The Worlds of Magic and Myths - Book One - The Missing Sword

Eavesdropping

Percy's POV

    "Um, I'll be taking them to their dorms. Uh, follow me. Right this way," Cerise said awkwardly. She led the other students up to the second floor and they went out of sight.

    "Can anyone else say weird?" I asked.

The other boys raised their hands, the girls rolled their eyes (internally and visually), and Selena gave me a hurt look, which I didn't understand.

    "Uh, I'm going to go back to my room. I'll see you guys tomorrow for our first day at Ho- I mean, school. See ya..," Selena said, sniffing.

Annabeth nodded and Selena ran up the stairs. Leo looked in her direction of where she ran and gave a concerned look. Piper looked at him in a way I knew too well; she was making 'plans' for a pair she (and maybe a few other people) would consider cute.

    "Oookay. Well, I'm gonna go outside to get some fresh air and find some water outside to work with. See all you guys later," I said, walking in reverse, trying to find the exit for the quad.

    "Hey, Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth called.

I whipped around and she was walking towards me, waving a peice of paper. "I think you might need this to find your way there."

    I took a look at it and saw that it was a map of the school grounds. I took it and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek as a thank you. I ran the other way, looking at the map ever so often. I eventually arrived at the quad, but I wasn't the only one there. I saw the other students and Cerise at a table, talking. I hid behind a bush and peeked between the branches. I was out of earshot but I able to see just fine.

I saw Cerise take out a stick out from her sleeve- who keeps a freaking dam stick in their sleeve?! And they call me weird and crazy- and whispered something. A bottle that looked suspiciously like nectar flew from a boy's - who looked too much like me- hand and into hers. She took off the cap and took a good swig of it. They laughed afterwards. I sneaked closer, moving the bush with me (it was potted, not in the ground). I was in earshot but I had to strain my ears to actually hear.

    "Besides the butterbeer, did any of you get me anything from Honeydukes by any chance?" Cerise asked.

Wait, beer? Cerise is underage and she should know that! Ooh, Cerise is going to rot in Tartarus if Nico found out. And what the Hades is Honeydukes?

    "Uh, will you take maybe for an answer?" Neville asked. Wow, that was a dumb question; even for me it was.

    "Seriously? Of course not. Now give me some tiny black pepper Imps and Drooble's Best Blowing Gum," Cerise said.

I had no idea what they were but I didn't think it would go too well if it was in her possession. They handed her a drawstring bag that'll fit in the palm of your hand and she pocketed it. There couldn't possibly be enough room to carry a lot of candy but Cerise was smiling like a Chesire Cat. She started to get up and I made a mad scramble back; questions filling my thoughts as I ran up the stairs to my dorm. I shut the door behind me while Jason gave me a weird look.

    "What's wrong with you? You almost look paler than Nico," Jason said, flipping through a book.

Nico, Cerise and Hazel would kill us all if they found out that we used Nico as an example of being extremely pale. I decided to ask him about Cerise; considering he was from the same cohort as her.

    "Ha ha, very funny. I actually need to ask you a question," I replied. He looked up from his book. That caught his attention.

    "Ask away," he said. He turned his attention back to his book.

    "What do you know about Cerise?" I asked. He jerked his head from his book to me freakishly fast with wide eyes.

    "Why would you want to know about that, Jackson?" Jason asked carefully, like he might slip an unexpected detail to me.

    "Because she was hanging out with the new students like they were best friends since forever," I muttered.

His eyes nearly bulged out from what I said. He slammed the book shut and led me to a corner. He checked outside the door and shut it tightly and locked it; he closed the curtains, making everything look creepy.

    "Okay Percy. I don't know where you found that out but you have to SWEAR, swear on the River Styx that you won't tell anyone about this. You can't even tell Annabeth, Cerise or the other students unless I tell you to," Jason said in a deadly calm voice.

    "What do you mean I can't tell Annabeth? Dude, she's like a lie detector; even without telling her, she's going to worm it out of me!" I cried. The next second, I had my shoulders, arms and legs pinned to the wall by Jason.

    "Then stay out of her way. If she worms it out of you, consequences of going against your word will be severe," Jason said.

    "I promise," I said.

    "Not promise Jackson. Swear. Swear on the River Styx that you won't tell anyone about this conversation or about what you saw until I say so," Jason replied, once again in a deadly calm voice. I gulped.

    "I swear on the River Styx to your terms," I answered nervously. He unpinned my shoulders, arms and legs and I rubbed them.

    "Good. Now sit. This explaining takes a long time," Jason said. I sat down on my bed which was across from Jason's. He grabbed a leather covered book and started flipping through the pages. He threw it at my chest and I caught it with an 'oomph.'

    "This is a record of Cerise. Ever since she told me her secret, I've been keeping tabs on her. Remember, you can't tell anyone about this," he explained.

I looked I at it curiously. I barely opened it when Annabeth came in. I shoved it into my sweater pocket before she came in. She poked her head in.

    "Hey, um. We're going to the quad to get to know the others. We're all waiting for you," Annabeth said.

We both nodded and she closed the door softly. We both headed out after. When we reached the quad, we found everyone at a round table. I sat down next to Annabeth and Jason sat next to Piper, who was right next to Annabeth. One half was the demigods and the other was the other students.

    "We're going to be introducing ourselves. So we're going to tell our full names and a fun fact about ourselves," a boy with light red hair. We nodded. "So who wants to go first?"