A/N: ThankyouthankyouTHANK YOU guys soooo much for all your wonderful reviews. It really means a lot to us :)
Okay, I put some fluff in here 'cause I didn't want the mood to be too grim or anything. But yeah, the quest starts here! Enjoy!
Xoxo Flame
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"Infirmary!" Chiron ordered. "Will, go with them."
Without wasting a second, we hoisted the Oracle onto our shoulders and carried her over to the infirmary, and laid her out on one of the beds.
"Can you do anything for her?" I asked Will anxiously.
"I don't know," Will muttered. "She's mortal. The ambrosia and nectar would kill her." He bit his lip and placed two fingers against her neck, checking her pulse, then snapped his fingers. "We need a defibrillator. Go get Thalia."
I nodded quickly and dashed off.
Chiron was in the middle of talking to some of the younger campers, telling them not to worry, etc, when I came up.
"Thalia!" I called, and saw the daughter of Zeus look up from her table. "They need a current." She nodded, understanding immediately, and vanished into a silver mist.
I was going to run back when I felt a familiar hand on my shoulder. I spun around to fade Annabeth, her stormy eyes as hard as stone. "Big House."
I nodded ad without a word we raced into the building, Chiron right behind us.
Inside were a bunch of people. At first I thought Chiron had called an emergency head-councilor meeting. But if that was the case, something was off. Chris and Grover shouldn't be here, and neither should-
"Tyson!" I exclaimed, running up to my half-brother.
"Brother!" He crushed me in a bear hug, but I didn't mind. It never even hurt anymore, thanks to the River Styx.
"How did you know you know you were supposed to be here?" I asked, thinking back to Rachel's list.
Tyson frowned. "I did not know, Brother. Daddy told me I should come here."
Word of the prophecy must have reached the gods, then. Of course. But did Poseidon know something I didn't about all this…?
"Attention, demigods!" Chiron clapped his hands. "As some of you know, a few days ago, our Oracle foretold a list of names. It is evident now that these people have been chosen to go on the quest."
Everyone started talking at once.
"But there's never been a quest this big!" Connor Stoll yelled above the noise.
"Nor, I believe, has there been a prophecy of this magnitude so close to the solving of a Great Prophecy," Chiron replied.
"So now what?" I asked quietly. "How do we find this 'lands collide' place?"
The centaur sighed. "I wish I knew, Percy."
"We do have one lead," Annabeth spoke up at last.
All eyes turned to her. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
"Well? What is it, Wise Girl?" I prompted after a few seconds.
She sighed. "The sphere, of course," she said like it was the most obvious thing ever.
There was a chorus of 'Oh, yeah's and everyone started muttering again.
I turned to Annabeth. "You're not still mad at me, are you?"
She frowned. "I was never mad at you, Seaweed Brain."
"The whole bubble thing?" I reminded her.
"That was just mildly annoyed."
"Could've fooled me," I mumbled.
Just then, Will Solace burst into the room, breathing hard.
"Rachel's fine. She'll be up and going in about fifteen minutes."
Everyone heaved a sigh of relief.
Will rushed off again, and the chatter started back up. Then Chiron started going on about plans and preparations and how we were going to save our fates, and all that. Just your typical pre-quest lecture/pep talk. Nothing new.
Around halfway through I got bored, so I tool Annabeth's hand and started tracing random patterns on the back of her palm with my thumb. The worried crease on her forehead smoothened a little bit.
About three hours later, the meeting ended.
"Two hours to prepare. Then all the chosen ones, including the Oracle, shall join on the beach."
There were murmured agreements, and we all filed out of the Big House.
"Gods, we were in there for ages!" I complained to Annabeth once we were outside.
She sighed. "Percy, the meeting only lasted twenty minutes."
I blinked stupidly. "Oh."
Annabeth laughed at my expression, but just as quickly her face was set and grim again.
I frowned. "What's up, Wise Girl?" I squeezed her hand lightly.
"Nothing," she said. "I just wish we could have a normal year, you know?"
I nodded solemnly, and we separated to go to our cabins.
~o~
Packing was no big deal. I threw a few clothes, a Ziploc bag of ambrosia, a bottle of nectar, and some drachma into a blue trekking backpack, slung it over my shoulder, made sure my shield/watch was securely fastened to my wrist, and Anaklusmos was in my pocket.
I took a last look around my cabin. Once again, I had a feeling I wasn't returning for a very long time. With one more deep breath of the sea-salty aroma of the room, I spun around and walked out the door, only to bump into Annabeth.
"Oh, hey Seaweed Brain. Just thought I'd see what you were doing."
I shrugged. "Just packing. Wanna go spar for a while?"
She cracked a smile, and I couldn't help but smile back, despite the grim situation.
"Any time, Seaweed Brain. Let's go."
~o~
Sparring with Annabeth is one of my favorite things to do, along with kissing her, swimming, and riding pegasi.
I had won the first round, but now Annabeth looked set and determined on completely whopping me. She attacked so fast her knife was nothing but a bronze blur. I was a little clumsy – out of practice, I guess. I was sweating now, trying my best to get in, but Annabeth knew me too well. Before I knew what was happening, she had slipped behind me. I twisted around, but it was too late.
She brushed her fingers lightly over the small of my back, and that was enough. I gasped as the jolt ran through me like a current. My legs buckled, and I fell to my knees in front of a smirking Annabeth Chase.
Now let me clarify. It didn't exactly hurt. In fact, it feels good (then again, this was Annabeth – I doubt it would feel all that great in contact with celestial bronze or cold steel), like this jolt of tingling energy just shoots through me, numbing everything else, stunning me. Everything on my Achilles spot I feel magnified, so the electricity from her touch was unbelievable.
Annabeth crossed her arms. "I win," she said smugly.
I decided to mess with her a little, and twisted my face into a pained expression. "Aaagh," I groaned in mock pain.
Annabeth blew a stray strand out of her eyes. "I know you like it Seaweed Brain. You're a horrible actor."
I groaned again.
Her sure expression faltered, and she opened her mouth to say something.
I saw my chance and took it, leaping up and engaging her in one of our famous tickle wars.
"Aaah! Percy! Get-get off-me!" Annabeth protested in between laughs.
"Nope." I popped the 'P', smirking.
"F-fine. It's-on!"
~o~
The fight ended with a kiss a good fifteen minutes later, after a fair share of laughing and pleading from both of us.
Only when we broke away did I notice the crowd of Aphrodite campers that had formed, and hear the chorus of "Awww!"
We both blushed and I stepped back. "C'mon, guys, is there no privacy?" I complained, pouting slightly.
One of the girls giggled. "Sorry, Percy. You two are just so adorable!" She squealed.
Annabeth sighed.
"I don't really blame those boys. They probably came to stare at you," I told her.
She rolled her eyes. "There are waymore girls than guys in the Aphrodite cabin."
I raised an eyebrow. "So?"
"So…"
"Are you seriously jealous?" I teased, and was rewarded with a punch in the arm. I rubbed it absent-mindedly, forgetting that it didn't even hurt.
"Come on, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth slung on her bag. "Let's go. They're probably waiting."
The grim atmosphere returned with the mention of the quest to come. I grabbed my own sports bag and followed Annabeth out.
The moon was already up in the sky, which was almost purple. The starts were not out yet, though, which was disappointing, because I would've liked another look at the Huntress constellation before we left.
Hephaestus had once said that daybreak was a good time for making decisions. I wondered what twilight was a good time for. Sending yourself and a bunch of your closest friends on a quest where someone would probably die?
If that was the case, I didn't like twilight all that much.
By now, I could make out the silhouettes of my friends standing around the beach.
Ten people in all, plus Chiron, who was waiting with the rest.
"Sorry we're late," Annabeth apologized as we set our bags down. "We ran a little late."
The campers exchanged amused glances and a few snickers, and I inwardly groaned. How fast did gossip travel around here?
Chiron cleared his throat. "Are you all ready?"
"No," I muttered under my breath, but no-one seemed to hear me.
I took in the faces of my friends. Rachel, Connor, Travis, Katie, Clarisse, Chris, Grover, Thalia, Nico, Tyson, and of course…
"Annabeth?" I asked.
She nodded determinedly. "Ready."
I glanced up at everyone else. Most of them nodded like Annabeth. Travis gave me a thumbs up, and Clarisse a wide grin.
"But we still don't know how we're going to there," Thalia pointed out. "Wherever 'there' is."
Chiron stepped to the side, revealing the sphere sitting in a cardboard box.
"Will and I examined this. It seems that there is strong magic emitting from it. So strong, in fact, it can only be for teleportation, or…er, destruction. Hopefully the former."
Everyone shifted uneasily. Teleporting with a random magical object was one thing, but teleporting with a random magical object that had 1 50 percent chance of killing you was something else all together.
I stepped forward. "I'll go first. Since…since I can't get hurt." I wasn't too sure though. Something told me that if there really was some weird death spell on that thing, no River Styx would help me out here.
"No." Annabeth strode forward to my side. "If you go, we all do."
The other campers yelled in agreement.
"Okay, okay," I mumbled. "All together?"
Slowly, we all edged forward, until we had our hands barely an inch from the glowing ord. It filled my vision. I focused on it so completely that I almost missed Annabeth starting the countdown.
"3…"
I really hope we don't all die as soon as we touched this stupid thing. That would really suck.
"2…"
I would never be able to live with myself (or maybe I wouldn't beliving) if they died as well. Never. Especially ifshedied. Now, or during the quest. I winced. It was too painful to think about.
"1."
As one, we reached out together and touched the sphere.
It felt like a hook had grabbed me from behind, jerking me up into the air. I could feel Annabeth and Grover one wither side of me. We were speeding forward at an unimaginable speed, wind whipping around us, and whistling in my ear. It was almost like Shadow-Travelling, minus the darkness and weird sounds. It didn't really bother me, and I'd bet that Nico wasn't affected either, but I was worried about the others, namely one daughter of Zeus.
At least we weren't dead. Yet.
I tried to steady myself, but found my hand glued to the sphere. We just kept spinning, flying…I closed my eyes.
Eventually the whistling stopped, and the wind died down around us. I had just registered this when the strange suction power of the orb suddenly disappeared, and we were all flung onto the ground with several thuds.
I got up immediately, dusting off my Camp T-Shirt, and helped Annabeth up. She looked dazed, but not hurt. I was pretty dizzy myself.
Everyone else was getting to their feet, too. Thalia was deathly pale. Grover helped her to her feet, and she stood still, panting.
Finally, it dawned on me that we had arrived. Everyone seemed to realize this at the same time, too, because we met each other's gaze, then slowly turned around.
Directly in front of us was a huge castle. And when I say huge, I mean ENORMOUS. The size of the Met and the National History Museum put together, doubled.
Towers sprung out from all sides, and it seemed to be made out of gray stone and various metals.
I swallowed and turned to Annabeth.
"I think I'm going to have to cancel our dinner reservations for tonight."
"Gee, you think?"
A/N: Okaay! Hoped you liked it. We got a long weekend coming up, so maybe I'll be able to write a Percabeth one-shot as well :D
And if you haven't read my songfic Sparks Fly, please drop by and tell me what you think! :)
See ya soon!
-Flame =P
