Gah. I'll save you from my endless complaints about school and skip straight to this chapter. But...some notes...
I realize that there are so many versions of Annabeth's story, and I'm certainly not meaning that mine is better than any when I say that I haven't found one I think is accurate enough yet. I believe Annabeth's story begins - not when Percy comes along (although I do love me some Percabeth), but on her trip to Olympus, when Luke stole the Helm and Bolt.
There will be some very important notes at the bottom! Some spoilers will be included for this chapter, so don't skip down just yet!
Thanks a million to Vanelo159 for beta-ing this story (again). Love ya, trolla!
We woke up at the crack of dawn, the dome over our heads lighting up as the sun rose. The light was golden, turning everything in the room into a sparkling yellow hue.
"The dome is bewitched to allow the natural light of the sun into the palace. The lord Phoebus Apollo's orders," Chiron told us.
When all the "ooh"'s and "ahh"'s quieted down, we rolled our sleeping bags and got out our spare change of clothes. Afterwards, we made our way outside to where some of the counselors and nymphs of the area made us bread with cheese. With each bite, I could see my breath in the cool air.
Each cabin was to go to its patron's temple until noon. I led the Athena cabin to her temple, quizzing them all the way there.
"Newton's third law of motion," I commanded. Jamie walked faster ahead so that he was right on my left side – a direct view in my peripheral vision in case she had something to point out.
"For every action there is an equal and opposite re-action," Emily answered promptly. "But, seriously, Annabeth, we really don't need to go over this. Why not socialize?"
"Socializing is fun," Malcolm agreed, nodding a little wistfully at Emily. They'd always been close.
"Yes, I know!" She squealed happily, flapping her hands up and down like a dog. "Yesterday at the bonfire Will and I –"
"Oh, we saw you two," I told her darkly. "Getting a little too cozy, if I do say so myself."
"Annabeth, I'm serious." She glared daggers at me so I stopped and stood facing her. Emily was almost fifteen and the oldest in the cabin. She should've been counselor, but it was my seniority that was rewarded the position. "You don't understand this now, but life isn't just about facts. Newton's third law of motion isn't going to save you out there – out in the real world. If you're too busy concentrating on little facts they won't help you. You need to be people-smart – book-smart won't cut it. You won't cut it. You don't stand a chance out there."
It was like a blow to the stomach. I stumbled backwards and swallowed down the lump in my throat.
"Will Solace is turning you into a freaking Aphrodite girl," I shot back at her. I could barely see from the tears in my eyes. I continued walking, this time silent. Jamie's hand slipped into mine.
"She's right, you know," Malcolm said softly, his hand warm on my shoulder. "But she didn't have the right to say those other things. You'd be great out there."
At the temple I prayed for my mother to give me a chance 'out there'. If it was the only way to prove myself, so be it.
December 21, 2005
Dear Journal,
I had the weirdest dream yet, last night. It was of a classroom filled with students, and an old lady with a leather jacket who I assume would be the teacher. I don't exactly know why I think she was so weird – might be the way she called everyone 'hon' and 'sweetie'. She's kind of like Drew that way, I guess. Except instead of being pretty and fashionable, she looked identical to a witch from Macbeth. And the jacket hung around her shoulders in such a way…it was horrid. In the middle of my dream, a boy who sat in the front row had to go up to the board to write his answer to one of the questions, and he wrote all the letters backwards. The teacher got really angry and called him sweetie and gave him a detention. I feel sort of bad for him, whoever he is. He was trying his hardest, is all, and she had no right to yell at anyone! Or call them sweetie. I bet the sweetest thing she'd ever tasted was a baby's blood on her tongue.
Courtesy of Annabeth Bronte Chase
The sky was turning purple when we got back down to the palace. Chiron was signing in people at the entrance to the hall, and most people were sitting on their sleeping bags and chatting animatedly to their cabin-mates. After writing a bit in my journal, I turned to face Luke but couldn't find him. I got up to search the sleeping bags, and he was nowhere to be found.
"Luke?" I called over the noise, but it swallowed my own voice almost instantly. I tried a little louder. "LUKE?"
The door to the hall was barely open. It cast a shadow on the light on the other side of it.
Whispering a short 'Be right back' to Daniel, I slipped out of the hall. The next hall – a smaller one – was filled with platinum doors. I picked one and stepped in. No luck. It was completely dark. I tried another. This time, I was successful.
I didn't dare creep around the wall until I heard why Luke was hidden. I could hear hushed voices, but I didn't recognize any words. I put on my invisibility cap, took off my shoes, tied their laces together, and hung them around my neck. Sneakers make a lot of noise in the palace of the gods, you know.
" – not in the weaponry, but – " Luke's voice was so familiar, but his tone was one I'd never heard before. If I could just get closer to him and see his face…
I knew it was dangerous, though. Luke was good at finding me under the cap when I was around him. I tried to creep up a bit to the left of the long wall, but it was still thick between him and me.
"It won't be in the weaponry, Castellan. It'll be where he is. Where they both are."
It took all my might not to slouch against the wall and curl up. This was the voice I'd been hearing in my nightmares. I bit onto my fist to keep from screaming.
I needed to get closer!
Taking a miniscule step closer to Luke and sliding along the wall wasn't easy, especially without making any noise. I could hear the voices a bit better as I stepped along the wall, then more distant. I realized that they must be at the corner, obscured by any unwanted visitors.
"Try it after the moon," said the voice. The back of my neck tingled. Goosebumps rose on my arms and legs. I turned my front to the wall, and heard Luke's voice much clearer than the muffled sounds before.
"Wouldn't they be gone, then? Taken with them?"
My greed wasn't satisfied with just that. I slid on my socks to the end of the wall, keeping myself well behind it. I crept my head around the corner and was disappointed when I couldn't see Luke or his 'plus-one'. My body was well hidden behind the bend as I pushed my head more furiously around the corner and stifled a scream.
My hat was pushed down from the wall, falling down onto the floor far from the corner. I couldn't sneak around it without getting caught, that I was sure of, but I also couldn't leave it and not get caught. I had to improvise.
"What was that?" both voiced muttered at once. It was eerily frightening.
"I'll check," Luke said. I turned quickly around the corner, realizing that there was no other choice but to let Luke see me now. I stepped around the corner just as he brushed his hand through a rainbow – an Iris Message.
"A-Annabeth," he stuttered, his face paling. "What are you –"
"I won't let you!" I cried. I wasn't sure what that meant, especially because I had no idea what the whole meeting was about, but I was sure that if I pretended to know then Luke would unconsciously say it while answering me.
"Won't let me what?" His face was rising with color now, looking so similar to Emily's face earlier that I almost cried again.
"I…I…I don't know," I finished lamely. The tears were streaming down my face now and I could do nothing to stop them. We stood there awkwardly. Luke was unsure of what to do.
"Look," he started. His hand brushed my shoulder as if to hold it, but he thought better and put it down at his side. "I don't want you to be scared or worried or angry or whatever the hell you are." His voice was crumpling up, and I knew he was repressing tears. He didn't sound like that very often, just when he was at Thalia's pine. "I want you to know that I wouldn't do anything to hurt you. Not you. Or Thalia. Family protects family, right?" I nodded my head. Tears dropped to the platinum floor.
"Sorry," I mumbled. I tried to hold my hands more stiffly at my sides. I knew that I would hug Luke if I didn't and I didn't think it fitting for the moment.
"Annabeth." My name sounded weird in the tone of his voice. I looked up, and my breath caught.
Were Luke's eyes always that blue?
He hugged me at the same moment I hugged him, and it felt so good to be comforted at last. We hugged for a while, me on the tips of my toes and Luke's back bent down.
Then, the most terrible thing happened.
Luke's face reached toward mine, and I thought to kiss his cheek like all the times before. I turned my head to do it, but instead, Luke seemed to want to do the same.
Our lips met in midair.
It wasn't a real kiss. I mean, ew. Luke is almost seven years older than me. What nineteen year-old would like a twelve year old like that? It was gross and wrong on so many levels, and yet, it was also…well…
I swear his eyes were not that blue before.
I jumped out of his arms the same time he gently pushed me away, the extra force making me land on the floor. I scrambled toward my hat, which I had accidentally kicked further away, and avoided Luke's wandering eyes the whole time I ran out. I plopped down on my sleeping bag, watching Daniel and Jamie talking animatedly and Malcolm read his book. My other half-sister, Leanne, was watching me closely. She was my age, but a whole lot more observant than me.
"Annabeth? Did something happen? I sense psychological interference," she added in a singsong voice and a giggle. I looked at her blankly. She scooted towards me and tried a different approach. "What did you figure out?"
"Figure out?" My voice broke. I desperately wiped at my eyes, and flinched when my fingers felt wet. "Nothing. Nothing. I didn't figure out anything."
Leanne sat so close her knees were touching mine. She ducked her head to see my face, which was pointedly looking down. Don't cry…don't cry…
The tears came faster than I wanted.
" – it was un-unexpected – hic – and I-I didn't – hic – know w-what to do," I wheezed into her sweatshirt, seconds later. She rubbed my arm thoughtfully and nodded knowingly. "H-have you ever – hic – k-kissed anyone?"
"If you count my dad, that's one person," she said. I suppressed a smile at the images building up in my head. "Oh! And that kid in kindergarten. Gods, he had the cutest light-up Spiderman sneakers. You would have molested him, as well." One look at my face, and she laughed loudly.
"Annabeth, you've got to know this," she said moments later. She looked dead serious. "Luke never really came to his senses after Thalia, er, changed," I felt uncomfortable hearing about Thalia.
What would she say about this?
It would have been obvious to anyone who'd been there. All the little glances, all the little kisses – on her cheek, on his nose, on her neck. They didn't hide it very well. Not from me. Not from the gods.
Maybe, I thought to myself, that's what killed her. Hades didn't want a daughter of Zeus and a son of Hermes to have powerful little skipped-generation demigods running around. Maybe it wasn't really about the pact and more about what could have been.
"I know," I told her. I crawled out of her arm and wiped my eyes a last time. I pulled my hair up with a spare rubber band and rolled my shirtsleeves up. I felt refreshed. I scooted away from Leanne and wiped my pants legs. "You're not the only observant one."
"The counsel should be about to start," Chiron told us, nodding his head to a sundial in the middle of the courtyard. The afternoon light was a deep gold, turning his skin into a buttery copper. "I request you keep your hands to your sides and you don't say anything unless spoken to."
Shelby Berry stuck a manicured hand in the air. "Do we sit with our parents or will we have, like, a general area of seating?" Her flowered skirt and jacket stuck out against the dark parkas everyone else was carrying. For all the pink she was wearing, she might as well have been an Aphrodite girl instead of a daughter of Demeter.
"Claimed will be seated in the front of the parent's throne. Unclaimed – " he gestured to a group of sullen-looking kids including Daniel Rye, Harper Ackley, and Mae Rivers. Luke cut in, smiling warmly at the kids. "You'll sit in the center with the me and the rest of the counselors." Chiron shot his a grateful look before continuing.
"Remember to bow to Zeus before any others. Do not pay superfluous attention to the Lord Hades, and do not talk to any of them unless directed to first."
And with that, he led us into the bright throne room.
To say it was amazing would be an understatement.
My mouth fell open, and all dignity went flush down the toilet. I quickly took my eyes off the room, and looked at Clarisse, who was standing to my left. Instead of making a sarcastic remark about her surprise, I offered her my hand. She took it gingerly and we walked, hand in hand, down to where my mother and her father's thrones sat. I dipped into a bow, and sat down at the foot of her throne, surveying the rest of the room.
There were twelve fabulous thrones in a U shape, and another, smaller one off to the side. Each one was different, unique, though only one was shabby looking – a swiveling black fishing chair to which I assumed belonged to Poseidon. I looked away from the sea god's in disgust. Athena and Poseidon never associated, and I wasn't one to break that tradition.
Before I could fully look away though, a glint of green caught my eye. The sea god's face was turned to look directly at me in wonder. Behind his bushy eyebrows, I glimpsed blue-green eyes. They bored into me and I couldn't look away for a few moments. My mother cleared her throat once, and broke the momentary contact. I felt violated, as though someone had told Poseidon all my secrets. I had a feeling that wasn't half a lie.
My mother was a totally different story, though. Beautiful and dignified, wise and intimidating, she held herself like she was the queen and not Hera. A soft white dress fell from gold clippings on her shoulders all the way to her sandal-clad feet, and in the one moment I looked at her I felt unconfident and self-conscience. She hadn't smiled to me when I bowed, although her stormy gray eyes showed approval. With her curly brown hair and light tan, she looked like a reflection of Emily. I wondered if Malcolm noticed.
The rest of the room was supported by massive whit columns sprouting from the floor to the domed ceiling, and I would have thought it was virtually impossible to have a dome made out of that much gold. Gold was a rare element, and I wondered whether it was magically accumulated or manually retrieved.
I kept my eyes on the almighty Zeus, watching as each camper approached him nervously and bowed clumsily. I felt smug, with my rehearsed curtsey and confident posture.
After everyone sat down, Zeus stood up. He was wearing a Grecian toga and golden cloak, a metallic wreath on his gray-speckled hair. His voice boomed throughout the entire room as he spoke. "Welcome, demigods, to the annual winter solstice counsel of the gods."
"Three cheers for us!" A handsome ten-feet-tall blonde called from his thrown. His smile was a winning one. I was about to omit a smile of my own when I noticed my mother's rolling eyes. I remained serious. "I believe this calls for a haiku."
The gods all groaned and I had to stifle a laugh at the immaturity of it. "Aren't they supposed to be, like, super powerful or something?" Leanne whispered to me. "They sound like ten year olds to me."
I nodded to her with a quiet, "No kidding." We dissolved into silent giggles.
"Ahem," Apollo started, standing up. His sons and daughters looked superior. I could see Will Solace in the front, with his bow slung against his back, and I could swear I never saw anyone as proud.
"Now it will begin
The winter solstice counsel
It is really cool"
I snuck a glance at Leanne, who was shaking with laughter, and then looked back at my mother, who was covering her eyes with her palm. That's the god of poetry? Wasn't he father to Shakespeare? Tennyson? Silverstein?
"Must they always end with 'it is really cool', brother?" Artemis called from her own moonlit throne. Her auburn hair glinted with golden flecks.
"Don't be bitter, love. It's alright to be jealous," he told her, with another award-winning grin. I could see where all the Apollo children got their good looks.
And so the counsel dragged on, with the gods complaining and bickering to and fro. I was beginning to think nothing interesting would happen and it would be one heck of a waste of bus rental, but then Hades spoke up from his corner. "The weaponry has been searched through."
Everything was deathly silent for a moment, before my mother spoke up. "Pardon me asking, but how?"
"Yes, yes," Zeus cut into whatever Hades was going to say. "It is impossible. I have twenty storm spirits guarding all entrances. And, anyways, who and why would anyone like to break into weaponry when they know the consequences are execution?"
Ignoring his brother's remark, Hades continued. "I suggest you all keep your items close by you tonight, is all, brother."
Zeus scoffed and placed a metal cylinder in a holder next to his throne.
I looked at Poseidon again and he seemed to look thoughtful, his intense eyes concentrating on…
On Luke.
Luke's face was guarded and lacked all emotion. I remembered earlier, the chilled voice and his frightened appearance. The mention of a weaponry popped into my head.
Could it have been Luke that snuck into the weaponry? Poseidon certainly seemed to think so, for a reason yet unknown to me. Neither made any remark though, so I turned to face Athena again, who was too busy analyzing Zeus to notice anything. I felt a little angry with my mother, that she didn't notice that someone was clearly suspicious. She paid no attention.
"It is almost impossible that anyone sneak into the weaponry, uncle," she said to Hades, and his black eyes smothered fire. "I have strategically arranged a guard all around it. No one can sneak past it. No one but a traitor," her pointed look was directed at Hades. "Unless you have something else to say…?"
It was enough for Poseidon. I agreed. It's one thing to deny any weakness, but to accuse another god? He stood up and in his simple toga and cotton cape, he looked a thousand times more powerful than Zeus, who was lazily sitting in his throne and tracing the perimeter of his armrest.
"Athena, enough. You haven't a right to accuse anyone. There is a fault in every plan, a loophole in every contract. For you to direct the lord, my brother, is the same as it would be for me to point you out. You know all the defenses. Couldn't you have snuck in?"
Athena's wrath was something I would not want to endure. She towered over her children as she stood up. I gripped Leanne's forearm in fear. "Uncle-"
"You did not do it. Hades did not do it. Enough with the backstabbing! I'm sick of it!"
He walked through his own invisible crowd of children and disappeared through the golden arch in the back of the room. Athena looked smug.
"I knew it. I always did," she told Zeus. He quirked an eyebrow. "It was him - Poseidon snuck into the weaponry. He's just trying to frame everyone else! How utterly, wickedly sick of him!"
"Now, Athena," Zeus started, but it was Hera who now stood.
"We are a family. You must have some nerve, woman, to accuse your own uncles of attempted theft. We do not turn against each other on this day of the year. This day is a reunion, and we must all stay together and defend each other's honor. So sit down and act dignified, Athena," she gestured to my mother's silver throne. Athena sat down as gracefully as she could with her pink-stained cheeks.
"Hear hear!" Ares called, pumping a trained fist in the air. His children followed to do the same.
I exchanged a look with Leanne, and in a second I knew that we were thinking the same thing.
It was all a matter of time before we would be betrayed.
Just to get this across, I, in no way whatsoever, support Lukabeth. I don't think Luke is a heartless jerk, either, though, for those of you haters. ;) I'm just saying that there is a reason for all of the blushing-crushing going on in The Lightning Thief. Don't let this part turn you down. Remember, I'm a Percabeth shipper like no other.
Another thing - I'm beta-ing a story for the very lovely and very talented Icedragon19. Her second chapter (first chapter not including prologue) should be up very soon! It's definitely something to look forward to, so head over to her profile and click the linkety-doo. Reviewreviewreview.
If you're a Prompts follower then I'm really sorry for the wait. Vanelo159 and I are trying to figure this all out. It's sort of hard, with school in the way and all the other icky things stopping us. But once we'll have it, a letter will be sent out to all of the past participants. I hope you'll be interested in joining (again)!
Sorry that this chapter was shorter than the previous. I felt like this was a good place to stop, and it didn't make it too short either. If there's one thing I hate it's probably 500 word chapters.
I don't want to tell you the next chapter will be up and then miss the deadline, so I'll say in a month or less or more kind-of ish.
Reviewreviewreview.
RAB
(P.S. I promise - no crazy A/N next time!)
