Double Life? Make it Triple

Chapter 16

A/N

Hi guys! Here's the next chapter!

Enjoy!

Percy's POV

I opened my palm and looked at the asterisk shaped wound imprinted there. I had absolutely hated that night.

And I hated reliving it. But I knew I had to to clear my mind.

FLASHBACK

I let the girl clasping my hand pull me along. "Percy, are you sure you want to do this? You won't be able to go back once you're in." I'd brushed off her concern, it was only a silly gang, how bad could it be? "Initiation is horrible."

"Relax, I'll be fine," I replied. "I'll be able to actually be with you. It'll be great!" Nothing could go wrong. I was confident. And way too arrogant. But that's how it was.

"Percy, I can't go in there with you. I won't be able to watch." At the time, I'd thought it was because of some weird initiation rule. But now, I knew it was because she wouldn't be able to bear watching me nearly die.

"I'll see you later," I told her, and walked down the alleyway towards my initiation, and the end of my innocence. A bunch of guys watched me walk in, and I waved.

"Hey, I'm Percy," I said. They just laughed at me. So I tried again. "HEY! I'm Percy Jackson, and I want to join up!" Their snickers ceased, and they stared right at me.

"How old are you, kid?" One of the guys asked me gruffly. He had closely shaved black hair and was wearing sunglasses, despite the fact that it was night.

"Fourteen," I replied, keeping my chin up.

"Confident, eh? And young. If you're as good as you think you are, you'll come in handy," he mused. "Alright kid. We've got a mission that I was gonna do, but I think you can do it instead."

"Yeah? I'll do it, what is it?"

"Ah, the young ones. So naive," he smirked. "I'm sure you've heard of the Titans before, kid?"

"Um, yeah," I replied. Were they going to make me fight one of them or something?

"They have something of ours. We'd like it back. They stole a...package of ours, and we'd like you to return it to us. It should be at their hangout."

"Tell me where," I said.

The guy laughed. "Hold on, I haven't finished. You have to survive the night, no hospital, to fully be initiated. Otherwise, we'll leave you to die."

I'd thought they'd been joking. I hadn't known just how serious it was. So I'd gone to the Titan hideout, feeling on top of the world, and I saw the package as soon as I walked in. The hideout itself was a small, abandoned building with two stories, and I could hear people on the second floor above me. I flinched as a beam nearly took out my eye, but it left a decent sized scratch on my forehead. I'd thought that that had been painful.

I'd picked up the box and was heading towards the door when a guy stepped in front of me. He was tall, with blonde hair, and a wicked grin. I sucked in a breath.

"Hey, kid. You lost or something?" He asked. I frowned. I'd thought he would've tried to kill me.

"Yeah, I got lost, and I don't know how to get home," I'd said, trying to sound as scared as possible. Which was pretty easy, seeing as this guy was at least five years older than me and I was alone with him. Even if he seemed friendly so far, I couldn't be sure.

"Hey, I can help you out. I have my car parked outside, I could drop you home," he offered.

"Oh, no, it's fine. I just called my mom and she's coming to get me."

He grinned at me. "Alright, kid. What's in the box?" He asked, nodding to the package I was gripping.

"My console." Wow, how believable, Percy. You just happened to leave your console in an abandoned building. Good job. And so, to distract him from my obvious lie, what did I say next? "What's your name?"

Why did I ask him what his name was? I should've been running!

"Luke Castellan," he answered casually, and I felt slightly better. This guy didn't want to hurt me, he wanted to help me.

"Actually, Luke..." I began, thinking of a plan. "Could you drive me somewhere? My mom's work is really close, and I'd really appreciate it." Then I wouldn't have to walk all the way back to the Half-Blood hideout. Luke smiled and nodded.

"Sure, my car's just out here. So, what's your name, kid?"

"Uh, I'm Percy. Percy Jackson."

Luke unlocked his car, and we both got in. Then he started the engine. "So, Percy, where are we going?"

"Um, Thirty First," I told him. He nodded and began driving in that direction.

"You know, Percy, I don't think I've seen you before," Luke mused. I shook my head.

"No, you probably haven't," I said, starting to get confused. What was he talking about? How could he know me?

"Which means you must be a new recruit. Let me guess, this is your initiation?" I froze, and he stopped the car. Oh hell, what did I just get myself into? "Do you want to know which gang I belong to, Jackson?" I shrugged. I didn't really care, I just wanted out of the car. I tried the doors, but they wouldn't open. "I'm in the Titans. Not very high up, but that doesn't mean I can't kill you."

I scanned the car for anything I could use as a weapon. I was used to being hit around courtesy of my stupid stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, but I knew that this guy would fight smart instead of just aim at me in a drunken rampage. There was nothing in the car except for me, the other dude, and the box I was holding. Maybe I could use whatever was in the box somehow. So I opened it, and looked down at the contents.

A pen. They'd wanted me to steal a pen.

Was this a joke? Did they not take me wanting to join seriously? "What the hell?"

Luke smirked. "Oh, they didn't tell you what that does? Wow, the Half-Bloods really are losing their game."

"How'd you know-" Luke cut me off by drawing a knife from the side of his seat. I stared at it, swallowing hard.

"So, Jackson, you wanna join a gang?" I didn't answer. "Well, it's hell. But I'll do you a favor, I'll make tonight so bad, nothing else could possibly compare. How does that sound?" He trailed the knife down my arm, barely grazing me but still drawing blood. I didn't flinch. "Ooh, tough guy, huh? If only they'd told you what that pen does, Percy."

Luke stabbed his knife right at my forehead, and I think I would've died if I hadn't raised my hand to block it. Of course, his blade just sunk into my palm, and I bit my lip to hold back a scream. The blade had probably gone at least halfway through my hand. Luke just laughed and slashed again. I knew he'd just keep going until I was dead, so I retaliated and launched forward, tackling him and making him fall back into the window. In hindsight, that was a really bad idea, because it caused me to barrel over him, and his knife sliced down my stomach and across my hip. I couldn't suppress my yell, and I realized that I was still holding the pen. The cut in my side was at least two inches deep, and I'd probably bleed to death within ten minutes, but as long as I had the pen, I was okay, right? Frustrated, I clicked it and got the surprise of my life when it somehow unfolded into a long, deadly looking knife. Luke looked at me in surprise, and I noticed a twinge of fear in his eyes.

Now that I had a weapon, I felt better. I sliced at his arm, and he barely managed to deflect it. Then he grinned.

"You wanna step it up, Jackson? Fine by me." My stomach dropped when I realized that he hadn't been fighting at his full potential. I put up an okay fight, considering I'd never had any experience, except for occasionally punching Gabe and fights at school, but they were nothing compared to this. I managed to s***h Luke's cheek, and gasped as blood trickled down the side of his face. But that only made him angrier. He disarmed me straight away, and began punching and kicking me. He landed blow after blow, and I was in too much pain to fight back. I'd managed to put the knife back in my pocket (in pen form), just in case I somehow made it out of here alive. But I also had to survive the night, without going to a hospital, and I was way too far in to give up now. It was either join or get killed.

I felt like death. Both my eyes were nearly swollen shut, but it wasn't like I could see straight anyway with my vision swimming and black spots clouding what little I could see. My lips had split, and they were puffed up and bleeding. And that was only my face. I felt like someone's personal punching bag, with all the bruises I could already feel forming. Luke's next strike slashed through my calf, and suddenly, the pain faded away. All I could feel was adrenaline racing through my veins, and I dodged the next punch, pressed the unlock door button on his car keys, and kicked him in the face, right where I'd cut him. Then I climbed out of the car and sprinted down the alley. I knew my energy boost wouldn't last long, and I had to make it back to the hideout. I was nearly there when my vision went completely black. No, no, I couldn't pass out now, I had to make it back! I couldn't fail..I couldn't...

I ran on, my thoughts blurring together and my ears ringing with the nearby traffic. I had to make it. I had the pen. All I had to do now was stay alive. Which was sounding a lot harder with every passing second. Finally I stumbled into the alley, and the same dude from before was waiting. I retrieved the pen from my pocket, and held it up. I couldn't stand any more and collapsed to my knees, but managed to stay conscious long enough to hear the dude's last words.

"You know, maybe this kid is as tough as he sounds." I didn't hear what the replies were, because I finally succumbed to temptation and let my mind drift into unconsciousness.

END FLASHBACK

I stared up at the sky and realized that the fire was probably already started, and the firecrackers would be going off soon. I did feel calmer though, which was a relief. I hated remembering my past, but sometimes it helped, in a weird sense. A flash of movement to my left caught my eye, and my head whipped to the side. I didn't see their face, but I knew that blonde hair, that confident walk, the tall figure. Luke Castellan was here, at my summer camp.

"f**k," I swore, and stood up. I had to get to the fire. I didn't know what I'd do, but there must've been a reason for him to be here, right? And it was probably because of me, since he'd taken to hating me even more than usual lately. I sprinted back to the edge of the forest, and I'd nearly made it back to the fire when I realized my wig. I carefully placed it back on my head and strolled into the clearing. No one even glanced my way, excluding Beth. She was sitting near the back, and she waved when she saw me.

"Glad you could make it," she whispered, and gestured to everyone else, who were all singing some dumb song. "The crackers'll be going off soon. Are you ready for everyone to get the fright of their life?"

I grinned back at her. "You bet. This is gonna be awesome."

"Now all we need is Flight of the Bumblebee to start playing and we're set."

"That would've been the perfect touch," I agreed. "Too bad we don't-is that an iPod?"

She grinned and slid her thumb across it to unlock it. "Not mine, actually, but I downloaded it before. You're welcome."

"Holy crap, you're a genius!"

"I know," she said smugly. I was about to reply when the first firecracker was set off, and everyone screamed when it shot into the air. Beth started playing the song, and we both sat there, laughing at the other campers and admiring the display we'd created. It did look pretty awesome.

Beth turned to face me, and her entire face was lit up, making her look a billion times more beautiful. We shared a smile, and she didn't protest when I leaned down to kiss her for the second (third if you count the mummy) time that day. And no, this time we didn't fall out of a stable.

Annabeth's POV

Pierre had told me to meet him by the canoe lake, and I'd said sure, because I had nothing better to do at seven in the evening. I was the first to arrive, and I sat down underneath one of the trees as I waited. I wondered what he had in store. When he came into view I waved and he froze.

"Hey! Uh, I was supposed to get here first...did I seriously screw this up already? Um, do you mind looking the other way for like five minutes?" He asked, running his hand over his hand. I chuckled and spun around.

"Go ahead. And you're not late, I'm just really early."

"I should've set up earlier," he muttered.

"Hey, don't trust a perfect person," I said cryptically. I'd heard a Twenty One Pilots song that said not to trust a perfect person, and I'd taken that advice to heart. I heard Pierre moving something, but I didn't want to look to see what.

"Was that a TOP reference?"

I felt my jaw drop. "How did you pick that up?"

"Hey," he said, and I could practically feel the shrug in his voice. "I've heard the song. I...don't actually know how I picked up on that. I'm normally pretty dumb."

"That'll be my brilliant influence," I cracked.

"Maybe. That's just a sign that I should spend more time with you."

"Was that an offer or an order?"

He paused. "That would depend on your willingness."

"Then I'm up for it." I waited for about two more minutes until he finally said, "okay, I'm done." I turned around and gaped. He'd set up a postcard-perfect picnic, with an old school basket and white and red rug. "Oh my gods, Pierre!"

He scratched the back of his neck. "Is it too cliche? I knew I should've got the other rug-" I cut him off with a hug.

"No, it's amazing! I can't believe you actually went to this much effort," I told him in awe, sitting down on the rug and staring out at the lake below us. He took a seat beside me and grinned.

"What, no one's ever done something like this for you?" I shook my head. "I don't believe that. You're too beautiful to not have anyone put effort in."

I felt my cheeks heat up slightly at the compliment, and I smiled widely at him. "I don't suppose you have food in that basket?"

He snorted. "What kind of awful person wouldn't bring food to their first date?" He lifted the flap of the basket and pulled out a bunch of delicate ham sandwiches. I gaped at them, and Pierre chortled.

"Oh, I didn't make these. That would be Katie," he explained. I raised my eyebrows.

"Really? What'd you have to do to get her help?"

"Well, she was the main reason I came to talk to you at the stables yesterday. I was too much of a coward to do it without someone encouraging me." He frowned when I started laughing. "Is the fact that I couldn't do it myself really bad?"

"No, no," I assured him. "It's just...it's nice that you admitted that. Most guys I know wouldn't dream mentioning how they were too much of a wimp to talk to me."

"Well, most of the guys you know are jerks," he stated. I started chuckling.

"Oh, if only you knew. One in particular, he's an asshole, but I don't want to think about him right now. Do you know any particularly awful girls?"

Pierre started laughing. "Like, all of them? Really, though, I don't usually...pay all that much attention to most girls. I kinda...ignore them, I guess. There's one that's pretty infuriating though. I may have driven her to it."

"Really? I can't imagine you being bad enough to make someone hate you," I said truthfully.

He shrugged, grinning. "Oh, you wouldn't believe it. This girl, though, she thinks I'm a massive prick. She kinda has the right to.I don't know what to make of her now, though."

"What'd you do to her? Nothing horrible, I hope?"

"You don't need to worry. It's not...it's just one of those relationships where we automatically hate each other. Do you get that?" The feeling where you hate someone as soon as you look at them? Oh, yes. I get that very much.

"Yeah. Definitely," I told him.

"Well, I don't like thinking about that, and I'm sure you don't either, so let's change the subject. What do you wanna do after high school?"

If I didn't end up dead because I finally pushed some gang leader too far? "Well, my mom says that I can go to this really elite college since she pulled some strings, and I can take over from her at her architecture firm."

He tilted his head. "Not what you think you're going to do. What you want to do."

He'd piqued my attention there. "There's a difference?"

He nodded. "Yeah, of course. I don't think I'm going to do very well in life, but I want to do something around the water. Even if it's just as a lifeguard or something."

"I'd like to be an architect," I said. "But...I want to do it in my own time, and travel a lot. My mom wants me to stay here and design everyday type buildings that'll earn lots of money, nothing new or interesting."

"That's cool. You're smart, so you'll do well in anything you do. But me, I'm not that great at anything. I don't really think about the future, because I'm afraid of what it holds for me." He was staring out at the lake, a far-away look in his eyes. I knew that look. I stared up at the branches overhead and watched as the leaves danced in the breeze.

"I think that you'll be happy wherever you end up. Me, yeah, maybe I'll get some fancy job and get paid a good wage. But I don't think I'll end up where I'd like to be." That was because I'd probably end up dead in an alley, instead. I chewed my lip and rocked back and forth. "Well off, but not content."

"Isn't that always the way?" Pierre muttered darkly. I turned my head to look at him, and he had leaned his head back against the tree, seeming to be deep in thought.

"Unhappy and well off, or happy and living a sucky life. I don't think I fall into either," I mused. He arched an eyebrow at me, and I continued. "My life sucks, and I'm not exactly happy about it. That's why I'm on this camp, to get away from everything."

He nodded in sympathy. "Yeah, I get it. I'm like you, except I kinda chose the s**t in my life."

"Why would you do that?"

"It was...a spur of the moment thing. Heart over head, and all that." We both fell silent, and I watched as a school of fish swam just below the surface of the canoe lake. "Hey, Beth?"

"Yeah?"

"Ever wanted to know how to canoe like a pro?"

I'd always been shaky around the water. Once when I'd been on holiday somewhere near the Bermuda Triangle and I don't know what had driven me to do it, but I'd had the urge to jump off of the side of our boat. I'd almost drowned until someone had swam down to save me. I remembered it had been a boy around my age, but that was it.

And now I was back in a boat. I didn't know how to feel.

"Okay, you're doing fine. Just keep your knees up under the edges. You're okay, Beth." Pierre had put up with my nerves, and I was starting to get used to the feel of being in the canoe. He was keeping the boat steady while I teeter-tottered, practicing righting myself. "Why are you so scared of the water?"

"It's not that I'm scared, necessarily," I explained, and stabbed my paddle into the water. "I've just...had a bad experience. I'm actually a decent swimmer, but boats...I'm afraid of them." After all, a boat had somehow given me the desire to drown myself.

"Boats can't hurt you."

"Tell that to my younger self," I mumbled, and managed to stop myself from tipping out. "I think I'm actually getting it, now."

"I think you're starting to get over the fear. Which is-" I tuned out when I saw someone in the bushes. Oh no, oh no, oh gods no!

Luke Castellan was staring right at me.

So, it says that I've gotten more reviews, but they aren't showing up so I'll reply to them next chapter instead. But I gotta go, so bye!

HV