Chapter 1: To Camp, We Go!

"Percy! Have you packed your bags yet?" Mom yelled from the kitchen. I smiled. I couldn't wait to see Annabeth. Gods, I've missed her!

"Yup, mom. Can we go now?" I trudged into the kitchen, popping the 'p' in my response. Mom finished packing my favorite blue cookies and turned around. Her blue eyes were a bit glazed over and she sniffled.

"Mom? What happened?"

"Noth-nothing dear. It's just- you're growing up so fast!" She burst into tears and buried her face in my shoulder. Since I was taller I made little cooing sounds and pat her head. She gained control and backed up to look at me.

"Ready to go?" she asked, her nose and eyes red. I nodded. Paul was at Goode High School, even though it was a Saturday. He said he had papers to grade and had said good bye, first thing in the morning. We got into his Prius (which he "oh-so-kindly" left for us) and drove. Due to my ADHD, a couple hours took forever.

We arrived at Half-Blood Hill and Mom stopped the car. We both stepped out and she gave me a hug, kisses, and some cookies. By the time my Mom drove off, I was red as a beet. I trudged up the hill with my backpack swinging.

"Annabeth! I could use a little help here?" Malcolm said, as the bookshelf almost toppled over. I hopped off of my bed and ran to his rescue. Together, we both pushed the shelf upright. After that rearrangement, the Athena cabin sparkled. No, literally. It was inspection day the day we arrived at camp. Sucks, right? The harpies were on a strict diet, so they could only eat demigods, now and they were ready for rule breakers during inspection.

After cleaning, I hopped on to my bed and on to Daedalus' laptop. I was still putting on the finishing touches for Mount Olympus. Apollo had requested two more honorary statues made out of gold. I warned him that they would melt quickly seeing as it's so hot. He obviously took it the wrong way. I rolled my eyes and exited the window and smiled at the background. Percy and I were laughing when we both fell into the lake and shared our underwater kiss. Right away, I made the picture my screensaver.

"Annabeth?"

"Mm?"

"There's a certain Son of Poseidon I saw that just walked into his cabin," Malcolm teased.

I jolted upright. "Wait, what? When?"

"Oh, about two seconds ago," Malcolm grinned at me. I put on a nonchalant face, but inside, I was bubbling with warm happiness.

"Oh. Right. I'll see him in a couple minutes," I said casually, tossing my blonde ponytail behind me. Malcolm smirked.

"I'll be at the archery range, then." He walked away and the cabin was empty. All my siblings had either went practicing, or were in the new library that Chiron had let us build. I made sure that Malcolm was really gone and stuffed a pillow under my blankets, making it look like I was asleep. I shut off my computer and grabbed my magic Yankees cap and dagger and ran out the door, shutting it.

"Wow, Percy, you're a good maid when you have to be," I praised myself. The cabin looked better now that I had moved in and dusted a few things. I flopped on to my bed for a couple seconds. Strange, Annabeth hasn't come seen me yet. Maybe I should check if she's here. I should go see Mrs. O'Leary first. I thought. I stood up and stretched and headed to the arena to see my pooch.

I opened the door and an avalanche of black fur bombarded me.

"Down girl, down! Ha ha, I missed you too!" I said, patting Mrs. O'Leary and talking to her. She licked me and barked, so I threw a shield at her. She bounded after it. After a couple throws, I sat down to watch her tear apart practice dummies. That's when a wall of invisible force slammed into me and sent me sprawling.

Mrs. O'Leary barked and growled as a dagger pierced my neck. I suddenly swept the hat off of her.

"Miss me Seaweed Brain?" she smiled, her gray eyes shone playfully and her hair bounced in curls.

"Annabeth!" Gods, the way his sea green eyes sparkled with mischief, the way his hair was swept to one side, even that stupid grin on his face made my heart melt.

"Of course I didn't miss you. I think it was the other way around," he teased.

"Pfft, as if," I lied. He pouted and his face took on a hurt expression.

"Seriously?" he asked. His sea green eyes sparkled with sadness.

"If I didn't miss you, would I do this?" I leaned in and gave him a kiss. A real good one, for 5-7 minutes. His lips tasted like chocolate chip cookies and salt, a strange, but amazing combination. When we both came up for air, he smiled.

"You missed me." He concluded. Mrs. O'Leary barked in agreement. When we heard the conch horn blow, I got up off of him and holding hands, we walked out, promising Mrs. O'Leary that we'd be back soon.