Chapter Twenty-three

I can't believe that I kissed Percy. The Percy Jackson. My friend from camp. Thalia's annoying cousin. Oh my gods! My mom is going to kill me! And Percy!

I had these thoughts in my head while I was sleeping. I was half conscious, but enough that I could hear my soft heart beat.

It's night and Percy and Thalia were laying in their beds, asleep. Thalia came back like she said she would. Ryan was in his room, probably also asleep. My heart was jumping out of my chest. Then, I fell asleep, listening to the silent breaths of my best friends.

Flashback

Percy leaned in and kissed me. On the lips. I can't believe it! My face reddened with embarrassment, but I liked this feeling.

We pulled away.

"Woah," Percy said. I couldn't help but put on a big smile. He gave me a goofy one back. Then, Thalia came in.

"Hey guys. What did I miss?" She had a big grin on her face like she knew what happened.

"N-nothing," Percy stammered. My heart sank. I didn't want to hear that.

Thalia seemed to notice the awkward atmosphere.

"Okay, well, let's go downstairs. They have the coolest arcade and the best pool!" She through her hands up in the air.

"You had me at arcade! Let's go!" All three of us ran out the door and down the hall. I haven't had any luxuries in a long time. I knew that Percy didn't because of how his family was holding up, but I could tell that all that mattered was that he was loved by his parents. Thalia and Percy were already down to the elevator.

While running down the hall, I ran into a teenage boy, knocking him down.

"Oh, sorry. Didn't see you there." I stuck out my arm and hand for him to grab.

"Thank you." He grabbed my hand and I helped him up. "The names Ryan." His body was really close to mine and he brushed his black hair out of his impossibly dark eyes. He was at least a few inches taller than me, with a cocky smile and was Asian. He wore a blue shirt with gray jeans and Osiris shoes. He looked like a regular teenager.

"Nice to meet you, Ryan. I'm Annabeth." We shook hands and Percy looked back at me.

Percy sneered, pulling me away from his grasp.

"Whoa, whoa," he put up his hands like he was surrendering. "Don't worry. I didn't make a move on your girl." Percy and mine's faces grew red.

"She's not my girl." My face dropped.

"Well, than you shouldn't be protective of her." He shrugged.

"Guys, come on! I want to go to the arcade already!" I almost forgot that Thalia was here. She was in the corner of the hall and looked at our weird situation. "Or, we can stay here."

"Cool, you guys are going to the arcade? I was just about to go there." Percy's face filled with a murderous look. He looked like he wanted to wring the kid's neck.

"Fine," said Percy, gritting his teeth. "The names Percy. Percy Jackson."

"Cool name. I'm Ryan. Ryan Ch-Chang." He stuck out his arm to shake Percy's hand. He seemed hesitant at first, but eventually shook it. Why did he stutter saying his name?

"Okay, if you guys are done, let's go."

When we reached the arcade, it looked like a casino. Bright, neon lights were flashing everywhere. A huge pond in the middle was spraying water from a bright blue flower in the middle. A huge indoor water park and roller coaster was twisting all over the place. It was like a kid's dreamland. A huge sign hung up above the pond said, 'Crete.'

"This place is amazing!" I shouted above the rambling of hundreds of other people. I looked around the place with amazement. Shops were surrounding the place, girls and boys our age everywhere.

"I know right. Those remind me of the Doric structures like the ones from the Parthenon. I've always wanted to go there," said Ryan. I looked at him with astonishment.

"You want to visit the Parthenon, too? I want to go so bad!" His eyes lit up like torches.

"Really? What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be an architect." His voice filled with admiration when he said the word architecture.

"Oh my gods, me too!" We started talking about places where we wanted to visit and I found out that Ryan likes a lot of the things that I do.

After talking, I ran over to a game that said 'Build Your Own City' and had a small cartoon builder on the side of it. It looked interesting so I tried it out. In a few minutes, I was stuck in the game.

Suddenly, someone comes forward and stands next to me. From the corner of my eyes, I could see that this is a woman and she had long brown hair and dazzling green eyes. She looked like someone that came out of a vogue magazine.

"You like architecture, right?" I nodded, not being able to get my eyes of the screen. "Well, you'll like where you're going, daughter of Athena." My face turned pale. My stomach started to churn. I looked over to the lady and she was transforming. Transforming into something. An empousa.

With my eyes wide, I ran, trying to find Percy and Thalia and warn them. Unfortunately, Two other empousas stepped in front of me. With Thalia and Percy. Both had their claws up to their necks and they were defenseless. I was hopeless.

Everyone around us was running, screaming their heads off.

"Let them go!" I shouted over to the two other empousas. They snarled at me. I grabbed my dagger that was strapped to my leg and got ready in a defense stance.

"Daughter of Athena, are you really that dense? DO you think that you can hurt us? Look around you. Everyone's running and not one single person is trying to help you and your poor little friends." She was right.

"Don't listen to her Annabeth!" Thalia yelled over to me.

"Yeah, those donkeys don't know what they're talking about!"

"SHUT UP!" the empousa screamed. The two other tightened their grips around my friends neck. Just as I was loosing hope and plans, the lone empousa screamed an ear splitting sound and poofed into a pile of yellow dust.

Ryan ran forward, stopped next to me, and said, "You can see through the mist?"

I nodded. "Actually, I'm a demigod." He didn't look surprised at all. His sword was an imperial gold and it somehow fought different from celestial bronze.

"Cool, me too. I guess our scent was just too strong."

"So, what are we going to do?" The two empousas in front of us had Percy and Thalia.

"Don't move or your friends die!" one of them yelled. Ryan flinched.

"They're just bluffing. If they kill them, they won't get what they want," he said. Something in his voice reminded me of someone. They had the same tone. I wonder...

"On the count of three, run towards the one your boyfriend and I'll run towards the girl." A blush crept up to my face. Not now, Annabeth, not now!

"One, two, three!" We both ran forward, weapons in hand. When I reached the one that held Percy, I grabbed her arm that was around his neck, through it up into the air and kicked her stomach, right by Percy's waist. He ran forward and I ran towards the monster as she was recovering from that blow. With one slash of her hand, she tried to claw me, but I ducked and knocked her off her feet, but dropping my dagger in the process. She was laying down as I walked to retrieve my weapon and I was unaware that she was still awake.

In a split second, she grabbed me by the ankle and tugged, causing me to fall onto the ground. I tried to punch her, but she blocked them. Suddenly, I was under her. Just as she was going to finish me off, she screamed and it made my ear ring. My head started to hurt and yellow dust poured all over my clothes and onto my face.

I sputtered, trying to get the taste of disintegrating monsters out of my mouth. When I looked up, Percy was standing there, with Riptide, and held out his hand for me to get up. I took it.

"That's disgusting, Percy. And her scream nearly made me go deaf. Tell me next time when you're about to kill a monster on top of me," I teased. He laughed and we walked over to Thalia and Ryan, who were all showered with powder. "I guess I wasn't the only one." I rubbed of some of the dust from my shirt and pants.

"So, Ryan, you're a demigod, right?" Thalia asked. He nodded.

"Yup."

"So, who's your parent?" He seemed pretty uncomfortable with that question.

"Um, it's...Hephaestus." He didn't seem to be lying, but something about it seemed wrong.

"Wait, if you're a demigod, that means that we have just found someone of our own kind! Just like the prophecy said!" I exclaimed.

"That means we have to be close," said Percy.

"It makes sense. Crete is the name of this arcade, right?" They nodded. "Zeus was born on the island of Crete, which makes sense because the prophecy said 'Lightning's birthplace.' And Ryan here is our own kind. A demigod!"

"Good job, Annabeth." Percy raised his hand and I high fived it.

"Good. Now the last part of the prophecy said that you shall see what has been done. It also warned about someone's betrayal, but I'm pretty sure that we have that all covered." I knew they were thinking the same thing I was. Luke. Except Ryan.

"Come on. We need to catch some sleep. Let's go," said Percy. We followed each other back upstairs to our rooms. Percy and Ryan were talking. They seemed to keep each other company. I knew that they'd become great friends. We followed behind the boys. Thalia and I had a conversation about Ryan.

"Did you see his style?" Thalia asked. I was confused for a moment, thinking that she was talking about his clothes. Then, I realized she was talking about his fighting style.

"Oh. No. Why? Was there something peculiar about it?" Thalia nodded.

"It was mostly defense and not attack. That's why I had to step in and help. His moves were just like...like..." Her face saddened. I knew that she didn't want to talk anymore.

"Don't worry, Thals. Let's just talk in the morning."

End of Flashback.

I know that you guys are really smart and probably already found out who Ryan is. :3