Choke Chapter 1

Chapter 1


Percy sighed as Annabeth continued her rant about how they should go out and hit a club tonight. They were all underage, but she'd be providing them with fake ids. Grover was the closest, at twenty, but he could pass for being twenty one, or maybe older. Annabeth was the youngest of the group, still eighteen. Percy had just turned nineteen a few weeks ago.

He wasn't really enthusiastic about this whole idea. A club wasn't really his ideal hangout place. He'd much rather have a house party and invite some friends of theirs. However, for some reason, Annabeth seemed hellbent on dragging Percy to this bar. Percy frowned, knowing his parents might kill him if they found out he was going to use a fake ID at a bar and attempted to buy alcohol.

They had always been strict parents. They always made sure to push him to his limits. They hadn't always been like this, but a few years back, they had just seemingly changed around him. They made him take up martial arts lessons, and do weird meditation. They had begun pushing him harder in school, and had watched him more closely. Percy figured it had been due to his tendency to get into fights when he had hit puberty. He had been angry that his parents were always so busy with their work, and they never seemed to have time for him. He had been classified as a problem child.

They never talked much about their work, Percy knew they were doctors, and they did a lot of research in genetics. They had never let him come to their lab. They tended not to be home very much, he had been watched by a nanny, mostly, growing up. Even when they finally did pay him attention when the fighting started, they didn't spare him much time. They had said he was acting out, and he was just depressed. They hadn't even acknowledged that they were the reason why he was acting out! All they had done was put him on some weird anti-depressants and then go back to their lives.

Until he graduated high school, someone had always watched him take his medication. However, once he was in college, he was on his own. He hadn't meant to not take it at first. He had been in a hurry one morning on the way to class, and had just forgotten. After that, it had slowly become a matter of disobeying his parents. It reminded him that they couldn't even spare time for him, relying on psychiatric medicine to take care of their child for them. He ended up flushing the rest of what he had of the drug down the toilet. It was only after he had done that that he had become nervous as to if it would have any side-effects on his body, if he stopped like that. However, he soon noticed that, instead of feeling worse, he had begun to feel better. He could think more clearly. He felt stronger, in a sense. Simply, he felt good. His parents had given him responsibility with the medication, so they hadn't noticed yet that he had stopped, if they ever would notice.

Grover punched Percy in the shoulder, which snapped him out of his thoughts. "Ow. What was that for?" Percy asked, as he rubbed his arm.

"Dude, you've been out of it if for a while. I mean I wanted to zone out on Annabeth's rant too, but I stuck it through." Annabeth playfully swatted the back of Grover's head.

"So you're coming, right Percy?" Annabeth asked, as she gave Percy a slight glare.

Percy sighed, defeated. "Ok. Yea, I'll go. I guess I'll see you two after you both get off work?" They both nodded at Percy and walked off. Percy turned and began to head back to their apartment. Percy watched as a woman jogged with her dog down the side-walk across the street. It seemed kind of strange to Percy, sometimes. Life was just so quiet, and normal. He knew it was the way things were, but he had always felt as if something were missing. He couldn't place his finger on it, but it was like he knew something wasn't right with the world. Percy was giving himself a headache thinking about it. He always did, every time he ventured into thinking about things like this.

Something seemed to catch Percy's eyes, and he glanced over to an alley. It was still light out, but it was dark down the alley. It sent a small chill down Percy's spine. As Percy stared at it, he noticed that it seemed to be sucking in all of the light into the shadows. The thing that unnerved Percy the most, however, was that, in the shadows, he felt as if something were watching him. A van drove across the road, blocking the alley from sight for a brief moment. When the van passed, the alley looked completely normal. It was lit, and Percy could clearly see the dumpster that was against one of the buildings. Percy shuddered, and quickly ran away from the alley.

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Percy attempted to make his way through the crowd towards the bar. Bodies gyrated all around him as people danced to the loud music. The strobe lights flashed rapidly, which caused Percy to bump in to people as he made his way through the crowd. He looked back at Grover and Annabeth, over at a table. He finally reached the bar, and the bartender asked for his ID. He pulled out his wallet, and pulled out the fake one Annabeth had made him. He handed it over to the bartender, who looked at it, and raised an eyebrow at Percy. "Nice try kid. Now beat it, I've got real customers to take care of."

Percy tossed her a hateful glare when she held on to his fake ID. Even though he was now nineteen, he still could pass for a high school student.  Percy sighed and turned to head towards Annabeth and Grover, only to stop in place.

A few feet away, blocking his path to his friends, stood a black haired guy, staring at him. At least, Percy thought the guy was staring at him, since his eyes seemed to blend in with his hair in the dark light. Percy tried to go around, but the guy again blocked his path. "Can I help you?" Percy asked over the loud music.

A small smile spread across the slightly shorter guy's face. Percy blinked, and suddenly the guy was standing directly in front of him, mere inches from Percy. Percy's breath caught slightly as he took in the other guy's features. His dark hair hung down into his eyes, and looked as black as night. His eyes almost matched his hair, and seemed to almost have a glow to them in the low lighting. His skin was pale and seemingly flawless. "I've been looking for you, Percy."

Percy looked utterly confused. He had never seen this boy before in his life. He was sure he would recall someone that looked like this one. "Do-do I know you?"

The mysterious stranger closed the distance, and whispered in Percy's ear. "My name is Nico. Now that I've found you Percy, you will be in danger. They'll be looking for you too now." Percy pulled back and looked at Nico like he was crazy. He attempted to walk away, but Nico grabbed his arm in a death grip. Percy turned back, slightly angry, ready to give this Nico a piece of his mind. However, when he turned back around the darkness that had seemingly begun to radiate in Nico's eyes made Percy shiver.

"This isn't a joke Percy Jackson. You are in danger. You don't know what these people are capable of. You need to come with me," Nico said, a sense of urgency in his voice.

"Listen, I don't know where you came from, but I'm sure the mental wing wants their patient back. Now, I'm going to go enjoy the rest of my night with my friends," replied Percy, with some annoyance in his tone. He pulled his arm from Nico's grip and began walking again. However, Nico's next words froze him in place.

"Do you trust your parents, Percy?" Percy spun back around to look at Nico. He began to say something, but Nico cut him off. "How many times have you lain awake at night, wondering why they push you so hard? Why are they are always so busy? Sometimes you keep yourself awake at night, because you feel like there is something out there. You feel life isn't all it seems to be." Nico once again moved so he was standing mere inches away from Percy.

"How do you know all of this?"

"There are forces at work in this world, that you probably can't comprehend, Percy. When my superior told me about you, I knew you were who we were looking for." A smile spread across Nico's face as he spoke. "Though, I must ask how you hide it so well." Nico was now whispering, almost seductively in Percy's ear. A blush spread across Percy's cheeks.

"I've only told, like, my two best friends. I've been kind of scared to come out to my parents." Nico laughed at Percy's statement. Why was Nico laughing at him? Percy had kept his sexuality quiet, even after starting college. The thought of coming out to everyone just seemed so intimidating, and Percy really didn't see why he really had to.

"That's cute. You thought I meant your sexuality. No, I already knew that," Nico practically purred into his ear. Percy inhaled sharply, as he felt Nico press up against him. "I meant, how do you hide what you are?"

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The alarm blared, waking Percy from his sleep. He slammed his hand down on the clock, making it shut up. He had a severe headache, but he knew he hadn't had anything to drink. He ran a hand through his hair, it was soaked in sweat. He looked down, and noticed his chest was covered in it as well. How had he gotten home? The last thing he remembered was Nico whispering in his ear. It was like the rest of the night hadn't happened at all. He swung his legs over the bed, and stood up. His head pounded harder upon standing. He needed something for his headache and something to drink. He quickly put some track shorts on, and opened his door to go into the kitchen.

Annabeth sat at the bar, she sipped on some coffee. Grover was lounging on the couch as he ate some eggs and bacon. They both glanced at Percy as he made his way into the kitchen, and each tossed him a smile. "So how did you sleep man? Sorry you didn't get that alcohol. The bartender was just being a bitch last night," Grover said, as he scarfed down the last of his eggs.

"It's ok. I just don't remember coming home last night"

"Really? You didn't talk very much, perhaps you had just zoned out again," Annabeth said. It could have been possible, Percy tended to zone out a lot. Ever since he stopped taking his medication, his mind wandered more. He thought more clearly, but he just got lost in the thoughts that came to him. However, he didn't think he'd zone out bad enough to forget everything between Nico and going to sleep. Percy quietly reached into one of their cabinets and pulled out a cup. He got some ice from the freezer, and poured some water into the cup from the tap.

"I'm not sure. I have a horrible headache this morning though. Are you sure I didn't have any alcohol?"

Grover came over and placed his plate in the sink, he seemed to be going through the nights events in his head. "Nope, not even a sip. You just sat around for the most part. Didn't talk very much."

"Well, I had this really weird talk with this guy there named Nico. He said some weird stuff, and I think he was flirting with me. I just don't remember anything after talking with him."

Neither of them responded. Percy glanced over at them, they were both staring at him as if he had two heads. "Percy, you were with us the entire night. You never left our sight," Annabeth said. How could that be? He had gone to the bar, and that's where Nico had stopped him. This didn't seem right. "Nobody named Nico came and talked to you."