I edited my first and second chapters because I realized all of the mistakes I made with the POVs—thanks to .90, who pointed that out. (I kept switching from first person to third person.)
I LOVE REVIEWS BY THE WAY! (They fuel this story—hint, hint )
Annabeth's POV
Less than fifteen minutes later, we had another problem.
A stampede of cows had fled from a nearby field and was now grazing on the road, blocking our path.
"Hera," Thalia spoke the name with distaste, "Does she honestly think that using her damn cows as roadblocks will make us want to turn back?"
"No, it's more her way of saying she doesn't approve of what we're doing." As if we could care less, "If she had it her way she'd probably blast us right now, but since you're here Zeus will want to refrain from having his only daughter (as far as we know) killed, again."
"Well if I could I'd blast her too," she said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "and if I did it, it wouldn't be murder—it would be doing a world a favor for not having to put up with her crap and—" thunder boomed and Thalia glared at the sky, muttering curses under her breath, which only made the thunder echo louder.
"Like you said, when this is over we'll find some way to make her pay, but for now let's try to avoid giving the other gods reason to go against us," Hell knows we can't afford another immortal to go on the 'enemy' list.
We sat in silence for another five minutes wondering if the herd would disperse any time soon. I was about to resort to honking our way through when a bolt of lightning suddenly struck one of the nearby cows. It slumped forward, whether it was unconscious or dead I wasn't certain.
"Did you have to do that?" I asked, feeling a little pity. That cow wasn't a monster but a living creature that had been under Hera's spell.
"Look, if we can't kill Hera then killing her minions are the next best thing," She shrugged.
I rolled my eyes jokingly. I don't know why or how, but I guess the idea that we were really going to get Percy back gave me the will to allow humor back in my life.
"How about we set up camp in the woods of the road, I don't see these guys moving anytime soon and the flight isn't till two o'clock tomorrow. It won't put us off schedule and I think it's better than having to sleep in the airport like we planned."
Thalia agreed and we found small patch of ground large enough for our tent in the woods. Almost immediately we were in our sleeping bags and Thalia had drifted off to sleep. We should have been taking turns keeping watch but there was so little of the night left and we were too exhausted. Besides it didn't make much of a difference considering I couldn't fall asleep at the moment, no matter how tired I was. I kept thinking about those days leading up to his disappearance…
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Flashback
"So when's Percy coming to camp?" asked Thalia as we climbed up half- blood hill to camp.
I smiled to myself at the thought of seeing Percy again. I was currently attending a boarding school in New York to work on the construction of Olympus. (Also to stay close to Percy but I would never admit it to him—his ego was big enough already) Unfortunately, the school was strict with curfew and with planning the reconstruction we had only been able to fit a few dates in the past few months. And although we constantly IM ed each other, I hadn't seen him since Thanksgiving last month. We had spent the day with his mom and stepdad, he had gotten his hand stuck in the turkey and…
I realized Thalia was smirking at me with her eyebrows raised. I blushed which only succeeded in enhancing the smirk to a full grin.
"He's coming tomorrow afternoon."
"Mmmmmm, just warn me before you start making out with him, okay? I can't take any of that lovey dovey stuff you two have right now. Remember last time I walked in and you guys were—"
"Shut up."
She chuckled and we walked through the entrance of camp Half- Blood. I hadn't set foot in the camp since August and was curious of what I was coming back to. After Percy had made the gods swear (which they did NOT like) to take responsibility in claiming all their children they had doubled the size of camp and Grover was still constantly sending satyrs out to collect more from all over the world. With all these kids it sure said a lot about the gods, I thought.
With all these new campers, the camp would definitely feel different. Not to mention look different with the new cabins that had been built. This all had been a huge relief to the Hermes cabin whose inhabitants would usually squish together like one big unhappy family.
One thing was for sure though, things had changed, and with things constantly going array in my life, I did not take well to change.
We walked down the empty path into the camp, but stopped when we heard multiple voices shouting faintly at something to…heel?
It was coming from our left on the other side of the patch of Redwood trees that blocked our view. It turned out that it was farther away than I thought and we found ourselves in the training area—except no one was training. Everyone formed a circle with their eyes and weapons trained on something.
As we got closer we saw that the something was…Mrs. O'Leary? Great, who had been stupid enough to bother her this time?
I looked at the fifty, maybe sixty various campers who had their weapons drawn. I realized I couldn't spot a single familiar face. With no senior campers around these newbies had not only been dumb enough to bother her but also to point their weapons at her which means you're basically asking for it. I hoped that none of these kids where Athena's, that would be disappointing.
"Should we just kill it?" I heard someone ask, causing my anger to rise.
"No, we need to get it in its cage!" They've been putting her in a cage?!
"No, Chiron said we weren't allowed to do that and it should be free to roam the camp."
"But it would be self-defense on our part if that thing is TRYING TO KILL US!"
Others spoke up to agree with the last comment and I rolled my eyes, wimps. I whistled loud enough for everyone to hear and now all eyes were on me, including Mrs. O'Leary's.
"Hiya girl," Thalia said beside me. I gestured for the hellhound to come on over and a second later I was tackled to the ground and greeted with a slobbery lick. Soon enough Thalia was pulled down too. We laughed, hugged her, patted her on the back, but it still didn't stop the euphoria that seemed to be going on inside her. They better have been treating her good or they would have to face me, Thalia, and Percy, which never ends pretty.
"So, the beast is yours then, huh? You either keep that thing caged, where it belongs, or we'll go to the camp leader and Chiron will be forced to get rid of the thing. Understand?"
I stood up to see a well- muscled boy of…sixteen, with a tattoo of two crossed swords on his upper arm—Ares kid. He gave me a cold look and from the faces of the rest of the campers; it looked like they agreed with him. But none of that irritated me more than the fact that this guy looked like he thought he was in charge.
"No, Mrs. O'Leary is not ours, she's my boyfriend's."
"Boyfriend? What kind of guy in his right mind has a hellhound as a pet?"
"First of all he is never in his right mind and, second, who the hell do you think you are?" said Thalia who was also standing now. It was evident by his reaction that he was not used to being addressed like this.
He gave us a hard look, "Well it looks like the two of you haven't been around long enough to understand how this camp is run so I'll excuse the rudeness this one time," and answered prideful, "Anthony Bryn, Son of Ares, second-in-command for the Ares cabin, and temporary camp leader till the actual one returns," then gave us a look that said 'beat that', "who are you?" This will be fun!
"Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, head counselor of the Athena cabin, actual co-camp leader, and official architect of Olympus."
"Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, head counselor of the Zeus and Artemis cabin, first lieutenant to Lady Artemis, and leader of the Hunters."
"Now may I ask why they made you temporary camp counselor and not a senior camper?" All of the camper's eyes had widened, but the best part was the fact that Anthony had considerably paled.
"I…um, w-well there aren't any senior campers here at the moment, they were all given quests to help the damage caused by the war, but they should arrive back today at 3:00 pm."
This made sense because after Kronos was defeated, monsters around the world had not taken the news very well and were constantly taking out their frustrations on unsuspecting mortals. Since then, it seemed that Chiron was continuously organizing raids to diminish the monster threats and patch-up the damage caused.
I looked at my watch—1:39, the senior campers would be back soon. With that Thalia and I walked away from the gaping campers and toward the armory. I hadn't been able to practice my sword fighting in the past few months and wanted to get as much practice in if I were to go up against Seaweed Brain tomorrow; not that I needed it, of course.
After ripping apart a few training dummies, Thalia and I started to circle each other. Fighting against Thalia is always interesting, to this day we still don't exactly know who is the better swordsman. I, being a daughter of Athena, am just a little better at strategizing then she is. While Thalia, being a hunter, has a bit more speed and agility on her side then I do. Overall, our strengths even out our weaknesses and make it a balanced competition. That being said, our duels usually go on till we both get worn out and with our stamina that can be a very long, long time.
After the first five minutes of slashes, lunges, faints, and deflecting; the newer campers started to take notice and watched. We've been told by others in the past that we make quite the spectacle and from the sidelines we look like a whirlwind of movements. This makes sense because over the years we've upped our skills together. It was actually Thalia who taught me how to fight, sometimes with the help of Luke, back during the days we were on the run. I caught on quickly and since then we'd find time to have a duel whenever we could. Over the years we've become accustomed to each other's fighting style and now we're almost able to predict the other's next move, which only makes it more fun and challenging.
There was now a full circle of bystanders trying to catch our every move. I realized that we must have been going on for a while because I started to notice some senior campers in the crowd.
Unfortunately, Thalia got called away by Chiron who wanted to talk to her about the possibility of the hunters' staying at camp while Artemis was busy at Olympus. Next thing I know there is a line of people who want to duel me. All of them were newer campers who've never went up against me before, but most were guys my age who wanted to try and impress me with their so-called 'skill'. However, they were sadly disappointed after I started defeating them in under a minute.
Just when I was about to make my move to finish off my seventh opponent of the day, a sword from another person blocked it. Acting on reflexes I slashed and it quickly turned into a new fight.
Because of the speed of this new opponent I was forced to keep my focus on their sword and wasn't able to get a good look at their face. But whoever this was, they were good—but I was better. Or so I hoped.
The next move surprised me as their sword twisted in mine, yanking it out of my hand and into theirs. I felt the side of one blade gently rest against the back of my neck while the tip of the other pointed to the base of my collarbones.
Silence fell over the crowd as my stormy grey eyes slowly meet sea green. I scowled as a goofy grin spread on my opponents face. But I couldn't help but smile against his lips as they crashed down on mine.
Catcalls and wolf- whistles filled the air and before he completely pulled away from me he leaned toward my ear and whispered, "Meet me on the pier at 6:00."
"Sure, Seaweed Brain," I breathed back. He smiled and gave me one last quick kiss before heading away.
I watched as he disappeared from sight. I was now positively beaming at the spot where he had stood and there was no doubt that from the snickers I was getting from the audience, that they were finding my comical look very amusing.
"So if we win do we also get a kiss?" Some guy in Apollo yelled. That broke me out of my ravine.
In attempt to preserve the last of my dignity I walked away.
By 6:00 I was attempting to walk calmly toward the pier when I actually wanted to sprint. When I finally got there, however, I discovered my boyfriend of four months to be sprawled fast asleep across the end of the pier, drooling into his shirt.
I chuckled and took out a water bottle from my bag. Feeling no sense of future regret, I ruthlessly poured the ice cool liquid over his unsuspecting, puppy dog- looking face.
It worked automatically, like someone had pushed an eject button on him as he swiftly scrabbled up looking for the source.
"Sorry," I said innocently, yah right.
Percy whirled around and squinted at me through his water- ridden eyelashes. He grinned and the next thing that came out of his mouth made me want to smack him. "Happy to see me?"
I rolled my eyes but stopped as my eyes became glued to his white t-shirt, now see-through from the water. He really did look great. I wasn't really the type to 'check out' guys, but I guess the fact the Percy was my boyfriend more than explained my action, and allowed me the right to do so.
"Like what you see?"
I blushed, was he asking to get hurt? At this point he was trying to look smug. Empathize on trying, in reality he was miraculously failing and instead looked more like his 'attempting- math- look'. Not being able to hold myself back any longer, I bombarded him with a rib- breaking hug.
"So you are happy to see me?" I elbowed him.
"Shut up." I felt his body quake with laughter.
"Come on, let's eat," he said pointing toward a picnic basket at the end of the pier. I opened it to find—blue. Blue sandwiches and blue beverages, it was typical Percy. I took a bite of one sandwich and immediately feel in love with it.
"Tell your mom her food is amazing."
"How do you know that I didn't make it?"
I snorted, "Since when do you cook?"
"Since last year when I learned how to use the toaster."
"You didn't know how to use the toaster? How are you even able to get up in the morning without breaking any bones? My poor Seaweed Brain."
"Ha Ha, next topic please"
She thought for a moment, "How is it going at your school? Is the Second Titan War any match for high school?"
"Well, math in fact does bore me to death, so does science, English, and history. On the upside though, I was made captain of the swimming team and quarterback for the football team." Demigod training gave us a major advantage in sports. (So did being the son of Poseidon, which made being on the swim team 100% cheating)
"The swimming and football team? And just when I thought your ego couldn't get any bigger."
He nudged me lightly, but then wrapped his arm around the tops of my shoulders. I leaned into him and we continued talking till the sun had completely set. By the time he walked me back to my cabin I was already eagerly waiting for the next day so we could spend it together.
Percy kissed me good night and I felt like I was in total bliss. Although that feeling of bliss was also accompanied by a sharp throbbing in my gut, telling me something was about to go wrong. You see, for me happiness never seems to last long, as if the Gods were never willing to give me a much needed break. Nonetheless, I stupidly chose to ignore it and the next morning I paid the price.
When I awoke, Chiron was already waiting patiently by my bedside to personally tell me the news of Percy's disappearance. At first I acted out of denial. I passed it off as a joke or misunderstanding, insisting to check every cabin, nook, and cranny. When that didn't work I called his mother to see if he went back home, I even dipped my head in the lake a few times to check if he decided to go for a swim.
Then I ran out of options. I must admit I acted somewhat deranged after that. In recap I also think that I must have frightened some of the new campers by my running around the grounds and screaming 'Percy' over and over again. In the end, there was no sign of the green- eyed and raven- haired boy.
When the truth finally hit me I simply leaned back and slumped against the nearest tree. I didn't know what to do and I, daughter of Athena, always knew what to do.
I was lost.
End of Flashback
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I tried taking deep breaths to fall asleep, hoping Thalia wouldn't notice.
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We woke up and were fortunate to find that the herd had moved on.
When we got to the airport, however, we weren't very lucky.
"What do you mean the flight has been canceled? We need to get to San Francisco today!" I shrieked at the woman behind the information desk who looked ready to call security on me.
"Miss, like I said before there is nothing I can do, all flights have been canceled due to the winter storms in the area; we will of course give you a full refund for—"
"You think I give a damn about the money? We need a flight to San Francisco now!"
The woman looked like she had just about enough of me, "Miss, no one is flying in this weather so if you do not lower your tone I will have security show you out."
"But—" Thalia dragged me away from the counter with one hand over my mouth.
"No buts, there isn't any use in arguing with someone when they can't give in. Now let's go back to the van and sort this out there." I muttered in agreement and we climbed back into the car.
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"Now let's think about our other options, if there are none then we'll just wait till the storm clears."
"I don't think that Zeus has any intention of stopping the storms anytime soon, it may be the Gods way of trying to delay our arrival at the Roman camp if you think about it," curse Hera, "Plus, it not safe traveling by land with Gaia getting stronger, so no trains or driving there."
"We could steal a boat and go by sea."
"No, Thals think about it does either of us actually know how to sail?"
"I thought you and Percy sailed through the Sea of Monsters together?"
"I was with Percy, he did all the sailing," And watched out for me, saving my life a few times, I thought, "what about Shadow travel? Nico could help us with it."
"No, I haven't been able to get in contact with Nico in the past week. But I guess it's usual for him being Death Breath, the dark and creep heir of Hades, and all that."
We both got quiet, deep in thought.
Two minutes later I heard something thump against the very back row of seats. Something is in the van with us. I took out my dagger and looked at Thalia. She had heard it too and had drawn a sword from her pack.
We climbed over to the third row of seats and peeked over. At the very back of the van was a wool blanket covering its floor and it was moving. I held my dagger, ready to stab anything at the moment's notice.
Thalia reached down and pulled the blanket to reveal…
"What!"
"Hey."
"Rachel?" I looked from red hair to goat legs, "Grover?"
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"What the Hades do you think you're doing here?"
Grover whimpered away from my somewhat sharp tone and curled into a ball, his whole body vibrating erratically. Rachel sighed pityingly at the pathetic sight and faced me. "Yesterday, Grover and I overheard you two taking about getting Percy back and we figured that we're his friends too, so we decided—"
"She figured, she decided, I had no part in this!" Grover burst out with eyes pleading for mercy.
After receiving three bullet- proof glares, Grover cowered back in his sad, smelly little corner. I felt for him, I really did. In the past, I've been told that Rachel's glares forces you to flinch, Thalia's make you want to crawl under a blanket, and mine causes you to pray to the fates that there's a spot in Elysium with your name on it. Basically, we created and perfected the saying: if looks could kill…
"Look guys, we know we should have talked to you before hitching a ride, but we also knew you'd say no. We're Percy's friends too, we want to help."
"We have our reasons for saying no. Neither of you are demigods. It doesn't matter whether you want to help, how can you help?"
Rachel smirked smugly, "What if I told you I could get you to San Francisco?"
THANKS to all those who have reviewed for my previous chapters!
-I'm SO sorry that it has taken so long for me to update, and I promise that the posting of my future chapters will become more daily and sooner.
PLEASE REVIEW! ANY FEEDBACK IS WELCOME!
P.S. I edited my first and second chapters because I realized all of the mistakes I made with the POVs—thanks to .90, who pointed that out.
(I kept switching from first person to third person.)