A/N For those of you following, I had a break through on some later plot I was considering, so I'll be foreshadowing some things to come from here on out! If I manage to pull off what I'm thinking of doing it'll be (hopefully) awesome and not something you've read a hundred times already from different authors. Along those lines, nobody's voted on the poll for splitting this story up or not, so I'll probably delete it soon. I'll let you know what to expect as we get closer to the end of this first part of the story!

Original story rights belong to Rick Riordan, as always.


8 - Annabeth

It was a few weeks later that the Hunters stopped by camp. They'd regained some of their numbers over the years, but Annabeth could tell that some of the older members still had yet to recover from the deaths of their friends at the hands of Orion. The problem with being immortal, she thought to herself, is that it takes a lot longer to process things. She broke out in a huge grin as Thalia came running up to her, grunting as the huntress slammed into her with a hug.

"Annie!" she cried. "It's so good to see you!" As Thalia pulled away slightly to look up at the Athenian, she frowned. "Why are you so tall?"

"It's good to see you too, Thalia," Annabeth spoke with amusement. "And I'm taller than you because I'm older than you."

"Um, no." Thalia stepped back and crossed her arms. "You just… age less gracefully than me." Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Nice pun, Pinecone Face," Percy smirked as he joined the conversation. Thalia froze for a second before glaring at the son of Poseidon.

"I suppose it's good to see you too, Kelp Head." She broke her glare into a grin and pulled her cousin in for a hug as well. Annabeth laughed as she heard the pop of electricity, Percy jumping out of Thalia's embrace with a scowl. Thalia just smirked and turned back to Annabeth. "So, what's new with – what is that?!" Annabeth jumped and spun around, looking for whatever had spooked Thalia so suddenly. When she saw nothing except a few curious campers looking their way, she turned back to the huntress.

"What? What's the matter?" she asked, hand creeping towards the bone sword on her belt. Thalia snatched Annabeth's hand and stared at the engagement ring. Annabeth felt realization sweep over her and then felt an unexpected mix of worry and guilt. After a moment of inspecting the jewelry, Thalia made eye contact with her again.

"Why didn't I hear about this?" the huntress asked forcefully. To anyone else watching, she probably just looked irritable, but Annabeth could tell that her friend was actually pretty hurt by the fact that she was just now finding out about Annabeth's engagement. The Athenian squeezed Thalia's hand gently.

"I'm sorry," Annabeth said sincerely. "You should have been the first person I called."

Thalia pulled her hand away and crossed her arms angrily. "You think?"

"Actually…" Percy started, the girls' eyes snapping to him. "I might have forgotten to remind her specifically so I could talk to Artemis first." Annabeth gave him a confused look while Thalia's eyes narrowed.

"And why exactly did Lady Artemis need to find out about your engagement before me? Or at all?" Thalia growled. Percy ran a hand through his hair nervously.

"Well, knowing Annabeth, I assumed she wanted to ask you to be her maid of honor, so I wanted to make sure Artemis would let you off the hook for as long as you needed," Percy explained. Thalia looked back at Annabeth, surprised, while Annabeth gave her a warm smile before turning back to her fiancé.

"When did you start being able to figure me out so easily, Seaweed Brain?" she asked. She about melted at the love in his eyes as he returned her gaze.

"Well, it took a while for me to get with it, Wise Girl, but once I figured us out, it started being pretty easy."

Thalia snorted at Percy's answer. "Gods, leave the mush for later, would you?" Annabeth rolled her eyes affectionately and turned back to her sister in all but blood.

"Would you want to be my maid of honor?" Annabeth asked. "I know you've sworn off all forms of romantic love, but I was hoping you could make an exception just this once."

"Of course I'd love to!" Thalia grinned. "Besides, this is my last chance to convince you boys aren't worth it. You could still join the hunt!" Annabeth blushed a deep red. Thalia blanched. "Oh, gross! I so didn't need to know that!" She glared at Percy as he snickered beside Annabeth.

"You've ruined her!" Thalia yelled dramatically. "My poor little sister, violated by a sea spawn. The travesty!" Percy's laughing just grew louder as Annabeth's face grew redder.

"Thalia, please!" she begged. Thalia smirked at her before putting on a mock angry expression and turning to Percy.

"I must avenge your honor! Have at thee!" the huntress called. Percy's laughter stopped in an instant as Thalia started sparking.

"Uh, Thalia, please don't-"

"Too late!" she cackled as she threw a lightning bolt at the son of Poseidon. Percy threw himself to the side, avoiding the electricity which crashed into a tree a little ways away instead. "Oh, come on, take it like a man!" Thalia taunted him, charging up for another throw.

"Fine, I'll take it alright," Percy snapped. He widened his stance and shook out his arms, staring Thalia down the whole time. The daughter of Zeus glanced at Annabeth.

"When did he grow a backbone?" she stage whispered. Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

"He's always been arrogant in the face of danger," she said flatly. She inspected her fiancé's stance for a moment, then continued, "If he's trying what I think he is, this will be very interesting." Thalia looked at her curiously for a moment, then turned back to Percy. Interesting would be an understatement, Annabeth thought to herself. While Thalia's definitely more willing to hurt Percy than Jason is, controlling wind was a lot closer to the powers Percy already had at the time than lightning is to what he can do now.

"Bombs away!" Thalia cried, shooting another bolt of lightning towards her cousin. Percy's gaze hardened, his hands snapped up, and he grabbed onto the energy, tendrils of electricity crawling up his arms as the bolt dispersed. Thalia looked at him confused.

"My turn," Percy grinned. He cocked his arm back as if to throw a baseball, electricity crawling into his hand and forming an orb. Thalia's eyes widened a second before Percy heaved the projectile at her. It exploded on contact, knocking Thalia down and covering her hunter's tunic with soot. Annabeth was unaffected, a detail she noticed kept repeating itself, and she held out a hand to help Thalia up. The daughter of Zeus looked up at her dazed.

"How did he do that?" she asked in shock. Annabeth pulled her friend to her feet as Percy whooped excitedly in the background.

"He's been… expanding his skillset lately," she replied slowly. "He's shown that he doesn't care about how things typically happen, so we've been experimenting with how much being a child of the Stormbringer actually lets him do."

Thalia stared at her a moment before turning and glaring at Percy. "That's so not fair!" she shouted. Percy just grinned at her as he rejoined the two demigoddesses.

"Guess I can add lightning training to the list," he said to Annabeth. "Jason'll be in for a surprise when he gets back."

"Honestly, I'm kind of surprised that more people at camp haven't noticed you throwing around all of these extra powers yet," Annabeth admitted. Percy just shrugged.

"I don't know, but I'm not complaining about it." He looked past the girls for a moment and his eyes widened. "Uh, Thalia, you might want to step in before your hunters burn the Hermes cabin down again." Thalia swore and tore off towards the altercation and Percy sighed. "Every time they visit, I hope that the Stolls have learned their lesson, and every time I'm disappointed."

Annabeth snorted in amusement and started down the path to the dining pavilion. "Please, they probably take it as a challenge to do more." Percy made a face and Annabeth laughed. Percy grabbed her hand, and the couple walked in relative silence for a few moments before Annabeth's curiosity got the better of her.

"How did you get Artemis to agree to let Thalia attend a wedding of all things?" she asked. Percy rubbed the back of his neck and grinned sheepishly.

"I, uh, might have used my request from her," he admitted. Annabeth rolled her eyes, but smiled warmly at him.

"Of course you did." She looked at him for a moment, enjoying the way the sun highlighted his tan. "You're too good for me, sometimes."

Percy just shrugged. "Honestly, I have no idea what else I would possibly ask her for that wouldn't get me turned into a jackalope."

"That's fair," Annabeth agreed. They shared a look as Thalia and another hunter chased the cackling sons of Hermes across camp and broke out in laughter.

Percy grinned. "Race you?"

"You're on," Annabeth replied, already running. She laughed at Percy's indignant cries of cheating from behind her and smiled at what was looking to be a great day.