Chapter Text
Sally was buzzing with anxiety. Percy could see it in the way she constantly tapped the steering wheel as she drove him to orientation at Goode High School.
"Mom," he sighed, fingers playing with the trident charm on his bracelet. "I promise to not intentionally try to blow up Goode."
"Percy," she reprimanded with a small glare. She finally pulled to a stop in front of the school.
Paul was standing out front, greeting kids as they went up the steps. Percy couldn't even begin to describe the relief he felt when his mom told him about seeing Paul again. It felt like the two were destined to meet no matter the timeline, something Percy was eternally grateful for.
"I'm serious!" He defended himself. "And besides, I like Paul! Really!"
"I know you do," she sighed.
Honestly, she was relieved that Percy seemed to have absolutely no reservations about her relationship with Paul. She'd figured he'd be a bit more hesitant considering her last marriage, but her son seemed to take a direct liking to the man which both put her and Paul at ease. Paul had no qualms, and the two seemed to get along swimmingly.
Their conversation was cut short by a tap on the passenger window. Rachel's smiling face peered into the car. Percy's own face broke out into a smile and he and his mother rushed out of the car to greet her.
"About time you showed up," Rachel teased Percy, bumping her shoulder with his. He rolled his eyes.
"We saw each other two days ago, R.E.D."
They're finally attending school together. Percy was glad someone was finally with him, honestly. Piper and Annabeth had each other at their boarding school, the Romans had their own schooling during the year at camp, Leo was in camp year-round having fun at the forges, Nico and Hazel had each other in the Underworld, and Thalia and Grover were each off on their own adventures.
Childishly, Rachel stuck out her tongue at him and promptly turned to Sally. "Hi, Sally!"
"Hi, Rachel," his mom smiled warmly and embraced her in a hug. She pulled a clear plastic bag out of her purse, blue chocolate chip cookies clearly inside. "Just as promised."
The redhead squealed and pecked Sally's cheek happily.
"Why does she get cookies and I don't?" Percy complained.
Sally narrowed her eyes. "Don't think I didn't see you sneak one over breakfast, young man."
Rachel snickered at him before turning serious for a second. "Feeling better?"
"Much," he reassured her.
Up front, Paul noticed their small group and waved at them with a broad smile. Sally, happy with the attention, blushed and waved back. Rachel and Percy shared knowing looks and smirks.
"Okay, you two," Sally turned her attention back to them. "Time to go. Have fun!"
She kissed the tops of their heads before getting into the car and driving off. Percy watched her go with a content smile. He was a mama's boy through and through and would never be embarrassed by her affection in public no matter how old he was.
"Hey, Paul!" He greeted his hopefully future step-father brightly.
"Hey, kiddo," Paul ruffled his hair good-naturedly before turning to Rachel. "Rachel, right?"
"Yes, sir," she beamed. They met briefly when Sally decided to drop off Percy to meet Rachel at the park while she herself went out with Paul.
"Well, uh, welcome to Goode!" He said brightly. "Both of you are gonna love it. Just follow the crowd to the gymnasium. I'll see you later, okay?"
"See you, Paul!" Percy waved before dragging Rachel with him through the hallways. The good thing this time is that since he wasn't sneaking in from another entrance, he didn't immediately run across the empousai.
As expected, it was loud and incredibly crowded. Rachel held onto his hand tightly so they wouldn't lose each other in the crowd. He could feel her own bracelet rubbing against his wrist with how close they were forced to stand.
It was Jason and Leo's idea actually. Jason loved the bracelet Thalia gave him in the winter and roped Leo to make one for each one in their little group. Leo was immediately on board. So, Jason and Thalia have matching lightning charms, Leo has a fire charm, Percy has a trident charm, Annabeth has a brain charm, Piper has a heart charm, Hazel and Nico have matching skull charms, Frank has an arrow charm, Rachel has an eye charm, Reyna has a sword charm, and Grover has a leaf charm. They never took them off. It was a nice reminder to all of them that they weren't alone in this no matter what the odds looked like.
The principal gave his welcoming speech which Percy will admit he understood nothing of. Afterwards, the cheerleaders, or more accurately, the empousai took center stage.
"Think they know about us?" Percy whispered to Rachel and as if on cue, the empousa talking, Tammi, made eye-contact with Percy. Kelli, also turned towards him.
"You jinxed it!" Rachel hissed.
"Oops?" She swatted his shoulder.
"What's the plan?"
"Well, last time you hid in the band room and we destroyed the school so..."
"Outside?"
"Outside."
Holding each other tightly, they pushed their way to the edge of the stands and outside of the gym. Thankfully, everyone was busy with orientation so no one really stopped them until they made it to the outside courtyard.
"Perseus Jackson," Tammi growled from behind them. She was making her way with Kelli in tow towards them, both still clad in their cheerleader uniforms and pompoms.
"Still got your dagger?" Percy asked Rachel.
"Never leave without it," she said. On her birthday, they had gifted her a celestial bronze dagger just in case she ran into trouble. It was small enough that she could hide it within her clothes and take it wherever.
Tammi then switched her demeanor completely, aiming for allure, taking slow and deliberate steps until she came to Percy. "How about a kiss?" She purred, batting her eyelashes.
She was going heavy on the magic, trying to lure him in but Percy had had a lifetime of experience dealing with them. Also, this time around he found himself more immune to any type of seduction or love magic. He supposes its due to his bonds.
So in one swift motion, he uncapped riptide with one hand and sliced cleanly through Tammi, exploding her into dust.
"Ew," Rachel coughed dusting herself.
"You killed my trainee!" Kelli screamed, her human disguise finally melting away revealing her half-vampiric half-donkey true self. Then she practically flew towards them, claws and teeth bared. Percy swung at her but she jumped out of the way, in Rachel's direction.
Rachel tried to stab her with her dagger, but Kelli was swift and much quicker. She raised her clawed hand to strike the girl but Percy quickly stepped in-between them and stabbed her with his blade cleanly.
She exploded into dust. They groaned and coughed, trying to expel the dust in their lungs.
"That went well!" Percy exclaimed, capping and placing Riptide back in his pocket and dusting his hands off.
Rachel looked at him with an expression of pity. "The fact that you call surviving an attack that shouldn't have happened in the first place well is just sad."
"We survived, killed the monsters, didn't destroy the school, and I'm not being chased by cops," he counted on his fingers. "All things considered, this is great!"
Rachel tucked in her dagger back into the band of her pants. "Come on, let's go back before they figure out we're missing."
It was happiness lived too short. The moment they turned back to the doors, four more empousai came into the courtyard from the side, eyes zero-ing on Percy.
"Damn it," he groaned tiredly.
"Any ideas, fish boy?"
"Alright," he focused back, "They want me not you. You go from the side and go back inside. I'll climb over the fence and lead them away from the school. If Paul asks, just tell him I felt sick."
Rachel's eyes darted from him to the approaching empousai. "But-"
"No time! Go!"
And with that, he was already climbing the metal fence surrounding the courtyard and swinging over the top. Years scaling the lava wall at camp taught him well.
He ran into the streets of New York, empousai hot on his tail, his goal being to get them as far away from the school as possible, until he turned into a familiar alleyway. He turned around, finally uncapping Riptide, smiling almost ferally. "Ladies? Shall we?"
"You will die, Perseus Jackson!" The one in the lead snarled and lunged at him, claws brandished. He quickly ducked and side-stepped, slicing her with his sword, before twirling to avoid another one. From the corner of his eye he saw someone approaching the alleyway. Like a blur, he waded through the four monsters, making quick work of them and getting himself covered in monster dust.
Finally, he turned towards the figure leaning against the wall at the mouth of the alleyway, arms crossed and looking bored.
"You could've helped," he called out sarcastically.
"I've seen you take out armies, Seaweed Brain. You looked like you were having fun!" Annabeth replied with a teasing smile and came closer to him, dusting his shoulders and ruffling his hair from the monster dust.
He rolled his eyes good-naturedly, capping his sword away from her. He couldn't help the smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Good exercise, I guess."
"How's Rachel?"
"Alive?"
"Good. Let's head back to camp then," she told him, kissed his cheek, laced her fingers through his and tugged him out of the alleyway to find a cab.
And Percy? Well, if he stumbled after her with a satisfied smile on his face, everyone could tell why.