There are many many versions of Annabeth's story. None of them satisfy me completely, so I decided to write my own.

You can hunt me down for what you think might be OOCness. You can flame me all day long. Nothing is going to get me to stop writing what I think is te accurate version of Annabeth's thoughts.

If you do decide to review (which I would very much appreciate), please leave some hints and tips for improvement. Should I make it funnier? Angstier? More romantic?

Disclaimer: Pay attention now, because I won't write it in the rest of the story. None of these characters, settings, or major plot-lines belong to me. Rick Riordan has ultimate rights.

Big thanks to vanelo159 for beta-ing this story.

December 20, 2005

Dear Journal,

Winter solstice is creeping around the corner sooner than I thought it would. It's my first time going to Olympus, and I would say I'm excited, but I'm not. It's like I'm dreading going there. I don't know why, but I've got a bad feeling about this. I think it has something to do with my dreams. For the last couple of weeks, I've been having frightening nightmares about a gleaming white horse, a golden eagle, and cackling voices from the ground. I know that cackling voice; I've heard about it in many bedtime tales about heroes that came back from the underworld (from explorations of Tartarus). I'm scared to death, but I have to be strong for whatever's coming up. The solstice should be an exciting time, what with our first field trip as a camp and especially our first trip to Olympus (of all places!), but I can't help anticipating something big coming up.

Courtesy of Annabeth Bronte Chase

"Are you all ready to go?"

I looked up from my sharpening stone and loosened the grip on my dagger. Luke stood in the doorway, handsome as always, a neutral expression on his face.

"Yeah," I replied softly, placing my dagger in its sheath on my belt and throwing the stone into the open backpack. "Are Chiron and Grover back yet?"

"They just got here two minutes ago, actually." He walked over to where I was standing and held my ski parka up, allowing me to tuck my arms into the sleeves. I let him button my coat up, even though I was already much too old for that. "Chiron said they'd succeeded in finding the demigod."

"Do they have any idea whose kid it is?"

"Nope."

"Does he know he's a demigod?"

"Uh-uh."

"Does he have any unusual powers?" Luke shook his head and I questioned further. "Any powers at all?"

"Nada, Annabeth."

I sighed morosely and swung my backpack onto my shoulders. I looked Luke over and frowned disapprovingly. "Where's your jacket? It's cold out there."

He took the dark blue garment out of his amply packed duffle bag. I nodded with approbation.

"Gods, Annabeth. I swear, sometimes I question who's the older one here." I dodged his hand as he tried to ruffle my already wild hair.

"Me too." I rolled my eyes and grinned at him. "Let's go interrogate Grover!"

The minute we reached the bottom of the hill, Grover tackled me in a swinging bear hug.

"Annabeth!" He bleated happily. "Great to see you!"

I laughed and wrapped my arms around his thin shoulders. "I missed you, Lamb Chops." Grover frowned at Luke's offending nickname for him and pulled away, holding my shoulders at an arm's length. His satyr legs looked as though they hadn't been used to their fullest in weeks.

"You've grown," he observed, looking at the top of my head. "Your hair is longer and you have circles under your eyes. Have you been sleeping okay? No nightmares, I hope."

Luke looked at me suspiciously. Two weeks before, I woke up in cold sweat with tears running down my cheeks. I ran out of the Greek styled gray cabin and into the older log cabin, tripping over hazardously strewn sleeping bags and sleeping bodies. Luke had been the one to comfort me, although I told him nothing about the hideous nightmare. I refused to describe the events in my dream, and he assumed I was lonely or I missed Thalia or something. Looking back on it, it was wrong of me to lie to him, but it was necessary. He shouldn't have to worry about me, especially when he was having nightmares of his own.

A couple of weeks before my dream, I was reading in the moonlight by the Long Island Sound and I found Luke laying down by a rock, struggling against nonexistent forces, begging to be released. When I edged closer to him, I noticed his blue eyes were shut tightly and his hands were clenched in his hair. I had never before seen the mad expression on his face – it was murderous, even. I was suddenly terrified of Luke. It was the first time I had been seriously scared of him since his enraged lecture to all of us when he came back from his failed quest. I shook him vigorously, waking him up, and he curled up with his knees to his chest, like a little boy. He cried a lot, murmuring about families and Thalia and I just sat next to him, giving him the occasional awkward rub on his back. We never spoke about it again.

"No nightmares," I untruthfully assured him. He could see the fib in my eyes, but he chose to ignore it. Grover was cool that way – he never questioned, just let the emotions tell their own story.

"Okay," his voice was concerned. He let go of me and trotted to Luke, clapping a hand on his back. They exchanged a few words while I wandered over to Chiron, who was talking quietly to Mr. D, the camp director.

"Chiron! You're late," I tried to scold him playfully, but the centaur had me the minute he opened his arms. He had to bend down as he pulled me into a fatherly embrace, and when he let go I stepped down from the tips of my toes.

"You've been taking care of camp well, I see," he said to me, his eyes twinkling. "Everything seems to be in perfect shape, Annabeth. Excellent."

"Thank you, sir."

"I trust you haven't been losing sleep, dear. You look exhausted," he repeated Grover's words, except his face told me he knew the truth about my nightmares.

"Uh, just a bit. Nothing horrible," I stammered, twisting a golden curl in my fingers.

"Annabeth, you must tell me if – " Chiron never got to finish his sentence when Argus honked the horn of the van and everyone filed in. Grover and Luke grabbed me and pulled me in, sitting me in between them in the back of the van.

"Mmmm…" Grover sighed into his Coke can. "I haven't been able to do this in a while." He tore a big piece of aluminum off and savored the taste before crunching it to bits. I giggled quietly.

"How's the kid?" Luke asked. "I mean, the demigod. Is he showing any signs of powers?"

Grover swallowed the big piece of metal he had in his mouth and thought for a minute before saying, "Not at all. Well, he has a temper problem, and he's currently on probation." He rolled his eyes, as if probation was nothing.

"Probation!" I said to myself, hating the way the word sounded. "How come?"

"Bullies, fights; the usual. Except this kid doesn't attract them. I do."

"So you two are friends," Luke said. It wasn't as much of a question as it was an accusation. It was off for Luke to talk to Grover that way, and it was especially off that he gave him that kind of look. I kicked his shin lightly, but he ignored me. "Isn't that a bit dangerous?"

Ignoring Luke, I said to Grover, "So he defends you? That's awfully nice of him." I shot Luke a glare worthy of Athena with the words 'awfully nice'. He stuck his tongue out at me good-naturedly, and I assumed his unusually catechized intentions were gone. Either that, or I had imagined it all.

Grover nodded and bit another piece out of the red can. "He's pretty cool for a demigod, and I can tell a lot of the girls in his class like him a lot, they're just afraid of the big mean girl telling them off."

Luke looked at me pointedly and narrowed his eyes mischievously. I tried to keep my interest to a casual minimum. "So, uh, how old is he?"

"Your age." He took the last bite out of his can and grabbed another out of the bag Luke and I brought for him. "He's not as smart though - failed everything except for Latin, and he just passed that with a C minus."

I grinned back at his knowing smile over the wispy beard. "When are you bringing him to camp?"

"Probably this summer," he was barely audible over the crunching noises of the Pepsi can. "Ew, Coke cans are so much better than Pepsi ones. I don't know how you people drink that stuff. It tastes like –"

Luke's sudden coughing cut off Grover's swearing. As he bent forward with the force of the coughs, a necklace dangled out of the collar of his shirt. I reached my fingers closer to touch the shining silver crescent, when Luke jerked back and slapped my edging fingers away, tucking his necklace back into his shirt with his other hand. Grover and I looked at him, stunned.

"Uh, sorry Annabeth," Luke apologized. He took my hand in his and squeezed it gently. "Reflex."

I let him comfort me, relishing in the feeling of my cold hand in his warm one, but I couldn't brush away the hurt. Luke had never lied to either Grover or me, and it was making me sad.

Of course, I'd lied to Luke plenty, but it wasn't exactly hiding something from him. I would usually just brush him off, telling him I was fine when I wasn't or telling him I was alright when I was hurt. Luke and I have been like brother and sister since Thalia died, and I knew that he'd never intentionally hurt me.

"You're part of our family now. And I promise I won't let anything hurt you. I'm not going to fail you like our families did us. Deal?"

"Deal!"

When we got off the van, I saw New York City for the first time in years.

Manhattan in December is purple. Really, the blue city lights make the snow turn to lavender powder. The cars' red bumper lights made spots on the snow turn fuchsia, and the entire street was like a rainbow in the dirt.

It was kind of disappointing that the first time I see New York in five years was during the dead of winter, but the sight of the Empire State Building in the cloudy gray sky made up for it. Lights lit up each floor, all the way up to the one hundred and second, and any half blood or immortal being that looked all the way upcould probably see the faint golden glow coming down from the smog.

I heard Clarisse's sudden intake of breath before she walked up next to me, and I smirked at her. She was never one for emotion, and I would never resist the perfect moment to tease her.

"Impressed?" I sneered at her.

"Not in your wildest dreams, Princess," she replied, her plain brown eyes turning slightly red around the pupil, showing off her fierce heritage.

"My suspicions have been proven correct," I continued, gazing up at the point of the building. "An inexperienced daughter of Ares can't be impressed by anything, including a drastic increase of power in a daughter of Athena."

"Lies," she snarled at me.

"You want to see?" I challenged her, taking out my dagger.

"Anytime, anywhe –"

"Is there a problem, Clarisse?" Luke budged in, taking hold of my shoulder. I smiled at the dishwater-blonde smugly.

Clarisse glared at me and I glared right back, the rivalry between us creating a thick tension in the cold air. She turned sharply on her heel and trudged through the thin mucky snow to the rest of her cabin mates. I raised my head to Luke's and smiled, slapping his open palm to mine in a cordial high-five.

We filed into the building methodically, looking around us. Chiron stepped over to the guard who was sitting behind a tan, limestone desk, reading a book with a boy holding a golden egg on the cover. They exchanged a few words, then the guard reluctantly handed Chiron a key card. He whispered something else to him, but Chiron ignored the old guard's words and ushered us all to the elevator, inserting the key card into the security slot.

We had to take several trips into the elevator, so I stayed with Luke, Grover, and the Stoll brothers (who weren't twins but might as well could have been). Since Luke volunteered as a chaperone and Grover was a trained keeper, Chiron left them the key card and responsibility after the campers.

"So, Annabeth," Travis started.

"So, Travis," I wittily replied.

"What do you think of this place?"

The small snicker on his mouth should have made me shoot back a comment to protect my dignity (and, admittedly, love for architecture), but I ignored the mock in his question.

The interior of the Empire State Building was just as it was described in my AIA: Architecture's Guide to New York City. Indiana Limestone lines the walls in an elegant fashion, a round desk made of the same stone off to the side, in front of a silky United States flag. Directly in front of the entrance was a golden plaque with a metallic engraved picture of the building. The words "EMPIRE STATE" were written in perfect script underneath the picture. The elevators' lift inside the wall was lined with spotless glass.

My mouth opened, ready to start on the virtually unknown facts about the fascinating building: how the building was built by three thousand and four hundred workers, that it took four hundred and ten days of construction, and how the Empire State Building's name is derived from the name of the city, New York.

I was almost entirely sure that Travis, Connor, Luke, and Grover could care less about how many floors the seventh wonder of the world has (one hundred and two), or how tall it was (one thousand four hundred and fifty four feet tall, although before the antenna was replaced it was one thousand four hundred and seventy five feet off the ground). They probably thought that my tendency to sprout architectural facts all the time was completely useless, especially when it came to the square footage of New York's tallest building (almost three million square feet).

So, instead of shooting Travis a cocky remark or starting on all the interesting facts about the building, I grinned widely at all of them. They all looked stunned, but, hey, it was the first time I had ever seen anything quite so… amazing.

We jumped into the elevator to the sound of Cyndi Lauper's high voice and loud disco music.

"Oh, make it stop!" Travis yelled, covering his ears with his hands.

"My ears are bleeding," Connor complained.

Grover frowned at both of them. "Are you kidding me? Cyndi Lauper is a genius. It's music like this that made the eighties strive."

Luke and I exchanged a look and he rolled his eyes. Grover's odd taste for music was always amusing, but sometimes, it was just plain strange, like the time when his obsession with the song Muskrat Love got so carried away he learned it on the reed pipes. He said he'd gotten over that a while ago, but sometimes, I still hear him playing it when he hides in the woods.

"I come home in the morning light,

My mother says, 'When you gonna live your life right?'

Oh mother dear we're not the fortunate ones…

And girls they want to have fun!"

I giggled at the song as our lift maneuvered into place and the doors slid open, revealing the magical city.

Olympus.

My mouth fell open.

At the sight of the snow-capped mountain, even Clarisse was impressed. I heard the unsuccessful attempt of a stifled gasp and the masculine sound of combat boots on the white marble.

"I gotta give it to you, owl head," she gaped, her eyes still on the palace in front of us. "All those stupid architectural facts sure do pay off right now."

I suppressed the huge I-told-you-so grin that was threatening to burst on my face and shrugged instead. "Good to know."

Luke and Chiron led the way across the bridge to the entryway of Olympus (I still couldn't believe I was actually in the city of the gods). The immortal city was like a gleaming Greek replica of Beverly Hills – perfect white mansions and temples, grass so green it couldn't have been possible, and beautiful nymphs and minor gods roaming around. A collection of market tents of assorted colors perched on the side of the mountain.

My mind was buzzing, trying to figure out how the Hades an ancient city could be floating above New York City without any mortals noticing. It was then that I truly realized the power of the Mist.

My half-sister Jamie gripped my hand throughout the entire tour of the city. She was only a year younger than me, but she treated me like the know-all-see-all older sister. I squeezed her fingers protectively as we marched up the endless steps to the palace. She didn't let go until we were in the entrance to the throne room, listening to Luke and Chiron's lecture.

Luke was a significant chaperone on this trip. He was the only camper and counselor to see Olympus (other than Chiron), because when he came back from his quest he had to prove he had gotten the apple to Zeus and Hermes. He knew all the shortcuts around the first floor of the palace, of course, being the sneaky son of the god of thieves.

"The throne room is the only room in the palace where all twelve Olympians can gather together," he said. "You will notice, though, that today there will be thirteen thrones because Hades will be on Olympus. This is the only time of year he is allowed up here, since he was, uh, banished by Zeus.

"When we go in," he continued after a brief pause in which people whispered carelessly. "I would like to remind you again to not touch anything." His light blue eyes turned stern and his posture stiffened. "The Olympian gods will not appreciate it very much, and you will almost immediately combust."

Travis and Conner's demonstration of internal and external combustion initiated a burst of laughter from the camp, and even Luke had to crack a smile. My half-siblings and I kept our faces serious, our intimidating gray irises reproving. Chiron looked thankfully at me and held three clawed fingers over his heart, the symbol for warding off monsters.

It was necessary we clean ourselves before entering the purified throne room, so we all made the same gesture to ward off all the 'evil spirits'. This was also a symbol of respect for the gods, and it would be much better to get on the gods' good side now rather than later.

Chiron held out his arm again, pointing to the opposite direction of the entryway. "We are not allowed in the throne room until tomorrow morning; Zeus has just delivered the message." A collective groan emitted from the campers. "But, we are allowed to stay in Olympus."

"Well that ruins it," Jamie muttered to me. I nodded in agreement.

I noticed Grover across the crowd and bid goodbye to Jamie before pushing my way toward him.

"What do you think we're going to do here, now?" He scratched at his goatee.

"I'm not sure," I replied. "Maybe go to some more temples." It came out more as a question than a statement, and I felt embarrassed to admit I didn't know something. My pride swooped down a little.

Grover probably noticed the swell of insecurity, being the emotion-reading Satyr he was. He gave me a small smile and said, "It's fine. Hey," he nudged me gently, "we're in Olympus! This is a great chance to sing along to my reed pipe version of Funkytown." He blew a couple notes on his reed pipes, but they sounded suspiciously like Muskrat Love.

Luke made his way to us; Grover still tooting scales from Muskrat Love slash Funkytown. He gave me a knowing look and a small laugh jumped to my throat. I didn't do very good trying to swallow it down but Grover didn't seem to notice.

Chiron took us to one of the main halls in the palace where we would set up our sleeping bags. According to my watch it was only eight o'clock, although I couldn't be sure on Olympus. I whispered my inquiry to Luke and he told me it was the same time.

I lay down my sleeping bag next to the rest of the Athena cabin, flattening the navy polyester until it had no wrinkles. I took my dagger out of my bag and fastened it to my belt, ready for slicing monsters, threatening gods, or cutting up vegetables – whichever came first.

The Hermes cabin set their sleeping bags next to ours, although they had to all scoot together so that everyone else could fit in the hall. Luke lay down his sleeping bag by mine, like we always did when we went camping in camp.

"So, what are we going to do for the rest of the night?" I asked him.

He lay down on top of the sleeping bag with his hands behind his head, his eyes on the never-ending ceiling.

He ignored my question and instead said: "Amazing isn't it?" I could faintly recognize the bitterness in his voice.

"Luke," I said, my eyebrows raised. "What's bothering you?"

He turned to look at me, and for a moment, I saw a flash of anger on his face, like in the van when I'd reached to touch the necklace. I was afraid to bring it up, but I had to ask him sooner or later.

The flash of anger was gone as soon as it was there, though, leaving me to believe I had imagined it.

I should have known better.

"Nothing. It's just… Olympus, you know?" he looked at the ceiling again, and I decided it was better to leave him alone than to badger him with more questions.

"I know." The words came out more as a question than a statement of fact again and I repressed a wince. I cleared my throat, "I know."

We gathered at the courtyard at ten for a sing along, like we always did. The air was perfectly chilled for a warm fire.

I sat with Malcolm and Emily, my half-siblings. Malcolm was a year older than me, and Emily was a year older than him, but we all looked similar; intimidating gray eyes and honey-blonde hair. Emily was too busy holding hands with Will Solace, a kid from the Apollo cabin. Malcolm was shooting them snickers in the middle of songs.

Clarisse and Chris Rodriguez, a son of Hermes, were laughing maniacally at something Chris said, and I smiled to myself. Although Clarisse pulverized anyone who said so, Chris made her soft. Her only actual friend. In between them, their entwined hands rocked back, forth, and to the sides as they laughed.

Luke, Travis, and Conner were playing chicken with a couple of lighters. Conner was losing miserably, his face completely purple with the strain of not crying out. Lewis Coy, another son of Hermes, was holding a cup of nectar with the straw sticking out in between them, and they took turns with a microscopic sip each time the slightest hint of red crept us their fingers.

It was home for all of us. The only place we all felt truly safe. I sighed quietly to myself before turning to Jamie, asking her trivia questions about the Empire State Building.

When I fell asleep later that night, I dreamt of a grandma in a leather jacket teaching Pre-Algebra.

Please review with constructive criticism. Much thanks will be granted. A new chapter will be posted (hopefully) in the next two weeks.

~Reading-and-Bubbling