Chapter 31 - I Try Something New

I hadn't planned on spending the night at the Jackson's apartment, but I was too tired to head to Camp. Besides, Sally had made seven layer dip in preparation for a party she and Paul were going to tomorrow and she had extra. Sally Jackson's seven-layer dip is the closest thing you can get to heaven on earth. We sat around the kitchen table enjoying the dip while I explained what happened after Sally saw me decide to take up drakon-riding as a hobby.

Paul shook his head at the conclusion. "I'm always sad I never get to see any of you do hero things. That must've looked -" He tried to hide his grin with his hand.

I grinned at him. "Once it's over and you have some time, it can be funny to think about. In the moment, though -"

"Oh, I'm sure it's terrifying." He agreed. "I'm glad you're ok."

"Me too. I hate drakons. Giant, ugly, scaly -" I grabbed a chip and went in for some more dip.

Paul laughed until he cried. When he finally stopped he managed to get out, "Sorry. But just…. How many teenage girls do you see casually comment on drakons while eating tortilla chips?"

I tried not to choke as I swallowed. Paul was so good for us - he always made things seem lighter. After we had all eaten the extra dip Sally had on hand, I looked at Percy's parents.

"I had planned to get to Camp tonight, but Blackjack's probably asleep and -"

"You're always welcome, Annabeth." Sally said with a smile.

I smiled back at her with gratitude.

"Did you bring pajamas?" She asked me.

I nodded. "In my backpack, thanks Mrs. Jackson."

"Dear, why can't you just call me Sally?" She asked me with a bit of mischief. This had become a sticking point for us. She had told me I could several times but I never felt comfortable enough to make the switch. I had always felt that I was only here as "Percy's girlfriend" - here to give updates on the mythological world, something sort of like a messenger between the mortal and divine sides of Percy's life. But was that the case anymore? I didn't think so. Sally felt more like a friend now, rather than simply my boyfriend's mortal parent.

I took a deep breath. "Yeah. Ok. I'll try. But it'll take time to break the habit, ok, uh, Sally?

She nodded and pulled me into another hug, despite the fact that we were sitting at the table.

"Still covered in monster gunk." I muttered.

Sally and Paul both laughed at that.

After I showered and got dressed in clean pajamas I walked back out into the hall.

"Here, dear, I'll wash those." Sally took my monster gunk-covered clothes from me and went to throw them in the wash.

The day caught up to me and I went straight into Percy's room. I don't even remember getting under the sheets and falling asleep. The next morning I got up before the Jacksons and caught my journal up to date. I wrote about some of my favorite memories of Sally and Paul, things I could talk to Percy about, so he could get to know his parents again. As I ate breakfast with the Jacksons, I caught them up on how Livy, Jess and Milo were doing at Camp. After Sally made sure I was set to go to Camp (and gave me an extra lunch in case I got stopped by monsters on the way) I whistled up Blackjack and headed off. When I touched down outside Bunker 9 I was surprised to find Grover and Juniper there. They were even more surprised to see me - Juniper briefly disappeared in a poof of green mist before appearing again.

"Annabeth!" Grover yelped excitedly and tackled me with a hug.

I grinned and returned the hug. "How are you, Grover? Any word on -"

He shook his head and my shoulders slumped.

"But, uh, Annabeth, I had an idea. With the empathy link, in the past, I've been able to contact Percy in his dreams, right?"

"Right. But you said you weren't feeling anything with your link."

Grover nodded sadly. "Yeah. It's almost like it got turned to 'dim' or something. I can't feel his emotions of anything right now. But I thought -" He shifted nervously on his hooves. "Well, I was thinking maybe we could go ask the Hypnos cabin if they could help. Like, maybe they can strengthen the dream message or something. We can try to reach him that way."

My spirits lifted. This was something I could actually do, perhaps, to get a step closer to Percy. We could meet with him in dreams and help him out, re-teach him about this crazy world of gods and monsters and try to find him. I grinned at Grover.

"Let's try tonight. We should try pretty late - if he's really on the west coast, with the time difference, we'd need to try pretty late."

Grover nodded. "I'll ask Chiron if we can stay up past curfew if you want. It's worth a shot."

I grinned and nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, Grover. This is the best I've felt in a long time."

He looked stunned. "Why? It's a long shot, Annabeth. We don't know if we can reach him, if he'll remember us -"

I held up a hand. "Don't ruin it, goat boy. This is hope, that's what I need today."

I shouldered my backpack and walked into the madness of Bunker 9.

When I say madness, well, that was taking it lightly. It seemed like most of the camp was inside the Bunker, working on one thing or another. I found Leo in the center of the chaos, stradling one of the beams on the mast.

"Hey boss." I joked. "What's going on?"

He looked frazzled but turned to me. "Annabeth! Good timing. No one seems to understand the meaning of 'we need automated aeroballistics', the absolute altimeter is broken and keeps saying we're below sea level and our celestial navigation device is no longer online."

It took me a second to figure out what he meant. "So, we need more crossbows, the thing telling us how high we're flying doesn't know we're flying and the night-time navigation system can't find the stars."

"That's what I said!" Leo complained.

I grinned at him. "Who's on what job?"

Leo waved a hand vaguely at the rest of the room. "I told them what needs to get done. Not sure who's doing what though."

I shook my head at him. "Leo, you have to give people specific jobs if you want more help and less chaos." I turned to the others in the room.

"Hey! Demigods!" Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to me. "What cabins do we have here?"

Several people called out their cabins until I held up my hand. "Ok. Hephaestus, Apollo and Ares cabins - you three need to work on getting us more crossbows and ballistae for the ship. Jake Mason, you're in charge there. Ares cabin, you are to follow the Hephaestus cabin's lead - they know the most about building stuff, even if you know the most about weapons. Apollo cabin, you know the most about projectile weapons, but not necessarily how to make them. Give advice, give assistance, but Hephaestus is still in charge." I heard some grumbling but no full-blown complaints.

"Hecate and Demeter cabins - can you two start working on growing a tree big and strong enough for the battering ram at the front?"

"I didn't even think about the battering ram." I heard Leo mutter somewhere above me. I saw both cabins nod.

"Lou Ellen - you need to work with the Demeter cabin WITHOUT turning anyone into anything. Follow their lead. They know more about how strong wood has to grow than the rest of us."

I again saw some grumbling but no one said anything directly. I looked at the remaining demigods. "Athena cabin, I need you on fixing the navigation system. Hypnos, Tyche, and Nemesis, I want you on that as well."

The demigods from those cabins looked confused but nodded. "Hypnos cabin, you know the most about stars and night - we might need your insight. Tyche - well, we can always use a bit of good luck charmed in. Nemesis - I'd like to see if you can foresee any problems we may have with it." That seemed to settle the matter. I clapped my hands in front of me. "Well. Let's get to it, team."

We spent the entire day working on the ship. I barely saw any of my friends except for a wave here or there. We did, in fact, get the night-time navigation system back online and figured out a few ways to ensure it would stay that way. The Ares, Apollo, and Hephaestus cabins seemed to spend most of their time arguing until Clarisse and I came at them after lunch. I grinned at her from across the room and she gave me a small smile back. The others may be tough, but they weren't tough enough to stand up to Clarisse and I together. All the arguments ceased and the cabins started to make some real progress. The Hecate and Demeter cabins were outside, trying to grow a tree big enough and strong enough to serve as the battering ram at the front. We'd need to add some metal to the end, but for now, it was looking impressive - they told me it would be almost as thick as an ancient redwood tree since we'd need to shave some of it down to make the ram.

At dinner time we all dragged ourselves back to the dining pavilion. Most of us were too tired to talk more than a word or two. I wanted to go straight to my bunk and crash but Grover trotted over to me.

"Good news! I talked to Chiron and Clovis. We're set to try to reach Percy's dreams tonight."

I straighted at that. I was tired, yes, but Percy needed me. For all I knew, he was in danger right now and had no idea he was a demigod. He wouldn't know how to fight monsters, I wasn't sure if he'd remember his training - I took a deep breath and tried to stop the flow of thoughts. It wasn't helpful for anyone. I looked at Grover.

"Now? Or -"

Grover nodded. "Clovis said we'd need some kind of training, so we're going to do that tonight. He said we probably won't see Percy tonight, but that he's been looking."

That pinched my heart. I hadn't known Clovis had even noticed Percy was really gone, much less cared enough to try and reach him.

Grover and I walked to the cabin. I yawned as I stepped inside. I found Clovis awake for once, standing in the middle of the room and waiting for us.

"Good. It's good that you're tired, Annabeth. That will help."

"Help what?" I asked, suspicious.

"We have to reach the dreamscape. It's….. Like, a world directly under this one, or a new layer of reality." Clovis scratched his head. "I'm not really sure. But it's where you go when you dream. You can find other people's dreams there. But it's tricky to get there and stay conscious, aware of what you are trying to do. And it's even harder to find a particular dream."

I nodded. "I'll do it, Clovis. I'll do anything."

He gave me a sleepy grin. "Oh I believe you." He pointed to the middle of the floor and gestured for us to sit. We all sat in a ring and Clovis took one of Grover's hands, then one of mine.

"It'll be confusing." He warned. "The first thing you'll see are flickers of colors, memories from your past. If you get that far tonight, well, that's good progress."

I nodded. While I wanted to see Percy, like, right now, I also understood that what Clovis was asking me to do wasn't something I had godly power in. I had no idea if it would even work for me. I followed Clovis's instructions and shut my eyes, breathing like he showed me. After a few minutes he told me to open my eyes. When I did, well, I was no longer in the Hypnos cabin. I was still in darkness. I saw a flicker of light to my right and walked towards it. It became clearer as I came closer. One of my choices that still haunted me - the moment I left Percy behind at Mount St. Helens. I turned away from it in pain, not wanting to re-watch that particular memory. I stumbled and found that I was back in the Hypnos cabin, rubbing my eyes.

"Did you see it?" Clovis asked us.

"Yeah. Like, shadows but if you turn a corner - bam, a memory." Grover bleated, rubbing his eyes like me.

"A memory." I agreed, trying not to let my feelings show. I still felt horrible about leaving Percy behind that day. The guilt of not doing more. I realized that was what I was feeling now - guilt over not doing more to help him when he was lost, probably scared and alone.

Clovis nodded. "The dreamscape will get clearer. It'll take practice. Now -" he yawned. "Time for bed."

I smiled at him. "I've never been scared of practice."