Jason was really sick of fighting sea monsters.
Actually, he was sick of fighting all kinds of monsters, but the sea monsters were the worst. Wind spirits, he knew how to fight. But the sea monsters … it's like they could never get the upper hand. This one was particularly bad. It looked like a giant sea serpent but with the head of a boar. Two large tusks stuck out the side of its mouth and the rest of its teeth looked like it could easily make Jason past tense. He tried to avoid that area. There was no fur, only thick, green scales covering the whole body, except for its snout. But the snout seemed just as thick. It was impossible to break through with a sword. (Jason had already tried … multiple times.)
And the storm of course wasn't helping. It had stormed nearly every day since they'd left New Rome and it really didn't make fighting easier. All six of the demigods fought with the help of Coach Hedge at the ballistae yelling "Die, you stupid snake!"
It wasn't very motivating to them, but it was all he wanted to do since they'd had the mishap of firing the ballistae at a monster that was actively on the ship. Jason had never seen Leo get super mad, until Festus was almost taken out by the flaming spear. It was almost funny watching the two shortest team members getting into a screaming match, except that Leo was on fire and almost took out all the sails with the inferno he created. Piper had to get between them, and charmspeak them to chill before the whole ship became one big bronze puddle.
But here was Jason, flying around this stupid sea monster and calling lightning (which was doing nothing) while trying to find a chink in the scales. Piper was trying to talk soothingly and get it to just lay down and go to sleep. Jason tried his best to not listen to her, so he didn't accidentally fall asleep midair. Hazel stabbed with her spatha trying to break through the thick armor of the beast. Leo was trying to keep the ship from capsizing while Annabeth helped and intermittently shot the monster with her bow. Frank was doing the most at the moment. He had transformed into a dragon and was going head on with the monster, though neither of them seemed able to hurt the other.
"Any weak spots up there?" Annabeth shouted from the helm while firing off another round.
"Does it look like I've found one?" Jason screamed back over the storm. Annabeth scowled and fired more arrows, which glanced off harmlessly.
Him and Annabeth had a rocky relationship. He knew she didn't like men, but she really didn't like him. Piper had mentioned that he reminded her of someone, but never specified who. Which irritated Jason that simply because he reminded her of someone meant that they couldn't get along. He really had no problem with her, but he was annoyed at being treated like garbage for doing nothing.
"Any idea what this is?" Jason yelled to Annabeth
"I think it's a Ketos Aithiopios. The sea serpent of Ethiopia!"
"Cool!" Jason dodged between the tusks and tried to go for the eye, but it moved too quickly for him to get a good shot. "So, who fought it before and how do we do it again?"
He looked back at Annabeth as he asked, and he noticed her tense up so only her long, blonde braid still flipped in the wind. She finally said it a tight voice, "Perseus."
Jason didn't have time to guess why she reacted so negatively. The lower half of the serpent had ripped off some of the oars and started swinging them wildly. One of the oars came right for Jason and he zipped away.
Luckily Piper chipped in to finish the story, "That's right! The ketos was sent to kill Andromeda, but Perseus turned the monster to stone with Medusa's head!"
"Neato burrito!" Leo chimed in. "You know, I'm fresh out of Medusa heads. Meant to get more at our last stop!"
Frank grunted and roared. Apparently even in dragon form he got annoyed at Leo's sarcastic comments.
Then Frank was caught by surprise and got an oar in the back of his dragon head. He crumpled to the floor and slowly returned to his normal form. Hazel screamed and dove towards him. Jason swooped closer to keep the attention on himself while Hazel and Piper dragged Frank out of danger. But the monster started bringing its body onto the ship, making the Argo II suddenly sit A LOT lower in the water.
Then, out of the corner of his eye he saw Annabeth suddenly leave Leo at the helm and sprint across the deck and start rummaging through some of the bins.
"Annabeth," Hazel yelled, "we need you back here to start firing at the mouth!"
Annabeth didn't answer. She kept rummaging through the bin looking intently for something.
Suddenly she came up with a vial of green liquid that Jason unfortunately recognized, Greek fire.
"Oh no, you are not exploding that on my ship!" Leo said. He was right, the monster was already half on the ship. Detonating it here would blow the ship to pieces and they could say goodbye to any hopes of reaching Rome.
The boar squealed at all of them, obviously upset that he still hasn't had his yummy demigod meal.
"Then I won't explode it on the ship!" Annabeth yelled back.
Too late Jason realized what she was saying. He watched in almost slow motion as Annabeth slung her bow over her back, withdrew her silver sword and charged the monster.
Piper tried to scream at her to stop but it didn't slow Annabeth down at all. She leaped over the tusks and avoided every attack of the ketos. She slashed at everything in her way until she reached the head. As the monster opened its mouth to devour her whole, she threw the vial of Greek Fire.
The monster reeled back letting out a horrible screech, like a pig squealing through the world's loudest amp. Jason covered his ears to avoid going deaf. Annabeth tried to scramble away as quickly as she'd gone in, but this time she was too slow. The ketos whipped it's tail around as it dove headfirst into the water, the oar in its tail caught Annabeth right across the chest. It hit her so hard that she flew 30 feet backwards and straight into the water with the sea serpent.
Jason tried to swoop down and grab her limp body, but he was too far. She hit the water and disappeared in the white water around the thrashing creature. Jason looked back to see if Frank was up and able to go after her in the water, but he was still out cold. Jason didn't want to jump in the restless waters, he knew that they would both be swallowed by the waves. So, Jason hovered over the water praying to every god he knew that Annabeth could hold her breath long enough. But when the monster finally turned into dust, she was still nowhere to be seen.
Hazel and Piper both screamed her name, while Leo was still fighting the waves.
As if sensing their despair, the storm suddenly started to calm down, as though they had finally reached the eye of the hurricane. After several minutes, Jason turned his back to the water and landed on the deck and started to assess the damage. With Annabeth, the tactical leader, gone he assumed he would have to take charge.
Hazel started to feed Frank some ambrosia, Leo kept running around trying to stop all the warning bells going off at the helm and Coach yelled about how he could've saved her if they had let him use the flaming ballistae. It seemed no one had the energy to fight him.
Piper was silently sobbing into her hands. Jason put his arm around her, and she turned her face into his shirt. Even though Annabeth didn't like Jason, she had a soft spot for Pipes, and they had grown to be close friends.
Jason whispered that it was going to be alright. It had to be. They had no other choice. Now that the sea was finally back to normal, it was their best chance to keep heading towards Rome and gain as much distance as they could.
He was about to ask Leo how long it would take before they could get moving when he heard something like hose turning on. He looked behind him at the bow of the ship and couldn't believe his eyes.
"What the -?" Leo yelled.
It's like the sea had suddenly grown an arm. A tube of water reached towards the sky, defying the laws of gravity. Then it bent towards the deck and deposited a soaking wet and motionless Annabeth. Everyone rushed forward, except Frank who was just starting to come around, with a stream of blood on the side of his head. Annabeth started coughing the water out of her lungs while the arm retreated to the water.
Jason and Piper both took one of her arms and helped her stand up.
"Are you okay? What happened? Did you do that? What -?" Jason had so many questions they all came tumbling out at once.
Annabeth's hair had fallen out of her intricate brain and was now hanging in ringlets around her face. She shook her head while ropes of water tumbled down.
"I - I don't know… I was dragged under and everything went dark. Next thing I know, I was on the ship. I don't…" She looked up at Jason, but he was no longer listening to her.
Standing on the ship behind them was a boy he didn't know. Well, he wasn't a boy. He was very clearly a god, he glowed with a green aura like only a god could. But he didn't look much older than Jason and he was just dressed in jeans, a black ACDC shirt and a blue hoodie. He had dark, unkept, wavy hair and piercing green eyes. His skin was so tan it looked like he had spent every day of his life at the beach.
Everyone else had noticed him too. Annabeth followed their gaze to the boy, and she froze, as if all her blood had turned to ice. Her gray eyes turned even stormier than usual.
Coach Hedge let out a slight gasp as if he recognized the boy.
Finally, their guest cleared his throat and raised his hand. He simply said, "Um... Hi."
It was simultaneously the most and least dramatic entrance for a god that Jason had ever seen.
"Lord Perseus, Lieutenant of Poseidon," said Coach Hedge, falling into a low bow. Everyone saw and quickly followed suit, dropping to their knees. Except for Annabeth who stayed still and kept her eyes on the god. And Frank, who just continued sitting on the deck looking very confused.
Jason thought he might know who this god is and why Annabeth was acting so strange. When he'd first gotten to camp with no memory, everyone only talked about two people. One of them was Annabeth and how they felt awful for her bad luck, the other was Percy Jackson who brought down the great Titan Kronos. Jason knew exactly two things about him:
Percy and Annabeth had a … complicated history.
Percy had become a god last summer.
As far as Jason knew, only one photo of him existed anymore. The camp gossip said that Annabeth had burned all the photos around camp, except one that she always kept on her. But Piper had seen it by accident one time.
Jason dared to look over at Piper whose eyes were also wide. She locked eyes with him and slightly nodded her head as if she knew what Jason was thinking.
Annabeth was standing so still, he wondered if she was breathing or not. Her gray eyes were a mixture of emotion. Percy hadn't moved except to say hi.
Frank and Hazel, both who were super protective of Annabeth, moved to either side of her. Creating a solid front against Percy. You want to fight her? You fight us too. Everyone else followed suit.
But Percy didn't even glance at them. He kept his eyes on only Annabeth, scanning her as if looking to see if she had been hurt. Or maybe trying to gauge her reaction to his presence.
Annabeth finally moved to fully face him.
"It's you," she finally said, with no emotion in her voice.
Percy seemed to relax a little bit at hearing her voice. "It's me," he replied. He stepped toward her and raised his arms as if to give her a hug. "Annabeth -"
He was cut off with Annabeth's hand coming across his face. The slap seemed to echo across the empty space. The sky was still stormy, but the water was standing perfectly still, as if waiting to see who would win in this battle of wills.
Percy's eyes flashed with anger, but it quickly dissipated when he saw her again.
"You're welcome," he grumbled.
"For what?" Annabeth snapped at him; her voice cut like celestial bronze.
Percy rolled his eyes, "Obviously for saving your life."
"I didn't ask you to."
Percy winced at that. "Annabeth… that's my territory now. You can't seriously expect me to let you drown, can you?"
Jason glanced at Piper again with his eyes wide. Sure, Annabeth hated him, but he had never seen such a murderous look on her face. Piper looked like she wanted to jump in and calm them both down, but she apparently didn't want to jump between a god and the warrior planning his death.
Finally, Leo stepped forward. "Well, I really hate to break up this very cheery reunion, but I kind of have a ship to fix so…" Leo stopped mid-sentence as Percy finally broke his eyes away from Annabeth to look at him. Percy's green eyes practically seemed to glow in the gloomy weather. He held Leo's gaze for a second before rolling his eyes and just flicking his hand.
Suddenly, the whole ship came to life. The mast that had been broken for several days was repaired immediately. The broken oars sailed through the air to be put in their proper places, even the sails started to sew themselves back together. Everyone watched in amazement. Everyone except Annabeth, who's eyes never left Percy's face.
As the last of all the alarm bells turned off, Leo muttered, "Um, thanks," and decided to keep quiet.
Annabeth and Percy kept staring at each other. After another minute had passed of pure silence, Percy finally spoke up.
"There's only 6 demigods?"
"Yep," Annabeth replied coldly.
Percy frowned, "That doesn't seem right."
"It's what the Prophecy called for, 3 Greek demigods, 3 Roman demigods. Perfectly even."
Percy continued to frown and turned to start walking around their little group, inspecting every demigod as if looking for flaws.
"There's supposed to be seven," said Percy finally.
Annabeth sighed, "I don't know why you would think that Percy. The prophecy said ``Six demigods shall answer the call."
Percy shook his head and furrowed his brow. "No… I - I'm sure there has to be someone else."
"Maybe it was supposed to be you," Annabeth challenged him.
Jason had admired the way that she never seemed to bow down to the gods. She had been through a lot, and she felt like she didn't owe them anything, which Jason could respect. But he'd never heard her be this disrespectful towards a god before, even Juno. (Or Hera. Whatever.) But this time he kind of wished he could sush her. Percy was still a god and could smite all of them in less than a second.
Percy didn't seem to mind though. Maybe he was so used to being sassed by her as a mortal that as a god it just seemed right to him.
But it did make Jason think. Would things be different if Percy hadn't become a god? Would he be right here with them on the ship as just another demigod?
Percy finally came to a stop in front of Jason. Jason was slightly taller but much less powerful, so he didn't feel very confident looking in this guy's eyes.
"So, you're the one that came from Camp Jupiter to Camp Half-Blood?"
Jason nodded without saying anything. If the sea was his territory, he was sure this guy was as quick to anger as the ocean was to a storm. He didn't want to say much and risk getting him upset.
Percy grunted, "Thanks for taking care of my camp."
Jason blinked, surprised by the compliment. "Y- You're welcome."
Percy moved on to stand in front of Annabeth again. "And how did you like New Rome?"
"It was fine."
Percy raised an eyebrow, "Just fine? It must've been awful losing your memory like that."
"Actually, it was pretty nice. I was more carefree. When I got my memories back, I almost prayed to Hera to take them away again."
Jason glanced at Frank and Hazel. They had been the ones to first greet her when she arrived at Camp Jupiter. Both winced when she mentioned that she was more carefree without her memories. Thalia, Jason's long-lost sister, had known Annabeth the longest. Before they left for Camp Jupiter, she had told him not to judge Annabeth too harshly. She'd said that after the Titan war, Annabeth had assembled a wall around herself, so she came off as cold and callous to people who didn't know her. She just doesn't want to be hurt again Jason recalled her saying. He'd tried to be understanding of her situation at first. But she had been so bitter towards Jason that he just became annoyed and stopped trying to understand her. Looking at Percy, Jason finally understood the attitude. Even though they looked nothing alike, being close to a son of the Big Three must've been hard for her. She looked as if every part of her were fortifying the wall she'd put up around her heart.
Percy looked away from Annabeth to stare at his feet. "You could go to college in New Rome. Study architecture. I always knew you would be the best architect."
Even Piper looked surprised at that. Apparently, she didn't know Annabeth wanted to be an architect.
Annabeth didn't even blink. "I don't need to go to college. I have a new family now. Or have you forgotten?"
"How could I forget?" Percy said, bitterness starting to creep into his voice, "I was pretty sure you joined The Hunt just to spite me."
Annabeth rolled her eyes but didn't respond. Her silvery aura that came with being a huntress seemed to be fighting against Percy's, charging the air with ozone, and threatening to start another storm.
"I thought you wanted to build something permanent," Percy accused. "Instead, you gave up on your dream."
"I did build something permanent, I'm literally immortal now."
"Not completely." Not like me seemed to hang unspoken in the air.
Annabeth's eyes flashed deadly as if she had heard the unspoken sentence. "You don't get to care about what happens to me. You lost that privilege."
"Annabeth -" Percy started to say, his voice breaking on her name.
"No!" Annabeth shouted with the first sign of emotion since he had arrived. "No, you gave that up when you became a god, Percy. You don't get to save me anymore or judge me for my decisions."
"Well, I think someone should!" Percy finally raised his voice to match hers, causing some of the water to stir up again. "When was the last time you actually talked to your Dad? Or even thought about what Thalia has said! I know she's talked to you about being reckless in fights." The waves got worse, starting to rock the ship. "I've been watching and it's like you throw yourself as a sacrifice every single chance you get. The only reason you're still alive is because of me, Annabeth!"
"Then stop interfering with my life!"
Percy paused. "You don't mean that" his voice dropped to a whisper. "Annabeth, you don't want to die."
"What does it matter to you if I do?" Annabeth snapped.
"It matters a lot to me! Why would you even want to become a Huntress if you didn't want immortality? Why would you leave camp and your family unless you were promised to never die of old age?"
Annabeth's voice dropped to a whisper, "You know why."
"No, I DON'T!" Percy yelled, his voice getting louder, the waves getting higher, the sky getting darker.
Annabeth huffed and started walking to the steps to go below deck, but before she could take more than a few steps, Percy shimmered and disappeared only to reappear right in front of her. Annabeth stopped in her tracks so she wouldn't run into him.
"You know, for as long as I've known you, you've run away from everything." Percy seethed.
Annabeth started to protest but Percy cut her off.
"You ran from your feelings for Luke, you ran from your family when things started getting rough. When anyone starts to see what you're hiding underneath your masquerade of a strong girl, you run!"
"You left me first!"
Percy's face turned to shock, "Annabeth, I didn't -"
"You want to know what I'm running from, Percy? I'm running from you!"
The storm quickly slowed down as Annabeth's words sunk in. Percy opened and closed his mouth several times, but nothing came out.
"After the war, I was at camp for a month. But everything I did, everywhere I went, it all just reminded me of you! You were everywhere and nowhere at the same time. And it was agonizing!"
Annabeth let out a humorless laugh, "And you know what, that's absolutely ridiculous! Camp Half-Blood was my home for five years - five years - before you. But then you came in like a hurricane and just ruined everything!"
Annabeth's chin started to quiver, and she looked away. "I joined the Hunt because there was nothing left for me at camp. I didn't want immortality; I just needed a new home. And the Hunters provided that for me."
Annabeth finally met Percy's eyes again, her gray eyes shining with unshed tears and her voice dropped again. "After everything that we went through … Percy, you were my best friend. No, you were more than that. You were a part of me. But I didn't realize that it was a part I couldn't live without. Not until it was too late.
"I resented you because you never came to visit. But when I realized that being immortal meant that I'd have more chances to see you…. I realized that seeing you, as this, would be harder than never seeing you again. So yeah, I became reckless. I started throwing myself at monster's time and time again. Thalia noticed and said that I was more useful to the world alive than dead. And I didn't – I don't - want to die, but I could justify dying, and ending my misery, if it meant that I still could save other people."
Percy seemed at a loss for words. Annabeth was fighting back tears as hard as she could. They were standing barely inches apart, Annabeth fuming and Percy fumbling for something to comfort her.
But Jason wasn't sure Percy could comfort her. In fact, nothing could probably ever comfort her. Jason didn't know much about her history, but Piper did. Annabeth had told Piper that she had always felt like a second choice. Luke, Annabeth's old friend, chose Kronos, Thalia chose the Hunt, her dad chose his new family. Maybe Annabeth had thought she could finally be someone's first choice. And instead, Percy chose immortality. It was like the final nail in the coffin. Her coffin.
Finally, Annabeth backed up and looked away. "Just go away Percy. I know you've been following us this whole time. And I want you to stop. If I die on this quest, then so be it. It's what I want anyways."
Percy finally tore his eyes away from Annabeth. "Yeah … yeah okay." He walked to the railing of the ship but looked over his shoulder at Annabeth again.
"Annabeth … Did you ever love me?"
Annabeth refused to look at him and the tears finally escaped her eyes. "It doesn't matter anymore."
Percy licked his lips and said softly, "It matters to me."
Annabeth looked at him with the tears on her face, as if finally showing him just how much he had hurt her. "It doesn't matter to me, though. You aren't who I thought you were anyways."
Annabeth finally completely turned her back on Percy. He looked like he wanted to say something, anything, to get her to stop hating him. But he must've realized it was worthless. He closed his eyes and melted into water, flowing overboard and into the sea.
Annabeth finally released a guttural scream. A scream of heartbreak and hopelessness. A scream that Jason wished he would never have to hear again.
The storms never bothered them again for their entire trip to Rome. Annabeth left to follow the Mark of Athena as the prophecy foretold. But there was no one there to stop her from falling into Tartarus, no one for her to hold onto as she fell into the pit of death. Nico told Jason that she fell into the river Cocytus, but he wasn't sure if she died on impact, or if the voices of hopelessness drifted her away.
Jason didn't want to know.
He supposed either way that Annabeth died as alone as she had felt her whole life.
Jason wasn't sure how Percy found out, but they made sure to avoid the sea for a while. The storms didn't stop for weeks.
Of course, they still fulfilled the prophecy, as prophecies tend to come true no matter what happens. But the story of Annabeth and Percy was told for thousands of years afterwards. Just another Greek tragedy on how greed can corrupt even the best of heroes.
