Hello, sorry for the wait!
I'm having a few problems with where I want this story to go, or rather, I know where
I want to go but I have no idea how to get there.
So this is just a little in-between chapter, because I didn't want to keep you guys waiting
for too long!
I'll have to give it some good thinking before I can continue this, and I promise to be as quick
as I can, but it might still take a few days.
Thanks for understanding :)
I don't own the characters from PJO/HoO
Hope you enjoy & leave a review!

Chapter sixty-one: Unlikely Possibilities
~Annabeth's POV~

Sailing to Athens, Annabeth found that she was no longer nervous. Between the loss, relief, anger and the continuing nightmares about Tartarus there simply was no room inside her anymore to feel anxious about meeting Gaia.
If anything, Annabeth was angry. She had come out of Tartarus only to learn that Leo had gone missing as well and that Camp Half-Blood, her home, was about to be destroyed.
Reyna, Nico and Coach Hedge, who had left an hour ago with the Athena Parthenos, were the only hope for camp now, and Annabeth prayed fervently that the plan would work.
As for Leo and Penelope, there didn't seem to be anything they could do to help them, and it made her throat close up just thinking about it.
To add to all of this, she was starting to worry about Percy. Ever since their escape from hell, he'd
been acting differently. He was much more serious and less open, even towards her. She guessed
he was riddled with guilt at leaving their new friends behind. It must have been even more horrible for Percy, whose fatal flaw was, after all, personal loyalty.
Listlessly, Annabeth lay on her bed, trying to stop herself from falling asleep. She couldn't face the nightmares again. In them, she relived every second of the torture they had just experienced, especially the curses. The curses. Annabeth shuddered just at the thought of them.
Wandering around, blind, helpless, thinking Percy had abandoned her, it had been the most terrible
moment of her life, and that said something.
To distract herself, Annabeth tried to occupy herself with what Piper had told her before, and even though that worked, it didn't make her any less frustrated.
That which is taken, will be returned.
At first the words had sounded hopeful, like a promise to help them. Annabeth's first thought had been that maybe their friends would be coming back. After all, they'd been taken from them.
But thinking about it more carefully, hope had left them again:
There were simply too many meanings the line could have. Lots of things had been taken from them
in Tartarus. Would they be returned? Would Percy for example become his cheery self again?
Or would they merely find a lost possession again? Maybe the woman had meant the Athena Parthenos which was to be returned to its rightful owners. That seemed pretty likely.
Or the supposed goddess (which in itself made Annabeth suspicious) could have been talking about something entirely different, something they had taken and which would be returned. There were just too many possibilities, and the one in which Leo and Penelope came back was the least likely one.
Sometimes Annabeth hated being so logical, it meant that she almost never hoped for something that was virtually impossible.
Suddenly there was a knock at her door, and when Annabeth said "Come in" it opened to reveal
Hazel. Surprised, Annabeth sat up as the other girl closed the door.
"Hey" Hazel said, her voice sounding a little hoarse.
"Hey" Annabeth replied, and patted the space next to her on her bunk. Hazel sat down, but didn't
say anything, simply stared at her hands.
"Is something wrong?" Annabeth asked. Hazel shook her head. "I just wanted to know if you're okay. I mean, after everything you've been through..."
This took Annabeth slightly by surprise, as her and Hazel had never been that close. But she was also touched by the younger (or older? It was difficult to tell with these come-back-to-life-types) girl's concern.
She was about to say that yes, she was fine thank you, when she hesitated. They were supposed to
be a family after all, and didn't families confide in each other? Annabeth didn't want to be like Percy, who was closing himself off to everyone around.
"Not really" she admitted, and Hazel looked at her with sympathetic eyes.
"I guess it was a stupid question. It's just" Hazel seemed to be looking for the correct words
"we should stick together, especially now. Gaia is stronger than ever, and if we're not careful, she'll succeed in tearing us apart."
Annabeth was taken aback by these heartfelt words. They were completely true of course, and so she put one arm around the daughter of Pluto.
"We'll be okay. Gaia is going to be sorry she ever gained consciousness again, and we'll make sure she stays asleep this time." Even to herself, Annabeth sounded more confident than she felt, and Hazel seemed to perk up a little, before her shoulders sagged again.
"Listen, Annabeth, I didn't want to bring this up, after you only just, you know, but there's something I've been thinking about."
Annabeth half expected Hazel to bring up Piper's vision in Katoptris, when she remembered that
they hadn't told anybody else about it, save Percy who was sitting beside Annabeth at the time.
They hadn't wanted to get everybody's hopes up, only to see them crushed again.
"What is it?" she asked Hazel.
"It's just that...Gaia took Leo and Penelope" her eyes teared up a little "but she couldn't use them to
re-awake herself fully, right?"
"That's what we think" Annabeth nodded.
"Which means she will have to use another pair of demigods. A boy and a girl. I don't want anybody

else to get hurt."
Annabeth looked down at her covers. She had thought of that as well, and it weighed down on her. Yet she also met the thought with resilience.
"Yeah, she will. But we won't let her, Haze. We'll fight, fight for Leo, fight for Penelope and all the
others Gaia has taken. And we won't give her the chance to take anybody else, okay?"
Hazel nodded, and looked like she wanted to say more when suddenly the door burst open and Frank stood there, too big for the doorway. Annabeth still hadn't gotten used to this new, muscular
version of the son of Mars, and she found herself wondering how his whole anatomy could have changed so quickly. There was that ADHD again.
"You have to come upstairs" Frank said, an edge to his voice. "We're there. We're landing in Athens. And it's not looking good."