"Annabeth"
I beat Jason until my knuckles bled (and until Frank dragged me away from him). It wasn't as many blows as I would have liked but I enjoyed every single one of them, especially the ones on the mouth because it was the same damn mouth that had kissed my girlfriend.
"Percy, stop it!"
"I already left him!"
"Give me your sword."
"Oh come on Frank I'm not going to do anything to him."
"Right now I don't trust you."
"I'll stay here"
"I'll go see if he's still alive."
"It's not like I killed him. Do not exaggerate"
Bad luck to me. Jason whimpered and sat on the floor.
"Where's Annabeth asshole ?!"
"I don't know, it was what ... I was trying to tell you." He said wincing.
"If it is true. Where have you been since last night?"
"Looking for her." He said as if it was obvious.
"That's what I do. Her boyfriend"
"She wants me"
"Don't get your hopes up, it's a spell."
Frank stepped in between us as if to prevent another possible fight.
"Calm down, both of you".
I was going to reply but I heard a noise behind us. I turned around and caught a glimpse of a shadow running away from us.
"What was that?".
"Did you see it too?"
...
It had been three days since Annabeth had disappeared and things were improving for some.
The Stolls had dedicated themselves to replay all their pranks on Katie again with the intention that she would remember how she felt about Travis. At first, it had sparked nothing but the anger of Demeter's daughter and some broken arms for the campers in her cabin, but then after number fifty-five prank where it somehow ended up with Travis and Katie tied hanging upsidedown in a tree. Aphrodite's spell had weakened, Katie was no longer chasing Connor, nor Travis but her feelings were confused.
Chris and Clarisse were not together again yet but it was a different story. Malcolm had admitted that he liked Clarisse a little and that he would do nothing to prevent her from being close to him. Chris was fuming but between him and Clarisse's brothers they had convinced her to go on a reconnaissance excursion through the forest, she and Chris alone. We all expected them to return holding hands as before.
Hazel and Frank were... After Hazel tried to bury Leo underground for having found him with Calypso, she was unexpectedly stopped by Nico. No one knows how they came out of their boxes and to my relief he looked the same as before. No spell and no crush on Annabeth. Anyway, he transported her back to her glass box leaving Leo with half-buried.
On the other hand, I was sick of everything. I had been searching for days but was nowhere near finding a clue.
Worst of all, almost every five minutes I seemed to hear her calling me. That frustrated me and made me want to hit my head against the trees.
"It's over"
"What?" Everyone was in the hall looking at me like I was a stranger.
"I will go to the source of the problem. Who comes with me?"
"You mean...?"
"I'm going to Olympus."
...
Frank's POV
"WHERE IS SHE?!". My friend yelled, expelling all the anger and frustration that had accumulated since everything had been days since the last time he slept, he had dark circles and bags under his green eyes. His hair was more disheveled than usual and he had been wearing the same clothes for a week.
But he didn't care, all he cared about was finding Annabeth,
"Son, please calm ..." Poseidon tried to calm him down.
"NO! She disappeared and I know you have something to do with this". Percy looked for the goddess who was the cause of our problems.
"You!". He said taking a step towards her throne.
"You are the cause of everything! What did you do to her?"
"Percy ...
"Where is she?!" I feared that Percy would draw his sword and attack the goddess while on Olympus, so I approached him prepared to stop him, I thanked the gods themselves for the blessing that Apollo gave me to be able to enter Olympus even being Roman.
"You have the wrong goddess, dear." Aphrodite seemed calm even though my friend was trembling with anger.
"It was necessary, Perseus, my ..." Athena hadn't spoken since we arrived and in her tone I could tell she didn't really like Percy.
"I don't give a damn!" I took his arm as I noticed his change of direction towards Annabeth's mother.
"I want her back! NOW!". He yelled shaking my hand. His voice shook the throne room. Some of the gods, including myself, were amazed at the power it had.
Zeus tried to intervene saying.
"We can't bring her back son of Poseidon. Everything is part of the plan".
"Are you talking about his ridiculous bet? Yes, we already know everything. He said pointing an accusing finger at his father and Athena.
"How is that...
"It does not matter. What do you want from us? Are we just your means of entertainment? It's fun for you?"
"No, son. We just ...
"Just what? We have already fought for you in more than one war, we lost friends because of you. Can't we have some peace?"
"Percy ...
"We just wanted a quiet summer. I just wanted to spend time with my girlfriend and my friends. Was it too much to ask?" Percy was on the verge of collapse. At this point I couldn't decipher his face, I didn't know if it was anger or pain that he felt.
No one said anything for a few minutes, maybe they expected Percy to calm down a bit or maybe they didn't know what to say. Some gods like Hermes, Apollo, and Hestia looked at my friend with pity.
Others like Hera or Hades just didn't look at him. And others like Poseidon watched him helplessly as if he wanted to help him but he knew there was nothing he could do.
After a deep sigh, Percy said.
"I don't care about your stupid bet. I want her back". He turned on his heel without looking at anyone and headed for the exit. I bowed to the gods and ran after him.
"Son". Poseidon followed us to the elevator.
"I don't care about what you're going to say and I'm not going to lift a finger for you until you return her to me." His voice sounded calm but full of resentment. The look Poseidon gave him made me feel like a fly in the soup. I wanted to get away from them but we were in the elevator. There was no way out.
"I want her back." It was the last thing Percy said before pressing the button.