Chapter One
A Date Goes Down Horribly Wrong
I don't care what anyone said! This was not a date!
I was standing on the corner of East 61st in the middle of December. It was freezing. I wore a black pea coat, with jeans and boots like I was gonna be on the cover of "What to Wear If Your Fighting Monsters This Winter." Anyway, I was waiting on Annabeth. We were suppose to meet each other and go for lunch at this new Greek restaurant that opened back in September. But she had stayed in San Francisco after our adventure last summer and I have to say that I was a little psyched to see her.
But when I told my mom where I was headed, all she could say was, "I'm so glad you and Annabeth are finally dating."
I argued with her until she raised her hands in surrender with that mom smirk I hated so much. She eventually let the subject die and gave me some cab fare and extra cash.
I shivered a little.
What was taking her so long? I mean, you would think the daughter of the wisdom goddess would be on time.
Suddenly, a cab pulled up in front of me and Annabeth got out. She looked awesome and I forgot how long I had been standing here waiting. She wore a purple snow coat with matching boats that clashed beautifully with her stormy gray eyes and silver owl earrings. Her blond hair fell around her shoulders and she wore matching purple earmuffs. Her nose was a little red from the cold, but oddly I found that cute.
"Hi," she said, a little breathlessly. "I'm so sorry about being late. I hate not being on time. But my dad insisted that I get settled at camp before meeting you. He was kind of grumpy about it-don't know why though."
"It's cool," I said, perking up a little. "Should we go?"
"Yeah," said Annabeth, eyeing me suspiciously.
As we walked together down the snowy street, she kept stealing glances at me and for a second I thought she might know what was wrong.
You see, this summer, the Aphrodite cabin had cast a spell on the Ares cabin that made them fall in love with the first person they saw. Unfortunately, Clarisse had her eyes set on me. Thankfully, my friends and I were able to retrieve the Mirror of Evol to change what had happened.
But what no one knows is that Aphrodite came to visit me. She gave me a sneak peak into my future love life and the girl I saw in the mirror wasn't Annabeth. Now, I know what your thinking, Annabeth and I are just friends. And that's true, we are. But I kind of, sort of, hoped that maybe we could add certain words in front of friend that meant we were a little more. But seeing this other girl in the Mirror of Evol has made me think that maybe Annabeth and I weren't meant to be like everyone thought.
Viewing the image in the mirror, I felt everything my future self felt. I felt warm, loved, and a strong passion toward this other girl. She was my match in every way and we were meant to be and it was unlike anything I had every felt before. Annabeth didn't even make my heart pound like that. I was becoming so confused by this love business that I've been praying to Aphrodite (though I will never admit it) to send me some kind of sign or clue to how I ended up getting to that point in my life where Annabeth wasn't even thought of.
I looked at Annabeth and this was one time she stole a glance at me and our eyes met.
"Percy," she said, stopping just a few feet away from the restaurant's glowing window. "What is it? You don't look good."
"I'm fine," I said, trying to avoid her eyes. She knew me…maybe even better than I knew myself. That's one of the things I liked about Annabeth.
Annabeth pouted, which was not a normal look for her, but I couldn't help but feel a little leap in my stomach.
"Okay," she said. "But I just hope that whatever it is, you can tell me. We're friends, remember? We can tell each other anything. Is it about Kronos? Are you worried about him rising?"
Actually, Kronos was the last thing on my mind. I knew the Titan Lord was gaining power, but I hadn't really cared too much about that. Not when Annabeth was around.
"No," I said, honestly. "Just other stuff."
"Like?" asked Annabeth, her gray eyes holding my green ones.
But before I could answer, my instincts kicked in. I grabbed Annabeth and pulled her aside just as the restaurant window we were standing in front of exploded sending glass flying into the street. I immediately uncapped Riptide and held my favorite bronze sword and Annabeth had her bronze knife at the ready. There was suddenly a high pitched scream and something large flew through the window up into the cloudy afternoon sky. It looked like a blimp as it rose higher and higher and I could've sworn there was a female laugh coming from the blimp-thing that had taken off.
"What was that?" said Annabeth, shocked by the sight.
"I have no idea," I responded.
And suddenly, the door to the restaurant flew open and a girl came running out. It was Silena Beauregard. Her eyes were red and tear stained. Her blond hair was curled up and she wore a stylist white winter coat, blue jeans, and white boats. She looked pretty hot in the cold if that makes any since. She stared up at the dark blimp that was slowly becoming smaller and smaller. She stomped her heel in frustration.
"No!" she cried.
"Silena!" said Annabeth.
Silena turned to face us like she had just noticed we were standing there. She rushed over to us.
"Oh my gods!" she squealed. "I'm so glad you're here. We don't have much time. We have to hurry!"
"What happened?" I asked.
"That thing," Silena pointed to the blimp that had vanished in the gray sky, "took Charlie when we were on our date! I have to get him back and you two have to help me!"
"What thing?" asked Annabeth.
"I don't know," said Silena. "At first, it was fine. Charlie and I met here to have a nice lunch date. You know, its almost Christmas and I wanted us to do something special. So, we came here and everything was great! Then, our waitress came and I knew she was kind of funny by the way she dressed, but you know, people dress funny in New York. I thought it was just a thing. Then, she turned into this hideous beast, grabbed Charlie, and blew up the window and flew away with him!"
Silena looked so distressed, it was kind of hard to watch.
"Don't worry," said Annabeth, quickly. "We'll get him back. Let's get to camp, now!"
"Wait," said Silena, staring at Annabeth and me, a slight twinkle in her eye, "we're you two-"
I turned red and Annabeth shifted a little turning pink herself.
"We were just-"I began.
"Doing nothing," Annabeth finished, which made my stomach drop. Guess our "date" was off. "Let's go."
"How are we supposed to get there?" I asked. "We don't have enough money for a cab for three people to get all the way to Camp Half-Blood."
"Leave that to me," said Silena, turning to face the street.
