Reality or Fantasy: It's My Life

A/N: dream is in italicsreal life is normal text

Chapter 8: πορεία των τριάντα έξι: Part 1 Really, Aphrodite?

Annabeth's POV

"Jessie, what path?" a boy with blonde hair and grey eyes spoke.

"Don't you see it, Jay? It's right in front of us. Come on, we have to follow it before it fades away. Lez, you believe me, don't you? "

"I'm sorry, Jessie. Please, we have to get out of here." another girl said, with tears running down her face. The girl, I assumed was Lez.

Suddenly, I heard a deep rumbling and the whole tunnel shook. Then from a crack a sprit rose and bellowed, "Get out! Leave the πορεία των τριάντα έξι,NEVER RETURN!" Then, out of nowhere, I heard someone call my name.

"Annabeth, come on, Annabeth, wake up. You're having a bad dream." Percy whispered as he shook me awake. I opened my eyes and saw that we were still in the hotel room.

"Are you okay Annabeth?"

"Yeah, it was just a bad dream," I managed to stutter out, unfortunately, not very convincingly.

"Annabeth, please, tell me."

"It was Jessie. She was in the tunnels. The path, they didn't believe her. The spirit, the πορεία των τριάντα έξι. The, it, we have to…"

"Whoa, whoa slow down Annabeth. Ok, Jessie was in the tunnels. Who didn't believe her?"

"Jay and Lez. She could see the path, like Thalia. They couldn't see it though. They, they thought she was crazy. They didn't believe her, that's why they died." I said in between sobs. Percy began to rub circles on my back and he leaned forward and kissed my fore head.

"It's ok Annabeth, it was just a dream," Percy told me.

"No, no. Jessie saw it; she had the ancient gift of sight. She could see the path. I'm so stupid. We have to believe Thalia, or we'll die too," I continued to ramble on as Percy listened.

Percy's POV

I woke up to Annabeth sobbing in her sleep. I heard her mumble something about Jessie and the path. Then all of a sudden her body started shaking and she started crying even louder (If that was possible).

I woke her up and she started to explain her dream. The path Thalia saw was real, although, only she could see it, like Jessie could. I was really listening as she continued to ramble on and it all started to make sense. Then when I was finally completing the picture she started talking like a maniac.

I know you think I'm just tuning her out or think she's crazy but I'm serious. You know how in Charlie Brown the adults just go whah wah whah wah whah wah whah. Well, that's what Annabeth started sounding like, SERIOUSLY.

I was about to say something when I noticed something else, we weren't in Chile anymore. "Uh, hold on, um Annabeth, uh where are we?"

"WHERE ARE WE! Didn't you and Thalia have a giant fight yesterday about us landing in Chile? Really Percy, are you that much of a seaweed brain. Were you even listening to…" Annabeth scolded me until she was cut off by Thalia.

"WHERE THE HADES ARE WE? WHAT DID YOU DO PERCY!"

Finally, Annabeth looked around and seemed to realize that we weren't in the same hotel room that we fell asleep in last night.

"Oh my gods," Annabeth whispered scanning the room. All three of us quickly got ready, then we tried to figure where we were.

Thalia's POV

I woke up to the sun shine blasting my eyes. Groggily, I got up. When I was finally fully awake I noticed I was not on the same couch I crashed on yesterday. And, that was not even the worst part. Oh yeah, the worst part, WE WERE IN ANOTHER COUNTRY! "WHERE THE HADES ARE WE? WHAT DID YOU DO PERCY!"

After we were all ready and had eaten breakfast, which just magically appeared on the counter — literally, one second we were all talking then a blinding flash later three plates of bacon and potatoes appeared — we decided where we were. We had a good feeling the gods had something to do with this.

We finally figured out, here's a shocker, we're in Paris. Then in a beat we all came to the same conclusion "Aphrodite!" we all yelled simultaneously. Then, speak of the devil, er, goddess, she appeared in the hotel room.

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate love? I never should have quit the Hunt. Then things this moment would have been so simple, but noooo nothing in my life can be simple. I get turned into a tree, I'm poisoned, I turn back into a human, I'm betrayed by the person I trusted most, develop feelings for someone else, AND to top it off, a week before our two year anniversary he's killed by a giant SHADOW. Ugh, why me?

Annabeth's POV

Ugh, why me? Aphrodite just has to be interested in MY love life. She interrupted our whole quest to save the gods for a 'formal ball', ugh, I think I just barfed a little thinking about it.

Aphrodite had stuck both me and Thalia in dresses. Mine was a startling gray, like my eyes. It was halter with lots of pleats, and a silver broach right below the bust line. Thalia's was a navy color but it was strapless. It was also pleated and had a square of little jewels under the bust line. Thalia's short black hair was straightened and Aphrodite added extensions to make it longer and did her makeup naturally. My hair was done to define my curls more then put in a high ponytail with two pieces straightened hanging down on either side of my face, then my face was done with minimal makeup, thank the gods.

So far, I figured out Aphrodite had stopped time to take us to a ball in Paris, 'the city of love.' She promised that when we returned it will be the exact same time before we noticed we were transported to another country.

After we were all ready we went out to the ballroom. I did all I could not to drool as I saw Percy. He was wearing a tux with a sea green tie that matched his eyes. He stepped up and offered me his hand and we danced for what seemed like hours. It was going well until everything dissolved and we were back in Chile and I thought, 'Really Aphrodite?' before I forgot everything that had just happened.

Percy's POV

Really, Aphrodite? I sat there in my monkey suit until Aphrodite told me to go wait in the ballroom for Annabeth before she walked away giggling. Yeah, Aphrodite, goddess of love, stopped the world saving quest, for a ball.

I forgot all of that when Annabeth walked in and my knees went weak.

She looked stunning.

Stopping myself from drooling, I walked up to her and offered my hand. She took it, and we went up to the dance floor. I put my hands on her waist and she out her arms around my shoulders. She rested her head on my chest and I rested my chin on her shoulder. Occasionally, I would brush a hair from her face. Just as I kissed her head everything disappeared and we were back in the hotel in Chile, and I forgot everything that had happened to us that night.

Hey guys sorry for the long wait, and I know you've probably heard this a hundred times, but I've been really busy with school and stuff. Also, sorry, I realize I did A LOT of POV changes in this chapter. I just kinda wanted you to see how each person feels at this point in the story. This chapter is really filler so you can, as I said, see all of their feelings right now. Plus, the last few chapters have been really focused on the quest so I decided to give you guys a really percabeth-y chapter. The next chapter will get back to the quest at the point this chapter was at the beginning. Ugh, sorry for the super long author's note but I just wanted to get some things out there. Anyway, thanks for reading.

Bye,

~SSGIRL~