Smithereens

Chapter 6

I lowered the phone and Tony looked at me expectantly. He had received a phone call from Tristan McLean. Not from his assistant, but from the actor himself. It had been maybe two hours since the Detective left, and Peter, Tony, and I had returned to the compound.

I took a deep breath. "I need to sit down," I said as calmly as I could muster before I collapsed into a chair.

"Percy?" Peter said, trying to get my attention. "Percy, what's wrong?"

They sat down on either side of me, but I barely noticed. I was mortified. He had taken my aunt... wasn't that enough?

"Percy? You need to tell us what happened." Tony said. "You look like someone died,"

"Someone did die, Mr. Stark," Peter corrected. "May."
"No," I finally said. "Someone else died. Piper."

"McLean?" Tony asked, eyes wide. "Oh, man. That's awful."

Peter pulled me into a side hug and I leaned against him.

Friday's voice came over the speakers. "There is a Thalia Grace here to see you," she informed them.

I figured she was here because she heard about Piper. Tony stood up.

"Either of you know a Thalia Grace?" he asked us.

Peter shook his head but I nodded. "My cousin"

He made his way to the entrance to meet her at the door.

"You know," Peter said when he was gone. "It's okay to cry,"

I looked over at him. "I know. I've never been able to. Is that bad? I feel like I'm dishonoring them."

Peter shrugged. "I don't think it's bad, I just think you handle your grief differently. Maybe it's because you've already seen so much death. It's like you're numb to it."

"That's probably right. When I was thirteen and I first watched my friends die, I cried for months afterword, whenever I thought about them. Now I just... I just don't anymore. But I wouldn't say I'm numb. It still hurts just as bad."

"Percy," A girl said. I looked up.

"You're not Thalia," I said. And it wasn't. It was Artemis.

"I know," she replied. I stood up. "I thought you would be more... welcoming to my presence if you thought I was Thalia."

"Do I need to throw her out?" Tony asked. I shook my head.

"She's another cousin." I informed him. Peter frowned.

"You have a lot of those. And this one doesn't think she's welcome."

"I told you, my dad's side is crazy." I turned back to Artemis. "And you are welcome, as long as you don't want me to do more tasks. Are you here because of Piper?"

She tilted her head. "What happened with Piper?"

I was astonished. How did she not know about Piper? Didn't the Olympian Council discuss these things before Zeus blasted demigods for no good reason?

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Friday said. "But there is a Nico Di Angelo here to see you."

"That's also my cousin," I said before Tony could ask.

Tony got up without asking questions and let Nico in.

"That better actually be Nico Di Angelo." I grumbled. It wasn't.

Hades entered with a distraught look on his face. His eyes were red and puffy, which looked strange on the Lord of the Dead.

"Is this about Piper?" I asked him, praying it was. I couldn't stand anymore bad news.