Annabeth entered her dormitory and slammed the door heavily behind her. She'd had a hard day, and was more than ready to go to bed. But, of course, the boys across from them were blasting rap music and she technically couldn't complain until after nine o'clock and lights out.
So instead, she got down on her knees and pulled a small wooden box out from under her bed, unlocked it using the silver owl-shaped key hanging on her Camp Half-Blood necklace, and sifted through it's contents: An ordinary-looking New York Yankees baseball cap, a sleek Celestial bronze dagger the length of her arm from her wrist to her elbow, a bright orange Camp Half-Blood tee-shirt, and a small manila envelope. She took out the latter and opened it carefully, extracting a pile of photographs two inches high.
The top one was the most recent: A picture of herself and Percy standing in front of the canoe lake at nighttime, surrounded by campers who were grinning maliciously. She was dripping wet, and Percy was perfectly dry and grinning from ear to ear.
Then there was a photo of her, Percy, and Grover, laughing at some long-forgotten joke, Grover's eyes twinkling even in the photo, Percy's familiar lopsided grin, and her own grudging smile.
And a picture of her father, step mother, and younger, mortal half brothers, all smiling sadly and waving up at her.
A photo of her mother Athena on Olympus followed, and another picture of Grover, Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia standing on Olympus grinning with their arms around each other's shoulders.
And then a picture of the cabins and the Big House at Camp Half-Blood.
Now Percy, Grover, and herself grinning and holding up the Golden Fleece while Clarisse sulked next to them looking positively murderous.
One of Percy and Annabeth sparring, sword-to-dagger, Riptide glinting wickedly in the sharp sunlight in which the picture had been taken.
The tangible memories went on and on: Percy holding a Minotaur's horn in one hand, Riptide in the other, Grover playing his pipes, Rachel and Annabeth grinning with their arms about each other's shoulders standing in front of an art and architecture museum, her and Percy, sweaty and dirt-covered, in Greek armor and holding their weapons while triumphantly hoisting a silver flag with an owl on an olive branch after a game of capture the flag, Percy smiling at her, standing in the surf, barefoot and wearing cut-offs and a Camp Half-Blood tee-shirt, the setting sun casting his face in a dim light, his sea-green eyes sparkling with a mixture of affection and mischief. And then perhaps the most painful one of all: Luke, standing in full Greek armor, holding his sword, grinning at her.
Defiantly, she stuffed this one back into the manila envelope and gazed instead of the one of Percy standing on the beach at twilight. "Who's that?" Annabeth started at the teasing, rather smug tone in the familliar voice.
"Next time you do that..." Annabeth muttered in a tone she hoped was more threatening than guilty.
Percy simply smirked from the Iris Message in front of her. "You're really, really bad at lying to me, you know."
"Whatever," she mumbled.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine," she said, almost defensivly.
"Right..." Percy said skeptically. "What day are you going to camp?"
"Next Friday. Why?"
"Want a ride?"
"Sure. Is Rachel coming with you too?"
"I don't know yet. Maybe. I mean," he added hastily, "is that okay with you?"
"Yes, Perce, it's fine," she suppressed a snicker.
"Good. And if you want to talk..."
"I'm fine!"
"Whatever," he mimicked.
"See you," Annabeth said, choosing to ignore his tone.
"See you."
Annabeth sighed as the Iris Message dissipated and turned back to the photographs spread out on her bed.
"Who're you talking to?"
For the second time that day, Annabeth started guiltily.
"A friend on the phone," she answered her roomate, Carrie.
"But I heard another voice," said Carrie uncertainly.
"I had it on speeker."
"Why?"
"Uh...something's wrong with it. Won't come off speeker..."
"Sure, whatever."
"Whatever," Annabeth mimicked under her breath, smirking slightly at her boyfirend's antics.
"Huh?"
"Nothing."
"What's that?"
Carrie was looking at Percy's photograph.
"Nothing. Just a friend."
Carrie, the sucker for romance, looked amused. "Just a friend? Really?"
"No. Not really," Annabeth said.
"Ha!" Carrie cried, bounding over to her bed and plopping down on it energetically, completely ignoring the sarcasm dripping from Annabeth's words. "So..." she prompted.
"So...what?"
Carrie rolled her eyes. "Who is he? Whats his name? Are you dating? Where'd you meet?"
Annabeth hesitated. "His name's Percy Jackson. Yes. At...a summer camp," she answered carefully.
"What camp?"
Annabeth shrugged it off by saying, "Its no big deal. Do you think those boys are gonna stop, or are we going to have to complain?"
Carrie pronounced Annabeth hopeless and pulled out her homework.
As Annabeth gathered her things and stuffed them back into the box, locking it carefully with the owl key, she found herself lost in another memory.
"Annabeth! Thats not fair!"
"Life's not fair, Seaweed Brain! If you want to win a race, don't stand there daydreaming!"
Percy maintained that their playful race down Half-Blood Hill wasn't fair game, because Annabeth had gotten a head start.
Percy sighed and flopped down under a tree, catching Annabeth around the middle and pulling her down with him.
"Hey..." He kissed her, a little awkwardly at first, but she didn't mind.
"Percy! Annabe- Oh!"
They broke apart and looked up, trying not to look too guilty.
"Hi, Mom..." Percy muttered, his face as red as Rachel's hair.
"Ah...well...I see we have a bit to talk about." Sally winked covertly at Annabeth as Percy blanched.
"Aaaannabeeeeth!" Carrie whined. "Are you listening to me?"
"Nope. Didn't hear a word," Annabeth grinned. "Sorry, whats up?"
"Care to explain why the guy in this picture has hooves?"
Annabeth looked down at the picture she'd missed, the one of her, Percy, and...Grover.
She looked back up at Carrie, the girl she'd suspected to be a demigod for quite a while now.
"Not really."