Hey guys, here is the next chapter. After this there is one more before I go back to writing the chapters so it could take me a day or two so enjoy the last of the quick updates.
Under normal circumstances I would never hold someone else's hand with our fingers entwined, but this isn't normal. We were sitting at the camp fire everyone but Clarisse and Chris were here. Clarisse had borrowed Annabeth's cap and was hanging out with Chris behind the cabins. I was sitting between Annabeth who was on my right and Piper who was on the left while Jason was sitting on Pipers other side. Annabeth was leaning into me and I had my right arm around her. I could tell that people had started to notice Pipers hand in mine but no one was saying anything out loud yet. We were whispering to each other talking about the plan. While I was holding pipers hand like we did when all seven of us plus Nico stood together agents the last giant. It doesn't mean anything but friendship to either of us but the rest of camp doesn't know that.
"If we can pull this off it will be so good." I murmured into her hair
"Ya the problem will be keeping up the act." She said giving me a quick kiss.
"Ya I know…you will have to sleep in your own cabin tonight if you don't your siblings will figure it out." I said disappointed that we would have a sleepless night
"Ya I know." She said hugging me tighter. I hugged her with my one hand that wasn't holding Pipers. Then I got the signal from Leo that it was show time. I looked over at Jason and he nodded. I gave Annabeth one last kiss then nodded back. Jason stood up and put the show on.
"Piper are you seriously doing that right in front of me?" He asked in front of everyone
"What are you talking about?" Piper said letting go of my hand and standing up.
"I mean the cheating on me with a guy who already has a girlfriend! What do you think Annabeth thinks of this? She is one of the smartest kids at camp she has to know!" Jason yelled at Piper
"Really Percy I know that something happened on that ship but I thought it was over after we fell!" Annabeth yelled at me moving so that wasn't touching her anymore. She was on the brink of tear, she was an awesome actor I don't know why but she was.
"There's too much pressure to be with you!" I yelled back "you are the smartest person here and let's face it I'm not smart! Your mom has tried to kill me how many times while my dad just wanted us to be happy after what we had been through. I can't live like that! Always worrying that a goddess is going to kill me for dating her daughter! I just can't do it! Piper gets the pressure too, she was sure Jason was going to leave her because he's roman and how do we know h doesn't have something going with a roman girl!" I yelled back. I felt so bad but it was my idea so I had to go through with it.
"Don't make me show everyone the video Jason." Piper yelled at him. I could see him visibly pail thinking of the video we had made.
"You wouldn't dare!? " Jason said but he sounded uneasy. Whoever the god or goddess of drama was I was send them a million prayers we seemed to be having good luck acting.
"Try me. All I have to do is use my charm speak and get a movie set up for breakfast." Piper said challenging Jason
"You know what I'm not going to stand for this I'm going. Good bye Piper" Jason said and walked to his cabin, but not before he gave me a glare.
"You know what I'm leaving to. Come on Piper let's get out of here." I said walking out as Annabeth let the first tear run down her face. I mouthed 'I love you' when no one was looking since I was in the shadows. I saw her give me a quick smile as she took a breath and cried. Then just as planned Leo came over and glared at me while wrapping Annabeth in a hug.
That night I had the worst and best dream I could have. The first seen was when I had first met Annabeth when I was fully awake. I felt the same as I had that day confused, scared and alone.
I saw myself I was like ghost reliving my past. I could see my 12 year old self standing on the porch of the big house when I saw Annabeth for the first time and I could hear myself think.
She was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking. With her deep tan and curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girls would look like, except her eyes ruined the image. They were startling grey, like storm clouds: pretty but intimidating, too, as if she were analyzing the best way to take me down in a fig Sht. She glanced at the horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to say, you killed a Minotaur! Or Wow, you're so awesome! Or something like that. Instead she said, "you drool when you sleep."
I keep seeing a bunch of moments, the chariot race where she kissed my cheek, the dance we had on mount Olympus, my mom telling me that it was a 'date' (witch it was but I didn't want things to get weird if Annabeth didn't think it was) when she came to hang out before we went to camp, when she broke the rules and sat with me for a few minutes at dinner. Then one that stayed longer thank a quick flash was when she was getting ready for her quest
Annabeth stood in the back of the room, rifling through old scrolls.
"Knock, knock?" I said.
She turned with a start. "Oh...hi. Didn't hear you."
"You okay?"'
She frowned at the scroll in her hands. "Just trying to do some research. Daedalus' Labyrinth is so huge. none of the stories agree about anything. The maps just lead from nowhere to nowhere."
I thought about what Quintus had said, how the maze tries to distract you. I wondered if Annabeth knew that already.
"We'll figure it out," I promised.
Her hair had come loose and was hanging in a tangled blond curtain around her face. Her gray eyes looked almost black.
"I've wanted to lead a quest since I was seven," she said.
"You're going to do awesome."
She looked at me gratefully, but then stared down at all the books and scrolls she'd pulled from the shelved. "I'm worried, Percy. Maybe I shouldn't have asked you to do this. Or Tyson or Grover."
"Hey, we're your friends. We wouldn't miss it."
"But..." She stopped herself.
"What is it?" I asked. "The prophecy?"
"I'm sure it's fine," she said in a small voice.
"What was the last line?"
Then she did something that really surprised me. She blinked back tears and put out her arms.
I stepped forward and hugged her. Butterflies started turning my stomach into a mosh pit.
"Hey, it's...it's okay." I patted her back.
I was aware of everything in the room. I felt like I could read the tiniest print on any book on the shelves. Annabeth's hair smelled like lemon soap. She was shivering.
"Chiron might be right," she muttered. "I'm breaking the rules. But I don't know what else to do. I need you three. It just feels right."
"Then don't worry about it," I managed. "We've had plenty of problems before, and we solved them."
"This is different. I don't want anything happening to...any of you."
Behind me, somebody cleared his throat.
It was one of Annabeth's half-brothers, Malcolm. His face was bright red. "Um, sorry," he said. "Archery practice is starting, Annabeth. Chiron said to come find you."
I stepped away from Annabeth. "We were just looking at maps," I said stupidly.
Malcolm stared at me. "Okay."
"Tell Chiron I'll be right there," Annabeth said, and Malcolm left in a hurry.
"Annabeth rubbed her eyes. "You go ahead, Percy. I'd better get ready for archery."
I nodded, feeling more confused than I ever had in my life. I wanted to run from the cabin...but then again I didn't.
I saw when she stood up to the sphinx, when we were in the labyrinth, and then I had another clear vision. it was the first time she kissed me.
"Put your cap back on," I said. "Get out!"
"What?" Annabeth shrieked. "No! I'm not leaving you."
"I've got a plan. I'll distract them. you can use the metal spider-maybe it'll lead you back to Hephaestus. You have to tell him what's going on."
"But you'll be killed!"
"I'll be fine. Besides, we've got no choice."
Annabeth glared at me like she was going to punch me. And then she did something that surprised me even more. She kissed me.
"Be careful, Seaweed Brain." She put on her hat an vanished.
I probably would've sat there for the rest of the day, staring at the lava and trying to remember what my name was, but the sea demons jarred me back to reality.
I saw her at the ceremony when she thought I was dead, I saw us running getting ready to fight Kampê when we thought that moment might be it. I saw her when I came back from the mission where Beckendorf died, I saw what I saw when I bathed in the river of Styx, I saw Hermes telling me that Athena had said to stay away from her daughter, I saw when I asked for a kiss for luck and she told me to
"Come back alive seaweed brain, then we'll see".
I saw Annabeth taking a knife that saved my life, I saw us after I saved her from falling to her death as the sky bridge crumbled, and I saw the look on her face when I said I didn't want to be a god. Then I saw another full seen, when she kissed me on my birthday.
"Hey." Annabeth slid next to me on the bench. "Happy birthday."
She was holding a huge misshapen cupcake with blue icing.
I stared at her. "What?"
"It's August 18," she said. "Your birthday, right?"
I was stunned. It hadn't even occurred to me, but she was right. I had turned sixteen this morning - the same morning I'd made the choice to give Luke the knife. The prophecy had come true right on schedule, and I hadn't even thought about the fact that it was my birthday.
"Make a wish," she said.
"Did you bake this yourself?" I asked.
"Tyson helped."
"That explains why it looks like a chocolate brick. " I said. "With extra blue cement."
Annabeth laughed.
I thought for a second, the blew out the candle.
We cut it in half and shared, eating with our fingers. Annabeth sat next to me, and we watched the ocean. Crickets and monsters were making noises in the woods, but otherwise it was quiet.
"You saved the world," she said
"We saved the world."
"And Rachel is the new Oracle, which means she won't be dating anybody."
"You don't sound disappointed," I noticed.
Annabeth shrugged. "Oh, I don't care."
"Uh-uh."
She raised an eyebrow. "You got something to say to me, Seaweed Brain?"
"You'd probably kick my butt."
"You know I'd kick your butt."
She brushed the cake off my hands. "When I was at the river Styx, turning invulnerable...Nico said I had to concentrate on one thing that kept me anchored to the world, that made me want to saty mortal."
Annabeth kept her eyes on the horizon. "Yeah?
"The up on Olympus," I said, "when they wanted to make me a god and stuff, I kept thinking-"
"Oh, you so wanted to."
"Well, maybe a little. But I didn't, because I thought - I didn't want things to stay the same for eternity, because things could always get better. and I was thinking..." My throat felt really dry.
"Anyone in particular?" Annabeth asked, her voice soft.
I looked over and saw that she was trying not to smile.
"You're laughing at me," I complained.
"I am not!"
"You are so not making this easy."
"Then she laughed for real, and she put her hands round my neck."I am never, ever going to make things easy for you, Seaweed Brain. Get used to it."
When she kissed me, I had the feeling my brain was melting right through my body.
I could've stayed that way forever, except a voice behind us growled, "Well, it's about time!"
Suddenly the pavilion was filled with torchlight and campers. Clarisse led the way as the eavesdroppers charged and hoisted us both onto their shoulders.
"Oh, come on!" I complained. "Is there no privacy?
"The lovebirds need to cool off!" Clarisse said with glee.
"The canoe lake!" Connor Stoll shouted.
With a huge cheer, they carried us down the hill, but they kept us close enough to hold hands. Annabeth was laughing, and I couldn't help laughing too, even though my face was completely red.
We held hands right up to the moment they dumped us into the water.
Afterward, I had the last laugh. I made an air bubble at the bottom of the lake. Our friends kept waiting for us to come up, but hey - when you're the son of Poseidon, you don't have to hurry.
And it was pretty much the best underwater kiss of all time.
I saw me running across the stares trying to find my only memory, I saw when I firs found her and she kissed then flipped me, I saw us on the boat and we fell asleep in the stables. I saw Annabeth going on her solo quest, I say myself telling Annabeth I wasn't going to let her go again, and I saw us having one of our few safe moments in the pit. We found an un-poisoned lake and slept in a bubble. I saw the seven of us plus Nico standing off to the last giant everyone else had gone back since we had to finish the way we started. Then I saw the two camps together taking a giant group picture. Annabeth was on my back and I had one arm around Piper and one around Hazel. We were all grimy and hurt but we were all smiling like we had just won the lottery. And in a way we had, we had all survived another war.
I heard a voice say
"Are you really going to give Annabeth up after all that you have been through?" and I knew who it was, Aphrodite and apparently she saw the 'break up' but didn't know it was a prank. I tried to call out to her and tell her but apparently she didn't want me to say anything. Then I woke up to a familiar scream, it took all the strength I had and then some to not go running to her. Oh why did I come up with this idea it sounded funning till I had to act for a while and not help her..
ssaying good by to Annabeth
when i lled a Minotauring. with
