Percy Jackson: Genderbent

Chapter 24

Jason's POV:

"How many statues can one museum have?" Perci asked no one in particular, looking at yet another statue. "Or paintings!" Leo piped up from somewhere behind me. "That too," she nodded, angling her head towards his general direction. "Well, probably because there are a lot of people who did art," Nico said. "Yeah. There were also a lot of time periods where new ideas in art were popular -" I started, but Leo cut me off. "What are you, a walking encyclopedia?" He asked, and Perci chuckled. I couldn't help a feeling a little hurt, and Nico's triumphant smirk didn't really help. "Oh, cheer up," Perci said, smiling at me. I felt my heart flutter a little. "that's not a bad thing. My -" she started, but instantly cut herself off.

I raised my eyebrows. What was Perci hiding? I'd noticed she'd done that a lot. Start saying something, then cut herself off looking a little sad. "Go on," I prompted, and I could see the gears in her brain turning. "My, um... friend is one too," shrugged finished off lamely.

I looked Perci up and down. The Cursed shall be freed... The burden relieved... I remembered the lines from the prophecy so long ago. I hadn't thought about those for so long, and I doubt the others had too.

Was Perci the Cursed in the prophecy? I looked at her again. Little pieces started coming together in my mind. Perci... Percy, who had so conveniently been missing when his sister showed up...

Suddenly my thoughts screeched to a halt. It seemed like a giant brick wall had planted itself right in my mind, blocking any further thoughts on the subject. Don't, a voice whispered in my mind. I tried to penetrate the barrier. I was close to something, I could feel it. Suddenly, a clenching headache took over my mind, swiftly and deadly. I gasped, clutching my head. I warned you, the voice seemed to whisper. I sensed whoever it was could do a lot worse than that, and that was only a warning.

"Jason?" Perci asked in concern. All thoughts seemed to stop at the sight of her concerned face, looking at me. I smiled reassuringly at her. "Yeah, I'm fine," I said, and she nodded. I noticed Nico looking at me. Boys must overcome the smitten hurdle. Piper's warning echoed in my ears. Don't let love get in the way of your teamwork with Nico, okay?

I looked over at Nico again, who was looking at me in suspicion. I needed to restore our teamwork, but how? I had an answer, but I wasn't looking forward to it. I sighed, resining myself to what I was about to do. My pride protested as I made my way over to Nico, who narrowed his eyes as I drew near.

"Hi, Nico," I said, and the younger boy looked away. I sighed, and continued. "It has come to my attention that we haven't really been... working well together," I said, and he snorted. "That's an understatement," he muttered. I let a ghost of a smile touch my lips. "Yeah, it is. But I figured, in any good team everyone has to work together," I continued, and he looked up at me. Seriously? his face seemed to say.

I shrugged. "So I just wanted to say... about that fight earlier... I'm sorry," I forced out. Nico smiled softly. "It's fine. I wasn't exactly the best person of that fight either," he said. "So... friends?" I said, sticking out my hand. "We were never friends in the first place," Nico pointed out, and I shoved his shoulder in a friendly way. "I could've been, if you had let me," I said. Just like that, we didn't hate each other.

Nico angled his head towards me. "Yeah... whatever." We walked in silence for a second. "How about this... to the mission?" I asked, and Nico snorted. "To the mission," he agreed, but glanced over at Perci at the split second I did.

She had paused to look at a statue. "Hey... Leo?" she asked the boy, who had gone farther ahead. He seemed to be trying his hardest not to draw mustaches on one of the other statues. "Yeah?" he asked as he trotted over. "Does this look anything like Nike?" she asked, pointing to a marble statue.