httydastrid4life: Okay, okay, I won't be pushing my luck. Thanks for the review! (Though I wish I could find you, take your axe and throw it away into the sea.)

ANNABETH

Annabeth thought that dragon racing would be like those kinds of races that were like car races - racing along a track - or flying, in the case of dragons - for a number of laps until the last lap, and the winner would be the one who crossed the finish line first. But alas, they did not cars on Berk, and it was a dragon race. Dragon races were not like car races in the least. Well, they had their similarities, but it was very different. Maybe we could train dragons and ride them at Camp Half-Blood! a crazy thought in her mind said. But she shook her head. Dragons on Berk may be nice... the dragons demigods fought? Not so much.

The Vikings were packed together as a crowd - the whole Tribe was there, along with dragons, and of course, the demigods. Annabeth and her friends were standing in the spot that was closest to Hiccup - the Chief, Valka and their dragons got two special wooden thrones, and they were accompanied by a buff Viking and Gothi.

"Hey." Leo smirked like an idiot. "Let me tell you a joke. What is a Roman emperor's favourite game?"

"What?" asked the demigods in unison.

"Caesars, paper, rock!" laughed Leo.

"Oh yeah..." No-one felt like laughing, though ("Oh, come on, guys! It took me forever to cook that one up!" complained Leo). It was intense. Annabeth had never been at a race in the flesh before, but she thought that this was what it was what it was like when car racers were about to hop into their cars and start their laps.

"So," said Hiccup, coming from behind them, and thankfully breaking the ice, "I have to go in a few minutes, because the races will be starting soon. But I'll explain the rules. Okay, like, there are racers. In this case it's my friends: Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruff, Tuff, and Eret." Unfortunately, Snotlout had woken up, along with the other Vikings who had been possessed, and had looked dreamily at Annabeth, who was helping Gothi, the Healer. No way was that Viking moving onto Annabeth. She had Percy. Sure, he was a Seaweed Brain, and was dumb at times, but she definitely preferred the son of Poseidon over Snotlout.

"Rough and Tough?" asked Frank.

"Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Yeah." Hiccup frowned. "Good friends, but they're a bunch of muttonheads. They drove me crazy with their yak tipping. Just yesterday they were trying to dive-bomb into a Fireworm hole. Anyways, we have these kinds of laps around Berk."

Frank smiled. "Like car racing."

"What's that?" asked Hiccup.

"Nothing. Never mind. Please, do go on."

"Okay." Hiccup still looked confused, and so did Annabeth: Vikings are meant to be DEAD AND EXTINCT. Why on earth were they alive now? They can't be alive - they died out. She shook those thoughts away when Percy began to clasp her hand and smile. "Anyways," Hiccup continued, "we throw sheep into the air. White sheep, with special targets on them, are one point. The racers have to put them in their designated nets. Then, in the final lap, someone blows a horn, and then another guy - and he's mainly Gobber - launches the special Black Sheep. It's worth ten points, and the rider who gets the Black Sheep in their net almost always wins. It's great fun."

"Except for the sheep," Annabeth heard the son of Hephaestus mutter jokingly. "Animal abuse."

Piper clapped a hand to her mouth. "But... the sheep! They'll get hurt!"

"Well..." Hiccup had no answer to that.

"Beauty Queen is the new Snow White, isn't she?" grinned Leo. "All you need is talking animals doing your laundry, and Seven Dwarfs dancing around like idiots in circles."

"And you, Repair Boy, shut up," snapped Piper. "An order from the Beauty Queen."

"Your request is ignored," smirked Leo even more.

A horn blew, and Hiccup quickly said, "Later," then sped up to the Chief's area. He spread his arms and shouted, "Welcome, everyone to today's dragon races! Okay, the racers will be the usual ones-"

"Why don't we have new racers?" yelled a boy's voice from the crowd. "I'm ready to fly!"

"Um, we're thinking about it, Gustav," replied Hiccup. "Anyways, usual racers, everyone to the starting line."

Annabeth noticed all the riders: she saw Astrid, ready to race on the back of her trusty Nadder, Stormfly; that annoying guy, Snotlout (if he tried to kiss Annabeth again, she'd punch him and judo-flip him several times - worse than Percy ever suffered), on a long, big, red dragon with horns; the twins that had been possessed - Ruffnut and Tuffnut - on a double-headed green dragon, but they were fighting - not just the twins, but the two heads were fighting one another, preparing to spark and ignite (and Annabeth had been told that the dragons, Zipplebacks, produced gas which was ignited - she did not want that to happen in the race); the fat boy - who was called Fishlegs - was on a kind of dragon called the Gronckle - it looked cute, in a way. Last of all was the guy called Eret (Annabeth met him - he was fairly nice), who was sitting on a dragon that Hiccup had called a Rumblehorn.

"Ready, dragon riders?" called Hiccup.

"No cheating now, or helping your girlfriend, Hiccup!" called out a Viking. Hiccup's cheeks flustered bright scarlet red. Annabeth saw Valka chuckle, and the daughter of Athena couldn't help chuckling also. As for Hiccup, he cleared his throat and called again, "Are you all ready?"

"OH YEAH!" yelled the twins.

"Ready... 3..."

The tension was everywhere. Even Leo had stopped drumming his fingers, moving his legs around and randomly whooping, and Leo Valdez was seriously ADHD.

"...2..."

"This sounds like it's going to get interesting," grinned Percy. He looked at Annabeth. "I call dibs that Astrid wins."

Jason frowned. "I called dibs on her victory first, Jackson."

"Whatever, Grace."

"...1... GO!"

The horn sounded and the crowd went wild, starting to cheer as the dragons raced faster than lightning and flew high in the sky. Annabeth already heard jeers and taunts from the riders. Then suddenly, TWANG, and a terrified bleat. The first sheep had been thrown.

Piper said, "Jason, I'd love to see you do this."

The son of Jupiter's eyes widened. "Gods, no, Pipes."

"But your dad's, like, the god of the sky," Leo mused. "Dragons are, like, creatures of the sky. Maybe you can talk to them, like Percy can talk to horses. Heck, talking to the dragons would be better. You would be like ROAR! GROWL! DRAGON SOUND!" He made weird hand gestures along with the words, forming his hands into claws playfully.

"I like to consider my horse-speak a very unique talent," Percy grumbled, but he couldn't help smiling. Neither could Annabeth. "Also fishspeak, for your information."

"You can talk to what?" asked a Viking behind them. His deep tone sounded absolutely shocked, baffled at what the people in front of them had said.

Annabeth and the demigods turned around. Oops. They'd forgotten that even though Hiccup, Astrid and Valka had known about them being children of the gods, but the rest of the Tribe didn't. And they were mortals.

"Well, we like to make-believe, you know?" lied Frank. He didn't sound like he was lying, and when he looked at Annabeth, as if to say, Do I go on? she nodded encouragingly. She approved of his plan, and she was the daughter of the wisdom goddess. Athena always made the best plans. "We pretend that Percy can talk to horses and fish. Now we pretend Leo's a dragon, and Jason is like... a dragon-whisperer."

"Yeah," agreed Hazel, plastering a fake grin, and the Viking stared at her, then the other demigods' nods and fake smiles until he grunted, turned away and joined the shouting. He was so loud that Annabeth wondered if he ate megaphones daily for breakfast. Annabeth turned back, sighing, and said, "Good job, Frank."

"Thanks, Chase. I kept it simple, didn't I?" smirked Frank.

"Yes, you did," grinned Percy. "I'm very sure the offspring of the wisdom goddess believes so also."

Annabeth nodded, but she hadn't been paying much attention anymore. She had had a nightmare last night. It started with Nico di Angelo warning her of the dangers to come. Then she saw Gaia standing victoriously over Camp Half-Blood - or what had been left of it. Cabins were now heaps of wood, metal and smouldering ashes. The Big House crumbling to nothing. And scattered across the ground, were people - from little children to young adults - in both orange and purple shirts. Give up, purred the Earth Mother. You've taken shelter with a place I'll destroy soon. My sons will be waiting in Athens, Annabeth Chase. Then once you've all been killed, Camp Jupiter would have fired on you petty little Greek camp. Then the Romans will be overrun. As soon as I awaken, I'll destroy all of the survivors, then crush the rest of the Greek camp and the Roman camp also. I will rise, and there is nothing you can do to stop me!

Yup, such a sweet dream. What if Gaia does wake? If we defeat the giants, we'll have to go back to Camp Half-Blood. By then, we'll be too late. The Romans would have destroyed the camp. Gaia would wake -

Don't think like that, thought a small voice in her head. No-one is going to die. You're Athena's daughter. You should know that.

There was a large WHOOSH, which interrupted Annabeth's thoughts and then something that sounded like a basketball being slam dunked into a net, then a bunch of cheering. She saw Astrid whooping on the back of Stormfly, and Fishlegs, the twins and Snotlout groaning, as if it had happened many times before (and Annabeth suspected that it had). She looked over and saw a sheep in a net. It was painted with a circle that looked like an archery target (which reminded Annabeth of Apollo).

Time passed, and an hour later, a horn sounded in the distance. Annabeth turned and saw Hiccup, who was talking to Gobber, saying, "Time for the Black Sheep, I guess."

Gobber nodded, and left. Suddenly, Gobber called, "LAST LAP! BLACK SHEEP INCOMING!"

"HOFFERSON! SIX POINTS! HOFFERSON! SIX POINTS!" yelled the crowd. Apparently, everyone loves Astrid, thought Annabeth, but then there were other shouts: "JORGENSON FOR THE WIN! YOU CAN DO IT!"

Then a TWANG, and a large terrified bleat from a sheep with black wool erupted. The Black Sheep flew in the sky ("Wow, the phrase 'flying without wings' takes on a new meaning," grinned Leo) until Snotlout grabbed the sheep and yelled, "YEAH! BLACK SHEEP BABY!" Part of the crowd went wild, until the twins tugged the legs of the sheep, and the Black Sheep lost Snotlout's grip.

"NO!" Astrid's yell was so loud the whole of the gathered Tribe heard it.

"Come on, Meatlug, you can do it, girl!" pleaded the man Fishlegs, then all the dragons took to the high skies.

"Come on, Astrid!" yelled Hiccup.

"Are judges meant to be biased?" asked Percy. "Because I'm very sure Hiccup's being biased."

"Look!" said Frank, pointing at Astrid.

The blonde warrior was gaining speed, holding the Black Sheep with both her hands. She jumped, and placed the sheep in a net with her dragon, Stormfly's, face painted on it. As soon as the Sheep was thrown in, with other poor sheep, most of the crowd went hysterical. Annabeth couldn't help applauding Astrid as Percy and Leo whooped and the rest of the demigods cheered.

PERCY

One hour after the Dragon Races

Percy made a mental note in his head: never leave Blackjack to go anywhere he wanted.

As he, Hiccup, Frank, Jason, Piper and Hazel (Leo, Annabeth and Astrid had gone with Valka to help her with the dragons from her Sanctuary) arrived at Hiccup's home, and Hiccup was about reach to open the door, Blackjack just jumped in front of him. He seemed to grin (do pegasi grin?): Yo, boss! Need a handsome horse? He licked Hiccup's cheek, and Toothless growled in jealousy. He leapt at Blackjack, who said, Whoa, mate! Slow down! BOSS!

Hiccup said, "Whoa, Toothless!" He stood in between the dragon and the Pegasus, and the fight broke off.

"Uh, Jackson?" asked Jason. He pointed at Blackjack and mouthed, What the Hades is he doing here? The other demigods looked bewildered. Hazel and Frank looked at Percy, as if to say, Why is he here?

I don't know! Percy mouthed back.

Hiccup went forward and held out his hand. He stroked Blackjack. "Whoa - what the Helheim, he's black, like Toothless! He's got wings! Hel, he looks like a horse, but - but those wings!"

Blackjack looked at Percy with pleading eyes, saying, Help, boss!

"Don't call me boss!" Percy snapped. Then Hiccup stared at him. Percy turned a shade of bright scarlet red. Oops.

"Uh... who's this?" asked Hiccup.

"This... is Blackjack, Hiccup. Hiccup, Blackjack," said Percy. "He's my pegasus - which means he's a winged horse. He's special."

"But I thought you were scared of flying-" began Hiccup.

"Well, I kinda rescued him from a demon cruise ship four years ago - it's a very long story. Annabeth was there."

Blackjack neighed, gesturing to Toothless.

"Uh, what did... Blackjack say?" asked Hiccup.

"Well, he said Toothless's breath smelled of fish. And-" Blackjack neighed again. "No, Blackjack, Hiccup does not need a kick upside the head."

Does too, boss, huffed the pegasus.

"Don't call me boss!"

"Shame. Wish I could understand Toothless. So, what're you saying, bud?" asked Hiccup, turning to his best friend, who simply purred in irritation at Blackjack.

Boss, he's contradicting me! yelped Blackjack. He called me a wussy!

"You can understand dragon speak?" asked Percy.

Well, a bit!

"A bit. That's refreshing."

Hiccup sighed, and said, "Uh... hi? Nice to meet you, Blackjack..."

Donuts! was the reply.

"Uh, what does he want?"

"Donuts."

With sugar cubes!

"With sugar cubes!"

"What are donuts? What are sugar cubes?" Hiccup asked. "Sorry, Blackjack."

WHAT? Seriously, boss? He turned to Hiccup. FINE! I'm leaving! Just call me if you need help, boss! I'll be here! Handsome horse active!

With that comment, Blackjack flew away into the sky.

Hiccup frowned and said, "Pinch me. I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming I saw a black winged horse that wanted donuts and sugar cubes - whatever they are - and Percy was able to talk to it."

Percy shook his head. "Nah, sorry, Hiccup. It's real. Demigod lives are weird. As soon they find out they're half-bloods - boom - their lives are freaking changed!"

Piper nodded. "Like, when I found out I was Aphrodite's daughter, I had to instantly go on a quest to free the queen of the heavens, fighting one-eyed monsters, a king who touches gold wherever he goes and potion-selling princess witches."

Hiccup winced. "I'm not even going to ask about that. Then... I'm guessing now you have the quest with Gaia who wants to destroy the world."

They nodded, then there was the sound of a dragon landing hard on the ground, and Percy saw Valka hop down from Cloudjumper. "I have bad news."

"What?" Hiccup, Percy and the demigods asked in unison.

"Leo, Annabeth, and Astrid. There's no easy or good way of saying it - they're gone."