Percy Jackson and the Saviors of Tartarus

Adjusting

Some Time Later, Jenna's POV

"Wow, I still can't believe what you've done with the place." Neo said to Annabeth as we came in from our morning run.

"You've only said that eighty times." She replied, although there was still a sense of pride in her voice. A while after arriving, Annabeth had taken it upon herself to completely redo our entire house. At first, Neo, Alex, and I had been skeptical, wondering how she would pull it off with virtually no outside support. Finally, Annabeth's pestering and Percy's complete trust in his girlfriend had won us over.

We were all floored with the results. She had managed to increase the space within the house while barely tampering with the walls and supports, only making them stronger using just what we had laying around and a pile of wood we had found for her out back. She had redesigned our beds, making them more durable and comfortable, weaving mattresses out of whatever materials she could find. Even more impressive, she had fashioned a system that brought the fiery river water straight through our kitchen window, so it was readily available and we didn't have to go outside.

Annabeth turned out to be a blessing to our group. With her, Percy was almost unrecognizable to the person he had been before. He laughed and joked with us, and over time spilled more and more of his story. The more he said, the more I pitied him. I'd been pretty inconsequential at camp, so the gods never took much of an interest to me until I threw my shield at Zeus. I'd been jealous of the more prominent demigods, but now I realized how life-ruining all that attention could be.

Another benefit of having Annabeth around was that there was finally another girl around. I was a tomboy, so the overwhelming majority of males had never bothered me too much, but it was a relief to have another girl around. She also got along well with Alex, both being serious leader-types that were only interested in the best for everyone around them.  She seemed to sincerely enjoy Neo's company, and take him under her wing as almost her little brother.  The new Percy and Neo also had much more in common now after his personality changed, and Annabeth enjoyed sitting off to the side and enjoying their antics.

The most pressing problem we faced in Tartarus, thanks to all of our out-of-place amenities, was boredom. We ran every day, but that only took up a tiny slice of the day. The original trio, Alex, Neo, and I, had even developed a secret language just for the fun of it, which we quickly shared with Annabeth and Percy. We told stories, some real and some made up. Annabeth designed little contraptions to do whatever she wanted, Neo sang, Alex wrote some of the stories we told, and Percy played with Aéras.

Our favorite way to pass the time, however, was with laughter. We told jokes, funny stories, and pulled pranks to no end. Sometimes they would go a bit too far, but they were fun nonetheless. It was hard to hold a grudge when there were only four other people in your world.

Although we had somewhat of a good time, that didn't stop the home sickness. Alex, who had been gone the longest, still sometimes fell victim to the wanting of home. I would sometimes catch him curled up on his bed, pretending to sleep, although I could see his body shaking with sobs. We all fell victim to it occasionally. Even cheery Neo would sometimes be bed-bound with grief. Percy and Annabeth were pretty well off, as they had each other, but they still would sometimes look back on what once was, and wonder aloud how all of their old friends were doing.

I knew the feeling, I would have given anything to know about how my brother was doing. We were twins, and he was in the Ares cabin with me. I could still remember the look on his face when I had let the shield fly, a surprised yet terrified look. I remembered the dread in his voice while he told me everything was going to be okay. The last thing I had seen before I began the endless fall was his face, sad and lonely. That was the only time I had ever felt any remorse for what I had done. I missed him every day.