TUESDAY, 10th January

He was getting his chemistry notebook out of his locker when he felt the lightest touch on the back of his neck. Thinking it was a hair that fell, he just scratched his nape with his hand. When it happened the second time, he closed his locker in a flash, reached behind him, grabbing someone's wrist, twisting it to force the person to move in front of him as to not have their wrist broken, and pressed a smirking Annabeth against his locker.

"Your instincts are dulled; you didn't feel me come up behind you."

"This body doesn't have demigod's instincts."

She sighed, shaking her head in feigned disappointment.

"Excuses, excuses, so many excuses..."

He dove down, nipping her earlobe. Her eyebrows furrowed just a tiny bit for a second, but he knew it wasn't she who was bothered.

You really want Annie to hate me even more, don't you?

"Was there something you wanted? I mean, apart from tickling me."

She snapped out of her conversation with Annie, smiling at him.

"Actually, there was. As you know, I went to New York and... hold on a sec."

She got closer to his neck and sniffed a couple of times, looking at him puzzled.

"Why do you smell like the sea?"

"... Because of my father?"

"Yes, Percy does smell like the sea, but Peter doesn't, he never did."

"I don't know, maybe because while I was in Greece, I took a couple of strolls at the beach."

"But you showered... didn't you? Wait..."

She sniffed again, this time his sweatshirt.

"It's your sweatshirt. But could it...You didn't wash it? Airplane, Greece, airplane, a week and you still haven't washed it?"

She narrowed her eyes.

"You haven't unpacked, have you?"

Percy took a step back, taking the direction to his class.

"Fine, I'll wash it as soon as I get home."

She followed him, hugging his arm and rubbing her cheek against the cloth like a cat.

"Nonsense. You waited all this time, let me enjoy it."

"Is it that enjoyable?"

"I refuse to answer."

"You missed me."

"I MISS you. Peter is not you."

"Just a cheap knock-off."

HEY!

Annabeth reached inside her coat's pocket, grinning when she handed him the half-pound bag of blue M&M's.

"I have another bag at home, and you'll get it when I feel that you deserve it."

He gladly accepted the gift, opening it and offering it to her before taking a handful himself.

"And what do I have to do to deserve it?"

"That is for me to know and for you to find out."

He couldn't help but grin.

"You have no idea."

"Of course, I do, Athena always has a plan."

"Oh, I know. The thing is, that usually consists of faking it until you actually have a plan."

She leaned her body away from him, with offense all over her face but laughing eyes.

"Excuse me!?"

He winked and kissed the top of her head, getting a small smile out of her.

***

"Maybe she's dead?"

Percy and Jay stared at Jordan without stopping, their rumbling stomachs forcing them to the cafeteria.

"Why would she be dead?"

"She's not answering your texts either, right? That on itself is quite alarming, considering that Jodi

texted during some of her episodes of sleepwalking. But she missed a whole week of school. A whole. Week. The only conclusion is that she's dead and we need to go to the woods, search for her body, clean it with oregano..."

Jay interrupted Jordan's monologue with a raised hand and a scowl.

"First of all, I'm pretty sure Jodi said sage is cleansing."

"So what oregano is for?"

"... Pizza?"

"The only ingredients allowed on pizza are cheese and pepperoni."

Are you worried about Jodi?

I mean, Jordan is right, it IS weird that she missed a whole week and haven't been answering their texts, but I don't think she's dead, just...

Missing?

Not likely, but I wouldn't mind dropping by her house, 'cause I don't think she's 100% okay.

Speaking of someone who's not 100%...

Of course, you have to make this about her.

Leaving Jordan and Jay to their discussion of which ingredients are allowed on pizza, Percy approached Annabeth, who was blankly staring at her closed locker.

"What are you worrying about?"

Apart from a tiniest jump at his voice, she didn't move.

"I'm not worrying, I'm pensive. It means I'm thinking."

"Yes, I'm remember what pensive means. But you're thinking about something that worries you. So, what are you worrying about?"

She scrunched her eyebrows and chewed her lips for a bit before answering hesitantly.

"I think... I think I saw Rachel. I mean, our Rachel, while I was in NY."

"You saw her... physically, in a dream or...?"

"In the airport with her parents."

"Ah, so you saw her version. I guess you two didn't catch up."

"No, but I did yell her name. She turned to look at me and I can almost swear I saw her mouth my name."

Is it possible? Do you think your other friends came here but in different cities?

I don't know, it's a can of worms I'm not sure I want to open.

We did talk about how much of a coincidence that you're all here.

It's not us, it's you.

What?

Most of you weren't born here, but somehow found your way to this city. We're all here because you're all here. But why is that?

... Fate?

Oh, please, don't go there.

Right, you met them. They were...

Knitting a sock.

Riiiight, so scary, very traumatic, such chills.

Annabeth snapped her fingers in front of his eyes, startling him a bit. Her tone suggested she was repeating herself.

"Still, I'm not sure if I saw her mouth my name because I wanted to believe she knew everything or if she really knew who I was."

He took her hand and started pulling her to the cafeteria, saying what they're both afraid of.

"And if she knew..."

She sighed heavily, and he could only imagine how long she's been thinking about this possibility.

"Then comes the real problem. How in Olympus are we going to find her? We know she likes to stay off-grid, as basic as she can be. Maybe we could find her through her father?"

"Then we would need to know his surname. We can try Dare, but I don't think it's going to work"

"So that's a dead end. Maybe his company? I remember it was about building malls and other things over empty land, but no more than this."

"I can try to remember something, but she rarely spoke about her family. Most of the time, it was to complain that she didn't like to talk about them, so I wouldn't keep my hopes high. Besides, I don't have the most reliable memory. It did take me several close calls to death to start remembering the Greek myths, as you know."

"Ugh, this is sooo frustrating, I could barely sleep these nights thinking about it."

"While you think, let's eat."

"You want to make me go from frustrated to nauseated?"

"No, I'm giving you something different to be frustrated about."

"By the way, have you seen Jodi? I brought something for her from New York, but I didn't see her between classes and she's not answering my texts. Did she change her number or something?"

"We were discussing that less than five minutes ago. I'll tell you when I know something."

***

When Percy received a text in the middle of class, Nico was the last person he expected it from.

N: I have a substitute teacher.

P: Was that for me?

The next text was a picture and seeing the salt-and-pepper hair, he quickly realized the text was indeed for him.

Who is this guy? One of yours?

In a way, but not exactly. I mean, I know him, but he's human, not demigod. A very cool human, truth be told. Something tells me we're gonna meet him.

That depends on which teacher he's replacing.

Maybe.

What's that supposed to mean?

***

When Percy stepped out of school, someone grabbed his arm and start pulling him to the side.

"Jay? What's wrong?"

"It's Jodi."

What!? What's wrong??

"Is she hurt?"

"Not that I could see, but she's still in a bad shape. Jordan is waiting with her. Do you know where is the big guy?"

"You mean Felix? I don't know, I didn't see him. Maybe he went to see Hannah."

"Who is Hannah?"

"His... girlfriend, of sorts, I think?"

"What!? Big guy has a girlfriend?"

"Eh... maybe? I think so?"

"Ok, we're totaling withholding this information for Jodi, it's the last thing she needs."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see."

***

Jay guided Percy until they got to the park where Percy had gone skating some weeks before. Jodi was sitting under the shadow of a tree, hugging her knees while Jordan gently rubbed her back. Not taking his eyes off her, Percy followed Jay and sat down. Her eyes were sunken and slightly red like she had been crying for a long time. Her skin was paler, pulled tighter over her cheekbones. Her hair, usually a lush black, was oily and with tangled tips. All her movements, from breathing and blinking to her hand absently playing with grass blade conveyed her tiredness.

Wow, she's in really bad shape.

"Hey, Jodi."

Her voice answering back with a 'hi' was as small as it could be.

"I tried to find Felix as well but I couldn't, I'm sorry."

Percy and Jordan could see Jay was not looking directly at Jodi, but her head down, she missed it.

"It's okay, I don't really want him to see me like this. I would hate to have him of all people, pitying me."

Oh, boy...

Please tell me I'm misunderstanding.

If you understand Jodi having a crush, I don't think I can.

Damn...

I agree.

Taking her hand, Jordan pulled it slightly, bringing her attention to them.

"So, what did you want to talk to us? Is it about why you've been missing school? Were you sick?"

She kept staring at their hands connected, before squeezing his and taking a deep breath, hugging her legs closer.

"I... I missed school because of... a sickness, just... except it wasn't my own."

"Your sister?"

She slowly shook her head before leaning it against her arm.

"No, Akemi is fine. It's... my mother. She has..."

Her voice failed and the guys held their breath.

"...sorry, I still can't... the year had started out so well!"

Jay reached out and took her other hand.

"What happened, Jodi? What is wrong with your mother?"

She answered staring at her feet, her voice empty and tired.

"She has stomach cancer."

Damn...

I spend so much time worrying about being killed by mythological monsters I actually forget there are diseases that are just as bad.

"Oh. Wow."

"How bad does it suck?"

She let out teary laughter at Jordan's choice of words.

"A lot. She has had ulcers for years now, so whatever symptom the cancer presented, she just thought it was dull to the ulcer and didn't go to the doctor. So, so stupid, I should've known..."

Repeat after me, quick!

"Unless you're secretly from Kripton and have x-ray vision, there's no way you could've known."

When she gave Percy a small smile, he continued.

"How did you find out?"

Firmly holding Jay's and Jordan's hand to anchor herself, she explained.

"She was in a bad shape after New Year's party, so I stayed with her for the first two days of school, before my father took us to the doctor. A hundred exams later came the bad news 'you have stage IIIB stomach cancer', good news 'it hasn't spread to other organs', dramatic pause, 'yet'. I... couldn't focus on study, so I just stayed home with my mom. Her symptoms didn't get much worse, but the news... it took a toll on her. She... walks around like she's already half dead."

They stayed silent for a moment, before Jordan awkwardly broke it.

"So... the cancer is like, big?"

"It's a stage IIIB. The worst is stage IV."

"It's like IIIA, IIIB, till IIIZ, and then IVA?"

"I wish. It's IIIA, B or C, followed by IV. I feel so..."

Jay patted her hand, his voice full of sympathy.

"Sad?"

"Yes, but it's more than that. It's..."

"Impotence. Someone you love has a death sentence over their head and you can't do crap to help them. You're torn between wanting to run away and never look back, so you won't have the haunting memory of watching them die, and feeling bounded to stay by them until the last second, showing them they're loved, they matter, they made a difference in your life and you don't want to let them go."

She stared at Percy solemnly and nodded her head.

"Yeah, this summons it up."

Silence fell upon then once more, before Jordan removed his hand to clap once.

"Well, since this sucks very much, I would say it calls for my famous hot chocolate recipe. Are you all up to go to my house?"

Jodi's smile at that was the livelier they had seen her that day.

"I think that most definitely calls for hot chocolate."

A/N: Well, I won't even try to explain. Just... I hope I still got it. Did you enjoy it?