Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Story: The War for Mother
Chapter 1: Life, Love and Butterflies
Ten months since the end of The Titan's Pirates
Annabeth's POV
I just finished getting dressed for the big event. Columbia University was hosting the Metropolitan Conference Collegiate Swimming Championships, but I was still waiting on my roommate.
"Katie are you ready yet?" I asked. Yeah, Katie Gardner daughter of Demeter is my roommate this year. Katie and I both had different roommates last year and let's just say that they were 'crazy.' Katie is studying Botany here at Columbia and is in her second year while I'm in my third year studying Architecture. Katie walked out dressed in blue jeans and a white blouse. Her dark hair was loose around her shoulders and her warm dark green eyes shown brightly as she walked in. She had the same color eyes as my friend Terra who was a granddaughter of Demeter and Athena.
"I'm ready Annie, I need to look good for Will, I hear he and Luke are going to be here as soon as they pick Rachel up at school." Katie said. Luke is studying ancient history and archaeology at NYU while Will was in his first year of medical school. Rachel and Luke have been a couple since the end of last summer. Rachel is in her second year at the New York Academy of Art in TriBeCa in lower Manhattan. We were suppose to meet them at the championships where my seaweed brain and our friend Chris are competing. Also, I'd get to see Terra there as well. It was going to be a great big get together for all of us, Thalia and Nico were going to be there too, they both go to school at Manhattan College only a couple of miles away. All of our lives have been happy and I couldn't wait to see my friends and my fiance. I still can't help but smile when I think of Percy and the fact that we're engaged. The beautiful ring on my finger always makes me happy when I look at it. Katie and I walked out of our dorm and headed for the Natatorium where the swimming championship would be held.
"Hey, Annie and Katie how are you?" A voice said from behind us. Katie and I both turned to see Thalia and Nico standing behind us. They were both wearing black and were holding hands. Katie and I ran over and hugged both of them.
"Its so good to see you both." I said as Katie smiled in agreement next to me. "How are you both doing?"
"We're doing well, school has been fun and Nico has stayed out of trouble so far." Thalia said as she elbowed her boyfriend.
"Yeah and Thals hasn't electrocuted anyone either." Nico said as he turned and kissed Thalia on the cheek making her blush.
"You two are silly let's go find the others." Katie said. We all turned around and standing before us with their arms crossed and smiles on their faces were Rachel, Luke and Will. Katie ran forward and jumped into Will's arms giving him a kiss while Thalia and I ran to hug Luke and Rachel. Nico walked up and shook Luke's and Will's hands casually after we all broke apart from our hugs.
"Sorry, but I don't hug guys." Nico said matter-of-factly. Luke and Will both rolled their eyes and laughed at dead boy.
"You all look great." I said as I looked over Luke and Rachel. They were clearly happy together and I could tell that they were definitely in love by the way they held hands and looked at each other.
"I'll gladly return the compliment you all look great too. I guess we better get inside as the swim competition will start in ten minutes." Luke said as he showed us his watch. We all turned and ran inside the Natatorium and found our seats in the front row of the section reserved for SUNY Maritime. Katie and I both hugged Terra when we saw her waiting for us. Everyone said their hellos and we sat down. I sat next to Terra while the rest of the couples sat together.
"Terra, how have things been at school? We haven't spoken in a few weeks." I asked.
"Things are terrific, but I know you're really asking about Percy. Well, let's just say that the dynamic duo of Chris and Percy have been lighting up the scoreboards in and out of the classroom. They worked on another big class project, this one a design for a underwater research laboratory, it got the highest grade in school and was purchased by some research firm out of Greece. Chris and Percy have a good amount of money put away for after graduation now." Terra said.
"That's tremendous, I hope I can see those plans." I said.
"Don't worry they saved a copy, I have a feeling they want to use them for Poseidon's research group when they graduate." Terra said. The announcer began to call out the teams and we all applauded when he called the Maritime Privateers out. We hall yelled when we saw Percy and Chris come out in their red swim trunks and skull caps. The meet lasted an hour and a half. The privateers won the team relay, the freestyle (Percy), the breaststroke (Chris), and the butterfly (Percy). The butterfly race was a bit tight with a close race between Percy and a swimmer from California, but Percy won easily in the end. Altogether the Privateers were the overall winning team of the championship, with much thanks to Percy and Chris. We all yelled until our voices were sore, when the meet ended we all waited for Percy and Chris to come out of the locker room. They eventually came out wearing their red trainng suits with a dark blue stripe on the side. Terra ran and jumped into Chris's arms and I ran as fast as I could and hugged Percy almost knocking him to the ground. He was laughing happily at my excitement. When we broke apart from the hug he kissed me fiercely taking my breath away for a few seconds. The rest of our gang joined us with congratulations and hellos given all around.
"Who feels like pizza?" Nico asked. We all agreed and walked out of the Natatorium. Percy had is arm around my waist as I buried my head in his shoulder as we walked. We went to the little pizza place that I knew about just around the corner from campus, after about an hour Nico, Thalia, Will and Katie all left to go to the movies, leaving Luke, Rachel, Chris, Terra, Percy and I at the pizza place. We ordered some more drinks and decided to stay until the place closed at midnight.
"So Luke tell us about your first year at NYU?" I asked.
"Everything is going well as you know I'm double majoring in archaeology and history. I'm a little older than the other first year students, but not noticeably so." Luke said.
"Well, we're all glad that you're doing well." Percy said. Luke smiled at him and I knew that Luke was happy to be surrounded by his friends.
"How are you getting along with Will?" Chris asked.
"About as well as you and Perce." Luke said with a wry smile.
"That bad, huh!" Percy quipped. Chris shot Percy a death glare making everyone of us laugh.
"You all just love to pick on me." Chris said with mock pain. Terra held onto his arm in sympathy.
"You're such a bad liar Chris." Percy said incredulously. Chris just smiled at him as he held Terra's hand.
My eyes lit up as I thought of a question for Luke. "How are you two getting along?" I said as I gestured between Luke and Rachel. I saw both of their faces turn red.
"That good, huh!" Percy said, clearly trying to act like he was on a roll or somethng with the silly quips.
"Let them answer seaweed brain." I said as I elbowed Percy in the ribs. I felt him fidget and then he held onto me tighter making my heart beat faster. Luke and Rachel both smiled at our antics.
"We're doing great, but with school and everything we don't get to see each other often enough. Although with school ending this week and camp starting next week we'll have more time together." Luke said, as Rachel held onto his arm tighter making his face turn red again. They're so cute together I thought.
"Well guys I need to get Terra home as she has her last final tomorrow, we'll see you at camp. Perce, try to be a little quieter when you come into the dorm this time, I hate when you wake me up in the middle of the night." Chris said as he scolded Percy with his last statement.
"I'll try to be a better boy mom." Percy said sarcastically earning a laugh from everyone except Chris. Chris just rolled his eyes and we said our goodbyes leaving Luke and Rachel with us at the table. We sat at the table until the owner kicked us out.
"You two take care and be careful going back to school." I said to Rachel and Luke.
"Don't worry Annie we'll be fine. It was great seeing both of you." Luke said as he gave me a hug and shook Percy's hand.
"We'll see you both at camp next week." Rachel said as she hugged both Percy and me. Percy and I watched them as they walked away.
"I'll walk you back to your dorm wise girl." Percy said. We walked back into campus with Percy holding me tightly. We finally made it to my dorm and Percy leaned down and kissed me as he held my hand. After we separated from the kiss Percy raised my hand to look at the engagement ring, he then kissed my hand.
"I love you wise girl." Percy said as he looked into my eyes. I was lost in his eyes for a moment.
"I love you too seaweed brain." I said as I kissed him quickly on the lips and ran into my dorm room, my heart still beating fast from the look he gave me.
Rachel's POV
Luke and I walked from the pizza place after saying our goodbyes to Percy and Annabeth. I loved Luke more and more each day I was around him. I couldn't wait for the summer to start, we would have the whole summer to be together. We made our way to the NYU campus and Luke called a cab for me. He waited until it arrived and opened the door for me. He kissed me on the lips which made my spine tingle with excitement. As I entered the cab and Luke closed the door he waved to me sweetly as the cab drove away. I touched my fingers to my lips remembering the feeling of Luke's lips on mine.
"TriBeCa please." I said to the cab driver. The cab stopped abruptly about two blocks later.
"Why have we stopped, I already told you the destination?" I asked worriedly. The cab driver turned around and I noticed that the cab driver's eyes glowing red and then he took out a gun. I was ready to scream when he pulled the trigger, instead of a loud pop it made a snap noise and then I felt a sting in my neck. I reached up to my neck, I felt a small round and metal cylinder. I pulled it and it popped out, then I felt a sharp pain in my neck. I looked at the cylinder in my hand, it was a some kind of dart. My eyesight blurred and I fell down onto the seat.
The last thing I heard was the cab driver say into his radio, "Mission accomplished master the girl is ours now."
AN: I hope you liked this first chapter to "The War for Mother." I just wanted to thank all my readers and reviewers again, "The Titan's Pirates" got over 200 reviews and was more than 100,000 words long. I hope that this story will beat both those records.