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ameagrice · 1 year ago

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chapter twenty-five | halloween came early

percy jackson x fem reader

“It’s a cool aesthetic.”

Thalia looked from the piles of dirty snow at the sides of the road and back to you. “Yeah. Sure.”

“Can’t tell me it’s not.”

“Can we just focus on the task at hand, please?”

You huffed shortly but turned your attention to the sign up ahead as you walked into town: CLOUDCROFT, NEW MEXICO.

The air was cold and sky sunny, and the melting snow on the sidewalk sloshed as you trekked onward.

Bianca and Zoe mumbled about something or other at the head of the group, while Thalia, Grover and Percy walked in front of you in a line, leaving you at the back unable to fit on the curb. Where you once would have felt rejection because of this, now you only felt grateful for the quietude, and the chance to think properly.

Unfortunately, it made you think about Percy’s admittance this morning.

“I didn’t say it, couldn’t say it before. It just felt wrong. But I have to tell someone.”

“You can tell me anything.”

Annabeth had until the winter solstice.

Four days to live.

It was difficult to get a grip on how you were feeling. But the most prevalent feeling was horror. Your sister’s life depended on you.

You stopped in town, by the high school. You could see everything from a small bank building to tourist stores and cafes.

“Hey, there’s a coffee shop!” Grover pointed out with a joyful smile.

“Yes, coffee is good,” Zoe agreed.

“And pastries,” said Grover dreamily. “And wax paper.”

Thalia sighed. “How about you two get us some food? Us four will check out the grocery store and try to get directions.”

The cashier gave the four of you a look as you walked in, a cold gust of air following behind you as the automatic doors closed. While Percy and Thalia stuck to finding out the important things, such as how Cloudcroft didn’t have enough snow for skiing, you and Bianca walked up and down the aisles looking for anything remotely interesting.

“Hey,” you stopped and pointed out. Bianca turned to you. “They sell rubber rats for a dollar.”

Bianca’s eyes couldn’t have widened any further in glee.

“We’re buying a rat.”

You found Thalia and Percy at the counter, still, and you came to stand next to Percy. You held the rat up and he wrinkled his nose at the bug-eyed animal.

“I found your look-alike,” you said, setting on the conveyor belt to look at him.

“That’s very observant of you.”

Percy bought you it for you, and soon enough, you left the store. Thalia wandered off to ask other people for directions, leaving yourself, Percy and Bianca on the porch of the store.

It was quiet, almost awkwardly so, and for once you couldn’t think of anything to say which could liven up the situation.

You set the grey-skinned rat on the porch railing, facing Percy.

“So…” Percy shoved his hands in his pockets. “What do you think of being a Hunter so far?”

Bianca blinked. You watched the exchange with a weird twist in your chest. When did Percy ever ask you how you were feeling?

“You’re not still mad at me for joining, are you?”

You frowned. Percy was mad at her for it?

“Nah. Long as, you know…you’re happy.”

“I’m not sure ‘happy’ is the best word, with Lady Artemis gone, but…it’s definitely cool being a Hunter. I feel calmer, somehow, everything seems to have slowed down around me. I guess that’s the immortality.”

Looking at her, you couldn’t see much difference. Bianca looked exactly the same as the day you met her. But the thought hit you that whether ten or fifty years passed, Bianca would look unchanged. She would still look twelve-years-old.

“Nico doesn’t understand it,” she said.

You didn’t have it in you to reassure her that her choice was okay. Because in reality, you weren’t sure if it was. She abandoned her little brother to the hands of strangers without a second thought, a little brother too young to fully understand the gravity of her decision. All he knew was his sister would not be with him any longer, and that there was no choice offered to him.

“He’ll be alright,” Percy assured her. “Camp takes in a lot of young kids. They did it for Annabeth.”

“I hope we find her. Annabeth, I mean. She’s lucky to have a friend like you. And a sister like you.”

You froze, attention on you. Bianca watched you with a look you couldn’t quite understand. But she looked sad.

You shrugged your shoulders. “We’re not really that close. We fight too much.” Something you were coming to regret, now her life was in your hands. One wrong move and you’d never get to apologise as you wanted to now.

“That doesn’t make you any less of a sister. I argue—or, I used to argue with Nico a lot. But you’re here helping to look for her—a good sister wouldn’t do that.”

You hummed. A brutally cold gust of wind swept your hair back from your face. And all you could think about was whether you would find your sister dead or alive.

—

The further you went on your travels, the more Bianca unveiled her and Nico’s past. They had a bank trust set up by their now-gone parents, and attended a boarding school in Washington D.C. She explained how she had no memory of getting there, and no memory of before there, and only knew of a lawyer who came by every few months to see the siblings were still there.

As you walked through the town in search of Thalia, Zoe and Grover, she explained more.

“Nico and I had to leave that school, one day. A different lawyer came by and got us out, and we drove a long way. We got to Westover and we’re there until you guys came for us.”

“So you’ve been raising Nico for pretty much the whole of your life?” You said, leaning forward and looking at her from the other side of Percy. Bitterness continued to grow in you for Nico. “Just the two of you?”

“That’s why I wanted to join the Hunters so bad,” she nodded. “I know it was selfish. But I wanted my own life so bad. My own life and my own friends. I love Nico. So much. But I needed to find out what it was like to not be a big sister twenty-four hours a day.”

“Zoe seems to trust you,” Percy said. “What we’re you guys talking about, anyway? Something dangerous about the quest?”

“When?”

“Yeah, when?”

“Yesterday morning at the dining pavilion,” Percy blurted. Your jaw dropped.

“You little sneak!”

“Something about the General,” he rushed.

“But we didn’t see you!” You narrowed your eyes. Percy swallowed like he was nervous, looking away and back again. “We didn’t see you!” It dawned on you. “The invisibility hat! Annabeth’s cap!”

“Were you eavesdropping?” Bianca demanded.

“No! I mean, not really—”

“Hey guys!”

Everyone turned around. Grover and Zoe were walking up the street with the drinks. Percy was saved for now, but you would not be dropping it any time soon.

The hot chocolate was almost good enough for you to forget that Percy was a sneak and a terrible liar. Almost.

“We should do the tracking spell,” Zoe said. “Grover, do you have any acorns left?”

“Umm,” Grover muttered through a mouth full of muffin wrapper. “I think so, I just need—”

A harsh wind blew so fiercely out of the blue that you were almost pushed back by it. Grover’s cap came flying off, and he leapt to catch it. Zoe gasped.

“Grover! Thy cup!”

You all watched the birds on Grover’s paper coffee cup literally fly right off the paper, multicolour animals that soared up into the sky with the wind. A squeak at your side made you jump—the dollar rat was covered in real fur with shiny eyes and a skinny, whipping tail. It squeaked again and took off across the railing you’d set it on. So gobsmacked, you couldn’t move, only watching with your mouth agape.

With the wind came a whisper of words you were unable to make out. Something uncomfortable settled in your bones.

And then Grover’s whole body collapsed. You just about caught him, the wound on your arm smarting as his head hit it. But at least it wasn’t the ground. Your knees pressed into the ground, one hand gripping his arm to try and hold him up.

The others gathered around him, Percy going as far as to kneel next to you and give him a good shake to get him up. But nothing worked. Grover’s eyes remained closed. The only sign of life was the groaning he made.

“What’s wrong with him?” Thalia waved a hand at Grover’s unmoving body on the floor.

“I don’t know,” Percy said. “He just collapsed. What causes sudden collapse?” He turned to you.

Put on the spot, you fumbled for a reasonable answer. “I-it could be exhaustion. Or drug overdose. Prolonged heart problems? Sometimes being extremely upset can cause the body to go into overload and shut down, but—”

Thalia snorted. “Grover won’t so much as pluck grass for fear of harming nature. I don’t think he’s going to take anything serious. Just get him up! We need to go!”

It didn’t take much persuasion on your part the second you heard the skeleton army’s chilling chatter getting closer. You located your dagger, and, very carefully, you and Percy took an arm each and hoisted Grover up from the ground. He swayed and groaned like he was made of ghost jelly, but you dragged him along nonetheless.

You got the edge of town before the first skeletons appeared. They were tall and dressed in blue police uniforms, with guns in hand. With transparent grey skin and yellow eyes, they were the stuff of nightmares.

Thalia tapped the bracelet on her wrist, her shield Aegis spiralling to life, spear in hand.

Percy drew his sword, ready to fight.

You still held Grover, and thus you were rendered useless in the situation. So you could only watch as Bianca and Zoe drew their arrows, notched on the bow, and Percy and Thalia stood with prepared faces, ready to fight. Percy met your eye as Grover wobbled, your hands tightening on him. He looked away, more determined than before.

“Back up!” Thalia hissed.

“You think I can carry Grover any further!” You replied. “Bro’s breaking my back as is!”

There was a rustling of branches, and more skeleton chattering. A turn of your head confirmed you were surrounded by the undead. One of them raised a phone to its mouth and chattered into it—you obviously couldn’t make out the words, but you understood the gesture.

“It’s near,” Grover moaned.

“They’re right here!” You muttered.

“No,” he shook his head. “The gift. The gift from the Wild.”

You didn’t understand what he was talking about. Grover and his nature talk didn’t make sense at the best of times. But he was so floppy and chatting nonsense that you didn’t have it in you to care about that—you cared more about protecting him in such a vulnerable position.

“We’ll have to go one-on-one. Four of them and four of us,” said Thalia. “They might ignore you and Grover that way.”

“Agreed,” said Zoe.

“The Wild!” Grover moaned.

You paid no mind to Grover when you saw movement out of the corner of your eye—Percy charging at the army of skeletons.

You jolted forward, barely catching Grover. Everyone stared after Percy. “Someone go after him!”

But nobody moved. You held your breath until a shot rang out, and a shocked cry tore from your chest—two bullets had fired at Percy’s back. His body fell like it weighed the earth, straight to the ground, and you shoved Grover off of you, uncaring as to whether or not somebody took him off your hands. Your best friend was laying on the ground and—

Alive?

You stood at the front of your small group as your best friend found his feet, jaw dropped, looking down at the coat he wore. The Lion’s fur had acted as a barrier between life and death, protecting Percy.

Despite the burning of movement in your arm, you thanked whoever was up there for the opportunity to charge. The burning question remained—

How do you kill something that’s already dead?

You went for the throat first. Swiping your hand with a strength that surprised you, you sent the skeleton’s head flying clean off its body. The skull toppled to the ground and then the rest of the body in sections of bone, but quicker than you could act, it began to reassemble, from the bottom up. You watched, transfixed, as it joined back together. You looked around. Grover was no longer groaning on the floor, instead he stood facing some trees, holding his hands out to them like he expected a warm greeting.

Zoe and Bianca started firing arrows, while Percy came to your side. You came back to reality just as the thing reassembled completely, and felt a whoosh over your head. The skeleton disassembled once more in a clatter, and Percy stood breathing heavily next to you, clasping his sword with both hands between you both.

“Thanks,” you nodded, blowing hair out of your face.

Percy gulped. “Don’t worry about it.”

A loud crashing sound like roadwork machinery turned everyone’s heads. The source of it was unknown however.

You were losing. Zoe and Bianca shot arrow after arrow, lodging into skulls and knocking guns from skeletal hands, but it made no difference. Thalia was electrocuting any she could fight off, but that wasn’t working either. And Grover was useless, standing dazedly staring at trees.

You knew you were really goners when one lunged for Bianca—

It burst into flames. With a single stab from her hunting knife, the skeleton was burning up into nothing. All that was left was a smoking, charred pile of ash and a cop badge.

“How—how did you do that?” You wondered aloud.

Bianca, just as bewildered, shook her head wide-eyed. “I don’t know. Lucky stab?”

“Well, do it again!”

She tried, but the skeletons were wary of her. They backed away and chattered as if they were warning one another. They began to press you back.

“Plan?” Percy asked, looking at you. His dark hair was a total mess, and you tried thinking of whether or not you brought any hair spray.

You shrugged. “Uhm—run?”

The trees rustled and the skeletons grew closer. Grover looked a little too holy-like for your comfort. Grover never looked this peaceful.

“A gift,” he muttered.

And then, with a mighty roar so loud it rattled your own bones and blew all the trees to a 180° degree angle, a giant pig—no, boar came barrelling out of the woods, crashing into the street. It was at least thirty-feet tall, with a bristly, hairy back and a shiny pink nose. It’s tusks were like giant canoes, and when it squealed, it squealed.

“REEEEEEEEET!”

The stuff of nightmares.

“Percy. Have we died?” You reached out and clasped his wrist.

“If we’re dead, at least we died together, dude.”

“That’s very romantic.”

The moment was ruined as the giant boar turned its attention to you. It had thrown the remaining skeletons aside with its giant tusks, but was growing closer to you now.

Thalia raised her spear, but Grover yelled out. “Don’t kill it!”

The boar made a growling noise low in its throat, pawing at the ground. You were going to be made into mush.

“That’s the Erymanthian boar,” Zoe said quietly, trying to stay calm. “I don’t think we can kill it.”

“It’s a gift,” Grover said. “A gift from the Wild!”

The boar screeched and swung its head, tusks aimed for the lot of you. Zoe and Bianca dived. You hit the ground, Thalia threw herself to the side and Percy pulled down Grover.

“Yeah!” Percy yelled. “I feel very blessed! Scatter!”

“It wants to kill us!” Thalia yelled.

“Never would have guessed!” You answered.

The others yelled and conversed and tried to confuse it. You simply tried to think back to all the history lessons at camp. Had you ever discussed this boar? Surely it would have cropped up somewhere in a timeline you’d studied, right? Someone in history had fought the thing and won, you knew that much. But who, and how?

“Keep moving!” Zoe yelled. She and Bianca ran in opposite directions. Grover danced around the boar, playing his pipes while the boar snorted and tried to gouge him.

It clicked. “Hercules!” You exclaimed, throwing your arms out in the boar’s direction. As if recognising the name, it huffed angrily.

“Why are you talking about ancient history?” Bianca yelled.

“Hercules fought this thing!”

“Why is this relevant to you? Just help us!” Thalia shouted angrily. She jabbed the boar with her spear, but that only made it angrier.

“Because it was part of his Labors! He killed it! Was is the sixth labor? Fourth?”

The boar charged, and there was no time left to think about the past. Percy came running by you, yanking on your jacket and pulling you with him. Running uphill could be added to the list of impossible things you’d done, as you ran in and out of trees, keeping ahead of the animal since it had to dodge them.

On the other side of the hill was an old line of train tracks, buried partially by snow.

You skidded out into the open, Percy’s hand still clenched around your wrist. “Come on!” He yelled. “This way!”

The boar slipped and slid across the tracks, it’s hooves clearly not made for this.

Up ahead stood an old tunnel, covered in snow. Beyond that lay a bridge. Percy was urging you to keep going as your legs slowed your pace, but…something didn’t feel right. A deep tugging was felt in your stomach, like a rope getting tighter and tighter the closer you got to the tunnel.

“No,” you told him. He pulled you along anyway. “Percy, stop!”

You pulled with all your might as you got to the end of the bridge, snow piling up around your calves. Percy turned to you, mouth open to say something, but noticed just as you had at the last moment:

You’d reached the end of the line.

And all that lay before you was a horrible, long drop. A seventy-foot drop full at the bottom with snow.

“Come on!” Percy yelled. You swallowed hard. “It’ll hold our weight, probably!”

“Are you stupid? That’ll kill us!”

“We have to!”

“Not a chance!”

It happened too fast for you to process what even happened. One second, you were standing facing a fall at the edge of a jagged edge with your best friend, and the next, you found yourself hit by something firm and warm, before the cold enveloped you. You rolled and rolled, heard your jacket tear more than it was already. Pain blossomed across your body, and sometime later you came to a stop.

On your back, staring up at the sky, you lay for a few seconds to get your bearings.

“You okay?” Percy groaned beside you. His leg was tangled up in yours, and you lay partially on his shoulder.

“Think so,” you nodded. “You?”

Percy hummed.

Slowly, you both sat up. Your pants were ripped here and there and wet from the snow, and there were pine tree needles decorating your hair. The boar was nowhere to be seen at eye-level, but when you looked over the edge of the cliff you saw it was leg-deep in the snow, squealing. It didn’t look hurt, but wasn’t going anywhere.

Percy turned his head to you. “You wouldn’t jump off the edge.”

“Because I’m not stupid like that,” you rolled your eyes. “If we’d have jumped off the edge, the boar would have come after us anyway. We would’ve gotten stuck in the snow, and then squashed when the boar fell. I’m not a fan of death, Percy. It scares me. I’m not interested in getting to the Underworld today.”

He stayed quiet.

Until a shout came from above. “Hellooooooo?”

“Grover!” You jumped up, limbs protesting after your tumble down the mountain. He stood at the edge of the cliff, and when you shouted his name, he waved down to you both. Relief filled you. At least your friends were okay. “Down here!”

A few minutes later, the others headed down, and you stood watching the wild boar struggle in the snow. You, strangely enough, felt bad for it.

“A blessing of the Wild,” Grover said, though he looked agitated.

“Hold up,” Thalia snapped irritably. “Explain to me why you think this pig is a blessing from the earth?”

“It’s our ride west. Do you have any idea how fast this boar can travel?”

“Fun,” Percy said. “Like…pig cowboys.”

You couldn’t help the laugh that escaped your mouth.

Thalia glared. “Percy, can it, and you, Christmas tree. Now isn’t the time.”

Grover sighed slowly. “We need to get aboard. I wish…I wish I had more time to look around, but it’s gone now.”

“What did you want to look for?” You asked.

It was like he hadn’t heard you. Grover walked over to the boar and climbed onto its back, not so difficult to do considering it was still lodged in the snow. Grover pulled out his reed pipes and started to play a song; instantly, a shiny red apple appeared in the air, floating above the boar’s snout. It went ballistic trying to get it, and the movement began to get it moving through the snow.

“Automatic steering,” Thalia muttered. She headed after Grover. “Great.”

Zoe and Bianca went next, trailing after Thalia to the boar.

“Wait a second,” Percy called. Zoe looked over at him. “Do you two know what Grover’s talking about with all this Wild Blessing stuff?”

“Of course.” Zoe said. “Did you not feel it in the wind? It was so strong…I had thought I would never feel that presence again.”

Intrigued, you asked, “What presence?”

Zoe stared at you like you’d missed something blatantly obvious. “The Lord of the Wild, of course. Just for a moment, in the arrival of the boar, I felt the presence of Pan.”

WELL THEN. what do we think so far?

have any idea what y/n’s worst fear is yet ;)

channelled my inner child-of-Athena last night driving home——a spider dropped down from the front mirror as I was blasting Rihanna and doing 40mph. never have I screamed like that. so I pulled over and whacked it with a water bottle. got some strange looks.

taglist:

@bl6o6dy @embersparklz @lilyevanswhore @rottenstyx @rory-cakes @i-am-scared-and-useless-bisexual @marshmallow12435 @lantsovheiress @distinguishedmakerpandapatrol @twsssmlmaa @gayandfairycore @padsfirewhisky @emu281 @charlesswife @jessiegerl @crackerphobic20 @mata0-0mata @jccc1000

#capsize #percy jackson #pjo #leo valdez #annabeth chase #heroes of olympus #jason grace #hoo #nico di angelo #trials of apollo #pjo x reader #pjo x you #percy jackson x reader #Percy Jackson series #disney

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