Chapter 28 - Valentine's Weekend Sucks

The weeks began to blur together. I'd go to Percy's parents' place at least once a week, then to camp on the weekends. Piper got stronger and stronger at her charmspeak - going from stopping me in mid-run to stopping me in mid-fight to disarming me with just her voice. Jason was making new friends. I tried my best not to be around him when I didn't have to. It hurt too much, knowing it should have been Percy in his place. But I still enjoyed our lessons each night I was at camp. Roman gods, generals, history… it was a lot of information, but it felt important to learn. Leo's ship was coming together. The engine was successfully powering the oars. It wasn't flying or able to go into the water yet, but the oars were moving without breaking each other. That was something. Will taught me more advanced first aid and I started feeling like a junior healer.

I rolled over on my bunk at boarding school. It was February 12th and a Friday. I would head to camp tonight. I had a surprise for Livy, since it was her 13th birthday on Sunday. Tonight was a Valentine's dance at school. It was the kind of thing Percy would have been totally embarrassed at, but he would have come anyway to make me happy. I looked at my closet door. My best green dress hung there, the one Hermes had given me as a reward for finding his caduceus on Percy and my's one-month anniversary. We had gone to Paris as a combo reward/celebration and it was still one of my favorite memories. I had planned to wear it to the dance tonight, but I knew I wouldn't be going. It would be too painful to be there, with all the other happy couples, and not be able to say anything about Percy.

My mortal friends knew I had a boyfriend and they knew he was "away" this semester. I had heard the whispers. Percy had been sent to a school for delinquents. Or he was in juvy. Or maybe I had made the whole thing up. I didn't really care enough to dispel any of them. In truth, juvy or a delinquent school would have been so much easier than a godly mind-erasing forced exchange. And I couldn't really explain that to them. Camp would probably be having Valentine's activities this weekend too. Now that we had more full-time campers, Chiron tried to make an effort to celebrate all the holidays for them. I'd be expected to be there, to help my siblings with whatever would happen. At least on the actual day I would have an excuse - I had planned a little party at the Big House for Livy's 13th birthday.

I had gone to the Jacksons' earlier in the week, knowing that Sally and Paul would likely have a date night going on today. Sounds filtered in through my door - laughing and happy voices. Everyone was excited about the dance. I wondered if I could sneak out the window, but unlike at Percy's place, I didn't have a fire escape. I sighed and got up, going over to my dress. I grabbed it from its hook and shoved it back in my closet. I pulled on Percy's sweatshirt, which no longer smelled like him but still brought me a bit of comfort. I sat at my desk and pulled out the journal Sally and Paul had given me for Christmas to start another letter to Percy. I knew that Percy probably wouldn't remember me when I found him, and even if he did, getting Percy to read a book full of letters with his dyslexia wasn't likely. But it was something that I could do, somewhere that I could put all these feelings, so that I didn't have to carry them around with me every day. I turned to a fresh page.

Dear Percy. I miss you. You probably know that by now, since I start most of the letters that way. Today's the Valentine's dance at school. You had said you would take me, and it hurts that you're not here.

I sat back. Hurts didn't really cover it. I kept going.

Everyone is so happy today, and that makes it so much worse. I should be happy. But everything today is a reminder of you. The dance theme was revealed to be "A Night in Paris". Yeah, how ironic is that? Remember the first dance we went to together at Westover Hall? You looked like a stunned fish when I told you to dance with me.

I grinned, just thinking of the memory. That was the day we had found Nico and Bianca. I had fallen off a cliff on the back of a manticore and Percy had spent a week travelling across the United States, coming to find me.

I wish I could go and get you, right now, but Jason still can't or won't tell me where the camp is. I don't know how I'm going to last until June to find you. But I will. Ok? And you've got to stay strong too. We will see each other again. I'm sure of it.

Tears marked the page before I realized I was crying, and I decided I didn't really have anything else to add. Typically I tried to write a bit about each of my weeks, keeping a record for myself, or write about one of the quests Percy and I had been on so I could remind him, but I just didn't have the energy today. I closed the book and shoved it in the bottom of my desk drawer, where my classmates wouldn't find it.

I dried my tears as best I could and waited until my eyes were less red. I didn't need the girls in the hall to know I was crying on Valentine's day - the jokes wouldn't stop.

I went out and tried to act like it was a choice to miss the dance. I helped my mortal friends do their hair - Maya had been teaching me some new braiding techniques and I was moderately good at it. Then, when most of them had left, I went to find Blackjack.

It's amazing how much your troubles can melt away when you are flying on a magic horse above NYC. It's a beautiful sight - all the lights and the sights below us - and Blackjack was a skilled flyer. He took me a scenic route this time, taking me above Grand Central Station and a loop around the Empire State Building. That sight still hurt. I had tried twice more to get to Olympus, but neither time had worked. Here I was, the official architect of Olympus, and I couldn't get to my job site. But more than that, I couldn't see my mom and try to figure out what all this was about. I couldn't ask for her advice. Of all her kids, Athena had talked to me the most, I had thought. She had first appeared to me when I was a little kid and had guided me to Luke and Thalia. Since then, she has visited me often. This was the longest I had gone without seeing her or having some kind of message from her. It hurt to be abandoned by another parent.

Blackjack turned and raced into the clouds. Icy wetness sprayed me in the face as we galloped through a cloud. Suddenly, we swooped back down, and Blackjack brought me across the ocean. The water sprayed up into my face and I laughed. I was starting to really love this horse. He seemed to know that I had had a hard day and needed some simple pleasures. We landed on the north shore of camp and I slid off his back. I slipped an apple from my backpack and handed it to him. Then I braced myself and walked into the camp.

I headed straight for the Hermes cabin and knocked on the door. No answer. That was strange. I found them by the volleyball court. I sat and watched for a few minutes before they noticed me. Milo was actually pretty good at volleyball. When the match was over, both he and Livy ran to hug me.

"Hey! Happy Almost-Birthday Livy!" I ruffled her hair the way I did to Milo and she grinned at me. "I've got some surprises for you this weekend, but right now I need to go help Leo, ok? I just wanted to say hi."

Livy nodded, still smiling at me. I could tell she was happy I had made it a priority to find her today.

I checked in with Milo as well before I went to go find our famous ship-builder.

He was in Bunker 9, as were most of the usual campers who worked on the boat. The hull was now almost complete and walls were starting to be framed for each room. Leo had officially moved the engine into the engine room and I could hear a lot of pounding and curses coming from inside, so I headed that direction.

"Leo?"

"Annabeth! Uh, I seem to have also gotten too macho for this space. Any chance -"

Before he could finish the statement I yanked Leo out of the engine. Unfortunately, his pants came down further than either of us would have liked. I looked away and pretended not to notice as Leo fixed himself. This had happened more than once to us, since Leo was pretty good at getting himself stuck in very tight spaces and didn't like the others to know.

"Thanks." He muttered. "So, the good news is the engine is working. We tried the oars, and everything is working the way it should."

"The bad news?" I prodded.

"We can only get about five inches off the ground and move about as fast as a sloth."

I nodded. "So, we need more power."

I pulled out the laptop and the son of Hephaestus and I sat in the hull together, looking for new ways to make the engine work that we hadn't considered before.

Before dinner I stopped at the Aphrodite cabin. "Piper?" I called in.

"Hey!" I went to the back of the cabin where her voice was. She was comforting a crying girl from the Ares cabin, but not Jess or Clarisse. They both looked alarmed to see me.

"Uh, everything ok?" I asked them both slowly.

Piper rolled her eyes at me. "No. It's Valentine's Day weekend. You know how many campers I've had to console today alone?"

I tried not to smile. I looked at the Ares girl. "Sorry. Valentine's sucks, doesn't it?"

She nodded at me and angrily wiped her eyes. "If you tell anyone -" She threatened, but I held up my hands in surrender.

"Yeah, yeah. You'll pulverize me. I've grown up with Clarisse, I know the drill." I looked back at Piper. "Let's talk after dinner, ok?"

After dinner I walked up to Piper and popped the rest of her pizza crust in my mouth, then smirked at her. She grinned at me.

"So do I get to steal your food too?" She joked.

"Nah. It's a guinea pig privilege."

She laughed at that. "Thanks. I needed that today."

I smiled at her sympathetically. "Aphrodite cabin's biggest day of the year?"

She shrugged. "At least the next few days. A lot of my cabin is having fun helping plan dates, betting on who's going with who, and things like that. But since I'm head counselor, I get the worst job. Trying to pick up all the pieces of broken hearts this weekend leaves behind."

I nodded. "I probably can't help -"

"Actually, I need to blow off some steam. Can we go to the practice arena?"

I grinned at her and nodded. There was still a little light in the sky. We went to the practice arena and Piper pulled her blade. I shook my head. "Unarmed today. Way better for blowing off steam. Knives are great, but you can't actually stab me a lot or else Chiron will write you up."

She laughed and I continued, "So unarmed. Hit me, kick me, punch me. I'll only defend for now, unless you pull a cheap shot."

Piper nodded. We worked hard for an hour. Piper was skilled at a lot of stuff, but unarmed combat wasn't one of them. Even her hardest hits would barely leave a bruise. I tried not to let on. I'd need to work with her on that. Every girl should know how to defend herself if she's disarmed.

I went back to my cabin and saw Jason sitting outside. "Oh! Sorry, Piper and I -"

He held a hand up with a smile. "Thanks. For helping her, I mean. She's been really stressed recently. I appreciate it."

I smirked at him. "You know this means you better have something amazing planned for Valentine's, right? You're dating the head counselor of the Love Cabin." I joked.

He blushed. "I think I did ok. Now, we were going to talk about minor gods, right?"

I nodded and headed inside my cabin.