Chapter Text
The last thing Percy wanted to do that year was blow up another school. He and his Mother were waiting in front of Goode highschool, nervously watching students wander in. Percy had been doing better about getting kicked out of schools since he came back in time, but there was never a guarantee. He’d even managed to go to Meriweather for two years in a row. And the only reason he was considering Goode is because his mom's new boyfriend Paul Blofis insisted on it. And because Rachel was going there that year.
Percy had been talking with her over email for the past few months, slowly working his way into telling her that, yes, the myths were real. It went about as well as one could expect all the way up until Frank turned into a monkey and sat on top of her head. After that she believed him pretty easily. She was leaning against the side of the school, watching every person that came in carefully. The nervous tap tap tap of her hand against her thigh was the only sign that she had seen something that upset her. Percy quickly told his mom goodbye and kissed her cheek before he hopped out to meet his friend.
“Hey Red what’s up?”
Rachel shot him a venomous glare for the nickname but jerked her chin over to a gathering of cheerleaders, “what’s up with them?”
He glanced over to them and scrunched his face. Kelli and Tammie, right. A pair of Empousai who somehow knew where he was going to be going to school that year. And what Rachel was seeing was their mismatched legs, one metal and one a donkeys. Percy had to squint and really focus to even see the outline of their legs. Of course he was not the one that was blessed with the ability to see through the Mists, that all went to Rachel. And Annabeth, but different circumstances.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered to her, “I’ve got it covered.”
Rachel rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the stomach. Percy knew it was a bad idea to introduce her to Clarisse. Yeah it was great that she was getting some self defense training, but now she bullied him! They filed into the Gym with the rest of the freshmen, doing their best to keep their heads down and remain unnoticed. Percy wondered how many of them had to worry about being the sole savior of the known world.
Oh how fun his life was.
Rachel nearly fell out of the bleachers from her giggles watching the monsters act like regular cheerleaders. At the same time he could see her nervously rubbing her thumb against the celestial bronze ring she wore. As a Mortal, Rachel didn’t carry a real weapon, but the ring would pack a punch if she ever needed to throw one. Annabeth had tried to talk her into keeping a metal garrotte wire but Rachel had turned green and denied the offer.
They slipped away close to the end, finding themselves in the band room. Percy leaned against the wall next to the door and tossed Riptide back and forth between his hands. Rachel perched on one of the tables and started carefully tracing a butterfly onto the hem of her jeans. It didn’t take long for the door to be pushed open.
“Percy Jackson! How nice to mee-” Tammie didn’t get to finish her sentence before her head met the ground. Minus her body.
“You murdered my Trainee!” Kelli wailed, “now you must die!”
Percy just rolled his eyes. Rachel called out skill points as he swung on Kelli. He flipped her off and ducked under a swipe from razor sharp nails. Kelli’s eyes lit up at the sound of a tour group getting closer. But Percy had learned better this time, and he was able to stab her through the chest before she could frame him for throwing a molotov. She exploded into dust with an angry wail that sounded like a hot tea kettle. Percy and Rachel quickly kicked the dust around so it looked like someone had just spilled glitter and slipped into the back of the group.
As soon as the tour was over Percy waved goodbye to Rachel and ducked out. His face split open in a grin at the sight of Annabeth waiting on the corner. She was wearing what he was about fairly sure was one of Frank's sweaters, half tucked into the band of her cargo shorts and docs, with her customary braid that had her garrotte wire threaded through it. The smile that spread across her face took Percy’s breath away. He caught her bridal style as she launched herself at him and spun them around twice.
New executive order: Annabeth wasn’t allowed to spend the school year with her father anymore. It had been months since they were able to do more than Iris Message. And it was a good thing Hazel had been pulled out of the Underworld because the Seven were keeping the Goddess of Rainbows and Messages well funded. He pressed his face into her hair, catching a whole lungful of the smell of coconut and paper. His Annabeth.
He let her down, one hand wrapped around her wrist to keep her close, “hey Wise Girl.”
“Did you have fun?” she asked.
“Always.”
Annabeth huffed and started pulling him down the road. They stopped by his apartment to grab his bag, staying long enough for his Mom to smother Annabeth in kisses, and caught a cab to take to Camp. They got let out at the base of the Hill and hiked the rest of the way, making sure to stop and say hello to their Security Dragon Pelus. Their other security Dragon Festus was out searching for Luke's ship, Leo as his captain.
“Let's go see Chiron before the Trial,” Percy suggested.
Annabeth nodded and they jogged over to the Big House. As they passed through, campers took notice of them, and whispers started flying. Percy was used to it after two lifetimes of being under the spotlight, but it was different this go round. Not only was he the ‘one the prophecy spoke about’ but people were more wary around him. His ease taking down challenging monsters, his apparent easy dealings with the Gods, and the way he had lost his temper when Annabeth was taken over winter break, had all led to him being a little darker of a figure.
“Hey Jackass!”
Okay. He was a dark figure to those who didn’t take the fifteen minutes to look through his act and realize that he was an idiot. Percy whirled around to see Clarisse stomping his way, her electric spear Lamar held over her shoulder. Clarisse had cut her hair too, now matching him. Percy held his hand out for a fist bump, only wincing a bit at the force Clarisse put behind it.
“How’s it going? You get a date yet?”
Yeah Percy deserved the punch to the shoulder for that one. Apparently- and okay maybe he was an idiot for not realizing the first time- Clarisse had a thing for Silena. Yes, that one. No he had not told her about the whole traitor thing. He personally found it doubly hilarious that Clarisse had realized she was queer on their shared quest in the Sea of Monster, on Circe’s island. Anyway, Piper had been trying to set the two girls up as a pet project. Silena was dating Charles Beckendorf though, which considering how Clarisse tended to watch him when he passed… probably not really an issue. Camp was fun.
“No, dick face, not that it’s any of your business. Chase Chrion want’s to speak to you. Alone.”
Percy just raised a brow at that. Clarisse shrugged. He let Annabeth go and wandered off to put his things away. Cabin Three had drastically changed since he first moved in. No longer was it a barren stone cabin with hardly any life. Now Percy left his camp things up year round, there were hair ties for the girls, one of Leo's projects was gathering dust in the corner, a pair of Grover’s fake shoes had drowned to death in the fountain. He had turned it into his home. He put away the extra clothes that he had brought and spotted gleaming metal hung on the wall.
Tyson had come by to fix his shield while he was at school. But that wasn’t all. Something else hung on the wall. Percy went to investigate, brows furrowed in confusion. The only way he could think to describe it was… a knife on a string? The blade was celestial bronze, stamped with a large feather down the middle. And the rope itself seemed to be about six feet long and had threads of celestial bronze wound through it. If the feather didn’t make it clear the note attached saying ‘for Annie’ did. Percy shrugged, he would give it to Annabeth later.
He made his way to the Arena, willing to blow off a little steam by practicing. Percy paused at the great lump of shadow that was pinning someone down and excitedly licking all over their face. The rarely heard giggle of Nico Di Angelo warmed his salted heart.
“Oh she just adores him,” a voice said from beside him, “I get the feeling it's cause they’re both made of the same stuff but who knows. Maybe she really likes the treats he thinks I don’t know about.”
Percy turned and looked the newcomer over quickly. He had intense gray eyes and gray hair and a clipped gray beard. He was in good shape for an older guy. He wore black mountain-climbing pants and a bronze breastplate strapped over an orange camp T-shirt. At the base of his neck was a strange mark, a purplish blotch like a birthmark or a tattoo. Percy slowly nodded to Daedalus, or Quintus as he was currently being called.
“Sorry, I don’t know everyone in Camp yet. I’m Quintus, I’m helping out with sword training and keeping an eye on things while Lord Dionysus is away.”
“Percy Jackson.”
“Ah, I’ve heard of you.”
A sharp whistle drew all of their attention. Chrion trotted into the Arena, waving to Percy. Percy nodded to Quintus and jogged to Chirons side.
“First things first, Percy. Annabeth told me you met some empousa.”
Percy nodded and explained everything that happened, including the whole situation with Rachel. Chiron looked uneasy with the news, tail swishing nervously. The dark circles under the old centaurs' eyes had gotten worse, and Percy could have sworn that there was more gray in his hair. Though pointing that out felt a little hypocritical considering his own lock of gray.
“We must speak of this further. But for now, come, we should get to the woods. Grover will want you there.”
Percy followed after Chiron, carefully shoving the anger down in his chest. If he started freezing the forest then the Dryads would come for his head. Chiron took them in a way he didn’t recognize, through a tunnel of old willow trees, past a little waterfall, and into a glade blanketed with wildflowers. Percy knew that even if he tried to follow the exact same path himself he would never find the Glade because of the magic protecting it. A bunch of Satyrs were sitting in a circle in the grass. Grover stood in the middle, facing three really old, really fat Satyrs who sat on topiary thrones shaped out of rose bushes.
Grover seemed to be telling them a story. He twisted the bottom of his Shirt, shifting nervously on his goat hooves. Standing off to one side of the circle were Annabeth, another girl, and Clarisse. Chiron dropped him next to them. Annabeth immediately slid her hand under his shirt, drumming her fingers against the small of his back. She was the only one who could get away with the move, and it was like a pause button directly to his brain. It was a good strategy to keep him from saying something he shouldn’t.
Annabeth had her other arm around the other girl, who looked like she’d been crying. Grover’s girlfriend Juniper, a Dryad that lived at Camp. She was sweet, and normally not a sobbing mess.
“Master Underwood!” the council member on the right shouted, cutting off whatever Grover was trying to say. “Do you seriously expect us to believe this?”
“B- but it’s the truth!” Grover stuttered.
Now Percy had a thing about liars. Growing up the way he had with an abusive step-father as well as all the ‘accidents’ that came from being a Half Blood led to him being accused of lying pretty often. And Percy hated it. He would rather be called almost any slur than a liar. And when he lost his temper about it he was always accused of overreacting. So hearing Grover, one of his best friends and the most passionate Searcher he knew, be accused of lying had Percy leaning forward with a deadly glare.
The elders didn’t look very impressive. They reminded him of the goats in a petting zoo—huge bellies, sleepy expressions, and glazed eyes that couldn’t see past the next handful of goat chow. Percy knew why Grover seemed so nervous though, the three in front of him commanded all of the Satyrs in their mission to find Pan. Silenus tugged his yellow polo shirt over his belly and adjusted himself on his rosebush throne.
“Master Underwood, for six months—six months!— we have been hearing these scandalous claims that you heard the wild god Pan speak.”
“But I did!” Grover protested.
“Impudence!” the Satyr on the right cried out.
“That would be me,” Percy cut in.
He didn’t particularly care that he was breaking traditions. He strolled up to stand next to Grover, twirling Riptide in pen form between his fingers. Maybe sometimes his reputation did come in handy, because all three of the fat old Satyrs went pale when he smiled at them.
“I was also there for this occurrence and will vouch for Grover. If you would like another voice to be heard you could also call upon Thalia Grace, Lieutenant to the Lady Artemis who was there as well.”
“I’ve had it up to my horns with this nonsense. As if the wild god would speak… to him .” the one in the middle yelled.
“Wrong fight, girlie,” Clarisse muttered from behind them, “Wait.”
The Satyrs continued on as if Percy didn’t exist. He didn’t really think his words would have swayed them, but he had to make the attempt. If nothing else he enjoyed watching them sweat and squirm. Especially when he took control of those sweat drops and turned them frosty cold.
“I just need more time!” Grover pleaded.
“More time? More time?! For six months, we have indulged you, Master Underwood. We let you travel. We allowed you to keep your searcher’s license. We waited for you to bring proof of your preposterous claim. And what have you found in six months of travel?”
“I’m sure Pan spoke to us! It could not have been anything else!”
Silenus raised his hand. Chiron leaned in and said something to the satyrs. The satyrs didn’t look happy. They muttered and argued among themselves, but Chiron said something else, and Silenus sighed. He nodded reluctantly.
“We will give you one final chance,” he said loftily, as if it was the kindest gift they could bestow upon Grover, “we will give you one more week.”
“A week?” Grover yelped. “That’s impossible! We have been searching for two thousand years and you expect me to succeed in a week?”
“One more week, Master Underwood. And then, if you cannot prove your claims, it will be time for you to pursue another career. Something to suit your dramatic talents. Puppet theater, perhaps. Or tap dancing.”
“But sir I-”
“This meeting of the council is adjourned,” Silenus said. “And now let us enjoy our noonday meal!”
The old satyr clapped his hands, and a bunch of nymphs melted out of the trees with platters of vegetables, fruits, tin cans, and other goat delicacies. The circle of satyrs broke and charged the food. Grover turned to them, tears in his big brown eyes. His faded blue T-shirt had a picture of a satyr on it. It read GOT HOOVES? Percy immediately pulled him into a tight hug before depositing him into Juniper's arms.
“Those old goats!” Juniper said. “Oh, Grover, they don’t know how hard you’ve tried!”
“There’s another option,” Clarisse said darkly.
Juniper shook her head so rapidly the wysteria twined through her hair lost petals, “no! I won’t let you!”
His face was ashen. “I—I’ll have to think about it. But we don’t even know where to look.”
Percy fisted his hand around Riptide before sliding the pen into his pocket. There was nothing he could do realistically. Speaking up in the meeting had been a last ditch effort that he hadn’t thought would work anyway. But that was how it always was wasn’t it? Someone in their group being given a bullshit ultimatum with an even more asinine time limit. In the distance a conch shell blew, summoning them to dinner. Percy reluctantly went, Clarisse and Annabeth at his sides. They ate before Percy went racing for his cabin.
He’d forgotten about the summer inspection. Again! Every year after the first week of Camp one of the Heads of Cabins got assigned to inspect each Cabin. The best got first dibs on their schedule making and the worst had dish duty. The problem was that Percy was not the type of ADHD that cleaned when he got stressed. And Silena was doing the inspections, and she was a stickler for having things neat and tidy. He burst through the door and rammed face first into what might as well have been a brick wall wearing flannel. Percy stumbled back, looking up into a single chocolate brown eye that was staring at him.
He then proceeded to be crushed half to death by the world's biggest cyclops hug. Percy wheezed, legs kicking lightly at Tyson. After long enough that Percy began to see stars he was released.
“Brother!”
“Hey big guy,” he croaked.
Percy looked around the cabin for any other intruders and realized that Tyson had cleaned it for him. All of his random things had been sorted neatly into his cubbies, his armor was sitting properly on its stand, the various candy wrappers hiding in the corners had been thrown away. Percy gave Tyson another hug in thanks for saving him from dish duty.
“You are okay?” Tyson asked, “not eaten by monsters?”
“Only a little!” Percy joked.
The monster situation had gotten odd over the past year. After Percy had his little breakdown and gotten the full taste of his Domains and the Aspects of his possible Godhood he thought that the monsters would ramp up. He had essentially jumped up to level nine after all, his scent had to be ringing the dinner bell. But that wasn’t the case. The attacks had actually lessened, and he was only being attacked by upper level monsters. A few had gotten some lucky hits in, adding to his collection of scars, but Percy was still standing and still had all of his bits.
“Yay! Now we can eat peanut butter sandwiches and ride fish ponies! We can fight monsters and see Annabeth and make things go BOOM!”
Percy really hoped he didn’t mean at the same time, but he laughed and nodded in agreement. Hanging out with his half brother was something he genuinely enjoyed and Percy had missed Tyson since he went to their fathers palace under the Seas to work as a Smith. A knock at the door announced the arrival of Silena. She did the inspection quickly, cooing over the copper Hippocampi Tyson had made and hung from the ceiling. Tyson blushed a dozen shades of red and called her pretty four different times. Thankfully Silena was used to him and rolled with it.
“Well, you two did perfectly. No dish duty this time.”
Percy cheered and fist pumped. Silena rolled her eyes and went on to the next cabin. He hoped it was the Hades cabin, Nico was even worse about remembering to tidy than Percy. Tyson and him spent the afternoon catching up and just hanging out, which was nice after a morning of getting attacked by demon cheerleaders. They went down to the forge and helped Beckendorf from the Hephaestus cabin with his metalworking. Tyson showed them how he’d learned to craft magic weapons. He fashioned a flaming double-bladed war ax so fast even Beckendorf was impressed. Percy made sure to tell him how proud he was, making Tyson attempt to crush him in a hug once more.
Before Dinner Percy made his way back to the Arena. Nico and Mrs. O’Leary were gone, but Quintus (and Percy was going to call him that, just so he wouldn’t slip up on accident) was training. He gladly took the invitation to fight the older man. Percy remembered how the fight had gone the first time and his opinion still stood. Quintus was an excellent fighter who almost danced through his moves, plans made multiple steps out. The only way Percy could begin to gain ground on him was to act as erratically as possible. It ended with him being far more cut up than he wanted to be, but he managed to level Riptide at Quintus’ throat.
“Good! You really are as skilled as people say. That will help you in the long run.”
Percy nodded and banished Riptide. He was sweaty and disgusting, in sore need of a shower. Quintus waved as he left but Percy could feel the eyes locked on his back. Showering in the Poseidon Cabin was fun because they used Salt Water. Which was something Percy had never noticed until Annabeth came raging out of the shower one day to yell at him. But the water invigorated his tired muscles and did decent work at healing up his cuts and bruises. He made sure to take a few big swigs of the nectar he kept in the bathroom to speed along the rest.
He jogged over to the dining pavilion and got in line with Tyson. He gathered his food, made his offerings to the various Gods he bothered liking, and sat down to stuff his face. There was nothing like the Harpy cooked meals that Camp made for them. He sang along at the campfire, adding his voice to the chaos that was nearly a hundred demigods warbling loudly. Some of them were good singers… many were not.
The fire crackled high, somewhere between lime green and yellow. Percy wanted to get lost in the joy and the noise but he was too aware of what was wrong. Of the older campers watching their younger siblings like hawks. Of the divides already being drawn within Camp of those who thought they were overreacting and those that didn’t. The campers that were spies watching them with dark eyes, either from anger or from sorrow. He saw how tightly Clarisse clung to the little Hephaestus girl that curled in her lap, he saw how Travis Stoll never looked to the Aphrodite cabin, he saw how Annabeth hovered behind Michael Yew.
The War had only just begun.
He went to bed that night heavy in his heart. Percy curled under the blankets and listened to Tyson snore for a good long while. He didn’t think he had to worry about dreams, but he was still reluctant to fall asleep. At some point he was able to drift off, twisting uneasily at the sounds of monsters roaring from outside of Camp boundaries. Percy only blearily lifted his blanket to let Nico crawl into the bed with him not long before dawn. The next morning when he woke up he just sighed at the sight of the boy curled at the foot of the bed in a tightly bunched fetal position.
Now Percy, he was a physical person. He was constantly pulling the others into hugs or holding their hands and laying across their laps or generally initiating contact. Nico on the other hand wanted to be close, but did not really want to be touched. Jason was the only one of them that tended to drape himself across Nico and not get stabbed. And Hazel of course. Percy shook his head and carefully covered Nico with the blankets before he made his way to breakfast. Apparently around three in the morning an Aethiopian drakon had been spotted at the borders of camp.
That would explain the weird sound Percy had been hearing. He groggily ate his oatmeal and listened to the others talk about it. Lee Fletcher had managed to chase it off after attempting to turn it into a hedgehog with how many arrows were sticking out of the damn thing. A lot of the younger kids were visibly uneasy, clinging to their siblings or huddling closer to Dionysus. The old God kept shooing them away or casting them nasty glares, but Percy was sure he saw Him doing head counts. Once everyone was eating, Chiron and Grover came over to visit. Grover was bleary-eyed. His shirt was inside out. He slid his plate onto the table and slumped next to Percy.
Percy butted their shoulders together. There wasn’t much else he could do yet. Not until Grover asked for help. The Seven had decided to bring Grover into the fold after the quest through the Labyrinth, but it wasn’t time yet.
“I brought Grover over,” Chiron said, “because I thought you two might want to, ah, discuss matters. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some Iris Messages to send. I’ll see you later in the day.”
Chiron trotted away quickly. Percy watched him go, fighting down a snort at the absolute lack of subtlety. Like Percy wasn’t the greatest at picking up on social cues, but he wasn’t that bad, was he? Percy got distracted from his pondering by warmth invading his space. After a second Annabeth seemed to realize that she was still invisible and she shimmered into sight. Whispers immediately started up making him sigh and roll his eyes. Grover could get away with sitting where he wanted, same as Tyson, by the grace of not being Campers. Everyone else was supposed to stick to their tables.
A stupid rule. Percy wanted to tell them that he frequently had at least one other demigod sleeping with him just to see how they would react.
“Grover wants to go into the Labyrinth.” she said bluntly.
Percy looked over to his friend. Grover nodded sadly, chewing on the tines of his metal fork.
“But Clarisse barely made it out alive, and she’s one of the best fighters in Camp. And that’s not even mentioning what happened to poor Chris.”
Chris Rodreiguez. Percy faintly remembered him. Clarisse had dragged him out of the Labyrinth half mad. They eventually ended up dating after the War. he wasn’t sure how he felt about the Hermes boy. Another demigod that had been pulled into Lukes madness and then tossed aside when he wasn’t useful. He glanced back over to Grover who had moved on from his fork and was now mangling a knife.
“So what,” he said slowly, “you want to look through the Labyrinth to try and find Pan.”
Grover nodded, “It’s the only place we Searchers haven’t thoroughly investigated. But the Council has forbidden it for centuries since the last excursion cost a whole generation of Searchers.”
Percy winced. There were even less Satyrs than Demigods. Losing a whole generation could cripple them in their search. He tapped his fingers against the stone top of the table. It wasn’t like Percy was going to say no. He couldn’t have done that even before knowing everything he did! All Grover needed to do was send him those sad baby goat eyes and he folded like wet paper. Over at the head table, Quintus cleared his throat. Percy got the feeling he didn’t want to make a scene, but Annabeth was really pushing it, sitting at the Poseidon table for so long.
She rolled her eyes and leaned forward to whisper into his ear, “does it make me a terrible person to watch them squirm?”
Percy choked on a laugh and shooed her away. Annabeth rejoined her siblings, waving off their rapid fire questions. Percy curt his eyes over to Quintus, catching the there and gone smirk the man wore before he focussed on cutting his sausages with a dagger. He spent the rest of his day wandering around a bit aimlessly. Percy stopped by the Arena but was chased out by some Apollo kids, so he crashed in the stables for a while to chat with Blackjack before he tried to hunt down Nico. Instead he found a note taped to the door of the Hades cabin saying he was visiting his sister and would be back in a few weeks.
Finally time for the games arrived. Quintus had everybody suit up and was walking through them, helping the younger kids out if they needed it. The mood was strangely somber. Someone had let it slip that Quintus had sourced them B tier monsters to fight and released them into the woods. Percy thought that Silena Beuregard was about to rip out the man's throat with her perfectly manicured fingernails. The Aphrodite cabin now had the youngest member, a toddler that had been dropped off outside the borders. Thankfully he would not be participating, but it couldn’t be healthy for him to see them all beat up and bloodied.
“Right,” Quintus said, standing on the head dining table. “Gather ’round.”
He was dressed in black leather and bronze. In the torchlight, his gray hair made him look like a ghost. Mrs. O’Leary bounded happily around him, foraging for dinner scraps. A hundred Demigods swung around to face him, the only sounds the crackling of fire and the creaking of armor. Quintus faltered for a second, before his smile came back in full force- if a little strained.
“You will be in teams of two,” Quintus announced. When everybody started talking and trying to grab their friends, he yelled: “Which have already been chosen!”
Percy huffed. He couldn’t remember if he got paired with Annabeth or not. Maybe it would be good for them to be separated for a second, but he hated it.
“Your goal is simple: collect the gold laurels without dying. The wreath is wrapped in a silk package, tied to the back of one of the monsters. There are six monsters. Each has a silk package. Only one holds the laurels. You must find the wreath before the other teams. And, of course…you will have to slay the monster to get it, and stay alive.”
Percy reflexively checked his weapons and ran quick fingers over his gear. His weapons were in their places, and most of his armor fastened down properly. He was waiting to put on his helmet with its short blue plume. As the only Poseidon kid in camp it set him apart from the rest of the campers, practically a target on his back.
“I will now announce your partners,” Quintus said. “There will be no trading. No switching. No complaining.”
Quintus produced a big scroll and started reading off names. Beckendorf would be with Michael Yew, both boys were scarily smart and tended to be underestimated as fighters. The Stoll brothers, Travis and Connor, would be together. No surprise. They did everything together. Clarisse was with Lee Fletcher from the Apollo cabin—melee and ranged combat combined, they would be a tough combo to beat.
Finally Quintus got to his name, “Percy Jackson and Silena Beuregard.”
He exhaled. Pressure shifted uneasily in his stomach as he drug his eyes through the crowd to meet Silena’s. Her pretty face had gone pale, pink eyes wide. Deep underneath them a rumble shifted through the earth. Percy ran his tongue down the back of his teeth and took a deep breath. He arranged his face into what he hoped was something pleasant and moved to Silena's side. She held herself tense beside him, like she wasn’t even breathing.
“No complaining!” Quintus ordered. “Get with your partner. You have two minutes to prepare!”
Percy looked over, meeting Annabeth's wide eyes. Maybe they had pushed it too far with the stunt that morning. She had been paired off to Pollux, one of Dionysus’ two boys. Her mouth twitched up into a smile before she obviously turned and faced her partner. Percy huffed in annoyance and turned to Silena. It seemed like she had come out of the shock and momentary panic because she gave him a strained smile.
“You ready for this?”
“Yeah. Let’s go.”