Chapter 6

Weirdest of all!

Percy had been having a terrible Morning. It had been a week since the battle of the labyrinth, at least that's what the campers of camp half blood started calling it.
Annabeth had been on the down low ever since the return from the maze. She had been ignoring him all the time. Every time he would get close to her to talk to her, her face would burn red and she would run off making some excuse. The only time she 'Tolerated' his presence would be during sword fighting lessons. Then too she wouldn't say anything except of throwing a few critical remarks about his form and technique once in a while. He wondered what he did wrong or was she still upset about the whole Luke to Kronos thing. Today was going to be capture the flag. This time Annabeth was in the opposing team . And Percy didn't like the thought of it. Bekendorf had tried to comfort him saying that they can still win this without the Athena cabin, but Percy knew .With Annabeth as their master mind , Percy's side was surely gonna have a crushing. Percy hoped that in the midst of the chaos of capture the flag he may get a chance to talk to her and get her to come with him for the fireworks on the 4th of July. But it was still a distant hope. Since Annabeth was still somewhat morning for Luke , He doubted she would want to go. The "turning into kronos "had come as a heavy surprise for both Percy and Annabeth. Since with this, all their remaining hope of getting him back on the good side seemed crushed. But Annabeth didn't want to give up. And that made Percy jealous of Luke to no end. He would do anything to be the centre of her affection.
'Wait . Where did that thought come from?' Percy turned around and buried his burning red face into the beach, in embarrassment of his own thought, where he had been laying thinking since early morning.
A nightmare had woken him up at 4 in the morning and Percy couldn't fall asleep again. He wanted to get his mind clear and so he had walked to the east coast of the sea to clear his thoughts. The nightmare had been a particularly scary one . The visions didn't make any sense to Percy. He saw himself kneeling ,infront of some weird looking castle church fusion ,circled by the biggest army of monsters he had ever seen. He saw Annabeth screaming at him for something and crying her eyes out from one of the balcony of the church castle and a group of demigods wearing purple and orange fighting the monsters somewhere far off in the sea of the monster army.
The dream made as much sense to him as Travis trying to teach him the button controls of Halo 3 on their newly stolen Xbox and a small tv screen. He never understood how the Stoll brothers could easily smuggle such stuff into camp. But he didn't want to ask and destroy their deal of the pack of soda cans.
There was a sudden loud crash which startled Percy. His sense on high alert, He slowly rose to his feat from the beach and took in his surroundings looking for anything out of the ordinary. He saw a sea Nymph waving at him and a sea turtle chasing away a shark but nothing out of the ordinary. Percy took a look at the time from his wrist watch /shield and went into a panic fit.
"Holy Minataur dunk! Its already 6:30! Its almost time for morning warm up practice! I am screwed ! Chiron will kill me ! Chiron will Kill me ! She WILL kill me!"
Percy started franticly walking towards his cabin hoping that she and Chiron were late today , But that had never happened before and it was highly unlikely it would happen any time soon in the future.
When Percy entered the cabin area he saw two suspicious people dressed in black stumbling and running away from the Demeter cabin.
Percy took out his pen from his pant pocket and uncapped riptide. He "tried "to sneak up to the two suspicious people but failed miserably when he heard Chiron's voice from behind.
"Stolls! Stop right there!"
The two suspicious figures froze and then suddenly broke into a run , without looking back , towards the Hermes cabin.
'Should have known who it was from the start' Percy snickered . 'Only two people stupid enough to dress like that in the morning to cause trouble' He thought sarcastically.
Before Chiron went to follow his escapees he turned towards Percy.
His "thousand year " stare really terrified him.
"Perseus!"
Percy's mind went into freeze mode.
It happened a lot now days. Whenever he would be close to Annabeth or about to get into trouble , his mind would freeze up.
But what worried him was, sometimes, Percy could hear a voice inside the head. Like something lied just at the boundary of his consciousness but he couldn't tell what he heard or who the voice was. Whoever it was it sounded awfully similar as if he heard the voice every day .
"Meet me in the big house after breakfast. And bring Annabeth and Grover with you"
This jarred Percy back to reality from his thoughts.
"Grover is back?"
"Yes he returned yesterday night. He will be there in the arena right now . "

Ever since the council had spared Grovers licence as a protector , Grover decided to travel to spread the word of Pan.
Pan's passing had had a great effect on his attitude. Grover seemed more confident and mature now days. As if he finally found his peace of mind. Percy wished he would find his own Peace of mind soon too.
When Percy and the others had returned from the Bermuda triangle last year after getting the fleece back, Chiron had added an extra morning sword training session from 6:30 to 8:30, right up to breakfast time so that he would not get rusty again.
It was , infact , quite humiliating when he lost so easily against Luke on the that monster infested ship of his.
And sword art was one of the few things Percy was actually good at. He had sworn that time that he would never be so hopelessly overpowered again. And so he talked to Chiron about it, Gaining him the extra one hour sword training session in the morning.
Plus the morning sessions kept him fit and helped him release the built up stress from everyday. So it was not all that bad. Except one little detail. His new sparring Partner and trainee . Annabeth.
She would not speak to him. Or give him a warning before lunging at him with a sword . Hacking and slashing at him till he was so exhausted in one measly hour that surviving the rest of the day would seem like a joke. Sheesh .
What had he done to deserve such harsh treatment from her?
Percy didn't realise when he reached the arena .He was still lost in thought when he suddenly heard Grover's bleating . It seemed like Annabeth and Grover were having a heated discussion about something and Percy highly suspected the topic of conversation was himself. He heard his name being spoken and thats when he became very sure.
He didn't wanna eves drop on them but it was impossible to resist after hearing his name being spoken.
"Grover! Quite down before you wake up the whole camp! And that salt filtered seaweed brain is late. Again. How can Guys make a girl wait soo much?! Ugh!"
High pitched insults and the sound of someone pacing across the arena, Percy was sure that Annabeth was in a bad mood again. He prayed to his dad to save him from Annabeth's wrath. He swore he heard his dad's laughter , as if Poseidon found this amusing. "Thanks Dad. " Percy whispered sarcastically. " I feel Loved."

"Why don't you just tell him want you want to? Wouldn't it make it easier for the both of you? And I am sure he feels the same- Oh shit he is outside the door"
Dam Grover and his empathy link. Percy could never sneak up on Grover because Grover would always know where Percy was.

"Perseus! Don't you dare eves drop on us!" Annabeth kicked open the door and Percy fell back on his butt . When he looked up he met Annabeth's steely death glare which made him flinch a little. But his eyes slowly travelled from her eyes to her lips , And Percy remembered the kiss in Mt Saint Helens before he was blown away. He immediately blushed and looked away.
Annabeth looked confused for a second but her eyes suddenly widened as if she just figured out what he was thinking and she blushed and ran inside the arena.
Grover helped Percy up and sighed deeply.
"You both should suck faces and get it over with !"
"Shut it Grover!"
As soon as he stepped inside the arena , the first thing Percy did was uncap riptide.
And before he knew it , without a single warning , again , Annabeth engaged him with her sword. All his mind could think before going into 'Battle to survive the beautiful blond' mode was; "here we go again"

After an hour of intense Sword fighting, Which Percy won, Percy crawled out of the arena first. Completely exhausted. Cause he won.
Annabeth walked past him , but not without stepping over his back first. Cause he won.
Grover came out last and twice in the same day, helped Percy up and they started walking to the dining area.
"Man ! I am sure she broke a few of my bones in my back!"
"This happens every time you rub it in her face after a victory. Seriously Percy. Just go ask her out ."
"Stop teasing me G-man. You know that is pretty hard to do"
"But you wont deny it ? So you finally admit that you like her? Good"
It took Percy a whole minute before he realised what Grover said. He blamed his slow rate of realization on his exhaustion.
"Wha Wa WA? I don't know what you are talking about man! "
"No use Percy. I can read your emotions remember?"
"ANYWAYS. Before I forget. ANNABETH!"
Annabeth had almost reached the Athena table but Percy was so loud that the whole camp started staring at both of them with sly smiles after hearing him scream her name.
Annabeth blushed but Percy was quite far to notice the blush or the stares.
"Chiron asked you me and Grover to meet him in the big house after Breakfast!"
All Annabeth could do was nod in embarrassment .
With that Percy sat down at the Poseidon table with Grover , ready to start his breakfast . He expertly avoided the glares from the Athena table .

-x-x-

Percy tried to figure out what Chiron wanted from them but came up with a blank.
He and Annabeth were both in deep thought as they walked towards the Big house
Grover silently chewed on a plate.
As they approached the Big house , Percy's eyes drifted to the attic window. It looked as dark and spooky as it was on his first day of camp. After all, nothing living was up there.
Chiron had been waiting for them in his wheelchair at the doorsteps.
"Ah there you are . You three made me wait quite a bit. " Chiron said smiling, with a twinkle in his eyes as if he just made an inside joke.
"Oh that was totally this seaweed brained fish's fault! "
"OH Really? Care to elaborate owl face?"
"IF you had not been eating so slowly , we would have reached sooner Kelp for brains!"
"We would have reached sooner if you hadn't been running away from me and dodging my questions on the way!"
Annabeth's face became red

"That's different!"Annabeth protested , face bright as a tomato. She couldn't be honest with him yet. And the Dare girl had just complicated matters for her.
Chiron sighed , watching them bicker made him feel like he was watching some romcom soap opera on one of those mortal tv channels.
"Enough! I have gathered you three because I want you to run an errand for me."
Both of them shut up quickly and Grover tried to contain his laughter. Key word "Tried".
"I want you three to go to New York and fetch a new half blood for me."
"Aww man Chiron! This is the third time in a week! And every one we go to pick up ends up being an arrogant little spoilt over his head brat! " Percy whined.
"Look who's complaining! " Annabeth snickered.
"Why yo-"
"Focus ! The two of you need to get along ! For the sake of the upcoming war. We cant have you two constantly arguing through battle too."
"Its his fault so he should just apologise for everything and shut up." Annabeth complained .
"HEY!" but before Percy could retort Chiron cut him off.
"A protector named Gleeson Hedge has found a half blood in Red Cross academy in downtown New York. The half blood is 5"8 in height , has blond hair and scarlet or blood red eyes. He's 18 and lives in the college dorm provided . "
"Great . An older spoilt brat ." Percy complained.
"Anyhow , he's got a very powerful scent. According to the satyr's reports, there are currently over a hundred monsters in and around the academy."
"Holy beard of Poseidon! Over a hundred?! You sure we will survive?" Percy asked nervously. He didn't want to die in such stupid quest. 'Died when he went to pick a new half blood '. Lame. But now , since he knew the danger, he couldn't leave the half blood alone either.
" Don't worry. You just need to quickly go to the dorms , Pick the half Blood with the satyr and rush back in the camp van. And I want you two back before sunset. "
"Yes Father " Annabeth and Percy grumbled together before looking at each other and burst out laughing. Grover couldn't resist and he too joined them laughing at their similar thinking. Chiron sighed at their childish behaviour. But anything was better than the annoying bickering .
"Now off you three! Argus is waiting with the van down half blood hill"
"Okay." All three of them said together and they quickly took off for half blood .They always carried their weapons on them anyways so they didn't need time to prepare.
Before they could be out of ear shot , Chiron called them out "ONE MORE THING! HE goes by the name of Davis! Titania Davis! "

"GOT IT" Annabeth shouted back.
'Hmm, Titania. What a weird name. ' Percy thought as they got in the van with Annabeth sitting across him and Grover next to him. But as soon as he laid his eyes on her , He lost his train of thought. The van began moving and soon the half blood hill disappeared in the distance. But throughout the journey he couldn't take his eyes off her. She was staring out of the window into the distance . Her eyes far away , as if she was in deep thought, which she probably was . Her brain probably going at a hundred miles per hour. Her cheeks tinted slightly red because of all the laughing . And her rosy moist lips. She started to look more and more like a beautiful goddess the more Percy looked at her. Which she was.
"You can kill me now" he blurted out and immediately slapped his hand on his mouth realising what he just said. Annabeth just gave him a 'WTF' look and resumed looking out of the window.
Grover just pinched Percy ,making him yelp and rub the spot grover pinched .
Grover sighed loudly.
"Red cross. Here we come" he whispered to himself in exasperation . For this was gonna be one long ride.