Disclaimer: The characters of Percy Jackson and The Olympians are owned by Rick Riordan.
"Agent Chase, please proceed into the training room." The secretary squeaked, a twig pencil placed behind her right ear and a clipboard grasped in her hand. Annabeth nodded respectfully at her and walked into the room, her stride tall and proud.
A white line stretched across the polished wooden floorboards, not a single scuff or scratch. Her footsteps echoing through the room as she stood on the line, her feet slightly apart and her arms behind her back.
Director Chiron entered the training room, his hooves clicking against the floorboards. His sleek brown coat glittered under the gym lights, as he trotted in front of Annabeth.
"First of all Agent Chase; I would just like to congratulate you on your first mission of the year, and I believe it is your fourth mission at your time here at Camp Half Blood?"
"Yes sir." Annabeth replied, her tone flat and neutral. Chiron nodded and began to pace in front of her, Annabeth gazed straight ahead into the white-wash wall.
"And I suspect Mister Minotaur is safely behind bars?" His piercing gaze bore into Annabeth's grey eyes. Annabeth hesitated for a moment, before replying,
"Affirmative, Yes Sir." A trickle of sweat ran down her temple and into a blonde lock, she swallowed down hard.
"Very well, do not hesitate next time you answer my question. You may receive your fourth bead; congratulations Daughter of Athena, Agent Chase; you have earned this." Chiron reached into his bag and pulled out a gold envelope.
"Thank You Director." Annabeth nodded her head and took the envelope in her fingers, the material smooth and crisp under her touch.
"It is nearly 1830. You may be excused." Chiron stood in front of Annabeth, as she turned to leave out the double doors of the training room.
As soon as Annabeth walked out of the training room, she released a sigh of relief. She tucked the envelope into the back pocket of her shorts and walked across the Campus.
Before she had walked halfway across the campus, a hand shot out and dragged her behind the low Pool building. Fear soon began to rise in her throat, but black spike of hair began to tickle her skin.
"Thalia?" Annabeth breathed in relief.
"How was it?" Thalia grinned at Annabeth; she was wearing a slim black swim suit with 'ZEUS' printed on her chest, her green eyes boring into Annabeth.
"Nerve racking, it's not every day you get a talk with the Director."
"Well," Thalia bounced with excitement "let me see it! Show me the bead!" Annabeth hesitated before reaching into her pocket and pulling out the gold envelope.
She ripped it open and a small bead fell into her hand. The bead was shiny and glossy, glittering with red and gold paint, a miniature painting of a Minotaur on the bead. Annabeth held her breath and reached for her necklace around her neck.
She slid the bead in with the other 3 beads, each one painted individually for each mission. Thalia pulled Annabeth into a warm embrace.
"Welcome home Annabeth, I missed you."
"I missed you too Thalia." Annabeth smiled, a female voice broke through the Pool area, calling for Thalia. Annabeth peered around the building and turned to face Thalia. "I better let you get back to training."
Thalia nodded in response, and the girls slid away.
o:o:o
Annabeth walked towards her cabin, the low building lying humbly with the other cabins. The gold owls that hang off the roof stared at her with their cold solid eyes. She opened the door, the cabin deserted.
She lay down on her bed in the empty room. She released the grip on her necklace and inspected the string of beads with pride.
The beads were every agent's proof of their accomplishments, some had so many that they received a new cord some had none and wore empty cords around the training ground.
The beads were made individually to suit the mission that was carried out. The first on Annabeth's cord shined with green paint and the image of a Tree, a centaur in a prom dress, a Greek trireme on Fire, a picture of a miniature maze and along with the rest, the new shiny bead of a Minotaur.
She clasped the necklace around her neck and sighed with happiness.
She looked up at the roof, various posters of famous architectural buildings plastered to the ceiling above her bunk bed. Her eyes flickered to the Olive tree growing outside the window, the leaves brushing against the glass creating a soft rustling sound.
She reached into her small part of the wardrobe and pulled on her Camp Half Blood t-shirt. The soft, warm familiarity of the t-shirt made her feel like home, an orange t-shirt with the words 'Camp Half Blood' printed on the front, 'Athena' printed on the back.
She fingered the first bead in between her fingers, reminiscing how she had reached here.
Thalia had been sent out on a recruit mission to convince Annabeth to leave her father and come to Campus. Discovering that she was indeed a demigod and a daughter of Athena that possessed powers, and that Camp Half Blood was a secret organization that recruits children of Greek Gods to go undercover and battle against Greek Monsters, Annabeth had to admit; it was a brilliant idea.
Her first year was a year of vigorous training and lectures; each demigod was fluent in Greek and English and was required to learn 2 extra foreign languages.
Karate and Yoga and a chosen sport were to be taken and played twice a week, and an extra co-curricular activity that would be useful in missions for example, computer hacking, lock picking etc. It was tough being in Camp Half Blood, but it was worth it.
A crash echoed through the cabin as Annabeth spun around in fright breaking through her thoughts.
Malcolm, a sibling of Annabeth's stood at the door, his chariot gear lay on the floor. Dirt and sand smeared on his skin and through his dirty blonde hair.
"Hey Malcolm, had a nice time at the Chariot race-course?"
"Annabeth!" Malcolm's grey eyes lighting up, "You're back! How was the mission?"
"It was good, I got a new bead, wanna see it?" Annabeth began to reached for her necklace but a bell rang throughout the Campus.
"Dinner already," Malcolm groaned. "I'll meet you at the Dining Pavilion; I need to get cleaned up."
"Sure thing," Annabeth replied before slipping out the door and walking to the Dining Pavilion.
o:o:o
Members of Athena Cabin were already lined up, feet apart and hands behind their backs. Annabeth scurried quickly and stood in line.
Each Cabin members were lined up waiting for their fair share of food. Annabeth caught Thalia's eye, Thalia was the only member of the Zeus Cabin and was standing by herself at the front of the line, she was also; the head of Camp.
A gaggle of Aphrodite girls stood in front of Annabeth, not standing still and flicking their hair at the boys in the Apollo cabin in the opposite line.
Annabeth rolled her eyes at them.
Chiron boomed into the microphone, as the line soon began to move gradually, each Agent picking up their food and dumping the best bits into the sacrifice, the fire blowing up to the Gods with the most delicious smell.
Clarisse La Rue bumped past Annabeth, her elbow jamming into her rib. Annabeth winced and shot a death glare at her. Clarisse grinned and roared with laughter alongside her Ares siblings, her mousy brown ponytail flicking around.
Annabeth sat down at the stone table along with her siblings. Each person asking her to show them her new bead, she grew tired and leaned against her elbow on the table.
Her eyes wandered towards the empty Poseidon table.
A/N: Helloo. (:
So this is my first PJO fanfic. The plot is definitely a mash-up of Greek mythology and magic mashed with the whole concept of Secret organization of CHERUB (a brilliant book series).
I really hope you enjoyed this chapter; review and tell me what you thought about it, what I could do to change, what would be better. so constructive criticism.
Due to this boring thing called 'homework' I will not be updating frequently; mostly, 1-2 weeks for each chapter.
So please post your reviews! I love reading them.
-Zee