In Between Two Worlds (HP/PJO Crossover)

Chapter 155: The Underworld Sends Us A Prank Call.

Fantastic. Just bloody fantastic! My idiot of a best friend decided to try and destroy his school again! I might have gotten into a lot of dangerous situations but I've never almost blown up Hogwarts. Granted I didn't have monsters trying to kill me every day(with my luck, now that I've said that a monster is going to come try and kill me while I'm showering or something) but still!

Percy was attacked by some creepy half goat, half demon cheerleader and so I was forced to sit in the backseat of a taxi between an angry Annie and a slightly(completely terrified) Percy. There was so much sexual tension between the two. I really wanted to scream 'KISS!' but I managed to restrain myself.

Percy tried to talk to Annabeth, but she was acting like he'd just punched her grandmother. I didn't know why and Annie refused to tell me. All I managed to get out of her was that she'd had a monster-infested spring in San Francisco; she'd come back to camp twice since Christmas but wouldn't tell us why (which kind of ticked me off, because she hadn't even told me she was in New York. I know I live in England, but still. IM me!); and she'd learned nothing about the whereabouts of Skulls (Nico).

"Any word on Luke?" I asked.

She shook her head. I knew this was a touchy subject for her. Annabeth had always admired Luke, the former head counselor for Hermes who had betrayed us and joined the evil Titan Lord Kronos. She wouldn't admit it, but I knew she still liked him. When we'd fought Luke on Mount Tamalpais last winter, he'd somehow survived a fifty-foot fall off a cliff. Now, as far as I knew, he was still sailing around on his demon-infested cruise ship while his chopped-up Lord Kronos re-formed, bit by bit, in a golden sarcophagus, biding his time until he had enough power to challenge the Olympian gods. In demigod-speak, we call this a "problem."

"Mount Tam is still overrun with monsters," Annabeth said. "I didn't dare go close, but I don't think Luke is up there. I think I would know if he was."

That didn't make me feel much better. "What about Grover?"

"He's at camp," she said. "We'll see him today."

"Did he have any luck? I mean, with the search for Pan?"

Annabeth fingered her bead necklace, the way she does when she's worried.

"You'll see," she said. But she didn't explain.

As we headed through Brooklyn, Percy and I used Annabeth's phone to call mum. We try not to use cell phones if we can avoid it, because broadcasting our voices is like sending up a flare to the monsters: Here I am! Please eat me now! But we figured this call was important. We left a message on our home voice mail, trying to explain what had happened at Goode(Percy's school). We probably didn't do a very good job. We told my mom we were fine, she shouldn't worry, but we were going to stay at camp until things cooled down.

I told her to apologize to Uncle Rem and Bailey too. I actually did see mum for a minute, but then I got a message from the empathy link that Percy needed me and that we were going to camp right now. So after being home for a solid 20 seconds, I asked Uncle Rem to apparate me to Percy's school.

"I like your new scar." Annie said to me with a small smile. I flinched when she mentioned my scar.

"Can we not talk about it right now?" I asked softly.

We rode in silence after that. The city melted away until we were off the expressway and rolling through the countryside of northern Long Island, past orchards and wineries and fresh produce stands.

The taxi exited on Route 25A. We headed through the woods along the North Shore until a low ridge of hills appeared on our left. Annabeth told the driver to pull over on Farm Road 3.141, at the base of Half-Blood Hill.