return again ✧ percy jackson

chapter five

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ANNABETH WAS GONE WHEN PERCY woke up, meaning one or two things. One, she was asking Piper and Hazel what to do or, two, she completely forgot about what happened.

He hoped for the latter.

He woke up in his bed and stared at his picture frames on the wall. The one he loved the most was the one with his parents and him before the divorce. Since then, he's put up pictures of him, Paul, his mom and Thea and one with him, Annabeth and Grover. He told his friends the plan of taking a group photo with everyone on the trip so he can add to his picture collection. 

When he got to the living room of the cabin, Leo, Frank and Jason were all sitting on the couches and watching TV. Calypso and Ella were outside on the deck, staring at the ocean. Will and Nico were no where to be seen so he assumed they were still asleep. Grover and Tyson were with Hazel, Piper and Annabeth in the kitchen. 

"Hello," he greeted his friends in the kitchen.

"Brother," Tyson exclaimed and gave Percy a high-five. 

Grover smiled at him. "Morning, Sleeping Beauty."

Percy gave him a look that said "you're one to talk." That shut Grover up but he still sent Percy a smirk.

"What were you doing in the middle of the night last night?" Piper accused.

Percy coughed a bit. "What do you mean?" He looked at Annabeth, expecting that it was her, but she looked as confused as him.

Piper gave him a look. "Come on, Percy. There's like four bedrooms in this place. A lot of us have to share one room. Meaning, you, me, Jason and Annabeth are all in one room. I heard you stomp all the way into the room. It woke me up."

"Oh! I went walking."

"At night?" Hazel asked.

"Percy tends to do that sometimes," Tyson said and Percy gave him a smile. "He practically lives at that beach whenever we go."

Neither Hazel nor Piper looked impressed. "Mkay," Piper said and turned away from them.

"What are you doing?" he said to nobody in particular.

"Baking," Annabeth replied, stirring the bowl Percy didn't even notice was there. She came in close to him. "Wanna explore the town with me?" she whispered.

Percy nodded. "Yeah," he whispered back.

She winked at him and went back towards the other girls. 

AN HOUR LATER, WILL SOLACE AND Nico di Angelo rose from slumber.

"Should call them 'Sleeping Beauty,'" Percy muttered when nobody was listening. Turns out Leo was because he laughed out loud.

Which made Percy laugh out loud.

Nico glared at the two of them and they laughed even more.

"Can I hit them?" Nico asked Will under his breath.

Will looked up from Nico and toward the two laughing boys. "Not yet."

Nico frowned but followed Will's statement. "I probably will by the end of this trip." 

"I wouldn't doubt it," said Will and he kissed Nico's head and walked toward Grover.

Reyna walked in through the front door and Nico joined her.

Percy spotted Thalia. "Thal!" he said then went to hug her.

He and Thalia practically grew up together. Thalia and Jason's parents divorced a year or so after Jason was born and Thalia was under Zeus' custody and Jason under Beryl. When Beryl died when Jason was a freshman, he went under Zeus' custody and that's when Jason and Percy met.