The Library Book

#34 - The Meaning of Family

Chapter 34 - The Meaning of Family
published: Thursday, 11 June 2020

"I feel sick just looking at it," Piper groaned.

Annabeth grabbed her friend by the wrist and dragged her towards the ticket booth. "Come on! This is fun!"

Every year, a travelling carnival would set up rides and cafés near their town for a couple of months. Rollercoasters were the one thing Annabeth and Percy could agree on, and they'd convinced their friends to tag along.

Unfortunately, Piper didn't really appreciate the sentiment.

"Six tickets," Hazel warned. "There's no way I'm getting on that death machine." Annabeth had decided to cut Hazel some slack, since she threw up whenever she was on a boat, much less a rollercoaster.

"You two are adrenaline junkies," Piper said accusatorially, glaring at Percy and Annabeth. "Monsters."

"I like rollercoasters," Leo volunteered with a mischievous smirk.

"Shut up," Hazel said with an eye-roll.

Hazel, Piper and Frank — who stayed for company — ended up waiting below in a café while the other four queued for the rides.

Annabeth wasn't quite sure where she'd acquired this obsession with rollercoaster. To be completely honest, she should probably be more afraid of them, knowing exactly how they could fatally injure themselves and the numbers of accidents that occurred on them, but Annabeth enjoyed the rush of the wind as they hurtled down the tracks.

As the carriage streaked through the air, Annabeth could hear Percy and Leo's mad whooping from behind, and she would've joined them, but she couldn't stop laughing at Jason's petrified expression. He wasn't as crazy about rollercoasters as she was, but he didn't mind them. Usually. Apparently this one was too much for him too.

After Jason threatened to throw up if he went on one more ride, they retired to joining the others in the café. Percy brought Annabeth to one of the stands, insisting on bringing the giant blue penguin home.

Annabeth watched amusedly as he missed just about every time. It wasn't this fault; she'd done a paper on rigged carnival games last year for AP Maths.

She waited until he'd spent about $15 on the game before she intervened, because she was cruel like that. Annabeth laughed as she made every shot, not missing the irritated look that passed over the booth manager's face. Yeah, maths did come in handy.

So Percy spent the rest of the day hugging the penguin as if his life depended on it. Annabeth found it adorable; the stuffed animal was almost bigger than his torso. Since he refused to release it, they didn't go on anymore rollercoasters, instead spending time on the other attractions.

Eventually, they convinced Hazel and Piper to try the Giant Drop, which, in hindsight, was a terrible idea. Nevertheless, Leo did get some great pictures of them screaming aboard the ride.

November air was chilly as December and snowstorms crept up on them. Annabeth was a big fan of winter and snowball fights, but Percy much preferred the warmth of summer and being able to swim every day. It meant that he grew glummer as the temperatures dropped, and events like this helped cheer him up.

"You know, I hate that you look good in that."

Percy's eyes sparkled smugly. "I know, right?"

Annabeth resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Percy had been cold, and ended up borrowing her flannel as an extra layer. Somehow, he managed to make it look good. The sleeves were rolled up to show his forearms and the material fluttered in the wind.