Strange Teachers

Chapter 19

A/N: Sorry for that break, but I'm actually really proud of this chapter, which I mostly wrote last weekend. A few warnings: this is really, really long (at least compared to usual, it's about 3600 words), so buckle up. I just couldn't split it in a way that made sense. Also, there's a small innuendo at the end and mentions of alcohol. They're not major or anything, but I'm being paranoid. Enjoy!

—Annabeth—

As another punk song rejecting men faded out and the camp van pulled up to the curb, Thalia turned her phone off. I guessed we were finally at wherever Thals had wanted to go for my bachelorette party—or, as she called it, my 'last chance to join the Hunt and ditch Perce'. But I knew she was kidding, mostly. I think she just wishes I was with her on hunts.

She turned to me in her seat with her hand on the door to keep me from leaving.

"A few rules: no worrying or monster-fighting—we'll do that for you—unless you're in a life-threatening situation. And more importantly, don't get freaked out. We can leave if you need to, but you need to relax, and I won't let you ditch before you do," she told me in that no-nonsense tone that I couldn't go against when I was a kid. I rolled my eyes.

"Thals, I'm not seven anymore, I can deal.  Though now I'm a bit skeptical about this place," I retorted.

I noticed the smirk Piper was trying to hide as she sat in the driver's seat, and Thalia shrugged before opening the door.

I stepped out, only to be faced with something I didn't even know existed.

Fictive Times was a brick building with two big windows through which I could see what looked like a bar with book-lined walls. The name was proclaimed by big neon letters and in smaller Ancient Greek writing lower down, hence my ability to understand it.

Seeing my surprise at the fact that my best friend had actually found a bar that I'd go to, she pulled me in by my wrist. Hazel, Reyna, and Piper followed after us.

The sound of the bell over the door was immediately drowned out by the same kind of music as Thalia usually has us listen to, though a little more romantically oriented. Generally very punk or rock type things. The smell of alcohol mixed with that of books, and the combination wasn't too bad.

I was dragged to the counter, where a woman in her mid-thirties with smile lines was pouring a glass of whiskey for someone.

"Four Lady A's, please," Thalia ordered for all of us.

I tried to protest, since it sounded like a lot of alcohol. We were bound to get attacked out here in the middle of Manhattan with five—or more, judging by the sign in Ancient Greek—demigods in one spot. We needed to be sharp. Before I could say anything, the bartender turned around and hugged Thalia as best she could from over the counter.

"Thalia! What are you doing here?" she said.

"Bachelorette party for my friend here," Thalia answered while the woman started on our drinks. "How's it going here, Jay?"

"Pretty well," Jay told her before turning to me. "Congrats, by the way."

"Thanks. How do you two know each other?" I asked.

Turns out Jayden was a former huntress who still sheltered the Hunt when they needed it. Thalia needed to know most of the alumni who did that so that she could IM them if the need should arise.

When the Lady A's—named after Artemis and only drinkable for demigods—came, I tentatively sipped mine. It was unexpectedly really good. When I asked, Jay told me that it was made with a few kinds of alcohol, concentrated amaranth juice (Artemis's sacred flower), and a tiny bit of nectar.