Chapter 2: Ethereal Green Hues

"To have beautiful eyes, look for good in each other"

-Audrey Hepburn

AN: Hey guys! It's me again. I did promise that I would be sending the second chapter as soon as I could! Believe me I'm as excited as you are. Anyway, Thank you so much to all the people who reviewed and viewed this story. Thank you all so much! Enjoy this chapter!

-06-01-17—9-49-

Next time, Annabeth promised she would wish for a longer weekend.

The days seemed to fly by so quickly as she walked out of the grocery and into the streets of New York City. It was a beautiful Sunday morning, yet here she was, worrying about the next interview she would be attending the next day.

"Hey Hazel, Piper, I'm Home!" she called out.

"Annabeth, oh my gods you have to see this! Hurry up and close the damn door!" Piper hollered from the living room. Annabeth rolled her eyes and deliberately back handed the door so it rattled against the frame. She walked into the living room to see her cousins sprawled on the sofa with their eyes glued intently at the screen. She glanced at the TV and saw a reporter standing at banks of the lake at Central Park.

"What's going on?" She inquired, her previous annoyance gone.

"Well," Hazel began "Apparently, there was an unexpected meteor shower last night." Annabeth suddenly found herself looking at the screen on Piper's phone. "Look at it! It's amazing isn't it?" Piper gushed. True, the dark blue night sky was lovely, but what caught her attention was the blue-green streaks of light and a particularly vivid sea-green colored star twinkling.

"What's that got to do with the lake at Central Park?" Annabeth asked.

"As, I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted…" Hazel spoke up. Piper mumbled an apology before gesturing for Hazel to continue talking. "A piece of the meteor was discovered to have fallen into the lake. Luckily, it wasn't that big. About as big as three or four cars I guess. The honest-to-goodness weird part about it is this though." Hazel gestured towards the screen of the TV.

The screen showed the central park's lake but something about it was ethereal and other-worldly. It was as if someone painted the lake in magnificent hues of blue and green. The surface glimmered under the sun as if a ton of glitters were dumped into the lake.

"Whoa…It's…...Beautiful" She whispered. "That's what they're so intrigued about" Piper's voice broke into her reverie. "It seems that the piece of that star transformed the lake into something more…."

"Majestic?" Hazel offered.

"Empyreal?" Annabeth suggested.

"I don't know what that word means, Annie, but no; I don't need a definition" Piper cut Annabeth off before she even started. "The scientists are worried that it might be alien in origin. So,"

"They're trying to find the piece and take a look at it." Annabeth finished for her.

"Oh! Look at that! Apparently, they deemed it safe to go to the lake! Let's go take a look at it!" Hazel pleaded with them. Piper grinned. "I'll call Jason, Leo, and Frank; you guys can prepare the picnic basket"

"But….my portfolios…." Annabeth trailed off. "Well, I suppose they can wait" She caved when she saw the look on her cousin's faces. "Let's go before I change my mind"

Annabeth could appreciate why they deemed the lake newsworthy now that she was seeing it in person. It was as if the ancient Greek sea god, Poseidon, suddenly decided to give the lake his blessing. (So she loves Greek Mythology and Architecture, sue her. Her cousins after all, have it too. Part of the family trait she guessed.) She looked up from her book to find Piper waving the boys over.

Jason was one of Annabeth's best friends and Piper's boyfriend. She used to tease them a lot about it. Believe me, Annabeth never let go of that fact, even when the two already started dating. Frank was Hazel's boyfriend. They met when Frank was accompanying his grandmother on buying the jeweled clock that was auctioned at Hazel's jewelry shop. Leo was another of Jason's friends. She appreciated his eye for good engineering and architecture. After all, she was an aspiring architect.

"Hey guys" she murmured when the boys walked over and greeted them. She was too absorbed in her book and her dyslexia wasn't acting up so she wasn't ready to break her reading streak yet. At least, that was her plan until the reporter showed up.

"Hello guys. My name is Calypso Ogygia; and I'm an investigative journalist for New York Gazette. Do you mind if I ask some questions? My boss wants me to have at least a small statement from the citizens."

"Well, absolutely sunshine! Anything to keep you from working too hard." Annabeth looked up just in time to see Leo wink at a brown haired slender girl, about the same age as them. She and her friends exchanged looks. It was about time that Leo hit on another girl.

Calypso merely raised an eyebrow and began interviewing Leo, while her other friends were listening to their conversation, occasionally adding comments like "Aliens? Honestly, who would've thought the government was so paranoid?" or "Yes it looks majestic doesn't it?"

After a while, Annabeth gave up reading her book because all the peace and quiet was lost. She said a quick excuse about enjoying the view and walked off to the banks of the lake. She was so deep in thought about her recent dreams, the stars and the mysterious hue of the lake that she didn't notice the person in front of her until she ran face first into him.

Her first thought was Who puts a wall in the middle of the road?

Her second thought was Oh my gods, I'm going to fall in the lake!

As she closed her eyes and braced for impact, the wind whistled in her ears. She opened her eyes and wondered why she hadn't fallen into the lake yet. Then she realized that arms were around her waist strong yet gentle. She felt herself being straightened and she looked up at her rescuer. She let herself gasp.

He was taller than her which made him about six feet. His dark hair was tousled and unruly yet it looked like it had been styled that way. He was lean and lithe, muscular but not overly so. He moved with grace and poise like catching her and literally sweeping her off her feet was something that he did every day. He grinned at her that made her heart do jump and jacks inside her rib cage.

She didn't however, gasp because of that. That honor belonged to his eyes. They were sea-green and they sparkled with amusement and mischief. She remembered thinking that just maybe, she had seen eyes like that before. Then it hit her. She had seen those eyes before. She had seen them 14 years ago.

His eyes were the exact same color of the star she wished upon that night.

AN: So what do you guys think? Let me know your thoughts. I hope you guys liked it though. Don't worry I won't let you hang in there. I'll send in the next chapter soon. See ya guys!