The Demigod Games (PJO/THG)

30 - Bathroom Meet-Up

- Hazel

They were here?
Pardon my language, but... what the Hera?

I've got to say, the looks on their faces would've been hilarious in another situation - perfect round, bewildered eyes, their jaws hanging open like they'd been unhinged.

But it really was them, Percy, Jason and Piper, sitting on the opposite side of the dining area - with us, in the training arena. Which meant...

I glanced at Frank, knowing he was thinking the same thing as me.
If they were here, then that meant they were going into the  Arena too.

This couldn't be good.

Frank discreetly mouthed, Later. Piper nodded quietly, indicating she understood - we couldn't risk being seen as such a large group, not here, where alliances were only really formed by the Careers and some small groups and us suddenly together would've been very suspicious.

We finished eating, although my stomach absolutely refused to eat anything more, my appetite cut by anticipation. So we had landed in the same place... at least that we something. We weren't so alone anymore, and together we could figure something out. After all, we were the chaotic Seven, the disorganized, messy Seven, the constantly-arguing Seven... but the Seven nonetheless. There for each other.

Slowly, we got up from our seats and circled around the dinner area - five minutes ago, Jason, Piper and Percy had left the area, nodding discreetly towards the bathrooms.

So that was where we went, careful to not look suspicious, scanning the other tributes' expressions paranoiacally to make sure they didn't flair something was up - but most were too deeply absorbed in conversation, whispering prayers to themselves or silently crying to notice us.

We circled around a corridor, and headed towards the agender bathroom, clean and proper, its white walls shining almost painfully, hand sanitizer properly disposed next to the sinks - the only thing missing would have been some soft violin music in the background. I couldn't help but scoff - the way they were treating us was so pathetically obvious, getting us accustomed to luxury in an attempt to make us forget the deadly number looming over our heads: 24.
24 tributes, 1 victor. One chance out of twenty-four to make it out alive.

We stepped further into the bathroom, and I almost yelled out in surprise when Piper came into our vision abruptly from behind the door, a finger to her lips. Jason and Percy were behind her, huddled together almost comically in a perfect, still silence. Piper silently pointed towards a camera in the corner above the three of them's heads, and I nodded silently.

We couldn't be seen together, not all five of us, and I knew what I had to do.
Concentrating, I closed my eyes and touched the marble wall, feeling its smooth surface beneath my skin. Vibrations beneath the stone... rippling through my entire body, sending waves of energy from head to feet. I grunted, heard a sound of shattered glass... and when I lifted my head, the camera was broken from the inside, shards of the eye falling piece by piece onto the floor.

Frank turned to me, impressed, a small smile on his face. "Where d'you learn that?"
I forced back a smile, although it honestly worried me more than it thrilled me - why would my powers suddenly burst out like that? Did it have something to do with this alternate... no, future world?

Or was it more likely caused by that other thing...? The voice, eerily silent for a few days now, still lingered at the back of my mind - like a rabid creature you know is hiding in the shadows behind you, but is so perfectly still and silent you almost, but not quite, forget its presence.

For a few seconds, we just stared at each other- Piper, Jason and Percy on one side, Frank and I on the other- unsure of what to say. Then we all broke out into wide grins and fell into each other's arms, laughing delightedly.
I embraced Piper, pulling her into a hug, although I couldn't help but feel irritated when I noticed she still had an immaculate perfume, even after a week of being in the wild. 

"How'd you guys get here?" Frank asked inquisitively.

"Well, Piper and I landed in the woods somewhere," Jason replied. "We walked for a few hours and landed in some kind of city, then asked around to get some directions and got caught pretty quickly by those weird policemen."

"Yeah, Peacekeepers," Frank chimed in. "We dealt with them too."

"And I landed in what I think was District 4. I sort of... got into a fight, and accidentally released a small tidal wave onto this asshole, got sent to prison for it." Percy's wary expression made me think there was something else he was hiding - but I decided to forget it for now; we already had enough pressing matters on our hands.

"Yeah, that's where we met up with him," Piper finished. "Been the three of us ever since..."

"Wait," I frowned. I shot a sideways glance at Frank, knowing he was thinking the same thing. "What do you mean..  the three of you?" I distincly recalled seeing Annabeth jump right after Percy, they should've landed at the same place - so why wasn't she here with them right now? When I'd seen just the three of them, I'd just assumed Annabeth was at the toilet or something. But come to think of it, it was really strange they hadn't mentioned her once till now.

But it was Piper's prosaic comment that made me tilt. The three of us.

"What... about Annabeth?" I asked warily.

And right there, at that instant, I swear I felt my stomach drop - literally drop - upon glancing at the three of them's identically confused faces. Suddenly a window outside banged open, letting in a light breeze... I was so confused at that moment I'm not sure it was really there, but I thought I saw light purple, almost imperceptible tendrils of light whoosh into the bathroom and into the three of them's nostrils - the very same tendrils we'd seen with the two guards a few days ago during the interrogation, just before they'd abruptly changed their mind and decided to send us to the Hunger Games.

Their vision went a bit blurry, and they frowned - but the worst part by far in all this, the one that made me want to choke my insides out, was Percy - his look of confused blankness, when he opened his mouth to speak the words that would print themselves in my memory and send an ice-cold shiver in my spine.

"Annabeth? Who's Annabeth?"