I AM SO SORRY!
School is hard. Chemistry, Biology and a little bit of physics…and I'm not in high school yet!
I know. Terrible.
I can only update weekends, bad right? Not daily like I used to.
And I have Saturday school because I have to prepare for the SHSAT.
Sorry.
FIRST FIVE CHAPTERS OF THE MARK OF ATHENA ARE ON GOOGLE BOOKS.
Annabeth's POV
Since the accident everyone has been on alert. Leo and Will went crazy making sure the security system was working properly and that, that thing will never happen again. They said there had been a breach in the security, but no one knew how it happened…there was no way someone could have done it…unless they were on the plane.
Only Will, Leo and I knew this. The rest of them didn't know anything. We just kept an eye on everyone but I tried hard not to judge anyone. Maybe it had happened another way…there was no way someone could betray us…and Chiron, right?
"Mirabelle…you can't draw." I heard Piper say in the back.
My mind started to work. Everything had been perfectly fine before Piper came, but I didn't want to blame Piper. She was my friend…they all were. Maybe someone was using this to blame Piper, to make her look like a suspect…but whom?
"Yes, I can. Look, this is a girl." Mirabelle said as I imagined her showing Piper her picture.
I was 'sleeping'; no one knew I was awake and secretly listening to them.
"That is not a girl! It's a stick figure with a discombobulated bow on its head." Piper exclaimed.
"Is not! You couldn't see talent if it hit you in the face."
"Yeah sure. At least I can draw."
I'm pretty sure Mirabelle glared at Piper with her shiny blue eyes and that Piper smiled at her with her perfectly pearly white teeth. They weren't friends since they were trained in different units, but they knew each other.
I stopped listening to them and focused my conversation towards the boys…
"There's no way that could have happened!" Will exclaimed.
I narrowed my eyes.
"Oh come on. Why can't you guys believe I drank 4 water bottles without stopping to breathe?" Percy asked.
I rolled my eyes.
"Alright, new nick names! Percy, you just became Mermaid Man!" Leo laughed.
I could imagine them sitting around the seats with Leo laughing, Percy with a funny expression, Will shaking his head and Jason laughing but his eyes were probably focused on Piper.
"So you're not sleeping?" Piper asked as she sat down in the seat next to me.
I was surprised that I got caught but I blinked and sat up. I smiled sheepishly at her and ran I hand through my curly blonde hair.
"Yeah. I couldn't sleep with all the talk about drawings and mermaids."
She raised her eye brow at the word; mermaid. But I gave her a shrug and a look that said, who knows what boys talk about…
"Well…penny for your thoughts?" Piper asked.
"How do you know I'm thinking of something?"
"You're Annabeth Chase you are always thinking of something."
I smiled at that and had a little flash back…
~FlashBack~
We were in Chiron's training unit. Not only did we train to be highly trained spies and government workers, but we also went to school. We were in All-Around, that's what we called the only class we took. It covered all the subjects, in one hard class.
"What is H2O. It is not hydrogen dioxide, it is hydrogen monoxide. So, if there are 2 hydrogen's and 2 oxygen's…what does it make?" Our teacher, Mr. Wiseman asked.
He was a military officer who had studied to become a teacher before joining the force. He was now stuck with teaching us special kids. He was happy to do it, but we were only in 8th grade and he was teaching us 11th grade Biology, Chemestry and Physics…not that I had a problem with that.
I raised my hand as Mr. Wiseman scanned the crowd of students with this eyes. Disappointment flashed inside his chocolate brown eyes as he saw that no one knew this, but he smiled when he saw me.
"Yes, Miss. Chase, you may answer."
"The result compound is Hydrogen Peroxide." I answered.
He smiled and nodded.
"Very good! And how did you know that?"
"It's basic chemistry." I shrugged.
Mr. Wiseman smiled as he chuckled a bit.
"Harvard awaits you, Annabeth."
But it wouldn't. There was no way they would let me go to Harvard, unless it was for an undercover mission to retrieved secret information or to get a new recruit or something. I was never going to be able to live a normal live, even when I'm old. I'll just be government property.
I tried not to think about that as Mr. Wiseman erased what was on the smart board and started to write down math problems. They were really hard, as other students said they were. But to me, it was all too easy. I loved thinking, solving, making strategies…that was simply who I was.
He wrote:
One day, a Michel went to the horse racing area. Instead of counting the number of humans and horses, he counted 74 heads and 196 legs. Yet he knew the number of humans and horses there. How did he do it? How many humans and horses are there?
I heard the class groan as they started to write things down and try to think of an answer. I'm pretty sure some were drawing diagrams or many even horses with people on them and counting the legs and heads. But I began to draw things in my mind, instead of on paper.
HM are humans.
HR are horses…
So…
I smiled as I came up with the answer. It was simple: 24 horses and 50 humans.
"Anyone got an answer?...yes, Travis." Mr. Wiseman said.
"109 humans on 110 horses." He responded.
The class laughed as Mr. Wiseman got confused.
"But…there are only 109 humans…how can they be in 110 horses?"
"One was a ghost."
Again the class laughed. In an effort to make Mr. Wiseman feel better, I raised my hand and he happily called on me.
"Miss. Chase, please come up and do the problem on the board."
"Yes, sir."
I went up to the board and explained the problem.
HM + HR = 74
2HM + 4HR = 196
(2HM + 4HR) - (2 HM + 2HR) = 196 - 148
2HR = 48
HR = 24
HM + (24) = 74
HM = 74 - 24
HM = 50
"There are 24 horses and 50 humans." I told him as I turned to face the class.
Leo was confused, Piper smiled at me, Mirabelle was more than confused, Sam whispered a silent 'YES!', and Percy looked at me with pride in his eyes. I blushed and looked down.
"Perfect, Annabeth! You are my new favorite." Mr. Wiseman told me.
I knew he was trying to get the class to try harder, wanting to be his new favorite too, but I took the compliment and sat down.
"Not fair. Miss. SmartyPants has always been your favorite." Clarisse complained.
"Then study more and become like Miss. Chase…alright class, turn to your math textbooks…page 34 'The Introduction to Astro Physics."
The glass groaned as I happily turned to the page that will teach me the nature of stars…not that I already didn't know it.
~End of Flashback~
"I remember that! I got 22 horses and 52 people." Piper said as she recalled her own memories.
"Not too far off."
"It was hard though! How did you get that?"
"I don't know. My brain just automatically does it. Weird huh?"
"No…Weird is how I just say things and people do it."
That was her talent. They called it Charm speaking. She just said something in a calm, persuasive, commanding…in anyway and people just go under some sort of trance and do whatever she says. It was pretty cool to me.
"Piper…that's amazing! All I can do is solve math problems." I said as I leaned back into the chair.
"Really…how many earths's fit into the sun?"
I answered almost automatically.
"1,000,000. Because the radius of the sun is 100 times that of the earth."
I had no idea that everyone had stopped to listen to our conversation. Leo had his mouth opened in shock, as if he didn't know that. Piper smiled, Mirabelle dropped her crayon and Percy was looking at me with that same proud look in his eyes…as if saying, that's my girl.
"LANDING IN HANH IN TWENTY MINUTES." The voice said.
And this is a good voice. This is Leo's female voice controls, which he named chica.
"Thank you, Chica!" Leo said as he drank some milk.
"You are welcome, Mr. Awesomeness."
We all looked at Leo…questionably.
"What? At least she knows it." Leo said.
*TIME LAPSE*
We landed in a huge opened field, filled with freshly cut green grass and pine trees. In front of us was a huge lake that separated Mongolia and Russia. We were not going to land in Russia, since that would signal our arrival and someone would know something is up.
The water was grey and unmoving, turning even darker grey as the water got further and further away. On the other side of the mountains were snow covered mountains that looked so beautiful, that I questions if angels had come down and painted them by hand. I knew that was impossible, angels had better things to do, but the scene was beautiful…and really cold.
I shivered as a cold breeze that had come from the lake hit my face and made my hair spiral out behind me. My grey eyes scanned the surroundings and I made sure no one was around. I gestured for Leo to let the stairs come down and I watched the stairs slowly unfold from the side of the plane and touch the wet grass.
"Wow…Mongolia is beautiful." Piper breathed out as she walked out.
I was sure Piper was freezing in her orange t-shirt and jean shorts, but she didn't act like it. Maybe she was used to the cold or something. Percy came out and waited for me, then he came up to me and looked down at me.
"This is going to be amazing, you know? We're going to find Chiron, reunite the old group…and at last, I'm finally going to earn your love back." He said as his green eyes smiled down at me.
"Percy, you don't have to do that. I'm starting to believe you."
"How about I give you a little push? Promise you'll try a bit harder?" He said as he held out his pinky finger out at me.
I smiled and wrapped my own little finger around his. He flashed me a bright smile and kissed my cheek…again missing.
"Come on, Wisegirl. We've got a teacher to save."
FIRST CHAPTERS OF MOA ON GOOGLE BOOKS!
5!
Alright, so school is being really hard…so…only updates on Fridays.
OCT 4th will be here soon!
REVIEW!
