Chapter 14 – Annabeth
"I still don't understand about Lord Zeus though, and how?" Annabeth asked, slightly annoyed as if the answer was just out of her grasp.
"Father must have requested favourable winds from Aeolus and the four winds," Jason replied.
Of course, Jason's last quest had involved seeing Aeolus and Boreas. She felt like slapping herself for not getting it sooner, Zeus would have organised for some cloud cover, Aeolus would make sure it covers the ship to Rome and Poseidon would be preventing a downpour. A simple solution to prevent any disturbance to their journey, no doubt designed, at least in part, by her own mother.
Annabeth was surprised, and maybe a little slighted that the son of Mars had cottoned on quicker than she did herself. It was hard to see that Mars was different from Ares as his / their children all bore similar, physical characteristics. Frank Zhang was probably the only child of the war god, except on occasion Clarisse, that Annabeth felt she could get along with and trust.
"That is good, it is about time the god's stopped being the hunted and became the hunters instead like Lady Artemis," Phoebe said regally with the first true smile seen from her in days.
"True, but this time we are not targeting a particularly nasty monster, but mother Earth herself." Thalia chided her gently before adding, "though a pack can hunt bigger and stronger prey together than an individual of that same pack, lest we forget when the titans held our own patron captive."
Annabeth's back winced with a sudden, phantom pain. Memories of holding the weight of the sky threatened to flood through her as she hammered them back down and saw Thalia glance at her apologetically.
"Enough with the depressing talk for me in one day this is," Leo said brightly. Annabeth jumped as she'd forgotten the conversation included the whole of the ship's crew.
"I'll see to getting us underway again asap," Leo said as he sauntered off with a final, "bloody inconsiderate attacking and leaving a mess like this!" before he began to pick up broken pieces of ship and going off for replacements below deck.
That was the cue for people to disperse. Percy went off to help Leo with repairs over the side of the ship, whilst Jason took to the air to check the length of the main mast which had somehow been undamaged by the sudden attack. The torn masts had to be repaired and patched up, holes had to be covered over the side, weapons had to be stashed away again and remnants of hacked off monster had to be thrown overboard.
Within minutes, the ship was made ready to sail again with a weary cheer as the sails were tacked to the wind and began to fill.
As the ship began to move without the assistance of Percy's or Jason's power, most everyone turned in for an impromptu nap, even though night was still several hours away.
Annabeth had managed to find herself on watch duty with Frank for the first shift. Though initially alert, within minutes eyes began to sag and the silence marking the end of another was punctuated by snatches of conversation as they struggled to keep each other awake. It was with some relief that Piper turned up with Phoebe for second watch and, without any prompting needed, both Frank and Annabeth went inside and fell on the first beds they saw.
Annabeth nodded off nearly immediately despite the fact that the warm presence of Percy next to her was absent. As she fell to the blackness within, she was stricken with a sudden terror which washed over her and energised her as she tried desperately to wake up to no avail.
"it is useless child, your quest is doomed as are you I'm afraid," Gaia murmured even as she appeared before her. "Not even the Mark of Athena can save you from what's coming!"