"I'm completely in love
with you and you haven't
even realised but I'm totally
fine with the crippling
knowledge that you don't like
me back. That's fine, I'm fine.
Totally fine."
[ LEO VALDEZ x FEMALE OC ]
[ HEROES OF OLYMPUS SERIES...
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0013. | PERCY STRUGGLES TO SEE THE TRUTH
Nadia was nervous. She didn't know if it was because Frank and Percy were as well and they were projecting, but she couldn't help it. As violent as Coach Hedge was, and as volatile as he was, Nadia wished he hadn't left. At least with Coach there, Nadia could be certain she'd have a protector with her. Now he was separated from them, and that was a danger to all of them.
Still, she ignored her whining instincts and focused her mind back to the room. She felt a little better seeing how Percy was just as nervous as she was. Apparently he didn't like the divide-and-conquer strategy either. Nadia looked up at Percy and he returned the glance, sharing a moment of reassurance between them.
"Oh, it's fine!" Phorcys told the nervous pair, but Nadia didn't believe it one bit. She had once let her guard down in Midas's home in Omaha, and she had been stabbed. She couldn't afford to relax. "Keto might be a little boring, but she'll take good care of your friend. And honestly, the best part of the tour is still to come!"
Percy frowned dumbly but he persisted. "So..." he prompted. "Dionysus sent us."
"Bacchus." Frank corrected.
Both Percy and Nadia sent him a look. He shied away. "Right." Percy said tightly. "The wine god. Whatever."
Nadia muffled her laugh in a caught breath. She liked how Percy could seem so relaxed but also be stern; it reminded her of Nico. That easy smugness of understanding victory, but not the arrogance that surely came with it. It was a wariness that both the boys, and Jason too, carried. An understanding that with their great power came great tragedy and so they should never become smug - only ever wary.
The daughter of Hecate wondered what would be her own tragedy (if she had one at all). She knew every life had one, every mortal was tragic, and immortals too. She wondered if her power was enough to prompt a bespoke tragedy, or if the Fates knew that her magic tricks and spells and potions weren't worth much in comparison to Jason's thunderbolts, and Percy's hydrokinesis, and Nico's necromancy. Her power was not that great, so she hoped at least her tragedy would reflect that.
Percy continued, "Bacchus said you might know what your mom Gaea is up to, and these twin giant brothers of you - Ephialtes and Otis. And if you happen to know anything about this Mark of Athena-,"
"Bacchus thought I would help you?" Phorcys frowned confusedly.
Nadia tensed. But her mind wasn't as fast as Percy's cunning. "Well, yeah," he said. "I mean, you're Phorcys. Everybody talks about you." He promised and Nadia bit back her expression of shock. Percy was far cleverer than he shared himself to be. From so far knowing him, she saw how he presented himself as a dim witted skater (and it didn't help that he was always boasting Annabeth's intelligence over his own) but he was so much more than that. He was smart, and cunning, and calculated.
