***Hi all, here's Chapter Seven. It takes place in Athens and is told entirely in Annabeth's POV. Hope you enjoy reading! The eighth and final chapter should be up early next week. Also, just as a disclaimer, none of this belongs to me and there are a few lines of dialogue taken directly from Rick Riordan's Blood of Olympus and one line taken directly from The Lightning Thief.***
ANNABETH:
Leo woke everyone up at the crack of dawn on August first by announcing through the ship's speakers, "Rise and shine! It's G-day. Time to storm the beaches, boys and girls."
Annabeth hurried to get dressed, which included putting on her armor. Then she headed up to check on the battle preparations.
Frank was stacking ballistae bolts next to the repaired forward ballista. Jason was flying around the mast, checking the rigging, while Leo was at the helm, fiddling with the Archimedes sphere. At the railing, Piper was looking out over the city, keeping watch.
Athens.
Annabeth couldn't quite believe they were here. After all this time, they'd arrived at their destination. She was going to see the Parthenon. If only it were under happier circumstances.
Percy came on deck eating a donut. His armor was crooked, the left side hanging down several inches lower than the right. He popped the last bite of donut in his mouth as he looked around the ship, taking in the activity. His eyes fell on Annabeth and he smiled as he walked over to her.
"Morning." He kissed her cheek.
"Seaweed Brain, how is it that after five summers of wearing armor, you still manage to put it on crooked?"
Percy glanced down. "Huh. Good question. Can you…?"
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Come here."
She tightened the left straps on his shoulder, then loosened the right until his armor hung straight. "There. Much better."
"Thanks," Percy said. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
Considering what they were about to walk into, that statement carried a little too much weight. A part of Annabeth wanted to say, "I was without you, for six months, and it sucked," but she doubted that would help morale at the moment.
Instead, she swallowed the lump in her throat, forced a smile, and said, "Obviously, you'd wear crooked armor and look ridiculous."
Percy grinned. Just then, Piper called, "Um…Annabeth?"
Annabeth glanced at Percy, then the two of them went to join Piper at the railing.
Annabeth didn't trust the snake people. And she really didn't like being in the sewer tunnels, especially with the heartbeat of Gaea pounding in her ears. But it was their best chance to attack. Not a good chance, necessarily, just their best one. Piper's singing helped calm Annabeth's nerves somewhat, but it was still a relief when they reached the underground temple and left Kekrops and the rest of the gemini behind.
And then Annabeth realized where they were standing.
A chill washed over her. Goosebumps rose on her arms. She knelt and, fingers trembling, touched the thick gouges embedded in the stone. "This is the place. Percy, these are the trident marks of Poseidon."
Percy knelt beside her and tentatively ran his own hand over the marks. "He must've been using his extra-extra-large trident." Seaweed Brain.
Annabeth was in awe as she stood up. This was the place. Thousands of years ago, her mother and Percy's father had stood on this spot and competed to be the patron of the city. Athena and Poseidon had been rivals ever since. She remembered, ages ago, being on a train with Percy as they'd crossed the Mississippi River into St. Louis and he'd pleaded with her, Can't we work together a little? She had been hesitant to befriend him, because of the ancient rivalry that began on this spot. Now, of course, she was glad she'd taken the chance. But she still couldn't quite believe they were standing here.
"This is where he struck the earth," Annabeth said, "where he made a saltwater spring appear when he had the contest with my mom to sponsor Athens."
Percy rose to his feet. He was giving her a strange look. "So this is where the rivalry started."
"Yeah."
Percy put his arm around her waist. Before Annabeth fully realized what was happening, he pulled her close and kissed her. Really kissed her. Fierce and sweet and awesome. Annabeth's nerves were on fire, but in the best way. She forgot about Piper standing there. She forgot about the giants and Gaea. She forgot to breathe. Nothing mattered except Percy.
When he finally pulled away, she gasped for air. It was a good thing he still had his arm around her, because her knees were literally weak.
And then her ridiculous boyfriend made the moment perfect.
"The rivalry ends here. I love you, Wise Girl."
Warmth washed over Annabeth, melting her brain, her heart, everything, right down into her toes. She wanted to say, "I love you, too," but her head was still spinning from the kiss and she couldn't quite articulate the thought. What she really wanted to do was kiss him again, but unfortunately they had a stupid battle to fight.
"Sorry," she heard Percy tell Piper, "I had to do that."
But Piper was beaming. "How could a daughter of Aphrodite not approve? You're a great boyfriend."
Yeah, he is. But now was not the time to focus on that. Annabeth took a step away from Percy to clear her head. "Uh…anyway. We're beneath the Erechtheion. It's a temple to both Athena and Poseidon. The Parthenon should be catty-corner to the southeast. We'll need to sneak around the perimeter and disable as many siege weapons as we can, make an approach path for the Argo II."
"It's broad daylight," Piper pointed out. "How will we go unnoticed?"
Annabeth looked up. If everything went according to plan... "That's why I made a plan with Frank and Hazel. Hopefully…ah. Look."
And then Swarm of Bees Frank showed up and Hazel turned them all into Earthborn.
Percy had been completely right. Splitting up even more was stupid. But Annabeth had suspicions she hadn't shared with the rest of the crew, the same suspicions that led her to suggest that she and Percy should be the ones to follow the gemini to the Parthenon.
Because it was the obvious strategy.
Which meant that the giants were probably expecting them to use it.
Annabeth was fully aware they were most likely walking into a trap. However, she hoped that by doing the obvious, they would deflect the giants' attention from the much less obvious. She doubted the giants would expect the demigods to utilize Frank's shape-changing and Hazel's Mist abilities to disguise themselves. And Annabeth hoped that by splitting up further, even if she and Percy were caught, Piper might still be able to disable the catapults and give the Argo II a clear path to the Acropolis. She was willing to bet that the giants never expected Piper to lead the way to the temple. Which just went to show how vastly idiotic it was to underestimate your enemies. But the giants were violent and large; no one had ever said they were smart.
All of this meant that Annabeth was less than shocked when she was captured. But it didn't mean she was happy about it. She'd only managed to disable one onager when the giantess Periboia reared up behind her. "I smell demigod!"
Before Annabeth could draw her sword, Periboia grabbed her arms. Her Mist disguise burned away and the giantess leered in triumph. "We knew you would come, daughter of Athena. I thought you were supposed to be wise."
Annabeth tried to stomp on Periboia's feet, but the giantess simply lifted her into the air. "The Earth Mother will be pleased."
An Earthborn hurtled out of a nearby group of monsters. Before Periboia could react, the monster stabbed her in the thigh. The giantess roared in pain and dropped Annabeth, who rolled out of the way and tried to draw her sword. But another giant fist wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her sides.
"Let me guess," Enceladus rumbled as his other fist shot out and wrapped around the Earthborn's throat. "This must be the great Percy Jackson."
Percy's disguise vanished. He kicked and struggled with the giant's fist at his throat. His face began to turn blue.
"Let him go!" Annabeth's voice cracked with panic.
"Oh, don't fear, child." Enceladus tossed Annabeth at Periboia, who caught her with a growl. The wound on the giantess's leg was already healing. Enceladus shifted his grip on Percy, so that he was no longer holding him by the throat. Percy was still trapped in the giant's fist, but at least he could breathe. "This one mustn't die yet. He'll be a special treat for the Earth Mother. We have waited a long time for your downfall, Percy Jackson."
"What else is new?" Percy said. "A lot of monsters and giants have told me that."
"But this time there is no escape. Perseus Jackson and Annabeth Chase, your blood shall water the ancient stones and wake the Earth Mother." The giant's cruel smile left no room for hope. "Prepare to die."
Being paraded around her mother's temple by Periboia was horrible. Watching her own blood turn as gold as ichor on the stones of the Parthenon was worse. But seeing Porphyrion smack Percy halfway across the Acropolis made Annabeth furious. She was dizzy from pain and blood loss, but she struggled to her feet, blade in hand, determined to beat the ever-loving Tartarus out of the giant king.
But as it turned out, she didn't need to.
Because their friends were awesome.
Jason, Frank, and Hazel descending on the giants was the single best thing that had happened all day. For a brief moment, Annabeth dared to hope.
But their good luck didn't last. The giants were simply too powerful. It didn't take long before the demigods were backed into a defensive ring, surrounded by the giants.
And then Percy's blood touched the ground.
A tremor shook the entire hillside. Grins spread across the giants' faces. Annabeth's stomach heaved with the ground. After all their efforts, they had failed. Gaea would rise. She and her friends would die, probably painfully. But Annabeth refused to go down without a fight. She raised the hunting knife she had taken from the giantess. Her friends also raised their weapons.
And the skies opened up as the Olympians descended on the Acropolis.
It felt great to fight beside her mom. During the Titan War, the demigods had defended Olympus alone while the gods were off battling Typhon. Today, finally, their parents stepped in to offer some godly back-up. And it worked. But now the demigods would be on their own again, heading back across the sea to defeat Gaea and save the camps. The giants were gone, but Annabeth knew in her heart that the hardest part of the battle was still to come.
The seven of them had agreed on an escape plan before coming back up to the ship. Now, they just needed to grab anything they wanted to save from their rooms before preparing to get smacked across the ocean. It took Annabeth all of a minute to clear out her bedroom. She wasn't worried about her clothes; she could always get more of those. The only things she put in her backpack were the pictures pinned up over her desk, her books and journal, and her New York Yankees cap, even though it still wasn't working. Maybe one day, she thought as she zipped up her backpack. Annabeth took one final look around her room, then gently closed the door.
Most of the others were in the mess hall already, but Percy's door was still open. Annabeth walked down the hall to find him standing in the middle of his room, holding the Minotaur horn. She leaned against the doorway and waited for him to look up. When he did, he gave her his familiar sarcastic smile.
"Couldn't leave this behind," he said.
"Definitely not," she agreed. "Are you almost ready?"
"Just about." He pulled open a couple drawers and threw a few more things into his backpack. "How's your leg?"
"Better. My mom healed it for me." Annabeth watched as Percy unpinned a picture of the two of them from the wall next to his bed. "I feel dirty, though. I hate that Gaea used our blood."
"I know." Percy made a face as he zipped his backpack shut. But when he slung it over his shoulder and turned to face her, there was an almost suspicious expression on his face. "Tell me the truth. You knew what would happen on the Acropolis, didn't you? I mean, you knew we were walking into a trap and they would probably capture the two of us."
"I had my suspicions," Annabeth admitted. "It seemed like the obvious strategy. But that's why I wanted us to split up, even though you were right and it was a bad idea."
"Because they weren't expecting Piper."
"Exactly."
"Pretty smart." Percy looked around at his cabin. "Gods, I'm going to miss this ship."
"Me, too. But at least we're going home. Assuming, of course, that Gaea hasn't destroyed it yet."
"Yeah. Home." Percy's expression turned wistful.
"Come on, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth took his hand. She turned to walk down the hall, but Percy pulled her back.
"One sec." He cupped her face with his free hand. His thumb traced her cheekbone. Annabeth's fingertips tingled as he leaned in and kissed her, lightly and sweetly. "I love you. Just wanted to say that again, in case we disintegrate in the atmosphere or something."
Annabeth was having trouble breathing again, but she managed to say, "I love you, too, Percy."
His smile was the best thing she'd ever seen. She kissed him again, quickly, because how could she not? Then, hand in hand, they made their way to the mess hall where their friends were waiting.
