light. "I know money doesn't solve all problems, but you have friends that support you, that would do anything for you. I have friends that would stab me in the back if they could."
"Oh." He'd never realized that. "Then why only open up to me?"
Drew shrugged. "I don't know. You're here, and.. you seem like you understand."
"I do," Jason promised.
Drew kissed him softly on the lips, and this time he liked it more. This time he didn't stop it.
"Will you go out with me?" she whispered huskily in his ear.
Jason had to think about it. Maybe, well yes. He wanted too. Drew understood him and that was what he needed.
"Yes," he said.
Drew smiled, and this time, a beautiful smile, brilliant and simple. She kissed him again, and Jason was lost in her until the timer beeped two minutes later.
Yes, I know that this isn't that much about the kidnapping, but I promise next chapter will be more about it. also I know the weird jumping around povs is a little bit choppy and I'm sorry for that. There are a lot of different moments in each pov that make more sense then if it would be less choppy.
So this has got to be my longest chapter so far, 4000 words! The next few chapters are longer so buckle up!