La Vie en Rose // Percy Jackson

i. annabeth and i save percy... again

That morning, Annabeth and I stood outside Percy's bedroom window. He looked at us like he'd seen something, then turned away like something else had caught his attention.

Later that morning, as he stepped outside, he glanced at the brownstone building across the street. Just for a second Percy stared at us like he'd seen us, but turned away.

At the school, Tyson and Percy were leaving class, and Annabeth and I whispered, "Percy!"

Percy looked around the locker area, but nobody was paying him any attention.

I rolled my eyes and muttered, "Good to know he's still as oblivious as ever."

We made our way to the gym and heard monster sounds. We rushed towards them and found giants in the gym.

Without a second's thought, Annabeth and I stabbed the giant.

The giant's body went rigid. The blades stuck out from the front side.

The ball dropped out of his hand. The monster stared down at the knives that had just run him through from behind.

He muttered, "Ow," and burst into a cloud of green flame, which was kinda strange.

Standing across the way, out of the smoke Percy. He stared at us in shock. I was well aware of our grimy, scratched faces. Suddenly I wanted to clean myself up, but figured I probably shouldn't use that ability in front of a bunch of mortals. Annabeth had a ragged backpack slung over her shoulder, her baseball cap tucked in her pocket, a bronze knife in her hand, and a wild look in her storm-gray eyes, like she'd just been chased a thousand miles by ghosts. I knew probably I had the same look in mine.

A boy, who'd been standing there dumbfounded the whole time, finally came to his senses. He blinked at me and Annabeth, as if he dimly recognized me from something.

"That's the girl... That's the girl—"

Annabeth punched him in the nose and knocked him flat. "And you," she told him, "lay off our friends."

The gym was in flames. Kids were still running around screaming. I heard sirens wailing and a garbled voice over the intercom. Through the glass windows of the exit doors, we could see the headmaster, Mr. Bonsai, wrestling with the lock, a crowd of teachers piling up behind him.

"Annabeth, Annie..." Percy stammered. "How did you... how long have you..."

"Pretty much all morning." She sheathed her bronze knife. "Annie and I've been trying to find a good time to talk to you, but you were never alone."

"The shadows I saw this morning—that was—" His face looked hot. "Oh my gods, you two were looking in my bedroom window?"

"There's no time to explain!" I snapped, though I probably looked a little red-faced herself. "Annabeth and I just didn't want to—"

"There!" a woman screamed. The doors burst open and the adults came pouring in.

"Meet me and Annie outside," Annabeth told Percy. "And him." She pointed to Tyson, who was still sitting dazed against the wall. Annabeth and I gave him a look of distaste. "You'd better bring him."

"What?"

"No time!" she said. "Hurry!"

She put on her Yankees baseball cap, which was a magic gift from her mom, grabbed my wrist, and instantly vanished.

Percy's POV:

That left me standing alone in the middle of the burning gymnasium when the headmaster came charging in with half the faculty and a couple of police officers.

"Percy Jackson?" Mr. Bonsai said. "What... how..."

Over by the broken wall, Tyson groaned and stood up from the pile of cinder blocks. "Head hurts."

Matt Sloan was coming around, too. He focused on me with a look of terror. "Percy did it, Mr. Bonsai! He set the whole building on fire. Coach Nunley will tell you! He saw it all!"

Coach Nunley had been dutifully reading his magazine, but just my luck—he chose that moment to look up when Sloan said his name. "Eh? Yeah. Mm-hmm."

The other adults turned toward me. They would probably never believe me, even if I could tell them the truth.

I grabbed Riptide out of my ruined jeans, told Tyson, "Come on!" and jumped through the gaping hole in the side of the building.