The characters/events/circumstances mentioned in this fic with any relation or connection to the characters/event/circumstances in the Percy Jackson series are property of Rick Riordan.
Chapter 1: "All Alone" or "Gone, Gone, Gone"
Practically every day was the same for Annabeth. 7 am: wake up, grab a muffin, go for a morning jog. Back by 8 to tidy the cabins and then a few hours to go through the activities at camp. Just before dinner every night, Annabeth would go through all the files in Chiron's office, now dusty from years of inactivity.
It had been several years since Camp Half-Blood was fully operational: all the other campers had either left, gone missing, or even been killed; protectors sent out to retrieve new demigods seldom came back, and when they did they were always empty handed and/or trailed by monsters. Even the cleaning harpies had gone.
Years ago, the gods had slowly begun to go silent, and the camp director, Mr. D, had long since left his post, apparently under the impression that his 'sentence' had miraculously ended. Chiron had predicted the camp's spiral into abandonment and left to live the rest of his life with his cousins, but not before encouraging Annabeth, his closest pupil, to do the same. "Go home to your family, Annabeth. Try and forget about all this. I don't know what happened to the gods but it's obvious there is no hope left in trying to continue the camp." She'd heard him, but she didn't listen. As the new self-appointed camp director, Annabeth tried to motivate the other campers by suggesting to order a quest to find out why the gods had mysteriously disappeared, but the campers had already begun to lose hope. Despite her efforts to keep it alive and functional, Camp Half-Blood slowly died. Satyrs were sent on double duty and told not to return unless they had at least two demigods under their protection, but most never returned. Camp attendance quickly went downhill and soon enough, Annabeth was the only camper left.
As she fingered through the file folders, each containing profile information on all of her old friends, she allowed memories of the camp's past to flood over her: Clarisse, a daughter of Ares who no one really got along well with, but she managed to find friends anyway; Beckendorf (whose real name was Charlie), a friendly son of Hephestus who could build anything you could imagine; the Stoll twins, Connor and Travis, sons of Hermes who you had to be careful around or else you might end up with a whoopee cushion on your seat at dinner; and Thalia, a daughter of Zeus and Annabeth's best friend who had left camp to search for their mutual acquaintance, Luke, but never returned. She stared at Thalia's smiling picture for a while, then sighed and closed the folder with a plume of dust.
She walked along the porch surrounding the big house and gazed across the empty hills at the sun setting over the overgrown strawberry fields, the camp's old source of income. There had been a significant amount of money left over for Annabeth to spend on food and supplies, but she was running low. She was thankful, however, that she didn't have bills to pay. Perhaps water and electricity came straight from Olympus as a sort of donation to the camp for looking after their kids. Anyway, she'd have to look for a job soon or else she was going to starve.
Annabeth's stomach rumbled. Boy, was she hungry. She left the porch and headed to the amphitheater to start a fire and cook herself dinner. Towards the end of the camp's life, the magical fire there had turned a depressing grey and gotten smaller and smaller until it had gone out all together. Even the magic sacrificial braziers at the dining pavilion had gone out - who needs them when there aren't any gods to sacrifice to?
Now that the camp lay empty for years, Annabeth contemplated returning to her dad and stepmom in California. She'd need to raise funds for transportation, but after all the troubles she'd been through with them, she wasn't sure she wanted to go back. Walking back to the deserted U of cabins, she resolved to stay for at least the winter because of the camp's magical ability to mimic springtime year-round. Moonlight shone on the twelve cabins and created a sense of eeriness from the inactivity as Annabeth slowly made her way to Cabin Six, Athena's cabin. The carved stone owl above the doorway once smiled down on campers with an intellectual grace, but now it loomed over Annabeth's head and glared at her with hostility, like it would swoop down at her and tear her eyes out any minute now. She didn't pay any attention. She mindlessly walked into the cabin and flicked on the light switch.
Before her lay the remains of Cabin Six. The three bunk beds in the corner of the room were all made but dusty save for one. Annabeth had taken the pictures that hung on the walls in Chiron's office and re-taped them on the wall near her bunk. Maps and charts and battle plans and blueprints and more lay strewn along a series of desks that once belonged to Annabeth's siblings. Shelves above the desks were jam-packed with old books ranging from encyclopedias to historical texts to fictional works. The children of Athena used to sit there all day and pour over battle strategy essays, half-finished formulas and new artillery blueprints. Now the papers and books were covered with a thick layer of dust and only one of the desks was cleaned off; Annabeth couldn't bring herself to go through her bothers' and sisters' old belongings. On the empty desk sat only an old desk lamp and half-used notebook, and on the shelf sat stacks of older notebooks of the same kind, all completely filled. Annabeth sat down at the desk, flipped open the notebook to the next empty page and began to write:
"Year 3, day 314
The camp is still empty. I went for a jog this morning and met up with Angela from the 7-11 down the road afterwards. She bought me breakfast and we chatted for a little while about the upcoming holidays. I came back and found that the tan pegasus had flown away this morning, so now only the tall black one remains.
I'm getting really anxious. The thought crosses my mind more and more often to relight a brazier and try contact the gods. I pray to Athena every night, but have gotten no answer yet. My hope is dwindling. I've decided to at least wait out the winter here before returning to my dad in San Francisco. Looks like I'll be spending Christmas by myself.
$242.16, 1 pegasus left."
She closed the notebook and switched off the light. Pulling the covers over herself, Annabeth closed her eyes and let the waves lapping at the shores on the Long Island Sound carry her to dreamland.
A small chapter, but it is more of an introduction. You can expect at least an update every (other) month. Keep in mind I am a student, and my studies are important also.
Anyway, thanks for reading! Let me know what you think by leaving a review. Feel free to suggest anything you'd like me to include!
NEXT CHAPTER POSTED!