"PERCY!" Annabeth woke with a start again, hoping it was all just a nightmare. But for the third time, she woke up in that white room that made her so desperate.
She was sure she'd been there for at least three days, and with every passing minute, she looked forward to speaking to Percy. She knew something was wrong with her, but she couldn't help but want to see Jason too.
She brought her hands back to her hair frustrated by her appearance. The six-times she tried to tousle and remove her makeup had been in vain, she still looked the same. She even tried to tear the fabric of the dress but it suffered no damage.
"MOTHER! LET ME OUT! " she knew she was being held prisoner by Athena and solved her problems by trying to call her.
One of her desperate measures to get her mother's attention was to hit her head against one of the walls. Because the screaming didn't seem to work.
As soon as her head made contact with the surface of the wall, it became a soft and fluffy material, like a pillow. Looking around Annabeth noticed that the other walls including the ceiling had changed their surface.
"Now I look crazy! This is a madhouse cage!"
A glow behind her made her stop screaming for a second.
"MOTHER!". She was furious.
"Wrong goddess dear."
"Aphrodite?"
...
"PERCY ! "
As soon as we returned from Olympus I heard her voice again. Every time I heard her she sounded more desperate and made me want to pull my hair out.
"Percy".
"What?!"
"Take it easy my friend".
"Sorry Frank, I didn't mean to yell at you."
"Okay, you are scaring me. You haven't said a word since you talked to your father".
"I did not know what to say"
"Okay, Percy. I did not know what to tell you after ... that"
"That," I sighed, "was perhaps the greatest stupidity I've ever done for Annabeth, facing the gods themselves," I said with a hint of bitterness.
"No, Percy. It was the second bravest thing I have ever seen someone do in my life. I did not think that you dared"
"For her, I would do anything, Frank."
"That's love, Percy." We continued walking towards the dining room, we met some campers who looked at me and ran, calling the others.
"Percy!"
"you're alive!"
When they surrounded me I felt someone poking me.
"What?!" I said looking at Connor.
"Nothing, man. I wanted to check if they hadn't killed you and you were a ghost". I rolled my eyes snorting.
"anything new?".
"Only Leo and Calypso...they need a room."
"I'm serious"
"Nico disappeared."
"What?!"
"And we haven't seen Jason or Malcolm since you left."
"Anything else?" I said sarcastically.
"Hazel isn't there either". He said looking at Frank.
...
We ran as fast as we could to the Argo II. As we had been told the boxes were empty and Leo was checking them.
When we got there Frank pounced on Leo but luckily for him I was fast enough to stop him.
"What happened?" My friend demanded to know.
"I do not understand it"
"What thing? You said she would be safe here".
"And she was, really," he said, raising his hands innocently.
"Then where is she?"
"That's what I do not understand"
"Leo explain them". Calypso placed a hand on Frank's arm in a clear attempt to help calm him down, which luckily did.
"Someone opened the boxes, they couldn't get out unless they were helped".
"The shadow trip?" I intervened when Frank calmed down.
"No, the night Annabeth disappeared I was here modifying the boxes. That night I didn't finish Nico's because Piper had brought a tape recorder and ...
"What recorder?"
"Nothing," He said quickly.
"The point is that I modified the boxes so that it was impossible for them to go out by shadow trip and after Calypso arrived I went back to check them. Everything was fine"
"That means that...
"That someone opened them."
...
"They're already looking for them," Apollo said looking at the image of the camp from the throne room.
"Who released them?"
"It sure was Hades." Some muttered.
"And why me?". Said the god of the underworld stirring a glass of wine in his hand.
"Because they are your children."
"for your information, I don't care about your stupid bet. I did not do it, and besides, is it not forbidden to intervene?" He said mockingly looking at Zeus on his throne.
"And since when do you obey the rules?"
"Look who's talking, Zeus."
"Let's all calm down. Play nice". Hera said sitting down next to her husband.
"Where were you?"
"Arranging an issue".
"What issue?"
"Where's Aphrodite?" The goddess said evading Zeus's question.
"Who calls me?". Aphrodite said standing in front of the screen.
"I do not see!"
"Aphrodite move!"
"Where were you?"
"Easy father, I was just re-applying my makeup."
"Well, what's next?". Hermes said.
"Athena, are you going to let that girl of yours Anibel out yet?"
"It's Annabeth, Dionysus. And no, I'm not going to let her out. He has to find her".
"Who?"
"Perseus or Jason?"
"Perseus obviously," Apollo said as he wrote a new poem in the air. Hermes had a blue flag that read "Team Percy" written in ancient Greek and waved it in front of Dionysus's face.
The goddess remained silent for a few minutes. She clearly enjoyed being the only one who knew the parts of her plan.
"The one who really deserves her," she said slowly emphasizing the last part.
"Then I already won this bet." Poseidon was watching Percy on the screen, he loved that expression of rudeness and determination on his face. It was the same one that had made him fall in love with Sally.
"My son will not give up. You heard him".
"Not so fast Poseidon. Your son may not be enough for her".