The next day, Bobby found me staring out over the lake, ignoring the naiads that had come to hate me. They were just jealous, because they all wanted Percy.
"Hey sis."
I flinched at his voice, but I turned around to face him all the same. Someone had shaved his head to a close crop which made him seem older than fourteen. His eyes were darker and more thoughtful now too. He was growing up so well and I dad missed it.
"Hey Bobby.", I said. My voice almost cracking from the effort to say his name after I had missed so much. He smiled, and completely surprising me, he hugged me.
"I missed you."
I hugged him too. "I missed you too."
He hugged me tighter before letting go and stepping back. "I'm sorry for leaving the way that I did.", I said as I turned back to face the lake. "I thought that if I left, you guys would be safe from the creatures that came after me. I never dreamed that you two could be demigods as well."
He came to stand on my right, looking over the lake with me. "I understood it Annabeth. Matthew didn't really, but neither of us knew that we were demigods either. It was the metal birds that made mom tell us. After that, we left too. It took us a while, but eventually we got here. Percy came to see us first. Apparently he didn't believe Chiron at first." He laughed. "Percy sure looked surprise to see us." I laughed with him, actually smiling at the thought of Percy's surprised expression.
Suddenly I sobered. "Dad and Susan must hate me."
Bobby quickly shook his head. "No Annabeth! They love you! They've been so worried about you."
I shook my head. "I didn't even listen to them. They told me to wait. I just knew that I had to protect you guys."
Bobby was quiet for a moment. He opened his mouth to say something else, but then the call for dinner was sounded out through the camp. Immediately following it was a low rumble from Bobby's stomach. I laughed. "Let's go. It's dinner time."
He smiled and asked, "Is it the same stuff they fed Matthew and I while we were healing? The ambro stuff? It was good it tasted exactly like moms homemade apple pie."
"Ambrosia? No it's not that, but no matter how good it was you have to careful Bobby. Too much ambrosia will make you burn up, literally."
He jumped and I laughed again, putting an arm around my little brother. "It's ok. You'll figure it all out soon enough." And I'll be here to make sure you do, I thought to myself.