'The day has finally come' thought Annabeth. The Argo II had reached California and had landed in the grassy fields outside of Berkeley. Annabeth looked over the side of the boat, and saw masses of people, way more than she had been expecting for their arrival. She skimmed over the heads in the crowd hoping for a familiar face. She saw none. 'Where is he?' she thought to herself, as she walked down the gangplank and stood next to Piper, facing the Romans. And there he stood, exactly how she remembered him, tall, lean, and muscular, with sea green eyes that hid under a mop of black hair. But there was something different… his eyes. Sure, they were the same color. It wasn't as if they had turned purple or anything, but they weren't the eyes she remembered. There wasn't any laughter, or kindness in those eyes, instead the green looked poisonous, cold, and calculating. She took a timid step forward and addressed the group.
"My name is Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena. We come from Camp Half-Blood of Long Island. We come to team up with those from Camp Jupiter to defeat Gaea." I was hoping that he would show some kind of recognition, there was none. "Also," continued Annabeth, "we have come for one of our campers, Percy Jackson." She looked into his eyes, hoping they would meet hers, when they didn't she grew cold "Percy?" she asked quietly "it's me, Annabeth. Come with us, please." The boy raised his head slowly, all eyes on him. He chose his words slowly and said them softly.
"I live here. I'm a Roman, and who are you? I don't know any Annabeth's."
Those words sent Annabeth into darkness.
Annabeth woke up crying. She knew she was acting stupid. Percy remembered her, she had talked to him in his dreams. She was just nervous about the day ahead of her. She checked her watch, 5:30am. 'Oh well…' she thought, 'I might as well get up now and get some fresh air before we land.' She got up quietly careful not to wake Piper up across the room and she slipped out of the cabin.
Piper
Sunlight streamed through the porthole, waking Piper up. She rubbed her bleary eyes and checked the clock mounted above her bead, 7:00am. "All right, time to get up" Piper told herself. "Today's the big day!" the boat lurched as Piper went to stand up, causing her to trip and fall to the ground. Cursing, Piper stood grabbed the headboard of Annabeth's bead and pulled herself up. That's when she saw that the bed was once again, empty. 'That's the third time this week,' thought Piper, 'she hasn't been getting much sleep lately. It's been getting worse the closer we get to Camp Jupiter, must be nerves…' she got dressed quickly, brushed her teeth and headed out of her cabin.
All the campers stood around the sides of the boat pointing and waving to something underneath them. Piper spotted Annabeth standing a little ways away from the rest of the campers staring straight and looking forward. Even though she looked confident and serious, Piper could see the dark circles under her eyes, and could tell she was nervous. As she got closer she saw Leo pestering her about Percy again. Ever since Annabeth had told the story of her first quest with Percy when she was twelve, Leo had been asking for more stories, and the more he heard, the more Leo admired Percy. To him Percy was god-like. He was always asking Annabeth what he was like, what his favorite color was and how he controlled water.
"For the last time Leo," said a very aggravated Annabeth, "Percy is idiotic, and impulsive, but hilarious. His favorite color is blue, and I have absolutely no idea how he control water, why don't you ask him, when you see him today?" to Piper, it sounded more like she was reassuring herself that she would see Percy that day.
"Hmmm…. Idiotic, impulsive, and hilarious you say?" said Leo "yesterday you said he was kind, brave, and reckless. Are you changing up your story?" Annabeth smacked him.
"Uggg! You're impossible! Oh, Good morning Piper."
"Mornin' Annabeth, so are we almost there?" Piper asked as she pushed Leo out of the way and stood next to Annabeth. Annabeth turned towards the looming Golden Gate Bridge, her face expressionless. "Jason said it would be about a half an hour before we land."
"Oh that's good" said Piper, trying to force enthusiasm into her tone. Annabeth just nodded slightly and turned back towards the approaching land. "Annabeth, are you alright?" asked Piper timidly. Annabeth looked at the younger girl, Piper could see her eyes skimming, calculating on whether or not she could trust the newcomer. After what seemed like years, Annabeth answered.
"It's nothing, really Piper. It's just… you know…. Ugg it seems so pathetic, I don't want to sound weak, but I'm just really nervous that he won't remember me or something stupid like that." Annabeth blushed furiously and turned away from Piper shielding her scarlet face with her hair.
"Annabeth, I know I've never met Percy before, heck I don't even know what the guy looks like, but from what I've heard from the campers, and Chiron, he really loved you. And besides didn't you say that he called you Annabeth while you semi-contacted him when you were with Grover? He didn't forget you. It will be fine, I'll prove it to you because we are about to land."
8.986 minutes later…..
"Alright, all demi-gods, please report to the deck, this is the Supreme Commander of the Argo II commanding you to get your butts up here! We're about to land!" shouted Leo over the megaphone. "Hey who gave repair boy the megaphone?" questioned Piper causing Annabeth to smirk slightly before her face turned grave once more.
"Jason, Piper, Leo and Annabeth, please come here!" shouted Chiron over the ruckus. The four made there way towards the ancient centaur. "Alrighty, you four are going to represent the camp for Camp Jupiter, Annabeth and Jason, please explain to the Romans why we are here, oh and if you find Percy, tell him to stop by if he has time, meanwhile I'll be organizing and iris messaging Mr. D at camp. Any questions?" there were none. The centaur waded through the crowd towards the captain's cabin and disappeared. The four campers looked at each other uneasily, before Clarisse started barking orders to prepare to dock. The boat touched down with a shudder. Eight campers unhooked the latch and set up the ramp to the ground, the campers stood in silence as Jason, Piper, Leo, and Annabeth walked off the war ship. Piper glanced back at Annabeth, who was looking over the side railing of the boat, down at the large mass of Romans. Her face was slightly green and she looked like she might be sick at any minute.
"Come on, relax Annabeth! He'll be here, just you wait." Piper whispered to the blonde. Annabeth nodded, and together they walked off the ship.