We Found A Really Bad GPA In The River

Annabeth's POV

I sat absorbing all I could about Achilles curse, while Percy took a shower in the newly installed bathroom, tuning out the sound of water hitting the floor as I read. To be honest, there wasn't much to be read on the Achilles curse, other than the mere fact that two people have undertaken it, and now soon to be three. But, I wanted to be as prepared as I could, and an my extreme panic channelled into 'excessive' reading, as Percy had so gently put it, was the best non-violent way to deal with it. My other option was to spar with my knife, hand-to-hand combat or judo, but only Percy and Thalia would spar with me, and when I had suggested it, Percy immediately backpedalled into the bathroom.

I sighed as I shut another heavy book, moving it to the side as I reached for the next, but only grasping at empty air. I glanced at the sheets next to me and saw emptiness, and when I turned to my other side, there were about fifteen books strewn around.

I fell back on the bed, my long, curly hair braided in a French plait falling over my shoulder and down to my waist. I stared emptily at the ceiling, not wanting to think about anything, and almost achieving it when I was interrupted.

The bathroom door opened and I lifted my head to see a dripping Percy poke his head round the door. He grinned sheepishly at me and a smile spread across my face despite my not knowing what was wrong.

"Yes?"

"Ummm, funny story…" his face reddened as he spoke. "I may or may not have forgotten to bring my towel in with me… and there aren't any in here…."

I smirked at him as a laugh escaped me and he reddened further. Now, the both of us are definitely not innocent, I'll give you that, and I wasn't bothered by his undress, it was just the fact that the trip from the bathroom to the bed was a far one, and cabin curfew hadn't arrived yet. The lack of walls in his cabin made it pretty hard to make it to the bed unseen. I sat up properly and leaned against the low headboard.

"And…?" I replied, smiling mischievously.

He rolled his eyes and I smirked again. He looked behind me, where the cabins all stood. His eyes returned to mine and determination filled them.

"So, you won't mind if I do… this?"

He casually opened the bathroom door and stood in the doorframe. My eyes widened in shock and I kept my eyes firmly on his. His piercing gaze was unwavering as he began to walk from the door to the bed and sat down, bringing the sheets firmly over himself and putting his arms around me. I heard no screams from outside so I concluded that no-one must have been outside.

I let out a breath of disbelief, and kissed him lightly when I heard a distant scream. My head snapped around I looked behind me at the rest of the cabins. When nothing caught my gaze, I looked upwards, and saw a speck falling from the sky. I squinted at the figure and noted a mass of brown, choppy hair and dark-ish skin. Piper.

I leapt up from the bed, Percy following behind me, and ran out the door. I looked at the ground underneath her and saw that she was about to have a very nice trip to the big house, and it was not going to be pleasant. I looked up at her again and saw that she was only a few hundred feet above the ground now, and another figure was shooting after her.

Superman? What are they doing up there?" Percy questioned next to me as I looked around frantically for some sort of material to catch them with, because even if Jason caught her, they wouldn't have enough time to pull up. But Percy was already on it.

I heard, rather than saw, a large portion of the sea rise and swirl its way over to the big house. I looked on in wonder as it curled itself over the big house and cupped itself, becoming a bowl of sorts. It thickened as more water was channelled into it, just as Piper fell head first into the bowl. I saw Percy's arms move apart as he picked up the portion that contained Piper and some sea-life and separated it.

Jason saw the water bowl and immediately began to pull up, but he was simply going too fast and promptly belly-flopped into the bowl.

I snorted.

The water cups slowly brought the two down to the ground, and once laying them gently on the floor, made its way back to the sea.

My amazement vanished and I strode up to the two of them as they coughed and spluttered on the grass-littered sand and hauled Piper up.

"What the hell were you two doing?! You could have died!" I scolded them, glancing at Jason who was still flat on his back, his hands massaging his stomach. I winced slightly in sympathy, but glared at them both.

"I was testing out a theory." offered Piper, wringing out her hair, completely unfazed by the fact that she had fallen Zeus-knows-how-many feet to the ground. Even Jason, who knew how to fly, seemed a bit fazed.

"A theory?" I stated, disbelievingly. "Piper, you better just have discovered how to reverse gravity on your own if you think that's okay. And from what I saw you did not. So, start talking." My hands found my hips and I stared expectantly at the both of them.

"Well, I think that something is going on with our powers."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "What do you mean?"

"Well, in the meeting, I found that I could practically feel peoples power rolling off people, different for everyone, like a fingerprint or power signature as well as detect their emotions. Usually, I'm just intuitive, but this was different. It was like I could experience their emotions to a certain extent, without it affecting mine."

"Like… an empath?" I said, my anger melting away.

"Yeah, sort of." replied Piper, taking Jason's hand and heaving him up. "Not only that, I channelled emotions into someone as well." My eyes widened at this. "I've been noticing this for a while now, and I wanted to test it out. Hence the.. falling out of the sky."

"Hmmmm…" I contemplated this, seeing that she was right. "That's why so much of the Aphrodite Cabin now have charmspeak, the Apollo kids said the prophecy…" I trailed off and Piper nodded.

"That's why I got Jason to fly the both of us, separately, to see if he could do it. Obviously, he could and was it very hard?" she turned to Jason.

"No, not really. The only hard bit was splitting my mind in two; one controlling my flight and the other, yours." Jason admitted. However, it did not look like he wanted to do it again. Piper turned to Percy and continued.

"And was it hard to control that much water?"

He looked at her and said, "No, but I could do that beforehand. Remember Kym? I used the big water fists."

Piper raised an eyebrow and answered, "Yes, but you just controlled, like, half the coastline. Didn't notice that?"

He glanced at the sea, surprised, and scratched his head.

A silence fell over us.

"So, uh, did we interrupt something?"

I snapped back to the present as Jason spoke, a smirk on his face and gesturing to Percy. I fully turned to him to find him dressed in the bed sheet, one end draped over his shoulders while the majority trailed behind him in the sand, going in-between his legs, a small section covering himself.

He smiled innocently at me.

It left nothing to the imagination. I chuckled slightly, proud of the dignity I held, and turned back to find Jason chortling away and Piper blushing madly and looking decidedly at the ground.

"Well, tell Chiron tomorrow morning, okay?" I said, the mirth clear in my voice as I headed backwards to the cabin. I turned around and saw that his entire back was uncovered and definitely gave me an eyeful as he attempted to walk backwards without tripping and flashing the two. They both caught on and immediately turned around and started walking away, yelling their agreement over their shoulders.

My laughter carried on the wind as I was chased by Percy back into the cabin.

.o.O.0.O.o.

Jason's POV

"Chiron!"

My voice floated through the big house as Piper and I entered. He was stood replacing a book in the bookshelf and turned around to greet us.

"Piper, Jason. What can I do for you?"

I felt Pipers grip on my hand tighten as she began, "I have a, uh, revelation that I'd like to share with you. It's about our powers and I was wondering if you could share some light on it?"

I saw his face momentarily change to one of surprise and curiosity. "Of course, Piper. Have a seat."

We sat, sinking into the tattered leather sofa. I eyed the leopards head in the wall as it sneered at me.

"Well, you see, I think our powers are getting stronger." stated Piper, totally easing into the subject.

"Oh?"

"Yes, I've found that the extent of my own powers are growing, and I can transfer emotions, alter them, as well as sense them and people's auras more accurately. Jason can now fly two people at once-"she quickly glanced at me. "Albeit, not fully, and I imagine that he has more control over lightning. And just last night, Percy displayed a huge amount of control over water, and he didn't even seem to notice it."

"Hmmm." Chiron glanced down at the carpet, and gently used his hoof to flatten it onto the ground.

"Have you tested it out on anyone else?"

Piper shook her head.

"Hmmm, okay. I believe I do have a theory about this, a few actually, and I'm sure that they're all contributing to this effect."

We both leaned forward.

"Well, after the war, the gods merged their personalities. This may have lead their Roman sides to influence the Greek. As the Romans have a hierarchy of power, I believe this has had an unusual impact on the counsellors here."

"You mean, the counsellors are getting more powerful?"

He nodded.

Piper had a confused expression on her face and asked, " But those in power in Camp Jupiter don't have more power. I mean, for example, Reyna is powerful and all, but the Romans are known more for their fighting than their powers, and I only know of a few Romans with powers.. like Frank, Hazel, and of course Jason."

My head swivelled back to Chiron to see his response.

"Yes, that is true, but I believe that it affects the Greek sides powers, and the Greek will no doubt have an effect on the Romans."

"So why are Jason's powers increasing? He's Roman."

I flinched. Chiron noticed and spoke.

"I believe, Miss McLean, that it is because of Jason's choice of path. He has chosen to remain here, has he not?"

Piper turned to look at me.

"Yeah, I guess that Chiron is right. I still have to build shrines in both camps, but I found while we were on the Argo II that I didn't quite know if I was wholly Roman anymore. And then when I chose to stay here, with you, my, uh, my tattoo changed."

"What?"

"You know how Percy's SPQR tattoo is a trident?"

She nodded.

"Yeah, Well, we all assumed that it was the right insignia for him because there had never been a demigod of Neptune before. Or within living memory, rather. I was digging around as we were refurbishing the Neptune temple, and we found that his 'sign' was one of water crashing into a cliff. I guess it was to represent his earth powers, as he's more known to be the Earth Shaker in Roman mythology." I said this while rolling up my shirt sleeve and displaying the new lightning bolt that replaced the eagle on my arm.

"So, Percy's 'Roman' tattoo is actually Greek?" asked Piper.

I nodded.

"Well, if that be true, then you and Percy are both Roman and Greek Demigods. As well as Frank, possibly, due to his distant relation to Poseidon." Added Chiron.

"As well as this, the gods now visit their children here more often, and I've always had a theory about how much power one demigod has. I think, this is just a theory, that the more enamoured or in love a god or goddess is, the more powerful the child is."

We nodded as he explained- it made a lot of sense: Hades loved Nico's mother, and Nico was powerful enough to be using his powers on an hourly basis. And don't even get me started on Percy. Poseidon seemed ready to renounce his godhood to be with Sally, from what I had heard.

Chiron continued, "Quests also have a huge impact on power as well. Practice makes perfect after all."

"Thank you, Chiron."

"You're welcome." He smiled contentedly at the two of us, before saying, "Now if you don't mind I will get back to my book."

"Of course." said Piper with a smile. We got up to leave, my head still swimming with facts before a question pooped into my head. I turned back around.

"Chiron?"

"Yes, Jason?"

"Did you say that the Roman personalities and traits were being rubbed off on the Greek, and vice versa?"

"Yes...?"

"Well, wouldn't that have an effect on Lady Styx?"

His eyebrows furrowed.

"Well, I am currently trying to catch up with my Roman history, but if I'm not mistaken, the Styx more prominently stood for oaths and..."

"If it's what I remember…" I trailed off.

He trailed of, his gaze becoming distant.

"And what?" prompted Piper.

"Tell me, have Percy and Annabeth already gone?"

I blinked a few times.

"Umm, I think so, I saw Nico walk into Cabin three a while ago. They could have shadow travelled from there?"

"Mmm, I saw Nico with Will in the infirmary before we walked in. Maybe he came back? They might have wanted to do it on their own." Piper challenged my theory, which caused turmoil to cover Chiron's face.

He began to mutter under his breath as he ran his fingers over the bookcase. He eventually picked out a book and began to flick through the pages till he got quite a ways into the book.

"What is it, Chiron?"

He started to mutter even more, his eyes scanning the page. His murmurs cut of sharply as he read over a certain line, and he seemed to reread it.

He looked up briefly before returning to the book and began to read, "'Lady Styx became the goddess of oath's after the first Titan war in both pantheons, but differed in other aspects. Her Greek history was tied with being the giver of invulnerability, guardian of the underworld and binder of oaths, while the Roman stated that she was the incarnation of increasing power, as well as the other three in the Greek pantheon.'"

He looks up from the old book, worry clear in his eyes.

I voiced our concerns.

"Those two are already crazy powerful... if something else happens when they bathe in the Styx, who knows who will come back?"

.o.O.0.O.o.

Annabeth's POV

I gazed at the river, confusedly taking in the burnt diploma float by as I tried to read the GPA.

(I'm British so I don't know about this stuff, so I'm kinda guessing at what I think is true. If anyone can help me out that would be greatly appreciated! ;))

I glimpsed a 2.5 and winced. I could relate. I turned my gaze back to Percy, who was also gazing intently at the river, seemingly lost in thought. I slipped my hand into his and I saw a ghost of a smile return to his face.

"It's just the same. I'm pretty sure I saw a diploma in there last time as well." He cocked his head at the paper washing to and fro on the tide. "They did better last time though."

I laughed.

But the sound died out as I remembered our task.

"You ready?"

He snorted. "God no. It's was so painful last time... I.. I-I don't want you to go through that."

He didn't move to hug me or look at me, but he simply squeezed my hand and I was grateful. I didn't want him to see the fear in my eyes, because I knew that he would scoop me up and demand that Hades shadow travel us back. He knew we needed this.

I was leaving this place with Curse of Achilles, or not at all.

I looked up and took in the scenery. It was, strangely, hauntingly beautiful. Perhaps that's where the phrase 'beauty within death' came from. Hades castle sat upon a jagged steep hill, looking powerful and well lit. the Fields of Asphodel stood in-between us and the castle, and I could see souls strolling aimlessly among the sparse trees. The Fields of punishment lay far behind us, and we could only faintly hear the occasional scream. We had definitely heard more than enough to last a lifetime. The sand beneath my feet was black, making it hard to distinguish the water from the ground.

"We can do this. You've done it before, on your own, so there's no way we won't survive this." I saw my own resolve slowly imprint itself in his eyes as he finally met my own.

"Never again, remember Seaweed Brain?"

"Never again, Wise Girl." He quietly agreed.

"Now," his voice rose in volume, and the vulnerable person that I saw seconds before vanished. I smiled.

"If my calculations are correct, Achilles should arrive in three, two, one." He counted down the numbers on his fingers.

"Demigods."

We both turned around, and were greeted with a ghost. He was tall and muscled, dressed in armour and a white tunic and held a plumed helmet under his arm. I did not, however, miss the long arrow coated in blood protruding out of his lower calf.

"Achilles."

He nodded.

"You have returned. I have warned you before."

His statement was obviously directed at Percy, and he replied, "You did, I remember them."

Achilles brow furrowed and he asked, "Why do you come to these shores again? You already bare the curse." He spat the last bit out bitterly, and you could clearly see the regret in his eyes.

"Ah, yes, well you see, I lost it walking through the Little Tiber."

Achilles forehead smoothed, but the disapproving look remained. I squirmed when it turned towards me, but I quickly recovered.

"And who are you?"

"Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena." I stated confidently.

"You wish to bathe in the River Styx."

I nodded.

"Do not do this. It will increase your fighting skill and prowess, but it will heighten your weaknesses and failures. And that's not all of it." He gazed sadly at his foot.

"My downfall was my arrogance, and I don't wish that upon you."

His pain-filled words struck home and the worries that I had buried started to come through. My fatal flaw was hubris, and even though I had gotten it under check lately, the curse would only make it harder. Percy must have read my mind, because he turned towards me and said, "Don't worry Annabeth. I know your worried about hubris, but your pride drives you. It's part of who you are, and while sometimes it's not the best thing in the world, it's a part of you that makes you who you are today. Without your pride, would you be designing these amazing buildings in Olympus?"

I contemplated his words. Without my pride, I wouldn't be making all the intricate decisions about every minute detail, would I? I wanted this to last a thousand years, and to still be proud of it then. I had been chosen to be the architect of Olympus because my pride ensured that I would do a good job. My fears sank and I stood confidently again.

"We must." I insisted. "It has been issued in a prophecy that if we don't do this, many will fall." That wasn't what was said, but I imagine the consequences won't be far off.

He nodded.

"Let the gods witness I tried. Heroes, you must concentrate on your mortal point- the point that will remain vulnerable. Lose sight of your mortal point, and the Styx will burn you to ashes. You will simply be another misery in its depths."

And with that he disappeared.

"Still all doom and gloom then."

"Apparently so." I murmured.

Percy remained quiet beside me as I thought of my mortal point. Luke's was in his armpit, and while I cherish his memory, it was not the most dignified of places. My thoughts drifted to the Battle of Manhattan, my thoughts scanned over a specific injury.

"Alright. Let's do this."

Apprehension crossed Percy's face briefly, before determination settled in. He gripped my hand tighter, and I was sure that he was cutting off my circulation, but I didn't care because I was doing the same to him.

"You have to go in quickly otherwise you'll crumple in the spot, and it won't work. I practically rolled in. And remember, your mortal point. And to hold your breath. I forgot that last time." He mumbled.

I kissed him on the lips, conveying as much passion as I could before pulling away. His eyes were still closed, his forehead leaning on mine.

"Together." he said.

"Together."

We pulled away and turned back to the river.

And surged in.

AN: Hey everyone! Thank you for reading again, this is my longest chapter so far. I wanted to say something: in this story nothing sexual will happen, but I believe that the gang have grown up. They aren't going to be prude and wait till they're married bc they don't usually get to be married. I just wanted to point that out, and if someone could get back to me about the GPA thing that would be great!

As well as that, I was wondering if I should have demigods already in Hogwarts. Please write if you do in the reviews, and write who and what their godly relation is. Thank you!

BYE ;)