It All Started With The New Students... And The Murder

Chapter 15 : Van Talk

Piper's POV

Somehow, Percy's navy admiral dad had managed to get them a van and a driver, though the driver was apparently from Nico's undertaker dad.

The same navy admiral dad of Percy's had also apparently pulled so many strings that Percy and Reyna were in fact some form of reserves for the NCIS.

So Piper's new friends were actually some sort of federal agents and killed without even thinking twice.

"So I'm sure you're all wondering what the hell is going on..." Percy said, looking slightly sheepish.

Leo scoffed. "No shit. This is like the opposite of Harry Potter."

"What?" Reyna asked, evidently shocked.

"I'm just saying. Shit goes down at the end of the school year in Harry Potter. For us, all the shit is going down like three weeks into the school year." Leo explained.

Piper felt a smile creep on her face. Leave it to Leo to lighten the mood in the most dire of circumstances.

Percy, of all people, the one who was most affected by the situation, suddenly burst out laughing, shocking everyone, especially Annabeth, who had previously been laying her head on his shoulder.

"How can one human being be so fucking childish?" Reyna wondered aloud, causing the group to laugh as well.

"I'm sorry, have you met me? Plus, Arty can be so much more childish than me." Percy replied.

"Yeah, but she's only childish on occasion. You're childish almost all of the time." Reyna shot back.

That wasn't exactly true. Percy did not seem childish when they were in the hospital, but Percy didn't seem to mind the comment.

"Uhhh, can we get back to the point where you explain what's going on?" Piper said, trying not to interrupt the two siblings' bickering, but also desperately wanting to know what was going on.

"Right, sorry." Percy replied as he stopped laughing. "As you know, me and Reyna are federal agents, but there's still more to explain. How long 'till we're there?" he asked, turning to Annabeth.

"Not too long." Annabeth replied. Piper had noticed that she had been wearing a guilty expression ever since the attack, though Piper had no idea why.

Percy leaned over to Annabeth and whispered something in her ear, patting her on the arm lightly.

"Well in that case, I say we give 'em the short version." Reyna said, whispering something in Percy's ear as well, winking at him as his face turned slightly red. Piper had a sneaking suspicion that she knew what Reyna had told him.

"Eh, yeah, makes sense." Percy began. "So, long story short, Luke killed my best friend, along with another one of our friends and Nico's sister."

Suddenly, Piper realised why Annabeth had been looking as guilty as if she'd killed a small puppy ever since the attack. If Luke had really killed three people close to Percy, a person who Annabeth had been slowly developing feelings for, then it all made sense.

Annabeth probably blamed herself for everything, and Percy was probably telling her it wasn't her fault, which was probably what he was whispering to her.

"That explains your beef with Luke, but what about the killing?" Hazel asked. "Nico... you- you kill without even thinking about it."

"Do you want our reason or Nico's reason?" Reyna asked with a chuckle, leaving Piper wondering what the hell was so funny.

"How about all of them?" Piper suggested, noticing that her voice was starting to sound aggressive, which she hadn't really intended.

"Well I guess I don't really think about it anymore. So I'll just tell you guys about the first person I killed." Percy sighed. "It was my stepdad. He was a drunk. Beat me up. I was fine with that, as long as he stayed away from RJ and mom, but one night, home and Reyna were out with friends, the fucker got home early, drunk off his ass as always. He started beating her up. When we got home I saw red and snapped his neck."