Here is the first official chapter of Forgotten. Enjoy! It's extra long, too :)

Percy PoV

"Percy!" Tyson bounded towards me, Ella fluttering behind him, a scroll in her talons. I waved. When they reached me, Frank, and Hazel, Ella swooped over and dropped the scroll in my lap. She landed on top of the fountain.

"Special delivery," Ella said. "From an aura. A wind spirit. Yes, Ella got a special delivery."

I picked up the parchment, turning it over in my hands. It was tied together with an orange ribbon.

"Good morning, brothers! The scroll is from Leo. He is funny and small," Tyson said, picking at the peanut butter in his teeth.

Knitting my eyebrows together, I pulled at the ribbon and the parchment fell open on my lap. Frank and Hazel peered over my shoulder to see what was on it. Suddenly, the parchment flickered and a video popped up. I almost dropped the parchment in surprise. A kid appeared on screen, grinning. He had curly hair and wild eyes, like he just had several cups of coffee.

Hazel clapped a hand to her mouth, squeaking in fright.

"What?" Frank asked, looking concerned. "What's wrong?"

I suddenly realized where I had seen the kid before. I'd seen him in an old photo in Hazel's shack. He looked exactly like-

"Hey!" the kid shouted. "Greetings from your friends at Camp Half-Blood, et cetera." My heart started thundering in my chest. Camp Half-Blood...Annabeth. "This is Leo. I'm the..." He turned his head, yelling to someone in the background: "What's my title? Am I like admiral, or captain, or-"

"Repair boy," a girl yelled back.

He looked back, scowling. "Very funny, Piper. So yeah, I'm...ah...supreme commander of the Argo II! Yeah, I like that! Anyway, we're gonna be sailing toward you in about, I dunno, an hour in this big mother warship. We'd appreciate it if you'd not, like, blow us out of the sky or anything. So okay! If you could tell the Romans that. See you soon. Yours in demigodishness, and all that. Peace out."

The parchment flickered once and the video shrank away. I picked up the parchment, looking behind it to see if there was anything else. On the back, Argo II was stamped in bold letters, but that was it.

"It can't be," Hazel muttered into her hand.

"What?' Frank asked. "You know that guy?"

Hazel was pale. The photo in the abandoned shack came to mind, Sammy grinning at the camera. Hazel's old boyfriend. He looked exactly like Leo.

"It's Sammy Valdez," Hazel whispered. "But how...how-"

"It can't be," I said. "That guy's name is Leo. And it's been seventy-something years. It has to be a..."

I was about to say coincidence, but I'd seen too many crazy things. Fate, prophecies, monsters...and none of that was a coincidence.

Frank looked like he was about to say something, but he was interrupted by horns blowing in the distance. I saw people marching toward the senate building, Reyna in the lead, Octavian sauntering behind her. Dread filled my stomach.

"It's meeting time," I said, getting a nervous feeling. "Come on. We've got to warn them about the warship."

Annabeth PoV

I paced the ship, heart pounding. I'd triple checked that the white flag of truce was flying high, and gone over all of our backup plans, made sure the shields were intact, and that Leo was not getting distracted.

He was running around the deck, checking ropes and levers, Wii remotes swinging from his wrists.

"Lower your weapons," Piper was muttering to herself, practicing her lines. "We just want to talk." Her charmspeak washed over me, but my nervousness shook it off, my hand jumping from the railing to my knife repeatedly.

I glanced over to Jason. He was standing by the mast, wearing a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, but also wearing a purple cloak to show his position as praetor.

A flash of doubt went through me. Jason was good-looking, a great fighter, and always did the right thing. What if this whole thing was a set up? What if Camp Jupiter knew about Camp Half-Blood and they sent him over to goad us into capture?

I shook off the feeling, but couldn't get rid of the bitter taste in my mouth. Thinking about Jason made my thoughts flash to Percy.

Percy...who was underneath us - me - right now.

Oh, gods. Panic thrust its way into my chest, clawing at my stomach.

No, no. I'm a child of Athena. I have to stick to my plan and not get distracted.

But the panic still stayed. I almost walked over to Leo to change course right then, but suddenly horns erupted from the ground. The Romans had spotted us.

Percy

A messenger rushed inside the Senate house, interrupting Octavian and his stupid speech.

"Praetors! I'm sorry to interrupt, but our scouts report-"

"Ship!" Tyson said happily, pointing to the hole in the ceiling. "Yay!"

I looked up, and saw an enormous ship float into view.

That is a freaking mother warship. Leo wasn't kidding.

Bronze shields glinted along the sides, with the figurehead of a massive dragon head. A big white flag of truce whipped in the breeze.

It was the most incredible thing I'd ever seen.

"Praetors!" the messenger said. "What are your orders?"

Octavian shot to his feet, fists trembling with rage. I raised an eyebrow.

"You need ask?" He brandished his teddy bear by the neck. "The omens are horrible! This is a trick, a deception! Beware Greeks bearing gifts!"

He strode over to me and jabbed a finger at my chest, trying to push me back. I held my ground, just looking at him.

"His friends-" he spat the word "-are attacking in a warship. He has led them here. We must attack!"

"No," I said firmly, shoving his finger off of me. "You all raised me as praetor for a reason. I will fight to defend this camp with my life. But these aren't enemies. I say we stand ready, but do not attack. Let them land. Let them speak. If it is a trick, then I will fight with you, as I did last night. But it is not a trick."

Everyone looked to Reyna, whose expression hardened.

Annabeth

My eyes nearly fell out of their sockets. The view was amazing. The valley opened up to reveal a city nearly twice the size of Camp Half-Blood. A river snaked through the valley, finally emptying in a sparkling lake.

I recognized some of the buildings and landmarks that Jason told me about - the hippodrome, the temples, the parks.

Some of the buildings were destroyed from a battle against monsters. Domes were cracked and a plaza was filled with craters.

Suddenly, dozens of kids spilled out of the Senate building. Others emerged from shops, gawking at the ship.

I started feeling self-conscious. Why did Leo have to build such a monstrous thing? Why couldn't it have been a sailboat or something?

Shoving the feeling aside, I scanned the gathering crowd for black hair, hoping to find Percy.

Suddenly, I was nearly thrown overboard by a huge explosion.

Percy

"Hold your fire!" Reyna yelled. "But have a legion stand ready. Percy Jackson is your duly chosen praetor. We will trust his word - unless we are given clear reason not to. Senators, let us adjourn to the forum and meet our...new friends."

The people in the Senate building stampeded out of the room, fighting to pass one another to get a view of the massive ship.

Relief flooded me. For a minute there, I thought that she was going to take down the warship herself. Looking up at the nearing boat, I started feeling a bit nervous.

I knew that Annabeth was on it. She was probably looking for me right now in the crowd. I hoped to see her before she saw me.

Reyna materialized beside me.

"I support you, Percy. I trust your judgement. But for all our sakes, I hope we can keep the peace between our campers and your Greek friends."

"We will," I promised. "You'll see."

She looked up, a wistful expression crossing her face. "You say Jason is aboard...I hope that's true. I've missed him."

She walked outside, leaving me, Frank and Hazel alone in the room.

"They're coming down right in the forum," Frank said, walking towards me. "Terminus is going to have a heart attack."

"Percy," Hazel said, looking nervous, "you swore on your life. Romans take that seriously. If anything goes wrong, even by accident, Octavian is going to kill you. You know that, right?"

I smiled. I knew that the stakes were high. I knew that, with my luck, this day could go horribly wrong. But I also knew that Annabeth was on that ship.

I swung one arm around Hazel and one arm around Frank.

"Come on. Let me introduce you to my other family."

Annabeth

"Unacceptable!" the statue shrieked.

I stumbled backwards, almost toppling over the railing again. The smoking statue came out of nowhere, and he looked mad.

"I will not have weapons inside the Pomerian Line!" he shouted fussily. "And I certainly will not have Greeks!"

Jason shot me a look that said I've got this.

"Terminus," he said. "It's me. Jason Grace."

"Oh, I remember you, Jason!" the statue yelled. "I thought you had better sense than to consort with the enemies of Rome!"

"But they're not enemies-"

"That's right," Piper interrupted "We just want to talk. If we could-"

"Ha!" Terminus snapped. "Don't try charmspeak on me, young lady. And put down that dagger before I slap it out of your hands!"

Piper looked confused. She glanced down at her dagger. "Um...okay. But how would you slap it? You don't have any arms."

"Impertinence!" There was a CRACK. Piper yelped and dropped the now smoking dagger.

This statue needed to get to some Anger Management classes or something.

"Lucky for you, I've just been through a battle," Terminus said. "If I were at full strength, I would have blasted this flying monstrosity out of the sky already!"

"Hold up." Leo stepped forward, looking offended. "Did you just call my ship a monstrosity? I know you didn't do that." He waved a Wii remote in Terminus' face for emphasis.

I snapped out of my shock. "Let's all calm down," I said, not feeling calm at all. "I take it you're Terminus, the god of boundaries. Jason told me you protect the city of New Rome, right? I'm Annabeth Chase, daughter of-"

"Oh, I know who you are! A child of Athena, Minerva's Greek form. Scandalous! You Greeks have no sense of decency. We Romans now the proper place for that goddess."

I clenched my teeth together. "What exactly do you mean, that goddess? And what's so scandalous about-"

"Right!" Jason interrupted. "Anyway, Terminus, we're here on a mission of peace. We'd love permission to land so we can-"

"Impossible!" the statue said indignantly. "Lay down your weapons and surrender! Leave my city immediately!

"Which is it?" Leo asked. "Surrender or leave?"

I slapped myself mentally on the forehead. Leo was just riling up the statue.

"Both! Surrender, then leave. I am slapping your face for asking such a stupid question, you ridiculous boy! Do you feel that?"

I glanced at Jason, who just shrugged his shoulders.

"Wow. You're wound up pretty tight. You got any gears in there that need loosening? I could take a look." Leo put the Wii remote in his toolbelt in exchange for a screwdriver.

Terminus blasted the screwdriver out of Leo's hands. "Stop that! Weapons are not allowed on Roman soil inside the Pomerian Line."

"The what?" Piper asked.

"City limits," Jason replied.

"And this entire ship is a weapon! You cannot land!"

Ignoring the statue and his stubbornness, I looked out into the crowd again. The crowd had almost completely gathered. I scanned the nearing faces and...oh, gods. He was right there. He was walking towards the ship with his arms around two kids - a stout boy with a black buzz cut, and a girl wearing a Roman cavalry helmet. He wore a purple cape just like Jason's - the mark of a praetor.

My heart performed a gymnastics routine.

Percy

I pushed my way through the crowd, dragging Hazel and Frank with me. The ship was close, and I could start seeing individual people on board.

"Wow..." Frank whispered.

"It's amazing," I agreed.

A flash of blonde hair.

I stopped walking. Frank and Hazel ran into me, but I barely felt it. My heart started to pound insanely in my chest, like it was running its own marathon.

"Percy? What's wrong?" Hazel asked.

I said something really smart like, "Ah...duh, uh." I shook my head to clear my thoughts, which were like they had been mixed up in a blender.

"I see her."

Huzzah! What'd you guys think? Love it, hate it? Leave me a review and tell me what you think!

Small apology: I don't know if Percy is IC or not, because I haven't really done anything from his point of view, and I just connect to Annabeth a bit better. So I'm sorry if he doesn't seem spot on to you.

I really like this chapter a lot because it switches back to what happens between Annabeth on the ship and Percy on the ground. A very special "omigosh ur awesome!" to Rick Riordan for just making an incredible series, and for writing SoN and MoA, which are used in this chapter.

Thanks guys for all the support on Missing (104 REVIEWS), and the first five reviews I've gotten on the prologue! I seriously can't wait for this story to develop.

I'm so essited :)

OKAY BYE.

~littlebitclever