Chapter 2

"Man, which cabin does that thing belong to?" Hektor whistled as he stared at the elegant chariot in front of him.

Percy looked over with his clipboard, he nearly grinned when he saw the chariot Hektor was talking about. The chariot was none other than the chariot for the Athena cabin. He'd recognize it anywhere, he'd helped make it. He and Annabeth were the ones who came up with the design, the rest of the Athena campers added onto it.

The chariot itself was painted blue and white, with gilded reinforcements added to all the critical areas. The wheels were held in by celestial bronze screws, which meant they rarely suffered the typical wear and tear. Paintings of an owl flying above a horse were painted on both sides, it was meant to signify the cooperation between Poseidon and Athena.

Looking at the chariot was a blast from the past, Percy remembered the first time he'd been on a chariot race with Annabeth. This chariot was based off their old one, he'd even had Tyson send over some plans that they could use to build it.

Sadly, neither of the sons of Poseidon were going to be taking part in the upcoming race. Tyson was busy with his duties in the Cyclopes army, which meant he couldn't come. Percy, meanwhile, couldn't attend for another reason. Word had spread about the duct tape and the arrows, eventually Chiron found out and when he did, he suspended Percy from being in the race. He tried to fight his suspension, but Chiron wasn't having it. The suspension left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Luckily, Malcolm was willing to fill in for him.

"Well, it's looking pretty good." Hektor said, "I'll do one last walk around."

"Alright." Percy said as he started marking off checkboxes on the clipboard.

He looked up when he heard the sound of a wrench either tightening or loosening a bolt. He noticed Hektor was crouched near the other side's wheel.

"Hey, what are you doing?" He asked.

Hektor looked up, "There was a loose bolt. I'm just tightening it, that's all."

"Right." Percy said, he wasn't sure how that could be. He hadn't seen a single bolt loose at all when he did his walk around, and he took his walk around very seriously, his girlfriend's well-being depended on it.

Hektor came back with a smile, "So, who's racing?"

"Oh, a bunch of people are in this one." Percy said, "Lots of bets going around on who's going to win. Jason's even going to join on this one. Doesn't change the fact my bet's still on Annabeth." He pointed to the Aphrodite chariot, which was a mix of pink and purple.

It was funny imagining Jason riding in that thing, but Percy knew better, he and Piper had some tricks up their sleeves.

"Jason Grace?" Hektor asked.

"Yeah." Percy smiled, "Blonde dude with blue eyes. You know him, he's the son of Jupiter who decided to stay here instead of going back to Camp Jupiter."

"Well, if you don't mind me saying, watch your girl around him."

Percy's head instantly snapped to look at Hektor, "What?"

Hektor looked over at him with a confused look, "You don't know?"

"Don't know what?" Percy asked.

"Well, it's better I show you." Hektor said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He unlocked it and pulled up a texting conversation between him and Jason. He handed it off to Percy.

Percy looked down at the conversation and his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

"Well, dude, I don't know much about Demeter girls, but I can tell you Athena girls are straight up beautiful. I mean, Aphrodite girls are always going to be the best when it comes to looks but those Athena girls have some absolute babes. I mean, look at Annabeth, that girl has a rocking body, you should've seen her during that one beach party, I would've definitely smashed. Too bad she hangs around Percy too damn much." Jason's text read.

Percy's hands shook as he reread the conversation to make sure he wasn't missing something. He wasn't. The number was Jason's phone number, and it was an incoming text, not outgoing.

He handed the phone back to Hektor, "What the fuck? He has a girlfriend!"

"Trust me, I was shocked too." Hektor said, "I mean, with how he acts you wouldn't expect something like this out of him."

"He's been checking out Annabeth." Percy growled.

Percy wasn't only mad that Jason was even talking about Annabeth that way, but he was also mad about the fact that he was doing that while dating Piper. He wasn't exactly Piper's best friend, but he cared enough about her to not want to see her heart get broken.

Yet there was a part of him that couldn't believe the text, this didn't seem like something Jason would do. The guy loved Piper, or at least, that's what Percy thought. Maybe their relationship was having issues or something.

He wasn't worried about Annabeth cheating on him, she'd never do that, even if Jason offered himself up to her on a silver platter. He'd seen her turn down plenty of guys, some bolder than others, there was no way she'd cheat, even if it was just a one-night stand. No guy, not even Luke, shared a bond with Annabeth like Percy did. Maybe before he was kidnapped, Luke would've been able to come close, but now, after literally falling into Tartarus for her, there was no one.

"I'm just saying, watch Annabeth, I don't know what Jason might do if he decides that he wants to test drive her." Hektor warned.

Percy marked off the last checkbox on his clipboard and nodded, "I'll watch her. I can't believe this shit."

Ω

Shortly after handing the clipboard into Chiron, Percy instantly set off to find Annabeth.

He wasn't going to mention the text to her, not publicly anyways. He did want to be near her, just in case the worst happened, and Jason decided to come for her.

He was still in shock that Jason would even think to say anything like what he had said in the text. He tried to find ways to brush off the text, maybe it was some sick prank or doctored message, but he knew what he saw. He saw Hektor pull up the conversation from his messages app, there was no Photoshop involved.

Eventually, he settled on the idea that maybe he didn't know Jason as well as he thought he did.

When Percy found Annabeth, he nearly exploded. Annabeth was laughing with Jason as they walked towards him. It took every ounce of willpower he had to not draw Riptide or cause a hurricane. He gritted his teeth, there wasn't any definitive proof anything happened, two friends were allowed to laugh with one another.

Jason looked up at him and smiled, "Percy! Just the guy I wanted to see."

"Yeah." Percy said with a fake smile.

"I was just telling Annabeth how me and Piper are going to ruin her on that track." Jason said, "You sure you don't wanna change your bet?"

"Nah, I'm good. Annabeth's got this in the bag." Percy said.

"Fine, it'll be great when me and Piper win first place." Jason said with a sly grin before walking off to the Aphrodite cabin.

"In your dreams, Grace!" Annabeth called after him. She turned to Percy with a smile, "What's up, Seaweed Brain?"

Percy looked over at her, his fake smile disintegrated into a real one, "It's nothing. I figured I'd come to see what you're up to."

"Well, I was just headed to my cabin." She said, "My dad just sent me a new laptop, you know, that blue Alienware that came in a few days ago?"

"Yeah, what about it?" He asked.

"Well, I gotta load all the stuff from Daedalus' laptop onto it."

Percy recalled her losing Daedalus' laptop when they fell into Tartarus, along with her dagger. He imagined it must've been hard for her.

"I thought you lose everything when we fell into Tartarus." Percy said with a confused voice.

"Well, I lost the laptop. I backed everything up on a spare hard drive here at camp just in case the laptop got destroyed." She said, "The only issue is I couldn't find a laptop with enough storage space to hold everything."

"I can walk you to your cabin if you want." Percy offered.

Annabeth shrugged, "Sure, I could use the company."

As they walked, Percy couldn't help but wonder if Jason had tried anything funny. He hated the fact that he even had to worry about something like this, but he was kind of glad that Hektor showed him those messages otherwise he would've never suspected Jason.

"So, did Chiron change your punishment?" Annabeth asked, her voice hopeful.

"No, I asked him after I turned the clipboard in, he said he made his choice. I don't get why everyone thinks I pranked Will like that, I didn't."

"I don't believe it either." She said, "I mean, I've seen your pranks, you don't take things that far."

"Right?" He said, "That's what I said."

Annabeth gave him a sorrowful smile, "It sucks that you won't be out there with me. I mean, I can handle the reins but me and you are the dream team."

"I'll be in the bleachers, don't worry." He reassured her, "I know you'll win."

"Thanks, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said with a smile.

Ω

The next day, Percy departed from his cabin early in the morning. He could hear the campers at the track already, but the races hadn't started yet. He walked along with some of the other campers who were also headed to the track. One of those campers was Hektor.

"Yo, Percy!" Hektor said as he gave him a fist bump, "You ready for this?"

"Yeah, I can't wait to see Annabeth wipe the floor with everyone." Percy said with a grin.

Hektor smiled but he didn't say anything, Percy didn't expect him to. He knew Hektor was betting on the Hephaestus campers to win, mainly because he'd seen the tricked out chariot that Leo and his siblings had made.

The morning was breezy, while the sun provided just enough warmth to feel good. Percy couldn't help but feel today was going to be a great day.

The bleachers were pretty full when he got there, campers and satyrs alike had come to watch the race. Percy made his way to the very top of the bleachers with Hektor and took a seat. He noticed the chariots being driven to the track, he could see Annabeth's chariot shining in all its glory. The two horses carrying it were some of the best, and of course Percy gave them a little boost using some Poseidon magic. Just because he wasn't driving didn't mean he couldn't help his girlfriend out a little.

He looked down at the starting line to see Chiron and Mr. D were waiting. Chiron had a red medical bag slung over his shoulder while Mr. D sipped on a diet Coke, they both looked out over the race track.

"Save my spot, I'm going to go get some snacks." Hektor said.

"Alright." Percy nodded.

Annabeth stood next to her chariot, Malcolm was already in it making sure that everything they needed was in there. She spotted Percy in the bleachers and smiled while waving at him. He waved back with a smile of his own.

A few minutes later, Hektor came back up, his arms full of various snacks ranging from Twizzlers to Sour Patch Kids.

He sat next to him, "Dude, can you believe that the Stolls were just handing this stuff out for free?"

"They raided that candy shop in the city a few days ago, of course they'd be giving out a bunch of candy." Percy said with a smile.

"I got you these, I know you like blue candy." Hektor said as he handed him a bag of all blue Sour Patch Kids.

"Thanks," Percy grabbed the bag, "I think the races are about to start."

Percy watched as all the campers did their final checks on their chariots. When they were done, Chiron walked out in front of the bleachers and caught everyone's attention.

"Campers!" He called, "All bets are now closed! Let the race begin!"

A satyr blew into a conch horn, the sound of the horn rang through the camp. Before the satyr lowered his horn, the chariots took off, leaving plumes of dust in their wake. The bleachers erupted with cheering as the chariots roared down the track.

Percy's grin was wider than ever as he spotted Annabeth in front. She had passed Leo and his fighter but was in the midst of a fierce fight with Jason and Piper. Piper was driving the chariot while Jason traded blows with Malcolm, who was putting up quite the fight against the well-trained son of Jupiter.

"Come on, Leo!" Hektor yelled as Leo's chariot slowly started to speed up.

Percy ate a mouthful of candy, this race was getting heated. Annabeth was winning but barely, Piper was far better at chariot-driving than he thought.

Then Clarisse came rolling in past Annabeth and Piper.

"See you later, chumps!" She called while laughing. However, she could only laugh for a few seconds before a few rolling bombs dropped by Leo slammed into her chariot, sending her and her fighter flying.

"Ouch." Hektor cringed as he watched Clarisse eat a bunch of dirt.

The Ares chariot flew in the air then bounced on the track a couple of times before exploding into a dozen pieces.

Annabeth and Piper barely dodged the debris, but luckily their chariots were still holding up. Malcolm was fighting like a demon, he was managing to hold Jason at bay while also deflecting all the bombs and traps Leo sent to try to catch them.

"Oh come on, I had ten drachmas on Clarisse!" Sherman Yang bellowed.

A few campers chuckled at his bad luck, while most of the Ares campers fumed. He could already see some of them paying off people who they'd bet against.

"Look at this," Hektor said, "Leo's about to catch up."

Percy turned his attention back to the track. Sure enough, Leo was catching up. The mechanical horses hauling the chariot were starting to go faster and the engines powering them could be heard getting louder. The eyes of the horses started off blue but now they were red.

"Man, he's redlining them." Nyssa shook her head, "He better hope they don't explode."

"Please don't explode." Hektor said meekly.

Just as Leo was getting ready to pass Piper, Jason turned his attention to him and shot a lightning bolt from his fingers towards one of the mechanical horses. The bolt slammed into the horse, blowing the middle part, which must've housed the engine, to smithereens. The other horse's eyes went bright red before the engine inside it exploded.

"NO!" Hektor shouted.

"Haha, pay up, sucker!" An Apollo camper cheered.

"I warned him not to redline the horses." Nyssa said in an exasperated tone while face-palming.

Leo managed to skillfully drive the chariot off the track, so he wasn't rammed into by the other chariots who were coming in fast behind him. He hopped off with his toolkit and instantly got to work on fixing the remaining horse.

"He's not going to get that fixed in time." Percy said, Annabeth was way too far ahead for Leo to have any hope in catching up.

Three laps later and victory was within sight. All Annabeth had to do was cross the finish line and they'd win. Percy cheered as she managed to make some lead between her and Piper.

Then, just as she took a turn, everything went wrong.

Percy's grin faded as his face took on a look of pure horror as the chariot's left wheel fell off. It rolled away from the chariot before falling on its side somewhere off the track. The chariot rocked and tilted towards one side, taking Annabeth, Malcolm, and the horses with it. Then, as if things couldn't get bad enough, the reins holding the horses snapped, freeing the horses but causing the adverse effect of flipping the chariot.

"Oooo." The crowd cooed as they watched the horrifying spectacle. A few campers gasped as they watched Annabeth and Malcolm disappear under the chariot.

"Holy shit…" Hektor murmured.

"ANNABETH!" Percy shouted, rocketing to his feet.

The sound of the emergency horn being blown rang through the camp. The other chariots quickly came to a stop as the race was halted. Chiron galloped towards the flipped chariot.

Percy charged through crowd before jumping over the divider between the bleachers and the track. His shoes pounded the dirt track as he sprinted towards the flipped chariot. Things didn't look good, if Annabeth and Malcolm weren't dead, then they were seriously injured.

He came to the cart just as Chiron started trying to flip the chariot over.

"Help me, Perseus!" Chiron grunted as he tried pushing the chariot.

Percy quickly shuffled over next to Chiron and started pushing the chariot. Together, they put all their strength into flipping the cart. When they flipped it, they found both chariot occupants in a horrible state.

Malcolm's arm was broken, his sword was jutting out of the ground. His eyes were closed as he laid on his side. Annabeth was on her back, her eyes closed.

"Shit!" Percy cursed as he knelt down next to her while Chiron got to work on giving Malcolm aid.

By now, the crowd started making their way towards them. A few Apollo campers were carrying stretchers out to bring them to the infirmary.

Percy's heart beat a million beats per second as he tried to find any sign of life from Annabeth's unconscious body. He started to check for a pulse as everyone surrounded him. Piper and Jason had ran over to see if their friend was okay. Even Clarisse wore a worried look.

Percy looked up through relieved eyes, "She's alive."

A/N: I was tempted to leave this at a cliffhanger but i decided to be nice this time. As some of you may have noticed, the rating for this story is now T, not M. There won't be any sex scenes in this story, but there is cursing, violence (Nothing too graphic), and minor sexual themes (Again, nothing too graphic).