Well people, it has been a long year and a bit. I am completely sorry for leaving you high and dry for so long. Let's just say my end of A-levels and first year of uni was a struggle and highly time consuming. Honestly, the only reason why I'm going to finish this story was because someone did a review asking me to continue about a week ago, and I reread the story and just thought to myself: 'You have to finish this!' So this summer, I am going to try my best.
Also, to all those who left comments, thank you so much. I've had a really crisis with my writing this year and your comments really make a different. I would reply to individuals comments in this bit, but, alas, I do not have internet at the moment and quite a few were made. However, some of you out there made the most beautiful comments I've ever read and really made me feel good about my writing, so THANK YOU.
Wise Words
I held the letter in my hand, disbelieving that I was seeing his writing. The paper, which felt like velvet and had a boarder filled with depictions of the sea, was far from wet; something I probably shouldn't have been so surprised about considering how long I had known Percy and his abilities. Yet, I just watched it, with my hand cradling it like a gift from the Gods.
Get a grip Annabeth, I told myself.
I flipped the letter over to open it, and felt cold when I had to peel my eyes away from Percy's writing of my name. However, the sweet relief I knew I would feel once I saw more of his scruffy scrawl was enough of a reward to fill that emptiness. Just as I was about to rip the seal (which looked like it had been made from crystallising seaweed) there was a call from the top of the dock.
"Annabeth! Annabeth is that you?"
It was Piper. I turned to look at her as she was jogging towards me, almost tripping on some of the planks of wood that were coming loose.
Once she reached me, she said: "Chiron told me the Gods summoned you, honestly I think he only told me because he felt a bit sorry as I would've been waiting for you for hours," she paused for a second, contemplating my expression so she would know how to go about the coming conversation, "What did they…how was…"
Before she could stumble about the question any longer I interrupted her.
"They asked me about Percy, that was it. Of course, I couldn't tell them a lot," there was a bitterness in my tone on the last sentence.
While Piper had been jogging up the dock, I had hidden the letter in the band of my jeans, and I could feel the paper almost itching my skin with the anticipation of opening it. Honestly, at the time I felt like pushing Piper in the lake just so I could have a couple of seconds to read it.
"Just Percy? Nothing else? That's a bit weird, isn't it?" She got down to sit next to me while saying all of this.
"Not really, if anyone was going to know something about Percy, it would be me," I replied.
For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to talk about the conversation with Aphrodite. Despite Piper being her daughter, the 'chat'-as she had put it-felt private, almost intimate. Worse yet, was the idea of telling her about the place I had been in, with the mere thought of describing it putting the fear in my heart, something that I didn't particular know why.
"How did you end up here, I thought Argus was bringing you back?" She looked around, as if to see a boat that could magically travel to Olympus. I didn't know why Aphrodite had dropped me off her. Maybe she thought the water would be a comfort.
"He did drop me off," I lied "I just came here first to calm my thoughts. I was going to come and find your afterwards." Again, I didn't know why I lied, but I needed to figure out what I wanted to share with Piper and what I needed to keep to myself.
"Dinner's just about to start, we can talk about this later?" As Piper was saying this to me, I thought I saw a flicker of sadness in her eyes, as if she knew I was holding stuff back from her.
Instead of replying, I got up, and started walking back to the camp with her in tow.
After finishing eating, and with the letter still stuffed down my trousers, I made an excuse to as to why I wouldn't be participating in any of the evening's activities, and made my way to the cabins. I walked past Athena's, with Percy's cabin the only place I wanted to be.
Making sure no one was watching me, I slipped into his room and sat on his bed, with the letter already in hand. Not wanting to be interrupted again, I ripped off the envelope, leaving a single sheet of paper.
I started to read it.
Dear Wisegirl,
I'm sorry how things were left. I wanted to properly say goodbye, but I was running out of time. You were right (as usual) I swore to my dad I wouldn't tell anyone, and I'm not going to be that smart-ass that puts it in a letter because 'writing it down isn't saying it' (Let's just say my dad wasn't best pleased when I pointed out this logic).
Things are manic here, so this may be cut short. But, I love you, and I will make it to Senior year (maybe a couple of months late, but I'll definitely be there for the end of year party). Please, don't find me and don't help me. I can't stress this enough Annabeth. Somethings are more than Olympus itself, and I don't want you caught up in everything.
Also, and this is something you may not appreciate, I don't know what my mum's been told (I'm sure I'm going to get killed by her when I get back), but please tell her that I'm ok. At this point you probably think I'm not ok (considering I disappeared and my dad appeared in the middle of nowhere as a fifty-foot water statue – I told him that was a little dramatic, again he was not best pleased with that comment), but just tell her I am, and that I promise to catch-up with all my homework. Use the last bit to sweeten her up a bit, so she won't get too pissed off.
This isn't
I love you,
Your Seaweed brain
I wanted more. More writing. More of him. More of what he was doing. But I was grateful with what I had got. The whole letter had the essence of Percy running through it, so much so that I could just imagine him next to me saying with a cheeky grin 'Wise words, right?'. However, it was rushed (the amount of spelling mistakes gave it away), giving the letter not just an essence of Percy but a nervous energy. Of course, what was most interesting was the unfinished sentence. As soon as I had read it I had wanted to know what he was going to write, it seemed almost serious. Although knowing Percy, it may have just been a joke to alleviate my worry for him.
I read it again. Smiling at some of the ridiculous comments he made, and yet my mind was not relieved. Percy may have been ok, but what was bigger than 'Olympus itself'?
It seemed as if Percy was giving me a clue. He couldn't tell me (or write it to me) but he could hint at it. Yet, sitting there on his clean bed, I couldn't think of one mythology that was bigger than Olympus.
"How can anything be bigger than Olympus?" I whispered slowly to myself, while a fear rooted its way through my body. Even Kronos and Gaia weren't bigger than Olympus. When one thinks of Olympus, they think of the Gods, but that's not what one should think. Olympus represents the positon of the Gods – rulers of the Earth with the power to destroy everything on it – both Gaia and Kronos would have destroyed Olympus, but, in reality, they would have just taken that position of power. So, the question wasn't 'what was bigger than Olympus?', the question was 'what does this thing want?'.
I had already planned to break into the house that night, but the letter just made it ever more urgent. Percy may not have wanted my help, but that doesn't mean he wasn't getting it. However, it was more than that now, because I didn't just need to know what was going on, but I had to have some sort of information that I could tell Sally.
Getting up, I folded the letter carefully and put it back into the envelope. I went over to one of Percy's draws, opened it, and placed the letter inside, not wanting someone in my cabin to accidently find it. I took one breath before I left the cabin, just to steady my nerves, because I would need one wicked plan to get the information I needed.
What d'you think? Have I still got it? Please review, and I hope you had a good time reading.
x
