Ahhhhh, so many people have being liking my story, so thank you! And thanks to those of you who reviewed, (yinstark, I don't need name, and roger9481- you'll have to wait and see)! Updates may be a little slow after this as I have to do my summer work and work on my writing portfolio for uni!

All rights to Uncle Rick.

The Letter

It had been four days. Four days since the first and last capture the flag. Four days since the talk on the dock. Four days since the start of endless choppy waves that now plagued the camp's waters. Four days since Poseidon's appearance. Four days since the sons of Poseidon had disappeared. But most importantly, four days since Percy Jackson had been gone.

I didn't really remember what happened after he left, it's not a memory I'm particularly fond of. One minute Percy was kissing me, saying goodbye, the next I was in the big house with Chiron's hand on my shoulder, questioning me as to why Percy disappeared. All I did was shake my head at him, which at that point Piper took me back to my cabin to get some rest. No one knew that I then sneaked out and went to cabin 3, which didn't give me much comfort due to the cleanliness of it.

I had carried on with life. I wasn't one of those girls which just stopped living because their boyfriend had left, that cried over the remnants of their relationship. I wasn't one to stop and question myself, doubting my personality and looks. Usually I just got on with things, like when Hera took Percy; I went and tried to find him. However, this time I felt different. I still trained, planned for the future, went to meals, talked with friends, but they were empty actions. My mind was somewhere else. So, I had kept my promise to Percy, but it wasn't really living when I didn't know if he was safe or not.

I was sitting on the dock, flicking through each piece of information in my mind, information that I had collected since Percy and Tyson's disappearance. When Percy mentioned the water, I decided to start researching the matter. He wouldn't let me help him, but I could try. Maybe if I found the link between each event, it would lead me to what he had to leave for, and maybe, just maybe, I could help. Anyway, that was my thinking.

What I gathered wasn't much, but it did suggest something was happening. In this year alone there had been over 70 tsunamis, many not being publicised due to there being no victims, oil spills were on the rise but some occurred with no known cause, migration of fish had changed without an explanation from scientists, the amount of shipwrecks had increased, and there had been small temperature changes over oceans. One could easily put all these activities down to natural causes or climate change, but that just seemed too good to be true. The only problem was I hadn't come up with an explanation as to why these events were happening, or should I say a Greek explanation.

My plan was to sneak to the big house and go through the books of Greek mythology to find out what could cause such things. I knew it would take a while, longer than I had, but it was the only plan I could come up with. I had until Friday, after that I had to go back to the mortal world, and it would be a lot harder to collect the information I needed.

"Annabeth?" Piper interrupted me thinking, I hadn't even realised that she had walked up to me, "Are you ok?" Her question annoyed me. Everyone now treated me like I was glass; delicate and easily breakable. I knew they talked about me when I left rooms, chatting about how unfortunate it was that when I just got my boyfriend back I lost him again. I hated it. They made me feel weak, like I couldn't function properly without Percy, which just wasn't true. I was able to function without Percy just fine; the only problem was that we were better as a team. We were better when we were together. However that did not make me weak when he wasn't around.

"I'm fine, and yourself?" I asked her calmly, trying to hide my annoyance.

"Good thanks," she didn't say anything else after that, probably expecting me to say something.

I looked down at the water. The dock went far enough in the lake so the tip wasn't engulfed in the break or curve of the waves; however that didn't stop the movement of the water to rock it back and forth due to the decrepit wood. It reminded me of the princess Andromeda, when Percy, Tyson, and I started are impromptu quest. It was surreal to think about such memories, how long ago they were, and since then how our enemies had changed.

"Um, so…I didn't do much today. Though Jason and I did decide that we were going to stay here for the year, which I'm really happy about! It'll be nice to spend some time together without monsters and gods know what chasing us!" I knew she was babbling, just saying the first thing that popped into her head. She only realised this though when she had finished talking. When she remembered the conversation topic and to whom she was speaking to, her face suddenly went very serious, and I could see that she felt guilty for flaunting her happy relationship, when mine was slightly…well…missing.

"Annabeth, I didn't mean to…I meant…um…I wasn't purposely talking about Jason and I for you know, I was just trying to think of a topic to talk about…and…and that was the first thing that popped into my mind, I'm so sorry, I won't mention us again…I swear," she said all of this in a mad rush, so I could just gather the semantics of what she was saying.

"Piper, it's ok, you can mention Jason, I'm not going to suddenly go crazy and start crying, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I knew that," she nodded while saying this.

"So, why are you here? Was there something you wanted?" For some reason she looked at me incredulously.

"Are you serious? Annabeth, you're one of my friends, one of my closest friends, can't I just come and talk with you without there needing to be some sort of reason?" I didn't think about it like that. In the past four days there had been a distance between Piper and my other friends. I had put it down to them giving me privacy to work out what happened and why it happened, but maybe it was the other way around. Maybe I had pushed them away.

"You're right, I'm sorry…so, have you talked to Frank and Hazel recently?" I wasn't really that interested, not that I didn't care about them but my mind was busy with other thoughts, I just needed the topic to be changed.

"Actually, I talked to them half an hour ago…they're good…they were wondering about you, and how you are…" she hesitated, working out what my reaction would be to what she was about to say, "…how are you Annabeth, I'm serious I want to know, how d'you feel?" I wanted to say pissed off, but I couldn't, not to my friend.

"What do you want me to say Piper? That I'm ecstatic, the happiest I've ever been?! Why are people so interested in my feelings?!"Although I couldn't tell her that I was pissed off, I could certainly show it.

"That's not what I meant and you know it." For some reason her tone had some finality to it, stopping my annoyance in its tracks. Although, that could've been her charm speak.

"To be honest, I don't know," that was a lie. I did know how I felt, but mentioning it out loud would just break my heart up into more pieces than it already was.

"Look, can we talk abo-" I started but was stopped by the sound of hooves on wood.

Chiron was coming up to where Piper and I were seated. I had tried to avoid him over the last few days, not wanting a conversation about why Percy left. I already felt useless from not knowing myself, and I didn't need that to multiply because I couldn't tell him what was happening.

Piper must've known this because she took the conversation.

"Hello Chiron, Annabeth and I were just talking about how Frank and Hazel are doing. We were actually wondering if perhaps in the winter there should be some sort of an exchange programme. You know, Greeks learning and the Romans, Romans learning about the Greeks, we could definitely kick their butts in capture the flag! What d'you think?" I smiled at her, letting her know that I was grateful for her taking the lead.

"That is a splendid idea Piper, perhaps we should talk about it later though child, at the moment I would like to speak to Annabeth alone, if you wouldn't mind?" I could see piper looking at me worryingly, wondering if it would be wise leaving me to have a conversation with Chiron about Percy. However his tone made it clear that she would be leaving, and that we were going to have this talk.

"Um…ok," she turned to directly speak to me, "I'll be at the tables, come and see me when you're done?" I only nodded, not knowing if I would want to talk to her after the upcoming 'chat' with Chiron.

After Piper left, Chiron seemed to wait a few minutes before saying anything.

"How have you been Annabeth?"

"Chiron, I don't want to be rude, but would you please just tell me what you want?" As I said it I did feel guilty, he had trained and looked after me since I was 7, but I was sick of people expecting me to burst into tears if they were to talk to me.

"Of course child, I know people are…well shall I say underestimating you, I realise that you're not one to be underestimated…" he started to contemplate something, with his arms crossed and gaze focused on the waves in the water, "I'm sure you have noticed how unusual the water has been acting lately, and if both you and I have noticed it, then one can firmly assume that the Gods have noticed as well."

"So, what has this got to do with me?"

"Annabeth, you're a clever child, so you must realise that the disappearance of our only Poseidon residents coinciding with the change of the sea is something to be noted."

"Yes Chiron, I understand that, but again, what has that got to do with me?"

"Obviously, with such unusually events, the gods want an explanation, which in normal circumstances they would ask-"

"Poseidon?" I interrupted him, which created a small smile on his face.

"Yes, they would usually ask Poseidon."

"So why can't they ask Poseidon at this particular occasion?" My interest was suddenly piqued. Perhaps Chiron knew something which would help me work out why Percy left? If something had happened to Poseidon, I wanted to know.

"I'm sure they will tell you when you visit them."

"Visit them?" I quickly answered him, not sure about why the Gods would want to talk to me on Olympus.

"Well, if their usual source of information was…let's say preoccupied, they would probably seek information from the kin of Poseidon, or more commonly known as-"

"Percy," I interrupted him again, and that smile returned to his face, suggesting he was pleased with my intellectual guesses.

"Yes, Percy, but as he is also…preoccupied, well they have to resort to different sources, and you my dear are classified as a source," being a half-blood meant that things didn't surprise me anymore. Medusa with her own sculpture company? Seen it. Cannibals playing dodgeball? Killed them. Crazy killer horses? Didn't get near enough to touch them. But being summoned to the Gods because of my boyfriend's disappearance; that was a new one.

"Chiron, why-"

"I wish I could tell you more Annabeth, but the Gods do not like to be kept waiting," he indicated back to half-blood hill, "Argus is waiting for you, he'll take you where you need to go."

Walking through Olympus, I realised how much work I had left with the re-construction and re-building of the place. Unfortunately, the Giant war had got in the way of me re-designing, so work had been put to a stop, and when I came back, the gods had given me time to spend with Percy. It was decided that I would start work again when the school year began. It had been something that I was excited for, with so many new ideas from my past travels and adventures, however with Percy gone...I just couldn't see the joy in it.

I didn't particularly want to see the Gods, at least not at that moment. I kept thinking how they would interrogate me about Percy, and our last moments together, how they would prod my memories of him to see if they could get information, and how they would eventually get angry because I wouldn't be able to shed a light on the current activities of Poseidon and his domain. Although I didn't want to go, I knew that you couldn't refuse a God of something. Immortals never take well to being disobeyed. Thus, I kept walking, hoping that there'll be something for me that came out of this interaction.

When I finally reached where the Gods were, I stopped just for a second. A second to compose myself of what was about to occur. A second to take a breath to calm the nerves which always popped up when I was visiting the Gods. A second to remember Percy, and that I was here for him. However a second was too long. Thunder pounded above my head, indicating the impatience and annoyance of Zeus.

I couldn't wait any longer.

As ever all the Gods were there in the majestic states, even, to my surprise, Hades. However there was one noticeable absence, with Poseidon's spot completely empty. But what caught my attention the most wasn't his absent presence, but his throne, which had turned to an oily black. I noted to myself that it was something I had to add to my research, something that could perhaps be a clue.

Quickly I walked into the middle and bowed to Zeus, who wore his impatience, and then I turned to my mother and bowed, who for once looked slightly nervous but at the same time completely in control of the situation. After the bowing I stood still, waiting for the Gods to speak first.

"Annabeth Chase," Zeus started, "you have been an important associate of Percy Jackson fo-"

Then something that I had never really seen before played out in front of my eyes, Zeus had been interrupted, by Aphrodite no less. He turned towards her, with a crack echoing from the thunder in the sky. To put it simply, he was pissed.

"Zeus, I think you mean lover. Really who says associate these days? You're being…well…quite prudish," she giggled after. I didn't think anyone had ever giggled at Zeus when he was in such a horrid mood.

However, before Zeus could retort my mother decided to speak, "lovers? Really Aphrodite? You call two young people who don't know what they're doing or going "lovers"? How can they be lovers when one of them has disappeared?"

"Distance makes the heart grow fonder. Have you never heard of such a saying Athena?"

"A simple cliché, with no meaning…being the Goddess of love I would've thought you had a better idea of their relationship," my mother snorted afterwards, demeaning Aphrodite. I may not have liked her for all she's put my love life through, however I didn't appreciate my mother belittling my relationship with Percy.

"As the Goddess of wisdom, I don't expect you to understand the beauty of love, and I especially don't expect you to understand your daughter's relationship with the "sea spawn", most particularly because you're in such denial about them," it was the weirdest feeling having you and your boyfriend discussed by the Gods, particularly when one of them was your mother.

"I understand them perfectly fine," my mother's tone was firm, her grey eyes angry and staring at Aphrodite with an extreme intensity. This would be where most people would look away, apologise, say that she was right and they were wrong. However Aphrodite wasn't most people.

"Oh really…" a sly smile crossed Aphrodite's face. Seductively she got off of her throne and transformed to a normal sized person. Coming towards me her smile grew, like she knew that she was going to win this 'argument'.

"You think I have no idea what their relationship entails, and yet I'm the one that has been following these two around for years! This couple which you're so against have been one of my greatest treasures ever, maybe even more so than Helen and Paris! I know when they first kissed, when they first realised they loved each other, when they first said 'I love you', and most importantly," at this point Aphrodite got quiet and serious, her eyes focusing directly on my mother while her hands were placed on my right shoulder, her fingers playing with my hair. I knew then that what she was going say would win this, "I know when they first had sex."

I wouldn't say any of the Gods gasped; they have been on Earth for a very long time so a simple matter of sex probably didn't bother them. However, the atmosphere had suddenly turned tense, with Aphrodite and Athena glaring at each other, and the other Gods either laughing at the ridicule of this situation or looking disgusted at me (mainly Artemis).

"My daughter would never dirty herself with that boy! Annabeth, tell me that this is not true," everyone turned to me. A blush arose from my cheeks, and for once I didn't know what to do.

"ENOUGH! This council has been comprised to sort out the problem of Poseidon's realm, not to deal with a mortal's virginity!" Never in my life had I been gladder of Zeus' interruption.

"Um Zeus, I think you mean lack of virginity," Aphrodite said to him. I swear she was trying to make my mum angry enough to kill her, or come up with a creative way to hurt her for a couple of hundreds of years.

"APHRODITE," Zeus roared, "we are here to interrogate the girl!"

"Really Zeus, what do you expect to come from this? Interrogating her will get Olympus nowhere. Your best solution is to let me talk to her; we can have a little girly chat and discuss things. She's heartbroken; her lover has left her again, it's a beautiful tragedy really, and the only way she's going to come up with anything useful about Percy, or related to Poseidon in any way, is for someone to understand, to be sympathetic. And who in here can be the most sympathetic when it comes to love?"

"Don't be ridiculous, you don't have the integrity to talk about such important matters!" My mother replied quickly, her stance still angry at the thought of Percy and I.

"Think whatever you wish Athena, but we all know that if she hasn't said anything particularly interesting to Chiron, then she won't be saying anything helpful to us," she then turned to address Zeus, "Lord Zeus, let me speak to her privately. I'm sure it would benefits us more than if we interrogated her."

I had to give some credit to her, when Aphrodite wanted to do something she really fought for it. Either that, or she's incredibly stupid and couldn't read when not to push someone. Which she was doing to Zeus, who looked like he could strike both her and me on the spot right there and then.

"You have this one chance. Try and get something useful out of her."

Before I could hear the argument that would entail from my mother, I was already gone, whisked away with Aphrodite by some godly magic. Colours of all kind encased me until they liquefied and started forming structures; none that were familiar. Then as soon as it had started, it had finished.

"So, Annabeth my darling, how are you?" The God of love seemed comfortable, sitting in a violet silk dress that clung to every curve and crevice of her body, acting like a second skin. I, on the other hand, was very uncomfortable. The sudden explosion of movement and colour was not boding well with the little I had to eat earlier, and it was trying to make an appearance. Not wanting to make a fool of myself in front of the Goddess, I tried to settle my stomach, while working out where I was.

The chairs that we were on were crafted from, what looked like, gold, with flowers and scenes of couples entwined and printed into the metal. Around us was green as far as the eye could see, and the sweet smell of the summer with lemonade and honey entrapped my senses. I hadn't a clue where I was, but I knew that I could live here forever.

"You wonder where you are." My focus had fallen upon an apple tree that held golden apples, their skin sparkled in the sun and saliva flooded my mouth at the thought of my teeth breaking through the delicate skin. At the sound of her voice, I turned back towards her.

"We are somewhere happy Annabeth, somewhere where no one, not even the other Gods, can touch you. You see, the things that make mortals truly happy in life is love. As the other Gods cannot provide such services, they cannot provide happiness, thus they cannot find this place. There is no record of it in any book or mythology; I have kept it hidden over the years, with only my chosen few being able to reside in it."

It was ridiculous; nothing can be hidden from the Gods, and certainly nothing as grand as the place I was in. Somehow though, I knew she was telling the truth.

"You are wondering greatly about this place, and I wish I could tell you more. I was going to allow Percy and you a…well, shall I say visa? A visa to this place, to live a true 'happy ever after'. But situations change and we must move on." Percy and I, live here? No. I didn't believe it. Why would she have put us through so much and then, after losing each other too many times, grant us something so beautifully extraordinarily extravagant?

"Annabeth, you may be angry with me, with many of the Gods in fact, but this is important. Tell me about Percy?"

Whatever annoyance that I had was pushed aside; I wanted this over with.

"Nothing, except for a change of attitude that I didn't notice, I can't tell you anything."

"Annabeth, please, I can't stress how important this is," it was weird seeing her so serious, with no hair flips and little giggles. It was at that moment that I realised how anxious the Gods must be, even scared maybe.

"We spent a lot of time together doing normal couple things, planning our lives, that's all I can tell you. It's just as much as a mystery as it is to you for me."

"When did his attitude change?"

"Two and a bit weeks ago maybe, at first I thought it was because of…other reasons," I stopped myself before I could say anything else that would embarrass me.

"Oh, Annabeth, I'm the Goddess of love, and I can safely re-insure you that his change of attitude was not due to your 'night together'" She raised her eyebrows at me, and I know she must've seen part of the night.

"I must admit, I wa-" but whatever she was about to admit to me she didn't say, instead her gaze was very focused upon my neckline.

"My dear, what is this pendant that you wear on your necklace?" At this she pointed to the pearl pendant bought by Percy, which I started fiddling with when she mentioned my 'time' with Percy.

"Percy got it for me. After our…'night together', as you put it, he went to visit Poseidon's domain for a couple of days and returned with it."

Slowly, her hand came out to touch it, but instead her fingers hovered over the smooth exterior, which had a certain reflective glow to it.

"It's so beautiful, so rare, I never thought…" I could barely hear her with her eyes memorised by the pearl and the whisper that she spoke, ".,..I never thought I would see one."

"'See one'? What do you mean?"

Her hand retracted and she was back to looking me in the eye.

"Annabeth, I am afraid I must leave, there are urgent matters in Olympus that I must attend, but I did have a wonderful talk," then smiling she went, "I've enjoyed watching Percy and you…mature in your relationship."

She smiled one last time, and then the colours washed over her. However, this time when the colours started forming shapes, I recognised them. And that is how I found myself back on the dock exactly where I had been a couple of hours ago.

Thoughts raced around my head; about the oily throne, where I had been with Aphrodite, how the Gods were desperate for information, and finally, how Aphrodite looked at my pearl. Nothing was making sense, and I knew they wouldn't until I went to the big house and trawled through the large volumes of mythology.

I probably would have sat on the dock all night, contemplating everything that I had just heard and seen, trying to create a picture of what was happening to Percy. But a figure interrupted my thoughts.

I didn't notice her at first, but it's pretty hard to ignore a mermaid when she's bobbing along the water's surface staring right at you.

She was beautiful, the beauty that you only read about in fairy tales. With beads of every colour plaited into her long blonde locks and her skin a light shade of green with golden patterns swirling around every contour of her body.

"Ummm, hello Ms. Annabeth, I'm terribly sorry to interrupt you, but I have a message for you," and with that she lifted a letter out of the water, her hand slightly shaking like she was nervous, and she dropped it on the dock beside me, as I had not moved from the shock of seeing such a creature so suddenly.

"I must be off now." I should have told her to say, but I had a busy day with being sent to Olympus that I really couldn't think about what she might have been able to tell me.

Only after she had submerged in the water did I both looking at the letter, and my heart stopped when I saw the writing.

'Wisegirl', it was from Percy.

I am so sorry for not updating. You may be wondering why the top still says it's summer, and that's because I started writing this and stopped suddenly to do work, and have only come back to writing it now, on Christmas day no less!

This wasn't a particularly well written chapter-a lot of my fanfictions aren't-I find I want to share the story with you straight away and it leads to sloppy writing, so my next chapter is going to be to the standard I write for my own stories!

Thanks for reading, and reviews are really appreciated!

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