Smiling. I couldn't stop doing it. It'd been the only thing on my face for the whole week, because I couldn't wait. Annabeth and I were tasting the cakes that Katie Gardner, and the other bakers of Cabin 4, had made for us to try. That and all the fondants and marzipan. Of course, I was only there for the food and for Annie. She was the one with the list and ticking stuff off. Luckily, I didn't have to do anything except say which cake I like the best. And that was easy.
"The blue cheesecake that has blueberries and whipped cream on it."
"Simple. Elegant. Not too strenuous. What do you think Annabeth?" Max cut another small piece and offered it to Annabeth. She nibbled it, closing her eyes to think before nodding.
"Yep, blue cheesecake it is." She looked up at the clock on the wall inside the Demeter cabin's expansive kitchen. "Crap, I have to go. Percy you have to see if you can talk to your mum, right?"
"Yeah," I replied, getting to my feet and heading back to my own cabin. I dropped onto the bed, hanging my head off the end, palms of my hands massaging my face. I closed my eyes, trying to block out the sounds of the outside world.
"Wise girl, you've been by my side since the beginning of this crazy adventure."
"We met when you were asleep. And you were drooling." She started laughing lightly.
"I'm trying to be romantic here, stop trying to make me look bad."
"Sorry," she said, exhaling to finish her bout of laughter.
"What I'm trying to say here is that you are awesome, and I wouldn't be able to survive without you by my side."
"Seaweed brain, what are you talking about?"
I swung around from the sandy beach we were sitting on and into a kneel.
"Annabeth, will you marry me?"
She glanced around at the otherwise empty beach and started to tear up. Sure the beach was empty, but I could see Jason and Piper hovering behind some trees, and could see a dolphin getting way too close to the shore. I would have bet any money that that was Frank. At least Grover and Juniper had been able to hide well, because I couldn't see them anywhere.
"Percy! What? Marriage?"
"Yeah, that's what a proposal is for, right?" My hand started shaking and my voice became hesitant as she started to laugh. Was that how you were meant to react to a proposal? I couldn't tell.
"You don't remember, do you?"
"Remember what?"
"Our first quest."
"Yeah, what about it?"
"You are such a seaweed brain. The apple! We played hacky sack with Grover." She held out her hands like it was supposed to mean something.
"...And Grover could eat an apple in one bite?"
"Oh my gods! You proposed to me then."
"I proposed… to you… when I was eleven?" I paused every now and then to make sure that I hadn't lost track of the story. Each time Annabeth nodded I continued. "How was I supposed to know that?"
"You are such a seaweed brain."
"That doesn't matter. Because I'm proposing now, and I actually know that I am."
Annabeth threw her head back and laughed, when she finally looked back at me, tears were welling in her eyes.
"So… Is that a yes or…"
"Yes. It's a yes." Together, we slipped the ring on her finger. Black started to crowd around my memory as I sat back up. The blood rushed from my head. I tried to remember what Annie had told me to do now. I looked at my palm, the smeared black ink, talk to mum.
"YoU'rE wHaT?!"
"Getting married. To...to Annabeth, that is.." She should have known, my mum had been trying to hint at it for years. She was obviously stunned at the timing.
"When did this happen? Also, I need dates for the wedding."
"The proposal? It was, uh, about seven months ag-"
"Seven months! Have you been helping plan the wedding? It'd be quite soon, I would imagine." As always mum was right.
"It's in 5 days." Mum's jaw dropped, and she called my little sister, Estelle, and Paul into the kitchen. Estelle's little brown ringlets framed her face, and she waved at me through the mist. I waved back, causing her to erupt into giggles. "Anyway, I have to write this vow. Love you all lots, bye!"
The Mist connection ended as I sliced my hand through it. Now to get down to business.
I tapped the pen against my knee for the thousandth time. How was I meant to write this? A vow had to be one of the most impossible things to write. I remember the first time I met you, I had woken up in the infirmary after defeating the minotaur. The first words I ever heard you say were, "He's the one, he has to be." I saw you, and your blonde curls and tan skin. My first thought was that you looked like a princess. And I think that every single time that I have seen you since. I couldn't write anything else. I'd already spent an hour looking through the dictionary that I'd borrowed from the Athena Cabin Library. What was I meant to write? It was so confusing, and I was willing to bet anything that Annie already had hers finished. Maybe I could ask Grover, or Jason. Grover would know about my feelings, the empathy link was still active. At least I thought it was. Oh, man. I hadn't spoken to Grover or seen him since the battle. He was alive, I knew that much. But the last time I'd seen him was when Juniper…
Heaving myself up off of the bed, I made my way into the woods. I remembered the grove where the satyr council met, finding it easily. A satyr was sitting with their back to the entrance. Curly brown hair –and scatterings of grass and silver hairs– stuck out in cows-licks around the horns that protruded from his head. A rueful tune was played and replayed from his pan-flute. Poor Grover, he wasn't that old. He should be out having fun. I hoped he'd actually left the grove for food, but from the looks of his skin stretching over his thin frame, he hadn't.
"Grover! Hey," I didn't want to startle him. He meekly looked up before going back to his mournful blowing.
"I was wondering– since Annabeth's busy– would you be able to help me with a project?"
"Sure, Percy." He lowered his pan-flute, and I sat down beside him. Passing over my piece of paper, he read through it. Slowly, he blinked.
"What's this for?"
"You remember when I proposed to Annie, right? Well, she's decided to start planning the wedding. And well... That's my vow."
Grover nodded, exhaling. "What would you like me to do?"
"Since we still have our empathy link-" I paused to check if he nodded, to which he did, "- You would know my feelings. How do I write it?"
"Gee, Percy. I don't know. The spelling is pretty good though." He handed me back the paper with a shrug.
"Thanks, I used a dictionary and Chiron to help me find them. Can you believe that there's only the absolute correct spelling in here. And I tried spelling thought with a double 'f' at the start." It was so unlike Grover to chuckle at my jokes. "You okay?"
"No, and I am very surprised that you are."
"Why?"
"Because you died!"
"No, I think I would remember dying."
"I felt it. You were dead." The colour from Grover's face was gone, and he looked more serious and aged than he'd ever been. That battle must have been painful for him. He was also a cloven elders council member, and Lord of the Wild. He would have had to do so much damage control with the nymphs and satyrs. That was all before he actually took himself into account, I could barely imagine how it must have been. I should have been here for him. Instead I'd been teaching sword-fighting and going to the beach every other day. I wasn't being the friend that I should have been.
"Man, I'm sorry. I should have been here helping you and trying to fix things."
His first chuckle for the day. Sure it was weak and half-hearted, but it still had a bit of soul. "You definitely haven't changed, Perce. Back from the dead, and already trying to fix things and help people. I'd love to stay and chat, but I have another cloven elders meeting. I hope to catch up with you soon, man."
With that, Grover left. I had nothing else to do in the grove either so I headed back through the woods. I spotted a camper running between the trees to my left, probably off to find their partner for the three-legged race or something else.
My cabin really wasn't the best place for brainstorming stuff, so I went up to the Big House. Chiron would know how to write a vow. And if he didn't, at least he knew about Annabeth. He was on the verandah, playing two person solitaire with Mr. D. I hadn't remembered him coming back, but who's to say if he even was back?
"Mr. D. Chiron." I announced my arrival.
"Perry Johnson. It's been a time." Mr. D. swigged from his coke.
"Only five or so years."
"I'd prefer longer next time." I nodded in agreeance.
"Was there something you wanted, Percy?" Chiron interrupted before our little 'chat' got inappropriate.
"I need help writing my vow for Annabeth. And... Well I figured that you know how to write and you've seen Annabeth grow up.
"You could talk about that time you got turned into a guinea pig. She loved that time."
"I'd prefer if my vow didn't make me look any dumber than I already look."
"Shame. I'm out of options than, Peter." Mr. D got up and headed inside.
"You've told me some of your adventures. You could talk about when she was taken by Atlas, and how you responded. Or how you thought of her when you had amnesia and were with the Romans. There's many things you can do Percy."
"I know what to say, sorta. I just don't know how to put it into words."
"Ah, yes. That is a dilemma. Start by writing an outline, what do you want to put in. Then you can complicate it." I nodded. Okay, a plan. I can make one of them. "And how is Annabeth going with all her arrangements?"
"Good. I think. I haven't been too much help. But Pipes was coming over and doing her makeup. They also have a dress fitting and florals to do too."
"You've definitely gotten better at remembering times and events, Mr Jackson." Chiron smiled.
"Not really," I showed him the palm of my hand which was covered in blue pen and times. He let out a lighthearted chuckle.
"Oh well. I can only ask so much of you. Come, play some cards with an old centaur."
"What are we playing?"
"Rummikub."
"Um...ever heard of go fish?"
