ELAPSE | PJO

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 8

{ past / present percy }

Percy sat at the ping pong table in the Big House next to Annabeth, glancing at each of the room's occupants one by one.

Future Percy was there with Future Annabeth, the two sitting much closer than Percy could say of Annabeth and himself. He brushed the thought to the back of his mind.

Chiron was also there, but he didn't seem to be taking the lead as much as he usually would––of course, Percy didn't know him all that well as centaur, but rather as Mr. Brunner, so he could be mistaken.

The strange man with dozens of eyes covering his body––Argus, Percy thought––stood in the back of the room, watching the future company with interest.

Percy twiddled his thumbs, eyeing his future self. There was...something about him that just unnerved Percy.

"We were thinking––" Future Annabeth started, but bit her tongue as the air in front of her shimmered.

Future Annabeth squinted, and the Iris Message came into focus.

"Annabeth!"

Future Percy's head shot up. "Jason?"

"Percy!" Jason exclaimed. "It worked!"

Future Annabeth cocked her head. "Interesting."

Another person from the IM spoke up.  "I told them to try. They wouldn't listen."

Percy was ready to leap across the table so that he was in view of the IM, but Annabeth grabbed his arm and shook her head.

Future Percy raised an eyebrow. "Mom?"

"Sally!" Future Annabeth looked like she wanted to hug her.

My...mom?

Percy yanked his arm from Annabeth's grasp and hurried to get a better look at the image.

"Mom?"

Sally visibly jolted. She opened her mouth to speak, but shook her head and crossed her arms.

"I won't even ask."

Future Percy cleared his throat as Future Annabeth suppressed a laugh.

Percy met Sally's eyes and swallowed. "You're..."

Future Percy put a hand on his shoulder. "Alive. Yeah, she's alive. And stronger than ever."

Sally looked to Future Percy. "Oh. I see." She rubbed her chin in thought. "I'm sorry, it's very hard to take this seriously. Why are there two of you? And why––"

Annabeth chose that moment to show up next to Percy. "That's your mom?"

Sally didn't flinch this time. "And two Annabeths. Lovely."

Future Annabeth laughed. "We think we're in the past. So, yes, there's two of us. What I don't get is how Jason was able to IM me. Shouldn't that have some kind of limit?"

"Thank Iris it doesn't," another person said. This time, Percy knew who it was before he looked.

"Grover...wow." Both Percy and Annabeth admired how little and yet how much he had aged.

Grover squinted. "Percy's twelve years old! Man, this brings me back. Now all we need is Nancy Bobofit and a Minotaur."

Percy didn't try to stop the grin that spread across his features.

"Do you think Iris let it go through just this once?" Future Annabeth looked at the image. "Also, are you in the Poseidon cabin?"

"Obviously," a girl standing next to Grover said. "Can't you tell by the mess?"