After a while, he found her, sitting by herself in front of one of the lakes. She sat on a large boulder, knees drawn up to her chin, arms wrapped around her strong legs. Percy slowed down, and came to a silent stop and watched the woman for a few moments. He couldn't see her face, but somehow, her posture, her body language seemed familiar to him.
All was quiet for sometime.
"What do you want?" Came a voice. It took Percy a minute to realize that the woman was speaking to him.
"Um. I don't know," Percy replied. The woman didn't move.
"Leave." It was a harsh command.
"But, I…I don't know where I am. I don't know this part of the park," Percy said sheepishly. The woman gave a harsh laugh, back still to Percy.
"Of course you don't. No one knows this place. Except for two other people," she added softly. Her tense shoulders went limp and started shaking. She was crying. Percy climbed up the rock and placed a hand on her back, careful to avoid the middle, her scar was there.
How'd I know that? Percy asked himself.
"Um…is there anything I can do?" Percy asked awkwardly, sitting down next to the woman.
"Leave me alone." Came a muffled reply.
"No. I'm not Luke," Percy replied.
Where the heck did that come from? Who is Luke?
The woman looked up suddenly, grey eyes shinning with tears.
"How do you know," she trailed off upon making eye contact with Percy.
"Seaweed Brain?" She whispered.
"Percy," Percy replied.
"Oh my Gods. Does your mother know you're alive? What about Grover? Oh Grover! He's been searching for you for two years Percy! Oh my gods you're alive!" The woman babbled. Percy looked at her quizzically.
"I don't know who you're talking about miss. I don't even know why I'm here. Who are you?" Percy asked the woman. She froze and looked at him.
"You don't remember me?" She asked him in awe. Percy shook his head no. The woman studied him and brushed his bangs aside, revealing the scar on his forehead. She traced it with her pointer finger.
"The accident. You lost your memory," she whispered. She looked him in the eyes. Percy felt a small jolt and he blacked out in the arms of an old friend.
Percy was standing on a rock in the middle of a forest. His arm was bleeding, and he held a weapon in his right hand. Behind him, her back pressed to his, was his first friend at Camp Half-Blood, Annabeth Chase. Her intelligent grey eyes were focused on the sounds of the approaching team.
"They aren't so good at being quiet are they Percy?" Annabeth asked. Percy gripped his spear.
"No, they really aren't."
As Clarisse and her gang crashed through the clearing and charged at Percy and Annabeth, Annabeth slipped a baseball cap on her head and immediately became invisible.
"Remember the plan Percy!" Her disembodied voice called out. Percy nodded and ducked as Clarisse swiped at him with her electrified spear. The tip grazed his cheekbone, but the electricity wasn't on yet, so all he got was a bloody cheek. He stumbled into a creek and his wounds healed themselves. He looked around in surprise. Clarisse brushed this new ability aside and growled at him as she raised her spear. With electricity.
"No amount of water will save you when I'm trough with you Jackson," she growled. Than came the blue light above Percy's head and she stopped. Annabeth took off her cap and dropped her spear.
"Oh my gods," she whispered. Everyone looked at Percy and whatever was above his head when the rest of Clarisse's team came crashing through the forest, carrying the other teams flag. All celebrating stopped when they saw Percy, sitting in the creek, perfectly dry with something blue painted above his head.
"What?" He asked. But no one answered him.
"Somebody get Chiron. Go!" Annabeth commanded, fearful eyes switching from Percy to the thing above him and back. Percy looked up. There, was a blue trident.
"You've been marked, Jackson," Clarisse snarled.
"Posiedon's son. Oh, this is not good," someone else whispered.
Percy woke up on the rock, the woman staring at him.
"I should know you, shouldn't I?" He asked her. She nodded, a tear falling onto his cheek from her own. Percy sat up and looked around.
"Where am I?" Percy asked. The woman didn't reply.
"You're name is Annabeth." He tried again. The woman nodded and sighed.
"This is where the accident happened. I come here so often, almost every other week. Chiron cast the Mist over this place, so the humans can't see the pathway here. That's why no one knows where I go when I come here," Annabeth explained.
Percy nodded, not understanding. He looked at Annabeth.
"You, you meant something to me, didn't you?" He asked carefully. Annabeth looked at him with loss in her eyes.
"Yes, you did." Percy answered his own question. Suddenly, Annabeth pulled him into a tight hug.
"Oh, Seaweed Brain, you can't even imagine how much we've all worried about you," she said fiercely. Percy closed his eyes and cautiously hugged her back.
"Seaweed Brain."
"God, you're such a Seaweed Brain."
"What is it with you Seaweed Brain?" "Percy you're such an idiot! You're such a, such a, SEAWEED BRAIN!"
A million times, he had been called Seaweed Brain by Annabeth. She was his closest friend, other than Grover of course. Sometimes his nickname came up accompanied with disgust, other times filled with a kind of powerful affection. Sometimes tears, others a smack on the head for scaring her. But always, Seaweed Brain.
"You called me that a lot huh?"
"You ask a lot of question don't you?"
"Well, maybe you'll just have to help me find the answers." Percy shot back. Annabeth let him go and blinked in surprise.
"Of course I will Percy. Anything to get my Seaweed Brain back where he belongs. I know where to start, come on," Annabeth jumped up and hurried off on her skates, Percy close behind shouting at her to wait for him.
