The Mark of Athena

A/N: Thank you to everyone who added me to story alert/ reviewed. Disclaimer: I don't own PJATO or HOO. All rights go to Rick Riordan. REVIEW=MORE CHAPTERS! If you want me to keep going with this story please review! PLEASE REVIEW! Remember if I get reviews it makes me motivated to write more! I'll update if I get 2 more reviews/ story alerts!

SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE! I had a really bad case of writer's block and if this chapter is sucky, blame it on the writer's block.

PIPER:
I was terrified. Annabeth had Iris Messaged Chiron who said I was dying. But he said that we would get to Camp before I could die. I was so relieved, I passed out.

When I woke up again Annabeth was there to visit me.

"Hey. How are you feeling?" she asked, concerned.

"I've been better, but surprisingly not that bad." I said weakly.

"Guess what?" Annabeth blurted out. Her gray eyes sparkled. I knew this had to do with Percy.

"What?" I said feebly.

"Percy gave me a necklace!" she said excitedly. She held up a beautiful silver necklace.

"Oh my gods, that's so sweet!" I exclaimed, my pain forgotten…. (Well the little pain I had)

"Yeah, He also wrote me a letter. It said the necklace was like an early promise." She said, peering at me expectantly, like she wanted me to figure out what early promise meant. Wait….. Early promise….

"He's going to buy you an Engagement ring in a few years?" I guessed.

Annabeth nodded.

"I'm so happy for you!" I beamed at her and she smiled at me shyly.

"He said he would as soon as we are old enough." Annabeth said.

"Oh my gods, Mom's going to flip when she finds out. Wait what about Athena?" I asked, worried.

"Well. I figured Aphrodite would flip when she found out and then convince mom not to blast Percy to pieces." She said.

"Figures." Sometimes it's not bad to have a meddlesome love goddess around. Thunder rumbled overhead and I knew I shouldn't have thought that. If I wasn't Aphrodite's daughter I would be a pile of the ashes right now.

I looked up at yelled

"OK, MOM! I'm sorry."

Annabeth glanced at me,
"I thought something I shouldn't have." I said.

She nodded. Knowing her, she probably already guessed what I'd thought.

I cleared my throat, and then Leo walked in.

"Hey Beauty Queen, Owl Head," Annabeth and I glared at him, he continued without looking at us. "We'll be at Camp in about 5 minutes. Hang in there, Piper."
I gritted my teeth. "I'm fine, Leo. Now get out before I punch you." His eyes flickered like, you wouldn't dare! And he ran out of the room.

Annabeth smiled at me. "He's right you know." She said.

I sighed. "Chiron can heal me right?" I asked helplessly.

"Definitely. Jason's been worried sick." Said Annabeth. Knowing that made me feel worse. I knew I'd made Jason worried because I'd almost gotten killed by a stupid Earthborn.

Annabeth glanced at me, like she could sense what was thinking.

"It's not your fault. You got hurt because you were worried about Jason and Leo, right?" She asked me.

I nodded glumly.

"It'll be okay." she said confidently.

"I hope so." I mumbled.

"I know it will be okay; two reasons. 1. Because we are back home. 2. Because Chiron will heal you and Jason won't be so worried anymore."

I nodded and looked out the window where I could see a crowd forming all around the Argo II; and I thought about how great it was to be home.

PERCY:

When Annabeth had said yes to my (early) promise, I was nearly jumping for joy. But, I didn't consider that Athena might kill me for this. I sighed and hugged Annabeth. Then Jason ran in.

"Guys. You have to come. Now." He said.

"What is it?" Annabeth asked, horrified.

"It's Piper. She's dying." Jason managed to choke out. He sounded miserable.

Annabeth ran off to find Piper's room.

I turned to Jason to give him some cousinly (A/N: probably not a word but I don't care) advice.

"Hey, man. You have to be strong for Piper." I said.

Jason turned around and said

"I know. I just hate that she got hurt trying to save our lives."

"Believe me, I know how you feel." Jason raised his eyebrows, asking me a silent question.

"During the Titan War last summer I was fighting a dracaena or some other monster when this guy, Ethan Nakamura, slashed Annabeth with a knife that had poison on it. Ethan was aiming for my weak spot and Annabeth intercepted the knife and almost died because of it." I said, remembering how awful I felt that day.

"That happened to you, too?" Jason asked me.

"Oh yeah. But I wouldn't have changed that because it all lead up to Annabeth being my girlfriend instead of just my best friend." I smiled, remembering our underwater kiss. I'd never felt better in my life, except for up on Olympus relieved to be alive after that terrible war.

"I'm going to go see how much longer to get to camp. Thanks for the advice, man." Jason said, breaking into last year's memories.

"Sure, no prob. Percy's cousinly advice is open 12hours 5 days a week!" I said.

Jason laughed and walked off.

I paced the deck waiting for what seemed like eternity until finally, FINALLY, Leo's voice blared on the loudspeaker: "Landing in 3, 2, and 1!" The ship landed with a thwack that made everyone get off balance and glare at Leo who was laughing nervously.

I ran to the edge of the ship where Leo was hoisting a ladder overboard to help him. But when I got there he was already done. He grunted at me like; don't kill me if I'm not fast enough! I rolled my eyes.

Annabeth came running and almost slammed into me but stopped with perfect timing. I wrapped my arms around her patiently waiting (and my patience was crumbling very quickly) for Leo to hurry up with the ladder.

"Ladder's overboard! Whoa, Percy hold up just a sec." Leo announced.

I sighed, prickling with anticipation.

Leo finally moved and I leaped toward the ladder and started climbing down. When I reached the bottom I was received by a lot of "Hey's" and "sup's" "You're not dead!" etc. when Grover came pushing through the crowd.

"PERRRCYYYYYYYYYY" he bleated and thumped me on the back. "G-Man. What's up?" I asked him.

"Nothing much. Waiting and waiting. That's all." He said.

I laughed "Hey! We should have a party!" I said when Chiron came galloping over.

"Percy, my boy! I'm glad you're okay. And yes you can have a party." He informed me.

"Good to see you Chiron. And okay cool! When can we have it?" I asked

"Have what?" Annabeth asked sliding under my arm.

"A party." I said.

"Oh cool. I haven't been to one in ages." She said.

"You can have it as soon as you've planned it." Chiron said with a halfhearted smile.

"Okay, thanks, Chiron." I said, and then he galloped off.

"So Seaweed Brain, what do you want to do?" Annabeth questioned me.

"What do you think?" I asked her slyly grinning.

She pulled me off towards the lake. We had A LOT of catching up to do.