Prologue
Annabeth's POV
It was never meant to go this far. We were only playing around. Only training. How could my own hands be capable of such horror. It had been days since the accident. Days since I destroyed my dagger. I haven't seen daylight for a full week now. I've been in my cabin for a week. Don't laugh. My heart feels shattered; it is shattered. My life is shattered. But there's nothing I can do about it.
Piper's POV
When it happened, everyone's heart stopped. Everyone stopped breathing. It was horrible. But Annabeth's scream was the worst part of it. Her horrified shriek of terror. That noise has been following me around for seven days now. I really haven't eaten much now. I still go outside though. I still go to all the camp meetings and I still hang out with Jason. But no one has been training. No one. Not one single person. Not even me.
Jason's POV
It wouldn't be forgotten. I'm positive about that. Nobody would forget that day. I wish we could. The blood...the screams... who wants to remember that? Not me. I feel really bad for Annabeth. I haven't seen her for...days. She's been in her cabin. She hasn't even been eating. Nobody dares to talk to her, though. Annabeth is one of those people that you don't want to mess with when they're mad. But everyone is worried about her. And she knows it.
CHAPTER 1.
Annabeth's POV
Me and Percy were having a great first day of camp back from Summer vacation. I had gone all the way to Paris with my dad during the summer break. Percy was with his mom in New York. Me and Percy were sprawled out on folding chairs near the pool. Every once in a while, Percy would spray someone with water. I laughed. It was always hilarious to see the campers' stunned faces when they stand there, completely in a daze, soaking wet. "Is this like your new hobby?" I asked Percy after he had splattered Lacy, from the Aphrodite cabin. "I guess so. I hope we still have a few more months of heat," He told me, smiling. I sighed and laid back in my chair. "Me, too. But it's already August. Fall is already here." I smirked and closed my eyes. Percy hesitated. He knew I was right. I was never wrong. Athena's children can't be wrong. But my small victory was disrupted when a wave of water, doused over my head and body. My eyes flashed open. "Percy!" I screamed, whipping my head around to find him. "Yes...?" I heard a faint voice and saw Percy's head, bobbling above the water, smirking. His body was rippled in the waves. "Never do that again!" I shouted, but then I took off and dove straight into the pool. I made a huge wave that showered over Percy. He laughed. I laughed when I reached the surface. "You're so stupid." I rolled my eyes at him, still giggling. Percy shrugged. "I got you real good, Wise Girl. I can't be that stupid," He said and crossed his arms. I punched his arm. "Shut up," I said. My hand worked its way through the water. It met Percy's fingers and I wrapped my hand around his. He didn't looked up, but he knew I loved him. And I knew he loved me. We were probably the only ones in the whole camp that haven't broken up once within two years. I smiled at my own acheivement. "Why are you grinning?"Percy smirked, looking into my eyes. "Nothing." I said and let go of his hand. I crept over the pool wall and onto the dry cement. I stretched and walked over to my chair. I grabbed my purple towel and wrapped up my hair in it. I took my sunglasses and purse, and then my charm necklace. Percy had given it to me for my last birthday. I found it adorable because he had placed a picture of him and me and the little slot in the charm. I put it around my neck. "Okay, Percy. I'll see you later. We can do some training at three." I looked over at Percy. He was still in the pool, on his back. "Sounds good. Bye!" He smiled at me. I smiled back and ran over to my cabin.
I quickly changed into my normal clothes. It was only twelve thirty in the afternoon. I still had two and a half hours until I could train with Percy. I figured Piper had nothing to do, so I wanted to see if we could hang out. I knocked on the Aphrodite cabin's door. A tall pale girl opened it. She wore a feathery red top and pink jeans (PINK JEANS?!). She was brushing her straight black hair with one of her brushes. "What do you want?" Drew asked me, rolling her eyes. "I want to talk with Piper," I said and pushed past Drew. I could tell she was mad, but no one had the guts to stand up to me...not even Drew. Well, Percy stands up to me a lot, though. But he's my boyfriend; he gets some slack. Drew shrugged and let the door close. She walked over to her bed and started to go through her "brush collection". Yup. The girl has a brush collection. As I looked around the room, I noticed that the cabin was nearly empty. A few campers stood around, applying makeup or fixing their hair. Then I saw Piper. She was on her bed, a notebook was in her lap and a few brightly colored pencils were next to her. "Hey, McLean." I said and walked over to her. Piper had a dark green pencil in her hand. She looked up at me. "Oh, hi." She smiled. I leaned over her, watching her pencil move across her page. She traced jagged lines on the bottom of the paper, forming dark green grass. I admired Piper's drawing. She had drawn a man, tall and tan, and then a girl. The girl was a shorter than the man, with choppy braided hair and an orange CHB t-shirt and black jeans. The two people held hands. Behind them was a black sky with dashes of white for stars. "I love your drawing," I told Piper. She seemed startled that I had mentioned her picture. Then she shrugged. "Me, too. It reminds me of home," Piper said and pointed to the man in the drawing. "That's my dad. When I was younger we used to lay on the grass in front of our house and we watched the stars." She smiled. I could tell she was remembering her father. "That's cool," I said. I wish I had some good memories with my dad. The only things I remember were the bad things. He was always taking my step-mom's side, saying that I was a danger to the family, always having monsters tracking me around. And then came my younger step-brothers. Even they hated me, and they were two years old! But my dad did nothing for me. He left me stranded, trying to figure out why my life was so miserable. But then I came here, where I have the best boyfriend ever and the best friends ever. Suddenly, Piper snapped her fingers in front of my face. "Oh, hey. Um...what?" I said quickly, recovering from my trance. Piper laughed. "I guess we both have daddy issues at home." Piper scratched her head and grinned. I sighed. "Yeah...well...I guess I should get going now," I said and checked my watch. An hour and a half had already gone by! I said goodbye to Piper and ran over to my cabin.
Malcolm was in there. No one else. He was reading one of my favorite books. He looked up. "Good afternoon, Annabeth." Malcolm smiled at me. "Hello, Malcolm." I said. I walked over to my dresser and looked through some of my training armor. I grabbed my basic stuff, but I couldn't find my helmet. I searched through my clothing and shoes but my helmet just wasn't there. "Hey, Malcolm, have you seen my helmet? The one with the red mohawk thing on it?" I asked Malcolm. He shook his head. "Hasn't that helmet been gone for a few weeks?" He smirked. I sighed. It was true. I've asked everyone at camp if they've seen my helmet, but it just disappeared. But I was distressed. "Could I use your helmet? I'm going to train with Percy in an hour," I asked Malcolm. "Sure," He answered. He swung his arm under his bed and pulled out his old helmet. "It might be a little big, but it should be fine," He tossed it to me. "Thanks," I said. I put all of my armor on and headed out the door. The helmet actually fit perfectly. I decided that Percy wouldn't mind if we got to train earlier than I planned, so I went over to his cabin.
I opened his door. The bathroom door was closed, so I figured he was in there. "Percy?" I knocked on the bathroom door. "I going to the training area early. Get all your armor on, because I've been practicing my skills!" I shouted against the door. There was silence, but then I heard, "Okay! I'll be there in twenty minutes. Go on without me." I nodded and ran out of the cabin. I sprinted towards a group of kids training. One of them was Jason. "Hey, Lightning Boy! You wanna train with me?" I asked Jason. He looked over at me. "Sure," For a good ten minutes, we were training. Jason is actually really good at it, because as soon as I turned around, Jason nailed me in the back, making me tumble forward. It knocked the wind out of me. Once I caught my breath, I rolled onto my back and stared up at Jason. "Jeez, you are good!" I said. He nodded and helped me up. "I've had a lot of practice back at Camp Jupiter." He laughed and stabbed his sword into the ground. "Yeah, I can see that." I scratched my arm, realizing that he was actually better than me. Then I heard Percy laughing. He ran up to me. "Nice one, Jason!" They high-fived and laughed. "Percy, you don't stand a chance against Annabeth. She's not bad," Jason chuckled and then ran off. I was left with Percy. I gasped. "Where's your armor?" I looked him up and down. Percy shrugged. "I'll be fine," He said. I shook my head. I put my hand to his chest. He wasn't even wearing a chest plate. "Percy, you should really get your training gear on." I said. Percy groaned. "I'll be fine. Now c'mon, are we going to do this or what?" He pulled out Riptide. I slowly took out my dagger. "Okay," I said. And then the blades collided. MY dagger hit his sword, then I kicked Percy in the shin. I wasn't going to be rough on him, but I will show him who's boss. I knew Percy was annoyed by my move, but I did it again, knocking him off balance. Once he was down I did a flip over him brought down my dagger. He rolled away just in time. He hopped up and swung Riptide at me. It clanked against my arm, but since I was wearing my gear, I was fine. I dove between Percy's legs and turned around. I slashed my dagger through the air, but Percy spun around and blocked me just in time. I did a backflip and sidestepped. Percy flew right by me. I ran up behind him and kicked him in the back. He fell forward, hitting the ground with a thud. He rolled over, howling because I had knocked the wind out of him. "That's why you wear armor." I smirked and pulled my hair back. Percy finally got up. "That hurt!" He groaned. I told him to shut up and then I flipped my dagger in the air. When I caught it, I looked at Percy. "Let's go again," I said, and with no warning, I charged. My dagger was raised high in the air. Percy stepped back and jabbed at the air with Riptide. I had a plan. I would make it look like I was going to strike him, but I would turn away at the last second, just to show Percy that he was stupid. So I sidestepped for a second time, Percy running right by me. And then I came up from behind. I brought my dagger down, and when it was just inches away from Percy back, I was about to turn away...but he spun around! I was so startled by his quick movement that I couldn't stop my dagger, and it slid right into Percy chest. I shrieked as he tumbled to the ground. And my mind went blank. I didn't know what to do. Blood starting pooling around my boyfriend. And for the first time in a long time, I screamed.