seven.
( the lightning thief. )
❛ lost in the woods somewhere in New Jersey. ❜

DRIVING DOWN THE HIGHWAY had never felt so foreign to Percy, two weeks ago it would've been part of his daily routine yet now it felt almost like a luxury. It'd been just about two weeks since he'd been beyond Camp Half-Blood and leaving felt unnatural as he sat between Colette and Grover, gazing out the window at every passing car, every McDonald's, every gas station and every billboard.

Beside him, Grover sat as anxious as ever, fiddling with the hem of his jacket. And to the other side of him, Colette sat staring outside the window with such wonder like a child entering disneyland. Her leg shook methodically as she sat in her own daze, watching every little thing they passed.

"So far so good." hummed the green-eyed boy, "Ten miles and not a monster in sight." His tone was sure and sprinkled with confidence as he shrugged his shoulders.

In response, Annabeth gave him a frown. "It's bad luck to talk that way, Percy." She scolded, leaning over grover to shake her head at him with a disapproving scowl.

"Remind me again," Percy narrowed his eyes, "why do you hate me so much?" he demanded to know, raising a curious eyebrow at the irritated expression uncovered across face.

"I don't hate you." she rolled her eyes, crossing her arms with a look like disbelief.

Percy made a noise to contradict the blonde, "Could've fooled me."

the blonde let out a scoff and she tentatively folded her cap of invisibility. "Look ... we're just not supposed to get along, okay? Our parents are rivals." she insisted.

"Why?" Percy continued to pest.

She sighed. "How many reasons do you want?" she raised her eyebrows, "One time my mom caught Poseidon with his girlfriend in Athena's temple, which is hugely disrespectful. Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be the patron god for the city of Athens. Your dad created some stupid saltwater spring for his gift. My mom created the olive tree. The people saw that her gift was better, so they named the city after her." she seemed quite pleased at the second story, her shoulders straightening as she told it.

"They must really like olives."

"Obviously a lot more than they did fish." Percy's head snapped to the brunette next to him. she was leaning into her chair and twisted a rubix cube that he'd seen one of the Stoll brothers give her as a 'you're-going-on-a-quest!' 'hope-you-don't-die!' present and she had looked at it with faint disinterest though she seemed to quite enjoy it now. she was smirking slightly at the sight of Percy's expression.

From the front seat, Argus made a sound almost like laughter—it was the first sign of emotion Percy had seen from the multi-eyed man. "What about Artemis? Are our parents rivals too?" Asked the dark-haired boy.

She shrugged, "Not that i know of. It's more his... offspring that cause trouble for the gods." Her tone was pointed, directed right at him as he knew it would be. "To think of all the half brothers and sisters you've got in the world... wonder if they're all as bright as you or maybe you're just special."

Percy plastered on a sarcastic smile, "Has anybody ever told you you're a pleasure to be around?"

"You're the first."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Guys!" Grover interjected, releasing an exasperated sigh as he leaned over Percy, "there's no use in arguing now—it's only more likely to get us killed." He whined, a predominant frown etched upon his features as his brown eyes twinkled with anxiety.

Colette gave the satyr an apologetic glance, "you're right, Grove, I'm sorry. It's just hard being next to somebody so agitating." Percy's expression fell again at her sugary tone. She was so sweet to Annabeth and Grover, yet treated him like he was a permanent nuisance.

And to Percy's absolute horror, Grover flushed a rosy pink and stuttered out a response. "I-it's fine... Collie." He sat back properly, swallowing thickly as his skin stained rose, only increasing as he noticed Percy's disapproving stare.

The boy grumbled to himself as he quietened down, choosing to simply sit in his thoughts. The flush on Grover's cheeks made him feel sickly—he just couldn't understand. Colette, sure she was pretty, but her personality was like one of a rotten apple. she wasn't friendly nor pleasing and it made him roll his eyes in distaste. In the front seat, Argus smiled. He didn't say anything, but one blue eye on the back of his neck winked at percy, though he only blinked in reply.

Nevertheless, the car journey continued on. The traffic that littered the streets of Queens grew larger and larger as every second passed, allowing the skyline above them to melt from blue into a honey-like gold and pink as the sun dipped behind the clouds. And once more, the windshield ricocheted raindrops that poured down on them from above. raindrops in summer was uncanny in an indescribable reverie, uncommon yet not. though for Percy, who hadn't left camp in weeks, he felt unadjusted to the pouring raindrops.

Finally, Argus had dropped them off at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side, not far from Sally and Gabe's apartment, Percy realised. The scrape of paper caught his attention and he turned to see Colette holding a scrunched paper, reading over it before looking up to Percy, then down again, then back to him and back down once more.

"What?" He inquired, taking the paper when she held it out to him. The paper was cold and wet, practically falling apart in his hands as he glanced over it. 'have you seen this boy?' It read, a crappy picture of him from six months prior printed onto it too. He stared at it more than displeased before scrunching it up, glancing to make sure Annabeth and Grover hadn't noticed. He glanced up, his mouth open to speak but the brunette girl had already turned away and towards Argus who was generously unloading their bags and making sure they all had their bus tickets. And then, he was gone, leaving the four alone.

Nobody spoke for a moment, all lost in thought. this was a turning point in three of their lives, an opportunity only given to the greatest of potentials. Percy's gaze gravitated naturally to the street nearby—his home was so close, so visible but yet so far and buried with Sally Jackson in the underworld. On an average day, she'd be home from the candy store by now, Gabe rotting away in the living room as he sat playing rounds of poker. maybe she'd think of him with that nurturing smile she always bore, waiting for him to get home at the end of the semester.

"You want to know why she married him, Percy?" He turned to the sound of Grover's voice. The satyr watched as his best friend stared longingly down the street, and it pained him slightly. Percy wasn't the swiftest at diverting his emotions from taking ahold of his features.

The Jackson boy harboured a look of small disturbance, raising an eyebrow at his best friend and narrowing his eyes harmlessly, "Were you reading my mind or something?"

"Just your emotions." Grover shrugged as though it were common knowledge, adjusting the straps of his backpack. "Guess I forgot to tell you satyrs can do that. You were thinking about your mom and your stepdad, right?"

"Your mom married Gabe for you," Grover told him, confident at the reasoning behind Sally's volatile choice in men. "You call him 'Smelly,' but you've got no idea. The guy has this aura.... Yuck." Grover swallowed as he grimaced sickeningly, "I can smell him from here. I can smell traces of him on you, and you haven't been near him for a week."

Percy could see Annabeth and Colette share a look, their interest drawn as they listened. "Thanks." he responded back sarcastically, "where's the nearest shower?"

"You should be grateful, Percy." Grover harboured a melancholic smile, "Your stepfather smells so repulsively human he could mask the presence of any demigod." he explained, "As soon as I smelt inside his Camaro, I knew: Gabe has been covering your scent for years. If you hadn't lived with him every summer, you probably would've been found by monsters a long time ago. Your mom stayed with him to protect you. She was a smart lady. She must've loved you a lot to put up with that guy—if that makes you feel any better."

It didn't, but he wouldn't show it. He would see her again, he was sure of it. She maybe been gone temporarily, but he knew she was waiting for him, and he wouldn't let her down. she would be there with her open arms and her effortless radiance that encapsulated him so tightly in a loving embrace, and he would fall right into her awaiting arms.

He was grateful that the trio had opted to join him on his quest, though he was sure the two girls were doing it for personal reasons. But he felt himself shiver in guilt as he realised that they were most likely unaware of the true reason he was partaking in the quest. The truth was, he didn't care about retrieving Zeus's lightning bolt, or saving the world, or even helping his father out of trouble. It all stood so small compared to the thought of seeing his mother again. The more he thought about it, a resentment for Poseidon grew for never visiting him, never helping his mom, never even sending a lousy child-support check. He'd only claimed percy because he needed a job done. he didn't care.

but Percy Jackson wanted his mother back, and that's exactly what he'd get.

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THE RAIN KEPT POURING, bouncing off of the concrete of the sidewalk and soaking the atmosphere in a petrichor scent. Though despite the cold and the rain, Colette still shuddered with joy as she gazed at anything and everything in sight. It was so... refreshing. She sank deeper into Lee's jacket, already imaging the older boy laughing and boasting about how right he was before scolding her for getting a cold. there was a pleasant breeze about strolling beyond the walls of the camp, something that couldn't be compared to by a lousy game of volleyball or arrow-making.

Restlessness came quicker to them as they waited for the bus. It'd been Percy's idea to play some Hacky Sack with one of Grover's apples. Annabeth was unbelievable, as expected by a gifted child of wisdom. She could bounce the apple off her knee, her elbow, her shoulder, whatever she could that had a surface. Percy wasn't too bad, not as skilled as Annabeth but not as clumsy as Grover, though Colette always laughed at his failed attempts. Alike to Annabeth, Colette was quite proud of how she was doing—managing to bounce the apple efficiently.

The game ended when Percy tossed the apple toward Grover and it got too close to his mouth. In one mega goat bite, their Hacky Sack disappeared—core, stem, and all. Grover blushed in embarrassment and tried to apologize, but the three demigods were too busy cracking up.

Finally the bus came, much to their pleasure, but before they could board on, Grover paused. He smelt the air, assessing it as though he smelt something rotten and festering like a pile of all things sickening exploding from the entrance of the doors. "You good, Grover?" Colette raised an eyebrow, sharing a look with Percy who harboured the same perplexed expression. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know." The satyr responded, his posture tense with apprehension. "Maybe it's nothing." But his tone never brought the girl a sense of closure.

Regardless, the four continued on in the bus, managing to find an empty row of the back of the bus where they could all sit together. There was something sinister about the moments spent on the bus, something brewing a swirl of dread into their stomachs as they watched more passengers board on after them. Her intuition sent her heartbeat thumping louder, her leg tapping in anticipation as she sat beside Annabeth. She could feel beside her as the two other demigods tensed the moment the last three passengers entered.

"Percy." Annabeth named through gritted teeth, but he'd already spied what she had meant.

Boarding the bus, an old lady stood. She wore a crumpled velvet dress that creased when she walked, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. When she tilted her head up, Colette got a clear view of her eyes; pools of inky blackness that gleamed with a dark intent that dared to swallow her in Nyx's darky nights.

It was Mrs. Dodds, Percy's pre-algebra teacher that he'd supposedly killed with riptide. A fury. She was older than he had described, more withered, but definitely the same sinisterly darkened face. Behind her came two more old ladies: one in a green hat, one in a purple hat. Otherwise they looked exactly like Mrs. Dodds—same gnarled hands, paisley handbags, wrinkled velvet dresses.

Triplet demon grandmothers.

They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two on the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway, making an 'x' shape. It was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves. the normal mortals of the bus may have well have been shadowed in invisibility, unaffected by the obscured and steely eyes of the demons.

The bus pulled out of the station, and they headed through the slick streets of Manhattan. "She didn't stay dead long," Percy shuddered, his voice trying so desperately hard not to quiver. "I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime."

"If you're lucky, Starfish." Breathed out the brunette, her voice blank of anything short of hardness, challenging the baleful affect of the three woman-disguised creatures. she was afraid—she must've been, but she refused to show it. "Obviously, you are not."

"All three of them," Grover whimpered, his face growing dauntingly pale and leaning forward in his seat as though he were mimicking somebody who were throwing up. "Di immortales!"

"It's okay," Annabeth exhaled, the gears of everchanging thought she had for a brain moving rapidly as she sought a way to escape their situation. "The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows."

Colette, who had taken to trying to quietly open the window beside her, turned with a shake of her head. "Annie, they won't open." she swallowed thickly, her eyes glimmering with stress of something astray of anxiety.

"Is there a back exit?"

There wasn't one. Even if there had been, it wouldn't have helped. By that time, the train was on Ninth Avenue, heading for the Lincoln Tunnel. Colette could feel herself grow nauseous—she'd trained for this but that didn't make it any less frightening to finally be faced by the furies. she thought back to the camp, of all those inside who would've fought through dirt and blood to be in her position; to prove themselves to their superiors in Olympus.

Percy shook his head, his fingers tapping against his jacket an apprehensive distraction. "They won't attack us with witnesses around," he dismissed, though his voice was unsure. "Will they?"

"Mortals don't have good eyes," Annabeth reminded. "Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist." She stated, biting her lip thoughtfully.

Percy released an anxious breath, "They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?" He questioned, a desperate urgency intwined with his voice.

Colette flicked the back of his head softly to gain his attention, "We can't rely on mortals, Percy." She commented, ignoring his short look of pain as he rubbed his scalp, "there's gotta be another exit—there has to be."

The bus hit the Lincoln Tunnel, and was enveloped in darkness except for the running lights down the aisle. It was eerily quiet without the sound of the rain, painfully so. Then, Mrs. Dodds got up, all the groups eyes locked unwaveringly tight onto her. In a flat voice, as if she'd rehearsed it, she announced to the whole bus: "I need to use the rest-room."

"So do I." Added the second.

Then the third rose too, "so do I."

as they stalked down the aisle like predators looming upon prey, their hands curled around each of the cushioned-backs of the chairs and they willed themselves towards them. their intention was sickeningly clear as they closed in, gaining towards the four with intimidating sneers that seemed to shrink them down. suddenly, the daughter of Athena jolted with an idea. "I've got it," she announced. "Percy, take my hat."

Percy turned to her as though he'd misheard her. "What?" he asked, watching as she grabbed for the cap.

She released a frustrated huff, "You're the one they want. Turn invisible and go up the aisle. Let them pass you. Maybe you can get to the front and get away."

Percy glanced between them, shaking his head almost guiltily as the weight of his actions kneeled on his conscience, "but you guys--"

"Percy, for the sake of every mortal and immortal on this bus, put that godforsaken cap on and go." Colette gripped his forearm, her violet eyes narrowed and stern. It was the most serious he'd seen her be in the two weeks that he'd known her. "Trust me, there's a bigger chance they'll brush over us if you go. The longer you stay with us, the more danger we're all in. You're the son of one of the big three, don't you understand?"

He stared back, less reluctant but still pausing with hesitation. "I can't just leave you." He stated, his head shaking as he grew overwhelmed with cowardice. he felt like a coward, always running from the larger beast that swallowed those he left behind.

"Go," she persisted, "Don't worry about us, we'll be okay."

Swallowing thickly, he grabbed the cap and placed it upon his head with a trembling hand. And suddenly, he'd disappeared into nothingness as though he'd never been there in the first place. The only evidence he was there was the small shimmer in the air.

Sliding into the seat where he'd sat previously next to Annabeth, Colette shuddered as they watched Mrs Dodds stop by one of the aisles. She stared intently at something in the seat—presumably Percy, and Colette could feel her blood rush cold as the woman leaned forward slightly. Horrendously disappointed, the three woman stalked closer to the remaining trio, their skin melting like molten tar and burning into a sickly colour of leathery brown. Large bat-like wings produced from their backs, sharp and pointed yet their faces remained the same shrivelled and hollowed with grimy features. Their handbags turned into fiery whips and one of them leaned closer, releasing a shriek as she scanned the three.

The furies surrounded them, closing in with menacing snarls. The skin of Colette's arms felt pricked with goosebumps and her blood felt flushed with freezing adrenaline. She was scared, though she tried her hardest not to let it show as much as it could've. there was a heartbeat under her skin, thumping against the stretching barrier of her cheeks and neck.

"Where is it?!" Their haunting voices screeched and gawked, their expressions being shunned with anger as they leaned towards the three. "Where!" They continued to sneer, like a pack of wolves surrounding a smaller animal. lashing forward with her whip, one of them barred their teeth to colette and swung forth the whip, slashing it over the side of her upper arm before she ducked. her skin sizzled and boiled with a a burning sensation of thousands of knives drilling into one portion of her skin. but most importantly, Lee's jacket held a small tear.

The girl hissed, scowling at them with a new burst of courage ignited by the blood simmering along her skin. "He's not here!" She sneered back, "He's gone! You're too late, you won't find him now!" Her voice barely resounded over the sound of the mortal's screaming—their screams rebounded through the bus, mortified by the creatures that had rounded upon three innocent-looking children.

the furries went to raise their whips again, but before they could, the younger three had drawn their weapons. Annabeth rose with her bronze knife poised to perfection. Beside her, Colette summoned her bow and arrow, and Grover, his trusty tin cans.

Then, almost knocking them off their feet, the bus swerved severely to the left, jerking almost everybody to the side and Colette didn't have to guess to know who'd impulsively tried to take a hold of the wheel. The journey that followed was barely registered in her mind—only the sparks of the bus smashing into the wall of the tunnel before venturing back out into the occurring rainstorm. Like bowling pins, cars were shoved to the side as the bus traversed down the road uncontrollably—on one side was the Hudson River and on the other was a forest.

The chime of the emergency exit dinged merrily, throwing the bus in a frenzy of circles on the wet asphalt. Once it had crashed into the trees, the door flew open and a stampede of citizens including the driver were quick to jump off and avoid seeing the three beasts inside.

With a sneer, the furries regained their balance and slashed back with their whips, attempting to injure the two demigods and the satyr though the three children fought back valiantly. With her bow, Colette sent an arrow into the hand of one of the women, sending her backwards with a howl of pain.

"Get back!" Annabeth snarled in Ancient Greek, slashing her dagger forward to make sure the furries didn't come closer.

"Hey!"

The three whipped around at lightning speed. Their eyes narrowed dangerously on the glistening figure of the boy that appeared before them. They bared their yellow fangs as they stalked closer to him, like starved lions standing before a piece of meat. Percy stood only feet away from the exit, his hair slightly disheveled from the chaotic journey. With a snarl sharper than a steel dagger, Mrs. Dodds growled at Percy menacingly, her sisters beside her. "Perseus Jackson." She seethed, "you have offended the gods. You shall die."

"I liked you better as a math teacher." Responded Percy with a quick-witted tone. He uncapped riptide, allowing the shimmering blade to materialise into the air, tight in his iron grip. For a moment, the furies hesitated as though they could recall the pierce of the weapon into their rotting bodies when percy had last killed the leader.

Mrs. Dodds sneered once more, "Submit now," she hissed. "And you will not suffer eternal torment."

"Nice try."

"Percy, watch out!"

Lunging for the fury on the right, Colette swallowed her anxieties and dived at the old woman, her bow poised with lethal tightness. She lodged an arrow into her shoulder, causing the woman to howl in surprised agony, extending a clawed hand towards the twelve-year-old. "Wretched girl!" Cursed the fury as she gripped the brunette's wrist, only for the girl to snap back with a celestial bronze-tipped arrow, plunging it into the woman's back.

The woman howled once more in what Colette could only presume to be agony, her shrivelled body melting into particles of dust, causing the brunette to squeak as she fell through the dust and onto the seats before her. And just like that, the woman was gone. Melted into nothing.

She'd killed a fucking fury.

She peaked over the back of the seat before her, watching as Percy slammed riptide into the fury on the left's throat, sizzling her skin in a burning stay of dust that swallowed her whole. All that was left was mrs. Dodds. Annabeth was on her back, jaw clenched as she restrained the woman whilst Grover snatched away her crackling whip. She kicked, clawed, hissed and bit, but Annabeth held on while Grover got Mrs. Dodds's legs tied up in her own whip. Finally they both shoved her backward into the aisle. Mrs. Dodds tried to get up, but she didn't have room to flap her bat wings, so she kept falling down.

"Zeus will destroy you!" she promised in a strained screech. "Hades will have your soul!"

Over the sound of thunder striking close by, Percy yelled at the woman in Latin though Colette wasn't able to make out what he said. Her main concern was the thunder that rattled around the bus. "Percy," she yelled for the boy, "Get out now, Go!"

Without sparing another glance to the Fury, the four sprung themselves up with ambition and raced for the exit, practically pushing themselves out of the door and into the quarrel of passengers that awaited outside, watching in fear. "We're going to die!" shrieked a Hawaiian-shirted tourist with a camera, a loud 'flash' echoing from the device that made Colette wince as it blinded her gaze. The camera pointed towards them—more so Percy but colette feared she may've been caught behind the boy, her bow and arrow wielded defensively.

"Our bags!" Grover realized. "We left our—"

BOOM!

The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover, desperate to flee from the stream of sparks that emerged from the disaster. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof, but an angry wail from inside told them that Mrs. Dodds was not yet dead, though she would be no doubt writhing in pain from the attack of fiery bolts that assaulted the vehicle.

"Run!" Annabeth ordered, sprinting back out into the rainstorm that plagued the forest. "She's calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!" They plunged into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind them, and nothing but darkness ahead.

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IN A WAY, Colette was beginning to blame their misfortune on the gods. They were doing them a favour, preventing an outbreak of bloodshed and violence from poisoning the world in a forever blackness. But of course, Divine intervention was more of a curse then a blessing and it seemed every immortal force was out for their blood. They were just children, but lord forbid the gods take notice.

The mark left from where Mrs. Dodds whip had sliced against her arm had started to leave its burn, sending biting pains along her arm and causing her to wince as the adrenaline she was powered with slowly melted into pain. She walked alongside annabeth, leaning into the blonde who would spare her a sympathetic smile every couple of seconds.

The sky had grown darker, faintly illuminated by pain splatters of stars amongst the canvas of the night and with the lack of warmth from the sun, Colette shivered faintly, wrapping Lee's jacket around her tighter. The three continued to walk along the New Jersey riverbank on the outskirts of the woods.

Grover was shivering and braying, his wide brown eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror. "Three Kindly Ones. All three at once."

"We shouldn't stop." murmured Colette tiredly when the two boys footsteps took a slow turn, "if we stop now, they'll find us in seconds. We need to keep moving." She glared slightly as she heard Percy mumble in response, forcing himself to carry on.

"All our money was in there." Percy reminded, "all our food and clothes, too." He added, but she didn't slow her footsteps as she walked beside annabeth, who mumbled to herself incorrectly. "Do you even care?" He asked, almost bitterly.

She didn't turn to look at him, but clenched her jaw in annoyance. "Maybe if you'd of just left like we told you to--"

"What did you want me to do? Let you get killed?"

Annabeth glanced at him over her shoulder, her irritation clear as the night sky upon her features. "You didn't need to come back, Percy. We would've been fine." Stated the blonde from where she walked tightly beside the brunette.

"Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover interjected, creasing under the unamused look he received, "but fine."

"Shut up, goat boy," snapped Annabeth briskly, rolling her eyes and pushing forward. The sound of her shoes gently squelching littered the air.

Grover mourned the loss of his backpack sadly, shaking his head with a teary gaze. "Tin cans ... a perfectly good bag of tin cans."

"we'll find some more." Colette nodded, "probably."

The group feel quiet quickly, drowning in a suffocation tension that was only amplified by their daunting atmosphere. Grover and Percy walked behind the two girls, having mumbling and low conversations that died quickly. From where she walked in front of them, Colette glanced at the dark-haired boy over her shoulder, her eyes swimming with curiosity.

He was quiet for once, and Colette could see by the way his strides grew more distant that his mind was far beyond the streets of New Jersey. She supposed she too would be filled with longing and annoyance if she'd been thrust into a world that only existed in the border of myths, not to mention having her mother ripped away at the same time. Sure, he was almost unbearably witty to the point that he felt like a thorn in her side, but she did feel a flicker of sympathy for the boy.

She slowed, sharing a glance with annabeth who continued to walk onwards whilst Colette fell into step with Percy. He gave her a strange look considering their hostile nature towards each other, but shrugged nonetheless. "You're bleeding."

"What?"

Percy gestured towards her arm. The sleeve of Lee's jacket was slightly torn and left the aching wound visible for people to see. It sizzled a reddish orange colour but as she looked away, it did something percy had never seen before. "Oh." She mumbled, "it'll be okay."

"Maybe you should take some.." his voice died off in his throat and he stared at her like she had three heads. "You're... uhm.." he gestured towards her and only them did she see the faint reflection of silver light that made Percy more visible.

She glanced down at her hands, releasing an 'oh' sound as she noticed the faint buzz of light that enveloped her body. "Yeah, don't worry about you'll get used to it soon. it's a moon thing or whatever." She gave him a tight-lipped smile. Alike to some of her cousins who shimmered a faint gold in the dark, she twinkled with silver like a star amongst the sky. She was confused for a second as to why Percy stared at her in utter shock before recalling how unfamiliar the boy was with the immortal world.

It'd left her with wide-eyes and a gaping mouth too when it first occurred, but now, years later, it had become so familiar that she didn't even bat an eye. Lee had always called it a party trick—something cool that unite herself and the Apollo campers.

Luckily, the emitting light wasn't too blinding and provided them a small path that they could use to actually see where they were going. Throughout the years she'd equipped it, Annie had discovered that the more vibrant it reflected, the more her abilities were used. And the less she used her abilities, the dimmer it would go. The wound on her arm disinfected itself quickly, the way Percy's had done when he was in water, and soon enough all that was left was a small scar, tainted a shade darker than her natural skintone.

"Look," She paused, pursing her lips as she looked for the right words. "I don't like you, honestly. you're kind of a jerk, but i guess it was honourable of you to come back." There was an innocent bluntness to her voice, like she hadn't just outright told him she didn't like him. "Coming back for us, albeit stupid, was really brave."

Percy huffed, "I'm gonna ignore the fact that you just insulted me twice and focus on that you called me brave." He mused, "we're a team though, aren't we?"

She nodded without a verbal response, glancing up to the sky to see the moon take its place where the sun had once rested. "It's just that... if you'd died coming back for us, not only would that absolutely fucking suck for you, but it would mean there would be nobody to return Zeus' bolt. And if nobody returns the bolt... it's basically the end for us all. And more importantly, it would mean the end of the quest. Not just for you and me, but for Annie too."

Percy nearly frowned, "you two haven't left Camp half-blood since you were eight?

"Only on field trips. I tried to leave when I was nine to go back to my mother." She explained, glancing down as she walked so she could step on particularly crisp leaves. "--but that's a whole long and depressing story i'll save for another day. Still, she was really cool. reminds me of how you talk about your mom."

Percy glanced at her through the corner of his eye. "i bet she was." He complimented, and he could've sworn he saw her draw her lips together, pleased.

"Yeah, she is. Anyway, it's not a bad thing to be at camp you know. i know you might not see it that way but maybe that's just cause you've got too much seaweed in your eyes." she smirked subtly before continuing, "It's home for all of us, you included. You learn to train and protect yourself against monsters—it's just that the monsters are out here in the real world. Sure camp's your starting point, but this is..." she frowned to herself thoughtfully, "everything."

Percy gave her a thoughtful glance, his eyes catching on the bow strewn over her back. "You know you're pretty good with that bow."

She whipped her head around to him, "you think so?"

"Totally."

She nodded, quite smug. "Well, you gotta be able to shoot to be a hunter so." She shrugged, her footsteps slightly quickened whilst Percy frowned at her words.

"What do you mean a hunt--"

toot-toot-toot!

Grover's laugh of glee erupted through the environment as he turned to look at the three with a pleased grin. "Hey look, my Reed pipes still work! If I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods!" He huffed out a few notes that rather disrupted the mature around them  instead of creating a sweet melody.

A loud thud! Echoed from where Percy walked, and Colette had glimpsed over her shoulder with just enough time to see him slam straight into a tree head-first. He groaned, rubbing the spot of his head painfully.

She laughed at his pain.

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( authors note : )

y'all are gonna when to pry these musical references out of my cold dead hands atp.

anyway i've kinda got into the habit of like 1 chapter every 4 days so i'm just gonna run with that.

i'm literally so excited for the show to come out tomorrow i actually cant shut up about it it's driving my friends crazy cause none of them have read the books and only one of them has seen the movies 💔also i've spent like the last week creating a fic for the series and made a legacy of demeter, daughter of aphrodite oc cause why not.

anyway thanks for reading bae love ya <3