I've got the rest of this section of Demigod Empire plotted out, so we're looking at around 6 more chapters before the end of part one! Thanks as always to those of you following and favorited!

All rights belong to RR.


Annabeth

Annabeth stormed past Peleus, hardly noticing the way the dragon shrunk away from her as she crossed the border into Camp Half-Blood. I can't believe the nerve of her! The demigoddess thought to herself. She had been up on Olympus at her mother's request, curious as to why she was being summoned if there were no repairs left to be made. It quickly became apparent that the oh-so-important meeting was just another attempt at getting her to leave Percy. Annabeth remembered the look of shock on her mother's face when she stated under no uncertain terms that "I will not be leaving the person who helped me survive the mess you put me through, so leave it alone!"

It was almost worth the cost just to be able to surprise the goddess. Prideful Athena may be, but she doesn't usually lose her head like she had that morning.

Annabeth shook her head, trying and failing to rid herself of her frustration. I just need to work on some designs for a bit, she thought. New Athens has a lot to do still and working usually helps me get past stuff. I'll just swing by the cabin for the latest drafts and go hole up in the Big House for a few hours. It'll be great.

Confident in her train of thought, she was surprised when she rounded the corner to see all of her siblings standing outside of their cabin looking fearfully inside. Worry bubbled up in her as she started imagining all sorts of horrible situations that could cause what she was seeing. Speeding up, she spotted Malcom at the front of the crowd holding a knife at his side.

"What's the matter?" Annabeth asked in greeting. Those who hadn't seen her coming jumped in surprise at her voice, several of the more excitable campers falling down in their haste to turn towards her. Malcom didn't seem to notice though, instead looking relieved at her presence.

"Oh good, maybe you can plan a way to get rid of this.. this.. monster," he said quickly. "It came out of nowhere right in the middle of the cabin! Freaked out a bunch of the younger kids, nearly scared the pants off of me when they started screaming –"

"What is it?" Annabeth interrupted, palming the hilt of her sword. Malcolm blushed bright red.

"It's… ah… a spider," he murmured, head hanging down in embarrassment. "I know, I know, the Big One's dead, but they're still so… unsettling."

Annabeth stared at him a moment blankly before her irritation from the morning bloomed into seething anger. She whirled towards the doorway and barged into the room, ignoring the panicked shouts behind her. Laying eyes on the small spider sitting on the corner of the center table, she raised her hand, bringing it down with a loud bang on the no-longer-threatening arachnid. In the silence that followed, she roughly rolled up the blueprints she was after, tucked them under her arm, and turned to leave the cabin before spotting her siblings starting at her in shock and horror.

Deciding it wasn't worth the effort to respond, she wiped her hand on her jeans, grabbed a pencil case, and pushed through out of the cabin and started towards the Big House. She was certain she'd get a lot more awed looks at dinner than usual, but all she felt was a simmering resentment towards her mother at the problems she created for her kids.

What felt like both an eternity and a few minutes later, she growled in frustration and crumpled up another sketch, roughly throwing it on top of the growing pile in the corner of the room. "Why can't I design one freaking building today?!" She glared at the notebook in front of her as if it would take the blame for her lack of productivity.

"Probably because you're exceptionally angry," a voice said behind her, amused. She whirled around, blade half drawn before her mind caught up. She sighed as she recognized Piper and roughly re-sheathed her sword.

"'Exceptionally' doesn't even begin to cover it," she admitted.

"Want to talk about it?" Piper asked, concerned. Annabeth shrugged.

"Which do you want to hear about first, the fact that my mother is egotistical beyond belief, or that she can't conceive of anyone actually disagreeing with her?" Thunder rumbled overhead at her words. Annabeth glared at the ceiling as Piper eyed her carefully.

After a moment, Piper spoke up. "So… I take it your meeting this morning didn't go very well?"

Annabeth snorted derisively. "That's an understatement. I assumed it would be about some building project, or maybe that she wanted to talk about the Parthenos quest, but no, all she wanted to do was complain to me about Percy and about 'How could you possibly be content with a pathetic spawn of the sea like him?'" Thunder rumbled again, louder this time, and Annabeth scowled. "Just because you're a poor excuse for a maiden goddess doesn't mean that you have an excuse to be completely clueless about how love works!" she yelled at the sky.

Piper stared at her for a moment, face unreadable. "I hate to say it, but you sounded scarily like a sibling of mine instead of an Athenian," she commented. Annabeth rolled her eyes and Piper sighed. "Seriously, Annabeth, you've been in here brooding for, like, five hours. You need to talk about it."

Annabeth blinked, anger forgotten for a moment. "What time is it?"

"Like nine o'clock?" Piper shrugged. "You missed dinner." Annabeth sighed deeply.

"Of course I did." She turned back to the blueprints she had been consulting. "I suppose I should probably give up on this until tomorrow, then?"

"I mean, the campfire's not done yet, and I'm pretty sure I saw Percy save you some food." Piper grinned. "At least someone is remembering to feed you."

"Please, like that Seaweed Brain could ever forget about food," Annabeth joked back to her friend. "I'm sure that as soon as he woke up at the Wolf House last year he was looking for something to eat." Piper rolled her eyes at her.

"Well, let's not keep him waiting then. He'll just stress about you if you don't come and then he'll complain to Jason who will ask me to help and then we'll both have anxious boyfriends." Annabeth laughed loudly at the exposition.

"Yeah, you're probably right." The Athenian turned around and rolled up all of her work supplies. After taking a minute to clean up the workspace, she turned back to Piper. "Alright, let's go."

The walk to the campfire was oddly quiet. There were usually a fair amount of campers who skipped the gathering to fool around on the basketball court or finish some project they were in the middle of, but that night it seemed practically empty. Annabeth chatted with Piper to fill the silence and was relieved to hear the quiet roar of the fire and the sporadic conversations of her fellow demigods as they got closer to the clearing.

Upon breaking through the tree line, a lot of heads turned to see who was just joining the activities, and Annabeth glanced around to see what everyone was up to. Piper chose that moment to yell across the clearing at their boyfriends.

"Yo, Jackson! Tell your girl to stop starving herself!" She grunted as Annabeth elbowed her. Percy looked up from his conversation with Jason and smiled when he saw her, rolling his eyes at the melodramatic way Piper was clutching her stomach.

"You act like she'd listen to me!" he called back, smirking at the mock outrage on Annabeth's face. Piper cackled beside her and she almost elbowed her again. Percy turned around and dug through his backpack for a moment before making an exclamation of triumph and turning back around with something in his hand.

"You should at least eat something, Wise Girl. Here!" He tossed the object across to her, which she caught easily. The rest of the campers suddenly got quiet as she realized what exactly Percy threw to her.

"Uh, Percy?" she called, unsure. Percy raised an eyebrow at her. "You do realize that throwing an apple is essentially a proposal around here?" Annabeth's heart sped up as she saw the twinkle in Percy's eyes.

"Well, of course I know that!" he replied. "I've got a ring, too, if you'd prefer that." Annabeth's thoughts swirled around, brain going at a hundred miles an hour, unable to focus on anything other than Percy's last statement. She was dimly aware of Piper restraining herself beside her and the rapt attention of the rest of the camp on the scene, but her eyes were locked onto her boyfriend's, taking in all of the love (and, admittedly, a fair amount of amusement) in his gaze. After what seemed like a thousand moments compressed into one, she ran across the clearing and threw herself in his arms, ignoring his grunt of surprise as he caught her.

"I take it that's a yes, then?" he murmured in her ear, his breath whispering against her skin.

"Of course it is, you dolt," she responded hotly, tears stinging her eyes. She pulled away from him suddenly. "How long have you been planning this?"

"The proposal? I came up with the idea this afternoon, but I've had the ring for a couple months now-" the rest of his sentence was cut off as she slammed her lips onto his, the rest of camp cheering loudly behind them. She felt Percy smile against her and she tightened her hold on him, not quite believing how ridiculously giddy she felt. After a moment, she heard Clarisse yelling about a second take, and her contact with Percy was broken as the rest of the campers hoisted them up. She locked eyes with her now fiancé and laughed loudly over the crowd, who were now carrying them back to the canoe lake where they started their relationship.

As they sunk to the bottom of the lake, Percy made an air pocket, fishing in his pocket for the ring. As she saw the beautifully engraved silvery teal band, she felt herself tearing up again. "Where did you get this?" she asked, taking the jewelry from him carefully and running her fingers lightly over the pearls embedded in the metal.

"I had Tyson make it," Percy admitted, grinning shyly. "Made out of Atlantean steel, so monsters won't be a problem, and the pearls are enchanted." Annabeth finished slipping on the ring and looked at him confused.

"What possible magic could I possibly need on an engagement ring?" she asked. Percy grinned, and if it hadn't been such a huge moment in their lives Annabeth would have been scared of the pranks that smile usually foretold.

"Magic that does this," he answered. With a rush of water, the air pocket quickly filling with water. For a split second, Annabeth panicked before her brain caught up with the fact that she wasn't drowning. She looked at Percy in shock to see him grinning widely. He gestured grandly at the lake's expanse, suddenly visible to her despite the murky water and the dim light of the moon. "Welcome to my domain!"

When they came back up from the pool hours later, both completely dry, the couple's grins were visible all the way from the Big House.