The Mark of Athena
Chapter 1: Here He Comes. . .
Percy's POV
Percy felt like hell had walked up and down his spine. He felt sick; trying to understand what was going to happen. Obviously he was acting to Frank and Hazel. But how they didn't know he had no idea. He let out a breath as the ship dropped a few feet.
"Who do you think is on the ship?" Hazel questioned him.
"Annabeth for one, Jason, and probably one for Alex."
"It's going to be weird," Frank said, "no intended meanness, but Alex isn't well known to have lot of friends. So this experience is going to be weird for the camp."
"There's no need to be rude to her." Percy said sternly.
Hazel smiled. "Just image the person is her old boyfriend."
Percy tried so hard to not lose his calmness, but his tone was ice-cold. "Alex was eleven-years-old when she and I entered the camp. She never had a boyfriend."
Hazel looked straight into Percy's eyes. "I'm not claiming she had a boyfriend Percy, but seeing how her last one turned out, I would think you were up to it."
Percy looked confused. "What happened to her last boyfriend?"
"It doesn't matter."
They were silent for a minute as the ship hovered the last ten feet.
"It's going to be great having Jason back." Hazel said quietly, "it's been to long without him."
"How long did you know him?"
"About a month before he disappeared."
"How was the camp before he left?"
Hazel smiled at the distance. "Jason was the peacemaker here after the incident at Olympus. The whole camp blamed Alex. And since Jason and Alex were the best team for quests, Jason wouldn't put up with anyone who wanted her banished. He even protected me at the beginning."
"Who would hate you?"
"Percy, when Nico brought me here, Alex was in deep trouble. The whole camp hated her. Then when it became clear that I was a child of Pluto, Alex was the only one who tried to help me. The campers made it quite clear what they thought about me and Alex. We were the shunned, the homeless, and I learned a lot of Alex in that time frame."
"What did you learn?" Frank asked, "the top ten ways to kill someone without the person knowing it?"
"Now that was just rude," Hazel said, "but if I didn't learn anything, I did realize one thing. Alex will murder John for what he did; and she would make it as horrible as possible."
"I would hate to find out what he did."
"He's the whole reason what happened at Olympus happened at all."
"What did he do?"
"He left the blame on Alex for the death of fifteen people. Among them was her best friend and boyfriend."
"Holy Ponseidon."
"I don't know what that means, but I could guess what it means."
"And did John get what he wanted?"
"He sure did. He hated Alex after she uncovered his scheme to become praetor and take the camp down to death. Then at Olympus, he overpowered the SEALs with deadly monsters. Alex was the only survivor. John made sure of that."
Percy could hear shouting from inside the ship. Then he saw someone step to the bow. He could barely see the person, but he had on the praetor gown on over an orange t-shirt. His blonde hair was flying in the wind.
That was when he jumped.
Campers cried out, but didn't dare move with Reyna's orders. The boy did a back flip midair and landed on the balls of his feet. He stood up, head down. Hazel and Renya both cried out and ran to the person. Percy saw Alex's position and then it dawned on him. Alex wanted to run to the boy, but she didn't dare move a muscle.
The boy looked up just before Hazel and Renya slammed into him. His blue eyes went wide and made a muffled cry.
"Oh gods!"
"He's back!"
But of all the campers' talking, he heard one word.
"Jason!"
"So this is Jason." Frank said.
Hazel and Renya pulled away and the boy stood there eyeing the campers. Then he saw Alex. He walked over to her and smiled. Percy saw a smile melt on Alex's hard face. They hugged tightly, whispering things to each other. Then the boy pulled back.
"Romans!" he yelled.
The campers roared at him.
He grinned before continuing. "I have come from the east coast back to my homeland. I have learned a lot there. The Greeks are our friends; they mean no harm to us because if they wanted to kill me, they would have done it months ago." He smiled at Alex like it was an old joke.
"Thank you, Jason Grace-" Renya said.
"But now I had come back." He shot a look at Renya. "I have brought over my friends from Camp Half-Blood to show them how our place runs. If I even get a whisper of how my guests are treated horrible, then I can assure you that whoever that person is will face a long fate with Alex."
Campers groaned. Jason looked at Alex. She nodded and walked over to where he landed. Blue flames danced upon her fingertips and went up to the boat. Frank cried out a warning, but Percy stopped him. Ice froze on the bow and laced down, freezing into two long ropes down to the ground. But it didn't stop there. Wooden steps grew to connect the two ropes.
The first person to climb down was a girl with blonde hair. A dagger hung on her right thigh. Percy stepped away from Frank, his heart pounding. The girl jumped at the last few feet and turned around.
"PERCY!" she screamed.
She and Percy ran to each other. At the middle, Percy ignored what was going on and picked her up, kissing her as he spun her around.
"Annabeth," Jason said, "daughter of Athena."
"Percy," Annabeth cried as she kissed him.
Percy fell down and continued to kiss her with him under her.
He could barely hear Jason's voice as he said, "Leo, son of Hephaestus."