The Seven at Pride

Chapter 4: Lost

Art by @toastchild on instagram, picuki, and Tapas, @Toastchild on tumblr

When they arrived at Pride, there were already a ton of people, walking around, talking to each other, and looking excited. Piper grabbed the flags out of the car and started handing them out. Everybody took their flag normally until she got to Nico. He still looked tired and maybe a bit dead, but his eyes widened when he saw the flag.

"I'm not carrying that! What if people see me?"

Piper rolled her eyes. "Um, yeah, that's kind of the point?" She held the flag out to Nico but he crossed his arms, refusing to take it. A certain blonde-haired boy crept up behind him and plucked the flag out of Piper's hand.

"Fine, I'll carry it for you," Will said, tying it together with his bi flag. "You'll carry it eventually," Will told his boyfriend. Nico blushed. "No, I w-"

"Okay, now that everybody is ready," Annabeth interrupted in a loud voice. "Let's have fun!"

They spent a while just walking and socializing with others. They met an adorable old couple who were struggling to take a picture, so Piper had offered to take the picture for them and the couple had been extremely grateful. They had also met a small girl who kept coming up to them and asking what each of the flags represented.

The little girl, maybe 5 or 6 years old, had come up to Leo first, asking what the flag was and why it was those colors. She'd then left for a few minutes before returning and asking Percy and Annabeth what their flags meant. She'd left again and come back a few minutes later to ask Will why he had 2 flags and what they were for. It went on like this for a while, the little girl came and went every few minutes. Finally, Hazel had gotten curious and followed the girl when she left. Hazel came back laughing a few minutes later.

"She was going back each time to explain the flags to her parents!" Hazel informed everyone. The next time the girl came over, Annabeth asked her if she could bring her parents with her next time. When she returned later, she had two women in tow, one of them carrying a baby boy.

They had shared laughs with the couple and praised their daughter. The couple were extremely pleased and thanked Annabeth and the group for entertaining their daughter before they left. It was all fun and pleasant except one thing. Annabeth had noticed an older looking guy glancing at them distastefully. If it had happened once Annabeth wouldn't have noticed, but the man kept looking at them throughout the parade, always looking angry and bitter.

Annabeth decided to keep an eye on him.

Nico still looked tired, leaning against Will's shoulder, but he was looking less nervous, which she supposed was a good thing.

"Hey, where did Frank go?" Jason asked. Everybody stopped what they were doing and glanced around. They had been so busy talking to the girl's parents that they hadn't noticed Frank get lost in the crowd.

"Oh no," Hazel said. "How long do you think it'll take to find him?"

"If he turned into a sea animal, maybe I could communicate with him, if he isn't too far," Percy suggested.

"Percy-"

"What? It could work."

Annabeth shook her head and pulled out her phone. "Well, thanks to Leo, we have these. No turning into fish."

Annabeth opened her texts with Frank and typed out,

Bicon666: Hey, where are you?

She waited for a minute. Then two. Frank didn't respond. Plan B, she thought. She pressed the call button and waited as the phone rang, but Frank didn't pick up.