Bottled Up | PJO

⇝ένα (I)⇜

'Only when you broaden your perspective will your mundane life become mundus'

"Can we stop now?" Lynx was the first to groan and roll over.

"We're all tired, okay" grumbled Estelle "But Mr. Patterson's going to kill us if we don't hand it in soon."

Darius dropped his sharpie "He was kind of suspicious the last time, but I think he forgot."

"How long is he going to forget is the problem" Estelle pointed out.

Henry rolled up the poster with a sigh "How about we do this a different time then? Rather than getting work done you guys keep arguing."

"We were not arguing" Lynx replied hotly.

"We were" Darius deadpanned.

Estelle looked at them confused, "we were? When?"

"I think some of your brains melted because of the heat" joked Henry.

"If you had any to begin with" Lynx teased.

Darius had begun packing while the other three laughed. He carefully tucked away the material, counting the sharpies to make sure nothing had been lost, before he turned to his friends.

"When's the next meetup, we only have a few more days anyway."

"My house is free tomorrow" Lynx offered.

Estelle nodded, "I'll bring the drinks tomorrow too. Not sure if I'll have to let Hela come though."

Darius groaned, "You're babysitting again?"

"Come on, it's not that bad. You're just mad because she doesn't like you" Henry couldn't help but laugh.

"Does too" Darius pouted "Even Lynx's younger brothers like me."

"They are a bit older" Lynx gave a cheeky grin "The older you get the easier it is to lie."

"...I'll just... leave" Darius gave a sigh giving Estelle's mom a thank you as he left.

The others caught up to him before he could get too far.

"Wait up, mom offered some snacks and a drink if you guys would like to stay" Estelle offered.

"I really have to go though" Darius looked a bit guilty.

"Yeah, me too. Got to go home and show those two who's boss" Lynx gave a wink before giving a not-so-subtle stomp on Henry's leg.

"Yep, me too" Henry choked out the sentence.

Estelle pretended she didn't notice as she waved them off.

Heading back inside through the backdoor Estelle decided to see if her mother needed help with the café or if she would have to babysit Hela. Turns out she didn't have to do either and her mother was adamant that she finish her school project. Since her friends had already left claiming they were busy she had nothing to do but take Caramel for a walk.

Caramel had been the family's dog ever since her mom married. Back then Estelle was around five, now four years later she had a two-year-old younger sister. When her mom first married Dylan she hadn't liked him much, mad at her mother for abandoning her dad, now it hardly mattered. The four of them were family and had been family for long enough for the suffocating doubts to simmer down.

Estelle rounded a corner just in time to see a girl holding a sword to defend herself from a snake looking woman. She froze up leaving Caramel to bark at the woman who turned to look at them giving enough time for the girl to stab her. She burst into dust as the unfamiliar girl stood up, brushing her shorts and shuffling in her backpack for something.

Unable to stop her curiosity Estelle moved closer to the girl who found what she wanted and struggled to her feet. Distrust swirled in her eye as she avoided looking at Estelle.

"Was that Medusa?" she was taking it calmer than expected.

The girl's eyes widened, "You- You can see through the mist? Are you a half-blood?"

Estelle had no idea what a half blood nor the mist was so she responded intelligently, "Huh?"

The girl opened her mouth to respond but hesitated, "If you don't know it' better I don't tell you. If you really need help, go to long island."

"Did you really expect me to understand?" she called after the runaway girl. She only got halfway there as the girl disappeared in a plume of purple smoke.

"Am I hallucinating, Caramel?" she crouched down near her dog, burying her face in the fur confused as to what happened a few minutes prior.

After a few minutes she gathered herself and took the quickest shortcut back home. The first thing she did was announce the situation to her mother. Not. The first thing she did was post a message in the group chat explaining in detail how nothing made sense. Darius laughed it off and Lynx asked if she wanted a hand painted talisman to protect herself. It took Estelle a second to realize it sarcasm. Henry too joined in but he was pretty quiet about it, just saying the heat must've affected her. Embarrassed by the entire situation she pretended that she played a prank but she knew pretty well her friends didn't buy it.

I've mostly seen PJO books in the form of 1st person pov, if you'd like it to be changed to 1st from the current format of 3rd drop a comment