Annabeth was done with people. She was not only jetlag, but also had just gotten off the phone (now monster proof thanks to Leo) with Percy, and after much yelling, they weren't talking. What a great way to start the summer.
But in spite of all this, she couldn't help but smile as she crested the top of Half Blood Hill and laid a hand on Thalia's Pine. She gazed at the beautiful sunset, perfect like the Gods had decided that this moment should be perfect, just for her. She readjusted her backpack on her shoulders and pulled her sunglasses down to shield her eyes from the harsh sunlight that glared off the far-off ocean. She couldn't help but think that Poseidon was doing this just to get back at her for yelling at his son.
Still, her smile held as her crossed the common area and opened the door to the Athena cabin, inhaling the scent of books and drafting pencils. She waved hello to Malcom and climbed the stairs to the loft that she had all to herself. She threw her backpack on the bed, promising herself that she'd put the stuff away properly later.
She changed into her camp clothes, which consisted of jean shorts and, as always, a Camp Half Blood shirt. Today, she wore the t-shirt, leaving her tank for tomorrow. She strapped her knife to her thigh, grabbed her water bottle and climbed down the ladder, only to be stopped by Malcom.
"Where do you think you're going?" He said, his grey eyes swirling with a private joke that only he got.
"Why is this any concern of yours, exactly?" She crossed her arms, tapping her foot as an attempt to hurry him along.
"Well, I can tell you clearly aren't going to see any sons of Poseidon, so forget I asked," He finished with a wink, opening the door and leading her out.
"How was your year, Annabeth?" He asked, kindness returning to his eyes. Annabeth weighed the options of telling him about her latest fight with Percy, and decided against it. She loved Malcom, but knew he would take any option to advise against her relationship with Percy. Mal meant well, but was just as biased as she had been when she'd first met Percy.
"It was alright, you know, school and stuff, but I spent it in NYC, and got to spend a ton of time on Olympus. My designs are going up right now, but I won't get to see them until July, when we go as a camp to visit." She knew Mal loved to talk architecture, and he didn't disappoint. That's the thing about chatting with a child of Athena, while they had infamous people skills, they were actually very intelligent. They could easily see through a lie, and then see why you were lying. And right now, Malcom had noticed that Percy had yet to come up in conversation, and he realized that they must be fighting.
"I can't wait to see them in real life. I looked over a few of the designs around Christmas when you sent them, but I would love to get to see the real thing. I'll see you later; I'm going to check on the infirmary, I saw Katie Gardener go in earlier; just want to make sure she's alright. Have fun training!" Malcom ran off in the direction of the big house. His crush on the daughter of Demeter was no secret to her, and Annabeth found it adorable.
Annabeth spent the next hour and half beating the living daylights out of a dummy, ignoring the small crowd that was forming behind her. She could tell that they were honestly trying to be inconspicuous, but it took a small miracle to pull one over on a child of Athena. They were in twos and threes scattered around the common area, but all of them were watching her beat up the dummies with serious keenness.
She rolled her eyes and decided that her almost two hour workout had to end soon, and she scooped her water bottle off the bench and poured a mouthful in her parched mouth. She shot a glance at the people who were watching her practice, and realized that she recognized very few of them. There were so many new faces that she had neglected to meet over last summer when she had been frantically looking for Percy. Despite her sweat and the heat of the day, she shivered at the memory of last summer. So much death and destruction she had witnessed, and only one thing could help her. And that thing happened to be a rather irritating son of Poseidon.
Of course, now they were better. She could sleep at night without screaming and needing him. But she knew she was never going to be quite right again, and the only thing that made her numerous sacrifices worth it, was the home she'd fought to protect. She walked into her cabin and found Malcom sitting in a swivel chair, chatting with Katie Gardener, who sat on another chair. They looked up as she opened the door.
"Hey…"Annabeth said, holding in her smile with a struggle. Her eyes cut to Malcom, whose face clearly read, do not.
"Oh hi Annabeth. We were just drawing. Dinner is in a half hour, and your phone's been going off." Katie said, trying to hide the fact that she'd been hanging out with Malcom in a cabin alone. Of course, they hadn't done anything, but she knew she couldn't bring it up without Annabeth getting a kick out of her embarrassment.
Annabeth nodded in their direction, grabbed a change of clothes and ducked into the bathroom, but not before shooting a wink at the two of them.
"Behave, you two," And with that she shut the door and took a quick shower. She threw on an identical, non-sweaty, outfit and brushed her hair out.
Annabeth walked back into the common area and saw the rest of her cabin was getting back and Katie Gardener was nowhere to be found. After throwing a smirk at her half-brother, she climbed into her loft and checked her phone, dread filling her heart.
Four unread texts and five missed calls. All of these had the little picture of Percy next to them. She sighed and read through the texts:
(1)Annabeth, I'm really sorry about all the yelling. I shouldn't have done that. I just had a rough last day, sorry.
(2)That's no excuse. I'm really sorry, and no matter what, I love you. Don't ever forget that.
(3)I'm really sorry, and I'm definitely going to apologize in person when I see you at camp tomorrow. Love you.
(4)Oh, my mom said she loves you too and will send you some cookies to apologize for my bad behavior. Sorry again, Love you, see you tomorrow.
Annabeth smiled at her phone, picturing him writing and re-writing his apology to get it just right, and how Sally must have gotten angry with him. She smiled a bit, mouthing, 'I love you, too' to him, even though he was miles away.
"You are totally whipped." She looked in the corner of her eye and saw Malcom sitting on the ledge of her loft. She smirked back at him.
"You should talk. Checking up on me?" she wiggled her eyebrows at him suggestively. She relished the blush that spread to his cheeks, making his blonde hair look almost white.
"Dinner and you shouldn't try to keep up your tough guy reputation if you want to mouth I love you to a phone. I thought you two were fighting?" Malcolm returned the eyebrow wiggle, but couldn't elicit a reaction from her.
"We were. And I think you and Katie are adorable. Let's go to dinner." She shoved him off the ledge and jumped off after him. They landed eight feet below in the center of the common area.
"Cabin six, let's go to dinner. Line up in order of seniority! You know the drill," And with that, she lead her cabin out the door and to the dining pavilion. They sat down and ate dinner, Annabeth and Malcom silently daring the other to bring up their conversation from the loft.
"Campers, as many of you know, tomorrow night we will have the first game of Capture the Flag of the summer. The reigning champions are the Ares cabin, and they will be challenged by the Athena cabin tomorrow. Make alliances with caution, for secret alliances will lead to a very interesting game. Team leaders are Clarisse LaRue and Annabeth Chase. You will each choose a co-captain from another cabin to assist you in leading and forming alliances. As Clarisse is the champion from last year, she will choose first." Clarisse stood and smiled at Annabeth apologetically.
"Chris Rodriguez, Hermes cabin." She shrugged at Annabeth as if to say 'we need the numbers'. Annabeth smiled and stood. She looked at the sea of faces, deciding who to choose. Percy would be a natural choice, but on the off chance that they would still be fighting tomorrow, she looked at Leo. He was a bit unpredictable, and combat wasn't his thing. Jason Grace was her third choice, just because he was like another version of Percy, who she liked a bit less. She made up her mind.
"Percy Jackson, Poseidon cabin." Annabeth smiled sarcastically at Clarisse, as Travis Stoll decided to make an outburst.
"What a shocker!" he put his hand over his face in mock surprise. His brother Connor caught on, "I sure hope there aren't any shenanigans, brother!" Annabeth smiled coldly at them.
"I really don't think you're going to want to make any comments after we crush you." She stood and walked to meet the Stolls in the middle of the pavilion. All eyes were on them, but Annabeth could care less. This was a show to mess with the heads of the enemy, and she was sure it would work.
"We have superior numbers and frankly better leaders. We will not lose." Connor said passionately.
"I don't need numbers. I could beat your entire team with just Percy. My team is going to thrash you. And I think you must not have realized just who you're speaking about. One word: Tartarus." The pavilion fell silent. The Stolls both put up their hands in surrender and back down. Annabeth grabber her plate of dinner and walked out of the dining area. She knew the affect that the word would have on the enemy. Of course, she did know that she could win, but a little fear tactic never hurt.
She went to the Poseidon cabin and ate her dinner quietly there, wishing Percy was there. She left the cabin when she knew people would have stopped caring. She was half way across the common area when she heard Chiron's voice call her from the big house. She changed course and jogged up the steps to the wraparound porch.
"Yes?" She looked at Chiron, who was in his wheelchair. Ahh, new camper. He did love to show off.
"I was wondering if you had time to show our new camper Taylor around camp." He gestured to the small girl with big hazel eyes next to him. She was very pretty, with very pale skin and dark brown hair that fell in waves to her shoulders. She couldn't have possible been any older than six, but her eyes were very intelligent.
"Undetermined?" Annabeth asked. Chiron nodded.
"She'd only eight, so she's still got a few years." Annabeth nodded and grabbed the girl's duffel bag.
"So, which parent do you have?" Annabeth asked, trying to get a feel of which cabin she might go into.
"My Dad's always told me that Mum died when I was a baby. I guess she must not have." The girl laughed uncomfortably.
"So your mother is a God, probably Athena, Aphrodite, Demeter, Iris, or Nemesis." The girl nodded and began to think, a look of extreme focus coming over her.
"Who's your godly parent?" The girl asked, her big eyes probing.
"Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom and Battle strategy. My name's Annabeth Chase, by the way, Head counselor for Athena cabin. I'm seventeen, going to be eighteen in July." Annabeth gestured to the grey cabin, before leading Taylor around the camp, showing her all the training facilities, promising her that they'd be more interesting in daylight when they were in use. She finally stopped at the door to the Hermes cabin, steeling her nerves for the inevitable confrontation with the twins.
She opened the door. "Taylor, this is going to be your home until you get claimed, then you'll move in with your half family. These are your counselors," Annabeth said as Connor and Travis elbowed their way to the front to lean against either side of the door frame.
"Look who decided to show up!" Connor said mockingly
"Come to apologize for hurting our feelings, Love?" Travis said, pulling a big pout.
"Never, I'm just dropping off Taylor. She's new, so you'd better be nice and show her the ropes until she gets claimed. And you will not pickpocket her or pull any pranks on her. That is an order that if not followed will result in a duel that I will almost certainly win." Annabeth gave Taylor a gentle push into the Hermes cabin, hoping that they'd be nice to her.
"Us? Pickpocket? Never." Connor looked offended, but put a hand on Taylor's shoulder and led her inside.
"Don't worry; we'll take care of her. She'll be fine. Get some sleep, before we thrash you tomorrow." Travis, momentarily showing an emotion other than overconfidence.
"See you guys tomorrow." And with that, Annabeth walked back to her cabin, falling asleep only to wake up sweating with dreams of Tartarus. The next morning could not come soon enough.
A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed! I'm planning on making this a mulit-chapter story with plot (gasp!). Let me know if you have any ideas, which I may or may not ignore. REVIEW PLEASE! Thanks for reading! ~M