Who We Used to Be

Chapter 7

When he landed in the hallway outside of the apartment, he found a slightly peeved off Thalia and Nico waiting for him.

"There you are! How many times do we have to tell you not to wander off like that?", Thalia said scoldingly.

Percy rolled his eyes. Which she chose to ignore as she carried on.

"Whatever. Never mind. Who was it? Monster? Mortal? Did you kill them?".

"Jeez. Calm down with the questions there Pinecone Face", she stuck out her tongue at him but chose not to retaliate in favour of listening to what he had managed to pick about the stalker they all knew was there.

"It was a woman. She was pretty good, too. Hiding in the alleyway across the street. I never would have known she was there if I wasn't me".

Nico scoffed. "Careful. You're starting to sound like Apollo".

"Oh the horror!", Percy cried, faking a horror-stricken expression before busting up laughing.

Thunder rumbled overhead. But instead of sounding like the usual ominous warning they had all learned to ignore, it sounded more pouty.

"Oh relax, Apollo. We're just messing around, you're still one of my favourite brothers", Thalia said, rolling her eyes as the sky thundered again, still sounding slightly too pouty to be normal thunder.

She hitched up the pack on her shoulders before her expression suddenly became deathly serious.

"You ready?".

Nico pulled his mask up and over his chin to rest on the bride of his nose, and Percy's only slightly manic grin was once again adorning his face.

"You know it".

Nico took out a couple of throwing knives and twirled them in his hand while the other casually knocked on the door. Thalia and Percy both stood behind him, flanking him, and each with their own weapons in vaguely threatening positions.

There was a large bang from inside the apartment and some scuffling on the other side before the door finally opened.

A rather handsome man opened the door for them. He had an angular, square jaw, and blue eyes that were quite a shocking colour considering he was only a mortal. His brown hair seemed slightly tussled, and his suit jacket was wrinkled. He smelled of alcohol, and Percy didn't think that the clear liquid in his glass was water.

The sound of music played from somewhere deeper in the apartment, and a few distinct voices could be heard as well as some obnoxious whistling and cat-calling that none of the three liked the sound of at all.

"Can I help you?", his voice was slightly slurred, and he didn't seem to notice the fact that they were all wearing what could only be described as assassin's clothes.

"Mark Garfield?", Nico asked in a monotone voice.

"Yes—", he didn't get to finish his question as as soon as they had a positive ID on him, Nico strengthened the grip on the knife he was flipping in his hand and held it to his throat.

The skull design on the mask that covered the lower half of his face stretched into a grotesque smile, and he pushed the man back far enough to allow Thalia and Percy to enter the apartment behind him and close the door.

Thalia had her hunting knives out and her bow slung across her back and Percy had both his swords sheathed within easy reach on his waist.

"Your daughter. Where is she?", Nico asked him in a deceptively calm voice that he had definitely inherited from his father. A cold shiver ran up the man's spine at the warning and threat clearly hidden in that one question.