Among Us: a PJO AU

Sand Castles

"After we punched the code, Frank wanted to go check on you guys in case something went wrong," Piper was saying. "Grover insisted he come along because it was too dangerous to be alone."

Percy's mouth was set in a hard line, but he nodded along. They were all still in Nav while Leo fixed the consoles, everyone too afraid to leave. The impostor was someone in the room, Percy, Leo, Piper, or Nico, and the air was dangerously charged.

"And you just let them?" Percy asked.

"Well, yeah! Nico and I had to stay to enter the code." Piper's pink spacesuit was oil-stained and grimy, probably not different from how Annabeth's looked. Nico and Percy had the right idea with dark-colored spacesuits, but why that was on Annabeth's mind was beyond her.

"Who do we think it is?" Nico's low voice surprised them all. It was blunt, but he had a point.

Percy leaned forward. "Well, it's not Annabeth or I. If we were the impostor we wouldn't have let the other kill Frank."

"But Leo was with you," Piper pointed out. "If Frank and one of you killed the other he would know."

Percy frowned. "Right."

"Piper and I are good," Nico said, "we would have killed the other the second Grover and Frank left."

Annabeth shook her head. "But you wouldn't have known for sure Frank would kill Grover. And if he didn't then Grover would have known who it was if one of you died."

Leo groaned and banged his wrench against the metal. "So we're basically nowhere."

Leo hasn't said much, Annabeth thought. Could it be him? He'd been with her and Percy the entire time, but that didn't mean anything. Frank could have done all the killing. But then, Leo kept fixing things. If he was the impostor, why would he keep the ship running? Wouldn't it be easier to let the ship destroy itself? And then there was the unthinkable. That Percy, the guy next to her with the lopsided grin and messy hair who left blue jellybeans in her tool box was the impostor. That he was already dead, just a shell an eidolon would use to kill her, to kill the whole crew. The thought was so repulsive she tried to force it from her mind, but it lingered.

"Let's just stick together from now on," Annabeth said. "All of us." The rest of the circle nodded in agreement. "Leo, where are we with the consoles?"

"Everything's gone to shit but I'm making it work," Leo said without glancing up. "Give me like... half an hour."

The rest of the crew hauled Frank and Grover's bodies to the center of the room and started cleanup efforts. Annabeth had wiped monster guts and vomit off the floors, but cleaning up Grover's blood was almost too much.

Piper knelt next to her and plopped the bucket of bleach between them. "You good?"

Annabeth scrubbed circles into the metal. "Is anyone?"

"No. But we can afford not to be. It's up to you and maybe Leo to get this ship back to the ground. Can you do that?" It wasn't phrased like a challenge, nor was there any doubt in Piper's voice. In fact, Piper's tone was so earnest and sweet it almost brought Annabeth to tears.

"Yeah. At least I think so. I have to, right?"

Piper smiled. "You really think the rest of us could do that?"

"I guess you're right." Annabeth bit her lip. "How are you, Piper? Between Jason, Hazel, Reyna..."

A dark cloud passed over her friend's face. "I mean, I'm just in shock. It hasn't really sunk in yet, you know? Any moment now Jason's going  to come around the corner with a piece of pizza, or Hazel will tell us a horse fact or some shit. I just... if I let those feelings in I won't be able to do what I need to." Annabeth could relate. How could she mourn her crewmates when every second was a life or death situation?