I'm back! I have an extra long chapter, too! Also, I have a new poll on my profile. Vote if you want Jason to go back to the Roman camp at the end of the story or to stay at Camp Half-Blood. By the way, there's nothing going on between Leo and Piper, Leo is just being a good comforting friend. One more thing: Happy belated birthday Percy! Thanks to SakuandSyao-CLAMPGirlForever, Hidden in the flames meSTDSD, kate childof athena, liam snyder, The Lone Clapper, jamieeeeeee, anakin26, redlox2, mugglenomore, readingrox101, Mmmmmm, Percabeth4ever, tolazytologin, June Alyssa (x2), percabeth 4eva (x2), nancy, Meghan0095, alj97, magicdemi-god223, strangerthingshavhappened, kshima91, Blackbelt90, bla, and HeartBOOKS.
Review responses are at the bottom! I am also going to have this question of the day. You can respond in a review!
Question of the day: If you were a teacher, what subject would you like to teach? I know it's random. I would have to say music, though. It's simple and sometimes fun!
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO!
Chapter 35: The Answer Lies Within the Heart
Piper's POV:
I watched as everyone around me examined the packs and packages in the plane, while my thoughts were elsewhere. I internally sighed. It wasn't fair. Jason was being shipped off to random places. I'd think he'd have enough by now.
"Life's not fair," Leo appeared next to me. I jumped from surprise. Oops, I must've said that out loud. "Surprised, Beauty Queen?" I groaned. Leo's been calling me that for a while, now.
"Why do you still call me that?" I asked, annoyed.
"Because you're Aphrodite's daughter, last time I checked," Leo said it like it was obvious.
A couple minutes of silence passed. I yawned. After all, it was getting late.
"Do you want me to make a fire?" Leo asked.
"Nah, it's getting late anyways. We should set up our sleeping arrangements."
Leo nodded and walked to a wooded area. He moved some leaves around and said, "Night."
"Goodnight," I replied.
Soon enough, everyone else (except Percy and Annabeth, I wonder where they could be.) followed Leo's action. They curled up in a ball to keep themselves warm and fell asleep.
I guess I'm taking first watch.
Annabeth's POV:
Without bothering to move the leaves, I watched as Percy lied down on a leafy area. He quickly fell into a deep sleep. A snore erupted from his mouth.
"Boys sure do fall asleep fast," I muttered, sitting on a log.
"Sure do," a voice sounded from next to me. I jumped from shock.
"Piper! You scared me!" I laughed in a hushed whisper.
Piper just smiled. "I'll take first watch tonight."
"No, you don't need to. I'll do it," I actually wanted to take first watch. 1) I wasn't as tired as Piper was(I could tell, she just yawned). 2) I had a lot of thoughts on my mind, and it could give me time to think about them.
Piper stayed put. She had her head down, staring at the dirty ground.
"What's wrong?" I asked her. I already knew what was wrong. Sometimes it's good to vent about things, though.
Piper looked up at me with teary eyes. "Jason," she whispered, tracing circles with her finger on the ground.
I sighed. It would come sooner or later. "Piper, Jason will be all right. We'll rescue him, don't worry," I said, more like reassuring myself.
"You say that, but you can't mean it," she says.
I look at Piper, taking my finger and lifting her head so she is forced to look into my eyes. "I do mean it," I whisper. "I promise." Piper let that soak in for a minute, before looking at the ground again.
"I guess it's up to us," Piper said.
"When has it not been?" I laughed. Piper did too.
She loudly sighed. "I'm just worried that he'll be forced to go back to the Roman camp." I stayed quiet. I didn't know what to say. I can't promise he'll come back to Camp Half-Blood.
Piper looked at my questioning face and said, "Forget about it. I'll take first watch." I could tell she wanted to say more.
"Got a lot of thoughts on your mind?" I asked her, avoiding the 'I'll take first watch' order.
She nodded. A tear escaped from her kaleidoscope eyes. "I wish everything was back to normal. I wish Jason was at Camp Half-Blood, and Gaea was stuck in Tartarus(A/N: reminds me of tartar sauce, lol.)for the rest of her life."
"I do too. I guess we all have wishes," I said. Now it was my turn to look down. I, for one, wish Percy remembered me.
Piper sniffed. "I'm sorry," she said.
I looked up. " For what?" I realized that Piper didn't usually vent about Jason to me.
"For talking all about my own selfish reasons, and forgetting about yours," she said.
I smiled. "I guess we both have a lot on our minds." I know that was true. We could both relate in a similar way. When Percy was missing, I went all over looking for him. Now Jason's missing. Plus, Jason might've had a romantic interest back at the Roman Camp. I didn't mention that to Piper.
I blurted out, "Do you want to talk about it? It's good to vent sometimes."
Piper sighed. "He doesn't remember anything from the Wilderness trip." I remembered Piper telling me how she was shipped to a Wilderness school. That's where she met Leo, and she thought she met Jason. It was just the mist. Brandon and Lauryn were being tricked by the mist, too.
"Well, what happened there?" I asked.
"It was hard, but we finally worked our way up to 'more than friends'. We were only dating for a few weeks….but," Piper said, smiling at the memories.
"But what?" I asked.
She smiled. "He finally kissed me." Her smile then faltered when she remembered that it was just the mist.
A couple moments of silence passed. Piper yawned, again.
"Why don't you go to sleep? I'll take first watch," I told her. Piper shook her head, but I could see that her eyelids felt like lead. She began closing them.
"Fine. But wake me up for second watch," she said, walking to an open spot. She lied down and fell asleep within moments.
I tried thinking about other things. It was just too dang hard.
Think about this three-leaf clover, I thought, taking my mind off of him.
It was no use. I threw the clover in the air. It whirled around, until it landed softly on the ground.
Hera's stupid. She won't give Percy his memory back.
"For the love of Zeus!" I shouted, standing up from the log I had been sitting on.
I covered my mouth as quickly as I said it. I looked around. Everyone looked like they were sound asleep. They must've been pretty tired.
I sat back down. A salty tear escaped my eye.
"I wish you'd remember," I whispered out loud, as if I were talking to Percy. "I really do."
Back to Piper's POV:
I eventually caved in. I was getting really tired, and needed to sleep.
"Fine. But wake me up for second watch," I told Annabeth, walking to an open spot. I lied down and fell asleep within a few moments.
Unfortunately, my deep sleep included a dream. Or should I say nightmare.
I entered a white room. There was no furniture. Everything was white and quiet. A chilly breeze made its way around me. I shivered.
Thump!
I heard a noise. I looked around. Right in front of my eyes, on his stomach, was Jason.
"Jason!" I shouted. He just squirmed around, trying to get onto his back. "Jason!" I repeated. It was no use.
"Well, well, well," a man dressed in black said, walking into this room. I would've hid, but there was nowhere to hide. "Looks like the son of Jupiter has awoken." He had a deep voice. I had a bad feeling about this.
"Who are you?" Jason asked, trying to stay strong.
The man scoffed. "That is not important. You will soon find out." Well, if Jason's going to find out soon, why doesn't he just tell him?
"What am I doing here?" Jason demanded.
The man circled around Jason's limp body. His legs were chained, and his arms were handcuffed.
"We are using you to lure those little camps of yours here. Then the army will be complete…we can start the battle," the man muttered the last part. My eyes widened in shock.
"What battle?" Jason asked. I had a feeling what the answer was.
"You've heard to much already. Boys, take him to the cage," the man ordered.
Big Cyclopes came and grabbed Jason. I wanted to shout, but my mouth failed me.
"No! Wait, don't!" Jason shouted, squirming around. It was no use. I covered my mouth, so I wouldn't scream.
"Shut up!" one Cyclopes shouted. He grabbed his night stick and thunked it on Jason's head.
Jason fell into an unconscious state. Tears filled my eyes. I fell to my knees.
All of a sudden, the scene shimmered to a different one. I was in a room filled with pink. Pink loveseats, pink chairs, pink desks. The wallpaper was pink, and the floor had a frilly carpet that was pink. Even the refrigerator was pink!
"Hello, daughter," someone said from behind me. I whirled around. Standing right before my eyes was Aphrodite, my mom.
I wiped my tear-filled eyes. "Mom?" I asked. She appeared to have shoulder-length hair, a graceful neck, perfect features, tucked into jeans and a snowy white top. Her image kept changing, though. Her eyes looked blue, while her hair looked blonde.
Aphrodite sat down on a fuzzy pink bean bag chair.
"Did you send me the vision of Jason?" I asked her.
"Indeed," she said, crossing her legs.
"Can you tell me where he is?" I asked.
Mom smiled. "It's not that simple. But, I can help you out." She stood up and walked towards me. "The answer lies within the heart." The answer lies within the heart?
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked her.
She smiled, again. "You'll figure it out, Piper. You're a smart girl." With that, she vanished in a pink puff of smoke, leaving the scent of perfume. The background shimmered. I was taken out of my dream.
I woke up with a start. I looked up at the sky. The dark sky from last night was replaced by a light blue cloudy sky. Looking around me, the only people that were up was Reyna, Annabeth, Lauryn, and Thalia.
I stood up, legs shaky from lying down for so long.
"Annabeth, why didn't you wake me up for the second shift?" I asked her.
She shrugged. "I guess I just lost track of time." I could tell she was lying.
"The real reason?" I asked.
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I wasn't very tired, you all were enjoying your sleep, and I didn't want to wake you." I certainly didn't enjoy my first dream.
"You should get some sleep now," I told Annabeth. "Does anyone know what time it is?"
Annabeth checked her watch. "7:35," she said.
"You can sleep for a couple of hours, then we'll wake you," I said.
Annabeth shook her head. Stubborn girl. "Once I'm up I can't fall asleep. I'll be fine, trust me."
I looked around. Annabeth was gathering logs with Thalia, Lauryn was rubbing the logs together, and Reyna was filing her nails.
"Need any help?" I asked them. Annabeth and Thalia said no, but Lauryn was practically crying for help.
I walked over to Lauryn.
"Trying to start a fire?" I asked her.
"Yea," she said, wiping sweat from her brow.
I walked over to Leo. Lauryn's face was priceless. It read, 'You're going to Leo when I asked you for help?'
I shook Leo. Nothing happened. I shook him harder. Same results. Finally, I just took a small rock and threw it at him. He woke up.
"What was that for?" he asked, rubbing his side, where I threw the rock.
"You wouldn't wake up," I said, shrugging like it was no big deal. "Listen, we need you to start a fire."
Leo sighed, walking towards Lauryn. He summoned his fire ability and lit the log. I grabbed a couple of rocks and placed them around the flames, so they wouldn't spread easily.
"How'd you do that?" Reyna asked Leo in awe.
"Son of Vulcan, I have my ways."
Annabeth grabbed a big log and brought it to the fire. She set it down behind the fire and sat on it. Next, she rubbed her hands over the fire, to warm them.
I sat next to her, following her actions.
"Are you sure you don't want to take a nap?" I asked Annabeth.
"I'll be fine," she said.
"I'm hungry," Leo whined. He told his magical tool belt to sprout some omelets.
"That's really cool," Reyna told Leo.
"Yea, it's magical, so it can do what I want. It takes time to cool off, though, so I can't order too many things. The more I order the longer it takes to cool off," Leo explained. Reyna nodded, looking confused. She probably had no idea what he just said.
A few minutes passed. I watch the sparks fly from the fire.
"We should wake Percy and Brandon up soon," Thalia said. "We need to get a head start."
Annabeth glanced at the boys. "Let's let them sleep a little longer."
"Um, Brandon can sleep pretty long," Lauryn said.
Annabeth laughed. "You should see Percy sleep. It literally takes people an hour to wake him up." Lauryn looked agitated for some reason.
"So, how long have you known Percy?" Lauryn asked. She probably thought that Annabeth hadn't known him for long, since Percy had no memories of her. Lauryn's never seen Annabeth before the first quest, too.
Annabeth rubbed the back of her neck nervously, not wanting to give out false information. "Uh, since I first saw him." Well, that's the truth, right? "Why?"
"No reason," Lauryn said, shrugging. At least they aren't ripping each other's throats out.
"So," Thalia dragged the 'so' out so it sounded like 'soooooooooo….'
I cleared my throat. A couple minutes of uncomfortable silence passed.
Ding!
Leo's belt revealed eight omelets. "Let's wake them up now, the food is done," Leo said.
Annabeth checked her watch. "It's 8:05," she said.
"Who is going to wake them up?" Leo stupidly said. Wait for it… a fight will erupt soon.
"I will!" Thalia shouted, preventing anyone from starting a fight. Thank gods!
First Thalia went to Brandon. "Wake up," she said. Nothing happened. She bent down to his ear and screamed a blood-curdling scream. Brandon bolted up.
"What was that for?" he shouted louder than necessary, rubbing his ear.
"We needed to wake you up. Why are you shouting?" Thalia asked him.
"I'm not shouting!" Brandon shouted.
"I think you damaged his hearing," I joked. Brandon swatted at his head until he was finally talking at a normal volume.
"We needed to wake you up, I got us some omelets," Leo said.
"Ooh, food!" Brandon said, rushing over to his omelet and digging in. I looked at Thalia.
"Time for the next doofus," she whispered. She walked over to Percy, kicking his side really hard. I don't think he was fazed, though, because Annabeth had previously told me that he had the curse of Achilles.
Thalia repeated the blood curdling scream that she did to Brandon, but Percy only rolled over to his side murmuring, 'Blue Waffles, Mommy.' Annabeth stifled a laugh.
"How do I wake him up?" Thalia asked, looking at Annabeth.
"How would she know how to wake him up?" Lauryn asked Thalia in a snobby tone. Thalia ignored her and looked expectantly at Annabeth.
"Tell him that his blue waffles are ready," Annabeth said, "and if that doesn't work, jump up and dig your elbow into his ribs." Annabeth shivered, as if she remembered something we didn't know.
Thalia walked over to Percy and shouted, "Percy! Your blue waffles are ready!"
Percy shot up as fast as a bullet. "Where?" he demanded. Then he looked around at our amused expressions. He huffed. "There are no waffles, are there?" he said.
"Nope," Annabeth said, popping the 'p'. "But we do have omelets."
Percy shrugged. "Works for me." He walked to the omelet, sat down, and dug in. Everyone else did the same.
Within a few minutes, we finished the omelets, put out the fire, and were ready to finish our adventure.
RESPONSES TO REVIEWS:
SakyandSyao-CLAMPGirlForever: I laughed so hard too, lol! Thanks!
Hidden in the flames meSTDSD: I have to agree with you, Annabeth is way better for Percy! Poseidon is also better than Zeus…lol. Percy will remember something in the next chapter, but not this one! This one is an important chapter, though. Thanks for the review!
Kate childof athena: The guy dressed up is sort of the general. I don't think Jason will end up with Reyna, but it depends. Thanks!
The Lone Clapper: I made up for the short chapter with a long one! Thanks!
Jamieeeeeee: I will definitely make more action! It'll be in the next one. Thanks!
Mugglenomore: LOL! It was no problem! Thanks for reviewing! :D
Mmmmmm: Maybe, but Percy already dislikes Lauryn. Thanks!
Percabeth4ever: My long absence has been made up with this long chapter! Thanks!
Tolazytologin: Leo and Piper will appear soon.
June Alyssa: Thanks! I'll try to do the kiss, but I already did it once and Percy kinda thinks Lauryn is weird.
Percabeth 4eva: Thanks! I try my best. Lauryn will get better, don't worry. The olives were just random, they were from the cargo plane.
Nancy: Got a long chapter now! Thanks!
Meghan0095: You'll have to wait a while until Percy remembers Annabeth, but he will gradually remember some things about her. Thanks!
Alj97: No problem! Thanks so much!
Magicdemi-god223: No offense taken! I posted a long chapter now, so…yea. Thanks!
Strangerthingshavhappened: I'm on it! :D Thanks!
Kshima91: Thanks!
Blackbelt90: Thanks so much! I really appreciate it! :D
Bla: Thanks!
HeartBOOKS: I honestly don't know, I wasn't thinking at the time. Thanks for the review!
Adios!