Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Chapter 3: Bon Voyage!

Two weeks later - SUNY Maritime College - Bronx, NY (Check my profile for link to school website)

Percy's POV

I awoke in my dorm room to the sound of Chris's nervous pacing. "Chris, what time is it?" I yelled more angry than curious because I could tell by the darkness outside the window that it was very early.

"Oh, five in the morning." Chris said matter-of-factly. Five in the morning, what in Hades is he doing? We aren't expected at the ship until eight thirty and the departure ceremony isn't until nine. I hate it when he gets all this nervous energy its as bad as a demigod with ADHD.

"Can you stop with the pacing? I want another two hours of sleep before I get up." I yelled angrily.

"I'm excited, I can't wait to get on the ship." Chris said. I didn't look at him, but I knew he was grinning from ear to ear. "I'll just go for a walk and come back to wake you when its time." I just waved my hand as I put a pillow over my face to block out the light of the room. Once Chris was gone I fell back to sleep, until an hour later when I heard a soft tapping on my door. Why the Hades is he knocking I thought?

"Chris, come in why are you knocking?" I asked. The door opened and it definitely wasn't Chris. Standing in my door way was a beautiful girl, at first I had know idea who it was because my room was dark and the light of he hallway only showed the outline of her body.

"You're not up yet seaweed brain?" The voice that I would recognize anywhere said.

"Annabeth, what are you doing here so early?" I asked nervously. Annabeth walked in and closed the door behind her, she found the lamp switch and turned it on. It took me a minute before my eyes adjusted to the light. What I saw before me made my mouth drop open. Annabeth was wearing a blue-green sun dress that was absolutely beautiful and it really accentuated the curves of her body. Her hair flowed down passed her shoulders and her blond curves danced in the lights of the room. I could feel those gray eyes staring into my soul. Annabeth was smiling broadly at my stunned and stupid looking expression.

"Well, you better close your mouth before you catch flies. I'm here early because I wanted us to be together for a while before the ceremony. So you better get your butt up and get ready." Annabeth said sternly. I sat up in my bed, I was only wearing my boxes and no shirt. I saw Annabeth's cheeks turn red when she saw what I wasn't wearing. I smiled inwardly to myself because I had a similar affect on her as she had on me.

I grabbed some clothes and as I walked passed her to go to the bathroom I half whispered and half blew in her ear, "I love it when you surprise me." I saw her visibly shiver and the goose bumps seemed to magically appear on her arms and shoulders. I entered the bathroom to get ready. After about twenty minutes I walked out dressed in jeans and a blue t-shirt with my black converse on.

"So nice of you to get dressed up for me." Annabeth said sarcastically. I just rolled my eyes and walked toward her. I stopped within a few inches of her and leaned forward until our lips were a hairs breadth apart.

"I'm not wearing my dress uniform this early." I said. I saw Annabeth's eyes light up, I knew she loved the dress uniform.

"Well, I guess that's ok, but I want to see you in that uniform by at least eight." Annabeth said.

"As you wish my lady." I said. I leaned forward and kissed her softly. The kiss seemed to last forever until I heard someone clear their throat from behind us. We both jumped apart, I was so hoping it wasn't an upperclassmen, instead I saw the grinning face of Chris in the doorway.

"Sorry to bother this lovely moment, but Terra wanted to know if you would like to join us for breakfast Perce and since Annabeth is here that invitation includes her?" Chris asked with amusement in his voice.

"Sure, I'm ready." Annabeth said, as I nodded in agreement. We followed Chris out the door and down the brightly lit hallway of our dorm. The three of us stepped outside and I was struck by how beautiful it was outside. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and sun shown brightly down upon us. Campus was always active this early in the morning. We walked through the quad and headed for the Dining Hall. It was only about a hundred yards from our dorm. It was a modern building made completely of tan brick with large windows. We walked into the Dining Hall and I led Annabeth over to the food line. We bought our breakfast and then met Chris and Terra at a table near a window overlooking the Quad.

"Annabeth you look beautiful today." Terra said. Annabeth smiled at her and then she elbowed me in the ribs when she saw my goofy smile.

"Thank you Terra, I just wanted to look nice for the ceremony. I really forgot how beautiful Maritime is." Annabeth said. I knew she liked the architecture, especially the old fort that sat at the end of the peninsula that the school occupied. One thing about school, this place was secure, I never was attacked by a monster for this entire year. A complete first for me in any school. I think it partly dealt with how close we are to water and that my dad loved this school, he always seemed to look out for it and for me of course.

"I know I speak for myself and my better half here when we say that we'll both miss you and we promise to keep Perce out of trouble, if thats even possible." Chris said sincerely with just a hint of sarcasm aimed at me as he put his arm around Terra.

"I just want to thank both you so much for being such great friends. I know Percy is happy that he has two great friends here at school." Annabeth said sincerely.

"Well, they're both mostly good friends, especially when they're not waking me up at five in the morning." I said as I kicked Chris in the shin under the table.

"Damn that hurt Perce, I said I was sorry." Chris said visibly in pain as he reached down to rub his bruised shin.

"You didn't say you were sorry you just took a walk." I said. I knew Chris had been beaten when he just shook his head.

"Alright, I concede, sorry for waking you Perce. Happy now?" Chris asked annoyingly.

"As a matter-of-fact, I am." I said triumphantly as I crossed my arms in front of my chest.

"Here goes the old married couple again." Terra said sarcastically. Chris and I stared daggers at her while Annabeth laughed at all of us.

"You three can always make me laugh, I'm really going to miss this for six weeks." Annabeth said. A lone tear ran down her cheek. I put my arm around her to try to make her feel better.

"Don't cry wise girl, we'll be back before you know it." I said reassuringly.

Annabeth forced a smile and said, "I hate to eat and run, but I wanted to spend a little time with old seaweed brain before he leaves." Annabeth said. Chris and Terra both smiled.

"Sure we understand." Terra said as she elbowed Chris in the ribs.

"That's right, go have fun we'll see you at the ceremony." Chris said as he and Terra walked out of the Dining Hall arm in arm.

"They are great friends." Annabeth said. I couldn't disagree with her.

"Yea, they are." I said in agreement. "Do you want to walk around campus for a while?" I knew what the answer would be.

"Sure can we go to the fort?" Annabeth asked. I smiled and then laughed. "What's so funny?"

"I knew you were going to ask that." I said as I stood up and grabbed her hand. We walked out of the Dining Hall and I gave Annabeth a tour of the campus. We finally made it back to my dorm room about an hour later. Annabeth sat at my desk and reviewed some recent drawings that I made for a new sail boat. It was a side project I was working on for one of my professors. About twenty minutes later I walked out of the bathroom dressed in my black dress uniform. Annabeth whistled when she saw me.

"I feel like a piece of meat when you do that." I said. Annabeth smiled as she walked toward me and straightened my tie.

"Now you know how I feel when your eyes pop out and your mouth drops open when you see me dressed up." Annabeth stated. I couldn't disagree with her, as usual. She reached up and kissed me, it only lasted a minute, but when we separated I had a big stupid grin on my face. Annabeth just laughed at me.

"Let's go before you rip this uniform off and have your way with me." I said sarcastically.

Annabeth's eyes grew wide and an evil grin spread across her face. "Not a bad idea." Annabeth said.

"Hey, I was just kidding I have to be at the ship in fifteen minutes." I said with a stunned look on my face. Annabeth just rolled her eyes and laughed. "You played me again, didn't you?"

"Of course you're such an easy target seaweed brain." Annabeth said as we walked out of my dorm room with her arm laced through mine. The departure ceremony went beautifully. Terra, Chris, Annabeth and I stood at the bottom of the long platform that led to the research ship.

Chris and Terra both hugged Annabeth good-bye and promised to keep me out of trouble as they boarded the ship.

"I love you wise girl, I'm going to miss you terribly." I said sadly. A few tears ran down Annabeth's cheeks. I removed them with my thumb. I reached down and kissed her softly. "I will call you as much as I'm allowed."

"I love you too. I look forward to those calls." Annabeth said. She looked so beautiful in the sunlight. I walked up the boarding ramp until I was standing on the deck of the ship. I was soon joined by Chris and Terra. Terra stood in the middle with an arm around me and the other around Chris. She smiled down at Annabeth to let her know everything would be ok. We all waved to my wise girl. I saw tears on her cheeks and the tears started to flow down mine as the ship pulled away from the pier and headed out into New York Harbor.

Third Person POV

Standing on the bridge that made its way over the Maritime school a lone man dressed in a black overcoat stood on the walkway adjacent to the roadway of the bridge. He looked down over the Maritime campus and watched as the large research ship sailed away. He had binoculars and was intently watching the deck of the ship. The man took out his phone as it was ringing.

"Yes, sir the ship just left. Jackson is on it. Everything is going as planned." The man said.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Didn't answer any of those questions yet, but I did say in the next few chapters.