Mark of Athena
I do not own PJO or HoO
Note: I will post every week
Chapter 1
Annebeth-
"This is your captain speaking. We have begun our descent to San Francisco where the weather is currently 24 degrees Celsius and sunny with a mild breeze. We're going to touch down in approximately 40 seconds, so hold on tight guys because I haven't had that much practise landing this thing. Thank you for flying with Argo Airlines," Annabeth could hear Leo laugh then say to Jason how he had always wanted to do the whole "this is your captain speaking thing" before he remembered to switch the speaker off. Piper, who was sitting on her bed, shook her head and laughed at Leo's silliness before continuing to pack some supplies and a spare pair of clothes into a small bag in case they planned to stay at the camp for a while. Annabeth had already sorted her things out so she simply sat on her bed adjacent to Piper's and remembered other times – good and bad – in San Francisco while she waited for the ship to land.
Annabeth gripped the rail of her bed as the Argo II rocked and came to a standstill. They had finally arrived at Camp Jupiter after Leo and Jason had taken turns flying through the night and half the day from New York to San Francisco. Leo emerged first from the captains' cabin grinning like he was on a double dose of happy pills (after all, he hadn't crashed the ship on its maiden voyage), followed by Jason who looked determined but nervous – he was returning to his home after all. Annabeth had to say she felt the same way as Jason. It had been eight long months since she had seen Percy… Would he have changed? Would he still love her? Did he even remember who she was? Annabeth shook her head as if to shake the thoughts from her mind and frowned, it was no good to think that way; of course Percy would know who she was – Jason's memory had come back soon enough, so Percy's would have too. It had to.
Jason cleared his throat interrupting her train of thought. "I suppose I'd better go out there then," he said glancing anxiously towards the ladder that led to the top deck. Piper got up from her bunk next to Annabeth and joined Jason at his side, "you'll be fine," she said and kissed him on the cheek, "they are your friends and they'll be happy to see you back, there's nothing for you to worry about." She gave him a smile full of love and contentment that he couldn't help but return. "You're right, Piper," he said slipping his hand into hers. Leo laughed at them and mimed being sick. Piper turned to him and stuck her tongue out before she and Jason laughed with him.
Annabeth was too tense to join in with their laughter and didn't want her friends to see her looking upset so she mumbled, "excuse me," before moving swiftly to the bathroom. She was supposed to be the strong confident one, the one who had been at camp for ten years and knew what to do in these kinds of situations. But she didn't feel that way at all, she felt lost and confused. Percy was only separated from her by a wall of wood… So why was she dreading going out there? Annabeth paced the short distance from the door to the other side of the room a few times before sighing and sitting on the edge of the gold rimmed bath and playing with her beaded necklace. She had to hand it to the Hephaestus cabin; they had done a brilliant job of making the boat. They'd even included a large round mirror opposite the bath where she sat - although why seven demigods going on a quest to save the world would really care about their appearances she didn't know. Regardless of this sudden thought, she stared at herself in the mirror and realised how tired she was: she was quite pale and had purple circles under her eyes due to lack of sleep from all the thoughts and bad dreams running through her head at night. She tried to make herself a bit more presentable before leaving the bathroom so she washed and dried her face, retied her hair in a pony tail and straightened her orange Camp Half-Blood t shirt.
Leo and Jason had already gone to the top deck to address the crowd of Roman demigods waiting outside, but Piper had waited behind for Annabeth. "How are you feeling?" she asked Annabeth.
She hesitated, "Confused I guess. In my mind I know I'm going to see Percy again, but I have a bad feeling about this whole thing and I don't know why. Those dreams haven't been helping either."
"It's going to be okay, Annabeth," Piper reassured her and hugged her tightly. In the time that they had known each other, they had become quite close and Annabeth felt she could confide her thoughts and nightmares in her; Piper wasn't like most girls in the Aphrodite cabin – she didn't glam herself up or spend hours getting ready and gossiping about other people, she was really down to earth and great at listening and helping you out with your problems, and Annabeth had a lot of problems she needed to sort out. Annabeth stepped back from Piper and stared into her multi-coloured eyes. It looked like Piper was going to say something else, but she hesitated and turned away, seemingly bracing herself for something she didn't want to do. She turned back to Annabeth with a slightly guilty look, but spoke very clearly, "Everything will be fine, you will go up on deck and you will see Percy out there and nothing will have changed – including his feelings for you." Annabeth felt the tension ease from her shoulders, she suddenly felt relaxed. "You're absolutely right Piper, everything will be fine." She felt silly for worrying so much – of course Percy would be the same. She smiled a little to herself; her boyfriend was out there waiting for her. They had been apart long enough and she couldn't stand to wait any longer.
"Come on, let's do this," said Annabeth with renewed vigour. Piper smiled at Annabeth and said "that's what I like to hear," before starting up the ladder to join the boys. Annabeth grabbed her things off her bed and took one last long look around the room before taking a deep breath and starting to climb.