Tattoos - Heroes of Olympus

1. Sorry About Your Window

Annabeth POV

I slide down the drainpipe and drop to the ground in front of my house. I run to the front and hop into my stepmother's car. I step on the gas and fly down the street. I'm going well over the speed limit but I don't care. It's 1 in the morning, who is going to see me? I skid to a stop in front of a huge mansion. The door opens and Piper comes running out. She's dressed in all black, like me. She jumps in the passenger side and clicks on her seatbelt. I step on the gas again and we head off. Piper squeals and rolls down her window. Her hair flies in the wind as we zoom past stores and houses alike.

We finally reach our destination. An old apartment building near the Queensboro bridge. I stop the car and get out. Piper follows suit and helps me get the bags from the trunk. We both swing big backpacks onto our backs and run to the back of the building. I find the fire escape and dash up it. Piper follows and we silently climb our way to the roof. We reach the roof and quietly take the backpacks off and open them. Inside are cartons full of eggs and spray paint. I take out the eggs and shake the cans of paint. Then I walk to the edge and take an egg. Piper stands beside me and we chuck the eggs at the building beside this one.

When we run out of eggs we get the spray paint. The building is close enough that I can easily write my message on the side. Piper doodles stars and faces on her end. She can be so weird sometimes. But I understand why. Her mom always expected perfection from her, every day and every night since she was born. When Aphrodite moved to California, Piper was left with a big dent. Everyone told her she could be herself now, but Piper didn't know herself. She didn't have a personality because Aphrodite was her personality. She grew up with perfection until it suddenly wasn't there and everyone expected her to change. Change the way she acted, the way she'd worked her whole life. She was expected to completely reinvent herself.

I know a thing or two about being expected to reinvent yourself. I went through it. I grew up trying to fit my own mother's vision. Athena expected me to be just like her, an over-achieving architect working all hours of the day just to fail later in life. Harsh? That's just the way it was at my house. My mother barely had time for me. I made my meals and kept the house clean. I pushed myself hard to live up to her expectation. I was 10 when she died. A truck slammed into her car. I'm told it was a quick death but I wasn't allowed to see the body. They said I was too young. I lived with my dad from then on. Well, he and his wife Helen. I hate her.

"We should go. It's getting closer to sunrise and we have to get the car back" Piper tells me as she packs away the empty cartons and spray paint. I nod grab a bag. We head back down the fire escape and Piper goes ahead of me. Suddenly I trip forward, crashing through the window into a small bedroom. Piper runs back up and gasps. My leg is bleeding from the glass and my head is throbbing with pain. The spray paint can breaks beneath me, creating a red puddle that looks suspiciously like blood. Only half of it is real blood. A startled shout sounds from behind me. I look around to see a woman with brown hair holding a crying baby in her arms. A man stands beside her and a boy my age sits on the bed.

"Dear are you alright? Is that blood?! Oh, your leg! Don't worry about the window. We'll clean that up later. Both of you come inside. We can fix that leg of yours and maybe get some hot chocolate" The woman hands the baby to the man and walks towards us. No. This can't happen. I'll get in so much trouble with Helen if I'm not home. We need to go. Now!

I stumble up and grab Piper. We run/fall down the stairs as we try to get away. I look back and see the boy standing at the window, gaping at us. I turn back around and continue to run to the car. We reach it and Piper gets in the driver's seat. I get in the back and assess my leg. Pieces of glass stick out in odd places and blood is everywhere. It's going to be hard to explain to Helen this.