Chapter Two: Annabeth's Visions/Extraction
Andrea sat at the edge of the Canoe lake staring out at the water's surface, a part of her hoping that her brother would just pop up and act like this was all an elaborate prank he was pulling off with the Stoll Brothers.
"You doing alright over there Andi?" Will's voice spoke from behind the fifteen-year-old teenager, causing her to flinch. The head counsellor for the Apollo cabin sat down next to her when dark eyes never strayed from the water.
"I'm scared" the female blonde spoke as she drew her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on top of them. "What if this is the time he doesn't come back? I feel so useless waiting here, why won't Chiron let me leave?"
"For the moment this is where you need to be. There are people out looking for him at the moment though"
"Doesn't make me feel any less useless"
"You aren't useless Andi" the son of Apollo soothed, as she rested her head on his shoulder. "You have people to talk too about this?"
"That's what you are here for isn't it Solace?"
"Someone you talked to like you did with Beckendorf and Silena? Could you talk to Annabeth about this?"
"She's not really in a stable enough state for me to talk to." Andi whispered, having spent time in Athena's cabin where her brother's girlfriend was pouring over every possible lead on his location. "I don't know how to explain all of this to mum and Paul without making the whole thing worse"
"Percy has gotten out of impossible scrapes before, plus he's indestructible. We'll find him Andi"
"I hope so"
….
Chiron watched Andrea and Will as they sat on the lake, the head counsellor of Cabin Seven had become the emotional rock for the pale blonde teen after the fallout of Manhattan. With both of her brothers being incommunicado she was on the verge of regressing back into how she was when she first arrived at Camp Half Blood four years prior.
"Andrea" the centaur called out causing both blonde's to nearly fall into the lake in surprise. "I need you to come to the Big House with me."
"See you later Will" as Andi stood up and heading over to where Chiron was, already bracing herself for the worst, being called to the Big House outside of the normal reasons (infirmary, head of cabin meetings, visiting the oracle and camp orientation) was not something one looked forward to. "Good Morning Chiron"
"How are you holding up?"
"This feeling is worse than after Mount Saint Helens"
"I'm sure that he will turn up eventually. However, there is something I need to discuss with you" as they entered the Big House Andi knew that something was going to go down, especially when she saw Annabeth pacing around the office.
"I had a vision" the daughter of Athena stated when she heard the two enter the room.
"A vision? From who?"
"Hera"
"Are you crazy Annabeth?!" Andi exploded as she ran her fingers through her hair, "Why in Hades would you trust anything that she has to say?"
"It's about Percy, it has to be. We have to follow this lead" Annabeth tried to reason with her boyfriend's younger sister. "We need to go to the Grand Canyon and find the boy with one shoe"
"Alright"
"Can you take me?"
"No."
"Andrea, I thought you'd want to get this done as fast as possible"
"I have spent that past twenty-four hours going to the Underworld and doing a whirlwind trip of the USA. I doubt I could get myself there let alone another person"
"I will send Butch with you two" Chiron interjected, ever since Percy's disappearance tensions had been running high, especially with the two blondes he was closest too. "You'll need to prepare a chariot, but it will be the fastest way for you to get here"
"I'll go inform him" Annabeth walked out of the Big House while Andi hung back. She didn't want to get her hopes up that Percy was at the Grand Canyon because if she did and he wasn't there, the small ball of hope inside of her would start to fade.
"I'm scared that we are just some pawns in a bigger game" she admitted to the centaur who gave her a quizzical look. "Everything that has happened recently, Percy's disappearance, the Gods cutting all communication, Mr. D going back to Olympus and the whole no death thing in the Underworld at the moment. Something dangerous is on the horizon isn't it? Another prophecy you needed to keep secret?"
"If that is the case then I agree, things are going to get a lot worse"
"I figured as much. All we can do at the moment is focus on the now, before the fear of the unknown stops us from trying"
"You've grown Andrea"
"Unless my brothers are annoyed at me, you are the only person who calls me Andrea anymore, did you know that?" a small smile graced itself onto her face as she spoke, trailing her finger over one of the many pictures on the wall, a photo taken three years ago of her standing between Charles Beckendorf and Silena Beauregard before her first quest, the only other two people who called her Andrea.
"Good luck Andrea" Chiron waved her off as the dark eyed girl left the big house and over to the Pegasi stables.
….
Butch hated the ride to the Grand Canyon, he was stuck with two girls who were on the verge of an emotional breakdown and their friendship had taken a nosedive because of it. An awkward silence covered the chariot, with Andi holding the railing so tight her knuckles were white and Annabeth fidgeting with her knife so much that the son of Iris worried that she would accidentally cut one of them.
"Still hate flying Andi?" he tried to keep the mood as calm as possible.
"I doubt I'll ever enjoy flying" the young blonde smiled, though it was clear how fake it was. "There!"
"What?!" Annabeth turned her attention to what the black eyed girl was looking at,
"On the ground! There are three people! Well blobs that I assume are people"
"I see them. Hurry up Butch"
"Please be Percy" Andi muttered under her breath, and for the sake of them Butch prayed that it was the son of Poseidon down there. As he started the descent down towards the Grand Canyon, the blobs were starting to look more like people, but he couldn't see anyone who resembled Percy in the slightest, and from the way Andi's shoulder slumped she had realised it too. Neither of them knew how to respond when Annabeth jumped off of the still slowing down chariot. "ANNABETH! Well this is going to go downhill"
"And you are as optimistic as ever" Butch commented before he secured the two Pegasi once the chariot landed, though the blonde wasn't listening to him, she had already gone to stand near the group listening to their accounts of what had happened. As the male blonde recounted his story, Annabeth was getting more and more annoyed at his tale.
"No, no, no! She told me he would be here. She told me if I came here, I'd find the answer"
"It was Hera; did you really trust her word?" Andi commented as she kept fiddling with the beads on her camp necklace.
"Check it out" Butch pointed to the barefoot of the male "the guy with one shoe, he's the answer"
"Should have known it wouldn't be this simple"
"No, he can't be. I was tricked" Glaring up at the sky Annabeth started shouting at it "What do you want from me? What have you done with him?"
"Annabeth, we have to leave" the son of Iris interjected, as he looked over to where the Pegasi were getting agitated, and he knew that wasn't from Andi's presence. "Let's get them back to camp, we can't hang out here unless the spirits come back"
"Come on Annie, Chiron will know what to do." Trying to keep her friend calm, Andrea pushed her towards the chariot before she started a fight with the new group.
"Fine. We'll settle this later" throwing one last glare at the group, namely their leader.
"What's her problem? What's going on?" the female of the trio asked as she shook her head.
"Seriously"
"we have to get you out of here. I'll explain on the way"
"I'm not going anywhere with her. She looks like she wants to kill me" Jason gestured towards the retreating figure.
"Annabeth's okay. You gotta cut her some slack she had a vision telling her to come here, to find a guy with one shoe. That was supposed to be the answer to her problem" Butch tried to help them understand.
"What problem?"
"My brother went missing three days ago from camp. Poof, he just vanished." Andi explained, "she thought the vision meant we would find him. Annabeth's out of her mind with worry as well given the fact they are dating. Stupid vision just gives us more questions and false hope."
As they got Jason, Piper and Leo into the chariot under the promise that Annabeth wouldn't kill them. While the group talked to each other Andi was clutching the rail of the chariot so tight her knuckles went white, it had hit her once they began going back to Camp Half Blood that them being a pawn for the gods -most likely Hera – was the most obvious solution at that moment. She didn't know if she was prepared to be dragged into something that was obviously going to be dangerous.
….
Authors Notes: I'd like to thank all of you who have commented on the story and who are enjoying it. I hope you continue to enjoy it, I apologise for the delay in getting it out but I had to rewrite this chapter five times before I was happy with it.
Andi's role in the Percy Jackson (not Heroes of Olympus) series will be explained in later chapters and will have actual interactions between characters in the next chapter.