Chapter 4
Percy stared at all of the peoplee gathered in his room. The room felt overcrowded, but as he looked around he realized all the people who were there deserved to be there.
Jason, Leo, Hazel, and Frank had become family to Percy and Annabeth on the Argo II.
There was no one Percy knew that was more capable of helping than Nico.
Will had become part of the group after the battle, and everyone was happy Nico had finally found someone.
Rachel hadn't always gotten along with Annabeth, mostly over Percy, but they had become close friends. If Annabeth wasn't with Percy, she was with Hazel, Piper, and Rachel.
At first Percy and Piper weren't sure about telling Clarisse, but they decided she did care about what happens at Camp Half Blood, and she always was the first to offer help.
The only person Percy thought should be here that wasn't was Thalia. Nobody knew where the Hunters were at, and since Chiron had told them "ears are everywhere", they didn't know if Iris messages were safe.
As everyone settled in on the floor of the cabin, Piper motioned for Percy to stand up.
Percy took a deep breath, trying to hold back fear and sadness. "Hi, everyone. Thanks for coming. Something big is happening at Camp, and we don't know what it is. I guess this started last night. Annabeth came here to watch a movie."
Jason raised his eyebrows and smirked, but his smile faded when Piper, who was sitting next to him, poked him and whispered something in his ear.
Percy had decided to tell everyone the part that he hadn't told Piper yet. "About halfway through the movie, I looked over and saw than Annabeth was unfocused. She kept looking at her computer, muttering to herself, and she drew some wierd symbol on her arm. It was like she forgot I was there."
Percy was uncomfortable with all of the eyes trained on him. He was never good at public speaking, which was more of Annabeth's thing. "I asked her what was going on, why she wasn't paying attention to the movie she had wanted to see for so long. I was irritated, I guess. My mom had found the movie in a store back home, and she had sent it to us. Annabeth usually loved it when my mom did stuff like that. Annabeth got mad. She said something like, 'Why does everything have to be about you?'."
The silence got awkward and heavy. The first person to speak was Hazel. "Percy," She stood up and walked over to him. "You know she didn't mean that. Annabeth was clearly stressed about something. She wouldn't say something like that if something else wasn't going on. You know she loves you."
Hazel pulled Percy into a hug that looked completely normal. Only Percy heard Hazel whisper, "She's gone, isn't she?"
When Hazel stepped back, Percy nodded his head slightly.
Hazel grabbed Percy's hand and led him to sit down next to her and Frank.
Piper took over, telling everyone about how they both fell asleep during the movie, and when Percy woke up, she was gone. She told them about their visit with Chiron, and how they were going to meet Chiron tonight.
While Piper was talking, Percy could only focus on Will and Nico whispering in the far corner of the room. They looked like they were having an argument.