He is the One

Another nightmare woke me, for the thousandth time. I knew these dreams meant something- demigod dreams always do. I gave it a few minutes but like usual I couldn't get back to sleep, so I walked through the stormy night to the Big House. Ignoring the glare from Mr D playing his Pinochle game with Chiron, I made my way through the corridor and sat on the couch near the fireplace. Chiron entered the room in his wheelchair and greeted me with a cup of hot chocolate. Chiron is usually in centaur form at camp, but the Big House's ceiling is too low for him to stretch out to his full size, so he was in his magic compactable wheel chair that night.

Like usual I told Chiron about my dreams. I explained how they had been getting worse over the last week or two, and he looked worried by them. I knew something bad was happening up on Olympus but he just wouldn't tell me, no matter how much I pushed. That was annoying- he usually told me everything. Instead of informing me of what was happening as I'd hoped, Chiron just reminded me about the prophecy and the child of the Big Three that will choose the fate of Olympus when he or she turns sixteen. After hearing the same story almost every night for the past five years, I knew I'd be ready. I would think that every new demigod who came to camp was the child of the prophecy until they let me down again. After so much disappointment, I hardly greeted the new campers- I'd almost given up hope.

I was almost calm again when a scream stole my attention. Without hesitation I threw my blanket off and sprinted outside. But when I got there all I could see was the rain and storm clouds just outside the barriers of camp. After a few minutes of searching for the source of the scream, a silhouette of a boy appeared, seemingly dragging another. I watched in shock until he collapsed on the front porch just before dropping the other person a few metres before. With a shock I realised it was Grover, a newly assigned protector and a good friend of mine.

I shook myself out of my shock. He's the one, I thought. He must be. I didn't realise I had spoken aloud until Chiron answered me.

"Silence, Annabeth. He's still conscious. Bring him inside." With much effort, I obliged. He had to be the one. Or I would be forced to hit something.

Because of the boy's possible status, I gave him extra attention. I wanted to be on his good side. I could be found in the infirmary during almost every break I got. I fed him ambrosia and nectar regularly and every time he stirred I would instantly be alert. I also had to change his pillow a lot because he drooled so much. The sight of this boy with his face squashed against a saliva-soaked pillow actually managed to make me smile- something I hadn't done in a while.

As I spooned him some ambrosia, it was as if he couldn't control his lips because I ended up scooping more off his chin and shirt than I got in his mouth. While it was disgusting, I couldn't help but smirk. However, I wiped my smirk straight off as I realised he was conscious. He opened his eyes and I saw they were a startling sea green. Looking in his eyes it's like I'm drowning in the ocean it's pulling me in. He bring me out of my trance as he mumbles something unrecognisable. Right, I don't have time for this. My mouth spits out questions before I think of them.

'What will happen at the winter solstice?'

He only managed a croaking noise before I spat out my next few questions.

'What's going on? What's been stolen? We've only got a few weeks!'

That time he managed to produce some real words, but not quite sentences. 'I'm sorry … I don't know…'

Someone knocked on the door so I quickly shoved some ambrosia in his mouth before he could say anything else. My mind worked over time, which is very hard for a daughter of Athena. I never even considered that he might not know anything- now I'd just have to wait until he woke up for good to really interrogate him.

The next morning I went to visit him, he was still unconscious and Grover was already in the room. I decided to give the satyr some time. He hasn't gotten any sleep over the past two days and he can get very emotional sometimes. So instead of interrogating the two I gave them some private buddy time.

While I walked, I let myself think. What if he's not the child of the prophecy? No, he must be- he killed a Minotaur on his own without any weapons. I hope he's a son of Zeus and not Poseidon or Hades. I almost definitely will not get along with a child of Poseidon, seeing as our parents are immortal enemies. And Hades can get pretty moody and depressed so I'm guessing his kids will be just a smaller copy of him. Yes, hopefully Zeus. I was already good friends with Thalia and she was a daughter of Zeus. That is, until that day on the hill where she took her last stand… but anyway, getting off-track. I'm guessing it should be easy to get along with a son of Zeus. I'm hoping so anyway. And what if he doesn't know anything? Then I'll have to re-work my plan.

By the time I'd finished thinking all this, I'd reached the other side of the Big House. I completely ignored Chiron and Mr D and just leant on the railing, lost in thought.

Grover soon came out with a much healthier-looking Percy. As soon as Chiron noticed the pair he introduced himself and Mr D. I mostly zoned out while he explained that he wasn't Mr Brunner, he was actually a centaur, blah blah blah. I came back down to earth when he called me over and introduced me. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now." Chiron went straight back to his game of pinochle.

"Sure, Chiron."

He looked really nervous and rather lost, and my first instinct was to comfort him, but I knew I shouldn't get too close to him, in case I ended up disappointed. My thoughts were a whirr. One moment I was sure he was the one, the next moment my confidence started to waver. I took this time to look him over. I looked him up and down, again stopping at his eyes. I hated that by just looking into those sea green eyes I could be so mesmerised. He was quite cute, really. But I quickly got over that as I looked down to the Minotaur horn in his hand then back at his face.

His face suddenly looked quite smug as I looked at the Minotaur horn, as if he was thinking 'oh this blonde is already amazed with me I could have her easy.' I hate it when people call me blonde, so even if he didn't, it made something snap and that's when I knew I wouldn't get on with this kid. So I said the first think that came to mind to take that smug look of his face "you drool in your sleep." I know, it wasn't very nice, but I was confused and sort of scared, too. He looked rather baffled as well, but before I could regret my decision I ran off to check if Cabin Eleven had enough room for him. I highly doubted it.