A/N: Woo! Chapter 3!
Alright, this chapter is kind of a connecting chapter, so it took me a long time to write it. Hopefully, the next one won't be so long.
Also, I do have a plan for this story. I know it's probably going to be at least another ten chapters, but after that, I'm not sure.
This chapter contains some language so please take that into consideration as you read.
And hey, guess what? It's like 9 days until House of Hades.
Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Annabeth was bent over a blueprint in the forges, motioning with her hands and talking really fast. She was trying to explain how this chariot wheel was going to work to the Hephaestus kids, and she knew that they probably knew everything she was saying, but she really couldn't stop talking.
It had been three days since her fight with Percy. She hadn't spoken to him, and he was refusing to even glance her way. Annabeth knew that neither of them was planning on giving in first.
Since then, she had gotten a handle on this whole situation. She had gone and talked to Grover and he had taught her how to block some of Percy's thoughts. Everything was getting better (thought wise) and at least she wasn't hearing his every thought. If she was really focused, she could almost pretend that he wasn't there at all.
But not really. There was this constant buzzing in the back of her mind from Percy being there.
It made her sad to hear it. She missed him. She missed being with him, and if she thought she could actually make it through an apology, she would run straight to him.
Only some of Percy's more… personal thoughts got through so she could hear. Most of the time they were about her, and Annabeth had to try really hard to not blush or act on them.
Annabeth shoved a loose strand of her hair out of her face. It was getting seriously hot and she was going to need to take another shower before-
I bet Annabeth would look really awesome in a bikini like Drew's.
Annabeth's mind grinded to a halt. It was like someone was driving a car on the highway at sixty miles per hour and they had jammed it into park right then and there. Not a good situation.
Had he really just thought that?
Hesitantly, (she didn't like to do this) she reached out to Percy's mind. Normally, if she tried hard enough, she could get a direct line to his thoughts and emotions. It was a little like watching television or reading a book from a character's perspective.
Annabeth could see a visual of the lake. A few of the Aphrodite girls were all on the grass, lying out on towels. Sure enough, Drew was there, in a white bikini that Annabeth would have classified as garbage. Because she was in Percy's mind, her gaze traveled down Drew's body, and she kept getting hints that no one should be that skinny and a couple of questions like, where were her scars? Doesn't she have any?
Yeah. Annabeth would totally look better. I wish she was here instead of them.
Annabeth didn't really know what to think. Should she be happy that Percy was looking at Drew and frowning and then wishing that Annabeth was there instead? Or should she be pissed off that he was even thinking that she would wear something like that?
"Hey, Annabeth!"
She snapped back to her mind and forced the wall between her and Percy back up when someone waved their hand in front of her face.
The Hephaestus kids were looking at her worriedly. She had just stopped talking in the middle of her speech, which she never did.
Annabeth shook her head to try and clear her thoughts. She looked at them for a second before she shoved her chair back from the table she was sitting at.
"I don't know why I'm explaining this to you guys. You know what I'm talking about. If you guys could just have this ready by next week, that would be great, and I will leave you alone." She said as she stood up.
They all looked surprised. Annabeth hadn't ever done that before. She always had to make sure that people were doing their job exactly the way they were supposed to, and now, she was just leaving it up to them.
Gods, she was mellowing out.
Annabeth waved goodbye and ran out of the forges, desperate for some fresh air.
Once she got out into the sunshine, she sighed happily and closed her eyes. This was way better. She just needed to relax for a few minutes-
Man, I really want to kiss her.
Percy's thoughts crashed into hers like waves crashing on the beach. It had happened again. She let her guard down for one second and then she gets crowded by his thoughts.
The only think Annabeth could manage to think is who does he really want to kiss?
Frantically, she pushed her way into his mind and waded through his thoughts to try and find something.
In all actuality, Percy was thinking about her. She could see a timeline of sorts in his mind. There were memories of them together when they were younger, and then there were some things that Annabeth didn't recognize, but she knew she wanted them to happen someday.
I bet she hates me. You really screwed up, Jackson.
In those few seconds, Annabeth could feel how upset Percy was. He was so totally depressed about their fight and all Annabeth wanted to do was run up and give him a hug (and she never did that).
Percy was in so much pain (emotionally, that stupid seaweed brain still had his curse) that Annabeth had to pull out of his mind when she felt tears in her eyes.
She sucked in a deep breath and opened her eyes wide.
How could she keep doing this? It wasn't fair to her or Percy!
She had to get this fixed. She was not going to deal with this for the rest of her (hopefully long) life.
Annabeth started to march across the grass.
Ω
"My dear, are you sure about this?"
Annabeth sat up straighter. She had come to the Big House to tell Chiron that she was going to go find Aphrodite and get this fixed. She just knew that she couldn't handle this anymore. She had to go.
"Yes." She said firmly.
Chiron pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He didn't want her to go try to find Aphrodite, but there wasn't really anything he could do about it.
"You understand that this will be dangerous." Chiron said. "I can't let you have a pegasus and I can't help you get anywhere but into the city. This won't be like you're just going to work on Olympus for the day."
She nodded patiently. "Of course, Chiron."
He was acting like she had never done this before. She had been on plenty of quests, and had (mostly) succeeded every single time. What could Chiron possibly be worried about this time?
Oh yeah. She had told him that she was going to go alone.
It wasn't that she thought she could do it by herself; she knew she could. She had handled plenty of dangerous mission on her own, and she could do this. In all reality, Annabeth didn't want to have to deal with anybody else. She was already frustrated and having someone else around to annoy her would make everything worse.
"You should take at least one person with you." Chiron said.
Annabeth shook her head immediately.
"You realize if Percy finds out he will demand to go with you." Chiron said again.
"I'll be gone before he finds out. Besides, we're not even on speaking terms right now. He wouldn't come with me if I begged him." Annabeth admitted sadly.
The truth was that Annabeth did want Percy to come with her. It just felt weird that she was leaving Camp for a quest without her sidekick with her. But they were still fighting, and no matter what Percy was feeling, Annabeth was probably right when she said that he wouldn't want to go anywhere with her.
Chiron shook his head and rolled his eyes, "Child, if you must do things your way, then you know where to go."
Annabeth tried not to get annoyed by Chiron's attitude. She should have been grateful that he was even letting her go, but he really didn't need to treat her like a little kid. She was perfectly capable of doing this by herself!
She got up and gave him a thank you before walking out of the Big House.
Outside, the sun was shining. It was about noon, so it was pretty hot in the direct sunlight.
Over to her left, she could see most of the campers gathered at the lake. Almost everybody went there during the break they took from training, and today was no disappointment.
Annabeth wondered if Percy was over there. Was he still standing there staring at the Aphrodite girls? What if one of them actually had the guts to go up to him? What if he was so mad at Annabeth that he actually took up one of their offers? What if they were together right now? What if-
She put the brakes on all of those thoughts. This was Percy she was thinking about. He was a dense ratchet with seaweed for brains. There was no way he would pick up on a hint from one of them. And besides, he wouldn't ever do that to her.
Would he? He wouldn't right? Sure, they had a really bad fight, but sooner or later they would make-up and then they would get together, right?
There she is.
She turned around like someone had said her name. It was happening so often, and he sounded the exact same if he spoke out loud or in her mind. She couldn't really tell the difference between the two.
Percy was standing on the top of the hill overlooking the lake. Instead of wearing a bathing suit like the rest of the campers, he had on jeans and a camp shirt. His arms were crossed, and he was staring at her. His eyes were sad.
Where is she going?
Annabeth flinched and shoved the wall back up between their minds. She didn't have time to deal with this right now. Annabeth turned around and headed into the forest.
Ω
Eventually, she got to the cave.
She could hear some sort of tribal music blasting from speakers before she even pulled the deep purple curtain back.
Rachel was standing at an easel in the middle of her high-tech cave. Since she had become the Oracle, they had gotten to be pretty good friends. Annabeth suspected it was because she knew that Rachel couldn't date Percy anymore.
The red-headed girl didn't notice her until she was standing at her shoulder. And even then, she just continued to paint.
After a few minutes, she finally put her brush down and turned to Annabeth.
"Well, hey, Annabeth. Where's Percy? You two are attached at the hip now, right?" Rachel said.
Annabeth shook her head. "Not anymore. We got into a fight and we aren't speaking at the moment."
"What?" Rachel gaped. "When was this?"
She rolled her eyes. "Three days ago. If you ever came out of this cave, you would probably know. I assume everyone is talking about it."
"Sorry, I've been caught up in this painting. The Oracle keeps possessing my body right in the middle of it and ruining it. I swear she has no manners." Rachel said. "So, tell me, what are you and Percy fighting about?"
So Annabeth told her the whole story. She told her about the mind-reading situation and about Percy's thoughts and how awkward everything was and the quest to try and get it fixed.
Rachel was a good listener.
She stayed silent until Annabeth was finished. Then she said, "So you need a prophecy?"
Annabeth nodded.
Rachel sighed and moved a few feet away from her easel. She straightened her back and stared.
Annabeth waited for the creepy green smoke and the fright inducing words to hit her like a freight train, but nothing ever did.
After a few more seconds, Rachel shook her head and slumped back to her normal posture. "I guess she's not going to give you one."
"What?" Annabeth said in disbelief. "I need a prophecy before Chiron will even let me go. Rachel, I have to get this fixed."
Rachel clicked her teeth together nervously, "Well, the Spirit of Delphi is not going to give you one, but I can try my best to give you a prophecy on my own. And even then, it would just be something that you could tell Chiron so he will let you go."
Annabeth guessed that would be better than nothing. "Okay."
Rachel turned back toward her painting and stared at it for a few seconds, but then she started talking.
"You shall go to the king
And find something to bring
Back home to its place.
But not without difficulty, you will face.
A fight that will cost your life
With hope, everything will turn out nice."
Annabeth gaped at Rachel. How had she come up with that on the spot? And was it true?
Rachel whistled. "Damn, I guess she did want to give you a prophecy, just without all of the theatrics."
Annabeth gulped. "Fight that will cost your life?"
"Is that what she said? Harsh."
Annabeth always forgot that Rachel never remembered the prophecy lines that she had just given. She supposed it was logical; she just couldn't get her mind around it. She had always hated all of this stuff.
STOLL!
Annabeth let out a squeak of pain when she heard Percy scream that in his mind. She must not have been focused on keeping him out.
Before she could stop it, she was pulled into his mind.
Percy was in the arena. He had Travis Stoll lifted two feet off the ground and pinned to the side of the bleachers. Sweat was dripping off of Travis's face, and Percy's vision was tinged with red. Annabeth could tell how mad he was, but she didn't understand why.
She searched his mind for something, for anything, but she couldn't find anything except how angry he was.
Annabeth was a little worried. What was he going to do to Travis? If he did something really bad to him-
She snapped back to her mind. She had to get down there and stop him before he went crazy.
Rachel was talking to her about something, but Annabeth interrupted. "Sorry, Rachel, something's wrong with Percy. I have to go! Thanks for the prophecy!"
Annabeth was already out of the cave before she even heard Rachel reply.
Annabeth searched through Percy's thoughts, but she couldn't find anything current. His mind was blank and empty except for all of his feelings.
She noticed that happened a lot. Percy didn't have a lot of thoughts like she did. He felt most things. It was probably one of the reasons he was such a good friend. He did things and acted on his feelings instead of thinking about it. And it drove her crazy.
Of course, she loved him for it, and she loved that he was that way, but sometimes, she just wanted to punch him in the face for not using logic.
I swear to gods I'm going to-
Annabeth listened, but Percy never finished his thought. She pushed herself to run even faster, and she finally dashed into the arena.
There were a dozen or so of their friends gathered off to the side of where Percy had Travis pinned to the wall. They were all watching through their fingers, and no one was moving to help Travis or stop Percy.
He was even angrier in person. His entire frame was trembling, and Annabeth could hear a low growl from him.
"Percy!" She yelled as she shoved her way through the campers.
Is that her? What is she doing here?
Percy's thoughts mellowed out a little for a second, but then his anger came back full force.
So she's talking to me again? Oh is that how we're going to play this? Well fine. I'll do whatever she wants like always.
Annabeth recoiled at the resentment in his thoughts. Is that really how he felt all of the time?
"Percy!" She yelled again.
Grover grabbed her arm as she ran past him and pulled her back, almost yanking her arm out of its socket. "Don't. You'll just make it worse. He won't listen to anybody."
Annabeth raised an eyebrow at him and jerked her arm away. Stupid Grover was not going to stop her from getting to Percy.
She ran up to Percy.
Travis Stoll, I swear I will- Annabeth?
"Percy," Annabeth breathed. "Stop."
Stop? No. Absolutely not.
"What are you doing here? I thought you weren't talking to me." He said coldly.
"Percy, you're mad at me not Travis." Annabeth said. "So stop."
Of course I'm mad at you!
"No." Percy said.
"Yes. Whatever he did, he got enough punishment. Now fight with me. I'm the one you're mad at." Annabeth said.
My hands won't let go.
Slowly, Annabeth reached up to Percy's hand that was around Travis's throat. She unclenched his hand, and Travis fell to the ground and scrambled away. He was sucking air in frantically, and most of the other campers left behind him.
Why does she get to decide everything?
Annabeth needed to talk to Percy without all of the rest of them staring at her. She glared at Grover until he got the message. He bleated nervously as he rushed the others out of the arena.
It was just the two of them facing each other then. Percy was still shaking, and Annabeth still had his hand in hers.
His voice was low and dangerous when he spoke. "Why did you do that?"
"You're mad at me. You're not seriously mad at whatever stupid thing Travis Stoll did. You're pissed at me and me alone." She said.
Why is she right? And is she here to apologize?
"Look, Percy, I'm really sorry about being such a jerk the past few days. You didn't deserve that and I know that I hurt you. I'm sorry." Annabeth apologized hurriedly. Her pride made the words taste a little bitter, but she wasn't afraid to say it to Percy. He was worth it.
Yeah. You did.
He just looked at her. His eyes were dull, and he had bruises from not sleeping under his eyes.
"I just wanted to know what was wrong and if you were okay." Percy said finally. "You didn't have to blow up at me for it."
She flinched and looked down at the ground. "I know and I'm sorry."
Annabeth hoped he would forgive her. If he didn't, what was she going to do? She couldn't survive without Percy beside her. These last few days without him had taught her that so many times over.
And how was she expecting to be able to go off on a quest without him? Could she really just walk out of here without him?
She's apologizing. She never apologizes first.
Annabeth looked back up to his eyes and tightened her fingers around his. "I understand if you won't forgive me."
No! Don't let her walk away!
He made a frantic grab for her waist, but instead of his grip being tight and scary like the last time, now it was soft and comforting. She didn't want him to ever let go.
"Annabeth! Of course I'll forgive you. I'm sorry too. I was the one being a dick about everything." He admitted.
She smiled a little, "Yeah, you kind of were."
Well then.
She laughed at his thoughts and circled her arms around his waist, holding on to him while she could.
Oh gods, something is still wrong. She never hugs me like this.
"Annabeth? Please tell me what's wrong."
Her mouth betrayed her. She was planning on telling him that everything was okay and that she had just missed him. She was definitely not planning on telling him that she was about to leave on a mission.
"I'm leaving tomorrow morning." She said against his chest.
Percy's arms tightened around her.
Leaving? Where could she be going?
"Where are you going?" He asked incredulously.
"On a quest to find something." She said it before she could stop herself. Why was she being so stupid? If she wasn't careful, she was going to end up giving him all of the gory details!
A quest? She's going on a quest to find something? What is she looking for? Is she going by herself? Does she even feel like going on a quest? Lately she doesn't feel like doing anything so how could she go on a quest by herself? Oh! I bet she is going to ask me to go with her!
Annabeth bit her lip about that. He was going to throw a tantrum when she told him that this wasn't an invitation.
"You want me to come with you?" Percy asked.
Annabeth shifted in his arms and started to pull away. "Umm, no. No, I'm going by myself."
By herself?
"No way. I'm going with you." Percy said.
"No you're not."
"Yes I am."
"No. You're. Not." Annabeth said. She pulled out of his arms completely and glared at him. There was no way she was going to let him go with her. This was something she needed to do herself.
I beg to differ. I'll just follow her.
Annabeth was backed into a corner. She wanted Percy to come with her just because he was always with her and she knew him better than anybody else. She knew she needed someone else with her, but she couldn't take Percy because she would have to explain this whole mind-reading thing, and he would totally freak when he figured it out.
"Fine." Percy said smugly, obviously planning on following her.
Annabeth stomped her foot.
Why is that so sexy?
Annabeth froze right then and there. What did he just think? Was he serious?
She hoped she wasn't blushing. "I am going by myself."
"Whatever you say." Percy said with a shrug.
"Percy Jackson!" She squeaked. Would he stop acting so in control? He wasn't!
Gods, she is about to lose it.
Percy crossed his arms and stared at her. "Easy way or hard way, Annabeth. Pick one."
Annabeth continued to glare at him. He was right. He was going to end up going one way or another. Chiron would be a lot easier to deal with if Percy went with her. She would be safer. It would be remotely entertaining; everything that Percy did was entertaining. She would be more likely to succeed if she had Percy helping her and-
No! She could do this by herself! She was a strong, independent woman and she didn't need a man to-
Whoa, going a little crazy with the quotes there, Annabeth thought.
She's about to give. I can see it.
Annabeth rolled her eyes and shoved her hair behind her ear. A second later, she found herself saying, "Fine, but I can't give you any of the details. And I'm the leader. Not you."
Percy grinned at her. "All right! I'll go pack!"
She grumbled to herself annoyingly. Great. Percy was going with her.
This was going to be awesome.
A/N: Leave me a review! Tell me what you're thinking about this story or about House of Hades or what your favorite color is. I like to read them!
-SomethingMoreCreative
P.S. What do you guys think about me doing the question thing at the end of the chapters? I think those are kind of cool.
