Insanity, It Runs In The Family

CHAPTER 3: AN INTERVENTION ON BEHALF OF MY PIMPLE

-oOo-

I lied. I would rather do anything than listen to the voices. All night they pounded at me, dragging at my conscience well into the morning. As the sun rose over the mountains into my window I listened as the cycle of thoughts restarted again, back at square one.

No one would trust me. It always started that way.

It was clear in their eyes. They were scared of me. I couldn't deny it, even to myself.

They were scared of what I could do. Of what I did do. Gods, I couldn't even trust myself! Annabeth was right; I could just explode someone before I even realized I was doing it. What if I got into an argument with someone? What if I didn't just make someone's blood explode? What if i-

I shut it down. I refused to acknowledge the idea formulating.

But the idea kept coming. I didn't like it. What it proposed was so... wrong. I didn't want to stay here with it.

I shook myself out of bed and grabbed my Goode High School hoodie, slipping it on over my head as I opened my door. It got stuck on my shoulder and I tugged on it to try to fix it. It finally slipped into place and I turned to close my door.

Someone coughed.

I froze, suddenly aware of all the other bodies in the hall behind me. How long had they been there? Had they all just watched me struggle with my hoodie?

"Um, Percy...?" Piper asked. I didn't answer. I just stood there like a rabbit that knew it had been spotted. No one else moved either, as if they expected me to bolt. To be honest, I was ready to bolt. I could tell they had fully circled my door, just waiting for me to come out. It made me feel trapped.

Slowly, I slipped my hand into my pocket and closed my hand around Riptide. I didn't plan to use it, but I needed the reassurance. I took a deep breath, plastered on a smile, and turned around.

Annabeth was directly in front of me now. She was fidgeting with a hair tie on her wrist so aggressively that it left marks. Jason and Piper were holding hands on her right. On her left Hazel was half nestled into Frank, with Leo leaning on the wall by my door. None of them appeared to have slept much.

"Uh guys," I said, careful to keep smiling. "It's not my birthday for another couple weeks... no need for the birthday ambush yet."

They all just blinked at me in confusion. I cursed silently. I'd hoped to get more of a reaction out of them.

"So um," I tried again. "If you're not gonna say anything I'm just gonna go..." I tried to squeeze past Jason to get to breakfast. He grabbed my arm to stop me.

"Dude, we just want to talk. Yesterday didn't go so well and... well I guess... I guess we want to-"

"To try again," Piper finished, cutting off the awkward sentence.

"Okay, shoot," I said, trying not to squirm. This felt suspiciously like an intervention, but there wasn't really anything to intervent. When they didn't start immediately I plopped down to sit cross-legged on the floor with my back to the door. I regretted it because now they were all hovering over me. Just wonderful for my sudden claustrophobia.

"Well, uh percy," Piper eventually started. "we just want to know what you've... decided."

"Decided?" I asked.

"About what to do with it," she elaborated.

"It," I repeated, deadpan.

"Your new, agh!" She screeched, obviously frustrated. I bit back a smirk.