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FIC: The Necklace of Harmonia, chpt 6
Title: The Necklace of Harmonia (Daughter of Wisdom 3)
Author: shiiki
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Annabeth Chase, Thalia Grace, Percy Jackson, Luke Castellan, Chiron, Clarisse La Rue, Chase family, OCs, various others, Gen with slight Percy/Annabeth
Fandom: Percy Jackson
Summary: After an eventful summer, Annabeth Chase is on her way to boarding school for the first time. With her friends Thalia and Percy close by, she's looking forward to spending the year in New York. But soon, she finds herself dealing with unfathomable dreams, tangled plots, and a mysterious necklace that keeps finding its way back to her. Worse still, her father wants her to move to the most dangerous city in the country. The choices Annabeth faces this year will have her questioning the meaning of friendship, loyalty, and family. And most of all, just what it means to keep a promise. An alternate PoV retelling of Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse. Part 3 of the Daughter of Wisdom series.
In this chapter
Chapter Title: I Become The School Porn President
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Annabeth Chase, Thalia Grace, Luke Castellan, OCs, various characters from Greek mythology
Word Count: 5,234
Chapter Summary: The mean girls play a dirty trick on Annabeth in class.
Notes: Yes, I know it was probably Windows Vista or Windows 7 by this time, but I always figured schools take a while to catch up. Current software is expensive, after all! Besides, I really hate all the Windows interfaces after XP, so there.
Melanie's trick with the illicit websites … yes, I admit I totally stole that from It's a Boy Girl Thing (which is rated PG-13, so I figure my chapter rating here is pretty safe, considering there's a lot more in there than just the dirty webpage trick).
Speaking of movies, The Labyrinth isn't a real one. Well, the 1986 film is, but there is no remake with Keira Knightly. But you get a blue cookie if you can guess who the Native American actor in Elise's poster is supposed to be!
And yes, this chapter was a handy excuse to watch Lilo and Stitch again and take notes. I defy anyone to listen to that line while thinking about Annabeth, Luke, and Thalia, and not start crying.
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After our first, rocky week at St Catherine's, things started to look up. Sports extracurriculars were in full swing from the second week on, which meant we got to spend our afternoons in the sports C-a state-of-the-art athletic complex with ball courts, training gyms, and even an Olympic pool-or outdoors on the pitches and fields.
Thalia and I soon found ourselves at the centre of a talent bidding war. Once the junior captains realised we were proficient at just about every sport the school had to offer, they were all clamouring for us to join their teams.
'We need a good setter if we're gonna take on St Agnes this year,' said Patrician Longhorn, the volleyball captain.
'Are you sure you've never played?' Esther McGuire, the soccer captain, was astounded after a friendly match where Thalia scored ten goals and I saved every attempt on ours.
Only the crew team wasn't too enthusiastic about us, but that was the only sport in which Thalia and I didn't shine. Our strength and stamina might be comparable to their best athletes, but we were both shaky on water.
Marissa continued to badger Thalia (and me, once she saw my lap timings) to join the cross-country team. We outstripped the others easily-after all, a slow demigod is often a dead demigod. I eventually gave in to Marissa's pleas, since she was the only captain willing to excuse me from Saturday training sessions (I wasn't about to forego my visits to camp). Thalia held out, claiming that she preferred to run alone, and just for fun. I thought there was more to it than that. Marissa wasn't the only captain Thalia left hanging. She kept rotating among the different teams, as though she was afraid to commit to any in particular.
To my surprise, Izzy was the only junior captain who didn't hunt us down in her recruitment drive. She turned out to be as good an archer as I'd ever seen. If she'd been a demigod, I'd have sworn she was a child of Apollo.
'It's just practice,' Izzy said with a shrug, after an impressive session where she'd hit ten consecutive bulls-eyes. Strangely enough, her last two shots had missed the target completely, as though she'd been aiming at something else entirely. 'Not like Thalia. She's naturally talented-I can tell.'
Her hands-off approach turned out to be the wisest. After several weeks, Thalia finally announced that she would join the archery team, to the disappointment of Marissa and the other captains.
September blew into October with a flurry of red-gold leaves and cool, crisp temperatures. Between afternoon sports and regular weekend visits to camp, I was finally getting more comfortable with boarding school. Melanie Richards and her friends still gave us the evil eye whenever we crossed paths, but as classes were organised by house, it was easy enough to stay out of their way.
At least, until the announcement that the junior school was to have combined computer science classes on Friday afternoons.
The Claymore girls were all in high dudgeon about this, as it cut into sports time. Thalia and I, however, had a different worry.
'Can we even do computers?' Thalia asked. 'I mean, phones attract monsters.'
'I don't know,' I said uneasily as we waited outside the door to the computer lab in the science C. There was a reason why the only computer at camp was in Chiron's heavily barricaded office. 'I only tried once, and-well, it wasn't pretty.'
That was putting it mildly. A monster had totally wrecked my dad's computer after I'd used it to send Percy an email.
'It can't be the computers themselves,' I reasoned. 'Or even the phones. I mean, we're actually near a lot of cell phones-almost everyone here has one-and no monsters have come after us yet, thank Zeus.'
'Yeah, but we aren't the ones using them. I don't see how we can get around it in an actual class.'
'I think it'll be okay as long as we're not using them to communicate. Maybe monsters tap into satellite signals or something.'
We had to halt our conversation then because the rest of the class turned up in the hall, all sixty eighth-graders crowding outside the door to the lab. It swung open moments later, held by a young, redheaded teacher dressed in a silky emerald blouse and neat pencil skirt. In an attempt to appear older and stricter, she had pulled her fiery hair back into a stern bun. Wisps of it curled out from the sides like wild sparks escaping a flickering flame.
She smoothed down her skirt unnecessarily and said, 'Well, come in.' Her voice was lightly accented, reminding me a bit of my stepmother. Several Claymore girls smirked at each other as we filed past her into the lab, obviously pegging her as an inexperienced pushover.
'One to a computer, hurry up, now.' Our new teacher affected a crisp, commanding tone that clashed with her soft, lilting accent. She seemed to be trying to cover up her nervousness as she marched stiffly to the front of the room and stood beside the blackboard. She'd written two lines on it in large capital letters.
There was the usual first-day scramble for seats as everyone tried to eke out their territory for the rest of the semester. The computer lab was laid out with three long, vertical rows of tables. Thalia and I hesitated, caught between wanting to stay out of the teacher's immediate view and knowing that reading anything written on the blackboard would be murder on our dyslexic eyes if we were too far back. We ended up somewhere in the middle, between the attentive, eager-beaver Baxtors and the stoners from Richards who were just cruising through school on their parents' wealth. The Baxtors weren't as eager as usual to be up front today, though. Probably they thought a class that didn't count towards our GPAs was a waste of time.
'As you can see,' our teacher motioned towards the blackboard, where she'd written what looked like COUNT THE SEAS, and under that, KATE SHE IS, 'I am Kate Seunis, and this is Computer Science.' She pronounced her name with a hitch on the 'S', the way you might say 'Tsar'.
Esther McGuire put her hand up. 'Miz Seunis, do we really need to be here? I mean, we already know how to use the Internet. Who doesn't have a laptop, or a Facebook page?'
Ms Seunis crossed her arms and glared at us. 'First, not all of you are equally well-versed in technology. This class offers the less fortunate among you an opportunity to receive instruction on resources such as word processors and the world wide web.'
'You mean there are fossils who don't have Facebook?' Melanie Richards, sitting in the row next to ours, shot us a malicious grin.
'Second,' Ms Seunis continued, walking down the row between us and Melanie, 'you are not here just to learn how to use a computer. I intend to show you how computers can be used as a research tool-a design tool-an analysis tool-any kind of tool you may ever need. This class will cover many programmes that can assist you in diverse fields, whether you are aiming at concentrations in the sciences, or design, or even the humanities.' She stopped a few computers down from us, where several girls were hastily clicking to minimise the windows on their monitors. 'I'm afraid your familiarity with Facebook and Twitter won't assist you here.'
Satisfied that no one was illicitly checking their social media, she marched back to the head of the class and brought down the projector screen, bringing up a display of her own computer monitor.
'We will begin with a simple survey to gauge your level of familiarity with current technology in general, and any experience you have with a variety of software. If you look on your desktops, you will see a shortcut to it. You will spend the first fifteen minutes of the lesson filling it out. Your answers will determined what you get out of the semester, so don't rush through it.'
The room was quickly filled with the staccato taps of mouse clicks and rapid typing. I didn't have much experience with computers, but the WindowsXP system was pretty intuitive. I found the desktop link and opened the survey, which was just as Ms Seunis had indicated-a simple questionnaire about our computer knowledge and experience.
After a minute or so of answering the questions, Thalia whispered urgently to me, 'Give me a hand, will you?'
I peeked through the gap in the computers. Ms Seunis was walking down the opposite row. Wheeling my chair over to Thalia's workstation, I looked at her monitor. She was stuck on the second page, where we were supposed to rank our proficiency in a list of programmes.
'I don't know any of them-well, fine, Google, but what's Adobe, or ArchiCAD, or WordPress-is that what you call Microsoft Word now?'
Melanie leaned across the aisle. 'What's the matter?' she sneered. 'You a dinosaur as well as a dyke?'
'Piss off, Richards,' Thalia snapped.
'Shh, ignore her,' I said. 'Cant' you just say you don't know any of them? Or do it randomly.'
'I tried, it won't work. I keep getting an error message.'
I got her past the automatic question-not-answered error and was about to help with the next page when I heard the tap-tap-tap of Ms Seunis's heels coming down our aisle. Quickly, I returned to my workstation-and gasped in horror.
Instead of the half-filled class questionnaire, my screen showed a large digital image of two naked girls in a very compromising position. I grabbed the mouse to get rid of the window before Ms Seunis could see, but the cursor on the screen didn't move when I wiggled the mouse frantically.
Someone had unplugged it. I whirled around to look at Melanie, who was back at her workstation, the very picture of innocence. Except for the tell-tale smirk playing about her lips.
'What is the meaning of this?'
I gritted my teeth and turned around to face an irate Ms Seunis.
Melanie Richards evidently needed no instruction in how to use computers as a tool for humiliation.
+++
By the time we got back to the dorm C that evening, my status as a lesbian porn addict had spread like wildfire. No less than twenty taunting notes found their way to my desk during Study Hall, shot as spitballs or flown as paper aeroplanes behind the teachers' backs. I was ready to bang my head against a wall-or better yet, into Melanie's. Usually I preferred the intellectual approach to revenge, but I wasn't completely above exacting vengeance Ares-style.
'Thank the gods it's Friday,' I groaned as Thalia and I climbed the stairs to the eighth-grade dorms. 'I've had enough of this week.'
Thanks to Melanie's little stunt, Ms Seunis had put me in detention until dinner time, making me clean the computer lab and tally all her survey responses by hand. It had meant missing cross-country practice, which annoyed Marissa-especially when I refused to make up for it on the weekend. She wouldn't speak to me all through dinner.
Before we could get to our room, a door further up the hall shot open. One of the girls from the archery team emerged.
'Thalia!' she said cheerfully.
'What's up, Cheryl?'
A few other girls poked their heads out of the room, where they appeared to be having a party. Izzy pushed past them and stepped out into the hallway.
'We've all voted,' she said, looping her arm firmly through Thalia's. 'You're hanging with us tonight. Think of it as team bonding.'
'I-'
'Come on,' Cheryl said. 'You never go out with us on the weekends.'
'Well, um …' Thalia looked awkwardly at me.
'Oh, Annabeth can come, too,' Izzy said. 'We're not that exclusive. Besides, it's really Esther's DVD collection.' The soccer captain waved at us cheerfully.
'You sure you want the porn president joining you?' I said sarcastically, listing one of the many insults that had peppered the taunting notes in Study Hall.
Izzy rolled her eyes. 'We know Richards set you up-it was obvious.'
'The rest of the school doesn't seem to think so,' I muttered.
Cheryl shrugged. 'Not us-right, girls?'
There was a chorus of no's and a lot of head-shaking from inside the room.
'There's always going to be idiots,' Izzy said. 'Don't worry, it'll blow over. Come hang with us; it'll cheer you up.'
Izzy and Cheryl frogmarched Thalia and me into the room. There were about a dozen of them inside, sprawled on the twin beds or sitting on the floor, passing bags of chips and popcorn around. Esther appeared not only to own the DVD collection, but also the Enchanted bedspread she was currently sitting on as she rifled through her DVDs.
'Which one do we want, girls?'
Esther's roommate, Elise, looked up from the desk where she was setting up her laptop and a couple of speakers. 'Let Thalia pick, since she didn't get to see The Labyrinth with us last week.'
'Oh man, you totally missed out,' Cheryl groaned. 'Seriously, it was so good.'
Someone threw a handful of popcorn at her. 'It was creepy, you mean. I couldn't sleep a wink all weekend!'
'The Labyrinth?' I said uneasily. Something about it struck a chord with me, which was strange since my knowledge of what was 'in' at the cinemas was always patchy.
'You know, that film remake?' Cheryl said. 'The one with Keira Knightly.'
'Don't see it if you don't like horror movies,' Elise warned. 'But that actor who played the goblin king was, like, so dreamy.' She pointed to a huge poster plastered on the wall over her bed. It featured a Native American actor with intense, dark eyes and a dimpled chin under his roguish smile. He beckoned to us with one finger like he was inviting us to enter the stone maze in the poster's backdrop.
'So what'll it be, Thalia?' Esther prodded. 'I can't promise I'll have it, but I've got quite a few.'
'Er-I don't really know any movies,' Thalia admitted.
Her teammates threw her horrified looks. 'Get out!' Cheryl gasped. 'Nobody doesn't know any movies.'
Izzy nudged me and whispered, 'Seriously, even if you don't know, you ought to at least pretend or something. It's a dead giveaway otherwise.'
I gave her a sharp look, suddenly wary.
'I, um-you got any Disney stuff?' Thalia said quickly, trying to cover up.
This sparked off a debate over animated versus live action movies, with a side discussion of everyone's favourite Disney princess. It ended when Esther finally pulled out a DVD with a fuzzy blue creature in a hula skirt on the cover.
'It's pretty old, but I always loved this,' she said, passing it over.
'Lilo and Stitch?' Elise said.
'Just put it on,' Izzy told her. 'Before it's too late to watch anything.'
Elise popped it into her DVD drive. We settled down to watch.
The last movie I'd seen was before I'd run away from home, and I was willing to bet it was even longer since Thalia had seen one. I certainly didn't expect the story of an indestructible monster alien built for mayhem to strike a chord with me. Especially not when Stitch went rampaging across a toy version of San Francisco. It reminded me too much of what might happen to our actual civilisation if Kronos had his way. But when Stitch opened his mouth and repeated Lilo's words: 'Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind. Or forgotten,' my eyes were unmistakably moist.
I heard Thalia suppress a sniff. The next moment, her hand closed over mine.
When the credits came rolling across the screen, there was hardly a dry eye in the room.
We helped Esther and Elise clean up before lights out. As we headed back to our own rooms, it occurred to me that the way I was straddling the mortal world right now wasn't all that different from Stitch. And hanging out with Izzy and the archers tonight was the first time I'd felt perfectly normal in the mortal world.
'Annabeth?' Thalia said after we'd turned out the lights.
'Yeah?'
I could hear the smile in her voice as she said, 'Thanks for not leaving me behind.'
+++
That night, I dreamt I was sitting at a dressing table in a Grecian-style bridal gown. The bodice was a masterpiece of white lace, draped over my shoulders like a chiton, and the skirt flared out from under my chest into voluminous waves of snowy silk. When I looked into the mirror, the face that stared back at me was way too pretty to be mine. Rich, honey-gold hair was piled above my head in an elegant bun, from which two soft waves draped down around my ears. My eyes, nose, and mouth were the perfect, classic features of a goddess, smooth and well-proportioned.
It wasn't my face, but it was familiar. I'd definitely seen the girl in the mirror before. I pictured her younger and chewing anxiously on her nails.
Standing behind me, with deft fingers weaving delicate flowers into my hair, was an attendant, also dressed in bridal white. She was probably one of my-well, Nia's-bridesmaids. She was taller than the mirror, so I could only see the lower half of her body as she worked, and the long, red-orange plait that ran down her shoulders.
A bright light descended behind me. The next moment, someone else appeared in the mirror's reflection-a hunchbacked man with great, beefy arms and a broad, muscular chest. Under his powerful upper body, he had warped, twisted legs that gave him a hobbling stride as he came forward to place his hands on the back of my chair.
'Lord Hephaestus.' My attendant dropped a curtsey and bowed her head.
'Father.' I stood and turned to face him. 'This is a surprise.'
'Daughter,' Hephaestus said gruffly. 'Can't let you be married off without my blessing, can I?'
He clasped his hands together. When he opened them, they were like clamshells parting to reveal a golden necklace inlaid with jewels. It curved beautifully into two serpent heads at the clasp, which was shaped like the eagle on Zeus's crest. The eagle's bright yellow wings shimmered with a coating of powdered moonstone. It reflected the blues of my eyes, the white of my veil, and the gold trim of my gown all at once. I could hardly tear my eyes away from my reflection in the stone. The woman that smiled back at me was even more beautiful than the one I saw in the mirror.
'It's beautiful!' I was beautiful.
'It will give the wearer eternal beauty,' Hephaestus said. 'It has been charmed with a sacred vow.'
My attendant let out a soft sigh of desire, as though she, too, were mesmerised by the necklace.
Hephaestus placed the necklace in my hands. 'You are giving up much to marry Cadmus, my dear.'
'I love him,' I said simply. 'I'm willing to live as a mortal to be with him.'
'In that case …' A shadow fell over Hephaestus's face. 'May this necklace seal your vows. As it did your mother's and mine.'
With another blinding flash of light, Hephaestus took his leave. I shut my eyes, and when I opened them, I was no longer standing before a dressing table. I was still holding the necklace, which seemed to emit an eerie, ethereal light. Dust particles swam in it, coagulating into the vague forms of people. They were dancing-or maybe they were duelling.
A flash of red in the corner of my eye drew my attention. I tilted my head just in time to catch a brilliant streak of fur-a dog, or a fox, darting away. Its tail swayed behind it in a way that resembled an unfurled fan.
'It's cursed,' someone croaked.
I looked down and almost screamed.
I'd definitely been plunged into a different dream-no, a nightmare. The hem of my white dress was soaked in blood. The scent of it filled my nostrils, choking and metallic. It spilled from two men in Greek armour-one sandy-haired, one dark-who lay on either side of me, both with weapons thrust through their chests. The puddles of their blood spread slowly across the ground to meet as one giant, tragic pool.
The dark-haired man was perfectly still beneath the spear in his heart; it was the sandy-haired one who had spoken. The hilt of a sword protruded from his side, where the blade was embedded in the gap of his armour. I fell to my knees beside him.
'Why, Polynices?' I heard myself say. 'Why did you do this?'
Polynices's hand rose feebly to clutch at the necklace in my hands.
'It is-a curse,' he repeated in his straining gasp. 'You must break it, sister. Break it, or we are all doomed-yourself and Antigone as well.' His final words came out in a whisper so soft I had to lean forward to hear.
Tears blurred my vision, but not enough to obscure the cloudiness that came over Polynices's eyes. His stare turned cold and vacant. His hand slipped from the necklace and fell lifeless to his side.
Again, the dream shifted …
The smell of blood still hung in the air, mingled with a strange, minty scent. The ground beneath my knees was hard and cold. In the dim light, I could make out Luke's scarred face. He stood beside a hulking figure whose hunched posture couldn't disguise his massive bulk-so big that it pressed right up against the ceiling of a cave.
Both Luke and the giant had their eyes fixed on the empty air in front of them, which rippled like a gauzy curtain in the dark. A person appeared in it, their face cast so deep in shadow, I couldn't make out a single defining feature. When they spoke, their voice was distorted, as though coming to us through a static-filled speaker. However, the excitement in their tone was unmistakable.
'I have found not one, but two, sir!'
'Two half-bloods in one school?' Luke said sceptically. 'The odds-'
'I think my authority on the subject is somewhat greater than yours, demigod.' It was clear from the pointed sneer that whoever this person was-I suspected a monster in disguise-their 'sir' had not been addressed to Luke.
'Enough,' rumbled the giant in a rich baritone. 'This demigod has the favour of our lord Titan. And he is quite right in saying that half-bloods-especially the powerful ones we have tasked you with finding-do not often congregate. At least not outside that infernal camp of theirs.'
'I was surprised myself,' admitted the disgruntled monster. 'But I believe they are here, and they are powerful. I require a retrieval operation, sir.'
There was a pause, in which Luke and the giant looked at each other.
'This is no small request,' the giant said. 'Either you are very certain … or very foolhardy.'
'We don't have enough forces yet,' Luke said. 'If we go to all that trouble and it turns out they aren't the ones we're looking for …'
'How certain are you?' the giant rumbled.
'I-' The monster faltered slightly.
'Be sure, then,' the giant ordered. 'And when you are, Luke will send the reinforcements you require.'
There was a shimmer in the image, like the monster was nodding.
'Yes, sir. Shall I change my disguise, then, to get in closer? I can disguise myself most effectively as a-'
'Fool!' the giant roared. The entire cavern trembled as he straightened. 'Do you wish to blow your cover by messing around? The half-bloods are not as stupid as you assume. Maintain your disguise!'
The giant crouched again, panting as though he had just performed an Olympic lift. 'Go!' he commanded, and the monster's wavering image faded to black.
'Sir,' Luke said, 'can I-assist you?'
The giant's head swivelled to glare at Luke. For a moment, I thought he was going to punch Luke. Then he bellowed with laughter.
'Assist me? Assist me! Oh, young demigod, there is only one thing that can relieve my burden, and it would kill you to undertake it. But no matter, Soon enough, my lord uncle will be renewed and he will release me from my bonds himself. And you, Luke Castellan, will gather the army that will amass our victory.'
Luke bowed his head in acquiescence.
'Go now and summon the mercenaries. I want them ready to provide back-up when our scout has the half-bloods. Send the new kid with them. He has yet to prove himself after the last … mishap.' The giant's nose wrinkled, as if failure were a bad smell.
'The-the mercenaries, sir?'
'Yes, the mercenaries! Is it my day to be beleaguered by half-wits?'
'They are mortals,' Luke said, very carefully.
'You are part-mortal.'
'Yes, but-'
'Is it concern you have for them, boy?' The giant's voice was soft and dangerous.
'No, it's not-it's just-they're expensive, aren't they?' Luke said quickly.
The giant snorted. 'Don't worry your pretty little head about it. Our financial backers have come through. And once the Titan lord reigns supreme, all who have supported our cause shall have their reward.' He shifted as though adjusting a heavy weight on his shoulders. 'Indeed, our most valuable weapon rises from Tartarus as we speak. But to find it, we will need a powerful half-blood. May I remind you that you have not delivered on that front.'
'Percy Jackson-'
'You know very well that it is not the son of Poseidon who will come to us.'
Luke gritted his teeth. 'I won't fail.'
The giant laughed again. 'I will hold you to that, Luke Castellan. Nonetheless, there is a valuable lesson I learnt from our lord Kronos. A single plan is never enough. One must always have contingencies, and contingencies for the contingencies. If our friend has indeed found one of these contingencies … well, it is good to have options.'
His booming laughter echoed through the caves.
I jerked awake.
My sheets were drenched in sweat. My nose still detected the faint whiff of blood. With a groan, I realised why. I reached into my dresser drawer for a tampon before climbing out of bed and heading to the toilet.
Thalia was sitting up in bed when I came out. She'd flicked on the lights. I squinted against their harsh glare.
'You okay?' she asked.
'Yeah. Just that time of the month, you know.' I peeled off my sheets and chucked them into the laundry basket.
Thalia made a sympathetic noise. 'You were tossing around quite a bit before you got up.'
I pulled new sheets from my closet and spread them over my bed, using the time it took to think what to tell Thalia. When I'd finished smoothing them out, I said, 'Just a dream.'
'Wanna tell me about it?'
I turned the lights back out and crawled into bed, but didn't lie down. I crossed my legs and sat with my hands propped under my chin. What was I supposed to make of all my dreams? I had no clue what the first two meant-and indeed, the second scared me badly enough that I just wanted to put it out of my head. The last one at least made more sense, even though it was hardly good news.
Thalia stayed sitting upright in her own bed, waiting. Finally, I told her about Luke's conversation with the giant and the monster.
'Does that-happen often?' Thalia asked when I finished.
'Monsters tracking half-bloods at school? Yeah, they-'
'I meant the dreams. Of-of …'
'Oh. Well, dreams are part of half-blood life, right? Don't you have them?'
Thalia shook her head. In the dark, with only the faint glow of streetlights peeking through our window blinds, her motion was as indistinct as the monster in my dream.
'I never dream about Luke,' she said softly.
I didn't know what to say to this.
'I'm not sure if I want to,' Thalia continued. 'I'm not sure I want to see how much he's changed.' She reached out and touched something on her bedside table. Maybe it was Luke's old diary with the photos. 'Sometimes I think all of this is a dream. Like maybe I'll wake up and the two of you will be like you were.'
I barely remembered the kid I'd been seven years ago. It was weird to think that for Thalia, it probably only seemed like two months ago.
'You grew up so much, Annabeth.' Thalia's voice took on a fond, reminiscent quality. 'It's like just yesterday you were this little girl hanging off Luke.'
My jaw dropped. 'I was not!'
Thalia laughed. 'Oh, you were. But don't worry, it was cute.'
I made a face, even though Thalia probably couldn't see it in the dark.
'You know, I could tell Percy so many stories,' Thalia teased. 'Maybe I should. Make him a bit jealous. You never know, that might just get him to notice you.'
I opened my mouth to protest that I wasn't trying to get Percy to notice me, but what came out instead was, 'He knows. I mean, he knows what I feel about Luke. When-when we first met, he already noticed.'
'Oh.' Thalia sounded like I'd just stolen the wind out of her sails. 'When you first … then you do like-I mean, even then-'
I thought of the way Percy had looked last year, when I'd kissed his cheek after we won our chariot race; of his grinning face welcoming me to Brooklyn. My cheeks burned. I was glad I'd turned off the light.
'I guess I missed a lot,' Thalia said. She seemed to be half talking to herself. 'Were the two of you actually-no, he wouldn't have, right? Not with the age difference. But I didn't know you still liked-'
Age difference?
'Stop,' I said, realising we'd been referring to two completely different boys. 'I don't. Not any more. Not after he tried to kill us.'
Thalia didn't answer. Whether this was because she didn't believe me, or she was turning over that painful truth-he tried to kill us-in her head, I couldn't tell.
My own words felt like a lie. Maybe because they were. I didn't think I had a crush on Luke any more, but it wasn't true that I no longer felt anything for him. Even after everything he'd done, part of me still couldn't let go of him, of the Luke who had so often been there with a comforting hug, or a thoughtful gift, or just to ask about my day.
Of the Luke who had rescued me after weeks of fending off monsters on my own, promising me a family.
'I wish I could ask him why,' Thalia said, so softly I almost missed it.
I knew how she felt.
Continue to chapter 7
Author: shiiki
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Annabeth Chase, Thalia Grace, Percy Jackson, Luke Castellan, Chiron, Clarisse La Rue, Chase family, OCs, various others, Gen with slight Percy/Annabeth
Fandom: Percy Jackson
Summary: After an eventful summer, Annabeth Chase is on her way to boarding school for the first time. With her friends Thalia and Percy close by, she's looking forward to spending the year in New York. But soon, she finds herself dealing with unfathomable dreams, tangled plots, and a mysterious necklace that keeps finding its way back to her. Worse still, her father wants her to move to the most dangerous city in the country. The choices Annabeth faces this year will have her questioning the meaning of friendship, loyalty, and family. And most of all, just what it means to keep a promise. An alternate PoV retelling of Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse. Part 3 of the Daughter of Wisdom series.
In this chapter
Chapter Title: I Become The School Porn President
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Annabeth Chase, Thalia Grace, Luke Castellan, OCs, various characters from Greek mythology
Word Count: 5,234
Chapter Summary: The mean girls play a dirty trick on Annabeth in class.
Notes: Yes, I know it was probably Windows Vista or Windows 7 by this time, but I always figured schools take a while to catch up. Current software is expensive, after all! Besides, I really hate all the Windows interfaces after XP, so there.
Melanie's trick with the illicit websites … yes, I admit I totally stole that from It's a Boy Girl Thing (which is rated PG-13, so I figure my chapter rating here is pretty safe, considering there's a lot more in there than just the dirty webpage trick).
Speaking of movies, The Labyrinth isn't a real one. Well, the 1986 film is, but there is no remake with Keira Knightly. But you get a blue cookie if you can guess who the Native American actor in Elise's poster is supposed to be!
And yes, this chapter was a handy excuse to watch Lilo and Stitch again and take notes. I defy anyone to listen to that line while thinking about Annabeth, Luke, and Thalia, and not start crying.
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After our first, rocky week at St Catherine's, things started to look up. Sports extracurriculars were in full swing from the second week on, which meant we got to spend our afternoons in the sports C-a state-of-the-art athletic complex with ball courts, training gyms, and even an Olympic pool-or outdoors on the pitches and fields.
Thalia and I soon found ourselves at the centre of a talent bidding war. Once the junior captains realised we were proficient at just about every sport the school had to offer, they were all clamouring for us to join their teams.
'We need a good setter if we're gonna take on St Agnes this year,' said Patrician Longhorn, the volleyball captain.
'Are you sure you've never played?' Esther McGuire, the soccer captain, was astounded after a friendly match where Thalia scored ten goals and I saved every attempt on ours.
Only the crew team wasn't too enthusiastic about us, but that was the only sport in which Thalia and I didn't shine. Our strength and stamina might be comparable to their best athletes, but we were both shaky on water.
Marissa continued to badger Thalia (and me, once she saw my lap timings) to join the cross-country team. We outstripped the others easily-after all, a slow demigod is often a dead demigod. I eventually gave in to Marissa's pleas, since she was the only captain willing to excuse me from Saturday training sessions (I wasn't about to forego my visits to camp). Thalia held out, claiming that she preferred to run alone, and just for fun. I thought there was more to it than that. Marissa wasn't the only captain Thalia left hanging. She kept rotating among the different teams, as though she was afraid to commit to any in particular.
To my surprise, Izzy was the only junior captain who didn't hunt us down in her recruitment drive. She turned out to be as good an archer as I'd ever seen. If she'd been a demigod, I'd have sworn she was a child of Apollo.
'It's just practice,' Izzy said with a shrug, after an impressive session where she'd hit ten consecutive bulls-eyes. Strangely enough, her last two shots had missed the target completely, as though she'd been aiming at something else entirely. 'Not like Thalia. She's naturally talented-I can tell.'
Her hands-off approach turned out to be the wisest. After several weeks, Thalia finally announced that she would join the archery team, to the disappointment of Marissa and the other captains.
September blew into October with a flurry of red-gold leaves and cool, crisp temperatures. Between afternoon sports and regular weekend visits to camp, I was finally getting more comfortable with boarding school. Melanie Richards and her friends still gave us the evil eye whenever we crossed paths, but as classes were organised by house, it was easy enough to stay out of their way.
At least, until the announcement that the junior school was to have combined computer science classes on Friday afternoons.
The Claymore girls were all in high dudgeon about this, as it cut into sports time. Thalia and I, however, had a different worry.
'Can we even do computers?' Thalia asked. 'I mean, phones attract monsters.'
'I don't know,' I said uneasily as we waited outside the door to the computer lab in the science C. There was a reason why the only computer at camp was in Chiron's heavily barricaded office. 'I only tried once, and-well, it wasn't pretty.'
That was putting it mildly. A monster had totally wrecked my dad's computer after I'd used it to send Percy an email.
'It can't be the computers themselves,' I reasoned. 'Or even the phones. I mean, we're actually near a lot of cell phones-almost everyone here has one-and no monsters have come after us yet, thank Zeus.'
'Yeah, but we aren't the ones using them. I don't see how we can get around it in an actual class.'
'I think it'll be okay as long as we're not using them to communicate. Maybe monsters tap into satellite signals or something.'
We had to halt our conversation then because the rest of the class turned up in the hall, all sixty eighth-graders crowding outside the door to the lab. It swung open moments later, held by a young, redheaded teacher dressed in a silky emerald blouse and neat pencil skirt. In an attempt to appear older and stricter, she had pulled her fiery hair back into a stern bun. Wisps of it curled out from the sides like wild sparks escaping a flickering flame.
She smoothed down her skirt unnecessarily and said, 'Well, come in.' Her voice was lightly accented, reminding me a bit of my stepmother. Several Claymore girls smirked at each other as we filed past her into the lab, obviously pegging her as an inexperienced pushover.
'One to a computer, hurry up, now.' Our new teacher affected a crisp, commanding tone that clashed with her soft, lilting accent. She seemed to be trying to cover up her nervousness as she marched stiffly to the front of the room and stood beside the blackboard. She'd written two lines on it in large capital letters.
There was the usual first-day scramble for seats as everyone tried to eke out their territory for the rest of the semester. The computer lab was laid out with three long, vertical rows of tables. Thalia and I hesitated, caught between wanting to stay out of the teacher's immediate view and knowing that reading anything written on the blackboard would be murder on our dyslexic eyes if we were too far back. We ended up somewhere in the middle, between the attentive, eager-beaver Baxtors and the stoners from Richards who were just cruising through school on their parents' wealth. The Baxtors weren't as eager as usual to be up front today, though. Probably they thought a class that didn't count towards our GPAs was a waste of time.
'As you can see,' our teacher motioned towards the blackboard, where she'd written what looked like COUNT THE SEAS, and under that, KATE SHE IS, 'I am Kate Seunis, and this is Computer Science.' She pronounced her name with a hitch on the 'S', the way you might say 'Tsar'.
Esther McGuire put her hand up. 'Miz Seunis, do we really need to be here? I mean, we already know how to use the Internet. Who doesn't have a laptop, or a Facebook page?'
Ms Seunis crossed her arms and glared at us. 'First, not all of you are equally well-versed in technology. This class offers the less fortunate among you an opportunity to receive instruction on resources such as word processors and the world wide web.'
'You mean there are fossils who don't have Facebook?' Melanie Richards, sitting in the row next to ours, shot us a malicious grin.
'Second,' Ms Seunis continued, walking down the row between us and Melanie, 'you are not here just to learn how to use a computer. I intend to show you how computers can be used as a research tool-a design tool-an analysis tool-any kind of tool you may ever need. This class will cover many programmes that can assist you in diverse fields, whether you are aiming at concentrations in the sciences, or design, or even the humanities.' She stopped a few computers down from us, where several girls were hastily clicking to minimise the windows on their monitors. 'I'm afraid your familiarity with Facebook and Twitter won't assist you here.'
Satisfied that no one was illicitly checking their social media, she marched back to the head of the class and brought down the projector screen, bringing up a display of her own computer monitor.
'We will begin with a simple survey to gauge your level of familiarity with current technology in general, and any experience you have with a variety of software. If you look on your desktops, you will see a shortcut to it. You will spend the first fifteen minutes of the lesson filling it out. Your answers will determined what you get out of the semester, so don't rush through it.'
The room was quickly filled with the staccato taps of mouse clicks and rapid typing. I didn't have much experience with computers, but the WindowsXP system was pretty intuitive. I found the desktop link and opened the survey, which was just as Ms Seunis had indicated-a simple questionnaire about our computer knowledge and experience.
After a minute or so of answering the questions, Thalia whispered urgently to me, 'Give me a hand, will you?'
I peeked through the gap in the computers. Ms Seunis was walking down the opposite row. Wheeling my chair over to Thalia's workstation, I looked at her monitor. She was stuck on the second page, where we were supposed to rank our proficiency in a list of programmes.
'I don't know any of them-well, fine, Google, but what's Adobe, or ArchiCAD, or WordPress-is that what you call Microsoft Word now?'
Melanie leaned across the aisle. 'What's the matter?' she sneered. 'You a dinosaur as well as a dyke?'
'Piss off, Richards,' Thalia snapped.
'Shh, ignore her,' I said. 'Cant' you just say you don't know any of them? Or do it randomly.'
'I tried, it won't work. I keep getting an error message.'
I got her past the automatic question-not-answered error and was about to help with the next page when I heard the tap-tap-tap of Ms Seunis's heels coming down our aisle. Quickly, I returned to my workstation-and gasped in horror.
Instead of the half-filled class questionnaire, my screen showed a large digital image of two naked girls in a very compromising position. I grabbed the mouse to get rid of the window before Ms Seunis could see, but the cursor on the screen didn't move when I wiggled the mouse frantically.
Someone had unplugged it. I whirled around to look at Melanie, who was back at her workstation, the very picture of innocence. Except for the tell-tale smirk playing about her lips.
'What is the meaning of this?'
I gritted my teeth and turned around to face an irate Ms Seunis.
Melanie Richards evidently needed no instruction in how to use computers as a tool for humiliation.
+++
By the time we got back to the dorm C that evening, my status as a lesbian porn addict had spread like wildfire. No less than twenty taunting notes found their way to my desk during Study Hall, shot as spitballs or flown as paper aeroplanes behind the teachers' backs. I was ready to bang my head against a wall-or better yet, into Melanie's. Usually I preferred the intellectual approach to revenge, but I wasn't completely above exacting vengeance Ares-style.
'Thank the gods it's Friday,' I groaned as Thalia and I climbed the stairs to the eighth-grade dorms. 'I've had enough of this week.'
Thanks to Melanie's little stunt, Ms Seunis had put me in detention until dinner time, making me clean the computer lab and tally all her survey responses by hand. It had meant missing cross-country practice, which annoyed Marissa-especially when I refused to make up for it on the weekend. She wouldn't speak to me all through dinner.
Before we could get to our room, a door further up the hall shot open. One of the girls from the archery team emerged.
'Thalia!' she said cheerfully.
'What's up, Cheryl?'
A few other girls poked their heads out of the room, where they appeared to be having a party. Izzy pushed past them and stepped out into the hallway.
'We've all voted,' she said, looping her arm firmly through Thalia's. 'You're hanging with us tonight. Think of it as team bonding.'
'I-'
'Come on,' Cheryl said. 'You never go out with us on the weekends.'
'Well, um …' Thalia looked awkwardly at me.
'Oh, Annabeth can come, too,' Izzy said. 'We're not that exclusive. Besides, it's really Esther's DVD collection.' The soccer captain waved at us cheerfully.
'You sure you want the porn president joining you?' I said sarcastically, listing one of the many insults that had peppered the taunting notes in Study Hall.
Izzy rolled her eyes. 'We know Richards set you up-it was obvious.'
'The rest of the school doesn't seem to think so,' I muttered.
Cheryl shrugged. 'Not us-right, girls?'
There was a chorus of no's and a lot of head-shaking from inside the room.
'There's always going to be idiots,' Izzy said. 'Don't worry, it'll blow over. Come hang with us; it'll cheer you up.'
Izzy and Cheryl frogmarched Thalia and me into the room. There were about a dozen of them inside, sprawled on the twin beds or sitting on the floor, passing bags of chips and popcorn around. Esther appeared not only to own the DVD collection, but also the Enchanted bedspread she was currently sitting on as she rifled through her DVDs.
'Which one do we want, girls?'
Esther's roommate, Elise, looked up from the desk where she was setting up her laptop and a couple of speakers. 'Let Thalia pick, since she didn't get to see The Labyrinth with us last week.'
'Oh man, you totally missed out,' Cheryl groaned. 'Seriously, it was so good.'
Someone threw a handful of popcorn at her. 'It was creepy, you mean. I couldn't sleep a wink all weekend!'
'The Labyrinth?' I said uneasily. Something about it struck a chord with me, which was strange since my knowledge of what was 'in' at the cinemas was always patchy.
'You know, that film remake?' Cheryl said. 'The one with Keira Knightly.'
'Don't see it if you don't like horror movies,' Elise warned. 'But that actor who played the goblin king was, like, so dreamy.' She pointed to a huge poster plastered on the wall over her bed. It featured a Native American actor with intense, dark eyes and a dimpled chin under his roguish smile. He beckoned to us with one finger like he was inviting us to enter the stone maze in the poster's backdrop.
'So what'll it be, Thalia?' Esther prodded. 'I can't promise I'll have it, but I've got quite a few.'
'Er-I don't really know any movies,' Thalia admitted.
Her teammates threw her horrified looks. 'Get out!' Cheryl gasped. 'Nobody doesn't know any movies.'
Izzy nudged me and whispered, 'Seriously, even if you don't know, you ought to at least pretend or something. It's a dead giveaway otherwise.'
I gave her a sharp look, suddenly wary.
'I, um-you got any Disney stuff?' Thalia said quickly, trying to cover up.
This sparked off a debate over animated versus live action movies, with a side discussion of everyone's favourite Disney princess. It ended when Esther finally pulled out a DVD with a fuzzy blue creature in a hula skirt on the cover.
'It's pretty old, but I always loved this,' she said, passing it over.
'Lilo and Stitch?' Elise said.
'Just put it on,' Izzy told her. 'Before it's too late to watch anything.'
Elise popped it into her DVD drive. We settled down to watch.
The last movie I'd seen was before I'd run away from home, and I was willing to bet it was even longer since Thalia had seen one. I certainly didn't expect the story of an indestructible monster alien built for mayhem to strike a chord with me. Especially not when Stitch went rampaging across a toy version of San Francisco. It reminded me too much of what might happen to our actual civilisation if Kronos had his way. But when Stitch opened his mouth and repeated Lilo's words: 'Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind. Or forgotten,' my eyes were unmistakably moist.
I heard Thalia suppress a sniff. The next moment, her hand closed over mine.
When the credits came rolling across the screen, there was hardly a dry eye in the room.
We helped Esther and Elise clean up before lights out. As we headed back to our own rooms, it occurred to me that the way I was straddling the mortal world right now wasn't all that different from Stitch. And hanging out with Izzy and the archers tonight was the first time I'd felt perfectly normal in the mortal world.
'Annabeth?' Thalia said after we'd turned out the lights.
'Yeah?'
I could hear the smile in her voice as she said, 'Thanks for not leaving me behind.'
+++
That night, I dreamt I was sitting at a dressing table in a Grecian-style bridal gown. The bodice was a masterpiece of white lace, draped over my shoulders like a chiton, and the skirt flared out from under my chest into voluminous waves of snowy silk. When I looked into the mirror, the face that stared back at me was way too pretty to be mine. Rich, honey-gold hair was piled above my head in an elegant bun, from which two soft waves draped down around my ears. My eyes, nose, and mouth were the perfect, classic features of a goddess, smooth and well-proportioned.
It wasn't my face, but it was familiar. I'd definitely seen the girl in the mirror before. I pictured her younger and chewing anxiously on her nails.
Standing behind me, with deft fingers weaving delicate flowers into my hair, was an attendant, also dressed in bridal white. She was probably one of my-well, Nia's-bridesmaids. She was taller than the mirror, so I could only see the lower half of her body as she worked, and the long, red-orange plait that ran down her shoulders.
A bright light descended behind me. The next moment, someone else appeared in the mirror's reflection-a hunchbacked man with great, beefy arms and a broad, muscular chest. Under his powerful upper body, he had warped, twisted legs that gave him a hobbling stride as he came forward to place his hands on the back of my chair.
'Lord Hephaestus.' My attendant dropped a curtsey and bowed her head.
'Father.' I stood and turned to face him. 'This is a surprise.'
'Daughter,' Hephaestus said gruffly. 'Can't let you be married off without my blessing, can I?'
He clasped his hands together. When he opened them, they were like clamshells parting to reveal a golden necklace inlaid with jewels. It curved beautifully into two serpent heads at the clasp, which was shaped like the eagle on Zeus's crest. The eagle's bright yellow wings shimmered with a coating of powdered moonstone. It reflected the blues of my eyes, the white of my veil, and the gold trim of my gown all at once. I could hardly tear my eyes away from my reflection in the stone. The woman that smiled back at me was even more beautiful than the one I saw in the mirror.
'It's beautiful!' I was beautiful.
'It will give the wearer eternal beauty,' Hephaestus said. 'It has been charmed with a sacred vow.'
My attendant let out a soft sigh of desire, as though she, too, were mesmerised by the necklace.
Hephaestus placed the necklace in my hands. 'You are giving up much to marry Cadmus, my dear.'
'I love him,' I said simply. 'I'm willing to live as a mortal to be with him.'
'In that case …' A shadow fell over Hephaestus's face. 'May this necklace seal your vows. As it did your mother's and mine.'
With another blinding flash of light, Hephaestus took his leave. I shut my eyes, and when I opened them, I was no longer standing before a dressing table. I was still holding the necklace, which seemed to emit an eerie, ethereal light. Dust particles swam in it, coagulating into the vague forms of people. They were dancing-or maybe they were duelling.
A flash of red in the corner of my eye drew my attention. I tilted my head just in time to catch a brilliant streak of fur-a dog, or a fox, darting away. Its tail swayed behind it in a way that resembled an unfurled fan.
'It's cursed,' someone croaked.
I looked down and almost screamed.
I'd definitely been plunged into a different dream-no, a nightmare. The hem of my white dress was soaked in blood. The scent of it filled my nostrils, choking and metallic. It spilled from two men in Greek armour-one sandy-haired, one dark-who lay on either side of me, both with weapons thrust through their chests. The puddles of their blood spread slowly across the ground to meet as one giant, tragic pool.
The dark-haired man was perfectly still beneath the spear in his heart; it was the sandy-haired one who had spoken. The hilt of a sword protruded from his side, where the blade was embedded in the gap of his armour. I fell to my knees beside him.
'Why, Polynices?' I heard myself say. 'Why did you do this?'
Polynices's hand rose feebly to clutch at the necklace in my hands.
'It is-a curse,' he repeated in his straining gasp. 'You must break it, sister. Break it, or we are all doomed-yourself and Antigone as well.' His final words came out in a whisper so soft I had to lean forward to hear.
Tears blurred my vision, but not enough to obscure the cloudiness that came over Polynices's eyes. His stare turned cold and vacant. His hand slipped from the necklace and fell lifeless to his side.
Again, the dream shifted …
The smell of blood still hung in the air, mingled with a strange, minty scent. The ground beneath my knees was hard and cold. In the dim light, I could make out Luke's scarred face. He stood beside a hulking figure whose hunched posture couldn't disguise his massive bulk-so big that it pressed right up against the ceiling of a cave.
Both Luke and the giant had their eyes fixed on the empty air in front of them, which rippled like a gauzy curtain in the dark. A person appeared in it, their face cast so deep in shadow, I couldn't make out a single defining feature. When they spoke, their voice was distorted, as though coming to us through a static-filled speaker. However, the excitement in their tone was unmistakable.
'I have found not one, but two, sir!'
'Two half-bloods in one school?' Luke said sceptically. 'The odds-'
'I think my authority on the subject is somewhat greater than yours, demigod.' It was clear from the pointed sneer that whoever this person was-I suspected a monster in disguise-their 'sir' had not been addressed to Luke.
'Enough,' rumbled the giant in a rich baritone. 'This demigod has the favour of our lord Titan. And he is quite right in saying that half-bloods-especially the powerful ones we have tasked you with finding-do not often congregate. At least not outside that infernal camp of theirs.'
'I was surprised myself,' admitted the disgruntled monster. 'But I believe they are here, and they are powerful. I require a retrieval operation, sir.'
There was a pause, in which Luke and the giant looked at each other.
'This is no small request,' the giant said. 'Either you are very certain … or very foolhardy.'
'We don't have enough forces yet,' Luke said. 'If we go to all that trouble and it turns out they aren't the ones we're looking for …'
'How certain are you?' the giant rumbled.
'I-' The monster faltered slightly.
'Be sure, then,' the giant ordered. 'And when you are, Luke will send the reinforcements you require.'
There was a shimmer in the image, like the monster was nodding.
'Yes, sir. Shall I change my disguise, then, to get in closer? I can disguise myself most effectively as a-'
'Fool!' the giant roared. The entire cavern trembled as he straightened. 'Do you wish to blow your cover by messing around? The half-bloods are not as stupid as you assume. Maintain your disguise!'
The giant crouched again, panting as though he had just performed an Olympic lift. 'Go!' he commanded, and the monster's wavering image faded to black.
'Sir,' Luke said, 'can I-assist you?'
The giant's head swivelled to glare at Luke. For a moment, I thought he was going to punch Luke. Then he bellowed with laughter.
'Assist me? Assist me! Oh, young demigod, there is only one thing that can relieve my burden, and it would kill you to undertake it. But no matter, Soon enough, my lord uncle will be renewed and he will release me from my bonds himself. And you, Luke Castellan, will gather the army that will amass our victory.'
Luke bowed his head in acquiescence.
'Go now and summon the mercenaries. I want them ready to provide back-up when our scout has the half-bloods. Send the new kid with them. He has yet to prove himself after the last … mishap.' The giant's nose wrinkled, as if failure were a bad smell.
'The-the mercenaries, sir?'
'Yes, the mercenaries! Is it my day to be beleaguered by half-wits?'
'They are mortals,' Luke said, very carefully.
'You are part-mortal.'
'Yes, but-'
'Is it concern you have for them, boy?' The giant's voice was soft and dangerous.
'No, it's not-it's just-they're expensive, aren't they?' Luke said quickly.
The giant snorted. 'Don't worry your pretty little head about it. Our financial backers have come through. And once the Titan lord reigns supreme, all who have supported our cause shall have their reward.' He shifted as though adjusting a heavy weight on his shoulders. 'Indeed, our most valuable weapon rises from Tartarus as we speak. But to find it, we will need a powerful half-blood. May I remind you that you have not delivered on that front.'
'Percy Jackson-'
'You know very well that it is not the son of Poseidon who will come to us.'
Luke gritted his teeth. 'I won't fail.'
The giant laughed again. 'I will hold you to that, Luke Castellan. Nonetheless, there is a valuable lesson I learnt from our lord Kronos. A single plan is never enough. One must always have contingencies, and contingencies for the contingencies. If our friend has indeed found one of these contingencies … well, it is good to have options.'
His booming laughter echoed through the caves.
I jerked awake.
My sheets were drenched in sweat. My nose still detected the faint whiff of blood. With a groan, I realised why. I reached into my dresser drawer for a tampon before climbing out of bed and heading to the toilet.
Thalia was sitting up in bed when I came out. She'd flicked on the lights. I squinted against their harsh glare.
'You okay?' she asked.
'Yeah. Just that time of the month, you know.' I peeled off my sheets and chucked them into the laundry basket.
Thalia made a sympathetic noise. 'You were tossing around quite a bit before you got up.'
I pulled new sheets from my closet and spread them over my bed, using the time it took to think what to tell Thalia. When I'd finished smoothing them out, I said, 'Just a dream.'
'Wanna tell me about it?'
I turned the lights back out and crawled into bed, but didn't lie down. I crossed my legs and sat with my hands propped under my chin. What was I supposed to make of all my dreams? I had no clue what the first two meant-and indeed, the second scared me badly enough that I just wanted to put it out of my head. The last one at least made more sense, even though it was hardly good news.
Thalia stayed sitting upright in her own bed, waiting. Finally, I told her about Luke's conversation with the giant and the monster.
'Does that-happen often?' Thalia asked when I finished.
'Monsters tracking half-bloods at school? Yeah, they-'
'I meant the dreams. Of-of …'
'Oh. Well, dreams are part of half-blood life, right? Don't you have them?'
Thalia shook her head. In the dark, with only the faint glow of streetlights peeking through our window blinds, her motion was as indistinct as the monster in my dream.
'I never dream about Luke,' she said softly.
I didn't know what to say to this.
'I'm not sure if I want to,' Thalia continued. 'I'm not sure I want to see how much he's changed.' She reached out and touched something on her bedside table. Maybe it was Luke's old diary with the photos. 'Sometimes I think all of this is a dream. Like maybe I'll wake up and the two of you will be like you were.'
I barely remembered the kid I'd been seven years ago. It was weird to think that for Thalia, it probably only seemed like two months ago.
'You grew up so much, Annabeth.' Thalia's voice took on a fond, reminiscent quality. 'It's like just yesterday you were this little girl hanging off Luke.'
My jaw dropped. 'I was not!'
Thalia laughed. 'Oh, you were. But don't worry, it was cute.'
I made a face, even though Thalia probably couldn't see it in the dark.
'You know, I could tell Percy so many stories,' Thalia teased. 'Maybe I should. Make him a bit jealous. You never know, that might just get him to notice you.'
I opened my mouth to protest that I wasn't trying to get Percy to notice me, but what came out instead was, 'He knows. I mean, he knows what I feel about Luke. When-when we first met, he already noticed.'
'Oh.' Thalia sounded like I'd just stolen the wind out of her sails. 'When you first … then you do like-I mean, even then-'
I thought of the way Percy had looked last year, when I'd kissed his cheek after we won our chariot race; of his grinning face welcoming me to Brooklyn. My cheeks burned. I was glad I'd turned off the light.
'I guess I missed a lot,' Thalia said. She seemed to be half talking to herself. 'Were the two of you actually-no, he wouldn't have, right? Not with the age difference. But I didn't know you still liked-'
Age difference?
'Stop,' I said, realising we'd been referring to two completely different boys. 'I don't. Not any more. Not after he tried to kill us.'
Thalia didn't answer. Whether this was because she didn't believe me, or she was turning over that painful truth-he tried to kill us-in her head, I couldn't tell.
My own words felt like a lie. Maybe because they were. I didn't think I had a crush on Luke any more, but it wasn't true that I no longer felt anything for him. Even after everything he'd done, part of me still couldn't let go of him, of the Luke who had so often been there with a comforting hug, or a thoughtful gift, or just to ask about my day.
Of the Luke who had rescued me after weeks of fending off monsters on my own, promising me a family.
'I wish I could ask him why,' Thalia said, so softly I almost missed it.
I knew how she felt.
Continue to chapter 7