The Hero
After the sun set, they made me walk."But scary things hide in the dark!" I complained.
"Leo will protect you." Percy said, and Leo glared at him. I laughed.
"When you don't know what's going on, just smile and nod." I said, then I did both. No, wait. Correction: Then I preceded to do so. Using big words makes me feel better about myself. I tried to keep my brain in one place, but the ADHD wasn't being my friend. I stuck my tongue out at it. It must've looked weird, because the boys looked at me.
"Just, sticking my tongue out. It's normal." I explained, then did it again to prove a point. Percy chuckled and Leo rolled his eyes. Percy stopped walking and started to sway. He stumbled backwards, and lucky Leo was here to catch him because a) I couldn't hold Percy up and b) my brain wouldn't understand fast enough to move. That was sad.
Leo laid Percy on the ground.
"I guess we're camping here tonight." He sighed and sat down.
"How long did it take me to wake up?" I asked.
"I don't know, about a day I guess."
"A day?" I yelled and walked over to him, "We don't have a day! That's too long, we could go a few miles in that time if we walked consistently and we can't loose that distance! You carried me for about ten minutes at at least four times the speed of your normal walking plus my extra weight of about three fifths of you which would make your travel six times harder, but if you went at normal speed with Percy you'd be carrying about nine tenths of your weight at normal speed it would make it only five times harder and if you went at one point five times your walking speed, well actually that would increase the difficulty to five point seven, but if you doubled your speed it would take the stress off your lower body enabling you to travel for longer, and you would be going faster so you HAVE to carry Percy!" What the heck just came out of my mouth.
Leo smiled, the first time I'd seen that in a while.
"My brain hurts." I blinked away black spots.
"So does mine." Leo said. "So, as you were saying?"
"Just carry Percy. We'll take quarter mile intervals so you can rest." He grabbed Percy and looked at me, "Carry him like a dead body. Over your neck and hold his arms and legs. He did as he was told. It felt good to know what I was talking about, even if my brain did legitimately hurt. I guess becoming un-stupid gave you a headache.
"That can't be comfortable." Leo said examining Percy.
"Well, the dead bodies don't mind. Neither should he."
"Yeah but they're dead."
"Percy might as well be. Don't worry, he can't feel a thing. He's completely out cold and..." I picked up his hand, balled it into a fist, then slapped it, "Completely numb. He might be a little sore when he wakes up, but still." Leo rolled his eyes and started walking.
"Double your speed." I warned him. He broke into a slow jog, and I a fast one to keep up. We kept going like that with vague quarter mile intervals until sunrise when Percy started to stir. I decided to play Joker for a little longer. Leo put him down and he blinked awake. I figured the Hero wouldn't like to know that he had been body-carried for a mile or two. I put my finger on my lip for Leo, then bent down to Percy,
"Wakey wakey. You slept for a really really long time. Are you still tired?" Leo smirked at me and Percy stared at me. Just wait for his brain to process... and there it is. He smiled back at me.
"Hello, Annabeth." He said.
"Hello. We were walking for a really long time. I don't know where we are, but Leo was playing pony with you. He wouldn't let me have a turn." Oops, sorry. Dumb blonde over here. I snickered.
"Ok, Annabeth. Cut it." Leo said. I gave him a look of incomprehension, like the one Percy had given a moment before. I blinked a few times, then in an airy voice, I said,
"Whaa?" And wiped the hair off of Percy's forehead. I tried to empty all thoughts from the front of my mind to give my eyes a glazed over look. You'd be amazed how many times I'd actually practiced looking dumb in the mirror. I figured that if I could fake out my enemies, I would have the upper hand. But I could also use it to fake out my boyfriend for fun reasons. He looked into my eyes like he was trying to probe my soul. He smiled at me.
"Drop the act." He concluded and I did.
"I had you fooled!" I protested. Percy just laughed and got up.
"For a little while. You're a good actress, by the way." I smiled.
"I practice." I grinned.
"Why?"
"Was that a noncritical question, or were you serious?"
"Both. And neither." Boys confused me.
"Um, well. I thought that is I could play dumb blonde it might help if I need to psyche out enemies to make them think I wasn't capable of escape."
"Good to know. I would have thought you just got hit on the head real hard." We laughed.
"Let's go." Leo interrupted. He wasn't smiling. We started walking again through the miles of nothingness, not even knowing if we were in the right place.
Join Qfeast to read the entire story!
Sign In. It is absolutely free!
