Chapter 15: A Beam of Light Named Estelle
Percy P.O.V.
I felt so ashamed and useless. I haven't been much help to Annabeth or Larisa these last few days. I've been sleeping the majority of the time and I've found no leads. Worst of all, my nightmares are becoming worse. I suspect it has something to do with all the deep sleep I've been getting and being separated from Annabeth for this long. Annabeth and Larisa are depending on me, I can't let them down.
We were catching a lift in the white vehicle of the Namibian farmer. He called his car a bakkie but it looked quite similar to a pickup truck. Larisa was conversing with him in the rough language, trying to get information. She told me afterwards that the language they were speaking was Afrikaans, it was the official language of only two countries; Namibia and South Africa. She also said that it was about two more hours until we were in Windhoek, she was going to take a nap.
Larisa deserved her nap. She'd been keeping watch while I was sleeping the whole time and she'd put up with my nightmares. The car ride was very awkward, seeing as the farmer and I couldn't understand each other. At some point, he pointed at the radio and said a few words in Afrikaans. I assumed he asked if I wanted to listen to music, so I nodded. He turned his radio on and Afrikaans music started playing. Jannie started humming along and tapping his fingers against the steering wheel to the beat.
I wanted to ask the guy so many questions like why he was driving on the left side of the road and if Namibia had a history of violence and wars. I wanted to gather information, to help Larisa find her home and to help myself find Annabeth. Sadly, the language barrier served as a big problem.
As it was becoming dark, we entered Windhoek. Larisa and I briefly visited the supermarket and then booked ourselves into a cheap motel for the night. We could only afford a room with two twin beds and a crappy bathroom, no hot water.
Larisa was already laying in bed by the time I went to the bathroom to clean myself up before bed. The guy in the mirror shocked me. Last time I saw my reflection was probably a month or two ago. My face was sunken and my eyes were dull. To think back, I had been eating less, losing my appetite. Probably a withdrawal symptom from the love of my life. I washed my face and started brushing my teeth.
"Per-, wha-, Annabeth?!" A very familiar husky voice from inside the room exclaimed. "Percy found you! What happ-" I barged out of the bathroom door before Grover could get his hopes any higher. "Percy! It's your mom, she's in labour," Grover said as soon as he saw me, moving his attention from Larisa to me. His voice was more nervous than usual. Mom was seven months when I left, had it been two months then? I'd lost track of time. I instantly became extremely nervous, more nervous than I had ever been in my life and that's saying a lot. I scanned the surroundings visible in Grover’s Iris message, hoping to catch a glance of my mom with her bulging stomach. All I saw was a broom closet.
"Grover!" I said as a greeting. Once the nerves hit, I forgot all about the misunderstanding Grover had with Larisa, thinking she was Annabeth."Can you get me the coordinates of the hospital my mom is at?"
He looked confused and asked, "Why?" I hadn't told anyone about my vapour travelling ability yet, it was relatively new.
"I recently found out that I can travel through water particles, I just need coordinates for it to be accurate," I hurriedly explained. Grover looked pained.
"Percy, you can't come," he said. I was about to exclaim in protest, but he quickly continued. I probably looked pretty mad "There are three police officers outside your mom’s room. They said you committed some serious crime in London but never specified. They'll throw you in jail if you show up here." I sank onto the bed behind me in despair. My world was falling apart, Annabeth was missing, I couldn't see my mom or my new baby sister and the police were out for my guts for a crime I didn't even commit. "Hey, Percy, don't worry, man. I'll update you as much as possible." I sat there for a moment taking it all in. After some time Grover asked, "So, um, what crime did you commit, or was it just mortals being mortals and blaming demigods for everything?" he asked nervously.
"Huh, oh, yeah, just mortals being mortals. I'll sort everything out later," I said, bringing myself out of my stupor.
"Great and you found Annabeth! I can't wait to tell everyone," he said, each cheerful word a stabbing reminder that I haven't found my Wise Girl yet.
"No, Grover, um, this is Larisa," I said pointing at Larisa in the corner. She stepped closer and gave an awkward wave.
"Nice to meet you," she said with her rough, yet melodic accent. Grover looked shocked.
"I had mistaken her for Annabeth the first time too," I said, trying to make him feel better.
"Wait, Percy, I don't understand, explain, please. We've got time before your sister is here," Grover said. I paused for a moment to think and then launched into the story of how Larisa and I met, with the occasional chip-in from Larisa. I explained how we thought Annabeth might be held captive by people from Larisa's unknown life and how we thought Larisa might be a double agent in, perhaps, a war. I told him how we searched Romania, Guyana and Micronesia for leads and how we ended up in Namibia. I told him that we found the countries where one of the languages Larisa spoke, Afrikaans, was spoken and that we were going to search them now. Grover took all this in and said that he was going to take a breather, go check on my mom and IM me once he got more information.
So here I sat on the edge of my bed, foot tapping. Larisa was inspecting the bottom of her foot, where her brand mark was. This reminded me of the bastards keeping Annabeth captive. A burning rage washed over me. What kind of assholes burned a serial number into a child. I could only imagine what they were doing to Annabeth. But Annabeth was strong, she survived Tartarus, she’ll survive this. She just has to hold on a little longer so I can find her.
I looked at the beat-up clock on the wall, it has been about an hour since I last spoke to Grover. I watched a few more hours pass in anticipation. Larisa took a nap while I glared at the clock as if it would solve all my problems.
“Percy, your sister, Estelle has been delivered safely. She’s beautiful,” Grover’s excited voice said through the newly appeared Iris Message. My face lit up in joy.
“And my mom? Is she fine?” I asked with a big smile on my face.
“She’s perfectly fine, nothing to worry about,” Grover said. He looked tired. I looked out of our motel window and saw that it was getting light outside. It was probably the middle of the night in New York, considering the six-hour time difference.
"Thank you so much, man,” I said. "I'll let you get some sleep now."
"No problem. Good luck with finding Annabeth. I wish I could help you," Grover said apologetically.
"No worries," I said. We said our goodbyes and ended the IM. I was happy, I really was. One little beam of light shone through the darkness surrounding me. The beam of light was named Estelle. I was stuck in my happy little world until Larisa dragged me back to reality.
"Congrats on your new sister. But, the serial number on my foot," she said. "It always prickled my mind. I think I've found out why. PoTF10953SA," she said the code aloud. "I think the Po stands for 'Property of' and the SA part for 'South Africa'. I'm not sure what the TF stands for, yet. Probably for the organisation that branded me."
"Then let's go to South Africa and kick some butt. I need to find Annabeth and meet my baby sister," I said determined to reach my goals.
Larisa smiled.
Percy is going to be an amazing big brother. Please discuss this with me in the comments.
Let me know how you feel about the story so far!
Enjoy breathing
-LadyLlama13
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Mortal Waters
Fanfiction"Who are you?" I asked for the third time, my voice wasn't as harsh anymore. "Larisa," she answered shortly, "How did you do that?" "Larisa who?" I asked ignoring her question. "How did you do that?" she asked again, clearly she was stubborn. "It's...
