❦𝓕𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓒𝓻𝓲𝓶𝓮❦ - 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓬𝔂 𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼𝓸𝓷

𝒱𝐼𝐼𝐼. 𝒜 𝒬𝓊𝑒𝓈𝓉

𝒵𝑜𝑒 had heard a lot of people talking about the hellhound incident behind Percy's back and she hated it. She knew how it felt to be the center of bad attention and it was not pleasant. So, she took to shutting down the conversations and stopping the gossip. At least, she tried to. You could never completely stop people from talking. She also hung out with him because everyone else was avoiding him and he seemed lonely. When he went to one-on-one sword practices with Luke, She usually tagged along whether to watch or help, depended on how the rest of the day had gone until then. Zoe noticed Luke pushing Percy harder than ever, definitely not afraid to bruise him up in the process.

Zoe missed the viper-beheading class but Percy told her it seemed harsher than all the other classes. Annabeth still helped teach Percy Ancient Greek, but now it was mostly Zoe as Annabeth's head was in the clouds. Every time he said something whether it was directed to Annabeth or not, she scowled like he had poked her between the eyes or like he had interrupted her studying (Zoe had done that more than enough times to have that certain scowl memorized).

After lessons she would stalk away muttering: "Quest... Poseidon?... Dirty rotten... Got to make a plan..." Zoe just rolled her eyes and dragged Percy the opposite direction Annabeth had gone.

One day, Percy was more irritable than usual. Zoe asked what was up, he ignored her, so she let it be but reminded him she was there if he needed it. He gave her a stiff nod and was quiet pretty much the whole day.

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There was a knock on the door before fucking sunrise (or the clouds were just completely blocking out the sun) and Zoe was not happy. She scrambled out of bed, still in her AC/DC T-shirt (that she stole from her dad) and red to black ombre sweatpants, to pull open the door. She saw Annabeth grinning like a maniac on the other side and almost slammed it closed again until Annabeth put a hand on the wood to keep it open.

"C'mon! We might be getting a quest!" Annabeth squealed, shoving a full thermos of coffee in Zoe's hands. But here's the thing. Annabeth didn't squeal so this had to be real or else she would be murderous. There is also another thing, Zoe wasn't a morning person. Even with coffee, she would need more than a single thermos to be up at this early hour. She was barely processing that Annabeth was on the porch of the Aphrodite cabin before she was being dragged out and across the lawn barefoot.

When Zoe and Annabeth got to the Big House, the only people on the porch were Chiron and Grover.

"Come, children. Percy has just gone up to receive his prophecy. If you could please stay out of sight for a few more minutes, that would be most appreciated."

"Of course Chiron."

"Why the fuck do we need to stay out of sight?"

"Zoe! Filter!"

"It's too early for a filter. Why am I here again? I go out into the mortal world every year. I don't need to go on some life threatening quest. But if I did I could one-up my dad after that stunt he pulled in LA. But then my dad will be mad at me and that wouldn't be good. But it'd be funny. So I'll do it. But I could die... eh, oh well. Death is for bitch ass losers anyway. Hey, do we have any energy drinks in the camp store?"

Everyone stared at her as she took another sip from her coffee.

"What? Why is everyone looking at me like that?"

"What just happened?" Grover looked utterly baffled.

Zoe just stared confusedly at her almost empty cup. "Where'd my coffee go?"

Annabeth face palmed and dragged her behind a pillar on the porch to stay hidden while she put on her invisibility cap.

Zoe couldn't see much but she could hear everything. Most of it didn't make sense to her sleepy mind but she paid attention nonetheless.