Chapter Three
Why was it that some kid I barely knew could make or break my life at Camp Half-Blood? Why had a few hours with Percy changed everything? The last time I spoke to him for many, many years was that day I'd played cards with him. He went off on that quest with Annabeth and that satyr, Grover, and came back. Then he went on quest after quest after quest. I tried talking to him, but I'd become just another lovesick girl in the Percy Hottie Jackson fan club. I wasn't even "lovesick." I just knew that Percy Jackson would change things for me, right from the first time I ever spoke to him.
Okay, it sounds cheesy. But it was absolutely true.
In fact, the only reason I ever talked to him again was because of a horrible accident. I was hardly involved in the whole Greek/Roman madness. I barely noticed Jason Grace's arrival a few months back. Being that awkward unclaimed kid, I tended to blend in and get stuck in the back. And that was just the way I liked it. Sure, Gaea was rising, and sure, she was targeting Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter, but as far as I was concerned, Percy would fix everything. Like always, right? I'd met those kids from Camp Jupiter, Frank and Hazel, and Leo and Piper, but of course I didn't go on that massive quest with them. They were "The Seven." No one expected them to fail.
They didn't fail their quest, of course, but Hazel and Frank really took one for the team. Gaea's army had been defeated, with the help of all the demigods, Greek and Roman, but the two Roman lovebirds were on the very very front line. Rumors around camp said that they'd nearly been crushed to death in the center of stone wall, leaving them both in the Camp Jupiter infirmary. Percy and Annabeth came back to Camp Half-Blood, with a few weak congratulations. No one really had the heart to be happy that Gaea was gone when it had been at the cost of ultra-lovable Hazel and Frank. They were very much loved around here. The fact that their death was expected didn't exactly put everyone in a very good mood.
About a week after the Seven returned, I found Percy unexpectedly, sitting by the armory. His face was in his hands, his fingers tangled through his dark hair. He looked just like he did on his first day at the camp. At first, I was afraid to go up to him. We hadn't spoken for so many years. Still, what did I have to lose?
"Percy..?" I whispered, my voice barely audible to my own ears. I shook my head and tried again. "Percy...?"
There. He just shook his head and pulled his knees in to his chest.
"Leave me alone, Annabeth," he said, his voice sounding strangled.
I walked over to him and sat down. "I'm not Annabeth. Are you okay?"
He shifted a little. I saw one green eye peek out from behind his long, windblown hair. "Oh my gods...Carrie?"
I smiled. Percy lifted his head, revealing bloodshot eyes and cheeks streaked with tears. He tried to grin. I didn't ask what happened. I could tell he didn't want to explain. Instead, I hugged him, because I could see that he needed it.
I let him cry softly into my shoulder for a long time, and I hated seeing him like that. Eventually though, he pulled back and smiled like the Percy we all knew and loved.
"Where have you been, Carrie?" he said. "I missed you!"
I shrugged, returned his smile. "I haven't gone anywhere," I told him. "And I missed you too."
"I guess you want to know about the quest?" he assumed.
I shook my head. "I know what happened. I figured you've told it enough times."
He nodded and sighed in agreement, leaning back against the armory. "I have."
The sunlight caught on his emerald eyes and lit them up like Christmas lights.
"So where have you been, Mr. Popular?" I asked him.
He smirked and tilted his head towards me. "Just crushing some monsters. Same old, same old. Next quest, you should come."
"Sounds like fun," I admitted. "But I don't think there's room for an eighth."
"The Seven is over," he said, his voice lowering. "With Hazel and Frank gone...and Piper choosing to stay at Jupiter with Jason...there's only Leo and me left."
"What about Annabeth?"
"She quit. She said she didn't need any more sadness in her life," Percy explained. "After losing Hazel and Frank, she decided that she just wanted to be normal."
"She gave up on you," I guessed.
He nodded. "She's been through too much."
"Where did she go?" I asked.
"She went to Olympus. To be their personal architect. She loves it there. She says it's Candy Land," he said, looking out into the distance like he wasn't even talking to me any more.
"Do you miss her?" I said quietly.
"Of course I miss her," he whispered. "But she's where she should be. She's happy." He squeezed his eyes shut. "She even found a guy."
"What?!" I curled my fists.
Who did Annabeth think she was?!
"He's a god," Percy said. "One of the first in existence. His name is Aether, god of the Upper Air and light. Apparently, he's this all-perfect, divine...whatever."
"He's a god," I said. "Gods are supposed to be perfect and divine."
"She didn't even come back to camp to say good-bye," Percy mused, burying his face in his knees.
"I'm sorry, Percy," I told him.
"It's okay," he shrugged. "As long as she's happy. We were never right for each other anyway. I guess she's just too uptight for someone like me."
I couldn't disagree. "Do you like shooting?"
He smirked in amusement. "Arrows? Sure."
Percy, as it turned out, was pretty bad at archery, but I didn't mind helping.
"Just hold it here...and line up the arrow," I said, positioning his fingers around the string and pulling his arm back. "Aaand...let go!"
The arrows seemed to curve around the bullseye in every way possible. I smiled, pulling back on my own bow and shooting the center of the target. Finally, Percy sighed, walking over to the target and manually sticking the arrow into the bullseye.
"I suck," he summed up.
"No," I said, pointing at the arrow he'd just stabbed the target with. "That right there is a bullseye."
"Mmkay, whatever you say," he laughed. "Are you hungry?"
"Sure," I said, and we walked back to the armory to put our bows away.
As we walked over to the camp Mess Hall, we talked about five years worth of things we never got to talk about.
