Me and Annabeth re-do our first quest

by Arainbowsandbooks

Percy and Annabeth are visited by the love goddess Aphrodite who tells them that her scarf is missing. Percy and Annabeth have to relive their whole first quest in order to find the scarf and return it to her in three days before her party on Mount Olympus. (Some of the monsters aren't from the first book.)

A goddess offers us a quest

I really don't know why my dates with Annabeth always turn out terrible. We always end up fighting some monster. Like the one we took today.

The day started out when I iris-messaged her to find out when she was coming. I know, I know, it should've been me picking her up on a date, but being a half-blood wasn't like that. See, I was visiting my mom's apartment in Manhattan, and Annabeth was at camp, so she was coming to pick me up, instead. I had the whole evening planned, since of course, I didn't want to ruin my chances with Annabeth. So, there I was, in my room, IM'ing my girlfriend.

"Percy, please tell me where we're going!" she said, for like the ninth time. "I'm not telling you." I replied for the ninth time. It was hard to keep this up since Annabeth looked so good. She looked different. At camp she cut her hair a few inches shorter, so now it was down to her mid-neck. And today, she had it pulled back into a sort of braided bun. She had small hoop earrings that someone from the Aphrodite cabin must have lent her. I couldn't see her whole shirt, but the collar was round with gold trim. "Okay, well I'll come over now, so I can get there faster!" she said. "Bye!" I said. She waved and left. I looked at myself in the mirror over my dresser. Yuck. I couldn't take her out like this. Annabeth got all dressed up, so I had to do something about myself, too.

I ran my fingers desperately through my hair and brushed my teeth. That was all I could do. So by two-thirty, I was sitting on my couch, waiting for the doorbell to ring. My mom walked into the kitchen behind me. "Honey, who or what are you waiting for?" she asked. I slouched down lower. "Annabeth." I said, and sighed. "Oh, where are you guys going?" she asked, washing her hands in the sink. "Café le Madison." I said, sighing. Mom whistled. "You got the money for that? Cause I don't." she said, drying her hands. The doorbell rang. I stood up, and straightened out my shirt and my hair. My mom gave me a thumbs up and opened the door.

It was Annabeth. She was beautiful. She actually was wearing a dress. A white dress with gold trim. The front of the dress went down to her knees, and the back went down to a few inches above her ankles. "Well, I'll leave you two to your date." My mom said and left. "Okay, now can we go? I've been waiting all day! I even got in this… dress for our date." She said. "No, you look great. Okay, let's go." I grabbed my wallet, and Annabeth's hand. We went outside and I got into my mom's car.

It probably wasn't a good idea that I was an ADHD kid driving, but my mom says I should learn how, since I was sixteen. And, plus, the café was down the street. I drove down to the Café le Madison, and parked the car. Annabeth sighed. "A fancy café?" she asked. "Percy, this is going to cost a fortune." She said, stopping. I held up my wallet in response. She rolled her eyes. We walked in. I sniffed around, and it smelled like roses and chocolate. "Whoa. It smells so good." Annabeth said, looking around. Me and Annabeth were standing in the doorway, in shock still. A perky brunette waitress popped up in front of us, and beamed. "Hi! My name is Christina and I will be serving you today! Please sit down at this table." She pulled out two chairs at a small table, and pushed them into each chair. "Here are your menus." She said, handing them each a red menu with gold curly letters which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, and probably Annabeth's too.

Christina left, and Annabeth started looking at her menu. "Wow. Crepes and Lava Cakes. Ooh! Red velvet cupcakes with chocolate shavings." She said. "How are you reading this?" I asked, amazed. "I'm reading the captions on the bottom of the pictures which are in bold letters, Percy." Annabeth said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. I just nodded and pretended to look dumb. "Whatever." She said. I was only feeling like eating dessert, so I just got like three cupcakes and a coffee. Suddenly, I heard just about the loudest car door slam outside the café. I looked out the window, and saw a limo parked outside.

Annabeth noticed too. "What the…?" I said. Then, the car door opened, and a super model stepped out. At least, she looked like a super model to me. But, one thing I noticed about her, was that she definitely wasn't a regular mortal. Her hair kept on changing. First it was straight blonde, that went down to her mid-back, then it changed to luscious brown curls. Her makeup kept on changing too. Annabeth grimaced. "Oh great. I wonder why Aphrodite wants to come to a café." She said. The love goddess walked into the café and everyone immediately stopped and stared. Aphrodite waved her hands and everyone looked away. She pulled up a chair to my table. "Oh hello, dears. Hate to interrupt your lovely… date, but I need a favor." She said, lacing her fingers together. "Yeah, sorry about that, but we're on a date right now." I said, turning away. "Percy." Annabeth warned. "Well, as you know, Ares and I have been dating." She said, taking a makeup kit out of her bag and checking her reflection. "No, really?" I said. Sorry, but this lady was annoying me. Sure, she was pretty and all, but she was ruining my date with Annabeth. "And so anyway, we were on a date yesterday, as you two are now, when I remembered that I haven't seen my scarf in a long time. Actually, for more than four years. It's a very special scarf, as it has love magic on it, and it would harm any godling like you two." Aphrodite said, shutting her compact and putting it away in her purse.

"What do we have to do with your lame scarf?" I asked. "Well, a few years ago, I believe you two went on a quest to retrieve Ares's shield from an abandoned water park, and you found my scarf. But you didn't return it." She said, narrowing her bluish/greenish eyes. Now that I remember it, I found her scarf, and was about to rub it on my cheek when Annabeth snatched it away. "Wait, wait, wait. You want us to travel around the country, looking for a scarf that may or may not have fallen out of my pocket?" Annabeth asked. "Um, yes. It's not like I can go searching around Las Vegas and Los Angeles." Aphrodite said. "But, that was four years ago. Wouldn't it have been like, permanently lost or destroyed?" Annabeth asked. "No, it would not be destroyed. No one could destroy it. It's physically impossible. The magic protects it. So it won't be destroyed, but possibly stolen." The goddess said.

"When do you need it?" I asked. "In three days, I'm having a party on Olympus, and I need my scarf. It's the only accessory that matches my Coco Chanel shirt. So when you find it, I would like you to meet me back here." She said. "We have to find it in seven days?" Annabeth asked. "Yes, I just said that." Aphrodite said, matter-of-factly. "Uh, so again, we have to leave our stuff to the side, and do something else. Come on, Annabeth, we gotta go find some scarf." I said, pulling her to her feet and exiting the café. "Ugh, if only I hadn't lost that stupid scarf." Annabeth said. "Hey, don't worry. We'll… relive our first quest." I said, probably a bit too optimistic. If Annabeth noticed, she didn't point it out, luckily for me. So, we got into my mom's car and drove off to camp. My mom wouldn't be too happy that we took her car, but we had to drive to camp. So we drove, and within half an hour reached Camp Half-blood.

Annabeth left the car, and pulled out her wonderful hair. It returned back to her regular tangled curls. She took off her flats and hiked up the hill, past the pine tree that used to be Thalia, and over the crest. I was so mad, right then. Why couldn't Aphrodite have gone to a different demigod? I groaned and followed Annabeth up the hill. She was already at the big house, talking to Chiron. I sprinted down the hill and walked onto the porch with Annabeth. "-so anyway, Chiron, we have to go look for Aphrodite's scarf, somewhere in the country." Annabeth was finishing telling Chiron.

"Then you to must be on your way." Chiron said in reply. Annabeth groaned and walked down the porch steps. We walked away to our cabins to change and pack. I just got one of my old backpacks and stuffed it with socks and shirts. I left my cabin to find Annabeth sitting outside, completely transformed, in a regular camp t-shirt and shorts. She was reading a book on architecture. "Ready. So, we got a car. Assuming my mom doesn't come here to take it away. So where are we gonna go first? Or, where did we go first on our first quest?" I asked when Annabeth looked up from her oh-so-interesting book. "New Jersey. You blew up that bus." Annabeth said. "Yeah but we didn't have the scarf then." I said. "Uh… so we went on Ares's quest in Denver. That's where we had the scarf first." Annabeth replied. "Yeah. So… Denver. Let's go!" I said. We trekked back to my mom's car and started it.

"How far away is Denver?" I asked. "Far away." Annabeth said, turning to her book. Uh-oh. This wasn't good. I didn't even have my license yet. I told Annabeth that. "Don't worry. The mortal police wouldn't find you." She said, but she didn't sound so sure. After driving for about half an hour, Annabeth must have finished her book, because she started talking. "Where are we now?" she asked. "Bored, huh?" I asked. "Sure, Percy. Sure. No, but I thought we could talk." She said. "Sure, Annabeth. Sure." I said, raising my eyebrows. "Okay, sure. I finished my book, but still. Another date ruined." She sighed. "Yeah, I know. Why can't Aphrodite find her scarf herself?" I asked. "It's because there would be an earthquake or some other natural disaster every time a god lost their item of power and they had to find it themselves." Annabeth turned on the radio. It was some song by Taylor Swift. "I remember how we felt sittin' by the water…" "Annabeth, I have ADHD, it's bad enough I have to focus on the road, but with the music on, forget it." I said. "I don't listen to music on the radio. It's so bad lately, with all the cuss words. I was turning on the radio talk show, to listen to the news." Annabeth said. "Okay, you do that." I replied. She turned on the radio to listen to talk shows and a whole bunch of other stuff.

"And so this man is to be sentenced to four years in prison." The reporter on the radio finished saying. "Gee, Annabeth, good to know you're listening to this." I said. "It's interesting!" she protested. A commercial for cat food came on. "Isn't there a channel for demigods or something?" I asked. I mean, with all the stuff they have now, I thought they'd have something like a radio channel for gods and demigods. "Yes, it's part of Hephaestus TV." Annabeth said. "Then why aren't we listening to it?" I asked. "Because I like to keep up with the mortal world." Annabeth argued, but changed the station. I really don't know how she did it or what channel it was on, but she did. Soon, we were listening to some wind god, Aeolus, reporting the weather in many places. "Where are we now?" Annabeth said, turning off the radio. "St. Louis." I responded. "Percy, do you remember the last time we were here? And we rode to the top of the arch, before you blew it up." She said, trying to bring back memories. "Yes, I remember. It was the time I had to jump from the top of the arch to the Mississippi river, which was more than a hundred feet down." I said, remembering the bad experience. "Hey, pull over. I'm starting to get hungry." Annabeth said.

I battle my old enemy

Me and Annabeth sat down in a booth at the back of an In'n'out restaurant. Lucky for us, Annabeth stopped at the camp store while I had been in my cabin, and they lent us both drachmas and mortal money. So when the waitress came to take our order, we paid right then. She brought us heaping trays of burgers and fries. Halfway through my meal, the door to the restaurant opened and in stepped the biggest lady I've ever seen, and oh joy, her little Chihuahua. I nearly threw up my dinner. I guess when Aphrodite said we'd have to re-complete our first quest, she wasn't kidding. I remembered this lady. Floppy denim hat, and bulging jean dress. She held her little Chihuahua in her thick arms, which spotted me and yapped viciously.

"Annabeth, look. It's our old friend, Echidna. And her little dog, too." I said, grumpily. She turned around, and drew her dagger. "Oh boy, Aphrodite really wasn't kidding." She muttered. Echidna spotted us, came over to our booth, and sat down, squashing me against the wall. "So nice to see you again, my little friends. I see you've recovered from when my son bit you." She said to me. Her evil dog barked at me. "Oh shut it." I said to the dog. "Now, now, sonny." Echidna hissed. "Go away." Annabeth said, thrusting her dagger toward the woman.

Echidna hissed. She was obviously not liking Annabeth very much. She rolled up her sleeves, and her scaly green arms glinted in the light. Her forked tongue flicked through her pointed teeth. Her dog barked and leapt out of the booth. He barked, and with each bark, grew bigger. Finally, he grew to the size of two lions stacked on top of each other. I uncapped Riptide and slid out of the booth, now that Echidna had left. Annabeth did the same and ran over to Echidna's other side. People at nearby tables stopped eating to gawk at us. A woman screamed and ran out of the restaurant. So did a few other families. A waitress came up to us, apparently not afraid, and was about to speak when I turned toward her, my sword thrust out. She screamed and ran back into the kitchen screaming something about teenagers and guns. I turned toward Echidna's now tall-as-a-building pet. I remembered the name. It was a Chimera, a fire breathing, rabid, venomous creature with a diamondback snake as a tail.

I charged at Echidna, but just as I was about to whack her with my sword, I felt intense heat near my side which practically singed the hairs off my arms. I jumped to the side and turned just in time to see a huge column of fire blast right where my head was only a second before. The Chimera turned toward me, and with speed that no creature that big should have been able to have, came toward me. Suddenly, the beast got a look of pure terror on his face, and its eyes widened. I caught a glimpse of blonde hair flying behind it, and I knew that it was Annabeth who was fighting the Chimera. The animal blinked, then exploded into yellow dust. Annabeth stood where the Chimera was before, with her dagger extended and a wild look in her eyes. We were about to run at Echidna, but a second before Riptide slashed her apart, she burst into green fire and vanished.

By now, the restaurant was completely empty. Me and Annabeth stood facing each other in the abandoned diner. "Nice job." I told her. She nodded and gave me a thumbs up. I capped my sword, and we headed outside into the cold St. Louis night. The wind whipped around me, blowing my hair into my eyes. I suddenly wished that I had a ponytail like Annabeth's. We walked back to my mom's car and started driving away, looking for a hotel to stop at. Within five minutes, we found a Holiday Inn, and we checked in and brought our duffel bags up to the fifth floor. Annabeth's room was across the hall from mine, so we said bye, and went to go to bed.

I crashed on my bed and immediately fell asleep. In my dream, I was at Olympus. I looked at my surroundings. I was standing in a large, circular room with high ceilings designed to look like constellations. The walls were white and glossy marble, with gold flowers and vines carved into various places everywhere. The vines kept on moving and changing to form new designs on the walls. The floor was see-through glass, so when I looked down, I was looking out over Olympus, at the many amphitheaters and pavilions. To my left was a large vanity mirror, trimmed with gold and silver braided together which gave the whole mirror a sparkly look. Perfumes and other designer products littered the table in front of the mirror, and I looked around for any sign of a person, but found none.

I walked around the whole room again, observing every single detail. Then, I heard a beep, from somewhere in the room. I ran around, looking for the source of the noise. Finally, I found what it was. Some sort of GPS. I looked at it closely. After staring at it for a few seconds, I realized who's room it was. Aphrodite's. the GPS, had letters on the top which read: Love Tracker, search any items that contain love magic. Many different little blinking hearts appeared all over the US. I clicked on one of them. It said:

Aphrodite's Magic Perfume

Now located in New York, occupied by

daughter, Sky.

I clicked on another blinking heart where Nevada should be, hoping to find the scarf. Fortunately, my hopes were right. The next heart said:

Aphrodite's Magic Scarf

Currently in Las Vegas, at the Lotus Casino.

That was it! Me and Annabeth had to go to that casino. We'd gone a few years ago, and it didn't end well. People tended to stay there for years, due to the fact that it was a trap. So, all we had to do was go to Las Vegas, find the casino again, and search it. Yeah right, I thought to myself. There's like a billion floors and rooms there. Suddenly, I heard a loud alarm. I woke up with a start, looking around for the alarm clock that woke me up. Annabeth stood in the doorway of my room, holding a blaring alarm clock. "Finally." She said. "I've been trying to wake you up forever." She left, and I got dressed and went downstairs to the breakfast buffet, where Annabeth had saved two seats, and had already gotten a plate for me.

I sat down across from her and told her about my dream and where we could find Aphrodite's scarf. Her expression was grim. "So we have to go to that trap again." She said miserably. "Yeah, but we have to stay completely focused. Not like the last time, where we got distracted and spent like five days there." I said. She looked at me as if to say, Really Seaweed Brain? You just realized that? "Okay well, we better get going." She said, getting up from the table and bringing her empty plate with her.

I face the cheerleaders of doom, again

Later that day, like, WAY later, we were standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. I looked up at the towering building. It had the design of a Lotus flower over the glass door. Neon lights blazed all around us in the city of Las Vegas. Annabeth pulled her backpack tighter around her shoulders and stepped in through the door. I took a deep breath and stepped in after her. "Whoa." Was all I could manage to say. I mean, I know I'd been in there before, but still, the place was incredible, large, amazing, and did I mention large? There was a huge water slide, a ski and snowboard slope, and even a bridge you could bungee-jump off of. I looked at Annabeth. Shad this hopeful look in her eyes, like she was seriously hoping I would say that we could go try some of the games.

"So where are we gonna look first?" she asked, taking her eyes off a brainy/quiz game. "Where were we last time?" I asked. "Room 4001." She said. "What? How did you remember that?" I asked, impressed. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom." Annabeth said. So we hopped on the glass elevator, and took it to the top floor. We looked around for room 4001, and found it. Annabeth tried the handle. It was locked. She cursed some pretty bad stuff in Ancient Greek. "Okay, I'm gonna try something else." She said, and stuck her knife into the crack in the door, above the handle. She wriggled around, and finally, was able to open the door.

I stepped in, my hand on Riptide, just in case there were monsters. Annabeth turned on the lights behind me. The room looked almost the same as it did last time we were here. Almost. It still had the same snack bar, although the snacks were tossed all around the room, and trash littered the counter. The beds were undone with the sheets thrown off, and the feather pillows ripped open. I was wondering who had stayed in this room when suddenly, I heard voices coming from one of the three bedrooms. There were two people in the same room. Annabeth gave me an urgent look, and we hid behind the sofa. One of the voices, obviously a girl's spoke. "I can sense them." She said. What was odd, was that I heard that voice before. But the problem was, if the thing was what I thought it was, then it wasn't a part of our first quest. The next person spoke. It was also a female voice. "Are they here?" she asked. "Yes. Quick! Search the room!" girl number one barked. I heard shuffling and things being tossed around the room. Annabeth looked at me, her eyes wide in shock. I nodded and pulled out Riptide, but I didn't uncap it. Then I felt the couch being pulled away, and me and Annabeth were revealed. Standing in front of us were two cheerleaders in purple and white uniforms. One of them had blonde hair and icy blue eyes, and the other one was African-American with long black hair tied into a pony tail.

Yep, I was right. I remembered these two girls. On my first day of high school at Goode, they had tried to attack me. Oh yeah, and they weren't really cheerleaders. They were vicious monsters who were part donkey-goat, and part vampire. They were called empousai. The one with dark skin, Kelli, was wearing a pink scarf that smelled so good, I wanted to rip it off of her neck and wear it myself. But I knew we had finally found Aphrodite's magic scarf. "For some reason, son of the sea, we always seem to run into you." Said the blonde girl, Tammi. "Only this time, you've brought a friend." Kelli hissed, doing a bad job of trying to sound sympathetic. That's when I made my big mistake.

I uncapped my sword, which caused Tammi to go crazy. She began making these terrible screeching noises, which made Annabeth cover her ears. "Silence, servant!" Kelli yelled. "But, Kelli, that sword hurts!" whined Tammi. Kelli waved her hand and turned to me again. Apparently, Tammi didn't like being ignored, so she burst into flames, her skin paled, and she grew fangs. One of her legs changed into that terrible farmyard animal leg, and I charged at her, wanting to only deal with Kelli. Easily, I swung my sword right through her neck, and she exploded into dust. That only took about five seconds. But, I wasn't complaining. I turned to Kelli just as she transformed too. She ran at Annabeth, who quickly rolled to the side, and stood. I ran to the empousa. I distracted her, slashing wildly, but she wasn't even dazed. She must have been really good, because I was getting tired. Then, Annabeth ran in from the side, leaping in front of me and catching Kelli's attention. I ran around behind the empousa, and while she was too busy fighting Annabeth, I jabbed my sword into her back. She cried out, and just before she exploded, I yanked the scarf off of her neck.

I stood, holding the wrinkled scarf in my fist. I didn't want to give it away, but I knew I had to, or I would get attracted to the love magic it held, so I gave it to Annabeth, who triumphantly stuffed it into her back pocket. "Alright." I said, capping Riptide and putting the pen back into my pocket. "Yeah, let's go. We finally have her scarf." Annabeth said, opening the door and leaving. I followed her out, and checked the time on my watch. I was liking what I was seeing. We had only been in the casino for an hour and a half. A new record.

When I got back to the lobby, Annabeth was waiting by the front door, reading some other book. As soon as I walked outside, she put it away. "So. Let's go return Aphrodite's scarf." She said.

Aphrodite rewards us

So anyway, there we were, happily driving back to New York, which would take forever. The sun was setting, and we were barely 25 miles away from Las Vegas, when the car sputtered and stopped. "Percy." Annabeth warned. "Did you fill up for gas before we left?" she asked. "No. you were there. You saw that I didn't." I said. Annabeth cursed in Ancient Greek. She checked her backpack. "No more drachmas." She muttered miserably. She got out of the car, and I did too. "We have to give this to that…that…witch tomorrow! And we're stuck in the middle of the desert in Nevada." Annabeth said, her face turning red.

"Um, yeah, so like, I'll just fix it… somehow." I said the last part quietly so Annabeth couldn't hear. She stomped back to the car and slammed the door. I closed my eyes and willed Blackjack to come. I heard his voice in my head. Yo, boss! Are we gonna kick some butt today? He said. No. now get over here, me and Annabeth are stuck in the desert. I told the Pegasus through my mind. I concentrated even harder, because Blackjack tended to be lazy. Soon, I spotted a dark figure soaring over the desert. The Pegasus landed gracefully on the road, and whinnied. I called Annabeth out of the car. She came out, looking calmer, lucky for me, and stopped in front of Blackjack. "Here is our ride to the Café." I said. We grabbed our backpacks from the car and got on Blackjack. He began to fly, and we began to cross the desert. I looked at my surroundings which were now becoming darker in the dim light of the sunset.

Annabeth and I played games like 20 questions and stuff. "What was your favorite quest we ever went on?" I asked her. "When we went to the Sea of Monsters." She said. "Why?" I asked her. "Because that was when Grover had to wear a wedding dress. And also, when you turned into a guinea pig." She said, trying to keep a straight face. "That's not funny." I protested, but Annabeth was already cracking up. I decided to let it go, and joined in. Hours passed, and stars were twinkling over our heads.

Blackjack glided toward the ground when we reached Manhattan. He stopped in front of the café, and Annabeth and I hopped off, and headed into the near empty restaurant. We went to the table we were sitting at during our date, traveling across the country to retrieve your lame scarf." I said. Annabeth stared at me, as if to tell me "knock it off," but I didn't pay attention to her. Aphrodite narrowed her eyes. "Fine. What do you wish for, that has to do with something in my power?" she asked, smiling coldly. "Well." I began. "Last time we ran an errand for a god, it was during another one of our dates. And we wished for a new date afterward. So, since you ruined our date, I would like a new one." I said. Annabeth was motioning for me to stop, but I continued ignoring her. "Is that in my power?" the goddess asked. "Yes. Because you are the goddess of love, so since it was a date, you could grant it." I explained. Aphrodite narrowed her eyes even more, which I didn't think was possible. "Alright. Where do you wish to go?" she asked. "California. Just for the day, as a date." I replied. "Very well." Aphrodite snapped her fingers, and me and Annabeth were sitting at a metal table in a garden. Sunshine poured over us, and the flowers made it much more pleasant. "Much better." I said.