Ephemeral

➵ Empire State Building

Few days after Percy goes missing

"Nevah will you stop?"

"Nope. C'mon. We haven't looked down this street." I continued to storm down the empty streets of Brooklyn in attempt to find my brother, Percy.

"Nev, it's almost one in the morning. We don't want Sally to worry over us too." Annabeth countered.

"We have to look for that idiot." I sighed, raking my fingers through my hair in fustration.

"And we will. But Nevah, you haven't eaten since breakfast and that's only because Nico and I had to hold you down to shove a donut down your throat. You need a break and food." Annabeth argued.

"I can eat later." I dismissed, looking down the alley way for any signs of Percy.

"Nevah." Annabeth sternly said, stepping in front of me. I frowned and tried to side step around her. She glowered at me and blocked my way. "Nev. You need rest. And that's coming from me. Let's go back to Sally's. Okay?"

"After we finish looking for him in the city." I told her, making my way around her. Walking further down the street, I heard Annabeth groan and mutter inchorent words.

"You are too stubborn, gods. You're just like him." With a huff, Annabeth jogged up next to me. "Look, you need rest and I need rest. There is no way we can finish looking for Percy tonight. We can look for him in the morning, okay? We can even wake up early."

"We can at least finish these few blocks." I muttered, scanning the streets. Nothing.

"We can finish them in the morning. Nevah, you're going to get yourself sick if you continue like this. You're not eating and looking for Percy until you literally drop from exhaustion isn't good."

"You're the one to talk." I muttered.

"Ugh," Annabeth groaned out. "Okay. yeah. I'm pretty bad too. But you're worse. C'mon Nev. I love Percy too, but getting yourself sick isn't going to help him."

I deeply inhaled. Stopping in my tracks, I focused my gaze on the street in front of me.

"I can't lose him too, Annabeth." I breathed out, nervously fiddling with my bracelet. "He's the only real blood-related family member I have besides Tyson and dad. I...I can't lose him."

"We're going to find him, okay? Even if it's the last thing I do. And once we do find him, we can both kick his butt for it." Annabeth placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I miss him too. We just officially started dating and he just had to go missing, huh?"

"I'm sorry for whining and complaining." I sighed, sagging my shoulders. I instantly felt bad. "I know he's really important to you too. I just....I can't go through what I did with my mom, you know? I...I just can't."

"And you won't." Annabeth gave me a small smile. "You got me. You got Tyson. You got Grover. You got Thalia. You got Nico. You got Chiron. You got Clarisse. You got the Stolls. You got Will. You got everyone else at camp who supports you."

"Well, not Mr. D." I grumbled. "He just had to leave, didn't he? That makes me want to know why?"

"About that..."Annabeth anxiously bit her lip. She stared at the stop sign at the corner of the street. "Is Poseidon responding to you? In any way or form?"

"No. He hasn't. It isn't like him to go so long without communicating with Percy and I. In fact, he usually would have said something by now if Percy is missing. " I frowned. Tilting my head, I took in Annabeth's body language. "Athena's not talking to you either, isn't she?"

"Nothing. I...I think the gods have gone silent. And I don't think that's good."

"Wanna try heading to Olympus again?"

"We can try, but when we went up to inform them about Percy's disapperanace, the entrance was closed."

"But we can always try." I pleaded. "What if they do know what's going on? What if that's why they aren't responding to us? What if that's why Mr. D left?"

"Alright, let's go."

▷

Annabeth held open the door for me as we walked inside the Empire State Building. I immediately looked towards the front desk. Standing behind the desk was a middle aged man who typed away on his tablet. When the door slammed shut, he glanced up to look at us.

"Oh, it's you again." He narrowed his eyes at me.

"Again?" Annabeth perked an eyebrow. I gave her a cheeky grin.

"What? You thought I wouldn't try to go up to Olympus again?" I walked over towards the desk and laid my forearms on top. "I'm pretty sure you know our question by now, so go ahead and save yourself some time and let us go to the six hundredth floor please."

"What six hundreth floor?" the man asked as he focused on his tablet. I huffed and glared at him.

"Okay mister, look-" Annabeth cupped her hand over my mouth. I glanced down at her hand before looking at her. I gave her a look as I swatted her hand away.

"Can we please go? We really need to talk to the Olympians. It's urgent." Annabeth said.

"Yeah, well the Olympians aren't taking any appointments or walk-ins. Sorry. Have nice day."

"Yeah? Well this is urgent. We really need to talk to them. Please." I stressed. The man placed his tablet on the desk and frowned. "Please. It's really important."

"Sorry ladies, but they locked the doors. No one can go into or out of Olympus." He sadly informed. I felt as if all the hope I had left in me parrished.

"So there is no way in contacting them?" Annabeth asked. "Nothing?"

"If you guys haven't tried praying or IMs, then I am afraid not. Maybe one of the other gods or goddesses can help you. It seems as if the Olympians have gone silent. I'm sorry."

Annabeth slowly nodded and placed a hand on my shoulder. She mumbled out a "thank you" to the man and guided me out of the building. I bit my lip to help hold in my tears.

"We aren't giving up, okay? Don't you dare give up, Nev. We're gonna find him, okay? We're gonna find Percy." Annabeth told me, wipinng away her stray tears in fustration.

"Okay." I feebly nodded. "Let's go look for Percy. In the morning. I won't stoo until we find him. Even if that means searching the entire world. Let' go find our Seaweed Brain."

sorry if there are any misspellings. I was typing this on my phone. Hope you guys like this