Author's Note the bottom!! Enjoy! :D
Annabeth POV:
"Ogygia," I muttered to myself while flipping through the pages of my book. "Ogygia."
Nothing. Again. I had been looking all over for information on the island and I hadn't found anything.
From what I had heard about the island, it was a phantom island, meaning that it appeared in the middle of nowhere. It was home to Calypso, a daughter of Atlas, who was confined there forever. Almost like house arrest.
Then, suddenly, I realized something else. Every one hundred years, I remembered Chiron saying, the gods send a hero to Ogygia who Calypso can't help but fall in love with.
I rolled my eyes and slammed the book. Why was I even doing this stupid research in the first place? As I got up from my bunk, I put the book away and stepped outside. I needed some fresh air.
"Annabeth!" I heard Percy call breathlessly from my right. I turned and he jogged up to me. "Quest. We're going on one. Chiron told me to tell you to get ready."
"A quest?" I repeated. "To do what?"
He blushed, and I rolled my eyes. I obviously didn't need an answer to that. "So, we have to go on a quest to find Calypso?"
"Yeah," Percy replied. "But. . ."
"She could be anywhere," I finished. He nodded and his black hair flopped infront of his eyes.
"But we should at least try to look, right?" Percy asked, looking at me. I dropped my gaze from his face to the ground so his green eyes wouldn't tempt me into making the wrong choice. But, he was right. We should.
I sighed. "Yeah, I guess. I'll get ready and meet you by Half-Blood Hill in half an hour."
Percy nodded, and looked like he was about to say something else, but he stopped. "Okay," he agreed and walked off to his cabin.
My heart dropped. I could still tell that he was still hurt by my words at the arena and my reaction to Calypso. I shook the thoughts out of my head and returned to my cabin to pack.
"So, you, Percy, and Grover are willing to go?" Chiron asked as we stood atop Half-Blood Hill.
I nodded confidently, but inside I felt nervous. Chiron had asked us that a few times in the last hour. Was he scared for us?
"Okay," Chiron patted Percy on the shoulder and I hugged him. "Good luck, children. Stay in touch with Iris-messages. See you three later!"
We nodded and trudged down the hill to Argus, who was waiting by the car. He was going to take us to the city, because that was where it looked like Calypso was, according to the Iris-message.
"Chiron seems nervous," Percy whispered as we got into the car.
"I know," I replied.
"Why?"
"I don't know, Percy," I said. "How dangerous could this be? I mean, we just need to find Calypso, don't we? How hard can that be? It's not like she's dead."
Percy's face twisted into an expression of hurt and pain. Wow. I didn't know he cared that much.
"I'm sorry," I said quietly. He looked at me and grinned grudgingly.
"It's okay. Come on, let's go and find her. I think that you'd really like her, actually, but anyway. . ." he went on to talk to Grover.
Meanwhile, my thoughts were brewing. This quest was to find Calypso and to find Calypso only, right? This wasn't the 'arduous quest' thing. . . was it? Secretly, I hoped it wasn't. I just wanted to find this Calypso girl, bring her back to whatever, and then do the quest if we were the ones doing it. That was it. I didn't want to have to deal with Calypso through the whole process. She was probably some frilly girl that couldn't fight at all.
"Annabeth?" Percy shook my shoulder, interrupting my thoughts. I jumped slightly.
"Sorry," he said sheepishly, but gestured outside. "We're getting out, if you wanna come."
I looked at him like he was crazy, and I followed Grover and him out of Argus's car. Percy leaned through the front window, talking to Argus, while Grover played a bored tune on his reed pipes, and Percy soon returned.
"Where should we start?" he asked. There was an awkward silence—I guess we didn't really know where to look. Percy was looking at me expectantly, and I sighed. Sometimes I felt like too much was expected of me.
Then I stopped myself midway though that thought. What are you talking about, Annabeth? You love it when people ask for your help! Isn't that the point? I rolled my eyes to myself and turned to Percy.
"Try to remember exactly where you saw her in your dream," I suggested. "We'll try to pinpoint a location, then."
Percy nodded and stared off into the distance as he tried to recall the Iris-message.
"Um . . I think it was some sort of dark alleyway," he replied. But his tone was different, as if he had a hard time talking about it.
I sighed and gave him an exasperated look. I tried not to make it so harsh, but I couldn't help say, "Nice job, Seaweed Brain, that really narrows it down."
Percy's shoulders sagged and he reached up to rub his eyes. Grover yawned. I looked around, confused. Were they tired?
"Are you guys okay?" I asked.
"Yeah, yeah," Percy lied. "Let's keep looking."
"We're not okay, but it's fine," Grover added. I sighed. Boys, I thought, shaking my head.
"C'mon, we'll find some place to crash for the night and we'll continue looking in the morning."
They didn't protest that time, and we snagged a room at a nearby hotel with the help of the rather tall stack of golden drachmas we had brought along. The room had two beds, so one person was going to use the couch.
"I call a regular bed!" I announced when we stepped into the room. I lay down on the bed, and I had to admit, I was a little tired.
"Same!" Percy called. We both looked over at Grover, who sighed.
"Baa," he muttered. "Who cares? I'm just. ." he staggered over to the couch and flopped down. ". . . gonna take a little nap." And he was asleep.
Percy lay down on the bed and turned so he faced me. I was still sitting up straight, so I turned to look at him sideways.
"Productive day?" I asked.
He nodded, making me smile, but soon, his face turned serious. "I don't know, Annabeth," he said, casting his eyes towards the ground. "I—I feel like she's close by. I have no idea how, but you know last summer? When you took that knife for me?"
I turned a little red thinking about it, but it was true. Last summer, during the big war, Ethan was about to stab Percy. . .and with luck he might have gotten his Achilles spot. But I had taken the knife for him. "Yeah."
"I somehow knew you were in danger. I feel the same way now. . . with Calypso. She's near by. . . and in danger."
I could feel my face getting red again, but not from embarrassment. He was comparing me, a friend he's had for almost six years, to a random girl, who's dad was a Titan and whom he'd only know for about two weeks? I turned my back to him and flopped down on my bed. I pulled the covers over my head.
"Annabeth," Percy sighed.
"What?" I turned to face him again. His sea-green eyes were boring into mine. Gods, how did he do that?
"Calm down," a hint of a smile was poking at the corner of his mouth.
"Are you laughing?" I grumbled.
"No," he replied and turned off the light.
"Percy Jackson, if you think that I cannot see that stupid grin on your face in the dark, you are wrong!" And just then, came the loudest snore ever from Grover. Perfect timing, I thought sarcastically.
Soon, he was laughing. Laughing hard, but not hard enough that Grover woke up. There was something about his laugh. Something that made me want to laugh too. I know that didn't happen to everyone, but it happened to me. Maybe it was a sign, I smiled to myself.
So I started laughing. Soon we were both laughing so hysterically that our eyes were watering.
"You—you should have seen yourself," Percy dabbed at the corner of his eye. He mimicked me by pulling the covers over his head in a pouty fashion.
"What? It's not my fault!" I protested, grinning.
"Goodnight, Wise Girl," he said, closing his eyes.
"Goodnight, Seaweed Brain," I replied, closing my eyes.
And for the first time in weeks, I went to sleep with a smile.
A/N: Please, please don't kill me…?? :D I'm SUPER sorry that I haven't updated in FOREVER. My life has NEVER been so busy..seriously. Thank you for understanding about the cruise thing. . .you guys are the bestest best people ever. And this chapter isn't one of my best.
So, in order for me to update faster, here's a little deal. If I get 23 reviews, I'll get the next chapter up. I'm gonna start doing this with ALL my stories. Kk?? Kk. THANX! I hoped you enjoyed the chapter!! Review if you want me to upload faster!!
