Chapter Ten:

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Last time on: Heroes of the Thirteen Colonies

"Okay, well here hold your hair like-" She stopped talking, shoving my curly bun into my hands. "I'm going to go find Thalia." She marched out of the room, mumbling under her breath. My arm was getting tired and I was still freaking out. I am no leader...especially not to these people. I have not even learned everyones names yet! When Selina came back with Thalia who was blushing slightly, and was wearing a black dress just like Selina. Selina had also gotten Piper, I am not sure why but I am not complaining. "Explain while I fix." Selina said taking my bun and continuing to pin. Thalia sighed then started explaining.

~Percy~

The guys of the crew were all laying around the meeting room table. I however was pacing around the room, thinking over and over about my ceremony duties. I had almost forgotten about Annabeth until Selina stormed into the room. She was fuming.

"Where is Thalia?" Selina growled, to no one in particularly, but we all pointed to the kitchen. She mumbled in thanks and marched into the kitchen. We all strained our ears to hear the confrontation, but we didn't even need to.

"Thalia! You didn't tell Annabeth how to perform the ceremony?!" Selina screamed and everyone winced. Dang, I forgot Annabeth was the "lead girl" this time. This could end really badly.

"Damn, I knew I was forgetting something…" I heard Thalia mutter. Next thing I knew, the two of them were racing through the meeting room to the stairs.

"Yeah well now you have five minutes to tell her so you better get chopping." Selina said gripping Thalia's wrist and rushing out her room. We all listened to them clomping up the stairs, and stayed silent for a few moments.

"This ceremony will either go through amazingly or terribly ." Jason said putting his head in his hands. Everyone agreed (everyone being Conner, Beck, Travis, Leo, Malcolm, Nico, Will, Chris, and Clariesse). After about five minutes I knew it was time to go or we'd miss our window. I stopped pacing and walked towards the stairs. I took them two at a time and took the right hallway. I listened quietly to find which room the girls were in. I heard muffled yelling coming from the door first on the right. Oh geez this is going to be rocky. I bang my fist on the mahogany door and listened as they got silent.

"Uh guys we need to leave in like two minutes if we're going to make it today!" I said, hoping they'd come out and we could leave. The door open a crack revealing Piper's left eye.

"Oh hey Percy, we're almost done okay?" She said slamming the door in my face. If they aren't done in like one second I swear to gods.

I started to go down the stairs. I might as well get everyone else on the chariot so we won't be too chaotic. I thought too soon because as soon as I thought that the washroom door burst open and there was lots of scurrying and yelling. "We're done! We're coming!" Piper shouted flying down the stairs and almost knocking me over. I still didn't see where Annabeth and Thalia were but I decided to get everyone else ready. I rushed into the meeting room and started giving orders.

"Okay everyone it's ceremony time. Get the offerings on the chariot and take your seats. We won't have a lot of time so lets go!" I said and people started frantically getting the loot from all the ships we'd sunk. Yeah, the only reason we sunk ships was so we could get offerings for the gods. Mostly we just take it from the British so it's not bad. I grabbed the heaviest sack, then realized if I did I'd rip my coat and get in big trouble. It was designer and I loathed it. So I grabbed the second heaviest and made my way to the front doors. People were scrambling around and sliding on the marble floors. Our parents had done some major improvements and some of it was just...too much.

I made it to our big front door made of mahogany. I lifted my leg and pushed the door open, and shuffled out the door. I sprinted down gravel path leading to the mansion and jumped through the first row of pine trees, to the carriage (as fast as a guy wearing a full suit and having a big bag of riches can sprint.) and put my sack in the chest on the back of the huge carriage. I moved to the front where our Pegasi were harnessed and waiting. I walked to the very front, petting each pegasus a little, and stopped in front of blackjack.

Blackjack and I go way back. I'll spare you the details but we have a history. But long story short we're basically best friends.

"Hey boss! I don't want to do the ceremony. Can I have some sugar cubs?" He asked nudging my shoulder. Yes, I can understand him (son of Poseidon and all). We can talk to each other and he's kind of my favorite person to explain my feelings to and just rant since I can't really do that with anyone else. Something about his jet black feathers and fur, they were just so comforting.

I shapely turned my head when I heard a huge bang. The front door had just shut and everyone was sprinting towards the carriage. They all ran down the gravel path leading to the mansion and started shoving sacks into the chest.

"Uh sorry Blackjack but not right now. Get ready to fly to Olympus okay?" I rushed out then ran to my spot in the front ignoring Blackjack's groans. I looked around try to find Annabeth in the crowd, and I couldn't spot her. Everyone was here but her.

"Uh Percy who are looking for?" Someone said from behind me, scaring the shit out of me. I quickly turned around, probably looking like a wild man. There was Miss Annabeth sitting in her spot at the front, looking regal and very pretty. The grey ball gown looked flawless on her and her hair was shiny. I kind of forgot what words were for a few seconds (not that I know why) and I was just staring at her while everyone else got seated. "Uh Percy...are you going to sit?" Annabeth asked glancing behind herself and looking very nervous. I cleared my throat and pulled myself into my seat.

"Uh yeah that's probably a good idea." I mumbled then turned around and shouted, "I hope all of you are ready because we're leaving!" I grabbed the reigns, did a little 'high yah' motion, and we were off.

I needed to chat with Annabeth about the ceremony, so I put the Pegasi on to autopilot. I turned my body to face her and she was chewing her nails, her eyes squinted.

"You okay?" I asked and she jumped. She closed her eyes and took some deep breathes. It just stayed like that for a while, me looking at her, her taking deep breathes, and everyone else singing "Zeus might be your father, but Hera's not your mom". It was a sight. After a few moments she opened her eyes and looked directly at me.

"Where are we, and what is this ceremony you keep taking about? How long was I asleep? What was with the owl when we were in the valley? Was that me being claimed?" She rushed out and I had a really hard time keeping up so I put my hand over her mouth. She looked cross eyed at my hand then straight at me, glaring. I took my hand off and laughed a little. She was obviously nervous and probably confused, but so was I. Didn't Thalia answer her questions?

"Didn't Thalia answer your questions? Or Selina?" I asked and she shook her head. I turned to look at the rest of the group. I zeroed in on Selina and Thalia and called them out. "Thalia and Selina you are dead meat when we get home!" I called and everyone bursted out laughing, even Annabeth. Her laugh was so foreign and I was sort of shocked.

I turned my attention back to Annabeth and tried to remember her first question. "Uh well we are on our way to New York City, which is where we will be performing our ceremony for the Gods. We're basically just giving them our offerings then they'll give us the prophecy and then we have a party afterwords. We have to do this about every three months." I said and Annabeth nodded.

"So how long was I asleep for?"

"About three days. The god Hermes visited us while you were asleep and he told us you'd awake the day of the ceremony then he ate all our scones." Annabeth laughed a little, and I smiled lightly. I liked not sleeping Annabeth, she'd be a great person to have around.

"So before I got shot, what was the owl?" She asked her eye brows furrowing. "Was that me being claimed?" She finished.

"Yeah you got claimed by Athena, the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. I called it by the way, I knew it the moment I saw your eyes." I said and then blushed slightly turning away. I sounded kind of creepy but Annabeth just nodded.

It's "Makes sense. My dad always said my mom was the smartest person you would ever meet." She said picking at her nails. The mention of her dad made my ears poke up. She always steered away from the mention of him.

"Yeah about you're dad..." I started but this time she shut me off by groaning.

"Look, I really do not want to talk about him okay?" She grumbled and I nodded. I knew our mortal parents were a touchy subject for everyone, even me. Annabeth's eyes softened and she smiled, looking at me. "I like your suit though." She chuckled adjusting my Cravat. It was white and my suit was blue with gold designs tracing the fabric. I smiled back at her only to have our moment (it really wasn't a moment but whatever) interrupted (since there was no moment, I don't know how it was interrupted but I'll let it slide) by Blackjack.

I "Yo boss we're almost there. Where should I park?" I knew the mist would obscure the vision of the mortals, but there were also monsters on the British side. I decided a half a mile out from the outskirts of the building in the woods was fine enough. After we parked the carriage everyone grabbed a bag of offerings but Annabeth, I stopped her before she could grab one. She glared at me crossing her arms under her chest.

"You're going to distract the soldiers while we sneak in okay?" I said and she paled.

"Percy. They want to kill me. If by distract them you mean kill myself then no thanks." She said trying to reason. I sighed. I forgot the British had "beef" with her.

"Jason! Come over here." I called. I hoped he'd have some insight or an idea because my head was running out. Jason jogged over, carrying the heaviest bag, for Piper probably. I rolled my eyes as he shrugged the bag off.

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"What's up?" He asked as soon as he got to us. He glanced between Annabeth and I then looked back at me.

"How do you suppose we get in? My brain's fried." I explained and he nodded, tapping his foot.

There was awkward silence all around as we waited for an idea to hatch. Suddenly Piper piped (A/N: I HAD TO) up from the back. "I have an idea." She usually didn't come up with our plans, but I was honestly excited to hear her idea. She made her way up to the three of us. "Okay so here is what we're going to do."

A/N: So I was going to leave it off there but I'm in such a writing mood right now and I just want to get to the ceremony already so yeah! Enjoy this extra stuff coming!

~Annabeth~

"Piper this better work or we are all dead." I said as I was dragging her out of the woods. Nobody had noticed me yet and everyone else of the crew was waiting around the back of the building, hiding in trees. The building was a quarter mile outside of New York City and lurking with Loyalists.

The building of the ceremony was supposedly where the actual Olympus lied. Percy explain that Olympus was in a closet's attic. I decided to play along, because I was a little skeptical. I mean the "Olympus" is in a closet's attic? Sure. But I went with it because everyone else was so certain.

"Annabeth don't worry this is going to be fine." She replied from my side. I saw the building in the clearing and kicked the back of Piper's knees, making her fall to the ground. "What the hell?" She asked, rather harshly.

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"Sorry, the Red Coats are in view and one is coming over here hush." I mumbled, this time literally dragging her through the brush. She closed her eyes and looked pathetic as instructed. I trudged with her till we were about 100 meters away from the building, and a Red Coat came running to us. He stopped short, staring at me. Oh great. The wind made his hat fall off but he did not go for it.

"Annabeth? I-I thought you were..." He stopped mid sentence and just stared. I knew who he was, and I felt immediate regret.

"Grover? I-How are you?" I asked, staying my distance but he looked so relieved to see me. He shook his hand at me.

"No. This is not about me, we thought you were dead! Well last I heard you were working with the Patriots. Is that true? Who's that next to you?" He asked his eyes filled with concern, but I knew we had no time.

"Uh I was only working with them to find out information, I was never really with them Grover. Uh she was a Patriot I captured, I need to bring her inside." I said trying to makye it casual. He looked at her, his eyes squinting, then they widened dramatically. His eyes went up to me and I felt myself tense. "Uh Grover are you..." My sentence was cut off as he lunged at me, a hand over my mouth. We fell onto the ground and Piper went up. My right hand went into my pocket reaching for my knife, but I did not need it because my left hand went to punch Grover in the face.

This is not Grover. He does not act like this. He is so sweet and I did not understand why he attacked me. I wriggled under him and and pushed him off me. I quickly got to my feet and went to step on Grover's chest, but I did not need to, because he was clinging to his nose. I put my arm in front of Piper to make sure she would not go crazy.

"Grover what are you doing?" I asked trying to keep my composure. He looked at me dead in the eyes.

"Trying to get you into Olympus."

A/N: Hello my followers! I hope you guys have enjoyed chapter 10! We're already in ten chapters ahahahha this is crazy! I am so glad all of you guys are here and reading because this story is just starting! I hope you guys enjoyed Grover's entrance. I have been debating even bringing him in but he is rather important to my heart lol so here he is and it's a cliff hanger! Over all a good chapter I think! Also some of you guys were confused with the ceremony and I hope this chapter cleared it up. If not feel free to follow me on Instagram (lunch1380) and ask! Have a great week and I love you guys so much. Also isntead of three reviews gets a new chapter I'm going to do such amount of reviews get a sneak peak of the next chapter! So let's get three reviews for a sneak peak!

~Lunch1380