The Quest
When he took off his jacket, I saw why he kept it on."Dude." I said, "Nico would jump you." I laughed, but he didn't.
"Good thing he's not here then." He said monotone.
"Well aren't you a ray of sunshine." I muttered. I know he heard, but it was like all the emotion had been sucked out of him. He kept a straight face no matter what, like he had no will to be happy. I guess that's what 'Broken' means.
"And, hey." I pressed on, even though I could tell I was being annoying, "ADHD? I see none, what gives?" I was a little jealous because I had lived with it all my life and it was sort of annoying. He had had it much worse than me, now not at all. I had the right to be jealous, and curious. He just shrugged. I was painfully aware of my feet turning on their sides every half second and my fooling with the pocket of my jeans.
"It just went." I hated his straight answers. They needed to be more... Leo.
Annabeth poked her head in,
"Chiron told me to check on you." She explained, trying to rip her eyes off Leo. He was wearing a dark green T-shirt that looked like it had gone through lots of fire and a few shredders. A slash in the center gave way to an eight pack. I had seen hippocampi and unicorns, but I thought those were just a myth.
"We're fine. Why?" I asked. Annabeth finally managed to look at me, finally, then said,
"Because, well," She looked at Leo, "Sorry Leo," Then she looked back at me with difficulty, "Chiron isn't sure if we can trust him." She said quickly, like she wanted to get the words out of her mouth before Leo found out who they belonged to and decided to return them painfully. Leo rolled his eyes.
"Whatever. I wouldn't trust me either." He looked at the floor.
"This is our Joker?" Annabeth asked questionably.
"No." Leo mumbled barely coherently, "I'm the Broken." Annabeth studied him for a minute and I could tell she was enjoying it more than she would ever admit to me, or anyone.
"You don't look very broken to me." She commented. Leo huffed, then turned around and removed his shirt. I thought Annabeth was going to pass out, until I saw the biggest scar running all across his back. It looked like it had been deep, and very, very painful. I winced at it, wondering what had caused it. He turned around before putting his shirt back on, giving Annabeth and I a ten second clear view of the mythical eight-packia.
"How did you get it?" Annabeth asked for me. She sounded like she had just finished undressing him with her mind. Ok, now I was jealous.
"Dragon." He answered simply. "It took..." Then his voice trialed off and he looked at a spot on the ceiling. Even though he was winning over Annabeth from me, I felt bad for him. He didn't want this. I could see it in his eyes when he put his jacket back on and pulled the hood up. He took a deep breath like he was trying to erase painful memories before they came back to life. Whatever had happened to him while he was gone, it had scared him, not only in the physical way, forever. We would never see our Joker in him, and I knew that.
"Me." Annabeth volunteered. She looked so sure of herself I almost believed her.
"Come on, Wise Girl. I don't think..." She cut me off. Rude.
"Rachel told me. Just now. I'm the Joker." She argued. I knew there was no way I would win, so I just nodded slowly. She didn't take it.
"Really! Come on. I thought you trusted me." She gave her fake puppy dog face and blinked her eyes. I chuckled.
"Ok, Joker it is!" I declared.
"What did you just call me!?" She joked, like the title she had been practically begging for was an insult. I laughed some more, and I think even Leo cracked a small grin under his hood.
All three of us walked together back into the weakening crowd of curious demigods. Chiron was there now, and I could easily see him over the heads of the demigods. He had a concerned look on his face as he examined the three of us. Rachel pushed through the crowd and came up to us. She put a hand on each of our heads in turn.
"The Hero." A few people cheered, "The Broken." There were some loving girly sighs that Leo didn't seem to enjoy, "The Joker." And some people laughed. So did Annabeth, so I had to smile. "Chiron." Rachel said, turning to him, "I believe a quest needs to be issued. Something important has been lost, and these three have been chosen to find it and return it to Camp safely. I am sad to say that I don't know what this item is, but I do know where you should start looking. Annabeth" She turned to her, "Say the first state you think of."
Annabeth spoke quickly, like there was always a 'first state' that popped into her head, "Utah." Leo mumbled something like "Are you _____ kidding me." into his hood. I wondered what had happened in Utah to him, and if it would help us.
"There you have it. The Joker leads the way. When you are lost, find her." Rachel pointed to Annabeth like she was glowing, and everyone needed to be watching her. Then the strangest thing happened; she DID start glowing. It was a gold color that made me squint, and it seemed to be hurting Annabeth. The crowed backed up and Annabeth collapsed on the floor in a heap. I ran for her, but Rachel stopped me. No, it wasn't Rachel, it was the Oracle of Delphi.
"Do not touch her. Your times will come. Be prepared." And on the last word she collapsed. Leo sprang forwards and caught her, and all the girls looked jealous like they were plotting to pass out near him so he would catch them. He stood Rachel upright and held her until Chiron made his way through the crowd and took her on his back. Leo stuffed his hands back into his pockets.
Annabeth still wasn't moving, and, gods, I wanted to help her. I wanted to touch her and bring her back to the Poseidon cabin so she could wake up with me smiling down at her. I wanted to kiss her so badly, but I couldn't take the chance that if I did something bad would happen to her. I would just have to wait.
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