𝐈𝐅 𝐈 𝐂𝐀𝐍'𝐓 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑 ― p. jackson ⁴ [ COMPLETED UNTIL SEPTEMBER ]

quatre

★ 。＼｜／。★

𝗜𝗙 𝗜 𝗖𝗔𝗡'𝗧 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗛𝗘𝗥

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖎𝖙𝖗𝖊 𝖖𝖚𝖆𝖙𝖗𝖊:
ONCE I WAS *EIGHT*
YEARS OLD

★ 。／｜＼。★

BELLE'S MUSCLES ACHED as her eyes fluttered open. The carpet underneath her stuck to her skin and bristled against her arms. She groaned, blinking to adjust to the light, as she sat up. Hey, she was alive, at least — she wasn't permanently stuck in glitter form, and Hebe had completely vanished. However, something felt . . . wrong. Belle's clothes were suddenly pooling around her, and when she looked down, her hands were smaller than she remembered them to be.

"Beauty," Percy breathed out from beside her.

She looked over, only for her eyes to widen. Percy's voice was higher, but his appearance had changed, too. He looked like a little kid, about eight, just like all those photographs Sally had shown her of him. And as Annabeth sat up too, Belle noticed Annabeth looked exactly like she did when she was eight from the pictures she had been shown.

"Oh Gods," Belle said.

Annabeth rubbed her head and stared at them before cursing, which sounded very strange from a third grader. "Hebe younged us."

"BLAAAAAHHHH!" Grover exclaimed, sitting up and rubbing his head. His horns were now just tiny stubs, his goatee was completely gone, and his hooves were so small that his fake feet and shoes had rolled away. "I don't feel so good." He picked a string of cheese from the pizza off of his face before moaning once he noticed his hooves. "Oh, no. I don't want to be a kid again!"

Human kid or goat kid . . . Belle assumed it was both. She had read that Satyrs matured half as fast as humans did.

"Maybe we'll change back if we leave the building?" Percy suggested.

Annabeth stood up shakily, looking doubtful. "Worth a try."

They left the karaoke spot and made their way back through the amusement center. When they passed the chicken coop, the animals looked at them with renewed interest, cocking their heads and clucking and flapping their wings. One of the chicks, which had pink fluff around its eyes and beak, followed their group along the fence while peeping.

"Wow, rude," Grover commented.

"What?" Percy asked.

"She's threatening to tear the flesh from our bones."

He looked at the chick nervously. "Okay, lil' killer. Calm down. We're leaving."

Grover suddenly rounded on Percy, lowered his head, and butted him in the chest so hard it pushed him backwards.