Moondust

Chapter eight

They ended up outside a park. Standing on the busy sidewalk, Will looked around as he gripped Nico's arm. To prevent them from getting separated in the crowd, he told himself. Yup, to prevent them from getting separated. He started a bit as Piper popped up beside them, wearing an orange t-shirt and ripped jean shorts, a feather in her braid, with a boy-

"Jason?" Will asked, stunned at the sight of his friend there, holding hands with Piper, no less. Both Jason and Piper blushed a bit, and Nico rolled his eyes.

"Pipes, please tell me we can start. Will's cutting off the blood circulation in my arm here." He said, deadpan. Jason and Piper's eyes flitted to Will's hand, and he quickly pulled away. If he didn't know better, he'd say that Nico actually looked a little crestfallen.

"We saw Reyna and her legion just now. We're still waiting for our resident lovebirds to come in, but they'll be here in about..." Piper checked her nonexistent watch. "Now."

A hand suddenly landed on his shoulder and Will jumped, turning around to see a guy who looked a few years older than him, with raven hair and sea green eyes, another girl standing behind him, a blonde her eyes a cold stormy grey.

"So, you're Sunny D?" the guy asked. If Nico rolled his eyes any harder, Will suspected that they might be in danger of popping out of his skull. "Lay off, Seaweed Brain, and go rile up your goons. Reyna's legion is here." Nico snapped, with no real force behind the words.

Percy raised his palms in a 'I surrender' gesture, backing away into the crowd. "Geez, okay, okay, El Captaine. Chill." He said in a horrible Spanish accent. The blonde punched his arm lightly.

"Leo should've set up a keyboard for you, Nico. Ask him about it later." She shot Will an assessing look and dragged Percy off to the gate, where a small army of teens were waiting. They got into a huddle, then spread out, walking in different directions. Will tried to keep track of them all, but they were all wearing generic outfits. Well, except for a short guy with curly hair, who was wearing a shirt, suspenders, and carrying a boom box. Will stared as he set it down and hit a switch, loud music blaring as passerby stopped to stare. Suddenly, a pack of girls scrambled into formation. The blonde girl, who was in the lead, belting out the lyrics, confidence saturating her voice as the other girls chimed in.

[Annabeth:]
"Climbing out the back door, didn't leave a mark. No one knows it's you, Miss Jackson
Found another victim
But no one's gonna find Miss Jackson, Jackson, Jackson."

Across them, another group made completely of boys assembled, facing the girls in a "V" shape and started the next part of the song, marching towards the girls in synchronization, Percy in the lead .

[Percy:]
"You put a sour little flavor in my mouth now
You move in circles hoping no one's gonna find out
But we're so lucky,
Kiss the ring and let 'em bow down
Looking for the time of your life. " he leered.

The blonde tossed her head and started marching forwards to meet him, her girls following, just as organized as Percy's boys.

[Percy:]
"A pretty picture but the scenery is so loud,
A face like heaven catching lighting in your nightgown,
But back away from the water, babe, you might drown
The party isn't over tonight ." Percy continued, the other boys singing backup while the short guy fiddled with the boom box.

The pedestrians were stopping to watch now, dropping money into a hat Nico had pulled out of nowhere. Percy and the blonde girl were practically nose to nose now, Percy with a feral grin plastered on his face, the blonde's expression cold and stern.