Chapter 2: Annabeth

Annabeth sighed. She and Jason had come to the same conclusion, that Percy was at the Roman camp. Everybody at the table was silent. Annabeth put her head in her hands and stared at the table. Finally she said, "We have to go, now."

"You can't go by plane." Chiron said softly. "There, yes, but not back. Unless you want to travel overland, but that's dangerous, considering we're facing Gaea. I think that you'll have to wait until the Argo II is done."

"That may not be true." said a voice. Annabeth turned and wanted to cry out in relief. Nico di Angelo stepped out of the shadows. "Mrs. O'Leary and I can take a few people each and shadow travel over to San Francisco."

"Nico, thank you!" Annabeth cried. She looked at Chiron. "That works, right? And it doesn't take any time at all."

"Annabeth, what are you going to do when you get there? We have no idea how the Romans will react to you coming to their camp. Yes, I'm sure Jason can create peace, but there are many other complications, like what will you say? Lupa will definitely have some questions for you. And we don't even know if they've heard the new Great Prophecy."

"Can we try Iris messaging them?" Annabeth asked. "Or is the connection blocked between our two camps?"

"Yes, Annabeth it is blocked, and was ever since you were separated." Chiron answered.

"Well, we could take a plane, I mean, Zeus wouldn't blast Jason out of the sky, would he?" Annabeth asked hopefully. "And Percy saved Olympus last summer, so doesn't that account for anything?"

Chiron looked troubled. "We can't be sure, Annabeth. And the gods stay quiet, at least for now. Its difficult to predict what Zeus would do. I don't think we should risk it."

Annabeth sat down. "We could take a chariot, or pegasi…" she started, trailing off, knowing that Chiron was going to say no.

Chiron's expression was very pained. He looked like he really did want Annabeth to get Percy back, the whole camp did. "Annabeth, I'm sorry. I think you'll have to wait until the Argo II is built."

"We'll go as fast as we can." Leo promised. Annabeth nodded her appreciation, but she still felt like her world was falling apart, even though they knew where Percy was.

After the meeting, Annabeth walked to the beach and sat down on the sand, staring out at the ocean. She had come here a few times since Percy's disappearance, it was his favorite place, and she felt more connection to Percy here than anywhere else in the camp.

Annabeth heard somebody sit down next to her. She looked and saw Rachel the oracle, looking at her with concern and pity in her eyes. "Annabeth," she started as Annabeth looked away. Annabeth could feel her eyes starting to water. "you'll see him sooner than you think." Rachel continued. "I have a feeling that you won't have to wait until the Argo II is built to see Percy."

Annabeth looked at Rachel curiously. Usually, when she had a hunch about something, it was true. But Annabeth didn't see how that could possibly be true. Unless the Romans came here first, with Percy. Maybe Rachel was just trying to make Annabeth feel better. "Thanks, Rachel." Annabeth said. "But I just don't see how that's going to happen."

Rachel didn't say anything. She looked like she was deep in thought. Finally Rachel shook her head and said, "See you at dinner. Don't worry about it Annabeth." Rachel got up and trudged towards the pavilion, where the conch horn was being sounded for dinner. Annabeth wanted to believe her really bad. After casting one last look at the ocean, Annabeth turned and headed back up towards the pavilion.

Jason

Jason felt bad for Annabeth. She had been so close to finally rescuing Percy, and now she couldn't, probably for a whole year, six months if they were lucky. He knew that feeling, when there's something wrong, and you know how to fix it but you can't.

He, Piper, and Leo left the meting and headed towards Bunker 9, where construction for the Argo II would soon begin.

"Gods, I have to get this place cleaned out." Leo muttered. Jason agreed. There were things scattered all around the floor, and a huge pedestal where Leo had put Festus's head after Hephaestus sent it back here. Right now, the place didn't look like any place they could build a ship.

"When are you going to start building?" Jason asked.

"ASAP." Leo replied. "We have to plan some stuff out first, and get all the materials and stuff. I think I'm going to want all of Athena cabin to help with that."

"Leo." Piper said gently. Leo was standing next to Festus's head, stroking it. "He'll have a new use now. He'll still be with us and he'll be playing a big role on our journey." Leo nodded. Jason didn't know if Leo could take it if anything happened to the ship on their way to Greece. He knew that the ship would be built to hold, but they all knew that there was going to be damage.

Leo turned and said, "I'll go get my cabin to bring them here to start planning. You guys go get Annabeth and her cabin." He looked at Piper. "You think you Aphrodite kids will want to help?" he asked.

Piper raised her eyebrows. Then she sighed and said, "I'll be helping, Valdez, you can be sure of that, but I doubt anyone else from my cabin will want to be getting their hands dirty." Leo nodded and was about to leave when the dinner horn sounded.

"All right, we have some time after dinner, we can get started then." Leo said. Jason and Piper agreed, and they went up to the pavilion.

As he was eating, Jason glanced over at Piper, who wasn't talking to her siblings. Instead, she had a worried expression on her face and was looking towards the Athena table. Jason followed her gaze, which rested on Annabeth. Annabeth was staring into empty space, not eating anything. Every once in a while she'd snap out of it, then put on that worried yet glazed face. Jason decided to try and cheer her up after dinner. If anybody needed cheering up, it was Annabeth.

Just as everybody was finishing up, Annabeth stood up. She exchanged looks with Chiron, who nodded and yelled, "Settle down, settle down! Annabeth has an announcement!"

Eventually people stopped talking. Annabeth took a deep breath and started. "We think we know where Percy is." She paused. There was a moment of stunned silence, then everybody started yelling all at once, asking "Where?" and "How do you know?"

Annabeth raised her arm, and people stopped talking again. "There is another camp for demigods. But it's for Roman demigods, who do exist. That's where Jason comes from. You all know that Hera was kidnapped, and Jason, Piper, and Leo recently saved her. Our theory is that Hera switched Percy and Jason. She plopped Jason down here, and put Percy into the Roman camp, which is somewhere is San Francisco. This was so that we could learn of each other's existence, because we were separated after the Civil War. That's the only way we can defeat Gaea."

Somebody from the Ares table shouted, "But wouldn't Percy be an enemy to the Romans? I'm sorry Annabeth, but they're probably treating him like a prisoner, if not worse."

"You know how Jason's memory was wiped?" Annabeth asked the whole pavilion. "Hera stole his memories. We think she did the same for Percy, for exactly that reason."

Jason looked down at his table. He could feel people glancing at him. Surprisingly, the pavilion was still silent. "So how do we get him back?" somebody from the Hermes cabin called.

Jason stood up. "We will probably have to wait until the Argo II, Leo's boat, is built, but then we will fly to San Francisco. Hopefully, by that time, I'll know exactly where my camp is, and we can go and find Percy and the other two demigods of the Great Prophecy."

Annabeth nodded at him. Jason nodded back, then looked up at Chiron. Chiron had a sad smile on his face. He was looking at Jason as if he knew what was going to happen, and it was something horrible that continued to repeat itself in history. Almost as if Chiron knew how their quest was going to go, and he looked like he thought it would fail. Terribly.