Fall From Glory || A Percy Jackson story

Chapter 6: The Man Without a Soul

I woke up with Annabeth splayed out on top of me, and I smiled as she shifted slightly. Her head was resting on my chest, and I had to use a hand to get all of her hair out of my face. All in all, probably the best way to wake up in the world. 

I laid back onto my pillow, perfectly content to stay in that position for as long as Annabeth was willing to. After several minutes of laying with my arms around her, she stretched and yawned, blinking the sleep out of her eyes as she looked up at me blearily. She smiled softly, and I felt like I was in Elysium. 

"Good morning," she said, smacking her lips tiredly. I grinned. 

"Morning," I replied. To my disappointment, she only gave me one kiss before getting up and walking over to my bathroom to shower. I watched her walk away with a goofy smile on my face, my shirt still on and hanging down do her mid-thigh. She grabbed her jeans and her shirt as she went in, tossing them into the washing machine before she closed the door. 

In the Poseidon cabin, everything related to water worked amazingly well, and that washing machine could wash and dry clothes in under ten minutes, which was a real lifesaver when I wanted to wear the same hoodie two days in a row even though it was covered with soot from the lava-spewing rock wall. 

I grabbed a clean pair of clothes for myself and took my own shower after she was done, and we left the cabin hand in hand. Annabeth was fidgeting with the ring on her finger, looking just as happy as I felt, which kind of blew me away. She glanced over at me on our way to the dining pavilion and frowned, pulling me to a stop and walking around me a couple times. 

"What..." she muttered to herself, and then her eyes lit up. "Oh! Percy, you don't have a shadow!"

I blinked once, confused, and looked at the ground. She was right. I suddenly remembered the feeling of wrongness after I got Hades' blessing, and I smacked myself in the forehead. "Hades' blessing," I said out loud. "He gave me this shadow cloak thing, and then I felt weird for a while. He must have made it out of my own shadow or something."

Annabeth laughed. "You are one special guy," she said playfully, and I nodded.

"Yeah, I know." She rolled her eyes.

As we crested the hill to the dining area, cheers erupted yet again, and we grinned at all of our friends as we found out seats. The normal seating arrangements had been abandoned, and we sat at a table with Jason, Piper, Grover, Juniper, Frank, Hazel, and even Nico, who brought Will Solace along. Coach Hedge was there with Mellie, showing off his baby proudly to anyone and everyone.

I raised my eyebrows as I realized that even Reyna and a bunch of my Roman friends from the Fifth Cohort were there. Leo's absence hit me like a suckerpunch, and I struggled to keep smiling. I realized Rachel wasn't there either, and I pursed my lips.

"Does anyone know where Rachel is?" I asked over the general hubbub of the campers, and everyone at the table shook their heads, shrugging. 

"She's probably still in her cave," Will offered, and I nodded.

"I'll be right back," I said before sprinting off towards the cave-like hideout that Rachel liked. I let my face fall as I remembered Leo, away from the group so I wouldn't ruin the happy moment. He deserved to be remembered as a hero, all right. Everything that I had, everything that I'd received, Leo had earned. He earned it with his life, saving the entire world with his sacrifice, while I was over here being unable to prevent a bloody nose.

I wiped my eyes quickly as I came up on the cave's entrance and pushed aside the beaded curtain. "Rachel?" I asked, looking around. It was uncharacteristically dark and quiet. "Rachel, are you here?"