A/N Hey all! Sorry for the long wait on all three stories; between moving to IL, starting a new job, and not having internet yet, it's hard to find time to write or upload. Luckily, this chapter was preloaded on here, so hopefully it can tide you all over until I can get some new chapters typed up for PO and TMAT.

Character rights belong to Rick Riordan.


11 - Annabeth

In New Athens, laughter was ringing loudly. Piper had insisted they throw Annabeth a bachelorette party before she "got stuck with Kelp Head for the rest of her life", so the girls had commandeered the couple's house for the day. Hazel and Reyna flew in from New Rome, Piper had dragged Clarisse away from the arena and Rachel away from her cave, Katie had been glad for a break from her usually bickering/flirting with Travis, and Thalia had arrived the night before from her latest hunt.

Annabeth had even managed to sneak Sadie in without anyone questioning her. To be fair, she thought to herself as she watched said girl try to defend herself from Piper's armful of water balloons, an Egyptian magician wearing a Greek invisibility hat wasn't exactly going to get caught. Annabeth remembered how surprised Sadie had been to get the invite, but after being reassured that she'd be welcomed Sadie had been almost as excited as Piper had been. Of course, her camp friends had been shocked to hear about other pantheons existing, but with all of the crazy stuff that had happened to them at this point in their lives, what was a couple more sets of gods?

Annabeth shrieked as she dodged a balloon thrown her way, coming dangerously close to spilling her glass of wine. "Watch it!" she yelled. Piper just stuck her tongue out at the demigoddess.

"It's not like you can get wet with that stupid ring on!" Piper complained.

"I'm more worried about wasting the alcohol!"

"I thought the bloke in charge of your camp was your god of wine?" Sadie asked, confused. Piper rolled her eyes at the question, then yelped as Clarisse nailed her in the back. The two chased each other off as Annabeth turned back to Sadie.

"Technically, yes, but Chiron's the actual responsible one. Also Mr. D is on probation, so he can't summon any alcohol, not that he would if we asked," Annabeth explained.

"The Greek god of wine… is being forced into sobriety?" Sadie asked disbelievingly.

"The gods are kinda dumb like that," Annabeth agreed. She ignored both the rumble of thunder and Clarisse's grunt of agreement, dodging Piper's wide throw. Reyna spluttered as the projectile hit her instead, sitting up angrily as she glared at the daughter of love. Piper quickly pointed a finger at Thalia, who shrugged and hit Reyna on purpose with a second balloon. Annabeth smiled fondly as the fuming Roman charged into the fray, her friends scattering in the face of the assault.

"I don't know how mortals usually do these, but this is great!" Katie called from across the yard.

"Not at all like this," Rachel drawled from the porch table, not looking up from her current sketching. "Quite a shame, too; this is much more entertaining." The redhead looked up and grinned at Annabeth, who returned the smile.

"Bombs away!" the Athenian heard Piper cry, and she turned around just in time to be hit with a half dozen water balloons. She glared at the others who all paled at pointed at Piper. The girl blanched for a moment under Annabeth's gaze, then smirked. "You want to take your ring off and let us try again."

Annabeth could feel the charmspeak roll over her, and she could see some of her friends started to reach for their own jewelry before blinking and shaking their heads clear. Annabeth just raised an eyebrow. "How about no?" she retorted.

"Take it off; it'll be fun!" Piper tried again, her determination making her magic that much stronger. Annabeth just shrugged as the others stared at her. "Why isn't this working?" Piper complained.

"Maybe you're just tired?" Annabeth asked innocently. Piper glared at her as she smirked.

"Didn't you talk Gaia back to sleep before?" Clarisse grumbled. Piper flushed and threw a balloon at the daughter of Ares, who didn't get out of the way in time. Annabeth noticed Hazel staring at her ring and waved a hand in her face, startling the younger girl.

"You good?" Annabeth asked. Hazel just stared at her, perplexed.

"My powers aren't working, either," she answered slowly.

"It's not just me!" Piper yelled triumphantly before Reyna nailed her in revenge. The girl spluttered and reached for another balloon, but Thalia hit her as well and she slipped, falling on her back in the mud. She blinked up at the sky for a moment as she caught her breath. "I'm very glad none of you are my siblings," she said suddenly. Annabeth gave her a suspicious look, noticing Rachel quickly packing up her stuff and running inside.

"Why is that?" she asked slowly.

"Because you probably won't kill me for this!" Piper whirled back upright and hurled a ball of mud at Annabeth. It exploded on contact, covering the Athenian with sludge and knocking the glass from her hand. The girls watched, frozen, as it hit the ground… and bounced a few times, coming to a stop a few feet away.

"I thought that was glass?" Hazel asked.

"Percy got them from Tyson," Katie answered. "He probably toughened them up, knowing how prone these two are to accidents."

"That's fair," Thalia nodded in agreement. The daughter of Zeus blinked, then looked back at Annabeth. "You okay, kiddo?" The others turned to see the demigoddess frozen, looking down at herself. She slowly looked up and locked eyes with Piper.

"Oh, you're so on," she declared. She quickly took off her ring and looped it onto her camp necklace for safe keeping as the other girls whooped in excitement. Well, most of them; Annabeth grinned as she noticed Piper looked a mix between proud and terrified.

Just as Annabeth reached the water balloon cache, a flash of light appeared at the edge of the yard. She whirled around, angrily wishing her wand/knife hadn't broken last fall when they fought Khione. As the light died down, it revealed Artemis, looking out of place in her typical twelve year old form amongst all of the older teens. The huntress looked around for a moment, confusion clear on her face, before making eye contact with Annabeth.

"I am in need of my lieutenant," Artemis stated. Annabeth raised an eyebrow and resisted the urge to respond with sarcasm.

"I thought you finished your last hunt?" she asked instead. She watched the rest of the girls unfreeze from the goddess' entrance and start to shift out of the way, most of them on their way behind her to her back porch. Sadie in particular was trying to stay unnoticed, going so far as to hide behind Clarisse, who looked vaguely amused.

"We did," Artemis responded. "Now I need her for the next one."

Annabeth considered arguing for a moment before discarding the idea as unnecessarily rebellious. She sighed as she turned around to her friends. "Where is she hiding?"

"Where is who hiding?" Rachel asked as she came back outside. She stopped and blinked at the scene in front of her. "Actually, never mind, I don't need to see this twice." The Oracle turned back around and closed the door behind her, ignoring the confused looks of the rest of the demigoddesses.

"Thalia, I love you, but winning a water balloon fight isn't worth fighting your patron," Annabeth called out tiredly.

"Says you!" said daughter of Zeus responded, shifting her way to the front of the group. She crossed her arms and glared at Artemis. "You said I'd have at least two days off!"

Artemis blinked, nonplussed. "I said it was likely to be two days. I caught the trail a short while ago. We leave within the hour." Thalia grit her teeth and glared at the goddess, hands curled into fists. After a short staring contest between the two huntresses, Thalia sighed loudly. As she spun around and stomped into the house to collect her things, Artemis turned towards Annabeth.

"I have a message for you from your mother," the goddess said. Annabeth snorted in ill-humor.

"Let me guess," she drawled, "it goes something like this: how dare you defy me, I am a goddess, Perseus is far beneath you, I will not have my daughter be chained to a spawn of the sea, blah blah blah." She made a rude gesture towards the thunder that rumbled after that statement, Artemis' expression becoming a bit more guarded. The rest of the demigods backed up even more, making the standoff appear as just that.

"You should know better than to insult an Olympian so lightly," Artemis warned.

"I don't do anything lightly," Annabeth bit back. "We've made our position very clear on both of those fronts. So far, it doesn't seem to have sunk in upstairs." Artemis narrowed her eyes at Annabeth, studying her for a long, quiet moment. Thalia slipped back out of the house in her hunter's uniform, bow across her back, and squeezed Annabeth's shoulder as she slipped past. Annabeth thought it was funny how Thalia had started showing support that way back when they were on the run all those years ago and still did it, even though she had to reach up a bit to reach Annabeth's shoulder now. It was a gesture she saved only for those she considered family, and Annabeth was glad her friend still considered her a part of hers.

"I promised that I would offer you a place in my hunt." Annabeth blinked, shocked, as Thalia froze in place just before Artemis. Annabeth's friends whipped their heads between her and the goddess at the statement. "There are many… restorative places that could make you eligible once again. You could be with Thalia and your mother for eternity, provided you do not fall in combat."

"Wha- what about Percy?!" Thalia spluttered, outraged.

"He is but a male," Artemis said dismissively. "Better than some, but still untrustworthy. He would soon get over any feelings he has deluded himself to have." Thalia sparked, about to defend her cousin, when Annabeth laughed.

It was a cold laugh. One that Annabeth used very rarely. She had faced her share of monsters; she knew how disconcerting it could be, throwing a wrench in your opponent's expectations. This laugh was not a giddy, excited outburst. It was a warning that the final line had been crossed, that no matter what happened from that moment on, you were in trouble.

Annabeth would like to say that she didn't enjoy the way everyone froze at the sound, that she didn't, for even a moment, revel in the feeling of power as apprehension and muted fear grew around her.

Annabeth locked her hard gaze onto the goddess of the hunt. "After all of these years, I question why I didn't better understand where Luke was coming from." Thalia whirled around and stared at her, panicked, but Annabeth plowed on.

"You think that I care about the politics up on Olympus, that any demigod does? All we ever want from our parents is for them to act like they are our parents. A little more recognition, a note or a visit somewhat often, maybe a birthday gift each year. Instead? We get ordered around like servants, expected to do whatever dear old mom or dad wants because you manipulate us into thinking it will be enough. Enough to please you, enough to grab your attention for even a single, fleeting moment.

"But it never is. You pretend to know what we want, what we fear, and you try to push us towards whatever path you feel we should be on to fit into your little plots and ideals." Annabeth looked down at Artemis in derision. "Athena knew I wouldn't listen to her anymore about this, so she asked you to go in her stead. Normally, you wouldn't care, but this was me. You knew that if you succeeded, you'd not only have one of the strongest and most experienced demigods alive as a handmaiden, you'd also have Athena in your debt, and if you didn't succeed; well, you tried, which keeps Athena off your back."

Artemis glared at Annabeth. "Do not presume to know my intentions, girl."

"Oh, I presume, all right," Annabeth interrupted. "Thirteen years I've fought for Olympus, against enemies you've created. I got no help when I ran from home at the age of seven. I got no help all those times I cried myself to sleep thinking that a friend, a family member, might be dead. I got no help as I fought Kronos himself in the throne room of Olympus, nor when my own mother practically disowned me and commanded me to dig up her old statue. No god stooped to stop my fall into Tartarus, and in the years after that war, no Olympian helped stave off the night terrors and flashbacks that drove Percy and I to drop out of the mortal world entirely. If there's one thing I've learned about gods in all this time, it is that you are selfish, you are controlling, and that you don't care about mortal life at all."

Annabeth had no warning as Artemis leapt forward in a blur of sliver, but she dodged all the same, twisting under and around the goddess as she slashed at the demigod. One arm reached out and twisted the knife from the goddess' hand as the other and one leg tripped her and pinned her down. Annabeth pushed her knee into the Huntress' shoulder for good measure as Artemis sneered into the dirt.

She knew that her rant would provoke some sort of violent reaction, but even so, she was kind of surprised at the vehemence in the strike she had dodged. Well, a wounded pride usually leads to a harsh retort, she thought wryly.

Annabeth leaned down and put her mouth to Artemis' ear. "You can tell my mother this," she whispered. "I am done putting up with your attitude and pride. If you did not ignore us all, you would know what a threat Percy could become, especially after this last year. If she attempts something like this again, I may just give him a reason to do so."

The demigoddess stood up calmly, brushing the dirt from her palms and returning to her house. She didn't acknowledge Artemis as she pushed herself back upright, nor as she grabbed Thalia and flashed away in a burst of silver light. Her friends parted for her as she walked through them, staring at her in shock and a small amount of trepidation.

Rachel chose that moment to poke her head back outside. "Is it over?" she asked.

"Yes," Annabeth answered simply. She sagged into a chair on the deck, suddenly exhausted. Rachel rejoined her and held out a fresh glass of wine.

"Thought you might need a drink." Annabeth gave her friend a small smile as she accepted the glass, the redhead plopping ungracefully into the seat nearest her. The rest of the demigoddesses slowly shook themselves out of their stupor and came over as well, letting Annabeth recover for a few moments in silence as they tried to process what had just happened.

"Sadie?" Annabeth asked after she felt composed again. The magician looked up from the table and blinked at her.

"Yes?"

"Could you pass me a water balloon? I still need to hit Piper for earlier." The rest of the girls stared at her for a moment before bursting out in laughter, the tension leeching out of the atmosphere slowly but surely.

"You're going down, my friend," Piper taunted. "You'll never be able to – oomph!" The rest of her sentence was lost to a water balloon to the face as the melee started up again. Annabeth was grateful her friends didn't run from her. She had lost enough family to the gods.