Hey!

For the past few days, I've been going over the plot and storyline for this fic, and it has become so much more polished because I've taken the help of two amazing people - AGirlHasNoName20 and pride-and-loyalty. It was really fun discussing the ideas and filling up the plot holes with them. (:

Also, I'm happy to inform that I have a proper skeleton for the story. So, there will be 20 chapters including the epilogue, and not all the chapters will have the same number of words as the chapters have been divided based on the events.

Anyways, this chapter is about the trio's training for their quest, which is pretty essential. I have struggled a bit with it because I was trying not to make it too boring, but I think it ended up pretty well.

Disclaimer: I only own the plot.

Chapter Name: Trust Me

~Percy~

Percy looked at the people beside him. Luke and Annabeth were sweating but seemed to be tough enough to keep going. That morning, they were exercising at the gym at camp. Chiron had arranged a – dedicated, to say the least – trainer for the three of them, who was working them to death.

"Come on, Clarisse. Give us a break!" he groaned again, as she increased the treadmill's speed using a remote, causing her to glare at him from her spot on the hammer strength gym equipment.

He turned to his right and looked at Annabeth. She had a pair of earphones plugged in and was taking deep breaths through the "o" shape of her mouth while she ran.

Towards his left, Luke ran too. He was almost as winded as Percy, but his face was determined, although red.

.

"That's enough!" Clarisse shouted after ten minutes. "You've been running for a while now. Come over here."

Percy sluggishly dragged his body towards Clarisse, who had just ticked off something on her clipboard.

"Okay, for today's aerobic activity, you've done walking, jogging, and running. Now, some muscle-strengthening!" Clarrise walked over to the weights and clapped her hands together.

"Annabeth, you'll start with squats. Give me fifty!" she yelled, and Annabeth nodded like it would be an easy task. "Percy, you go for the dumbbells and do not even think about stopping until I say so," she glared at him menacingly.

"Luke! Stand up!" her harsh voice resonated, and Percy restrained himself from doing something stupid like banging his head on a wall.

"Luke Castellan! I swear to god-" she rubbed her forehead, "-get your lazy butt over here. Right now!"

Luke slowly stood up, deliberately dragging one foot after another, one foot after another, until Clarisse hauled him to his next task – the resistance bands.

.

Percy started lifting the small-looking dumbbell that deceived its looks. Man, it was heavy. He had always been a very active, physically fit person, but Clarisse's training was rigorous. It was quite funny to see an eighteen-year-old boss around a twenty-three-year-old. With her height of 6"6, she towered over all three of them.

Annabeth her head towards him, and they shared an amused smile towards Clarrise. It was easy to get the blond, bandana-wearing trainer rifled up.

"Are you lovebirds done making heart-eyes at each other?" Clarisse barked. "Get. To. Work."

Percy and Annabeth's faces flushed immediately, and they turned to complete their respective activities.

...

"I'm... done, Clarrise," Annabeth gasped.

"Took you long enough," Clarrise let the heavy barbell fall to the ground of the gym with a "thud!". "Hmm... let's see. I think that's enough, Percy. You can do fifty squats, and give the dumbbell to her."

"Clarrise! Let me live!" Luke groaned dramatically from the other side of the room.

"Shut up, Luke. Come here. You can do some weightlifting. Take that," she pointed towards the massive barbell that was lying on the floor.

Luke gulped visibly. "But-"

"No."

"-Clarrise! You're like a-a muscle woman! Look at those buff, strong arms and shoulders. How do you expect me to do it?" he cried.

Clarrise did not look impressed. "I'm flattered." She picked at the non-existent dirt in her nails. "Now pick it up," and she walked away, towards the punching bag.

...

Half an hour later, the ringing of a loud bell echoed throughout the camp. Percy had never felt happier to hear the shrill sound before. All the lethargy from earlier vanished in an instance, and Percy sprang up from the ground. He bolted to the door as if his life depended on it.

"Not so fast, Jackson! You are not going to be eating any junk food-"

"What? But-"

"Do you understand, Percy Jackson?"

"Yes, ma'am."

He trudged towards the dining area, sad and dejected.

.

"Hey!" Luke caught up to him. "How was training?"

Percy shot him a look like, 'seriously?' and Luke laughed. "Sorry, bad question."

"Ya think?" Percy's eyebrows shot up as he said that. "C'mon, let's get some food. I'm starving!"

They walked over to the buffet tables near the dining area. Just as they were about to load their plates with food, someone called them.

"Luke, Percy! Clarrise's calling. She says it's about lunch," Annabeth stated. "She has a list of food that we need to eat." She wrinkled her nose in disgust; apparently, the feast options weren't that great.

"Come on, then," he said.

...

"Take the damn plate, Jackson!" Clarrise screamed, handing him a plate filled with whole eggs, a handful of green veggies, tuna, and a glass of apple cider. "That's it. You will not be eating anything else until I tell you so. Am I clear?"

Percy nodded mutely. Annabeth and Luke were already eating. Since they were training for the 'Top-Secret Mission,' the trio got a table for themselves. In all reality, there were some privileges of being a part of a deathly quest. They got a wide variety of food in unlimited quantities, but the other kids got to eat cheeseburgers. He found himself looking longingly at the delicious food before stomping his way to the table with his plate of healthy food.

.

"Hey," Annabeth smiled at his expression. "You don't like it?"

"The others get to have cheeseburgers." Percy slumped in his seat.

"You'll become a hunchback, Percy," she reprimanded offhandedly while picking at her eggs. "Huh, it isn't as bad as I expected," she commented to no one in particular after chewing and swallowing it.

"Did you ever go on a quest before?" Percy asked the other two.

"Not me," Annabeth shook her head, while Luke said, "If you count getting kidnapped a quest, then yes."

Percy rolled his eyes at the older boy's sass.

"What was it like?" Annabeth asked, furrowing her eyebrows in interest.

He sighed. "You know how it happened."

"I don't," Percy added.

Luke closed his eyes as if reliving the memory. "It was a bright, sunny morning. Thalia and I had just met Annabeth. She was only seven, you know?" he grinned at Percy. "She had these adorable cheeks-"

"Continue the story, Luke!" Annabeth interrupted. Her face was rosy pink. "She's still adorable," he thought to himself before shaking his head. She was totally in no way adorable. Definitely not. She was a... badass warrior princess.

"Okay," Luke continued. "Where was I?- Oh! She'd just met Grover, and all four of us bundled up to the camp. Once we got here, we were "mesmerized" seeing the "great" Half-Blood hill," he said, making air quotes and rolling his eyes with sarcasm. "It was just this huge grassy, green hill, nothing spectacular about it."

"Did I see it?" Percy asked. Luke turned to Annabeth; she was the one that brought him here.

"Well, we did cross it, but at that time, you were barely conscious," she said. Percy hummed in response.

"Okay," Luke continued. "We were just looking at the hill and stuff-" he suddenly started grinning. "That taxi ride, though," he shook his head, although he was still smiling. "It was horrible. There were three blind ladies for drivers. Gods."

"They are one of the only people that know about camp, Percy," Annabeth spoke before he even asked the question.

Percy smiled incredulously. "How do you do that?"

"Magic..." she responded mysteriously, wiggling her fingers around and grinning cheekily.

Luke cleared his throat, making them go red in the face. "Uh. I should leave, I guess. You guys seem pretty busy..." he started to stand up.

"No!" they responded together, cheeks ablaze, yet again.

"Um, you can continue," Percy added.

Luke sat down cautiously. "Alright. Like I was saying. We just hopped off the taxi, caught our breath. And suddenly, this stream of black vans-"

"-with no number plates," Annabeth added.

"-with no number plates-" he repeated "-drove towards us. We were still on the road. However, the rest of us saw them and moved away. But Thalia, for some reason, stayed there. And... they took her," he choked up. "Then I ran after them, and they took me as well."

"What happened later?" Annabeth said.

Luke gave a wry smile. "I don't know where, but it was on a boat, for sure. We weren't allowed to come outside at all. No physical harm was done, at least to Thalia, while I was there." He ran his finger along the blatantly visible thick, deep pale scar that ran from the bottom of his eye down to his chin. "Tried to flee once," he grimaced. "Although I couldn't get out, I found a thick ray of sunlight streaming through an opening of some sort. The next time, I managed to escape. Thalia didn't." His lips turned downward.

The trio sat in silence, food long forgotten, deep in their thoughts.

.

Chiron wheeled over to them, a pitying smile gracing his lips. It seemed he was always sad – concerned – for them. "Finish your food, children," he murmured gently.

...

Percy yawned; he'd just finished his meal and wanted to take a nap. But instead, he was stuck with Luke and Annabeth, trying to plan out their approach. Annabeth placed a large map on the surface of the ping-pong table in the Big House, where they were to discuss their ideas in the vicinity of Chiron, who could provide them guidance.

He wasn't keen on going on the quest, but he needed to do it; for his mom. And for Thalia, of course.

.

"You have to listen, Percy," Annabeth said as she unfurled the map of Long Island and placed four paperweights for each corner. "I know you're tired. The food we ate, like the eggs and tuna, contain tryptophan amino acid. This amino acid is used by the body to produce serotonin, which is responsible for drowsiness. Moreover, carbohydrates also help produce serotonin and tryptophan amino acids found in the brain. So yes, you're sleepy, but we have a quest in three more days," the girl finished ranting.

Percy stared at her. "Okay," he smiled uncontrollably. "You could've just said eating makes you sleepy, but alright." She blushed and started stuttering. He shook his head fondly and turned to the situation at hand.

"So, strategies, right?" Percy looked at the map before turning his face towards his partners. "I'm an act-on-impulse sort of guy, so I have no clue about strategies and stuff. But our starting point should be Palaemon."

"Yeah, we just established that," Luke nodded while Annabeth marked a small, neat "1" at Lighthouse Marina on her map.

Percy sighed. "Our entire quest rests in that dude's hands. You're sure he'll know where to go, right, Chiron?"

Chiron nodded in affirmation. "Definitely."

"Do you think he'll ask for something? Like a payment?" Annabeth questioned.

"He's a friendly man. I don't think so," Chiron replied, but his eyes didn't convey the same message; there was something else.

Chiron suddenly craned his head towards the large clock that rested on the wall before exclaiming, "Children, you should go to the library now. Check the old newspapers, geography books, anything. Hurry! The library will close if no one's inside."

They nodded gravely, determined to find the answers to the unspoken questions. However, Percy stayed back, telling the other two that he'd catch up with them in a minute. They shrugged it off and sprinted towards the building.

.

"There's something you're hiding from us, Chiron."

"Palaemon works under your father, Percy. Poseidon is his boss."

"Alright..." Percy said, unsure of where the man was going with this.

"It has been a while since I've met him personally. He may have changed. There have been rumors of Palaemon attacking others."

"Like, physically?"

"Only his rivals."

"That's reassuring," he grumbled. "Then-"

"Child, I cannot tell you more than this, as of now. I will tell you everything once the time is right. For now, trust me. Tell him who your father is. He will be loyal to you and your friends."

"Okay... Is there anything I should know about Palaemon?"

"It's probably not relevant, but make sure never to insult sharks in front of him. I learned that the hard way," Chiron's lips curved upwards, a contrast to the gloomy, tense mood in the atmosphere.

"Sharks? Never mind, I should get going. Bye, Chiron."

"Bye, Percy. Stay safe."

...

"What took you so long?" Annabeth asked as soon as he ran in.

"Nothing," Percy waved it off. "Did you find anything?"

"Yes, actually," Luke grinned as he brought an old newspaper. "'Number plate? I'll pass,'" he read out the headline. "Look at the pictures. They are the same as the vans we saw that day."

Percy glanced at the pictures. They were blurry, but if Annabeth and Luke were sure about it, this was it. They would find Thalia.

"Can either of you read it?" he asked. "Dyslexia sucks."

"Hand it over to me," Annabeth sighed after an intense staring competition.

...

~Annabeth~

Annabeth read the article in the paper. While it didn't contain the exact location of the vans and ship, the trio now at least had some clues.

.

"So, where do we have to go, exactly?" Percy asked.

"Heckscher State Park. That's the last place the vans were spotted, zooming past people," she replied.

"We'll have a problem, though," Luke called from where he'd unrolled their map. He pointed to Lighthouse Marina. "We'll be starting three days from now and have five more to retrieve Thalia-"

"Remind me, why can't we change it up a bit? Go day after tomorrow and take an extra day or two." Percy said.

"Chiron and the other heads, who we've never met before, are pretty superstitious when it comes to things like this. They follow auspicious Greek days and everything. It's better not to argue about it," she answered.

"Guys," Luke impatiently called. "Like I was saying. We have five days. Lighthouse Marina and Heckscher State Park are literally on opposite sides, while Camp Half-Blood is in the middle. Maybe we could ask Palaemon to come here?"

"No way, man. Ethics and all that. We can't expect him to fall at our feet and stuff; he'll probably blast us to bits," Percy chuckled, but Annabeth looked at his face and found a contorted sense of truth to his words.

"Yeah, we've just got to hurry. So we should try to finish planning and training. From what you've experienced, Luke, I think we will be fighting."

.

She circled the area around the park with a pencil. "That's where Palaemon comes in. He'll help us find what we're looking for."

The boys nodded. "Is there anything else that we have to research?" Luke asked.

She shook her head. "We couldn't find anything else. But do you remember anything? Anything at all?"

Luke sighed; they'd done this many times before, but he said, "I'll keep thinking."

...

"Trust exercises?" Percy asked.

"Yeah," the trainer replied. "The three of you are going as a tightly-knit team. You need to be able to, essentially, trust each other with your lives."

The boy gestured for the others to come closer. "My name's Louis, and I'll be helping you guys, trust each other. I've been on a couple of smaller quests before. I'd just finished college when Chiron called me over to help you guys out. I'm not going to lie; your quest is not going to be easy. You'll need to trust each other more than anything."

.

That's how the four of them were found near the strawberry fields, on a soft spongy floor that evening.

.

"I'll catch you, Annabeth," Luke replied from behind her.

"Don't worry. You won't get hurt if Luke doesn't, either. The floor is spongy," Louis said. Luke shot a glare at Louis, which Annabeth couldn't see because she was too busy calming her nerves down.

"Ready?" she called.

After hearing a "yes." from the boy behind her, Annabeth fell backward, trusting him to catch her. He did, and she was so relieved.

"Thank goodness," she muttered, ignoring Luke's hurtful expression that he shot her way.

...

Louis chuckled. "You guys did great! But that's just the beginning. The exercises we did today were the easier ones. Tomorrow, I'll be showing you a compilation of dance moves that I want you guys to try out. Alright?"

"Yeah," the three of them replied, genuinely.

"Great. See you tomorrow!" Louis waved and sprinted away.

...

Annabeth looked at the crystal blue water in the lake. Over the past few months, the lake had become an area of tranquility for her. With a jolt, she realized that she had been feeling better now. Usually, she would've been sobbing her eyes out, missing Malcolm and feeling lonely. Deciding to go on that quest was probably the best decision in her lifetime; it took her mind off things.

.

"Hey," a voice said behind her.

"Percy?" she asked before he sat next to her. "Fancy seeing you here," she grinned.

"Just don't end up falling asleep on me," he said before blushing alongside her.

"Sorry," she murmured.

.

They carried the easy conversation for a while before deciding to retreat to their cabins. It was a good day; Annabeth fell asleep quickly.

...

It was only the next morning that she realized something, while she was training in the morning with Clarrise and the boys. "Yesterday was a Sunday!" she groaned, slapping her forehead.

"Yeah?" Percy said, unsure of what that meant. "You had a date or something?" he teased.

"N-no. It's nothing," Annabeth shook her head and resumed her workout.

.

While Annabeth didn't feel and chocking guilt, she felt horrible for forgetting about Malcolm. She should've gone yesterday and talked to him. It was a tradition of sorts.

...

"You okay? You seemed pretty peeved that yesterday was a Sunday," Percy asked as they walked to the dining area for breakfast.

Annabeth hesitated; no one knew about her going to the graveyard every Sunday. She smiled – a fake smile – and replied, "It's nothing. Can't believe the days passed by so quickly."

If Percy didn't believe her, he didn't push further.

...

The rest of the days passed by pretty uneventfully. Percy was slowly getting the hang of sword-fighting, she observed.

Clarrise grudgingly hugged them on the last day, wishing them a "Be safe, punks. Save that damsel in distress! Hopefully, my training doesn't go to waste."

Louis was slightly better. He brought them close for a group hug and smiled warmly. "Trust each other, you guys. You're like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich," he laughed. "You guys work together. I know you can do it!"

Chiron had tears in his eyes when they went to see him that evening. He tried not to cry, though, for their sake. He kissed each one of their heads, whispering things into their ears, which made them smile tearfully. "You're a strong girl, Annabeth," he told her. "Keep the boys in line, will you?" he joked loudly, easing the tension.

...

The three of them sat at the lake that night, tired and worn out. They had quite a few goodbyes from the rest of the campers, most of whom they didn't even know. A little Athena camper walked up to Annabeth, giving her an old Yankees cap. The girl, Mary Ellen, who was barely four, hugged her and said, "This is my lucky charm. I think you should keep it, Annabeth." It had taken Annabeth everything not to dissolve into tears. But she did anyway.

It looked like Luke and Percy had experienced the same. Percy sat tearfully with a ball-point pen at the lake with Luke, who was holding an old book.

The trio sat silently near the water, thinking about the future that lay beyond.

I hope you guys liked it.

Also, I'd like to say that it should be assumed that they are all naturally talented, as they aren't demigods or experts. Four days would definitely not be enough to train.

Taata!

~LittleMissPrincess