《The Change》Chapter Six

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Hazel and Frank were strolling down towards the beach, hand in hand, trying not to get run over by a group of campers bicycling. Once a particularly close one zoomed by and frightened Frank enough to make him yelp and trip into Hazel. Both of them fell into the dirt as a heap of limbs. As they looked up they noticed Piper sprinting down towards them.

"Hey!" she screamed waving her arms wildly. "You gotta come to the Big House! Annabeth had a dream about Perseus in Tartarus!"

Hazel's eyes widened until they looked like Dobby's. "WHAT?"

Piper stuttered to a stop in front of them. "Yeah. I know. Weird, right? Annabeth slept in and when Leo and I went to get her there were these Athena campers trying to pull a pillow out from under her head to wake her up." Frank and Hazel shared a look. "But that's unimportant. They didn't get a chance to do it, but Annabeth woke up, mumbled something about Perseus killing Tartarus, breaking a glass ornament or something, and then went back to sleep."

Piper's wide eyes darted between them, before her eyebrows furrowed. "What are you two doing on the ground." A slight smile appeared on her face. "Hazel, do I need to tell Nico about this."

Before Hazel could stutter out a reply Frank morphed into a cheetah and ran to the Big House.

Piper turned and looked after him. "At least he has good self-preservation instincts" Hazel just smiled before they both tried their best to sprint after him.

Once in the Big House, the first thing Frank noticed was Perseus sitting in a chair with his feet on the ping pong table while scrolling through a phone. Frank's eyes flashed to Chiron who shrugged stiffly, eyes wide and worried.

Perseus looked up and smiled at Frank.

For a moment, Frank could almost trick himself into thinking it was Percy.

Almost.

"Hey, become a human again," Perseus scolded lightheartedly. "You're gonna freak out Seymour."

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Frank looked down, embarrassed, before morphing back into a human. "So," he looked around the room and swallowed before rocking back on his heels nervously, "what is the meeting about?"

"Don't act like you don't know." Perseus took his feet off the table in a wide, dramatic arc. "I know you guys called this meeting to talk about me. I may have my moments, but I'm not actually stupid."

"Uh," Frank looked towards Chiron again. What should they say? "Well, yeah, I guess." He looked down at his feet. "You were just so—uh—surprising yesterday that we need time to process your new amazing power and skill." He nodded once he finished. It wasn't very subtle.

Perseus shot him an incredulous look as Piper and Hazel stuttered to a stop in the doorway. Hazel looked towards Frank for a clue as to what was going on, but he looked more scared than her.

"O-oh, silly me," Piper began. "For some reason, I thought we were having a meeting. I guess Hazel, Frank, and I will be on our way."

"Wow, you guys suck at this," Perseus said with a lopsided grimace. "How did you survive so long without my fine ass saving you?" No one said anything. Chiron began to clear his throat loudly. "And how much charmspeak did you put in that? I mean seriously, Frank already spilled the jellybeans."

Piper shot Frank a look that promised a lecture of biblical, or mythical, proportions later.

"It's fine." Perseus shrugged. "I really don't care. I'll just leave you guys to your PTO mom gossip fest."

"Yeah," Piper laughed. Her elbow shot to the side into Hazel's ribs, and Hazel began to force out laughter as well. "We're such gossips, but you know me. I'm a daughter of Aphrodite after all."

Perseus narrowed his eyes. As he walked out of the door he passed Grover. He stuttered to a stop, and all of the room's occupants held their breath, as he turned around to stare at the satyr. "Why are you even here? You're not a cabin leader."

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Grover's lip began to quiver as his expression froze in shock. He could never imagine Percy ever acting like this.

"You know what? I don't even care at this point." Perseus shook his head and continued off to the Poseidon cabin.

Grover's eyes welled with unshed tears as he made his way to sit down. Chiron wheeled over and immediately began consoling him. The rest of the seven and Nico entered, confusion apparent on all of their faces once they noticed the nearly sobbing satyr.

"What happened to Grover?" Annabeth questioned Chiron after she began to hug him.

"As much as it pains me to say it," Chiron started, "It's unimportant. Perseus was just being rude, and it's a cruel reminder of all we've lost. What we really need to talk about is whatever you saw in your dream, Annabeth."

She looked up and around at the people staring at her expectantly. "Well, there's not much to add. It was a rather quick dream. I only caught the tail end of the fight." She hesitated for a moment and caught everyone's eye before continuing, "They were in some small room. It was really bright, and I could see that his eyes were still green—uh—he looked completely normal, but he was crying a lot, and then I saw him stab downwards into the physical manifestation of Tartarus." She folded her arms in front of her chest protectively. "That's all I saw."

"There must be something more!" Jason blurted out. "I mean people don't just kill primordial beings."

"Well, Jason, I don't know much more than you!"

"Come on! You dated the guy! Were there any dark secrets he was hiding? Any special abilities?"

Leo stepped forward and shoved his arm in front of Jason. "You said something about Percy shattering a glass ball."

Annabeth's eyes grew as wide a schist rock. "When did I say that?" She shuffled in her chair.

"When you were first waking up," Jason said as he pushed in front of Leo. "Now, why are you hiding things from us."

Annabeth sighed, "Look, when we were in Tartarus together, it wasn't exactly Elysium. Some stuff happened down there that I promised Percy to never tell anyone about."

Chiron looked at her sadly. "I'm sorry, Annabeth, but you could have never predicted this situation. We need to know everything about Tartarus, and deep down you know you have to tell us whatever it is that happened."

Annabeth looked down at the floor before she rubbed her temples and began to speak. "In Tartarus Percy and I came across Akhlys. Long story short she tried to poison us." Annabeth's words caught in her throat, but she eventually started again. "Percy turned her poison back on her and used the water in her body to basically torture her. I was able to stop him, but later he said that unlocking that power felt like a glass ball inside him broke a little." She swallowed. "Yesterday when I went to talk to him he said to me 'the glass ball broke completely this time.'"

The room was silent.

"Well, fuck."

"Leo!"

"What? We were all thinking it. That is some messed up shit right there. And that's me saying it! I'm friends with a girl who died in the forties, a guy who's in love with a brick, the daughter of a movie star who likes to shoplift cars, and don't even get me started on Frank."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Frank stood up.

"So not the point here!" Leo threw his arms up.

"That's not even the worst of it." Everyone turned to look at Nico who was standing in the corner.

"What, Nico?" Jason raised his voice. "How can it get much worse."

Nico looked straight into Annabeth's eyes. "When was the last time anyone checked in on Sally Jackson?"

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