Disclaimer: I don't own anything except a vivid imagination and a love for books
Chapter one:
Annabeth's POV
It is such a wonderful day, and I am more than ready to relax because I have just finished my second semester of my freshman year at the University of Notre Dame. I, of course am going there because I want to be an architect, and Notre Dame has the number one architect school in the country. I am psyched, I just passed all my finals with flying colors, all A's to be exact. I am also a bit sad because usually every summer I had hanging out with Percy to look forward too, but this year I'm not going to camp because I'm over 18 now, although I may stop by Camp Jupiter if I get a chance. But, I don't know what I would do even if I did see Percy because I broke up with him last year before I went to college, I just thought it would be better if we didn't have to deal with the whole long distance relationship craziness. I am kind of regretting it now, since I'm going back to New York to oversee some touchups on Olympus, I cannot believe the nerve of the gods! I designed their freaking floating island and they don't really even say thank you just, "Oh, since we know how hard you worked we are going to give you a break and in a few summers can you change some things?" Gosh! How could they say that to my face, they could at least hire a different architect! Well, on the bright side maybe I will get to see Percy and tell him how sorry I am that I broke up with him. I was just beginning to try, and fail, to figure out what I would say to him when a flight attendant interrupted my train of thought by telling me it was time to get off the plane. I looked up and realized that I am the only one still on the plane, so I collected my belongings and went to baggage claim. Once I gathered all of my things I went outside to the taxi docking stations outside the airport and flagged down a taxi, I told the driver to take me to the Empire State building because the gods wanted me there as soon as possible, even if it meant me coming with all of my belongings.
Percy's POV
I was waiting in the lobby of the Empire State building for Annabeth, man, was I excited to see her! We hadn't talked for a little less than a year, and I had so much to say to her. Including that I wanted to get back together with her, I know it sounds weird considering "she broke up with me", but she really didn't I just let her tell people that. It was actually more of a mutual agreement. I don't really think today would be the best day though, because the gods told her that they needed her to come back because changes needed to be made in the design of Olympus, and she will probably be irritable, but in reality they need her and me for a top secret quest and they couldn't risk anyone finding out about it so they made up a story so she would come quickly. I heard a car pull up and I looked out the window to see Annabeth coming in the building looking quite mad. Besides her anger, she was as beautiful as ever with her long, curly blond hair and stormy gray eyes. Annabeth was wearing wedges with a white sleeveless polo dress with a thin black belt and a collar. (It is an actual dress if you want to see a picture go to and it is called the Eyelet Belted Shirt Dress.)
"Hello? Earth to Seaweed Brain?" Ohh I guess I zoned out for a minute there. "Hey Annabeth its so good to see you! There is so much we need to catch up on. But, first are you ready to head up to Olympus."
"I think so... But I didn't know you were accompanying me to Olympus since it has to do with architecture " said Annabeth
"It has been so long since I have last seen you and the gods asked to meet with me too so I thought we could go up together since they told me you were going to be in New York this summer!" Together, we walked up to security guard in front of the elevators and told him, "Six Hundredth floor please." he obliged without any protest and we stepped into the elevators. When we started to ascend I said, "So...how has college been Annabeth?"
"It is amazing! I love it up at Notre Dame; it is so beautiful in the winter! And the classes are phenomenal! What about you? What have you been up to this past few months?"
"Ohh, nothing as exciting as you, I've just been helping out Chiron around camp trying to figure out what I want to do with my life."
"Cool, sounds fun. And have you decided what you want to do yet?"
"I'm thinking I might go into..." Just then we heard a ding and the elevator doors opened to reveal a beautiful marble walkway leading up to the main hall at the top of a hill, where the gods would be waiting for us. "You ready?" I asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Annabeth replied a bit puzzled at the question though because as far as she knows we are here for design business, nothing too important. And with that we stepped out into the sea of shining rock, me all the while wishing I could grab her hand as we hiked up to the limestone hall.
Annabeth's POV
I don't really get why Percy asked, "You ready?" I mean I'm just here on a little business trip, what could go wrong? Of course whenever I think that something horrible usually happens.
As we were strolling up the walkway to the great hall on top of Mount Olympus I tried to fight the urge to grab Percy's hand. I am constantly having to remind myself we are just friends, even though I desperately want it to be a different story. As we approached the limestone and marble building I was surprised all over again that they wanted to change it because I, in all modesty, did a fantastic job designing this building. There were classic Greek Doric columns surrounding the rectangular building. The top was lined with images of the gods. And the doors were at least 50 feet tall and 20 feet wide put together. They had gold rod ironing and doorknobs. Percy help open one of the doors for me, which are magically lightened even though they would be hundreds of pounds heavy. The gesture also reminded me how sweet and gentlemanlike he is. This has got to stop I'm starting to sound like some of the Aphrodite girls that get on my nerves sometimes. I was knocked into reality when I heard the booming voice of Zeus saying, "Hello Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson. Annabeth, I don't know if Percy told you but, the reason you are here is not to edit the design of Olympus, which I actually like very much, thank you." This just brought a wave of questions like, what am I really here for then? And why wouldn't Percy tell me? And I knew I did way too good of a job for them to want to change my design.
I think I'll try to sound nonchalant so they won't know how badly I'm freaking out inside. "Wow, that is such a relief to know that it wasn't my amazing architectural skills that needed improvement. So, what's the real reason you needed me here so urgently." I glanced at Percy who was trying to hide a guilty look on his face, for not telling me beforehand about why we are here because he obviously knew.
"Annabeth," Athena, my mother said, "You both are here because we have selected you to go on a top secret, essential quest that no one can know about but the people involved."
"I knew why we were here, but I have been wondering why us and can you please explain what this supposedly top secret quest is? And isn't a prophecy usually required to go on a quest, when was it recited and what is it?" Percy demanded. I guess I shouldn't have been too hard on him he didn't know as much as I thought he did and he probably didn't want to sound silly telling me about the top secret mission he knew nothing about.
"There is no prophecy for this quest, so I guess it could be considered a mission. It is also quite complicated. You see it involved three different worlds, the one of the gods and demigods, one of fairies, and seven realms from a different dimension." Athena gave us a moment to soak it in before she continued on. "There is a fairy her name is Opal Koboi and she is an evil genius psychopath. Because of the advanced technology of the fairies and her intelligence she has discovered the seven realms and our world. Opal had gathered some of the most dangerous monsters, including the Minotaur, and since she failed at taking over the earth she is going to bring the monsters into the seven realms and attempt to take over them."
"Okay...Why did she fail at our world if she is so smart? And you still have not answered Percy's question why did you choose us?"
Zeus spoke up, "She failed at taking over our world because of a fairy named Holly Short and a boy genius named Artemis Fowl. We are going to recruit them to help you defeat her. And the reason we choose you two is because we needed a small team of two people who would work well together, that we can trust, and most of all both of you are very experienced."
"If you choose to accept the offer, you will need to recruit Artemis Fowl and Holly Short. You will find them in Dublin, Ireland in the Fowl Manner. Once you do that use this," she held out a small disk, "If you break it this disk will transport you to the seven realms," Exclaimed Athena. I feel like I am going to explode! This is so much to process! Athena completely oblivious to my state of mind continued on, "When you arrive you must find Princess Raisa and a boy named Hanson, also known as Han, Alister. The six of you must work together to stop Opal and save all three of our worlds, because once she takes over one it will not be hard for her to do the same to the others. Now, do you accept your mission?"
Percy and I unable to talk just nodded our heads and the gods dismissed us. I was jolted out of my daze when he asked me out to dinner after he walked with me to drop my belongings off the hotel. I did a double take; did he just ask me out?
Percy's POV
I decided to take a risk and just come clean with Annabeth about my feelings for her even if she is in a bad mood today. I asked her where she wanted to go and she said, "Anything is fine." I knew her favorite food was sushi so I decided to take her to a little sushi bar in grand central park called Ken Shin. (A/N: An actually sushi place in Missouri City, Texas, it is sooo good!) Before we entered the restaurant I told her we needed to talk and I pulled Anna aside while she was responding, "I was just going to say the same thing."
Before I could say anything Annabeth started to speak, "I don't know how to say it so I'm just going to go ahead and..." Before I knew it she was kissing me! It was such a relief to know she still felt the same way. This past year I had missed her and her kisses so much, a warm feeling spread through me and I felt like I could stay like that forever. After a few seconds she pulled away and looked at me expectantly. I replied with a huge grin on my face, "I couldn't have said it better!" Annabeth laughed, I love it when she laughs, saying, "Ohh Seaweed brain I have missed you unbelievably much."
"Great, then we will have a lot to catch up on over dinner." And with that I lead her, hand in hand, into Ken Shin.