/ Author's Note - Thanks so much for the first reviews and reads and follows! It means a lot!
I also want to add that while I own nothing as far as PJO, HoO, characters, etc, this time I also borrowed/quoted dialogue from the books. So praise to Uncle Rick for the great dialogue!
Chapter 4 - Go Straight to the Grand Canyon. Do Not Pass GO. Do Not Collect Your Boyfriend.
I didn't sleep that night. I was looking up everything I could about the Grand Canyon and what kinds of monsters that I might encounter. See, that's the nice thing about Daedalus's laptop, it had access to Olympus-only websites, like " " and " ". Both were great help in learning about some of the rarer monsters and I could filter by location.
In the morning, I rushed to get my cabin ready for inspection and my siblings to the dining pavilion for breakfast. Before we ate, Chiron asked that each counselor come to the Big House for a meeting as soon as we finished. I could barely eat. My siblings and Grover, who had joined us again, were quickly filled in with what had happened with my dream. They were all ready and alert. My siblings assured me that they would go back to the cabin and do some more research, while I went to the meeting with Grover.
We all sat around the ping-pong table, which was the first time since the Titan's War had ended that we had a war council. It felt odd, and dangerous. Typically, when we all sat around the ping-pong table, it meant big things, world-destroying things, were happening. As soon as we were all there, Chiron asked me to share my dream. When I was done, there was a moment of silence, and then everyone began talking at once. It made me feel nice that everyone was trying to volunteer to go after Percy, even Clarisse. Chiron stamped his hoof for order.
"Annabeth, I don't know what is going on, but I think you should take as few campers as possible." Chiron warned. "There may be multiple attacks and our numbers are fewer in the winter." I nodded, gravely. Chiron continued, "Despite what I said last night, or, rather, early this morning -" I blushed. "I did set things in motion. One of our protectors, Gleeson Hedge, has found two powerful demigods near there. I contacted him and informed him that we would have a team coming today to get those two and Percy. I, of course, did not explain the entirety of the situation, so as not to cause a panic."
We all nodded. Will Solace volunteered the Apollo cabin's flying chariot, for which I was grateful. We could have taken Mrs. O'Leary, but she would have needed to rest before the return trip. If Percy was in trouble, the pegasi were our best bet to swoop in, grab the guy, and get out.
Butch, our top pegasus rider, said "Well, then, if we need room for five total on the chariot, I think it should just be you and me, Annabeth."
It made sense. Everyone seemed to agree. I sized up Butch. He would do well in a fight, and I knew there would be one. "Ok. Then let's armor up. I don't see this going well."
By the time Chiron and the counsel agreed to send Butch and I to the Grand Canyon, I wasn't just buzzing. I felt like a can of Coke that had been shaken up so much it would burst the second it was tapped, let alone opened. I helped Butch harness up the pegasi at lightning speed, ignoring Will Solace imploring us to be careful with the chariot. I'm sure he said lots of helpful things, but honestly, I just didn't have any space in my mind for one more thing. I just wanted to be there. Right now. I armoured up and hopped in the chariot, ready to go. Thankfully, Butch didn't seem to mind that I wasn't in the mood for small talk, he just hopped aboard as well and we sailed in the sky.
Now, on a normal day, I love the flying chariot. Imagine Aladdin's flying carpet, except it's somehow better. But today, I couldn't really appreciate it. I needed to be to the Grand Canyon, and to find the guy with one shoe. Knowing that Percy was missing a shoe didn't really strike me as odd. Knowing him, he had lost Riptide in a fight and decided to see if his shoes had learned anything from his dip in the Styx. I impatiently tapped the rim of the chariot. As the Grand Canyon came into view below us, every muscle in my body tensed up. The moment the wheels touched the ground I was off and running. I pulled my knife and ran up to the kids on the sky walk.
"Where is he?" I demanded. Yea, ok, not very polite Annabeth. But by this point in time I was going on three days of worry, barely any sleep, and well, I just wasn't in a "polite" Annabeth kind of mood. I was more in a "stab the monster an extra few times before it goes to Tartarus" kind of mood.
"Where's who?" Asked the blonde boy. Sometimes I wish I could just stick all my knowledge straight into someone's mind, so I don't have to keep explaining it. Generally, I love explaining. But sometimes, especially when I'm tired, I just need to skip to the "ANSWERS NOW PLEASE" part.
Thankfully, the three new demigods seemed shocked but in one piece. All three explained what had happened - storm spirits attacking them, their protector being taken, and other normal demigod stuff.
Finally I muttered, "No no NO! She told me he would be here. She told me if I came I'd find the answer."
"Annabeth." Butch replied, "Take a look at his feet. The guy with one shoe. He's the answer."
I looked. The blonde boy was missing one shoe. I was tricked. Again. By my least favorite goddess. I should've guessed. Did she want some kind of epic quest, or was she just torturing me?
"No Butch." I said miserably. I could barely process his words. "He can't be. I was tricked."
"WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HIM?" I screamed at the gods. Surely, even if they weren't replying, they could at least hear me. Butch and I got the other three on the chariot and headed back to camp, despite being chased by a handful of storm spirits.
When we got back to camp I tried my best to do my duty. I could tell that Piper was going to need some help, so I took her to Half-Blood Hill to explain about the Mist. I knew from experience that this was going to hurt as bad as a poisoned blade and I wanted her to have some privacy. She needed to know that Jason wasn't really her boyfriend. That this was all a trick from the gods. But I also didn't want to make the wound any worse than it would already be. Everything was going fine, or as fine as explaining to some new kids that their world had totally changed typically goes. Piper handled everything except the Jason part surprisingly well. But I hadn't liked a lot of what I'd seen. What was with the tattoo on Jason's arm? Why was he here? But most importantly, where was Percy? I knew with absolute certainty that I had been tricked into coming to the Grand Canyon to pick up Jason. I didn't know who he was or why Hera seemed to think I was his Uber, but I didn't like any of this.