Annabeth was confused when she woke; she was used to sleeping coiled up tight like a spring, ready to jump up at any moment and become Night Owl. She was a very light sleeper, very reserved and often only inhabited the very edge of her bed, always dreaming vividly. But when she felt consciousness creep up on her she was safe, warm and pretty sure that a pick-up truck could've driven through the room and she wouldn't have stirred. It was a pleasant sort of surprise, the feeling of a good night's sleep after so long of being called out for an emergency or her alarm waking her, or a nasty dream making her jolt upright.
The bed smelled like the beach she and her father used to visit before he moved away, salty but not at all unpleasant. The person she'd taken as her human pillow had the same scent, and she was sure she'd smelt it somewhere; though in her sleep-addled state, she couldn't place where. Annabeth should have been on guard, or angry, or something, but she wasn't- she was relaxed, unnaturally so, and burrowed into the side of her pillow, who was still out cold.
Percy Jackson was a peaceful sleeper. Annabeth was lucky she wasn't near his head, because he seemed to have a slight drooling problem, but apart from that- though she hated to admit it- he looked quite adorable. His hair was all fluffy and messy and he was a hugger, if Annabeth wanted to leave she'd probably have to wake him up to let her go. Thank God she didn't need the bathroom. He had his arms around her and she rested her head on his chest, listening to a calm, steady heartbeat. Somehow her hands had crept under his t-shirt in her sleep, which should be weird, but Annabeth just decided to roll with it, especially since there was a well-toned body under the material and her hands were not ready to leave the warmth yet.
She almost went back to sleep, which was unheard of when it came to Annabeth, but Percy began to wake, pulling her closer to him unconsciously and mumbling incoherently.
"Morning seaweed brain" Annabeth said quietly, as Percy opened one bleary sea green eye. He yelped and almost fell off the edge of the bed.
"Annabeth! You- I- why are you laughing?" He demanded, and Annabeth held in her giggles.
"You seem surprised to see me" She told him.
"No I just- I forgot for a moment. I think I'm still half-asleep" He said, rubbing his eyes. She shrugged.
"That's okay. I am too" She replied, and he stared at her for a moment.
"Your hair is really curly in the morning" He said, and she scowled, patting it down subconsciously.
"Yeah, I hate it" Annabeth grumbled. Percy reached over and pushed a single curl behind her ear.
"Why? I think its pretty" He told her, and she was pretty sure she blushed embarrassingly.
"Zombies, get your butts out here!" Grover called, and Percy chuckled.
"You hungry? Grover makes a mean fry up"
Annabeth nodded and Percy got up to get changed, and she looked at the photos that Percy had on his bedside table; A much younger Mrs Jackson smiling next to a man in a Hawaiian shirt holding a trident, a small baby in her arms. A six year old Percy with missing teeth and his signature messy black hair fishing with the same man from the first picture, holding a fish up to the camera and grinning proudly. There was also a photo of Percy and his Mom, baking what looked like blue cookies.
"I've always had a thing about blue food" Percy said, making Annabeth jump because she hadn't heard him return. She smiled.
"You were cute, what happened?"
Percy stuck his tongue out.
"I got even cuter, thank you very much. Come on, Grover is almost done making breakfast"
Annabeth and Percy left his room and went straight for the kitchen, where Grover was making food that smelled so good it made Annabeth's stomach rumble the moment she smelled it.
"I hope you like bacon" Grover called, and Percy grinned.
"Finally kicked the vegetarianism?" He asked. Grover nodded.
"Yeah, I realised that I loved meat. Juniper still hasn't though"
Juniper was sat eating a bowl of porridge and looking grumpy. Annabeth took a seat next to her and she smiled.
"Morning Annabeth. How did you sleep?" She asked.
"Very well" Annabeth told her. Juniper gave her a knowing look.
"Of course, Percy is the best at being slept on. Did he hug you?"
"Like a koala bear" Annabeth confirmed. Grover snickered, whilst Percy looked betrayed.
"Dude! I knew you were a-
"Hey, manly men can cuddle too" Percy huffed, and Grover chuckled.
"Yeah, but you're not a manly man"
Percy sulked until he ate the bacon, and Grover earned himself a bruised bicep. According to him, it was worth it. Juniper and Annabeth exchanged glances.
Annabeth left not long after; she had to get home to check if Thalia had made an appearance, visit Jason and make sure he was okay and do some grocery shopping. Percy offered to walk with her, but she turned him down in case there was an emergency and she had to become Night Owl. She wouldn't want him caught up in all that stuff anyway, he might get hurt and she didn't want that.
She wandered back to her apartment, finding the place empty, and did her shopping. She still bought all Thalia's favourite foods, as if she'd come home and raid the fridge like usual. Annabeth was hoping it was all a mistake, that it wasn't really Luke and Thalia trying to destroy the world. It was just someone who looked like them, that's all.
Annabeth couldn't sit around in an empty apartment all day, so she grew out her feathers and went for a fly, meeting Red Woman and Inferno on a rooftop near the museum.
"Night Owl! I'm glad you're here" Red Woman greeted, looking concerned. Annabeth was instantly suspicious.
"Why?" She asked. Leo grinned.
"Well, we have some visitors! Don't worry, they only threatened to kill me twice-
"Only twice?" Annabeth cut in "They must be friendly"
Leo scowled, and his hair set on fire at the ends.
"Anyway" Red Woman said, drawing Annabeth's attention back to her "We have the visitors gathered below, though they're a little…divided"
"Divided? What do you mean?" Annabeth asked, frowning. Red Woman led her to the edge of the roof.
"Take a look"
On the ground below a large group of people gathered, most of them female and wearing very familiar parkas and carrying bows and weapons. The girls were in two groups, arguing loudly, and two more people stood between them; a tall guy wearing glasses, and a younger girl with honey-coloured hair.
"Stop! Stop fighting!" Annabeth called, swooping down next to the boy. The quarrels quietened. Red woman and Inferno joined her.
"Night Owl" A girl greeted, wearing a silver circlet on her head that used to Grace Thalia's, completing her outfit.
"Nightshade. Why are the Huntresses here? I thought Artemis had said never to return?"
"Artemis has been gone for years, and another threatens you. We've come to help"
"You've come to help" Another girl piped up, stood in the opposite group "We've come to help our old Lieutenant"
"Thalia is no longer your leader" Zoe snapped.
"Well we don't think you're good enough for the job" The girl shot back.
"Girls, cool down" Red Woman ordered, and the girls were silenced.
"Who are you?" Inferno asked, facing the two who weren't part of the hunters. The girl stepped forward, chin up.
"My name is Calypso, daughter of Atlas. I was dragged here by these brutes" She said, and the hunters made angry noises.
"You have information on the titans, you were useful" Zoe said, and Calypso huffed.
"And you?" Annabeth asked, looking to the giant figure before her. She had to look up to see his face, and he smiled.
"I am Tyson. I'm here to make things go BOOM!"
"That's my job" Leo pouted. Annabeth frowned.
"Wait, Tyson? I know you" She said. Red Woman nodded.
"Yeah, you were the good Cyclops who hung around with Typhoon"
"Typhoon! Where's brother?" Tyson asked.
"He's uh- in the bathroom. He'll be back soon" Annabeth told him, and Tyson nodded.
"I've missed my brother" Was all he said.
"So, hunters; half of you are here to help Thalia, half to help us" Red Woman called, and the Hunters nodded, each giving the opposite side dirty looks.
"Look, we'd rather keep the fighting to a minimum-
"Well tell Nightshade to back down"
"You tell them to pull their heads from their back sides and realise what Thalia is trying to do!" Zoe cried. The Hunters all reached for their weapons at once.
"Stop!" Red Woman ordered, and thanks to her charmspeak, the hunters did.
"We're gonna take you to Chiron. He'll sort this out. For now, no one gets to Thalia, you got that?" Annabeth called, and the Hunters nodded, some annoyed, some glad. Annabeth and Red Woman led the way, whilst Leo hung back with Tyson and Calypso, smiling at the girl a little dazedly.
"Uh oh" Red Woman muttered, giggling. Annabeth rolled her eyes.
"She won't go for him"
"Oh come on, she so will"
"What? No, she's far too-
"Bet you ten bucks she'll like him back"
"In what, ten years? You're on"
Annabeth and Red shook on it. Annabeth looked back at Leo and snickered; she had so just won ten bucks.
Chiron dealt with the hunters as only a leader could; within half an hour of them seeing him they no longer wanted to kill each other. Calypso had been sat with Leo in that time and Annabeth felt her ten bucks slipping away, whilst Tyson called her pretty and tried to pull out her feathers. Red Woman thankfully called Typhoon so he'd stop, and it didn't take long for him to arrive, bringing with him the smell of the sea and a typical grand entrance, catching Red Woman before she was caught up by the wave of water he had entered on. He grinned at her and Annabeth scowled, though she didn't know why.
"Brother!" Tyson cried, and barrelled into Typhoon with enough force to knock out an elephant. Typhoon just barely managed to hold his ground, skidding back a few feet on the marble floor of Chiron's office, located on the top floor of the museum. Annabeth was so tempted to go and sit at her desk and sort through some ancient Greek literature, but she had other matters to deal with, and Night Owl deciding to go and do some work in a museum would raise more than a few eyebrows. Jason was in the office too, looking at the hunters warily. No doubt Chiron had beat her to talking to him about Thalia and convincing him not to join her and Luke on their insane crusade.
"Now, girls, we'll need extra patrols around the clock to keep an eye on all activity from huntress and Luke. I trust you know how to track her?" Chiron asked. Zoe Nightshade looked as if she was about to whack Chiron with her bow.
"We are hunters Chiron, we know how to track one of our own. Come on Hunters, get into pairs and we'll divide Olympus between us. No, you two are not going together. Erica, move away and join someone else, and don't give me that look" She said, and the hunters began to organise themselves, the girls partnering up before gathering around one of the many maps of Olympus that Chiron possessed. The man himself gave Annabeth a warm smile.
"Night Owl, how are you doing?" He asked. She shrugged.
"Fine I guess; I'll be better when my friends stop being crazy"
"And how is Annabeth?"
Ah, there's Chiron's way of saying 'I know that was a lie now tell the truth'. Annabeth sighed.
"She's feeling a little betrayed. She stayed with someone last night though, she had a good time"
And a good night's sleep, though she doubted Chiron wanted to know about how Percy was the comfiest pillow ever. Did the museum even condone things like that? Like employee relationships? Looking at Hazel and Frank maybe not, but she would have to check. Wait, why was she checking? Its not like- she needed to stop overthinking things.
"Good, I hope she knows she can stay with me if she needs to" Chiron said, and Annabeth nodded.
"She does. Thanks"
He smiled.
"So" He said, clapping his hands together, grabbing Tyson and Typhoon's attention (They were previously playing some sort of variation of rock paper scissors but with huge explosion noises and water jets) "I'm glad that is dealt with; otherwise we'd have another problem on our hands. Red Woman, you keep an eye on them okay? They've always liked you, and your charmspeak can stop any further quarrels"
Red Woman nodded and left the office. After a moment, Leo and Calypso left too, Leo telling her that she could stay with him until she found somewhere she wanted to live. Annabeth bid her chances of winning the bet goodbye.
"Tyson, its good to see you" Chiron greeted, and Tyson beamed.
"You too! I love being back!"
Annabeth wondered how he could be so excited about everything, but maybe Tyson was just a generally cheerful person. Or maybe that was his only emotion. Did Cyclops have more than one emotion?
"Typhoon, I trust you'll be supplying him with somewhere to stay?" Chiron asked, and Percy nodded.
"Yes sir, my brother will stick with me" He confirmed, throwing an arm around Tyson's shoulders.
"Yes! I like staying with you"
"Good, because you don't have any other choice" Typhoon laughed.
As Annabeth chuckled at the pair, Chiron's phone buzzed, and he picked it up. Almost immediately Annabeth was on edge, because Chiron had paled considerably, his grip on the phone tightening. Annabeth, Typhoon and Tyson waited anxiously as the call went on, Chiron simply listening, before he put the phone down.
"Who was that?"
"What did they want?"
"What's wrong?"
"Was it Thalia?"
"Has something happened?"
Chiron raised a hand and Annabeth shut her mouth immediately, and he sighed heavily.
"The infirmary has been taken by Luke and Huntress. Mrs Jackson is a hostage. They say if we don't bring them Night Owl, they'll kill her"
Tyson let out a roar like an angry bull and the water cooler down the hall exploded, Typhoon dragging the water to him and using it to raise him up on a miniature hurricane.
"We're going to save her. And you're coming too" He ordered, giving Annabeth a firm look.
"As if you'd keep me away" She replied, and his face softened a little, before he disappeared down the hall. Annabeth went to follow, before Chiron's hand landed on her arm.
"Be careful Annabeth. Luke and Thalia play a dangerous game; I don't want to see you hurt"
"They've gone too far Chiron, I'm gonna do whatever it takes to stop them" She promised. His eyes were unreadable, so old and searching.
"Even if it means hurting them?" He asked quietly. Annabeth thought for a moment, before clenching her jaw. The life of a hero was never easy. She knew that from a young age. You had to make choices that seemed impossible. You had to make sacrifices for the safety of the people.
"Even if it means losing them completely" She told him. He pulled her into a bone-crushing hug, and then let her go, giving her one swift nod.
"Go, Annabeth. Do what you have to"
And Annabeth did.
I have just one more exam, just one more, and I cannot wait. Neither can this chapter, so here it is! Leave a review, tell me what you think- predictions, opinions, what you ate for breakfast- just put it in there and I will still read it :)