eleven.
( the lightning thief.  )
❛ colette archer, cheater of death. ❜

IT WAS QUIET, as though time had been dissolved into nothing as it faded through the Mississippi River. There was lightness in the first moment, effortlessness that consumed Colette Archer in a soothing suffocation. Any thoughts in her head had been emptied, washed away by the water that swallowed her, and for a moment kept just for her, there was silence. Were her eyes closed? She couldn't tell. She couldn't justify anything as she lay in a watery embrace. Why exactly was she here again?

Her lungs were warm and stiff—too warm. Burning. Any oxygen in her blood was slowly being dried as the acres of liquid around pulled her in deeper. But it wasn't painful. The spitfire of anguish in her lungs fell caged and ignored compared the eternal bliss of nothingness that she was pulled into. Was this what dying felt like? if it was, would she wake in the paradise of Elysium or would she forever wonder the fields of asphodel awaiting the reunion of her mother and cousins?

There was loneliness that fell hand-in-hand with the soothing comfort of it all. Her hair was swaying slowly, as though it were being pulled away from her face by a loving touch. She couldn't tell if she was alone—she felt so yet also comforted at the same time. there was a voice in her ear and in her mind, plaguing the facade of comfort the ocean had pulled her into. wake up, she was told, it's not your time to die, star child.

Her clothes were uncomfortably wet and her skin felt alight with liquified flames, pouring through her veins like the stream of the river Styx. If she was dead, drowning was not the way she expected to go. She couldn't leave Will and Lee back at camp half-blood, never knowing the fate of their honorary sister. The same way she couldn't let Annabeth be confronted by Percy as he told her that 'yeah, she fell from the arch and died.'

Percy... the st. Louis arch.

There was fear in her bones as she fell further towards the awaiting graveyard of the riverbed below, it's cold and restless hands grabbing her and encasing her whole. If she was here, then where was Percy? Was he even alive after a fall so great. Well, he had to be. He just had to.

What would her mother, her beautiful mortal mother who's figure would always haunt that San Francisco home say if she could see her now? a pitiful demigod drowning in a river on her first ever quest. Even when she was younger, her mother had never really gotten disappointed with her. But that was when she was younger, more naive. She could imagine the way her mother would shake her head, "who?" She would ask, "No, Colette's not come home in years—I'm surprised she lasted so long."

What would Artemis say. "Colette? That girl's no daughter of mine, just a half-blood who believes she's worth enough to join my hunt." No wonder her celestial being of a mother hadn't chosen her for something as regal as the hunt. She was just a girl—a frightened little girl who was too big for her boots and wasn't ready for the real world. At least she would be a burden lifted once the water had infiltrated her insides. Perhaps it was bittersweet; somebody born to be so legendary having the life drained from her before she could complete one little quest. A prime example of the invincibility demigods believed they had, only to be struck down and left for dead in a watery grave. At least she was free of responsibility.

There was pounding on her back, sending thumps of dying adrenaline around her body. There was a numbness yet also the feeling that her back had been completely smashed by the fall. How the fuck was she even alive? Was she even alive? she wondered. It felt like hours of laying there, awaiting for whatever was to come. Whatever happens after your body hits the water from such a chilling height. But was this honestly how she'd die? Drowned in the murky depths of the Mississippi River, alone and freezing as she drifted through the stream. Then what was it all for? Every fail and trial and punch and slap, it all had to mean something. A spitfire of burning indignation that not even the night sky could defuse—a spark that was far too exceptional to be crushed under the boot of destiny.

Open your eyes, she told herself on an eternal repeat. Just open your eyes. There was the suffocation of oppression scratching at her throat, scratching it in a feeble attempt of locking her into the grasp of the water. Open your eyes, open your eyes, just open your fucking eyes.

Open your eyes. Open your eyes. Open your eyes. The mantra was thumping through her bloodstream, activated by an immovable craving to live. There was a force dancing around her, wrapping its arms around under her arms and attempting to awaken her from a watery coffin.

"Goddammit Colette, open your eyes."

And suddenly she could breathe again. The surface of the water broke like the shattering of glass, bursting at the seems and tearing through cracks of imprisonment. She was breathing again, taking sharp intakes of breath like she never would again. There was a sting in her eyes and she fought to close them again before she registered that she was actually breathing. She was alive. And though she'd never admit it normally, she couldn't have been more glad to be with the son of the sea god.

"You're good," Percy breathed in thankfully, "yeah? yeah, Colls, you're alright. Please don't die here, annabeth will kill me if you do." He was in front of her, dry as a ray of sunlight despite being floating in the river. Compared to her, he looked like he'd never even faced a drop of water in his life. He was alive, looking at her with those bright green eyes so full of life and youth.

Her skin was burning still, but she didn't care. She was alive. Her hair was undone and fell down here face, but she didn't care. The clothes on her skin were dampened with water, but nothing seemed to matter because in that moment Colette Archer was alive.

They weren't far from land, a few kicks at most and once Percy had managed to struggle them both over to a pile of grass, the brunette finally released a breath. "We're alive." Her voice was thick with disbelief and in her momentary shock, she grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him with a joyous laugh. "We're alive!" She bled with righteousness, a victorious raise to her voice because death could not sink it's fatal canines into her thread of life. There was mania in her smile, an almost animalistic joy radiating through her glowing violet eyes. She'd never, in all the years of practicing and preparing, done something so exhilaratingly daunting.

He gave her a nervous smile as she shook his shoulders, placing his hands upon hers for stability, obviously uncertain about her adrenaline-fused behaviour. A block away from where the two emerged, every emergency vehicle in St. Louis was surrounding the Arch. Police helicopters circled overhead, the Lloyd sound of the machinery rushing swiftly through the air. "Mama," there was a voice of a little girl, "that boy and girl just walked out of the water." She was pointing at them, tugging at the hem her mother's denim jacket.

Her mother showed obvious disinterest in her daughter, instead craning her neck to look at the surrounding quarrel of police cars. "That's nice, dear."

Her daughter persisted, "but the boy's dry!" She tugged harder though her mother never looked at her. "But he's dry."

"i bet he is."

There was a news lady less than fifteen feet away, speaking almost theatrically into the camera before her. "Probably not a terrorist attack, we're told, but it's still very early in the investigation. The damage, as you can see, is very serious." She gestured to the arch with her hand, "We're trying to get to some of the survivors, to question them about eyewitness reports of two people falling from the Arch."

"two adolescents, a boy and a girl," another reporter was saying. "Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras show the young adolescents going wild on the observation deck, somehow setting off this freak explosion. Hard to believe, John, but that's what we're hearing. Again, no confirmed fatalities ..."

There was a shiver that poured down Colette's back uncomfortably as ringlets of water remained traced upon her hair and clothes. Surely, if she walked along the streets drenched in water, it would make them appear suspicious. So with reluctance, Percy unzipped his sweatshirt, tossing it towards her and watching as it hit her in the shoulder, falling to the floor.

"What are you doing?" He inquired, watching as she simply stared at it. Still aglow with an energetic gleam, she scowled at him meaninglessly, rolling her eyes and using her foot to kick it back towards him.

She crossed her arms, leaning her weight on one foot. "Im not wearing that." She dismissed.

"We can't walk out here with you looking like a wet dog." Persisted the boy, picking it and holding it out towards her. He rolled his eyes at her as she continued to step away from it as though it were plagued with disease. Her pride was far too strong for somebody so small.

"You're a wet dog."

He gave her a flat look, "what happened to being friends?" He placed on his best puppy-eyed stare, but she simply huffed.

She shrugged, "friends don't force each other to wear their clothes." She responded, ringing out her hair onto the floor and letting a splatter of droplets bounce against the ground below.

Percy raised his eyebrows in response, his lips upturning smugly, "No, but friends take care of each other when one of them has something the other needs--"

"Colette! Percy!" A head of curly dark hair entered their view, and the two were relieved to see Grover and Annabeth bounding towards them. "We thought you'd gone to Hades the long way!" Grover cried, throwing an arm around each of them tightly.

Annabeth stood behind him, a troubled expression upon her face like a tired mother yet she still seemed to radiate relief. "We can't leave you alone for five minutes! What happened?"

"We sort of fell."

Colette ducked out of Grover's arm, "No, he actually pushed me." She interjected, walking towards Annabeth and encasing the blonde in a hug. she seemed, to Percy, to sink deeper into Annabeth's arms than she ever could've in the river. The grey-eyed girl pat her damp back, grimacing at the cold moisture and pulling back in concern.

"It was the only way!"

Annabeth sighed, her eyes narrowing on the piece of blue fabric that had been dropped when Grover went in for a hug. "Here, put this one. You'll freeze walking around like that." Immediately, Colette shot daggers over her shoulder to where Percy stood, his face next Grover's head and an ever present smirk of satisfaction on his face. The brunette cursed to herself, taking off Lee's jacket and shrugging on Percy's half-heartedly. It didn't immediately warm her up but it was nicer than walking around utterly freezing.

"I'm burning this when I take it off."

"I know."

Behind where the four stood, a cop shouted, "Gangway!" The crowd parted, and a couple of paramedics hustled out, rolling a woman on a stretcher. Colette recognized her quickly as the mother of the little boy who'd been on the observation deck. She was panicked, her eyes stuck with fear as she tried to explain, "And then this huge dog, this huge fire-breathing Chihuahua—"

"Okay, ma'am," the paramedic attempted to say soothingly, though it only seemed to worsen the mother's condition. "Just calm down. Your family is fine. The medication is starting to kick in."

"I'm not crazy! Those two kids jumped out of the hole and the monster disappeared." Her eyes landed on Percy and Colette and she sat up as though she'd been electrocuted, yelling as she pointed at them. "There they are! That's the boy and the girl!"

The group didn't stay for a second longer, already hidden in the crowd of people. "What's going on?" Annabeth demanded. "Was she talking about the Chihuahua on the elevator?" The two demigods quickly told the whole story of the Chimera and Echidna alongside Percy's high-dive act, and the underwater lady's message to him when he woke up in the river

"Whoa," Grover's eyes were blown wide. "We've got to get you to Santa Monica! You can't ignore a summons from your dad."

Before anybody could could respond, they passed another reporter doing a news break, and Percy's face drained of colour when the reporter spoke, "Percy Jackson. That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that the boy who may have caused this explosion fits the description of a young man wanted by authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. His accomplice, however, remains unknown yet witnesses say they've seen this Jane Doe with Jackson at the scene of each incident. And they are believed to be traveling west. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of Percy Jackson."

There was an alleyway close by, and the four swiftly dodged the view of cameras and hid in the shadows of the alley. "First things first," percy told Grover. "We've got to get out of town!"

Somehow, the four had successfully made it back to the Amtrak station without getting spotted. The demigods and the satyr were quick to board before the train just before it pulled out for Denver. It trundled west as darkness fell, police lights still pulsing against the St. Louis skyline behind them.

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IT WAS OFFICIALLY ONE week until the summer solstice. The afternoon June fourteen had rolled by quicker than Colette could blink, and before she knew it, they were clambering off of the train in Denver. Their stomachs growled in hunger, and their hair was becoming knotted from a lack of showers paired with their constant activity. Colette's clothes had dried fully at some point in the night, though crinkled and slowly losing saturation.

"Let's try to contact Chiron," Annabeth decided. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit." Her eyes were beginning to get droopy and tired, much like the remaining three's.

"We can't use phones, right?" Percy gave her a confound glance.

"I'm not talking about phones."

Wandering downtown for minutes on end wasn't the most entertaining in Colette's eyes, but she wouldn't complain. Fighting the chimera and free-falling from the arch had been enough drama to last a week. The air in Denver was polluted with a dehydrating warmth, which felt weird after the humidity of St. Louis. Mountains observed from nearby, as though they were watching their every move with compete precision.

Finally, they came across a do-it-yourself car wash and steered towards the one furthest from the open streets. They were four ill-looking kids all lingering closely together in a car wash without a car—anybody with a brain would no doubt think they were a group of delinquents up to no good.

"What exactly are we doing?" Asked Percy as he watched the three search their pockets for coins.

With a wince, Grover stated, "It's seventy-five cents," he grumbled. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth?"

The blonde stepped back, leaning against a metal pole, "Don't look at me," she brushed off his look of disappointment. "The dining car wiped me out. Collie?"

Pulling out a quarter, Colette handed it to Grover who lit up with a grin. There wasn't much left in her pockets—some of her money even having been lost when she and Percy had collided with the water. But of course, Luke and Lee were quick to place extra coins in her pocket before she left camp Half-Blood. "Excellent," Grover beamed. "We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn't as good, and my arm gets tired of pumping."

Still as clueless as ever, Percy glanced between the three of them with his look still dripping with perplexity. "What are you talking about?"

Grover fed in the quarters one-by-one and set the knob to FINE MIST. He responded with a simple shrug, "I-M'ing."

"Instant messaging?"

"Iris messaging." Corrected the brunette girl. "The goddess of rainbows, you know? She carries messages to the gods and most of the time she does it for half-bloods too if she's not too busy." She explained watching as Grover jumped when the nozzle let out a sound of churning.

"You summon the goddess with a spray gun?"

Grover pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. "Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow." He glanced to Percy, but the dark-haired boy simply stepped back to let the satyr work.

Soon enough the humid air lit up in a misty hue of colour, summoning a small rainbow to appear in the air. Being handed a gold drachma by the violet-eyed girl, Annabeth raised it above her head. "O goddess, accept our offering." She threw the drachma into the rainbow and it disappeared in a golden shimmer. "Half-Blood Hill," Annabeth requested.

Then came in the familiar sight of the plethora of strawberry fields, and the Long Island sound in the distance. From their perspective, it seemed they were projected from the big house. There was a boy before them, tall with Sandy blonde hair and stood with his back to them. For a moment, Colette almost called out for lee before pausing. He was holding a bronze sword and seemed to be staring intently at something down in the meadow.

Percy jumped forward, smiling intently. "Luke!" He called, and the older boy turned in surprise at the sound of his name being said.

"Percy!" His scarred face broke into a grin, his brotherly warmth washing over them with a comforting embrace. "Is that Collie and Annabeth, too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"

Colette smiled, "we're okay for now. It's been crazy, Lu, you wouldn't believe it." The older boy's lips twitched upwards as he listened, "how's camp?"

"It's, uh," luke glanced around unsurely, "we're going through a rough patch here. The Apollo campers are doing fine though, before you ask." He stated with a wince, "what'd you need?"

"We thought--Chiron--i mean--" Annabeth was flushed and rosy, trying desperately to smoothen the front of her crumpled shirt. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail though loose locks of dried blonde hair fell before her eyes and she tried to push them back to make herself look presentable.

"He's down at the cabins." Luke's smile faded. "We're having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? Is Grover all right?"

Grover peaked his head into view. "I'm right here," he called. He held the nozzle out to one side and stepped into Luke's line of vision. "What kind of issues?" then a big Lincoln Continental pulled into the car wash with its stereo turned to maximum hip-hop. As the car slid into the next stall, the bass from the subwoofers vibrated so much, it shook the pavement.

"Chiron had to—what's that noise?" Luke yelled at the overwhelming sound of music vibrations.

"We'll take care of it.'" Annabeth yelled back as she wrapped a hand around Colette's wrist, looking very relieved to have an excuse to get out of sight. "Grover, come on!

"What?" Grover winced as he yelled over the music.
"But—"

"Give Percy the nozzle and come on!" Ordered Colette as she quickly followed beside annabeth, pausing for the satyr to catch up with them. Grover muttered something about girls being harder to understand than the Oracle at Delphi, then he handed percy the spray gun and followed after the two.

The music emitting from the vehicle was painfully loud, like the scratching of nails against a chalkboard. The owner stepped out after a moment, oblivious to the world around him. He was a tall man, quite muscular too and wearing a thick leather jacket and dark-coloured jeans.

"What do we do? He's not gonna listen to some kids, look at him!" Grover yelled, and Colette couldn't discredit him for that.

The brunette shrugged, "couldn't hurt to try." She responded, stomping closer to the man and standing on the other side of the vehicle. "Hey!" She yelled, but he ignored her as if she wasn't there. "Hey, bald guy!" He glanced over to her after a moment, scowling. "Turn down the music!"

The man let out a bark laughter, granting the three a glint at his yellowed teeth, and from the cigarette he lit towards his lips it was no surprise why. "Would you like me to polish your shoes too, your highness?" He scoffed with sarcasm, "such fucking brats."

Colette glowered in annoyance, turning back to Annabeth and Grover with a deep and annoyed snarl. "I have an idea." Stated Annabeth, pulling the two closer so they could actually hear what she was going to say.

The man moved to grab some cash from the pocket of his jacket, shoving the coins in carelessly as he nodded to the loud rhythm of the hip-hop style music that was able to be heard through the rolled-down windows of his car. There was a low rumble paired with the music, something deep and lower than the pitch of the song.

He brushed it off for a moment, only turning when it occurred with the next song. He jumped at the sound of growling, it was deep and sinister as it grew closer. And to his absolute horror, he turned to see a jaguar creeping closer to him, it's wide and violet eyes staring at him like predator to a prey. He screeched like a horrified banshee, jumping backwards as two people jumped out with beaming expressions. "Collie, don't go wondering off!" The blonde laughed, stroking the jaguar's side as though she were stroking a kitten. The man's cigarette fell from his lips, crushed under his boot as he leant for the door of the vehicle.

The dark-haired boy smiled unapologetically, "Yeah, she just gets uncontrollable when she smells fresh meat." A loud, high-pitched scream resounded through the car wash and within a minute, the car had fired from it's place on the pavement, skidding down the street at impeccable rates and leaving a scar of tire-tracks on the road.

Percy rounded the corner, blinking as he watched the three of them stand laughing at whatever they'd done to the man. Colette stood between them, brushing herself off with a grin.

However, they stopped at his melancholic expression. "What happened, Percy?" Asked annabeth, "what did Luke say?"

"Not much," he lied pitifully. "Come on, let's find some dinner."

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( authors note : )

i cant even put a schedule for this book anymore i <3 just updating randomly. anyway, i spent the last week in nyc and it maybe just put me back in the biggest pjo/spiderman phase ever like me and my friend were in manhattan and all i could think was the battle of manhattan. also i'm gonna try and write more for my pjo tv show book i've got 2 chapters ready but am weirdly anxious to publish them idk. anyways thanks for reading :)