Scars - A PJO/HOO Soulmates AU

11.

Shoutout to @WiseGirlJR for getting the last trivia question correct!!

Can't talk, bye!

Chapter 10 - Hey, hey, hey! Take it "eesh"!

Annabeth breezed through the back doors of Piper's mansion, taking in the architecture nonchalantly like she did every time. Except for the first time, where she squealed with excitement and almost broke Piper's eardrums.

The door was unlocked, which was convenient for Annabeth, but you never know when a serial killer would randomly choose this house and think "Whoopsy daisy, these people left the door open! Let's kill some teenagers!"

Pursing her lips, Annabeth grabbed her iPhone 6, which she had to raise money to buy herself mind you, and texted Piper a quick message saying that she was here.

She heard something shatter in a different room and raised an eyebrow, poking her head into the hallway that connected to the back door.

"Piper?" Annabeth ventured, "Are you here?"

A long silence ensued, and then Piper came hobbling into the hallway from the door that led to the kitchen. She spotted Annabeth and gave a blinding smile, beckoning her closer.

"Annie! Nice to see you!" Piper chirped, and then winced and apologized at the other girl's glare.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" Piper exclaimed, "We have almost everything set up already. The crash you heard was Leo, he was trying to sing karaoke with an alcohol bottle."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, classic Leo.

The two of them walked into the backyard where a table set up with food was the main presentation, and they saw Reyna dangling upside down from a tree branch, texting on her phone. Everything would have looked like a perfectly calm scene if it was not for Leo running in, shrieking like a girl, and flailing his arms around wildly.

But, he was on fire.

All of them knew about Leo's parasitic relationship with fire, even having witnessed it a couple of times, and ran to his aide immediately. Reyna jumped down from the tree and grabbed Leo, throwing him into the pool. Then Piper dragged him out and sat him down at the table.

He was dripping wet, which was justified considering he was just thrown into the pool, with wide eyes and chattering teeth. Reyna threw Annabeth a towel and she wrapped it around Leo's small frame.

Piper's soothing voice filled Leo's ears and he calmed down substantially, taking gulping breaths of air instead of water.

When he spoke, his voice was shaky, "Well, at least I didn't get burned this time."

It was true. His clothes were charred at the sleeves, making him look a rock singer, but that was pretty much it.

"I know!" Piper exclaimed, burying her face in the crook of Leo's shoulder, "It's getting better, this time you were able to snap out of the trance before anything serious happened.!"

Leo grinned, and Annabeth and Reyna joined the group hug. They were a weird group of friends, but they fit.

"Hello, my dud- OH MY GODS, AM I SEEING A GROUP HUG!? WITHOUT ME!?", a voice called from the backyard entryway.

Thalia stomped towards us and wrenched us apart when folded her arms and gave us a disapproving look.

She made a tsking sound with her teeth, "You should know better than to do anything without me."

They all laughed, and got up, moving to the table of food in the middle of the backyard.

Annabeth almost fainted from hunger relief, and she was the first to grab a plate and start loading it with almost everything she saw. Eggs, pancakes with syrup, salad, grilled cheese, chocolate pudding, juice. Annabeth was usually more discrete with her hunger, but she was so hungry. After sitting at the table, she shoveled the food into her mouth like it was the last day on earth.