Perci Jackson, Alex Hayda, and the Lightning Thief

I Nee...Miss Her

Perci had gotten to camp. Well, that's what she thought it was. As far as she was aware, camps didn't normally have pegasus stables, forges, or sword-fighting arenas.

She wished Alex was here. Alex would've known what to do. Alex always knows what to do.

Perci shook her head. No! No being like this! She didn't need to be around Alex, she just missed the girl. Yeah, that's it.

So why did she feel like a piece of her was missing? Like someone had torn part of her heart out? They left just enough in so she could still feel, but it could understand that part of it was gone. It was like someone had given her enough information to function at the bare minimum, but left a lot out to leave her scrambling for something to hold on to.

The rest of the Hermes cabin was at the volleyball or basketball court. She was sitting on the dock with her legs hanging over as she stared down into the water.

"You stare any harder, you'll burn a hole in the lake."

Perci looked around to see a girl standing there. Her hair was the color of bark, her eyes as orange as the campfire, and had tanned skin. She wore the regular orange shirt everyone wore-Perci's hand went to the hem of her own- and jean capris.

She was nervously standing a couple of feet away from her. She reminded her of Grover when they first met when she looked around carefully before sitting next to her. Next to her was stretching it as the girl sat a couple of inches out of reach.

Perci looked back at the lake. "You don't say."

The girl looked uncomfortable. "I-Is something wrong?"

Perci sighed. "Sorry, it's just that I miss my friend. She's always there for me and now..." She waved her arm around lazily. "I'm here and she's probably wondering why my mom and I aren't at our cabin in Montauk."

The girl nodded. Within a couple of hours, right as everyone woke up, everyone had heard about the girl who killed the Mino-Pasiphaë's son with its own horn and carried Grover down the hill.

"I don't even know if she's a demigod," Perci continued, happy to have someone to rant to. "I mean, by all the crazy stuff she's done it's not impossible, but she could be a mortal. I just-I don't know."

She stood up and paced a bit. "Heck, even if she wasn't one, I know for a fact that she would find a way in here to get to me. She's a bit of an idiot despite her IQ, not to mention an ar... Never mind that."

"Does being around her make you feel safe like I do around Devon?" The girl sat on one of the poles.

Perci scratched her neck. "Uh, she makes me feel safe...Who's Devon though and what's your name?"

"I'm Devon," said a dark voice from below the girl. "And that's Lexi."

Perci jumped and swore. She did not expect the black-haired and black-eyed girl to climb up out of one of the boats and onto the pole next to Lexi.

After a few seconds to get over the jumpscare Perci sat down again. "First, please never do that again. Second, I saw my life flash before my eyes. Oh, did you know that-"

She was interrupted by the Stoll twins running up to the trio.

"Perci, we need you at the border," Tra-, no Connor said. Connor was slightly taller and Travis' hair was a few shades lighter. "Some girl with a sword is yelling to see you and threatening to stab someone if she doesn't."

Devon had a guarded look on her face and Lexi looked worried for her new friend. Were they friends? You usually rant to your friends, right?

Perci jumped up with a smile. She looked at Lexi. "That's Alex."

She quickly ran to the tree she passed when she dragged Grover to the big house. She recently learned it was simply called the Big House. Kind of ironic.

She surprised the other Hermes kids with the speed she put on. She never ran that fast when trying to figure out her godly parent. Who was this Alex that made her run this fast?

She saw Alex.

Alex was covered in dirt as she glared around at everyone. The sword from earlier at the museum that mimicked the pen was in her hand and had been pushed down by Luke.

Her eyes were wide as she looked around. They settled on Perci's form.

Perci didn't remember what words were exchanged until Alex recited them to her later at night. She didn't care. She was just overjoyed that she could hold Alex again.

/

Perci internally cussed when Clarisse reached for her. She also prayed to whatever god or goddess was listening that Clarisse didn't get hurt too badly.

Alex grabbed Clarisse's wrist, pulled the girl toward her, and elbowed her in the neck. She shoved Clarisse back.

"You don't touch Perci." Her eyes had gained that familiar spark they got when she was about to fight.

Clarisse growled and tried to punch Alex in the gut. The girl dodged it by leaning to the side. "Heh. You threw the second punch. That means you've agreed to a fight."

With that, Alex did what she did best other than prove people wrong.

She beat the crap out of the being that tried to hurt someone she loved.

With every swing one of the three Ares kids tried to land, Alex got three in with a left-right-left combo.

Ares kids are naturally good at fighting and getting accustomed to other fighting styles. They couldn't do that because every time they got used to Alex's fighting style, she would switch it up.

Instead of aiming for the sides, she would kick their legs. Instead of aiming for their heads, she would judo-flip them.

She had a wild look on her face as she ran at Clarisse and dropkicked her from behind. She landed on the girl.

"You don't touch what's mine or else I won't hold back as much." She stood up and gave Perci a sunny smile.

"You get blond bitch, I got rat and snake," Alex said.

She grabbed the unconscious Clarisse and one of the lackeys by their legs and started to drag them to the infirmary.

Perci grabbed the other one and followed her.

Perci looked at Devon and Lexi. "What?"